There are 23/24 "main" metals (pre Harmonium)

[IndigoAjah]

Lots of supposition, warning:

 

So, we all know that the Steel Alphabet, brilliantly broken down by Valkynphyre, has symbols for the 16 know Allomatic metals, plus Malatium plus Lerasium. Despite Cadmium etc not being known or easily makable or even referenced by TLR in his messages, they have symbols in the alphabet that fit the pull/push spot-inside/outside pattern. This may be because Leras wanted to stick to 16 metals including Atium and Malatium specifically to try to give clues for battling Ruin and thus there well may be more metals suppressed by Leras and not just TLR.

 

We also know that

Ettmetal which may be Harmonium but I think probably is not

appears to mess up the rule of 16, which appears to mostly be deliberate aping of Adonalsium's 16 Shards but not necessarily the natural magic number of Scadrial itself. It's also confusing that Harmony tells Spook that there are a "couple" of extra metals that haven't been discovered yet and dares him to find them, but actually there are 4 metals found between HoA and AoL.

 

Now, it could be that the Steel Alphabet, started by the Terris people, had as many letters as they needed to cover for sounds in their language (though what is "needed" is obviously very flexible, as you can in theory combine letters or not have certain sounds) and the metals were retrospectively attributed and the not fully understood patterns we see are coincidental in some way. Without knowing how the spoken and written languages evolved and whether there was direct or indirect input from Shards or other figures, we can't really know. But the other implication would be that there are 23 (likely not including Harmonium as it would not have existed unless as a perfect alloy between Atium and Lerasium, and with the last letter looking to me like a Spike seen universally in hemalurgy which existed before Scadrial) "main" metals fitting the letters influenced by Leras.

 

 

Now, there are some other snippets that work pro and con this theory.

 

We know there are, including all alloys, far more than 23/24 metals. Lerasium and Atium have a LOT of alloys according to Word of Brandon. However, the Allomantic system only works with one real alloy for each metal, and Malatium both fits the alphabet but also as a pretty perfect opposite to Atium. The other alloys may do all kinds of things, but the one that fits the system is Malatium and it's hard to see how another alloy could fit as well unless it did the same thing! If Leras was involved in setting up the alphabet, as he had both Atium and Malatium (or maybe Ati/Ruin did the latter) involved in his long term plan, he could have deliberately incorporated both of these in the alphabet. Lerasium does not have a second linked letter signifying a specific alloy in the alphabet, which might fit that as well - there doesn't appear, from the little we know of its use, to be an opposite action that the alloy can emulate such is the uniqueness of Lerasium. The God Metals are also hacks in a way explaining why they can have alloys that don't fit the system. 

 

Given how language, and logic and the ability to think all interlink and are influenced by needs and experience, it also makes sense for there to be a genuine and not coincidental link with something as influential as magic. 

 

The fact that this is originally (we think - there could be civilisation before Terris) from the Terris people, who did not use Allomancy but rather Feruchemy (despite the patterns seemingly matching to Allomantic use instead -maybe because we know them better from living in Vin, Elend and Kelsier plus other Mistings' heads?), where there is no pull/push and the links between Alloys are slightly more abstract(health linked to determination? Memories to wakefulness? There could be some link here but it is not a clear relationship yet), could either mean that we don't understand something fundamental about how the pairings and grouping work in Feruchemy (an interesting topic of conversation in itself) or that someone who DID know about Allomancy, as of yet less widespread, I assume, influenced the alphabet.

 

Lastly, we already know that technology has reverted and things been forgotten after at least one Ascension, with TLR suppressing technological and magical knowledge. IT could easily have happened again the past. We know Leras manipulated the use and knowledge of metals to man (even if just TLR) to shape the future. There could easily be more official (

as in not from foreign Shards

) metals out there. 

 

Currently, we have 19 out of 24 letters/numbers attributed to metals, which include Atium, Malatium and Lerasium, all of which Leras had a reason to include in the knowledge of man vaguely and thus the alphabet. Other alloys of Atium wouldn't appear to fit the patterns. The 0 figure appears to clearly be a Spike and possibly doesn't refer to a Metal at all. Spikes being involved in this cosmic clue make sense, as they are clearly important to the HoA plot and also going forward. A logical extension of this could be that a symbol also represents Allomancy or Feruchemy (or Metalminds) I suppose, though unless they are treated as opposites that doesn't fit the pattern.

 

 

 

The numbers 256 and 4096 fitting as numbers attributed to unknown symbols could be due to trying to fit the rule of 16 that Leras wanted to be clear to his humans and held in significance. It could imply something about the metals in question, maybe that one needed every metal in one alloy, I suppose, but that still wouldn't quite fit the pattern of push/pull, in/out. It's all supposition really.

 

If the remaining symbols do represent pairs of metals, it implies we have 2 more pairs of metals (one "set" as it were) to discover.

Ettmetal

may be one of these. Without further knowledge of what aspects of each symbol may represent, we can't tell anything about these new metals, except two push and two pull, and the assumption that they come in alloy pairs.

