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Your search for the tag 'Atium' yielded 59 results

  • 1

    Interview: Jan 10th, 2011

    Maru Nui ()

    What would an atium-electrum alloy do in Allomancy?

    Brandon Sanderson ()

    The alloys of atium have various temporal effects.


    Tags

  • 2

    Interview: Jul, 2009

    pfchristopher

    Why didn't Vin know the Atium bead Zane gave her wasn't real? Cant she sense how big reserves are?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Atium reserves always look bigger than they are to an allomancer. It burns so quickly. She just didn’t have enough experience with atium to realize she’d been duped.

    Tags

  • 3

    Interview: May, 2010

    Chaos

    What would have happened if Ruin *did* get the atium? Yeah, the world is destroyed, but how does Ruin "absorb" the atium so he can utilize the power?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He would metabolize it, just like the normal people have to do. However, if he did get it he would then be able to destroy the world.

    Tags

  • 4

    Interview: May, 2010

    Chaos

    Why is there such an imbalance between the amount of atium and the amount of lerasium in the world? Also, why are atium and lerasium very imbalanced in Allomantic power (Lerasium is far more useful than atium, really)?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There isn't. Leras is just spread out further. He is in the mists, in the Well, and in the lerasium. Ruin's power however is considerate strictly in atium.

    Tags

  • 5

    Interview: May, 2010

    Chaos

    Does Ruin have a pool, similar to Preservation's pool with the Well of Ascension and Skai's pool in Elantris?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. His pool is the pits.

    Footnote

    This most likely means the Pits of Hathsin.

    Tags

  • 6

    Interview: May, 2010

    Chaos

    How long is the lifespan of an Inquisitor?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It depends on the powers they're given. Some burn up quickly, and others are extended. In general though they do tend to have slightly longer lives. Since Marsh has the missing bag of atiums he's going to be around for a while.

    Tags

  • 7

    Interview: May, 2010

    Chaos

    In the future when atium is rare again and we have a good Table of Allomantic Metals, which metal steals Allomantic Temporal powers?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It will be on the table when Brandon brings them out. Feruchemy is the next poster to come out. Until then RAFO.

    Tags

  • 8

    Interview: May, 2010

    Chaos

    Does atium have a "side effect", much like how lerasium has a "side effect" in creating Mistborn?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO

    Tags

  • 9

    Interview: May 31st, 2011

    Thorondir

    How could a person from Scadrial access Shadesmar? An alloy of a god metal?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He RAFOd me on this one and said it was a plot point for future novels.

    Tags

  • 10

    Interview: Nov 14th, 2011

    ateistcanuck (14 November 2011)

    Was Bloody Tan an atium misting?

    Brandon Sanderson (14 November 2011)

    No, he was not. Good question.

    Tags

  • 11

    Interview: Nov 14th, 2011

    irotin (14 November 2011)

    Kel said he ended atium production for a few hundred years. Will atium reappear in Alloy and such, or did Sazed move the Pits?

    Brandon Sanderson (Mon Nov 14)

    RAFO. :)

    Tags

  • 12

    Interview: Jan, 2012

    zas678 (reddit.com)

    Why on earth does Marsh have a Feruchemical Atium Spike? You've said that Ironeyes is in fact Marsh. Did Ruin spike someone for him? Or did Sazed grant him the power?

    Brandon Sanderson (reddit.com)

    Dead inquisitors Vin killed. Some were granted the spike for reasons I haven't spoken of yet.

    Tags

  • 13

    Interview: Nov 24th, 2011

    Fire Arcadia

    Are there 50 Allomantic Metals?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Nearly. Does Harmony have a metal?

    FIRE ARCADIA

    Is that an alloy of Lerasium and Atium?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    You're along the right lines.

    Tags

  • 14

    Interview: Oct, 2008

    Kirrin (15 October 2008)

    And what happened to Marsh? The book doesn't mention him after he fights with Elend.

    Brandon Sanderson (15 October 2008)

    Marsh is alive. I changed this from when I talked to [Peter]. I realized some things about his use of Allomancy that would allow him to survive. Actually, he is immortal. He can pull off the same Allomancy/Feruchemy trick that the Lord Ruler did. (And he knows it too, since he was there when Sazed explained how it was done in Book One.) He's actually the only living person who actually knows this trick for certain. (Though there's a chance that Spook, Ham and Breeze heard about it from Vin and the others.) So yes, if there were another series, Marsh would make an appearance.

