Scadrial

Scadrial
Shards	Preservation, Ruin, Harmony*
Perpendicularities	Well of Ascension, Pits of Hathsin, Ruin's Perpendicularity
Investitures	Allomancy, Feruchemy, Hemalurgy
System	Scadrian system
Universe	Cosmere

“From the adaptations (both forced and unforced) of the humans living on her, to the vast transformations of landscape during her different eras, Scadrial remains my favorite planet for scholarly study in the cosmere. The interactions of her magics with natural physics are multitude, varied, and fascinating. ”

—From Khriss's essay on the Scadrian system

Scadrial is a planet of the Cosmere and is the setting of the Mistborn series. It contains several other planets in its system. Scadrial has no moon, but there is an extremely bright patch of stars visible in the night sky. People from Scadrial are called Scadrians.

Geography & Ecology

Classical Scadrial

Before the Lord Ruler took the power at the Well of Ascension, Scadrial was extremely Earth-like. It had a blue sky, clouds, a yellow sun, flowers, green plants, and animals such as horses.

Classical Scadrial technology was at an early industrial era.

The World of Ash

Scadrial during the Final Empire, by Francis Goeltner

At the time of the Final Empire, the planet was characterised by ashfalls and nightly mists. Scadrial was moved closer to the sun by Rashek, causing the temperature on Scadrial to increase dramatically. To counter this Rashek created the ashmounts in the northern hemisphere near the pole, to pump ferromagnetic ash and gas into the sky to reflect heat back into space. This decreased heat near the north pole but the thicker atmosphere raised the temperature of the rest of Scadrial, turning it into an uninhabitable desert, known as the burnlands. Rashek radically altered the geography of Scadrial, rotating the crust of the planet further south, and flattening mountain ranges, and creating new ones elsewhere, all to hide the location of the Well of Ascension. The magnetic and geographic poles of Scadrial were the same, but when the Well was moved south from the north pole, the magnetic pole followed it.

The Final Empire existed in the northern hemisphere, but life managed to survive elsewhere as well. Rashek realized that this ash would make it hard for humans to survive, and the new plants that could survive the ash would be difficult for them to live off of. So he altered the physiology of humanity, changing them so that they were more capable of living in this new world. He also created the Balance; he made the noblemen taller, stronger, more intelligent, and less fertile, and changed everyone else, except the Terrismen, into the race that would be known as the skaa. They were shorter, hardier, and had many children. Rashek worried that his changes to humanity would result in some unseen complication and human extinction. He moved a portion of the population to the south pole, left them unchanged, and gave them an unknown method of survival.

Few plants and animals survived from the world before, except horses, and some dogs. Rashek created new animals. He designed new plants that could break down the falling ash, and microbes that broke it down as part of their biological processes, in order to prevent the ashfalls from covering the world, as Ruin later attempted to do by making the ashmounts produce more ash. The reason for Final Empire-era plants' brown color was due to the Lord Ruler altering their physiology to be able to use more wavelengths of light (such as green light, which is normally reflected) to compensate for the loss of light caused by the ash. Since the plants' light absorption still wasn't fully efficient, the plants became brown instead of black.

The most notable new animal however was the mistwraith, a creature made of mostly muscle, and uses the bones of deceased animals to create unique skeletal structures for itself. They were created from all the living Feruchemists at the time of the Lord Ruler's Ascension. When the correct Hemalurgic spikes are placed in mistwraiths, they turn into the sentient kandra. Rashek also used Hemalurgy to design koloss, made from humans, and Inquisitors.

Post-Catacendre Scadrial

When Sazed took both Ruin and Preservation, he remade the planet and moved it back from the sun, removing the need for the ashmounts. He returned the world to the way it was before Rashek took the power at the Well of Ascension. He used the knowledge of his copperminds to return the geography to its original form, and restored all the animals that were extinct. The sole difference was the Elendel Basin.