 

But that's it for now. I may be proved wrong. But I don't think 16 is naturally special on Scadrial, only as part of Leras' ploy, and that there is one more full set of metals waiting to be discovered, whatever they may do.

 

If this does follow real life progression of technology, what do we think the odds are that some may be radioactive?

Edited April 4, 2016 by IndigoAjah

[Master Elodin]

No. There are 16 main metals and three godmetals native to Scadrial.

[IndigoAjah]

1) but where is that actually confirmed by Brandon? I can't see it actually stated in interviews except that we assume the Allomantic Table is complete

2) where does that leave

Ettmetal

?

3) assuming that is the case, what do we think the last 4 symbols refer to? Different Atium Alloys, as we know there are LOADS of them (more than one per every base metal)?

[Master Elodin]

1) but where is that actually confirmed by Brandon? I can't see it actually stated in interviews except that we assume the Allomantic Table is complete

2) where does that leave

Ettmetal

?

3) assuming that is the case, what do we think the last 4 symbols refer to? Different Atium Alloys, as we know there are LOADS of them (more than one per every base metal)?

I think that

Ettmetal

is a godmetal alloy or a godmetal. The other symbols can be just that- symbols.

Edited April 4, 2016 by Master Elodin

[Espella]

I'm inclined to agree that there are only ever going to be 16 metals (outside godmetals and their alloys) because of a certain line in Secret History where

Leras tells Kelsier there are only 16 metals in allomancy. I think the inventor of the system ought to know how many there are.

Also it seems to me like the alphabet thing might be the reverse of your theory- letters were just assigned to certain metals, like how Greek letters have been assigned to certain mathematical constants (and newly discovered metals were just assigned letters that fit the tradition)

[Eki]

When Harmony said there were two more metals, it's assumed he meant the base metals - the other two are alloys.

(Brandon may have written it that way to not make it TOO obvious that atium and malatium weren't the temporal metals)

[vividox]

Sixteen was an incredibly important number to Leras/Preservation, and we see it over and over again. There would be a lot of redacting if there turned out to be more than 16 base metals

[happyman]

Sixteen was an incredibly important number to Leras/Preservation, and we see it over and over again. There would be a lot of redacting if there turned out to be more than 16 base metals

 

Secret History spoilers

Leras tells Kelsier outright that the sign he sent to humanity was 16, the number of Allomantic metals.  When Kelsier says no, it's 10, Leras dismisses that as "stupid."  So, baring god metals, I think we've got the Allomantic metals pinned down pretty well.  Of course, the god metals (and Ettmetal?) kind of throw a wrench into this, but I'm pretty sure that all-natural allomantic metals which humans can burn number 16.

[Pagerunner]

I like the idea; those four extra symbols have bothered me for some time, and never seemed to make sense as just being extra letters for the alphabet. Their designs are simple, very similar to cadmium/bendalloy, and they follow after them in the order of chapter headings. It's possible that they could be other "alternates," metals that could be swapped in with additional powers, but currently inactive. Tag-team metals, if you will. This would preserve the Law of 16 (only 16 at a time!), while still giving Allomantic meaning to those symbols. A.Gold/A.Electrum don't seem terribly useful, and neither do A.Aluminum/A.Duralumin when there isn't a Mistborn present. (Although, I guess you would lose gold compounding if you could only get F.Gold. But that seems to only ever turn out bad, so I wouldn't miss it too much.)

 

Also, since the Metallic Arts were designed with faster-than-light travel as a possibility, these symbols might be more pieces for the space trilogy. We've seen some early indications that A.Bendalloy and its time-warping effects will be a major part of how FTL is achieved; maybe the other unknown symbols are also future discoveries that will be necessary for space travel, hidden in plain sight in the Mistborn chapter headings.

 

What I think is most likely is that these symbols could correspond to metals that can't be burned, but still interact with the Metallic Arts. So, they're not part of the 16 true "Allomantic Metals," but the symbols still indicate specific metals that have specific effects. Kind of like aluminum is Allomantically inert; these four metals might have their own unique properties, but not produce an effect when burned. BoM spoilers and speculation:

Ettmetal, assuming it's not harmonium, may be a prime indication of this. Since it's highly reactive with water, Allomancers can't burn it, but it instead will directly affect Investiture. I've speculated before that it acts as a power source because it's part of a fifth Quadrant (d'oh!), which I tentatively titled the "Investiture" quadrant, as the External Pulling Investiture metal. It draws in pure Investiture from the local Shards which can be used to power mechanical Allomancy, basically "drawing on the mists" without needing the mists themselves. I also think that there could be another metal in the primer cubes, which would resonate with any specific magical powers in use nearby, the Internal Pulling Investiture metal. It doesn't draw in the power of Investiture, but the pulses that a Seeker can sense, holding them and copying them. The cubes need both - a little bit of mystery metal to hold the resonance, and a little bit of ettmetal to power the abilities and help maintain the charge until you hook it up to a larger power source.

