How does one become a Feruchemist?

[Everstorm]

I just finished the first Mistborn trilogy (after discovering that being "Cosmere-aware" is quite necessary to fully appreciate WoR ). I had a question about how feruchemical powers are gained. We are told that to become a KR or to become an Allomancer, some kind of "snapping" is required. Something about the soul needing cracks which investiture can fill. Is that the case with Feruchemy as well?

 

If this is addressed in Alloy of Law please don't tell me. I'm okay with WoB spoilers though.

[Observer]

I always got the impression that to truly "Snap", one had to face death and decided to Preserve oneself, thus unlocking Preservation's link. Feruchemy is an odd kind of middle ground, since neither Shard really owns it. I don't think we know even to this day what causes is, or how to get a super Feruchemist like you would by eating Lerasium. I'd almost say it came about naturally from nothing but having two Shards around and has ties only to the people using it, but I doubt it's true and have no proof.

[PorridgeBrick he/him]

As far as we know, there is no Snapping involved, though it is very possible that the scale of trauma necesarry is simply too low to register, ie stubbing your toe, or even the process of being born, since we do know that Vin's birth was enough to Snap her.

[Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him]

It is hereditary. You either have the ability to use Feruchemy or you don't, even children can use it though it does take some practice. (this is based on WoB as well as the MAG Wrought of Copper)

[PorridgeBrick he/him]

It is hereditary. You either have the ability to use Feruchemy or you don't, even children can use it though it does take some practice. (this is based on WoB as well as the MAG Wrought of Copper)

Has anyone posted all the new info from that anywhere? I don't think it's worth buying it when I don't want to play it and the new info is probably not that large. Edited March 26, 2014 by PorridgeBrick

[WeiryWriter he/him]

Feruchemists do not need to Snap, they can access there powers from birth.

 

It is also an end-neutral magic, there is no investiture coming from an outside force as happens with allomancy or surgebinding which require "broken souls" so that the individual is open to such investiture.  But that's just theory.

Edit:

Has anyone posted all the new info from that anywhere? I'm really uninterested in playing it, so I'm not going to buy it, but I would still like to know all the interesting Mistborn nuggets.

[Disclaimer: These are my personal thoughts, I am not saying this and anything remotely official. This is by no means an official statement. Just ignore the "staff" in my profile, I am not acting as a moderator in this.]

I'm sorry but this kind of comes across as rude? Crafty Games put a lot of work into the MAG and WoC so saying oh I don't want to play the game or pay for the books but I want to know everything in it? Hopefully that isn't what you meant. Even if you aren't going to play the game, they are still worth being bought, the e-copies are only 15 and 13 dollars respectively which really isn't that bad a price for the content. Again, perhaps I just read you wrong, I'm sorry if I did.

Edited March 26, 2014 by WeiryWriter

[Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him]

Has anyone posted all the new info from that anywhere? I'm really uninterested in playing it, so I'm not going to buy it, but I would still like to know all the interesting Mistborn nuggets.

 

There hasn't been a full review post I don't think, though I could work one up probably. I've only skimmed it so far. It was light on what I was looking for (pre-Ascension lore). 

[Everstorm]

Well Vin was an Allomancer, and her sister's death snapped her. People only have the "potential" to be Allomancers prior to snapping. I think Allomancy is pretty well described, it's Feruchemy that I'm more curious about. 

 

As far as we know, there is no Snapping involved, though it is very possible that the scale of trauma necesarry is simply too low to register, ie stubbing your toe, or even the process of being born, since we do know that Vin's birth was enough to Snap her.

 

I like WeiryWriter's theory a lot! It makes sense. But then, that would also mean that the Lord Ruler's "breeding" program should have been successful in eliminating these abilities over the course of a thousand years, right?

Edited March 26, 2014 by Darkeye

[Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him]

Well Vin was an Allomancer, and her sister's death snapped her. People only have the "potential" to be Allomancers prior to snapping. I think Allomancy is pretty well described, it's Feruchemy that I'm more curious about. 