A map of the Elendel Basin by Isaac Stewart

The Elendel Basin

In the northern hemisphere of Scadrial, Sazed created a basin of fertile lands that could never be over-farmed and ringed it with the Seran, Faleast, and Channeral mountain ranges. The Originators named it the Elendel Basin, and built the city of Elendel in the center, on the coast of the Sea of Yomend. Most of the population of the northern hemisphere live within the Elendel Basin. Around the edges of the Basin many people farmed the land. The settlements in the basin include:

• Alendel
• Bilming
• Doriel
• Doxonar
• Dryport
• Drypost
• Dazarlomue
• Elendel
• Elmsdel
• Garmet
• Mycondwel
• Rashekin
• Steinel
• Tarier
• Tathingdwel
• Vindiel-Cameux
• Wyllion

The Roughs

The regular lands around the Elendel Basin were known as the Roughs. Due to the bountiful nature of the basin, there were few reasons to live in the Roughs. The cities in the Roughs include:

• Callingfale
• Covingtar
• Faradana
• Far Dorest
• Feltrel (now a ghost town)
• Isauec's Bend
• True Madil
• Weathering

Lands to the South

See also: Southern Scadrian

Near the south pole of Scadrial is another inhabited continent. This area was a much harsher place to live in, as there were no Ashmounts during the days of the Final Empire to protect it. During the Catacendre the land froze, and remained frozen over 3 centuries later, with the people there only surviving due to the intervention of Kelsier.. It is described as a cold place of ice, with 5 distinct groups in society, each of which wear masks but in their own way. The people live in towers, and hire out small craft to ferry them between towers. They have at least some awareness of the principles of the broader cosmere, as they known enough about Investiture and Identity to create unsealed metalminds. Kelsier also taught them about the Shards Ruin and Preservation, and may have given them some information about how the Shards are pieces of Adonalsium.

The people to the south are highly advanced. This is mentioned by Harmony himself several times, as he ponders over whether he has made life too easy for those living in the Basin, thus stunting their need to advance to survive. They are capable of using metalminds without any identity to them, which can then be used by anyone. They also have access to large numbers of flying craft. Their mining is extensive, as Allik Neverfar mentions that it is common knowledge that they managed to dig down deep enough into the mantle for temperatures to increase greatly, even on a frozen continent full of ice. Furthermore they also have access to a strange metal known as "ettmetal", which is capable of storing pure Investiture in it to use as a fuel source for allomancy. This metal is somewhat similar to alkali metals in that it reacts fiercely with water, leading to combustion, and thus is used by the southern peoples in their bombs.

History & Mythology

Creation of Scadrial

“This, then, was their bargain. Preservation got mankind, the only creations that had more Preservation than Ruin in them, rather than a balance. Independent life that could think and feel. In exchange, Ruin was given a promise—and proof—that he could bring an end to all they had created together. It was the pact.”

—Sazed's explanation of the creation of mankind on Scadrial

Millennia ago, the Shards Ruin and Preservation arrived in the Scadrian system, deliberately choosing a star with no relevant planets, and created Scadrial. Since they were paired Shards with opposite intents, nothing could be created or destroyed, as they wished it could be. They were locked in an eternal conflict. But then a pact was struck. Preservation offered Ruin a bargain. If Ruin would help him create life on Scadrial, to make plants and animals, Preservation would eventually allow him to destroy the whole planet. In addition to his word, Preservation offered him proof that Ruin could destroy everything. Preservation's greatest wish was to create sentient life, humans patterned after the other humans Ati and Leras had once known. In order to create humans with a spark of intelligence, it would require a small amount more of Preservation's power than Ruin's. This made Preservation slightly weaker, meaning Ruin would eventually overcome his opposite, and destroy Scadrial. However, Preservation decided to break the agreement, in order to save the world. He couldn't overcome Ruin with his power, he was too weak. So Preservation decided to trap Ruin's mind in a prison, where Ruin would be practically powerless. In order to trap Ruin's mind Preservation used his own mind to forge the prison, sacrificing his cognition for the greater good.

Preservation did not leave the humans without hope to defend themselves if Ruin managed to break free. He left the people of Scadrial with the Terris Prophecies. They spoke of a series of heroes who would come to take the power of Preservation at the Well of Ascension every thousand years to become a protector of humanity. Eventually, a final hero would come, known as the Hero of Ages, a person who would bear the future of the world on his arms. This person would take up the power of Preservation, to save the world. Preservation also altered Allomancy, swapping the metals cadmium and bendalloy for atium and malatium, so that there could be atium Mistings to burn away Ruin's power.