    DOUGLAS

    I thought that trick required atium and involved burning the atium. With all the atium gone and Sazed not making any more, it would therefore not be possible even for a full mistborn/feruchemist. Am I wrong, is Sazed providing atium specifically for Marsh to allow a friend and valuable servant to survive, or what?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Marsh has the bag of Atium that KanPaar sent to be sold, as well as several nuggets in his stomach. So, I guess 'immortal' is the wrong phrase. He's got the only remaining atium in the world and can keep himself around for a long, long while—but he WILL eventually run out. Unless Sazed does something.

    Tags

  • 15

    Interview: Oct, 2008

    Chaos (15 October 2008)

    I really want to know what the last two metals are. I always thought the bead Elend ate was one of them, but perhaps they are just things of Preservation, not meant to be understood.

    Brandon Sanderson (15 October 2008)

    The metal chunk that Elend ate is intended to be something of a mystery. Much like atium, actually. Suffice it to say that atium isn't, and never was, what people thought it was.

    I intended Allomancy to be much like a real science. People investigate and put things into boxes, trying to describe and understand the world around them. That doesn't mean they always get things right, however.

    Let me say this, as I don't want to spoil too much. If that metal Elend ate were fused into specific alloys with certain metals, it could have instead created Mistings of each of the different Allomantic powers. Atium's abilities are not entirely explored yet either.

    Tags

  • 16

    Interview: Oct, 2008

    zchance (15 October 2008)

    I'm surprised no one else has asked but does this new world have atium? If atium was the body of Ruin then it would seem when Sazed took up Ruin's power he would have reabsorbed all of the atium. New atium then would be bits of Sazed's new powers and weaken him with each newly formed bead. It would seem then that if atium exists it would be much rarer, and mean that Sazed would not be able to control this process.

    I guess I am trying to understand why he would want to allow any atium to make its way into the hands of people or rather out of his control?

    Brandon Sanderson (16 October 2008)

    It's theoretically possible for atium to appear in the future, but right now Sazed has no plans to release any of it to the people. It is, effectively, now something of myth and legend.

    Tags

  • 17

    Interview: Oct, 2008

    Dalenthas (15 October 2008)

    Does the Well of Ascension still exist in the new world? Or is it no longer necessary? I assumed that Preservation collected there like Ruin collects in the Pits of Hathsin, so if Atium keeps forming then the well should keep filling...

    Brandon Sanderson (16 October 2008)

    The Well (and the small wells in the Pits) is no more. For now at least.

    Tags

  • 18

    Interview: Oct, 2008

    Sylos (15 October 2008)

    I was happy when Elend finally burned duralumin with atium. I was holding my breath hoping that someone would eventually do it. However we didn't really get any info as to what Elend experienced. Does a duralumin-enhanced atium burn allow a person to see significantly farther into the future? If so, being that Elend's army was dying all around him did he get to see into the afterlife? Also if you could tell us what he saw that would be awesome. Did something he saw make him not want to avoid Marshes strike?

    On a similar note if someone burned electrum with duralumin would they get to see significantly into their own future?

    Brandon Sanderson (16 October 2008)

    There is much here that I can't say, but I'll give as much as I can. Elend saw Preservation's ultimate plan, and Elend's own part in it. What he saw made him realize he didn't want to kill Marsh, and that his own death would actually help save the world. Like a master chess player, he suddenly saw and understand every possible move his enemy could make. He saw that Ruin was check-mated, because there was one thing that Ruin was not willing to do. Something that both Elend and Vin could do, if needed. And it's what they did.

    So, in answer to your question, Elend stayed his hand. This is one of the reasons why I changed my mind and decided that Marsh had to live through the end of the book. Elend spared him; I needed to too.

    Tags

  • 19

    Interview: Oct, 2008

    Kaimipono (16 October 2008)

    Allomancy is fueled by Preservation's body? How exactly does that work? And how does that interact with Atium—it's fueled by both gods' bodies?

