Savant

Savant
Related to	Investiture
Universe	Cosmere

A savant is someone who has used an Investiture-related ability so much that it has changed their physiology; at least Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Surgebinding can lead to savants. The process involves one's spirit becoming infused with Investiture, causing changes in the Physical Realm.

Allomantic savant

An Allomancer who has flared their metal for a long time can become a savant. Generally, savantism gives the Allomancer more blunt power and sometimes grants additional special effects. It is dangerous and harmful to the body. The Allomancer might rely so much on or get so accustomed to the metal that when they extinguish the metal, they experience serious backfire effects.

With most metals, the effects are quite small. Seekers, for example, often become savants without being aware of it, granting them a boost to the range of their abilities. However, some metals warp the body of savants much more. Tin savants experience such magnification of their senses that they can become incapacitated by bright light or loud sounds. Pewter Mistings often die before becoming savants, as they feel neither pain nor exhaustion to any great extent and therefore may ignore wounds that later prove fatal. Pewter savants heal quickly, though not as fast as someone tapping health from a goldmind.

Spook is a textbook case of an Allomantic savant. He flares his tin for so long that he sense things as minute as the wind of a sword's passing. However, his senses are so enhanced that any light is too bright for him, forcing him to wearing a blindfold, and he keeps his ears stuffed with wool to block out noises.

Waxillium Ladrian's ability to create a "steel bubble" to deflect metal moving around him was originally intended to be the result of him being a savant in the resonance between his Allomantic steel and Feruchemical iron. Brandon later backed up on that, as he realized Wax was not manifesting the usual consequences of savantism. It is unclear what this means for the status of savants like Seekers, who were previously described as facing little consequence for savanthood.

If someone were able to burn the amount of Lerasium needed to become a savant with the metal, they would ascend and become the holder of Preservation, similar to what happens when one consumes the mists. This is due to the nature of the metal as the condensed power of Preservation.

Feruchemical savant

Since Feruchemy doesn't draw from an external power, it is very difficult to become a savant. If the Feruchemist is able to Compound and draw power from an outside source they could become one.

Surgebinding savant

Every Surge can cause a Surgebinder to become a savant.

Soulcasting savant

Soulcasting savants begin to take on the physical characteristics of the substances that they produce with Soulcasting. For example, ardents responsible for construction on the Shattered Plains begin to look like stone or crystal, Kaza's body starts turning into smoke, and Ithi and her sister have vines growing under their skin in part from constantly producing grain during the Siege of Kholinar. Both Surgebinder Soulcasters and users of Soulcaster fabrials can become savants, though the effects are much less pronounced for Surgebinders, as the Nahel bond offers some protection.

Notable Savants

For a complete list of savants, see Category:Savants.

• Spook (Tineye, former)
• Rashek (Allomancy and Feruchemy)
• Miles (Bloodmaker)
• Kaza (Soulcaster)
• Ithi (Soulcaster)

Trivia

• Savants look different in the Spiritual Realm compared to a regular human.
• The extra abilities gained by a savant cannot be transferred through Hemalurgy.

Notes

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