Classical Scadrial

In the classical era of Scadrial, the people turned to the Terris Prophecies to guide them against a new threat, the Deepness. The nightly mists of Scadrial had grown stronger, and began to stay during the day. This was because from inside his prison Ruin was supplementing their strength. He hoped to create a threat to the world by going with Preservation's wishes, instead of against them. The world was dying, all the plants and animals couldn't survive and the people were starving. At this time, a man named Alendi came to power. A Worldbringer, Kwaan, had discovered Alendi and believed him to be this final Hero of Ages, who would save the world. Alendi became convinced he was the Hero, and began a military campaign to unite the world against the Deepness, doing his best to fulfill the prophecies. Unfortunately those prophecies were no longer the same as they once were.

Ruin had used his tiny bit of power to alter the words of the prophecies that were inside of the Worldbringers' metalminds. They now stated that the Hero should give up the power at the Well of Ascension, an action which would free Ruin from his prison. He also tailored the prophecies to fit Alendi more perfectly, so that there would be no doubt in peoples' minds that he was the Hero.

Kwaan, the man who first brought Alendi before the Conclave of Worldbringers, noticed this alteration because of his prodigious memory. He attempted to convince the Conclave of Worldbringers of his mistake, but they would not listen to him, much as they didn't listen to him when he first brought the possibility of Alendi being the Hero of Ages to their attention. He turned on Alendi, and did his best to undermine Alendi's rule. By this point Alendi was in control of most if not all of Scadrial. He was also no longer entirely his own master. Alendi had the prophesied "piercings of the Hero" which were actually Hemalurgic spikes, which allowed Ruin to subtly influence him.

The Ascension of the Lord Ruler

However, Alendi had still failed to stop the Deepness, and there was only one hope, the Well of Ascension.As the power returned to the Well, Alendi could hear the pulses because he was a Seeker. He hoped that giving up the power would stop the Deepness. Kwaan knew that Alendi mustn't be allowed to reach the Well, for he knew that giving up the power was just what Ruin wanted. Kwaan's only hope to stop Alendi was his nephew Rashek, a Feruchemist who hated Alendi, and the nation of Khlennium from which he hailed. Kwaan commanded his nephew to become Alendi's pack man, and to attempt to mislead on his way to the Well. If Rashek failed at that, Kwaan asked him to kill Alendi. The last remnant of Leras' mind, in the form of the mist spirit, was also doing its best to stop Alendi. Ruin, however, made Alendi distrust the spirit by impersonating it and stabbing Alendi's companion Fedik when he became too interested in Ruin's Perpendicularity. Ultimately, Rashek failed to lead Alendi astray and killed him. At that point, Rashek himself took the power at the Well of Ascension and refused to give it up, denying Ruin his chance at freedom.

“The subtlety displayed in the ash-eating microbes and enhanced plants shows that Rashek got better and better at using the power. It burned out in a matter of minutes—but to a god, minutes can pass like hours. During that time, Rashek began as an ignorant child who shoved a planet too close to the sun, grew into an adult who could create ashmounts to cool the air, then finally became a mature artisan who could develop plants and creatures for specific purposes.”

—Sazed's reflections on Rashek's use of the Well of Ascension

While holding the power, Rashek's mind was expanded, but he wasn't accustomed to such great power and had no experience with using it. Rashek attempted to destroy the Deepness by moving Scadrial closer to its star, in order to burn away the mists. Unfortunately Scadrial's new location was too hot for life, so Rashek moved it further away from its parent star, which left the planet too cold. Rashek then moved it closer to the star again, but it was still too hot. Having no point of reference for where the planet should go, Rashek elected to leave it too close to the star. He began working retroactively to fix problems he had created himself, because the intent of Preservation, whose power made up the Well, was affecting him. To counter the increased heat, he made the Ashmounts, volcanoes which pumped gas and ferromagnetic ash into the air. These shaded the land near the north pole, which was one of two relatively cool places remaining on Scadrial, the other being the south pole. Gas from the Ashmounts also made the atmosphere thicker, which raised temperatures in the rest of the world, turning it even hotter. This resulted in a massive desert called the Burnlands covering most of the planet. Rashek realized that the ash from the Ashmounts would eventually bury the whole land. He thus created plants and microbes that broke down the ash. When Rashek altered the humans of the north pole to make them able to survive in a world so full of ash, he worried that the changes he made to their physiology would kill them. He left some of the humans on Scadrial unaltered, as a control, and moved them to the relatively cool area near the south pole. He gave them an unknown method to survive there. Rashek also wished to disguise the location of the Well, so he flattened the Terris mountains, moved them south from the pole, and raised new mountains in the north to disguise what had happened.

