Speculation: The main use for lerasium (surprised no one had thought of it)

[kroen]

We know that making Mistborns is only a side effect of lerasium. I have a theory of what the main effect is: If lerasium is basically the liquid from the WoA in a congealed form, wouldn't it make sense that if you melt a lerasium bead and say dip your finger in it then you would have the power of ascension, albeit for a very short time?

Edited May 10, 2013 by kroen

[king of nowhere]

Don't think so. every metal has a very specific effect. atium is the power of ruin, but ruin caused heartquakes and took control of hemalurgical creatures, while aium just let you see ahed in time. So i expect lerasium to do something very specific

[Isomere]

I'd think molten Lerasium would burn your finger rather badly, then act just like normal Lerasium after you swallow it.

Some rampant theorizing:

We know Lerasium can allow you to use Allomancy perfectly. WoB says that process involves rewriting a part of your sDNA, but there is a lot more involved. From what I can gather, you need several things to line up for Allomancy to work:

1) You need Investiture from Preservation. Everyone on Scadrial has this at birth.

2) You need the right genetic codes. In book this was from an ancestor that could use Allomancy. We apparently have physical DNA, spiritual DNA and some type of hereditary cognitive aspect as well, and I think all of these would need to interact correctly to access Allomancy.

3) You need the right experiences in life. This happened in book through Snapping and required a personally traumatic experience like a physical beating, watching your lover get murdered, or physical sickness brought on by the Mists.

So burning Lerasium changes you such that your DNA interacts with your experiences to allow full access to Allomancy. I call this process attuning. This seems like a good time to introduce Identity which has a tricky definition. It is a combination of hereditary traits, cultural exposures, personal experiences, education, health history, interpersonal relationships etc that all weave together to define who you are. To use Allomancy, your Identity must be Attuned to Preservation.

So I think the true power of Lerasium is to change your Identity, and this could involve remapping your Hereditary traits (including DNA, sDNA, and cDNA), and altering the way your past experiences have altered your Soul. The potential uses are far-reaching. For example, if you inserted some Spider DNA into the mix, perhaps you could create a Mistborn with Spidey Sense.

[Lady_Yasha she/her]

Since Lerasium is a metal it would be common sense to assume it has a melting point of several hundred to several thousand Kelvin, and since the Well is a liquid form under the same conditions then I concluded they're different concentrations, if not different substances altogether. Lerasium is a highly condensed form of Preservation - a fraction of a fraction - whereas the Well was almost his entire being.

 

It doesn't make sense that you would gain more power from Lerasium beads simply by melting them. Chances are people have considered it but ultimately dismissed it through deductive reasoning like Isomere's, or mine if you don't know too much about the Cosmere.

Edited May 10, 2013 by Lyrebon

[Phantom Monstrosity]

If it were just a question of temperature to force a phase-change in the metal, then the mists (as the gaseous form of preservation) would be thousands and thousands of degrees in temperature. People would melt in the streets, and the 'deepness' would result in a catacylsmic firestorm that annihilated all of humanity overnight in an all-consuming and unstoppable inferno.

[Nepene he/him]

Maybe. I thought about this. Brandon has talked about how the liquid and solid phases have different powers. I do wonder if you could artificially force a change with this.

 

You'd probably need to be a feruchemist. Store massive amounts of temperature and tap huge amounts of health. Then drop it in inside a case so it doesn't start burning till a few seconds later. You could then try burning it. You'd only burn in a localized area and you'd heal that damage quickly. Health can help you survive a dynamite explosion so it can probably survive a piece of burning metal.

[king of nowhere]

I don'0t think phase changes in lerasium are controlled by temperature. it is not a metal, but a god metal. common laws of physics should not apply very much to it

[Nepene he/him]

I don'0t think phase changes in lerasium are controlled by temperature. it is not a metal, but a god metal. common laws of physics should not apply very much to it

 

I wouldn't assume that just because it's a god metal the rules of physics don't apply. It's possible it could resist a phase change, but it would be unusual. Solids are supposed to be restrained in their powers. The power to ignore phase changes doesn't seem related to the power to change sDNA.

[Phantom Monstrosity]

I wouldn't assume that just because it's a god metal the rules of physics don't apply. It's possible it could resist a phase change, but it would be unusual. Solids are supposed to be restrained in their powers. The power to ignore phase changes doesn't seem related to the power to change sDNA.

you'd have to melt down lerasium to make an alloy with it. And (obviously), the mists aren't made out of gaseous metal. But let's look at the other god metal as a sample

Zane managed to give a ball of lead an atium plating. And, obviously, atium was melted down to make the malatium alloy (and probably for TLR's bracers as well). It doesn't ignore phase changes, but you'll just get 'liquid atium' or 'superheated atium vapor', not 'black ruiny lakewater' or 'black ruinsmoke'.

[Nepene he/him]

you'd have to melt down lerasium to make an alloy with it. And (obviously), the mists aren't made out of gaseous metal. But let's look at the other god metal as a sample

Zane managed to give a ball of lead an atium plating. And, obviously, atium was melted down to make the malatium alloy (and probably for TLR's bracers as well). It doesn't ignore phase changes, but you'll just get 'liquid atium' or 'superheated atium vapor', not 'black ruiny lakewater' or 'black ruinsmoke'.

 

Ah, good point, they need to melt to make alloys.

 

I would be curious what the properties of molten atium were.