Lerasium Alloys

[Trusk'our he/him]

It is known that if you alloy Lerasium with another type of Allomantically viable metal you will create a metal that will turn you into a Misting that can burn the type of metal alloyed with the Lerasium- alloy Lerasium with pewter, for example, and the burner will turn into a Pewterarm or improve their Allomantic pewter.

Spoiler

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/9/#e7624

Questioner

I was also wondering if... I just finished reading the Ars Arcanum in the back of Bands of Mourning and I heard it mention that god metals could be alloyed to give different abilities or traits.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

Could you give an example of one?

Brandon Sanderson

So, you could alloy lerasium with certain metals of the sixteen in the table and get, if you had just enough lerasium, it would make them a misting of those powers.

However, turning someone into a Mistborn is a side effect of its usage. There's more to it.

Spoiler

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/270/#e7708

Brandon Sanderson

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Preservation's Power

All right, so maybe I lied about there only being three magic systems in this book. It comes down to how you term the powers of Preservation and Ruin, who kind of blanket the entire system. There are a lot of things going on here, and—well, the truth is I don't want to mention all of them, for fear of spoiling future books. However, I'll give you a few rules to apply.

First, to these forces, energy and mass are the same thing. So, their power can take physical shape—as Preservation's did in the bead of metal Elend ate. Second, there is a bit of Preservation inside of all the people—and it's this that allows the people to perform Allomancy. It needs to be awakened and stirred to be of use, but when it is, a proper metal can draw forth more of Preservation's power. It's like the metal attunes the bit within the person, allowing it to act as a catalyst to grab more power.

Allomancy is not fueled by metal; it is fueled by Preservation. The metal is the means by which a person can access that fuel, however. If there were another way to access it, then the metal wouldn't be needed.

Preservation's touch on people differs. Some have more, some have less. This doesn't make them better or worse people—indeed, some most touched by Preservation have been among the worst people in the world. As Ruin later points out, there is a difference between being evil and being destructive.

Regardless, if a person can get more Preservation into them, they become better Allomancers. Hence Elend becoming a Mistborn. Like all people, he had the potential within him—it was just too small of a potential to be awakened through normal means. That little jolt of Preservation's body, however, expanded and awakened his Allomancy.

As a tidbit, that was a side effect of what that bead of metal did. It wasn't the main purpose of the bead, and if another Allomancer were to burn it, it would do something else.

And I just read the Allomancy table on Lerasium and it says "Pure Lerasium transforms a person into an Allomancer or drastically improves their Allomantic powers. In alloy form, it produces various expanded physical and enhancement effects, including the creation of Mistings." (Link)

That makes me wonder what those effects are, as turning into a Misting is simply a side effect of those alloys, apparently. I know nobody knows any of those effects at this time, but are there any educated guesses people are willing to share?

[Sophrosyne he/him]

I've had a working theory that the actual effect of Lerasiumis editing sDNA. Brandon said it overwrites sDNA.  Alloy of Law 17th Shard Q&A - Arcanum (coppermind.net)

Spoiler

Lerasium overwrites Spiritual DNA. It can do some interesting things, and can overwrite your Spiritual DNA in different ways if you do it right. If a Surgebinder ate lerasium, he would become an Allomancer, but Brandon implied other things could be done.

But I don’t think it's a stretch to say that with enough of it to actually experiment with you could learn to actually edit sDNA on the fly. The effects of that is probably why Lares limited the amounts and LR didn’t use the last bead.
 

[Trusk'our he/him]

12 hours ago, Sophrosyne said:

I've had a working theory that the actual effect of Lerasiumis editing sDNA. Brandon said it overwrites sDNA.  Alloy of Law 17th Shard Q&A - Arcanum (coppermind.net)

  Hide contents

Lerasium overwrites Spiritual DNA. It can do some interesting things, and can overwrite your Spiritual DNA in different ways if you do it right. If a Surgebinder ate lerasium, he would become an Allomancer, but Brandon implied other things could be done.

But I don’t think it's a stretch to say that with enough of it to actually experiment with you could learn to actually edit sDNA on the fly. The effects of that is probably why Lares limited the amounts and LR didn’t use the last bead.
 

