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When a person is born with the hereditary Allomantic ability, they cannot burn metals until the Allomantic ability is awakened in them. The process of Allomancy being activated within a person is called [[Snapping]]. In the [[Final Empire]] era of Scadrial, Snapping required immense trauma. This was usually inflicted by an intense beating at a young age. It was possible for Allomancers to Snap from other intense emotions, like joy, but this was much more uncommon.{{annotation ref|mb3|chapter=70}} It was said that the more powerful the Allomancer, the more intense the trauma had to be to Snap.
However, after the [[Final Ascension]], [[Harmony]] changed the way Snapping operated, but it is unknown how it was altered.{{qa ref
Allomancy is a End-Positive{{ref|b|mb4|ars}} magic system--meaning energy is gained in the process of its use. It is of the [[Shard]] [[Preservation]].{{epigraph ref|mb3|32}} Energy does not come from one's own body, as happens in [[Feruchemy]], but from Preservation himself.
Metal is not the source of Allomancy's power.{{annotation ref|mb3|chapter=38}} Rather, metal is what is called a [[focus]]--a necessary component to a manifestation of [[Investiture]] (magic system), but not the source of the power itself. When an Allomancer burns a metal, that metal specific molecular structure acts as a conduit to Preservation, and then the Allomancer is granted an ability corresponding to the metal, hence the metal "focuses" Preservation's power to the user. Each metal is the only way a mortal can access Preservation and the power of creation's power.{{qa ref
It may be quite unclear that Allomancy is of Preservation. After all, Pushing and Pulling on metals isn’t an effect that "preserves," so to speak. However, it is important to know that saying "Allomancy is of Preservation" has a very specific meaning: the way an Allomancer ''accesses'' the power is of Preservation, but the actual effect of the power is unrelated to Preservation.{{qa ref
Allomancy--as well as Feruchemy--have the property that Allomantic abilities are inherent to the user, and hardcoded into their Spiritweb.{{ref|b|mb4|ars}} While other Investitures can take years of practice, Allomancers can use their power the moment they can acquire the correct metals. This comes with the tradeoff that having the trait of Allomancy is something one is born with; a non-Allomancer cannot become an Allomancer (except in the very particular case of burning [[lerasium]], which overwrites one's Spiritual DNA to have the connection to Preservation required to use Allomancy{{qa ref
Allomancy was not created by Preservation. None of the Metallic Arts were "created" by Preservation and Ruin. Rather, these powers are the natural result of Preservation, Ruin, and Scadrial itself.{{qa ref
However, Preservation could still alter Allomancy in certain ways. He changed the rules of Allomancy twice: the first time, he changed the Table of Allomantic Metals to have atium and malatium as external temporal metals, exchanging them with cadmium and bendalloy.{{cite}} This may have had the effect of allowing for the existence of atium Mistings. Ultimately, this was part of Preservation’s plan to defeat Ruin: to have atium Mistings that could burn away Ruin’s body of atium, allowing someone else, who was not influenced as much by the intent of Preservation, to take up its power and destroy Ruin.{{cite}}
The second time Allomancy was changed was after the [[Final Ascension]], when [[Harmony]] was particularly disturbed by the horrors of Snapping, so he altered Snapping to act differently.{{qa ref
Advanced Allomancy combined with Feruchemy will be the method Scadrians gain faster-than-light travel eventually.{{qa ref
== Development ==
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