What if Ruin was the main shard of Scadrial? (AU)

[Atlas333]

Just as a fun thought experiment, how would scadrial be different if Ruin was the "main shard" and not preservation. In this version, I could see Ruin realizing that Preservation is trying to trap him and switching spots somehow at the last minute. Now preservation is the one trapped and is doing all they can to prevent the absolute destruction of the world. Ruin can do anything they want besides that.

 

While this thought experiment could go anywhere I feel it's safe to say that hemalurgy would be the main magic system of this world. It wouldn't have the stigma it currently has and would be viewed as absolutely necessary for survival. Not only that, but the world would be a lot less hospitable. I'm imagining stepping outside of civilization is practically a death sentence. 

I'm curious to hear what other people think this world would be like. Would feruchemy still exist and if so how? What about kandra and other hemalurgic constructs? Are they naturally occurring or is the knowledge of how to create them more widely known? What about allomancers and mistborn? Are they still around just a lot rarer?

Edited July 23, 2024 by Atlas333

[alder24]

14 minutes ago, Atlas333 said:

Just as a fun thought experiment, how would scadrial be different if Ruin was the "main shard" and not preservation. In this version, I could see Ruin realizing that Preservation is trying to trap him and switching spots somehow at the last minute. Now preservation is the one trapped and is doing all they can to prevent the absolute destruction of the world. Ruin can do anything they want besides that.

 

While this thought experiment could go anywhere I feel it's safe to say that hemalurgy would be the main magic system of this world. It wouldn't have the stigma it currently has and would be viewed as absolutely necessary for survival. Not only that, but the world would be a lot less hospitable. I'm imagining stepping outside of civilization is practically a death sentence. 

I'm curious to hear what other people think this world would be like. Would feruchemy still exist and if so how? What about kandra and other hemalurgic constructs? Are they naturally occurring or is the knowledge of how to create them more widely known? What about allomancers and mistborn? Are they still around just a lot rarer?

There was no main Shard on Scadrial. Except for humanity, Ruin and Preservation were equally invested in everything. Even in terms of influence Ruin was winning while being trapped. He was deceiving people, twisting their religions and prophecies to the point that he almost completely erased Preservation from people's minds. Ruin was winning, Preservation was merely a shadow of his former self, he gave up his mind to trap Ruin, but that killed him. 

If Ruin were to trap Preservation, he would have done this by giving up his mind, thus becoming how Leras was - almost mindless power. But with one difference - Ruin wouldn't be Splintered into Atium, this would still be part of Ruin, thus Ruin would be stronger. Ruin would be able to fully destroy Scadrial if he were to imprison Preservation, there is no going around this. Scadrial wouldn't exist anymore. He would open ground, spill magma out, cover everything in fires and ash, flood coastline, spread death and destruction everywhere - his entire purpose would be to kill and destroy everything, not let it live long and prosper. Ruin was interested only in getting what he was promised and that was destruction of Scadrial. 

22 minutes ago, Atlas333 said:

Would feruchemy still exist and if so how?

Yes, because it's a natural manifestation of both Shards. The question should be would there be Feruchemist - we don't know how Feruchemist came to be, if they appeared after Ruin was imprisoned than there would be no Feruchemist (and Allomancers as well because those came from Mistsnapping before the Final Empire was established) in your scenario (not that it would matter, Scadrial would be gone very fast).

24 minutes ago, Atlas333 said:

What about kandra and other hemalurgic constructs?

Possible, if Ruin wants them. Ruin was the one who whispered to Rashek how to make them when he held the power.

[clowncarcrash]

Yeah, this thought experiment is a bit much.... because of how much of a dead end it leads to. I'd think for the sake of logic and storytelling, Ruin would want cycles of growth to eventually ruin, but the plan from the getgo was to create life so Ruin could destroy ALL life and not do cycles. 

Unless this hypothetical changes what we know about the shard's intent or maybe if there was a different vessel we could stipulate that'd change the outcome, I got nothing. 

[Elite01]

I think the point of the post is just to explore what a world would be like if Ruin was the one who had imprisoned Preservation. There would have to be some things tweaked to make it work but ultimately if Brandon had wanted that outcome then he could have made it happen. I think this idea could be the same as imaging what if Kaladin was a villain and Moash was the hero. We know that is not the way things happened or the most likely option but its fun to think of alternate ways things could have gone.

Maybe every time Ruin gets close to ending the world a hero manages to get to the well of ascension and use it to push Ruin back for the next 1000 years. I think a version of the lord ruler who is a hero trying to keep civilization from collapsing after becoming immortal would be interesting. 

I think this world would be unique because hemalurgy would be more common, feruchemy wouldn't need to be in hiding and might even be encouraged by the Lord ruler. Allomancy would be rare or unknown except for people who had gotten to the well of ascension or found lerasium somewhere.

It would also be interesting because hypothetically if there were inquisitors it would be tough for them to find allomancers to spike so they would primarily have feruchemy related spikes.

I imagine there would be large number of kolos but I would assume we could also see new hemalurgic constructs that would be cool to see. I've had a pet theory of a tin version of kolos being possible, one with 4 tin spikes instead of Iron spikes. Instead of have 4x the strength of a normal person they would have 4x the senses of one. Maybe they would have oversized eyes, ears, or noses. Would be interesting if they were used for tracking instead of inquisitors using A-bronze

 

Edited July 24, 2024 by Elite01