A Big Description of Allomancy
On Vin’s world there exists a form of magic called Allomancy, drawing on the power contained in certain metals to grant powers specific to each one. To use it Vin must first swallow the metals (only a small amount is needed, a flakes can last for hours) and consume them in a process called burning. There are eighteen Allomantic metals although Vin only knows of twelve of them, divided into groups of four (Physical, Mental, Temporal, and Enhancement plus two "God" metals) and further split into pairs of a base metal and an alloy with similar but opposite effects. Each pair represents a set of External metals, which affect the world around her and Internal metals which affect Vin herself. The amount of power Vin draws from the metals depends entirely on the rate she burns it. Burning a metal low will allow it to last longer but she will draw less power, burning it higher will give more power but deplete it faster. She can also “flare” her metals, giving a much larger boost of power at the cost of depleting it rapidly. A flared metal will be consumed entirely within minutes. Even then, different metals burn at different speeds. For instance, tin can last for hours while the same amount of pewter will burn away in less than an hour.
There are two types of people who can use Allomancy: Mistborn and Mistings. A Misting can only burn one specific metal but the much rarer Mistborn have access to all metals. As a Mistborn, Vin is able to burn every Allomantic metal. Allomancy is an inherited trait and, coming from a pure lineage of Allomancers, Vin is extremely powerful and naturally skilled in its use. She also has a connection to the mists of her homeworld and is able to draw on them for effectively infinite power but only when she isn’t wearing her earring as its Hemalurgic properties interfere with this connection.
Allomancy does present a few dangers, not the least of which is toxicity in the metals she uses. It isn’t a problem as long as she burns them but if left to be absorbed into her body she can become sick. Second, the metals she uses must be pure, either a pure base metal or a precisely mixed alloy. Burning an impure metal or an improperly mixed alloy will result in a weaker power output, and if it's too far off it can make the Allomancer sick.
The metals are listed below divided into their appropriate categories. Metals marked with * go undiscovered/unused in canon. Undiscovered metals are included here for the sake of completeness and because of the possibility of discovering them through in-game events.
Physical Metals: Pewter, Tin, Iron, Steel.
Pewter, Internal Pushing metal: Pewter has a very simple function: it increases the body’s strength. While burning pewter an Allomancer is stronger, faster, tougher, able to heal better and has her reflexes improved. Pewter lets Vin shrug off injuries that should put her down for the count while burning the metal and actually makes her harder to damage period. Bones become tougher to break, skin harder to cut, muscles harder to tear. It makes the body more resistant to extreme temperatures, speeds up healing if burned constantly and can let Vin function for literally days with no sleep.
Pewter, however, is a double edged sword. It provides the body extra strength but the body’s limits are still in place. Pewter doesn’t actually rejuvenate the Allomancer as much as it gives an extra “layer” of strength, letting her continue on when her body would give out and if she pushes herself too far beyond what she can take it can lead to extremely serious consequences like exhaustion and even death.
Tin, Internal Pulling metal: As the opposite metal to pewter, tin enhances the Allomancer’s senses. While burning this metal all of Vin’s senses are increased considerably and, when used in conjunction with the enhanced speed and reflexes of pewter, make her into an extremely dangerous combatant. It also lets her see people and things on the ground in more detail, hear from farther away, and see clearly in dark or dim lighting.
Like pewter tin does have its drawbacks. All the senses are magnified at once and there’s no way to filter them. An extremely strong input like a loud, sharp sound, a blinding flash of light or even a pungent stench can stun her while burning tin. It also has the drawback of making her feel pain more intensely.
Steel, External Pushing metal: Vin’s primary offensive power is her ability to burn steel to “Push” on metals around her. The metals are always Pushed directly away from her center of gravity and always in a straight line away from her (no moving metal in curves or directly controlling its path). Generally, Steelpushes are decided based on weight. If Vin weighs more than the object she's Pushing on, it moves. If she weighs less than the object she's Pushing on, she moves. This can be mitigated by anchoring herself by Pushing in an opposite direction against a heavier object, however, by doing this she effectively sandwiches herself between the two opposing weights resulting in possible injury. This can be prevented by burning pewter but she won’t be hurling around any trucks by anchoring herself to skyscrapers anytime soon.