Interesting. Welcome to the Shard by the way!

[Longshot97 he/him]

God Metals are such a shaky place for theorizing. They seem to have such wide and varied qualities that I would be tempted classify them as a soft magic system.

I mean, look at everything we know about them in general.

1. They can be alloyed into (theoretically) sixteen further alloys
   1. The properties of these alloys are (theoretically) grounded in the inherent attributes of the two base metals
2. They can (also theoretically) be alloyed with other God Metals
   1. Same prior quality principle
3. They can reflect the inner state of the Shard they originate from (see Sazed and Harmonium's volatile nature)
4. They can be formed by Investiture manifesting into a solid state (which would align with a specific Shard)
   1. Each form of Investiture would read with unique spectrums of light
5. Each God Metal has an Allomantic, Feruchemical, and Hemalurgic effect (and something else, apparently)
6. Vessels influence the effects of God Metals

And that is ignoring all the individual attributes of God Metals, such as some being universally burnable. Take Bavadinium splitting Harmonium, or concealing Hemalurgic constructs, or repelling Investiture. That's not even mentioning (Cosmere spoilers)

Spoiler

Raysium conducting Investiture.

Shardblade God Metal severing souls.

As for Lerasium specifically, we know a few things

1. When burned, it grants Allomancy in strength proportional to the amount of metal
2. When alloyed with the base 16 metals, it grants Allomancy in those specific metals
3. When alloyed with God Metals, it can grant the Invested Art of other Shards
4. Can be utilized with Atium somehow to grant Feruchemy
   1. Crack theory: perhaps by being alloyed with Feruchemically charged metal?
5. Results from Harmonium along with Atium when split by means of Bavadinium
   1. Though, if Sazed is to be believed, other circumstances may be necessary
6. Burned in sufficient qualities to achieve Savantism, the person simply Ascends
7. Using Lerasium as a Hemalurgic spike is somehow a waste

What can we conclude from this information? Lerasium is seriously overpowered, we might be very lucky Hoid simply burned it for Allomancy. Lerasium seems to have the general property of bestowing abilities, with tweaks leading to different results. It doesn't grant Investiture (I mean, outside of being Investiture made solid), but it rewrites the Spiritweb to facilitate the use of Invested Arts.

Though it doesn't seem to align with the Intent of Preservation, we have evidence to suggest the Vessel has more of an influence on God Metal properties, rather than Shardic Intent. Maybe Leras was an ambitious fellow, or really cared about others, wanting to help as many as possible? Logically, this means Lerasium could be used to grant anyone any Invested Art, with the ability of sDNA rewriting being a side effect. However, this almost directly contradicts Brandon stating Allomancy is a side effect. Then again, maybe Allomancy specifically is the side effect, but power bestowal is the true effect

Tl;dr: Based on evidence suggesting that the Cosmerological properties of God Metals are actually a result of Vessels( as opposed to Shardic Intent), and what little we saw of Leras in Mistborn, I propose that the "true" purpose of Lerasium is to grant powers to those who burn it. Leras seemed to view himself as a true deity, planning to save the Scadrians from Ruin, meeting with the dead, and more. It's not a huge stretch to say he cared very much about people, and wanted to help empower them.

What power? Well, according to this theory, that depends on specific circumstances, such as Intent, alloy purity, Connection(?) and possibly much more. 

[Sophrosyne he/him]

9 hours ago, Longshot97 said:

God Metals are such a shaky place for theorizing. They seem to have such wide and varied qualities that I would be tempted classify them as a soft magic system.

Shardmetals are soft magic, given we don’t know the rules for them as readers which by definition makes them a soft magic system.
but I don't think they're all THAT complex. Just take Bavadinium for example; Most of its "extra" effects are just extensions of the metal’s base effect to repeal investiture. Harmonium splitting? is it pushing the improperly fused investiture of P & R apart at different rates to make the base metals. Concealing Hemalurgic constructs? Repealing other shard’s investiture from the pierced being there by blocking the influence and detection.