+hwiles He/Him Posted February 10, 2016 Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 Sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere, but I haven't been able to find it: I don't have the quote in front of me, but I seem to remember in HoA the crew mentioned that the Pits would take about 300 years to grow back and produce atium again after Kelsier attacked them. Ruin seemed pretty distraught when Elend burned up all his atium and he couldn't reclaim the power for himself, so I'm assuming the pits will grow back if they haven't already and Harmony didn't absorb them during his ascension. Has it been considered that Trell might be trying to secure the atium for himself and either run off or attempt to splinter harmony? Any other thoughts on what could happen if a massive supply of atium was suddenly made available in the Basin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovaSeeker he/him Posted February 10, 2016 Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 Wax climbs up the Pits in Shadows of Self, and they were no longer producing Atium. It's safe to say that if there is any new Atium being created, Harmony has decided not to use the Pits to do it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+hwiles He/Him Posted February 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 Sorry, Thanks for the catch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovaSeeker he/him Posted February 10, 2016 Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 No worries Keep on keepin' on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobar14 he/him Posted February 10, 2016 Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 Also, it was stated that it would take 300 years for the pits to start producing atium again. It took The Lord Ruler roughly 1,000 years to gather it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovaSeeker he/him Posted February 10, 2016 Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 Wouldn't matter by the time Wax got there. It was well over 300 years after Kelsier broke the Pits. If they were going to make atium again, they would have by the time Wax got there, but they weren't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidWayne he/him Posted February 10, 2016 Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 Wouldn't matter by the time Wax got there. It was well over 300 years after Kelsier broke the Pits. If they were going to make atium again, they would have by the time Wax got there, but they weren't.It's my understanding that a slave/prisoner working the pits did well to find one atium geode per week. So, it the pits had just recently started producing atium, its reasonable to assume that it would be hidden well enough that Wax wouldn't notice while he was climbing through them as he was fleeing for his life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovaSeeker he/him Posted February 10, 2016 Report Share Posted February 10, 2016 (edited) I could be wrong, but I think it was mentioned that the crevasses that would have been filled with sharp crystals (the things Keslier got his scars from) had not reformed. Plus, Shadows of Self takes place 346 years after the Pits were destroyed. Give or take a few decades, and you still have decades that the Pits would fill up with atium geodes, undisturbed and unharvested, if they were still working. Edited February 10, 2016 by NovaSeeker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KOOZ Posted February 11, 2016 Report Share Posted February 11, 2016 I've just had a look back at the scene in the Shadows of Self where Wax climbs the Pits and notes that they glow in the dark thanks to some blue fungus and "the holes in the walls that he used as handholds had once been overgorwn with crystals, and within, geodes containing a bead of the lost metal". TenSoon mentions that Harmony purposefully let the blue fungus grow here so "that [noone] was ever trapped in darkness in this place again". From this we can conclude that the Pits have been modified everywhere and that atium is no longer produced there, at least not in the form of crystals+geodes. Does not mean that it is not there somewhere, hiding under the fungus, but it is heavily implied it is not.Actually, since we have Harmony and, supposedly, harmonium, can Harmony produce atium and lerasium? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+hwiles He/Him Posted February 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2016 I think Harmony should definitely be able to produce lerasium since he made Spook a full mistborn. I believe there's a vague WoB somewhere that implies giving lerasium to a misting or mistborn would have a different effect than giving it to someone with no allomantic ability though...but if he can't "produce" it, then he seems to have some way of conferring its effects onto people via manipulating their spirit web. I would think it logically follows that he should be able to do the same for atium to at least some extent. (Unless that power was somehow slivered or splintered off him) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidWayne he/him Posted February 11, 2016 Report Share Posted February 11, 2016 Actually, since we have Harmony and, supposedly, harmonium, can Harmony produce atium and lerasium? The short answer appears to be "yes." There are a few WoBs out there: Interview: Oct, 2008 | Hero of Ages Q&A - TWG (Verbatim) Chaos (15 October 2008): I really want to know what the last two metals are. I always thought the bead Elend ate was one of them, but perhaps they are just things of Preservation, not meant to be understood. Brandon Sanderson (15 October 2008): The metal chunk that Elend ate is intended to be something of a mystery. Much like atium, actually. Suffice it to say that atium isn't, and never was, what people thought it was. I intended Allomancy to be much like a real science. People investigate and put things into boxes, trying to describe and understand the world around them. That doesn't mean they always get things right, however. Let me say this, as I don't want to spoil too much. If that metal Elend ate were fused into specific alloys with certain metals, it could have instead