    Brandon Sanderson (17 October 2008)

    The powers of Ruin and Preservation are Shards of Adonalsium, pieces of the power of creation itself. Allomancy, Hemalurgy, Feruchemy are manifestations of this power in mortal form, the ability to touch the powers of creation and use them. These metallic powers are how people's physical forms interpret the use of the Shard, though it's not the only possible way they could be interpreted or used. It's what the genetics and Realmatic interactions of Scadrial allow for, and has to do with the Spiritual, the Cognitive, and the Physical Realms.

    Condensed 'essence' of these godly powers can act as super-fuel for Allomancy, Feruchemy, or really any of the powers. The form of that super fuel is important. In liquid form it's most potent, in gas form it's able to fuel Allomancy as if working as a metal. In physical form it is rigid and does one specific thing. In the case of atium, it allows sight into the future. In the case of concentrated Preservation, it gives one a permanent connection to the mists and the powers of creation. (I.e., it makes them an Allomancer.)

    So when a person is burning metals, they aren't using Preservation's body as a fuel so to speak—though they are tapping into the powers of creation just slightly. When Vin burns the mists, however, she'd doing just that—using the essence of Preservation, the Shard of Adonalsium itself—to fuel Allomancy. Doing this, however, rips 'troughs' through her body. It's like forcing far too much pressure through a very small, fragile hose. That much power eventually vaporizes the corporeal host, which is acting as the block and forcing the power into a single type of conduit (Allomancy) and frees it to be more expansive.

    Tags

  • 20

    Interview: Oct, 2008

    GreedyAlgorithm (17 October 2008)

    Brandon, I'd like to see a timeline of when you fleshed out the parts of the cosmology we know about. I'd imagine Allomancy came before you fit it into the bigger picture, right? What was your method, come up with a cool image of hammering spikes through a living being, figure out how to integrate that into a larger picture, and then think about the implications of your new cosmology? Or what?

    Brandon Sanderson (17 October 2008)

    Boy, this is a hard one to ask because it's been such a LONG process. There were bits of all of this popping around in my head almost twenty years ago, so it's going to be hard to define where what fit into place when.

    Allomancy and Feruchemy were originally planned separately. I linked them together into this book when I realized that the 'focus' items that could store attributes could be metal, and therefore work wonderfully with the Mistborn book I was planning.

    Hemalurgy came from the image of Inquisitors first, then developed as a need to integrate it in with the other two in a way that evoked the power of "Ruin" rather than the power of Preservation. I figured that Ruin would steal, and it was a great way to add a third magic without having to overload people with a whole new set of powers. The process of writing this series, since I did all three books together, was an interesting one, and I made a lot of connections as I went. Some of the latest things on the timeline were figuring out how to fit atium and the Preservation nuggets into the already built framework. But I don't know if I can give you an exact list. Partially because there would just be too many spoilers in it.

    Tags

  • 21

    Interview: Oct, 2008

    Czanos (17 October 2008)

    Preservation can fuel Allomancy, (Minus Atium.) but can Ruin fuel Hemalurgy? (Or Atium?) And could Sazed fuel all three Metallic Arts?

    Brandon Sanderson (17 October 2008)

    Both gods could, if they wanted, fuel all of the metallic arts. Preservation is stronger at fueling Allomancy, Ruin stronger at fueling Allomancy or Feruchemy when it has been given via a spike. Both are balanced when it comes to Feruchemy. But this rarely comes up in the books, as it required expending power in a way that the gods were hesitant to do.

    Tags

  • 22

    Interview: Oct, 2008

    Czanos (17 October 2008)

    Are Atium and the External Temporal Pulling metal really the same?

    Brandon Sanderson (17 October 2008)

    You are on to something.

    Tags

  • 23

    Interview: Oct, 2008

    darxbane (17 October 2008)

    Did we already find out what metal is combined with Atium to make Malatium?

    Brandon Sanderson (17 October 2008)

    I might have said somewhere in the series. I can't remember. It's gold.

    Tags

  • 24

    Interview: Oct, 2008

    Chaos (17 October 2008)

    Would the Three Metallic Arts operate in other worlds, or are they direct results of Ruin and Preservation and thus only operate in Scadrial?

