Metallic Arts

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The Metallic Arts are the three prime manifestations of Investiture on Scadrial. They consist of Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy. All three utilize certain metal alloys and each manifest specific abilities in the user (namely, metal is not the source of their power, but metal is their focus). There are eight basic metals, each with an alloy, for a total of sixteen metals. In addition, there are are two pure God Metals, and one known alloy of these.

Summary of the Metallic Arts

The Metallic Arts can be analyzed in terms of the Scadrian Shards, Ruin and Preservation. Allomancy is of Preservation and is End-Positive. Instead of Allomancy drawing power from the user, metal acts as a catalyst, and draws power from Preservation itself. Hemalurgy is of Ruin, and is End-Negative. By taking abilities from one person and giving them to another, in reduced amounts, power is actually lost. Finally, Feruchemy is the power of balance, and is both of Ruin and Preservation. It is End-Neutral, as there is neither a gain or loss in energy, simply storing the power for later use.

All people on Scadrial have seeds of the Metallic Arts within them. However, for most of the history of Scadrial, only Feruchemy was known, and that had always been isolated to the Terris people. Allomancy existed but was very uncommon. It only came about through a mechanism constructed by Preservation, which Snapped people who had Allomantic power too deep-seated to come out naturally. Hemalurgy was even more rare, as it required extensive knowledge not easily obtained.

Then, the Lord Ruler reached the Well of Ascension. He rebuilt himself into an extremely powerful mistborn using its power . He then took nine beads of lerasium from there, giving them to kings he wished to bribe to his side. This brought about the first Mistborn. The concentrated Preservation inside the lerasium was so potent, that Allomantic ability was passed down for over a millennia. Eventually, the power got diluted and Mistings began to form, and Mistborn became more uncommon. During his Ascension, the Lord Ruler also gained an understanding of Hemalurgy, and understood how to create Inquisitors, koloss, and kandra.

Later, after the Final Ascension by Harmony, Mistborn became unheard of as Allomancy's power continued to degrade. The Terris people also interbred with the survivors of the Final Empire, which combined with the slaughter of all living Feruchemists at the time left Feruchemy also diluted, and so Ferrings began to appear.

Metals and their abilities

Basic Metals
Metal	Allomantic ability	Feruchemical ability	Hemalurgic ability
Iron	Pulls on Nearby Sources of Metal	Stores Physical Weight	Steals Strength
Steel	Pushes on Nearby Sources of Metal	Stores Physical Speed	Steals Physical Allomancy
Tin	Increases Senses	Stores Senses	Steals Senses
Pewter	Increases Physical Abilities	Stores Physical Strength	Steals Physical Feruchemy
Zinc	Riots (Enflames) Emotions	Stores Mental Speed	Steals Emotional Fortitude
Brass	Soothes (Dampens) Emotions	Stores Warmth	Steals Cognitive Feruchemy
Copper	Hides Allomantic Pulses	Stores Memories	Steals Mental Fortitude
Bronze	Allows One to Hear Allomantic Pulses	Stores Wakefulness	Steals Mental Allomancy

Higher Metals
Metal	Allomantic ability	Feruchemical ability	Hemalurgic ability
Cadmium	Slows Down Time	Stores Breath	unknown
Bendalloy	Speeds Up Time	Stores Energy	unknown
Gold	Reveals Your Past Self	Stores Health	Steals Physical Feruchemy
Electrum	Reveals Your Own Future	Stores Determination	unknown
Chromium	Wipes Allomantic Reserves of Target	Stores Fortune	unknown
Nicrosil	Enhances Allomantic Burn of Target	Stores Investiture	unknown
Aluminum	Wipes Internal Allomantic Reserves	Stores Identity	Steals Enhancement Allomancy
Duralumin	Enhances the Next Metal Burned	Stores Connection	Steals Spiritual Feruchemy

The God Metals

The God metals are metals formed directly from either of the two Shards, Ruin and Preservation. They can be alloyed with the lesser metals to form sixteen different metals each, though only one is known.

'God' Metals
Metal	Allomantic ability	Feruchemical ability	Hemalurgic ability
Atium	See into other people's futures	Stores age	Steals Any Power or Attribute and does so better than any other spike
Lerasium	Causes the burner to become a Mistborn/Increases allomantic power	unknown	unknown

Atium alloys
Metal	Allomantic ability	Feruchemical ability	Hemalurgic ability
Malatium	See into other people's pasts	Unknown; Sazed tried it offscreen but "didn't get very far"	unknown

Ettmetal

After contact with the Southern Peoples of Scadrial a new metal is revealed. Called "Ettmetal" in their native tongue, the Southern Peoples use it to power their technology. Little is known of "ettmetal" other than it can power machines, explodes when it is exposed to water (much like the alkali metals), and that it burns "with a pure whiteness".

Notes

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References

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