Alloy vs. Hybrid shard

[WhimsyIsTheBestShard]

Is alloying two god metals the same as the shards combining? Like, could you get harmonium from alloying lerasium and atium?

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Alpharho
The metal of Shardblades. Cultivationspren versus honorspren, for example. Are they different metals?

Brandon Sanderson
No, but good question.

Alpharho
Are all orders the same alloy, essentially?

Brandon Sanderson
Yes. There's a little asterisk on there, but not in the way you're asking... You could call those all the same alloy. Because the mixture to different spren is different, I think that you could argue that each one is its own alloy.

Alpharho
So, different proportions of tanavastium?

Brandon Sanderson
Yes, but it doesn't quite work that way with these magics, right? I'm going to say that's up to the individual cosmerologist who is in the world, the arcanist, defining it. You would be able to find enough differences to legitimately call them different alloys if you wanted to.

Alpharho
Would you say different ratios of the same two metals?

Brandon Sanderson
Yes. They are not going to have a third one in them, if that's what you're asking. But it doesn't quite work that way. Like, if you were going to take brass, you could measure the exact percentage. In this case, it is a thing; it's not like you could divide it up and split them apart, because they are a thing. And that thing would be called one thing.

Alpharho
But you won't say what that thing is called?

Brandon Sanderson
No, I won't say what that thing is called. But I think you and the 17th Sharders and folks that are dividing them would prefer to call them ten different things, and I think their nomenclature would be relevant.

 

[Ascended Grubberfly He/Him]

1 hour ago, WhimsyIsTheBestShard said:

Is alloying two god metals the same as the shards combining? Like, could you get harmonium from alloying lerasium and atium?

 

Harmonium is not an alloy of atium and lerasium. It is its own thing rather than a compound (I hate it, but it’s true). Harmonium is a little weird, maybe because of the imbalance of Harmony or just because dual Shards are weird.

WoB:

Spoiler

2 

Questioner

If I were to alloy atium and lerasium, would I get harmonium? Or is harmonium different after the Shards combined?

Brandon Sanderson

It's different after the Shards combined.

Questioner

If I was to take harmonium and separate it out through distillation, would I get lerasium and atium or something that functions similarly?

Brandon Sanderson

No, you would-- It actually has become a different--

Questioner

Can't be split?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah. I mean, you could find a way, but you're not going to get it through normal, mechanical means.

 

[GG0z He/Him]

35 minutes ago, Ascended Grubberfly said:

Harmonium is not an alloy of atium and lerasium. It is its own thing rather than a compound (I hate it, but it’s true). Harmonium is a little weird, maybe because of the imbalance of Harmony or just because dual Shards are weird.

WoB:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

2 

Questioner

If I were to alloy atium and lerasium, would I get harmonium? Or is harmonium different after the Shards combined?

Brandon Sanderson

It's different after the Shards combined.

Questioner

If I was to take harmonium and separate it out through distillation, would I get lerasium and atium or something that functions similarly?

Brandon Sanderson

No, you would-- It actually has become a different--

Questioner

Can't be split?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah. I mean, you could find a way, but you're not going to get it through normal, mechanical means.

 

 

Wax and Wayne

Spoiler

Harmonium splits into Atium and Lerasium when cut by Trellium