    Brandon Sanderson (20 October 2008)

    To use Feruchemy or Allomancy in almost every case, one must have the right spiritual and genetic codes, imprinted upon people during the creation of Scadrial by Ati and Leras. To use Hemalurgy, one must first have someone with these right spiritual and genetic codes, then take the power from them. Other people on other worlds are not going to simply discover the Three Metallic Arts by accident.

    Tags

  • 25

    Interview: Oct, 2008

    sporkify (18 October 2008)

    How did Inquisitors find Atium mistings?

    Brandon Sanderson (20 October 2008)

    They spike the drinks at one of the nobility's balls with trace amounts of Atium, then cause a bit disturbance. (Often, the Inquisitors themselves arriving will do it) and burn bronze and watch for brief pulses. The body will burn metals instinctively if it can, which has been shown quite often in the series. This is also how they get a lot of their secret information about who is a Misting and who isn't. It's not a perfect method, since you have to watch for Copperclouds messing things up, but it is effective once in a while.

    Any time an obligator who is not a Misting joins the Ministry, he is unknowingly given a larger chunk of atium and then forced into a series of rituals that will drain him physically and get the body to react and burn the metal. This was how Yomen was discovered.

    Tags

  • 26

    Interview: Oct, 2008

    Andrew the Great (19 October 2008)

    Why can Vin fuel Elend's atium-burning, even though Atium is Ruin's Body and Vin is using Preservation? Or did I misread that and he was just burning atium and had run out of everything else?

    Brandon Sanderson (20 October 2008)

    Yes, as has been pointed out:

    A powerful peace swelled in Elend. His Allomancy flared bright, though he knew the metals inside of him should have burned away. Only atium remained, and the strange power did not—could not—give him this metal. But it didn’t matter. For a moment, he was embraced by something greater. He looked up, toward the sun. (From the text.)

    As a note here, the powers granted by all of the metals—even the two divine ones—are not themselves of either Shard. They are simply tools. And so, it's possible that one COULD have found a way to reproduce an ability like atium's while using Preservation's power, but it wouldn't be as natural or as easy as using Preservation to fuel Allomancy.

    The means of getting powers—Ruin stealing, Preservation gifting—are related to the Shards, but not the powers themselves.

    Tags

  • 27

    Interview: Oct 15th, 2010

    17th Shard

    Are all Inquisitors required to have an atium spike?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, they are not

    Tags

  • 28

    Interview: Oct 15th, 2010

    17th Shard

    Are there a limited amount of atium and lerasium alloys for each metal?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Hmm, yes…I suppose there would be but there are…

    17TH SHARD

    More than sixteen?

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yeah, way more than sixteen.

    17TH SHARD

    Oh wow. Okay. That's fascinating. More than sixteen and less than infinite.

    BRANDON SANDERSON

    Yes.

    Tags

  • 29

    Interview: Jul 29th, 2006

    Brandon Sanderson (Chapter 4-2)

    The other big part of this chapter is, of course, the plan. This is where the story has been pushing up to this point. I worry that even still (despite several cuts) this section feels a little too much like an info-dump. I couldn't really get around that, since Kelsier is—essentially—dumping some information on the crew.

    This is also where I begin to diverge from the 'heist story' framework. I started with that concept to write the book, but as I proceeded with the plotting and the writing of the actual novel, I realized that the heist structure was simply too small to fill the larger concepts for the trilogy I was working on.

    So, in rewrites, I came back and reworked this section to take to focus off stealing the Lord Ruler's money. The truth is, Kelsier wants to overthrow the government and get back at the Lord Ruler. The money isn't half as important to him. And, as the story progresses, you'll see that the crew spends most of its time on the army.

    Originally, by the way, Yeden wasn't the one who hired the team. There was no employer—Kelsier just wanted to try and overthrow the Lord Ruler. The main way I took the focus off of stealing the atium (making this less of a heist book and more of a Mission: Impossible style book) was to put the focus on raising and training the army. Having Yeden be paying them to get him an army worked much better for this format.

