What Feruchemy Is
Feruchemy grants its users the ability to store physical attributes inside of an allomantic metal. Feruchemists save up an attribute, then draw upon that reserve at a later time.
Rather than burning metals like Allomancers, Feruchemists use them as storage. Each piece of metal, dependent upon its size and alloy, can store a certain physical quality. Copper, for example, allows its user the ability to store memory and thoughts. Iron allows the user to store weight. Steel allows the user to store up physical speed.
How Feruchemy Works
Feruchemy’s biggest limitation is that you have to store up all of its abilities by drawing them from your own body. For example, you have to spend time in a weakened state to store up strength, whereas with Allomancy, the metals themselves are your fuel. In Ferechumy, your body is the true fuel – the metals are mere storage devices.
Therefore, Feruchemy does not have any external powers; you can’t Push or Pull emotions with it, nor can you Steelpush or Ironpull.
Furthermore, Feruchmists can only access power from metals that they themselves have stored their energy within. When you try to use another Feruchemists metal, it feels like a faint power, far beyond your grasp, and that there is another reserve within you, when you are burning that metal. You cannot access this power, however, because it does not belong to you.
Law of Conservation
Theoretically, a Feruchemist could spend a few weeks with his body aged to the point that it felt and looked ten years older than he really was. Then he could withdraw that age to make himself seem ten years younger for an equal amount of time.
So, you cannot make yourself younger or older, but can take away from yourself to give to yourself in equal measure. In this sense, no energy is created nor destroyed with Feruchemy, it is only drawed upon and stored for later use.
How Feruchemy is Used
Feruchemy is most commonly used by Terris Keepers, like Sazed, in the Mistborn novels.
Terris packmen make themselves weaker during the evening, storing up strength in their bracelets for use the next day. It’s why Sazed warts so many earrings. Every Keeper carries several bracers, filled with knowledge–songs, stories, prayers, histories, and languages.
Many Keepers have a specific area of interest (Sazed’s is religion, for example), but they all remember the entire collection of information. They maintain that if just one of them survives the death of the Lord Ruler, then the world’s people will be able to recover what was lost.
Feruchemy Table
See below for a table of Feruchemy metals and their uses.
| Metal | Feruchemy Attribute |
|---|---|
| Iron | Stores physical weight |
| Steel | Stores physical speed |
| Tin | Stores senses |
| Pewter | Stores physical strength |
| Zinc | Stores mental speed |
| Brass | Stores warmth |
| Copper | Stores memories |
| Bronze | Stores wakefulness |
| Atium | Stores age |
| Malatium | Unkown |
| Gold | Stores health |
| Electrum | Unkown |
| Aluminum | Stores identity |
| Duralumin | Stores connection |