Rashek also was granted an understanding of the Metallic Arts. Ruin whispered to Rashek the secrets of how to make koloss and Inquisitors, servants that Ruin hoped to take control of himself later on. Rashek realized that the Feruchemists of his homeland would be difficult to control because of the knowledge of their copperminds. They wouldn't accept him as their leader because he had murdered their Hero, Alendi. So Rashek offered a bargain to his fellow pack men and his uncle Kwaan. He would grant them immortality, in exchange for their Feruchemy and humanity. Rashek's packmen accepted his proposal, but Kwaan refused saying it was a betrayal of who the Terris were as a people. Using the power of Preservation, Rashek changed his friends and every other living Feruchemist into a mistwraith, but he attempted to destroy Kwaan, which he couldn't do with the power of Preservation, so Kwaan remained the same. Using the secrets of Hemalurgy, Rashek returned his companions to sentience, using spikes to change them from mistwraiths into kandra. After this, the last of Rashek's power faded, and he returned to his regular state of existence, although he was now a Sliver of Preservation. Rashek made himself a Mistborn, which allowed him to live forever by Compounding atium. He planned to survive until Preservation's power returned to the Well of Ascension, so that he could take it up again and prevent Ruin from escaping. Rashek began calling himself the Lord Ruler, and began his quest to reconquer what was left of Scadrial.

The Final Empire

For more information, see Final Empire.

The Lord Ruler began his conquest by finding leaders who were amicable to making him emperor of the world, and secured their support by giving them beads of lerasium, which turned them into Mistborn. He also used the koloss as unstoppable monsters destroying cities weakened by the Deepness. Ultimately, it took him around two centuries to conquer the whole world, although some religions resisted him until five centuries after his Ascension. Rashek established his capital at the city of Luthadel, built over the Well of Ascension.

The Lord Ruler ruled the Final Empire for 1024 years waiting for the Well to refill, so he could take the power again. During this time Ruin began to talk to the Lord Ruler through his Hemalurgic spikes, manipulating the Lord Ruler and playing off his insecurities and fears. The Lord Ruler decided to begin performing measures that would protect humanity somewhat, should Ruin ever break free. He started by hiding as much atium as he could, weakening Ruin as much as possible. Rashek had the Obligators secretly remove atium from most of the geodes. A little atium was shipped to Luthadel to be held by the Lord Ruler or sold to the noblemen. All the rest was sent to the kandra Homeland, a metal rich area, which was near the Pits of Hathsin. Whenever the Lord Ruler returned some atium to the Homeland it was hidden in canal boats, and caravans with gold, so Ruin could not see it.

Rashek also began digging storage caverns beneath several cities in the Final Empire, containing food, water, and other basic survival needs, and also acting as a shelter for humanity. He also put metal plates in the caverns, giving clues to the next cavern's location, along with his musings about Ruin, and the formulas for new Allomantic metals that the Lord Ruler had kept a secret.

The Fall of the Final Empire

In the Final Empire, a man named Kelsier was born, half noble, half skaa. Kelsier's mother a skaa, was found out by the Steel Ministry, and was executed. Kelsier, and his older brother Marsh barely escaped with their lives. Marsh went to devote his life to the skaa rebellion against the Lord Ruler. Kelsier went with a more selfish route, becoming an expert thief, getting revenge on noble culture by stealing from them. Kelsier also married a woman during this time, a Tineye named Mare. Together they began a heist plan more daring then any they had attempted before; they decided to steal the Lord Ruler's atium cache, which they didn't know was actually in the kandra Homeland. The heist went sour, because the Lord Ruler pierced their coppercloud, and detected Mare's Allomancy. He and his Inquisitors captured the two of them and sent them both to the Pits of Hathsin, to mine atium for him. When Kelsier failed to find the required atium geode for the week, Mare gave him one, saying she had found two that week. Mare had lied, and Kelsier watched as the guards beat her to death right in front of him. The rage and sorrow he felt caused Kelsier to Snap, unlocking his Allomantic potential as a Mistborn. Kelsier slaughtered the garrison at the Pits, and escaped swearing revenge on the Lord Ruler for the pain he had caused him.

Ruin subtly put in Kelsier's mind the idea of an "eleventh metal" to the ten known Allomantic metals of the time. This, combined with Kelsier's desire to see his dead wife avenged and her dreams of a world without ash be a reality, led Kelsier to seek to kill the Lord Ruler.