Vin often carries around small pieces of metal to be used as projectile weapons, most often coins as they're the easiest to come across and are extremely portable. Notably though, Vin cannot Push or Pull (see iron) on metals inside or piercing a living creature. Doing so requires a level of power she simply doesn’t have normally, although she can do this by burning duralumin along with steel (Enhancement metals below).
The other main use is travel. By Pushing off heavy of embedded metal objects, Vin can essentially “fly” for short bursts. This is another reason she carries coins with her for Steelpushing, having them flat against a surface makes an effective anchor for taking off.
Iron, External Pulling metal: Iron pretty much works identically to steel, except it Pulls the metals toward her. The metals are always pulled directly toward her center of gravity and always in a straight line. She uses this metal to retrieve thrown objects and also to steer herself through the air when “flying”.
Mental Metals: Brass, Zinc, Bronze and Copper
Bronze, Internal Pushing metal: Bronze has a very simple power: it grants the ability to sense Allomancy in use. A skilled bronze-user can easily pinpoint the direction of someone using Allomancy as well as what type of metal(s) they’re using and with how much power. Vin’s strength in bronze has been increased by the Hemalurgic spike she wears as an earring and she can more easily discern and pinpoint metals as well as pierce copperclouds. (With mod approval, this power may also be used to let Vin sense other forms of magic in use.)
Copper, Internal Pulling metal: Copper blocks the effects of other Mental metals. When burning this metal it creates a field around the Allomancer and others around her called a coppercloud that protects them from Mental effects. (With mod permission this power may also extend to non-Allomancy forms of magic.)
Zinc, External Pushing metal: Zinc grants the power to enflame, or Riot, a person’s emotions. When burning zinc, Vin can focus on a particular emotion and cause one or more people to feel it more intensely. One important note about this metal is that Vin cannot create emotions, nor can she control how the person reacts to it. One person having fear Rioted might run away while another might attack that much more viciously. Zinc can be resisted by those with enough mental strength and can be blocked off like any other mind magic.
Brass, External Pulling metal: The opposite of zinc, brass mutes or Soothes emotions but otherwise works identically to its paired metal. Like above, Vin cannot control how a person reacts to the emotion being drawn away.
(Note: Because of the nature of these metals, I do plan on setting up a permissions. As mentioned, there will always be a chance to resist these metals and any affect they have on characters will be entirely for their players to decide.)
Enhancement Metals: Aluminum, Duralumin, Chromium and Nicrosil
Aluminum, Internal Pulling metal: Burning aluminum instantly destroys an Allomancer’s metal reserves without any other effect. All metals are simply wiped out. Useful for rendering an Allomancer powerless, as well as clearing any metals that aren’t used before they can be absorbed and possibly poison her. In addition, aluminum is Allomantically "inert" and can't be affected by other Allomancy powers. It can't be Pulled or Pushed by steel and something as simple as an aluminum band in a hat will block attacks using emotional Allomancy. In addition, wounds caused by aluminum weapons won't heal quicker if the Allomancer is burning pewter.
Duralumin, Internal Pushing metal: Burning duralumin alongside any other metal will instantly consume that metal in a single massive flare of power called a duralumin flash. All of the metal’s power will be released instantly, providing one massive burst of power at the cost of sacrificing the entire reserve.
*Chromium, External Pulling metal: Burning chromium and touching another Allomancer directly (skin to skin) produces the same effect as aluminum in the other Allomancer, instantly destroying their reserves.
*Nicrosil, External Pushing metal: Like above except it produces a duralumin-effect in the Allomancer touched, instantly combusting any metals they’re burning and releasing their power.
Temporal Metals: Gold, Electrum, Cadmium and Cerrobend
Gold, Internal Pulling metal: Burning gold lets an Allomancer look back into their own past and gives them a vision of the person they might have turned out had they made different choices in life. Vin has only used gold once in her life and found the experience so unsettling that she has no desire to repeat it.
