Leras (Mistborn)

"The infinity of a note held perfectly, never wavering. The majesty of a painting, frozen and still, capturing a slice of life from a time gone by. It was the power of many, many moments compressed somehow into one."

- Kelsier on Preservation

Summary
Leras is the first Vessel of the Shard Preservation,

History
He, like all the other original Vessels, originated upon the planet of Yolen and were majour members in the conspiracy to shatter Adonalsium.

After the Shattering he took up the Shard Preservation. He and Ati traveled to a rather empty solar system and constructed the planet of Scadrial, and its inhabitants, out of their own Investiture. And created a deal, wherein Preservation would create the planet and Invest mankind, and Ruin would eventually be allowed to destroy it. Though Preservation exploited a loophole and sealed Ruin's mind away in Preservation's own perpendicularity, the Well of Ascension. But at the cost of his own mind and body.

For millennia afterward he would slowly decay in mind and body, falling apart and unraveling due to the effects of his sealing away of Ruin. Though before he completely lost his mind and memory, he formed many prophecies to help orchestrate Ruin's downfall, knowing he would eventually be released.

Over the years, he took it upon himself to greet every passing soul before they go into the Beyond.

In late 1022 FE, after the death of Kelsier, he met with the man in the Cognitive Realm, as he does with all passing spirits. Kelsier punched him in the face for being a god, and managed to trick him into saying how to become a Cognitive Shadow, and in response he pushed Kelsier into the Well of Ascension.

As Vin began to rise to the position to take in the power at the Well of Ascension in 1024 FE, risking the release of Ruin, he began to manifest as a Mist Spirit and try to stop her from going to the Well. Both through her, and her friends. Such as trying to point out to Sazed how Ruin was manipulating text. While standing over Elend and Vin at the Well, he tried to strike them with his sword, but was unable to. Until Kelsier grabbed him by the arm and forced him to slash Elend, dealing him a deadly stomach wound. Which deeply angered Preservation, for it went strongly against his Intent.

Following Vin ultimately releasing Ruin, he led Vin to the last remaining bead of lerasium, and had her give it to the dying Elend, so that he would be able to live. This release of Ruin greatly accelerated his rate of degradation as Ruin actively began to attack and suffocate him.

During his final moments, he, rapidly dying and barely coherent, tried to convince Elend not to besiege Fadrex. Shortly following this, he perished and his body materialized and collapsed dead in the mist, to be buried by the falling ash. His final moments were cold and lonely.

Directly following his death, Kelsier used an orb made by the Ire in order to take up the power and Ascend to Shardhood.

Appearance
Leras is short of stature with black hair and a prominent nose.

In the Cognitive Realm he appears wearing a thin woolen coat that nearly reaches his feet, and he wears a knife to his side. He is unraveling due to Ruin's attack, with half his face replaced by fading white smoke, and countless holes covering his clothes and body. He occasionally completely unfolds, to later reconstitute himself.

In the Physical Realm, post-Ascension, he appears as a vaguely humanoid shape formed of his Mist, known to humanity as the Mist Spirit. He is hard to make out when he is not moving.

Ati
"I know you're listening, changing what I write, what I have written. You make our religion all about you. They hardly remember the truth any longer. Subtle as always, you worm"

- Preservation to Ruin

He and Ati originally seemed to have gotten together relatively well, with them working together in order to create Scadrial. Although they were not able to easily cooperate. They made a pact that they could create it together, and Ruin could in time come to destroy it. Though Leras betrayed Ati and sealed him away in the Well of Ascension. An act which greatly angered Ati and ruined whatever relationship they had in the beginning.

Leras knows Ati well enough to be able to tell what parts of Ruin's behavior comes from Ati's original personality.

Kelsier
"The hearts of men are NOT YOUR TOYS."

- Leras to Kelsier

Leras had been watching Kelsier and his actions for a long time, and feels a strong dislike for the man. Due to the manner in which he played into Ruin's plans and ultimately led to the death of the Lord Ruler, the manner in which he manipulates people, and his refusal to pass into the Beyond.