Kelsier returned to the city of Luthadel, and got himself hired by Yeden, the new head of the skaa rebellion after Marsh. His job was to overthrow the Lord Ruler, and give Yeden control of Luthadel. Kelsier then got back in contact with a few of his old thieving allies, Ham, Dockson, and Breeze. Thanks to a tip from Marsh, Kelsier and Dockson discovered a girl named Vin among a group of thieves. Vin was a Mistborn, so Kelsier took her under his wing to train her with her Allomantic abilities. Kelsier also recruited the Keeper Sazed; Marsh; a new Smoker, Clubs; and Clubs' Tineye nephew, Spook; to form his core team. Kelsier decided to break down this rebellion like a thieving job. He decided first that they needed an army, to both distract the garrison, and to take control of Luthadel. They would be recruited by Breeze and his team of emotional Allomancers, and lead and trained by Ham and his thugs. Kelsier also decided to start a House War, getting the Great Houses to go to war within the city of Luthadel to create a feeling of confusion. He preformed this job himself, getting allied houses to turn on each other with murder and rumors. Vin would act as a spy on the nobles, portraying herself as Valette Renoux, relative to Lord Renoux, played by OreSeur the kandra. Sazed would act as her steward, getting valuable information from the other servants. Marsh would spy on the obligators, as a new acolyte. Marsh also discovered the locations of Soothing stations, designed to keep the skaa complacent and miserable. Kelsier hoped that their army could take control of the city while the garrison was away, and then bribe them from attacking by stealing the Lord Ruler's atium cache, which they still didn't know wasn't in Luthadel. They would then defeat the Lord Ruler either using the mysterious Eleventh Metal, or by simply capturing him.

Kelsier's plan had a few setbacks. The first was when he and Vin decided on an impromptu attack on Kredik Shaw, to discover what the Lord Ruler kept in his inner room. They were discovered by Inquisitors and Vin was badly wounded but was rescued by Sazed, thanks to his Feruchemy. They got/stole Alendi's journal during this attack, which they incorrectly believed to have been written by the Lord Ruler. Vin also falls in love with a nobleman during her work as a spy, the young Elend Venture, heir to the most powerful Great House. This makes her doubt that all nobles are evil, and that their way of life should be destroyed. The majority of Kelsier's rebel army is also killed, when a misguided Yeden sends them to attack to test their abilities. Yeden also dies in that battle. Marsh was also chosen to become a Steel Inquisitor, but Kelsier believed him to be dead. The biggest problem occurs when the Steel Ministry discovers that House Renoux is supporting the rebellion, and raids their manor in Fellise. Kelsier attacks the convoy in the streets of Luthadel, along with the remnants of his army. He frees the majority of his captured friends, but gets locked in a duel with the Inquistor Bendal. He uses his superior Allomantic skill to behead Bendal, but then the Lord Ruler himself arrives. Kelsier tells him that he is hope, and that the Lord Ruler will never be able to kill that. The Lord Ruler responds with a backhand to Kelsier's head, removing half his face, and then stabbing him with a spear, killing Kelsier instantly. The city fell in chaos, and the skaa began to rebel, killing noblemen and running rampant. The crew went from Clubs's to one of Kelsier's warehouses, and discovered OreSeur there, wearing Kelsier's bones. OreSeur revealed that Kelsier planned to die, to give the skaa a new god. OreSeur had been going around in the form of Kelsier pretending that he was still alive to give the skaa hope. The crew distributed weapons stored at the warehouse, and Vin went to kill the Lord Ruler, bringing with her some of the Eleventh Metal. She attacked the Lord Ruler and burns the metal, malatium, which showed what the Lord Ruler could have been if he had made different choices. Vin saw that one of them was a pack man before she was dragged away to the dungeon by the Inquisitors. They forced her to burn aluminum to remove her Allomantic reserves and left her there. Then Sazed was also dragged into a cell because he had been apprehended trying to infiltrate Kredik Shaw to rescue her. After the guards left, Sazed revealed that he had allowed himself to be captured so they would bring him to Vin, and that he had swallowed some pewter to use as a metalmind. He stored some strength in it for a few minutes, then tapped it to bend the doors on the jail cell to free Vin and himself. Vin and Sazed attempted an escape, but were caught by a large group of guards. Elend Venture arrived to protect them, and Vin found her mistcloak and metal vials and killed all the soldiers. Vin Steelpushed her way to Lord Ruler's throne room and attacked, attempting to kill his past self that appeared when she burned malatium. That had no effect on Lord Ruler, but then Marsh, now an Inquisitor, arrived and helped her fight him. In the course of the battle Vin finally realized that the Lord Ruler was Rashek the pack man because of her vision of him. She realized he must somehow be tapping age, and attempted to get his metalminds away, but they pierced his body so she couldn't Pull on them. Vin is being suffocated against the wall when she draws in the mists, leaking through the broken window, which gave her the ability to Pull on his bracers. When the bracers left contact with his skin the lord Ruler began to revert to his true age of over a thousand years. As he died the Lord Ruler told Vin that she didn't know what he did for the world and that she had doomed them all.