 

Again, I want to emphasize that neither of these metals would do any good to an Allomancer trying to burn them, a Feruchemist trying to store in them, or a Hemalurgist trying to use them as spikes. They are just keys to mechanically using those powers, a phenomenon distinct from the medallions (which is just regular Feruchemy with some clever Identity manipulation and an unspecified F.Nicrosil-hack).

 

If I wanted to speculate on what the Pushing effects of alloys of the two Investiture metals could be (and, since I'm typing this, I obviously do), I'd say that the ettmetal alloy (External Pushing) would push away the power of Investiture, like Wheel of Time's Far Madding, or sort of like what happened in Elantris. It wouldn't alter an individual's sDNA, but would make it difficult for Allomancers to draw on Investiture. Feruchemists (or Surgebinders with Stormlight) wouldn't necessarily be affected, since they carry their own stores of power with them, and are not drawing Investiture from a Shard directly. The Mystery Metal alloy (Internal Pushing) would produce destructive resonance with the Bronze pulses, affect peoples' abilities themselves, making their magic weaker. 

[IndigoAjah]

Thanks for the replies guys. Just to note, whilst Leras/Preservation is  connected to Allomancy and demonstrably has some control over the way it works, as now does Harmony, I don't believe that he "invented" it. I thought all the magic systems could exist due to interactions between Shards and natural focus/investiture of the planet, over which the Shards have only limited access?

[WeiryWriter]

Unfortunately it is as simple as they just need more symbols for sound then there are metals:

 

 

[17th Shard's report]
 
Questioner

I just started Part 3 [of The Final Empire?] and I actually went over to your booth to ask them because I was confused. There are different symbols for the Allomantic metals but I only recognize one of them here. Why are there different symbols you don't know about at the beginning of different parts?

Brandon Sanderson

Part of it is they don't know all the metals yet, in the books, and so that’s a hint. Part of it is because that their writing system is more than 16 letters and so there are symbols that do not represent a metal, necessarily, or an Allomantic metal so they can-- They write with them as well. It is both a writing system and each symbol is a metal.

[Pagerunner]

I don't feel that quote absolutely disqualifies the theory; at the end of his answer, Brandon even states that "each symbol is a metal," which seems to support what OP is saying. He describes why the alphabet needs more than 16 symbols, and why the in-universe inhabitants accept that not all of these symbols correspond to a metal. He does not go so far to say that the creator of the alphabet started with the 16 metal symbols, added the god metals and malatium, and then made more up because there were still more sounds. Brandon explains the current significance, not the origin. A subtle distinction, but an important one.

 

EDIT: I've been trying to find a similar situation to compare to. (There's one floating at the edge of my mind where someone finally uncovered a long-time secret Brandon has been waiting for someone to find, but he didn't want to give blatant hints, about it. I can't quite remember what it was, though... it might have been Secret-History related.) Best I can come up with is Trell. He was mentioned in the original trilogy, and then after Way of Kings people began asking about perceived similarities between it and the Purelake religion. Brandon used the occasion to talk about similarities in religions that naturally arise on Shardworlds, like similarities between Nalthis and another Mistborn religion, but he didn't start dropping hints like "Pay close attention to Trell, it has significance to the future of the Mistborn series." That's what I think was happening here - a question was close to a deeply buried secret, so Brandon talked about in-universe linguistics instead. Just because his reply wasn't "Oh, there are more secret metals you haven't seen yet" doesn't mean that there aren't more secret metals we haven't seen yet.

 

EDIT2: Here's another one, with BoM spoilers. 

Brandon answered a few questions about Feruchemical identity without giving clues to how it lets you unlock metal minds. http://theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1052#62, http://theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=977#88. The Southerners weren't relevant to the topic at hand, so he didn't bring them up, saving it for the big reveal.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Pagerunner

[Kolfire]

Sorry, this replie is a little late.

I just want to point out that in my opinion, there is a really good place to put four aromatic metals. Has it ever struck anyone that bendalloy and cadmium/chromium (i forget which) don't belong with gold and electrum? Because gold and electrum don't affect time, merely ones perception of time, and as such are not temporal metals. I believe that there should be another catogorie for them. 

[Nyali]

Sorry, this replie is a little late.

I just want to point out that in my opinion, there is a really good place to put four aromatic metals. Has it ever struck anyone that bendalloy and cadmium/chromium (i forget which) don't belong with gold and electrum? Because gold and electrum don't affect time, merely ones perception of time, and as such are not temporal metals. I believe that there should be another catogorie for them. 

 

But they do affect time. They're just internal, not external. They let you see into your own past or future, which is definitely a "temporal" effect, in my opinion.

 

EDIT: To me, it's like saying that Iron and Steel don't belong with Pewter and Tin because they don't move objects, or that Copper and Bronze don't belong with Zinc and Brass because they involve Investiture usage, not the mind.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Nyali