Electrum, Internal Pushing metal: Burning electrum gives Vin the ability to see a few seconds into her own future, sort of a limited atium. She can’t see what others are about to do but she can see the immediate results of her own actions, whether good or bad and react appropriately. Electrum is also an effective counter to Atium since burning it allows Vin to see the Atium shadows that her opponent is, thereby negating their advantage over her.
*Cadmium, External Pulling metal: Burning cadmium pulls on time around the Allomancer, creating a bubble of “slow time” around her. The bubble can extend up to thirty feet and is completely stationary and cannot be moved. Inside the bubble, time moves at a crawl compared to the rest of the world. Objects and people can pass in and out of the bubble normally and the Allomancer who created it can move around freely within it but the bubble disappears if she moves past its limits.
*Bendalloy, External Pushing metal: Burning bendalloy creates a bubble of "fast time" around Vin. The bubble extends to ten feet or so around her and is completely stationary once formed and cannot be moved. Objects can pass in and out of the bubble but it disappears if Vin herself leaves it.
God Metals: Atium and Larasium
Atium: Atium is the solidified form of the power of Ruin, her world’s god of destruction and decay. Burning atium lets Vin see and react several seconds into the future as well as expanding her mind to deal with this influx of information. When burning atium Vin sees “shadows” of everything around her, hazy images of what they’ll be doing in the near future. If she’s fighting someone she knows how and when they’ll attack her before they do it and how and when they’ll dodge or parry her attacks before they do it, letting her preemptively react. Atium can also be alloyed with any Mental or Temporal metal to produce an expanded effect, for example alloying Atium with gold gave Vin the ability to see a vision of another person’s past.
Atium is fragile and corrodes rapidly when exposed to stomach acid, so she’ll carry it in a vial and only swallow it immediately before she plans to use it. It also lasts for a short time with dose only giving her a minute or two of power.
*Larasium: The physical incarnation of the god Preservation’s power. Larasium can be burned by anybody and burning pure Larasium transforms any human into a Mistborn, a normal person burning Larasium alloyed with any other Allomantic metal will gain the ability to burn that metal. Like Atium, Larasium can be alloyed with other Allomantic powers to produce expanded effects. Larasium can be alloyed with the Physical and Enhancement metals but the powers of these alloys remain unknown.
The actual effects of a Mistborn burning Larasium remain unknown. Presumably it would give a massive boost to the Allomancers powers, similar to how absorbing and "burning" the mist increase Allomantic strength.
There are two types of people who can use Allomancy: Mistborn and Mistings. A Misting can only burn one specific metal but the much rarer Mistborn have access to all metals. As a Mistborn, Vin is able to burn every Allomantic metal. Allomancy is an inherited trait and, coming from a pure lineage of Allomancers, Vin is extremely powerful and naturally skilled in its use. She also has a connection to the mists of her homeworld and is able to draw on them for effectively infinite power but only when she isn’t wearing her earring as its Hemalurgic properties interfere with this connection.
Allomancy does present a few dangers, not the least of which is toxicity in the metals she uses. It isn’t a problem as long as she burns them but if left to be absorbed into her body she can become sick. Second, the metals she uses must be pure, either a pure base metal or a precisely mixed alloy. Burning an impure metal or an improperly mixed alloy will result in a weaker power output, and if it's too far off it can make the Allomancer sick.
The metals are listed below divided into their appropriate categories. Metals marked with * go undiscovered/unused in canon. Undiscovered metals are included here for the sake of completeness and because of the possibility of discovering them through in-game events.
Physical Metals: Pewter, Tin, Iron, Steel.
Pewter, Internal Pushing metal: Pewter has a very simple function: it increases the body’s strength. While burning pewter an Allomancer is stronger, faster, tougher, able to heal better and has her reflexes improved. Pewter lets Vin shrug off injuries that should put her down for the count while burning the metal and actually makes her harder to damage period. Bones become tougher to break, skin harder to cut, muscles harder to tear. It makes the body more resistant to extreme temperatures, speeds up healing if burned constantly and can let Vin function for literally days with no sleep.