The Siege of Luthadel

For more information, see Siege of Luthadel.

Elend Venture had been crowned king of the Central Dominance after his dreams of a new government convinced the skaa to stop the slaughter of the nobles. He had trouble convincing his new elected assembly that his ideas were good ones because of his poor leadership skills. Elend was then confronted by a new problem, two armies arriving at Luthadel. They were lead by Ashweather Cett and Elend's own father, Straff Venture. They both wanted control of the city but Elend refused. Meanwhile Sazed, who was teaching near the burnlands, had found a tablet written by Kwaan speaking of the Hero of Ages inside the Conventical of Seran. Hoping to get this information to his fellow Keepers Sazed began a return journey to Luthadel, but ran across a third army, made of koloss, lead by Elend's old friend, Jastes Lekal. At Sazed's request another Keeper, Tindwyl came to Luthadel, to help Elend become a better leader. She helped him become a man that people wanted to follow but it was too late because the assembly in their fear of Cett, Straff, and the koloss deposed Elend as king. The assembly had to choose a new king of Luthadel, their choices included, Elend, the noble Ferson Penrod, and Cett, who wants to be elected leader, and has chosen to take up residence in the city. Vin then came to a revelation that the mists had once been the Deepness, which she confided in Sazed, so he began his studies with Tindwyl into the ancient lore of the Hero of Ages and the Deepness. Vin also realized that she was being followed by the same mist spirit that followed Alendi, and that she could also hear the sounds of the Well of Ascension refilling. Straff's Mistborn son, Zane, convinced Vin that she should attack Cett's keep, so that he can't hurt Elend. Zane and Vin attack, and slaughter nearly all of Cett's guard, but Vin chooses to spare Cett and his son because she realizes that she has done something wrong. Cett leaves the city and withdraws his army from the plains surrounding Luthadel, leaving Straff and the koloss locked in a stalemate.

The Battle of Luthadel

For more information, see Battle of Luthadel.

Clubs wisely realized that Straff Venture was wily enough to simply feign a retreat, allowing the koloss to overthrow Luthadel. Then Straff himself would return, destroy the weakened koloss, and be proclaimed as the city's savior. Sazed knew that it was only a matter of time until their destruction, and realized that he had to save Elend and Vin. With the help of the remainder of Kelsier's crew he hatched a plot. Sazed tricked Vin into believing that he knew the location of the Well of Ascension, and sent her Elend, and Spook on a journey following a false map to what she believed is the only hope of Luthadel's salvation. After Vin and Elend leave the koloss fell on the city in attack. Clubs is killed fleeing from his gate with Breeze. Dockson and Tindwyl also fall to various groups of marauding koloss. Sazed in control of Iron Gate manages to hold off the koloss with the help of his Feruchemical powers. Just as his metalminds lost the last of their chares, Vin returned to help him fight. Spook had confessed that they were being tricked to Vin so she had gone back to Luthadel to try to stop the koloss. Unfortunately her Allomantic reserves were low, and before long she was out of pewter, which she had been dragging on for months. Just before the koloss overwhelm her, Vin burns duralumin and brass simultaneously, managing to take control of the koloss through their Hemalurgic spikes. She used her new found power to quickly turn the tide of the battle, by taking control of all the rest of the koloss. The next day the koloss and the remnants of Luthadel's army attacked Straff's army. Cett's army joined in to attack Straff as well, he had been convinced to do so by his daughter Allrianne, who was in love with Breeze. Vin personally split Straff Venture in half with a massive koloss sword, and proceeded to utterly destroy Straff's troops. She then made Penrod, Cett, and Staff's sole surviving general Janarle to swear allegiance to Elend as their emperor.

