The Genetics of Allomancy

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

I was reading this theory Yata opened up a little while ago when I had an interesting thought.

Halfway through voicing this thought as a reply to the thread, I realized that it was sort of a tangent from his discussion. So here we are at an entirely new theory.

 

Where do the metallic arts come from? Sanderson has said that the ability to use metallic arts is part of the physical DNA of the inhabitants of Scadrial (which explains why it is hereditary). We know that magic systems spring up sort of as a natural result of shards and planets interacting... But Ruin and Preservation created Scadrial, so it is hard to say how much of the three metallic arts were intentional and how much was natural.

 

Let us consider how god metals work. Right now, we know of three: Atium, god metal of Ruin. Lerasium, god metal of Preservation. Trellium, god metal of Trell.

Atium follows the standard rules for any metal. It can be burned in allomancy by either a mistborn or an atium misting.

Lerasium, however, can be burned in allomancy by anyone at all. Why can anyone burn this metal in particular? Maybe this is because lerasium is the metal of preservation and allomancy is the magic of preservation... What about mistings though? Is it possible for someone to be a lerasium misting, if anyone can burn it already? Maybe the genetic trait for being a lerasium misting is actually what makes people mistborn, since it likely results in a strong connection to lerasium?

And what of trellium? Who can burn trellium? Presumably, a mistborn can burn trellium, since it looks like a mistborn can burn any metal (even non-allomantic metals, although it would probably kill them). Would there be trellium mistings though? Assuming lerasium is special in that anyone can burn it, trellium is probably something like atium, which means there would be trellium mistings.

And yet, where would the trellium mistings come from? Surely there weren't always trellium mistings. For most of Scadrial's history, trellium didn't exist. Why would the human population on Scadrial possess the latent ability to burn a metal that did not yet exist, and may never exist?

If the three metallic arts are intentional, that means Ruin and Preservation deliberately embedded the genetic potential for being a misting into the humans on Scadrial. This would imply that without shardic intervention, Scadrians would never produce a trellium misting. It wouldn't be in their genetics.

But if the metallic arts happened more naturally, that means the genetic potential for being a misting could be more fluid. This would imply that as Trell invested in Scadrial, this may actually have created a trellium misting trait within the human population. Suddenly people would start naturally being born as trellium mistings in reaction to the fact that trell invested in Scadrial.

 

These are some rather interesting questions I think. I personally believe that lerasium mistings are indeed actually mistborn, and that the Scadrian population will indeed start manifesting trellium mistings naturally. But this is more about the questions themselves than about my opinions on them. I open up the discussion to you all.

Edited October 7, 2016 by Drake Marshall

[manukos he/him]

i mean the metalic arts are preservation's power ,his "body" . So would it be possible for smn to alter the nature of the power without preservation realizing it even if the host changed ?

 there is also the question why is trell manifesting he's power as a metalic art (preservation and ruin kind of make sense since they are opposites and even created the magic system together ) but none of the other shards have anything to do with metal . But i am moving away from the topic at hand sry

 

bottom line i have no idea , if smn could enlighten me i would be delighted

[The One Who Connects he/him]

4 hours ago, harambe said:

 there is also the question why is trell manifesting he's power as a metalic art (preservation and ruin kind of make sense since they are opposites and even created the magic system together ) but none of the other shards have anything to do with metal . But i am moving away from the topic at hand sry

The Metallic Arts are the magic system of Scadrial through Realmatic interactions that we do not yet understand enough to fully explain. Info 1

Quote

If another Shard came to Scadrial, would that be enough to create a godmetal?

Brandon Sanderson

If another shard just came to visit, probably not. If they came and completely Invested the world, then things might start happening. But there's some special circumstances, remember. Ruin and Preservation created that planet. Specifically. And so there's some goofy things that happened because of that. For instance Roshar was not made by Honor, Cultivation, or Odium. That's one of the big differences about what's going on there.

In essence, another Shard wouldn't be able to manifest a different magic system on an already invested world. They would be bound within the same limits that the original Shards on that world are

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

5 hours ago, harambe said:

there is also the question why is trell manifesting he's power as a metalic art (preservation and ruin kind of make sense since they are opposites and even created the magic system together ) but none of the other shards have anything to do with metal

He is manifesting his power as a god metal... Probably not a new metallic art.

As for what other shards have to do with metal... The fact that magic on scadrial is metal based has more to do with the planet itself than with the resident shards. Scadrial is a special case because it was created by shards (which might give them more control over the magic system than shards would normally gain on any old planet).

This is why it is an interesting question I think. On some planets, the magic system is wholly natural. But on Scadrial, it is hard to say exactly how much control the shards had over the formation of magic systems. Scadrial is also interesting in that, so far, it may be the only world where we see a new shard arriving and beginning to invest (Odium does not reside on Roshar but it has been said he also does not invest on Roshar). The implications of such interactions on Scadrial are interesting.

[manukos he/him]

 

5 hours ago, Drake Marshall said:

He is manifesting his power as a god metal... Probably not a new metallic art.

As for what other shards have to do with metal... The fact that magic on scadrial is metal based has more to do with the planet itself than with the resident shards. Scadrial is a special case because it was created by shards (which might give them more control over the magic system than shards would normally gain on any old planet).

This is why it is an interesting question I think. On some planets, the magic system is wholly natural. But on Scadrial, it is hard to say exactly how much control the shards had over the formation of magic systems. Scadrial is also interesting in that, so far, it may be the only world where we see a new shard arriving and beginning to invest (Odium does not reside on Roshar but it has been said he also does not invest on Roshar). The implications of such interactions on Scadrial are interesting.

yeah the weird thing in that is that sazed should be able to feel an other being influencing his world and magic system 

that also rises the question of did trell choose in what way his power would manifest , i mean did he choose the to be "incogito mode" or is it randm or even still does it manifet itself based on the intent of its origin 

and one more thing does the mere  arival of a new metal alter peoples DNA  so that their offspings could become trellium mistings or is it only of the people that burn it ? 

Edited October 7, 2016 by harambe
minor corrections in phrasing

[Spoolofwhool]

1 hour ago, harambe said:

And one more thing does the mere  arival of a new metal alter peoples DNA  so that their offspings could become trellium mistings or is it only of the people that burn it ? 

I think the shard would have to be invested into the Scadrial in order for allomancy to be changed in that manner.

[Farnsworth]

It would seem to me that if Trell started getting extremely involved in Scadrial magic, Sazed would do something. So far he seems unworried.

[cometaryorbit]

Personally I don't think that god-metal mistings and god-metal-alloy mistings are things that exist 'naturally'.

Atium (and presumably malatium) mistings existed in Mistborn Era 1 because Preservation had messed with the system to get rid of atium. I don't think any more atium or malatium mistings were born after Harmony undid that.

So I don't think lerasium mistings exist, and I don't think any new god metals like harmonium or 'trellium' would produce mistings.