created Mistings of each of the different Allomantic powers. Atium's abilities are not entirely explored yet either. So we can expect Atium to show up again in the future... Interview: Oct, 2008 | Hero of Ages Q&A - TWG (Verbatim) Kirrin (15 October 2008): And what happened to Marsh? The book doesn't mention him after he fights with Elend. Brandon Sanderson (15 October 2008): Marsh is alive. I changed this from when I talked to [Peter]. I realized some things about his use of Allomancy that would allow him to survive. Actually, he is immortal. He can pull off the same Allomancy/Feruchemy trick that the Lord Ruler did. (And he knows it too, since he was there when Sazed explained how it was done in Book One.) He's actually the only living person who actually knows this trick for certain. (Though there's a chance that Spook, Ham and Breeze heard about it from Vin and the others.) So yes, if there were another series, Marsh would make an appearance. DOUGLAS: I thought that trick required atium and involved burning the atium. With all the atium gone and Sazed not making any more, it would therefore not be possible even for a full mistborn/feruchemist. Am I wrong, is Sazed providing atium specifically for Marsh to allow a friend and valuable servant to survive, or what? BRANDON SANDERSON: Marsh has the bag of Atium that KanPaar sent to be sold, as well as several nuggets in his stomach. So, I guess 'immortal' is the wrong phrase. He's got the only remaining atium in the world and can keep himself around for a long, long while—but he WILL eventually run out. Unless Sazed does something. Apparently, Sazed could do something to prevent Marsh from running out of Atium. Interview: Oct, 2008 | Hero of Ages Q&A - TWG (Verbatim) zchance (15 October 2008): I'm surprised no one else has asked but does this new world have atium? If atium was the body of Ruin then it would seem when Sazed took up Ruin's power he would have reabsorbed all of the atium. New atium then would be bits of Sazed's new powers and weaken him with each newly formed bead. It would seem then that if atium exists it would be much rarer, and mean that Sazed would not be able to control this process. I guess I am trying to understand why he would want to allow any atium to make its way into the hands of people or rather out of his control? Brandon Sanderson (16 October 2008): It's theoretically possible for atium to appear in the future, but right now Sazed has no plans to release any of it to the people. It is, effectively, now something of myth and legend. Again, it's possible for Atium to show up in the future and Sazed may have the power to release it. Interview: Oct, 2008 | Hero of Ages Q&A - TWG (Verbatim) Dalenthas (15 October 2008): Does the Well of Ascension still exist in the new world? Or is it no longer necessary? I assumed that Preservation collected there like Ruin collects in the Pits of Hathsin, so if Atium keeps forming then the well should keep filling... Brandon Sanderson (16 October 2008): The Well (and the small wells in the Pits) is no more. For now at least. This answers another question from earlier. Interview: May, 2010 | Ancient 17th Shard Question and Answer (Paraphrased) Chaos: Does Ruin have a pool, similar to Preservation's pool with the Well of Ascension and Skai's pool in Elantris? Brandon Sanderson: Yes. His pool is the pits. This also answers an earlier question. Interview: Nov 24th, 2011 | Alloy of Law Signing Report - FireArcadia (Paraphrased) FIRE ARCADIA: Are there 50 Allomantic Metals? Brandon Sanderson: Nearly. Does Harmony have a metal? FIRE ARCADIA: Is that an alloy of Lerasium and Atium? Brandon Sanderson: You're along the right lines. This is just bizzare and I wonder what exactly Brandon's meaning was. Finally some telling RAFOs: Interview: Sep, 2012 | Cosmere Q&A - 17th Shard (Verbatim) Douglas: When Kelsier destroys the Pits of Hathsin in Final Empire, it is mentioned that they'll take something like 300 years to start producing Atium again. Do the Pits of Hathsin still exist in any form after Sazed reshaped the world, and is that timeline for them still valid? Brandon Sanderson: RAFO Interview: Nov 14th, 2011| Twitter Tor Chat (Cosmere) (Verbatim) irotin: Kel said he ended atium production for a few hundred years. Will atium reappear in Alloy and such, or did Sazed move the Pits? Brandon Sanderson: RAFO. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emailanimal he/him Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 Apparently, Sazed could do something to prevent Marsh from running out of Atium. I always took that WoB to mean that Sazed can do something to help Marsh stay immortal/lonvliving, but that "something" need not have involved a supply of atium. Sazed should have other ways as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormgate he/him Posted February 13, 2016 Report Share Posted February 13, 2016 How to make someone immortal. Well, having the power of a Shard seems to do the trick. Obviously, Marsh isn't a Shard, but he could have a lot of Investiture like the (Warbreaker spoilers) Returned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capnfury Posted February 13, 2016 Report Share Posted February 13, 2016 I always thought that Atium was part of Ruin's body that was trapped on Scadrial by Preservation. So once they Shards were combined into Harmony and fully restored, Atium would no longer naturally occur on the planet. Is that not correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rasarr she/her Posted February 13, 2016 Report Share Posted February 13, 2016 I always thought that Atium was part of Ruin's body that was trapped on Scadrial by Preservation. So once they Shards were combined into Harmony and fully restored, Atium would no longer naturally occur on the planet. Is that not correct? IIRC, there is something about Preservation being more invested in Scadrial than Ruin, which would make Preservation part of Harmony "naturally" weaker than Ruin part, hence Sazed could store part of his Ruin in atium to keep balance. Not sure if that's canon, WoB'd wrong or sheer speculation, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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