Ruin's Escape

The Steel Inquisitors, Ruin's primary servants, could not free him from the Well of Ascension, as they were touched by Hemalurgy. Thanks to her enchanced bronze from her her Hemalurgic spike, Vin could sense the power returning to the Well, and Ruin again manipulated the Terris Prophecies into making someone look like the Hero of Ages, this time Vin.

After Elend returned to Luthadel, Vin came to a realization. She was finally able to pinpoint the Well's location through its pulses. It was located underneath Kredik Shaw, with its entrance in the Lord Ruler's sanctuary. As she and Elend went to the Well to give up the power as the prophecies said, Sazed was visited by the remainder of Leras's mind in the form of the mist spirit. It made him understand that Vin should not give the power of the Well up, and then Sazed went to try to stop her. When Sazed arrives at Kredik Shaw, he is ambushed by Marsh who was being controlled by Ruin, who would have done whatever it took so that Vin would give up the power. Marsh and Sazed fought and along with Ham's help, Sazed beat Marsh. However, they were too late to stop Vin. She and Elend had reached the Chamber of Ascension when the mist spirit appeared and slashed Elend in the gut, dealing him a mortal wound in an attempt to get Vin to use the power to save him. Vin tearfully takes up the power, and hears a voice whispering to her, telling her to give it the power, so it can save the world. Believing that she had done the right thing, Vin gave it the power, and as she returns to her regular form she hears a scream of "I am FREE!"

Vin realized that she had somehow made the wrong choice, the voice, Ruin's voice, was an evil thing and she had inadvertently released it. Vin went to the dying Elend's side, and the mist spirit showed her a bead of metal, Lerasium, in the chamber, and made her understand that Elend should swallow it. She washed the bead down his throat with a vial of her metals, and Elend became a full Mistborn, and was able to burn pewter, making his wound survivable.

Ruin could now directly affect the world, but the power of Preservation--in the form of the mists--still protected the planet. Ruin had been weakened since the Lord Ruler hid his essence, atium, and so Ruin and Preservation were balanced again. Ruin could not find the atium personally, as he could not see metal, and the Steel Inquisitors, had spikes in their eyes, and so had this same flaw. So, Ruin continued to use his pawn, Vin, along with Elend, to find the atium for him. Ruin did not know that Preservation had actually selected Vin to take up his power. Unfortunately, Vin could not do so as her earring was a Hemalurgic spike, as Hemalurgy, being of Ruin, pushed away Preservation.

The Coup of Urteau

For more information, see Coup of Urteau.

Not long after the battle in Luthadel it was discovered that Urteau, the formal capital of Straff Venture's country, had been taken from Elend's empire by rebel skaa. Urteau had once been a major center of power for House Venture, but they had moved their major influence to Luthadel and the canals that had once formed Urteau's streets had inexplicably gone dry. They were led by a man named Quellion, who took of the city, and gave himself the the title of the "Citizen". Quellion had taken Kelsier's viewpoints against the nobles to an extreme, burning alive everyone who had any noble blood in their family. Spook had been dispatched there to gather intelligence on Quellion's rule and find any potential weaknesses that could be exploited in order to get Urteau back into the hands of Elend. Spook during this time period began flaring his tin constantly, as a result of his guilt about abandoning his uncle, Clubs, to die in the Battle of Luthadel. This process eventually transformed him into an Allomantic savant, giving him senses above any other Tineye while he was burning the metal, but extremely weak compared to non-Allomancers when he stopped. Before long Spook was joined by Breeze, Allrianne, and Sazed, who were fresh from their victory convincing the Lekal Kingdom to join Elend's empire. Spook attempted to spy on the Citizen, but became enamored with Quellion's beautiful sister Beldre. Later when Beldre and Quellion were in the streetslots Spook attempted to speak to her. Quellion caught him and sent his guards after Spook, who were secretly Pewterarms. Spook attempted to fight them himself but in a desperate attempt to stop Spook, one Pewterarm thrust his steel sword through the heart of the other, and into Spook's arm. The blade broke and left a fragment of steel inside of Spook, who fainted from blood-loss. The precise placement of the thrust had been manipulated by Ruin, who wanted to get a Hemalurgic spike into Spook so he could influence him. This spike also gave Spook the ability to burn pewter.