He hates the way in which Kelsier manipulated people into praising him as a divinity. Telling him that the hearts of men are not his toys.

Kelsier himself does not respect Leras' divinity, and disrespected him to the point in which after discovering he was a god, punched him in the face out of anger.

Kelsier nicknames him Fuzz, to his dismay.

Over time, the two began to respect each other more, and become more cordial. With Leras coming to trust the man enough to give him tacit blessing to take on his power as he finally passed away in his entirety.

Vin
Much like Ati, he groomed Vin in order to become his perfect weapon. Grooming her to take his power from a very young age.

Powers and Stats
Name: Leras | Terr (By the Terris), Frue (By the South Scadrians), God, The Mist Spirit, The Deepness, Fuzz (By Kelsier), Preservation

Age: Unknown | At least 11,000

Gender: Male, considered Female in South Scadrian Mythology

Classification: Human | Shard of Adonalsium, Vessel of Preservation

Powers and Stats Base = Unknown Vessel of Preservartion = Immortality, Precognition, Bilocation, Biological Manipulation, Telepathy, Limited Omnipresence, and many more

Intelligence: Unknown | While he can see and feel all of the world, and the thoughts and emotions of everyone throughout the world, he is not very intelligent. His actual intelligence fluctuates, but is often rather low, with him, at times, facing difficulty stringing together words or thoughts. Speaking slowly and with great deliberation upon what he is saying. He also facing difficulty remembering things, with many holes existing in his memory.

Base = Unknown Vessel of Preservartion = As the Vessel of Preservation, Leras is an extraordinarily powerful being.

Immortality
He is ageless and immortal, living for thousands of years even when slowly unraveling from the effects of sealing Ruin away in the Well, and by his attack.

Future Sight
Shards are capable of seeing far into the future, well enough to make The Diagram look meagre in comparison.

The future is hard to see for Shards, or for any version of future sight, when faced with another being capable of seeing the future, and that the further one looks the harder it is to make out the future.

Preservation is amongst the Shards that can see into the future, as when held by Leras he made various plans and prophecies for the future.

Pacifism
Preservation seeks to provide stability and preserve the world and its inhabitants in their current state. It values the status quo, regardless of whether or not the people living underneath it are happy, and supports those who seek to keep it. Therefore, it and its holder are incapable of acting in a destructive way, and even if they were to, the act would inevitably serve to preserve more than it would destroy.

Omnipresence
He has Limited Omnipresence throughout all of the Cosmere, with particular focus upon Scadrial, where Preservation is deeply Invested into every single piece of it. Despite the Power itself permeating all things, his body and mind itself can only be in a limited amount of places at one time.

However, Preservation is capable of manifesting his body in multiple places simultaneously and act separately in each manifestation.

Snapping
Preservation is capable of making people undergo "Snapping", which is causing changes to their Spiritweb in order to grant them the ability to use Allomancy. This can not only be caused by him directly, or through the Mists, but can also be brought about by people burning Lerasium, the physical form of his own Investiture.

Investiture
He has access to a effectively infinite supply of Investiture. As with all Investiture, whenever it is used it would be filtered back to the Spiritual Realm for him to use once again. However, it is finite

Biological Manipulation
Using the power of Preservation, Rashek was capable of altering the biology of all life on the planet to deal with the new heat and ash caused by his other interventions into the climate and orbit of the planet. This can safely be assumed to be a basic part of Preservation's abilities.

Planetary Manipulation
He is capable of manipulating the planet in various ways, such as changing the orbit of the planet, or causing volcanos across the world to erupt and fill the atmosphere with ash and smog.

Mists
Mists are the gaseous form of his Investiture, spreading all across the world. This Mist can be programmed by Preservation to preform certain tasks, such as to out at night and seek out potential Allomancers, then Snap them to awaken their power. They can also use them to empower the Allomancy of certain individuals. He can also manifest in these Mists as a "Mist Spirit", however this only has a very limited ability to effect the Physical Realm.

Telepathy
He is capable of reading the minds of anyone, and to feel the emotions of all people on Scadrial. He is however limited by the fact that he is unable to talk to anyone, and can thus only hear their thoughts.