Pewter, however, is a double edged sword. It provides the body extra strength but the body’s limits are still in place. Pewter doesn’t actually rejuvenate the Allomancer as much as it gives an extra “layer” of strength, letting her continue on when her body would give out and if she pushes herself too far beyond what she can take it can lead to extremely serious consequences like exhaustion and even death.
Tin, Internal Pulling metal: As the opposite metal to pewter, tin enhances the Allomancer’s senses. While burning this metal all of Vin’s senses are increased considerably and, when used in conjunction with the enhanced speed and reflexes of pewter, make her into an extremely dangerous combatant. It also lets her see people and things on the ground in more detail, hear from farther away, and see clearly in dark or dim lighting.
Like pewter tin does have its drawbacks. All the senses are magnified at once and there’s no way to filter them. An extremely strong input like a loud, sharp sound, a blinding flash of light or even a pungent stench can stun her while burning tin. It also has the drawback of making her feel pain more intensely.
Steel, External Pushing metal: Vin’s primary offensive power is her ability to burn steel to “Push” on metals around her. The metals are always Pushed directly away from her center of gravity and always in a straight line away from her (no moving metal in curves or directly controlling its path). Generally, Steelpushes are decided based on weight. If Vin weighs more than the object she's Pushing on, it moves. If she weighs less than the object she's Pushing on, she moves. This can be mitigated by anchoring herself by Pushing in an opposite direction against a heavier object, however, by doing this she effectively sandwiches herself between the two opposing weights resulting in possible injury. This can be prevented by burning pewter but she won’t be hurling around any trucks by anchoring herself to skyscrapers anytime soon.
Vin often carries around small pieces of metal to be used as projectile weapons, most often coins as they're the easiest to come across and are extremely portable. Notably though, Vin cannot Push or Pull (see iron) on metals inside or piercing a living creature. Doing so requires a level of power she simply doesn’t have normally, although she can do this by burning duralumin along with steel (Enhancement metals below).
The other main use is travel. By Pushing off heavy of embedded metal objects, Vin can essentially “fly” for short bursts. This is another reason she carries coins with her for Steelpushing, having them flat against a surface makes an effective anchor for taking off.
Iron, External Pulling metal: Iron pretty much works identically to steel, except it Pulls the metals toward her. The metals are always pulled directly toward her center of gravity and always in a straight line. She uses this metal to retrieve thrown objects and also to steer herself through the air when “flying”.
Mental Metals: Brass, Zinc, Bronze and Copper
Bronze, Internal Pushing metal: Bronze has a very simple power: it grants the ability to sense Allomancy in use. A skilled bronze-user can easily pinpoint the direction of someone using Allomancy as well as what type of metal(s) they’re using and with how much power. Vin’s strength in bronze has been increased by the Hemalurgic spike she wears as an earring and she can more easily discern and pinpoint metals as well as pierce copperclouds. (With mod approval, this power may also be used to let Vin sense other forms of magic in use.)
Copper, Internal Pulling metal: Copper blocks the effects of other Mental metals. When burning this metal it creates a field around the Allomancer and others around her called a coppercloud that protects them from Mental effects. (With mod permission this power may also extend to non-Allomancy forms of magic.)
Zinc, External Pushing metal: Zinc grants the power to enflame, or Riot, a person’s emotions. When burning zinc, Vin can focus on a particular emotion and cause one or more people to feel it more intensely. One important note about this metal is that Vin cannot create emotions, nor can she control how the person reacts to it. One person having fear Rioted might run away while another might attack that much more viciously. Zinc can be resisted by those with enough mental strength and can be blocked off like any other mind magic.
Brass, External Pulling metal: The opposite of zinc, brass mutes or Soothes emotions but otherwise works identically to its paired metal. Like above, Vin cannot control how a person reacts to the emotion being drawn away.
(Note: Because of the nature of these metals, I do plan on setting up a permissions. As mentioned, there will always be a chance to resist these metals and any affect they have on characters will be entirely for their players to decide.)
