Burning Harmonium

[Quantus he/him]

This came up in another thread, but I thought it deserved it's own thread:

WOB is that Harmonium generally cant be burned for practical reasons: it reacts explosively to water like an alkali metal, so even putting it in your mouth could be lethal, making it impossible swallow and burn.  That being said, we now know that there is actually nothing special about the Stomach, rather its more about being perceived as "inside you", and WOB confirms that Piercings can be burned.  So if you had a properly made, healed and dried piercing, you should be able to then safety place and burn Harmonium in it.  

 

That being the case, I'd like to see what theories folks have for what effect it might have.  

Based on what it does currently and my own guesses about the how (which is to say based on almost nothing), I think burning it would project a temporary Cognitive Shadow of yourself, a Ghost-clone.  Ive always pictured it's current use as taking a Charge and then creating a sort of temporary/"holographic" spiritweb that can then emit the Power independently as it if were a real person.  On that logic I figure that Burning it would create a more complete version of that pseudo-Spiritweb, rather than just the piece that creates and Emit the Metallic Arts Powers.  Put another way, I think the current use is creating and activating a temporary version of the spiritweb, but restricted to just the sort of Chunk that could otherwise be held in a Nicrosil Spike.  

 

Thoughts and Theories?

[Halyo_Alex he/him]

I mean, that's a better hypothesis than I would be able to come up with, so... I agree, I guess.

 

What I'm curious about is if you could then spike that pseudo-web and actually obtain a Hemalurgic charge (probably a stupidly weak one, but a charge nonetheless) and then spike it into someone else to nonfatally "donate" one of your Metalborn powers in a heavily diluted form.

[Honorless he/him]

I still think that Harmonium seems like it would grant Feruchemy, after all it is something of a balance between Preservation and Ruin. Lerasium granted Allomancy, why couldn't Harmonium grant Feruchemy?

[Quantus he/him]

 

6 minutes ago, Honorless said:

I still think that Harmonium seems like it would grant Feruchemy, after all it is something of a balance between Preservation and Ruin. Lerasium granted Allomancy, why couldn't Harmonium grant Feruchemy?

Entirely possible I suppose.  My only real problem with that is that, unlike Lerasium for Allomancy, this would not explain how Feruchemy came about initially, since there was nothing close to Harmonium in Era 1.  

[Honorless he/him]

I don't think that it needs to be the origin of the system in order to be able to grant it. After all, look at Allomancy. It too occurred naturally long before Lerasium Mistborn became a thing when Rashek Ascended.

[Quantus he/him]

37 minutes ago, Honorless said:

I don't think that it needs to be the origin of the system in order to be able to grant it. After all, look at Allomancy. It too occurred naturally long before Lerasium Mistborn became a thing when Rashek Ascended.

They were?  I was under the impression that there were no mistborn prior to the beads being used (aside from Rashek making himself a Fullborn).  

[Kingsdaughter613 she/her]

1 hour ago, Honorless said:

I still think that Harmonium seems like it would grant Feruchemy, after all it is something of a balance between Preservation and Ruin. Lerasium granted Allomancy, why couldn't Harmonium grant Feruchemy?

I suspect it may, but not by burning (which is allomancy). I think you’d have to tap the investiture inherent in the metal. (Remember, the God metals are solid investiture, as opposed to ordinary metals.) 

Burning Harmonium should grant an allomantic ability. A Harmonium spike should steal/grant an ability.

[Kingsdaughter613 she/her]

14 minutes ago, Quantus said:

They were?  I was under the impression that there were no mistborn prior to the beads being used (aside from Rashek making himself a Fullborn).  

I can’t figure out how to make this one post. Can someone combine them?

There weren’t. But mistings existed. 

The first Feruchemists seem to have been created by Preservation. There is another method, but it is currently unknown.

[NameIess]

3 minutes ago, Kingsdaughter613 said:

I can’t figure out how to make this one post. Can someone combine them?

You can click the edit button, then add the additional words onto the original post

7 minutes ago, Kingsdaughter613 said:

Burning Harmonium should grant an allomantic ability. A Harmonium spike should steal/grant an ability.

Lerasium already grants allomantic powers, Harmonium wouldn't do the same thing.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Llstml

[Kingsdaughter613 she/her]

It wouldn’t let me add the quote.

3 minutes ago, Llstml said:

You can click the edit button, then add the additional words onto the original post

Lerasium already grants allomantic powers, Harmonium wouldn't do the same thing.

Sorry, that wasn’t clear. I meant grant in the sense that burning Tin gives you heightened senses. Not that Harmonium alters the spirit web when burnt. It would give you an allomantic power while it is being burnt by a mistborn/Harmonium misting.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Kingsdaughter613

[Quantus he/him]

9 minutes ago, Kingsdaughter613 said:

It wouldn’t let me add the quote.

Sorry, that wasn’t clear. I meant grant in the sense that burning Tin gives you heightened senses. Not that Harmonium alters the spirit web when burnt. It would give you an allomantic power while it is being burnt by a mistborn/Harmonium misting.

Id agree with that.  When it's used to mimic Allomancy it burns away rather than creating something permanent, which would place it's effects closer to Atium than Lerasium.  

[Aon Tia she/her]

Since we already know that ettmetal when used in southerners technology reproduces that power of Allomancy or Feruchemy which is in the vicinity, So, may be if you manage to burn it, it will grant you the allomantic or Feruchemical power of someone who is in your vicinity..while burning it..

Edited November 22, 2019 by The traveller

[Honorless he/him]

5 hours ago, Quantus said:

They were?  I was under the impression that there were no mistborn prior to the beads being used (aside from Rashek making himself a Fullborn).  

Alendi was a Seeker

[Calderis he/him]

Alendi was Mistsnapped, so he's still a kind of exception... But the south has Allomancers and Feruchemists to. 

Both are an inherent part of being scadrian, strength is just low enough that either is exceedingly rare without the introduction of... Whatever Preservation did to the Terris or Lerasium. 

Quote

Comatose

So here's my last question. If there ARE people on the other side of the world, did Vin kill them all by placing the sun on their side, or do they have they're own Ruin/Preservation battle going on over there as well? Do they also have allomancy feruchemy and hemalurgy?

Brandon Sanderson

No, they're not dead. Yes, Rashek was aware of them. In fact, he placed them there as a reserve. I knew he wanted a 'control' group of people in case his changes to genetics ended with the race being in serious trouble. All I'll say is that he found a way other than changing them genetically to help them survive in the world he created. And since they were created by Ruin and Preservation, they have the seeds of the Three Metallic Arts in them—though without anyone among them having burned Lerasium, Allomancers would have been very rare in their population and full Mistborn unheard of.

Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide (Oct. 15, 2008)

So there'd be no Mistborn... And Feruchemists would only result in Ferrings due to the weakness, and lack of insularity of the Terris.