    Tags

  • 30

    Interview: Jul 29th, 2006

    Brandon Sanderson (Chapter 6)

    This chapter is where, in my opinion, the book starts to get good. These kinds of chapters are part of what I write for—good, solid character interaction with some intellectual problem-solving going on. I really like the way that the crew works through their challenges here. The items presented really do sound quite daunting as they're listed; yet, by the end, I hope that the reader feels as the crew does—that this plan could actually work, if they pull it off right.

    I had to rewrite this scene several times, bringing the focus away from simply stealing the atium. By the last draft, I had something I was very pleased with. It outlines things simply enough, yet doesn't make everything sound TOO easy. At least, that is my hope.

    Tags

  • 31

    Interview: Jul 29th, 2006

    Brandon Sanderson (Chapter 9)

    One odd thing I've heard—and noticed—about new writers as opposed to more experienced writers is that the more experienced ones tend to make their books last longer. Many first books take place in a matter of days, or perhaps weeks. Yet, books by more accomplished writers tend to span months or years.

    It might just be coincidence relating to books I've read. I mean, there doesn't seem to be any reason it would be true. Yet, it certainly holds for myself. My first books happened very quickly—even ELANTRIS, which was my sixth, happened in only the space of two months. Yet, in MISTBORN, I let more time pass between sections and chapters.

    I think, perhaps, newer authors are intimidated by plotting over such a longer stretch of time. Or, perhaps, it's just something unconscious.

    Either way, we've jumped in time—something necessary for this book, considering the amount that needs to be done in order for the job to get pulled off. This was one of my first clues that I couldn't do a straight-up heist novel with MISTBORN. The book covers too much time, and too much has to happen before the ending can occur. I just didn't feel that most of what the crew would be doing would be interesting to a reader, and I wanted to focus too much on Vin's character growth to let me focus on the 'heist' of stealing the atium.

    Footnote

    Something to keep in mind is that Brandon wrote like 7 books in between Elantris and Mistborn.

    Tags

  • 32

    Interview: Feb 16th, 2013

    Viper

    Hah. So in Cosmere, does physics work the same way in the physical realm as it does in our world? Specifically, particle physics; and are atoms made up of protons and neutrons and electrons, and is light photons, etc?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Viper

    So what's at the core of an atom of Atium? Ate-teum? Also how do you pronounce it? At-teum?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. And the matter is just normal matter, but it's wrapped in the spiritual. The Spiritual DNA [or something] is what makes it magical.

    Viper

    (Note: he might've said slightly more about this but I didn't write it down and I don't remember. Sorry for not bringing a tape recorder :(/> )

    Tags

  • 33

    Interview: Feb 16th, 2013

    Viper

    Ok. The gemhearts/stormgems/whatever that are grown inside the beasts in Way of Kings ... is that the same as the way Atium is grown inside geodes in the Pits of Hathsin?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's similar. The pits are an area where there's like a leak from the spiritual realm into the physical. That's what happens there.

    Tags

  • 34

    Interview: Apr 15th, 2013

    Reddit AMA 2013 (Verbatim)

    Herowannabe ()

    I recently picked up the Mistborn Adventure game and am loving it. I made a character who is a blind Mistborn because hey, I thought it would make for some interesting possibilities. As I understand Allomancy, he can hear/sense well enough to get around with Tin, plus even though he's blind he can still "see" Steel lines (like the inquisitors), and I assume Atium would work the same way—that is, he could still "see" Atium shadows. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, you're right. That works. He'd have to burn metals a LOT though. It might warp him a little. :)

    Herowannabe

    The metal that's stumping me is Gold—what happens when a blind person burns Gold—especially if he "sees" a version of himself that isn't blind? Can he see the other version or just hear/feel/sense him? What about the other version, can it see things? Could a blind person use gold in this way to see the world around him?

    Brandon Sanderson

    A blind person would indeed sense these things, but not have the vision with the eyes. In the same way that a blind person still dreams, but doesn't "See" in them. (As I understand it.) I'd suggest talking to someone who is blind and getting their take on how this would work.

    Tags

  • 35

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    Sweetness

    Can Demoux burn malatium?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Interesting theory.