Enhancement Metals: Aluminum, Duralumin, Chromium and Nicrosil
Aluminum, Internal Pulling metal: Burning aluminum instantly destroys an Allomancer’s metal reserves without any other effect. All metals are simply wiped out. Useful for rendering an Allomancer powerless, as well as clearing any metals that aren’t used before they can be absorbed and possibly poison her. In addition, aluminum is Allomantically "inert" and can't be affected by other Allomancy powers. It can't be Pulled or Pushed by steel and something as simple as an aluminum band in a hat will block attacks using emotional Allomancy. In addition, wounds caused by aluminum weapons won't heal quicker if the Allomancer is burning pewter.
Duralumin, Internal Pushing metal: Burning duralumin alongside any other metal will instantly consume that metal in a single massive flare of power called a duralumin flash. All of the metal’s power will be released instantly, providing one massive burst of power at the cost of sacrificing the entire reserve.
*Chromium, External Pulling metal: Burning chromium and touching another Allomancer directly (skin to skin) produces the same effect as aluminum in the other Allomancer, instantly destroying their reserves.
*Nicrosil, External Pushing metal: Like above except it produces a duralumin-effect in the Allomancer touched, instantly combusting any metals they’re burning and releasing their power.
Temporal Metals: Gold, Electrum, Cadmium and Cerrobend
Gold, Internal Pulling metal: Burning gold lets an Allomancer look back into their own past and gives them a vision of the person they might have turned out had they made different choices in life. Vin has only used gold once in her life and found the experience so unsettling that she has no desire to repeat it.
Electrum, Internal Pushing metal: Burning electrum gives Vin the ability to see a few seconds into her own future, sort of a limited atium. She can’t see what others are about to do but she can see the immediate results of her own actions, whether good or bad and react appropriately. Electrum is also an effective counter to Atium since burning it allows Vin to see the Atium shadows that her opponent is, thereby negating their advantage over her.
*Cadmium, External Pulling metal: Burning cadmium pulls on time around the Allomancer, creating a bubble of “slow time” around her. The bubble can extend up to thirty feet and is completely stationary and cannot be moved. Inside the bubble, time moves at a crawl compared to the rest of the world. Objects and people can pass in and out of the bubble normally and the Allomancer who created it can move around freely within it but the bubble disappears if she moves past its limits.
*Bendalloy, External Pushing metal: Burning bendalloy creates a bubble of "fast time" around Vin. The bubble extends to ten feet or so around her and is completely stationary once formed and cannot be moved. Objects can pass in and out of the bubble but it disappears if Vin herself leaves it.
God Metals: Atium and Larasium
Atium: Atium is the solidified form of the power of Ruin, her world’s god of destruction and decay. Burning atium lets Vin see and react several seconds into the future as well as expanding her mind to deal with this influx of information. When burning atium Vin sees “shadows” of everything around her, hazy images of what they’ll be doing in the near future. If she’s fighting someone she knows how and when they’ll attack her before they do it and how and when they’ll dodge or parry her attacks before they do it, letting her preemptively react. Atium can also be alloyed with any Mental or Temporal metal to produce an expanded effect, for example alloying Atium with gold gave Vin the ability to see a vision of another person’s past.
Atium is fragile and corrodes rapidly when exposed to stomach acid, so she’ll carry it in a vial and only swallow it immediately before she plans to use it. It also lasts for a short time with dose only giving her a minute or two of power.
*Larasium: The physical incarnation of the god Preservation’s power. Larasium can be burned by anybody and burning pure Larasium transforms any human into a Mistborn, a normal person burning Larasium alloyed with any other Allomantic metal will gain the ability to burn that metal. Like Atium, Larasium can be alloyed with other Allomantic powers to produce expanded effects. Larasium can be alloyed with the Physical and Enhancement metals but the powers of these alloys remain unknown.
The actual effects of a Mistborn burning Larasium remain unknown. Presumably it would give a massive boost to the Allomancers powers, similar to how absorbing and "burning" the mist increase Allomantic strength.