 

 

I like WeiryWriter's theory a lot! It makes sense. But then, that would also mean that the Lord Ruler's "breeding" program should have been successful in eliminating these abilities over the course of a thousand years, right?

 

Can't catch them all... even with the most efficient programs. 

[Observer]

Breeding programs don't mean anything if Feruchemists are part of the underground and making magical babies without permission. Plus things like Tindwyl totally messing up the whole point of the system. Honestly I'm not very surprised that Feruchemy lasted the millenium.

[PorridgeBrick he/him]

Feruchemists do not need to Snap, they can access there powers from birth. It is also an end-neutral magic, there is no investiture coming from an outside force as happens with allomancy or surgebinding which require "broken souls" so that the individual is open to such investiture.  But that's just theory.Edit:[Disclaimer: These are my personal thoughts, I am not saying this and anything remotely official. This is by no means an official statement. Just ignore the "staff" in my profile, I am not acting as a moderator in this.]I'm sorry but this kind of comes across as rude? Crafty Games put a lot of work into the MAG and WoC so saying oh I don't want to play the game or pay for the books but I want to know everything in it? Hopefully that isn't what you meant. Even if you aren't going to play the game, they are still worth being bought, the e-copies are only 15 and 13 dollars respectively which really isn't that bad a price for the content. Again, perhaps I just read you wrong, I'm sorry if I did.

 

Sorry if I came off like that. It's just not a genre I'm interested in, and as far as I know there isn't really enough new info in these to justify an entire purchase when there's going to only be a little I don't already know. Wasn't the previous MAG mostly a rehash of known info in terms of Cosmere/ Mistborn relevant stuff? I will make my post less offensive, though.

[Tempus]

A recent Word of Brandon from the Philidelphia signing said that there are other ways to become a feruchemist, but we have not seen them or anything about them as of yet.

[Araris Valerian he/him]

Since lerasium can be used to rewrite your spiritweb, hopefully you can give yourself all sorts of special powers, including feruchemy. I saw a post somewhere that depending on which shardworld you came from it would have a different base effect, so it might encompass all uses of investiture.

[Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him]

I supposed there must be another way then heredity on thinking about it.

 

Hoid has access to and utilizes Feruchemy. It's something related to Feruchemy that allows him to "forecast" where he needs to be for the action... could be the Lerasium bead that he as worked into a metalmind granting him Feruchemy, but I think he was doing the "foresight" thing before he got access to Feruchemy. 

[Moogle]

Here's our WoB on Snapping:

Kchan
How does Snapping work after Sazed changed it? If you don't want to reveal it all right now, are there any hints you can give us?

Brandon Sanderson
He couldn't get rid of this entirely. I don't want to spoil things, but Snapping was built into Allomancy primarily because of larger-scale magical issues. This is getting deep into the issue, but it has to do with a person's spiritual makeup and a 'wounded' spirit being easier to fill with something else, kind of like a cut would let something into the bloodstream. Sazed made this threshold on Scadrial much easier to obtain.

 

<speculation>

With Allomancy, you draw in an external power. It needs a pathway to go through. So, when you Snap (which can happen when you become extremely happy too, as a point of curiosity - there doesn't have to be trauma, the soul just has to change significantly), you open up a pathway for Preservation's power to latch onto your soul. Normally there's no way it could get into you, so you need Snapping. Now that Preservation has linked into you, you can draw the power of Allomancy from it.

 

Similarly, with Surgebinding, you need a wounded soul so external Investiture (a spren) can latch onto you. This external connection can then tinker with you and give you the ability to draw in Stormlight, and also link up to external Surges (which the spren contains).

 

With Feruchemy, there is no external power source. You draw all the power from yourself. There's there no need for Snapping, because you don't need to link up with a Shard or let external Investiture into you.

</speculation>