    Tags

  • 36

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    Douglas

    When Kelsier destroys the Pits of Hathsin in Final Empire, it is mentioned that they'll take something like 300 years to start producing Atium again. Do the Pits of Hathsin still exist in any form after Sazed reshaped the world, and is that timeline for them still valid?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO

    Tags

  • 37

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    Douglas

    In Alloy of Law, evidence is uncovered that the bad guys are attempting to breed a Mistborn. The time span of the gap between this and the original Mistborn trilogy, perhaps with the interval I vaguely remember being stated for between Alloy and the next main trilogy added, is suspiciously close to 300 years. Does the organization Wax's father is part of know the location of the Pits of Hathsin, or otherwise have access to Atium, either now (as of Alloy) or in the time period of the planned second trilogy?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You are on the right track

    Tags

  • 38

    Interview: Oct 30th, 2012

    Lance Alvein

    Is Demoux Atium compounding to achieve his long life?

    BRANDON SANDERSON (paraphrased)

    RAFO

    Tags

  • 39

    Interview: Mar 16th, 2012

    BRANDON SANDERSON (paraphrased)

    Feruchemy is about multipliers. The more the Lord Ruler aged, the less "multiplier" he could store in his metalmind. And the more he aged the more he would need to Compound to stay alive. There could exist an upper bound to the amount of time the Lord Ruler could survive off this trick.

    Tags

  • 40

    Interview: Aug 31st, 2013

    WorldCon Flash AMA (Verbatim)

    Question

    Can you elaborate on the use of atium at the end of Mistborn: The Well of Ascension?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Heh-heh-heh. Yeah, this is a pretty in-depth one. So . . . yeah. How about I send you to my annotations for that chapter, where I explain in depth on my website. I have annotations of all of my books. And in Mistborn 2, if you read the chapters through there—like I can't talk this through in the right way—and if you go look at the annotations and read those chapters, the explanation is in depth in there. And hopefully the explanation there will make better sense to you than what I can blab out off the cuff right here.

    Tags

  • 41

    Interview: Sep 24th, 2013

    Chris King (Miyabi)

    Is burning atium related to Scadrian worldhopping?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's a good question, the answer is no.

    Tags

  • 42

    Interview: Oct 1st, 2013

    Question

    Why can lerasium be burned by anyone in the Cosmere, while atium is restricted to a small portion of the population of one planet?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

    Tags

  • 43

    Interview: Oct 11th, 2013

    Brandon Sanderson

    I asked to confirm whether after Sazed's ascension if there were any more atium or malatium Mistings. He said "there are no more, in that way..." and I said "In that way, huh?" and he gave me an ominous look.

    Tags

  • 44

    Interview: Mar 6th, 2014

    Question

    Would aluminum give an atium shadow? Like if someone threw an aluminum spear?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The aluminum would not give an atium shadow. Good question.

    Tags

  • 45

    Interview: Jul 29th, 2006

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is the first chapter where we get to see atium work. The metal is one of the most interesting aspects of the magic system, in my opinion. In fact, one of the things that made me want to start writing MISTBORN was this idea of an extremely rare metal that gets used up by the world's mages. It felt natural to me, then, that this metal would do something very powerful.

    Allomancy is, basically, a physical/combat oriented magic system. So, the spectacular power of atium would have to be something physical, and useful on a one-on-one basis. The ability to see slightly into the future, with the atium shadows, felt like a very interesting image to me, so I went with it.

    In MISTBORN PRIME, the main character lacked atium—and spent most of the book trying to get ahold of it. (He actually stumbled across an atium mine hidden in a small village, which was being oppressed by a tyrant.) It is a small nod to the original book that I developed the plot of this one to be characters trying, essentially, to get ahold of some atium.

    Just a lot more of it.

    Tags

  • 46

    Interview: Mar 22nd, 2014

    Question

    Is it possible to become a Sliver if you burn enough atium?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I don't think so.

    Tags

  • 47

    Interview: Nov 1st, 2012

    Ninch (17th Shard)

    Could a person Soulcast more atium and lerasium if they had a bead?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No. Investiture messes things like that up.

    Footnote

    This book was signed in April 2014

    Tags

  • 48

    Interview: Oct 12th, 2015

    Question

    If someone isn’t an Allomancer, could they burn atium? Since it’s…

    Brandon Sanderson

    They could not burn atium. They would have figured that one out.