When Spook awakens in a burning noble manor, his place of execution, Ruin speaks into his mind using the voice of Kelsier. He gets Spook to use some pewter and using his new strength Spook escapes, setting off a new chain of rumors about this "Survivor of the Flames".

The Siege of Fadrex City

For more information, see Siege of Fadrex City.

The location of the final storage cavern, Elend's armies descend on Fadrex City and besiege it until Ruin steals the koloss and turns them against both the army and the city.

During the siege, when Elend was about to give up, the shadow of Preservation's mind that remained communicated with Elend, and then passed. This had the potential to be a catastrophic event: when a Shard lacks a mind controlling it, and the power has no "release," it is incredibly dangerous, as happened on Sel when Odium destroyed Devotion and Dominion. Fortunately, Kelsier, who had not passed on beyond the Three Realms, held onto Preservation's power for just a little longer, until Vin could take it up.

Vin's Ascension

Vin eventually caught onto Ruin's ploys, and would not find the atium for him. Because of this, Ruin sent his Inquisitors, along with Marsh, his main Inquisitor, to kill Vin. Marsh, though almost entirely under Ruin's direct control, held a small bit of himself back, and he used that shred of humanity to tear the Hemalurgic earring from her. Vin could now access the mists--Preservation's power--fully, and upon burning it, she ascended, becoming Preservation.

The Battle of Hathsin

“Preservation could never destroy you! He could only protect. That's why he needed to create humankind. All along, Ruin, this was part of his plan! ”

—Vin to Ruin

Upon Vin's ascension, she tried to oppose Ruin, but learned that she could not do much, for Ruin would oppose her. Ruin finds out where his atium is being hidden and attempts to recover it, as without it he is weaker than normal. All koloss under Ruin's control flock to the site of the Battle of Hathsin and attack those taking refuge there. On the ground, Elend and Sazed discovered the atium, and realize that those who were taken by the mists who were sick for the longest period of time are Seers, or atium Mistings. Ruin immediately sent his forces to destroy them, but the Seers use their newfound powers to fend off the koloss as well as weaken Ruin. Ruin, through Marsh, killed Elend, and Vin realized Preservation's plan. Preservation needed someone who could preserve, but also destroy, and Preservation was too touched by his Shard to destroy Ruin. Vin knew she had little left to live for without Elend, and so, directly attacked Ruin with her power. She pressed in, not shying back, and in the assault, killed Ruin and herself in the process.

Sazed, on the ground at the battle, saw the corpses of Ati and Vin, with the power of their Shards leaking from their bodies, and Sazed took up both Shards together. The power did not vanish as the Well of Ascension's power did; these were the Shards themselves, which, under the control of one mind, could both preserve and destroy, or create. Using the knowledge from his metalminds, he began to remake the world, and undid the damage the Lord Ruler did to Scadrial. This event will later be known as the Catacendre, meaning "the end of the ash". He then created a paradise for them to live in. The conflict on Scadrial had vanished, for now. Now under the control of one mind, Ruin and Preservation's power began to intermingle, and Sazed became known as Harmony.

Post-Catacendric Era

Alloy of Law begins 341 years after the Catacendre according to the broadsheets.^[expand]

Culture and Society

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Calendar

After the Catacendre, the residents of northern Scadrial use a 12 month calendar, with each of the months being named after a member of Kelsier's crew. Known months include Vinuarch (named after Vin), Doxil (named after Dockson),, and Cladence (named after Cladent).

Cosmere

Scadrial is home to two Shards, Ruin, and Preservation. The physical forms of Preservation could be found in the beads of Lerasium, and the white mists. Ruin's physical forms were the beads of atium, which formed in crystals in the Pits of Hathsin and the black mists.

Prior to Sazed's ascension both Shards had Perpendicularities, though it is unclear if they were changed or removed by Sazed. Preservation's Perpendicularity was the Well of Ascension, previously located at the north pole of Scadrial, but moved to under Kredik Shaw in Luthadel. Ruin's Perpendicularity is the black lake, beneath the Pits of Hathsin.

After Sazed took the power of both shards the powers "intermingled", becoming Harmony. Harmony is referred to as a shard, despite it being made of two shards, for the same reason that a king of two countries is still a king.

For some reason, Scadrial was visited by "several" Shards before the events of Mistborn (the era of which is unknown).

Notes

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