    Question

    So nothing would have happened, or…?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No. But there’s a little more to that story, but I’m not going to get into it right now.

    Tags

  • 49

    Interview: Oct 12th, 2015

    Question

    The metals that were formed from Shards, like atium and lerasium. Are they somewhat naturally occurring, like in [?] of power, or are they specifically [?]?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They are somewhat naturally occurring.

    Question

    [Really? Even on other Shardworlds?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh. They could exist somewhere else. There are some special circumstances on Scadrial, but yes. The idea is that the pools are one state of this mythological matter.

    Question

    So if you have the physical state and the liquid state, is there a less liquid state? [what does this question even mean?] Because some of that's being used.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Um... Oh. Yeah. Yeah. But, I mean, it's such a drop in the bucket compared to the actual Shards. So that it is a statistically insignificant amount, but it is an amount.

    Question

    So Harmony's pool, wherever it is is statistically larger than...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Tags

  • 50

    Interview: Oct 12th, 2015

    Argent

    Lerasium grants all Allomantic powers when burned. Atium, when used as a spike, can steal any power. Is there a way to create a metalmind that can store anything?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There is a way to create a metalmind that can store anything.

    Argent

    Harmonium?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I’m not saying; I gave you an answer… [AKA: RAFO]

    Tags

  • 51

    Interview: Oct 9th, 2015

    Question

    How did Marsh survive for so many years?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Compounding Atium. He got a pouch of it that was featured in an earlier scene.

    Tags

  • 52

    Interview: Oct 9th, 2015

    Question

    What happens if you burn atium at the same time as cadmium or bendalloy?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That would be really cool to see.

    Tags

  • 53

    Interview: Oct 7th, 2015

    relient23

    If you're burning atium, can you predict the trajectory of an atium (atium, not aluminum) bullet?

    Brandon Sanderson

    "Atium? Yes. But aluminum... Maybe not so much sly smile"

    Tags

  • 54

    Interview: Oct 21st, 2015

    BlackYeti

    In the Final Empire, Kelsier says that it will take 300 years before atium grows back in the Pits of Hathsin. How does he know this?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I think it is mentioned somewhere else how long it takes a crystal to regrow, and he's just basing it on the past, when a crystal is damaged, how long it takes one to come back. I'm pretty sure that that is even mentioned somewhere, but if not, that's just how he knows.

    Tags

  • 55

    Interview: Oct 21st, 2015

    BlackYeti

    Suppose you had a full feruchemist, who got enough breath to reach the fifth Heightening. What would happen if he started storing in atium?

    Brandon Sanderson

    (Laughs) I'm going to RAFO that one.

    Tags

  • 56

    Interview: Feb 20th, 2016

    Question

    Does atium still do the same thing since Sazed has Ascended?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. If it didn’t, Marsh would be dead.

    Tags

  • 57

    Interview: Nov 29th, 2016

    Question

    Is ReLuur's spike made of Atium?

    Brandon Sanderson

    hesitated a for a second RAFO. You get a card though. It's not that big of a spoiler, but the answer would bring up questions that are.

    Tags

  • 58

    Interview: Dec 3rd, 2016

    wicktacular

    At the end of Hero of Ages, it's significant that 1/16 of the soldiers who got sick were Atium mistings. We know now that there's more than 16 metals - what exactly happened there?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, you have to remember, by that point, Preservation wasn't entirely there. He was mostly concerned with leaving hints, clues, with the number 16, towards his plan.

    wicktacular

    So, were the other remaining group of soldiers that fell sick all still mistings of the other base metals?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    wicktacular

    So, did Preservation bump out one of the base metal types so those could be Atium mistings? And if so, which was it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, that's right. It would probably have been one of the metals that was difficult to get at that level of technology. It would have been Chromium - Chromium would be hard gather at that time. Actually, no, it would have been Aluminum. (about a minute later, while signing someone else's book) - Hold on, there's a caveat to that last answer. Let me finish signing this and expand on that. So, it would still have been Aluminum, but not for the reason your thinking. It would have been Aluminum, but there's an asterisk next to that answer.

    Tags