Final Confirmation On Mistborn FTL - Nowhere Close

[aeromancer]

So I asked Brandon at a recent signing about Steelrunning.

 

Aeromancer: So would it be possible to use Steelrunning + compounding to travel FTL?

 

Brandon: No, it would not. You could get close, though.

 

Aeromancer: Kind of like Zemo's Paradox, than? You keep halving the distance, never quite making it?

 

Brandon (gleam in his eye): Trying to crack Allomatic FTL?

 

Aeromancer (guilty): Maybe.

 

Brandon: You can't.

 

Aeromancer: I don't know, there are alot of good theories out there.

 

Brandon: It involves Allomantic abilities which we don't know about yet.

 

So there's the clincher folks. Allomantic FTL is possible (of course) but there's no point of guessing about it.

(if you don't know what Zemo's Paradox is, look it up. It proves you can't walk)

Edited April 10, 2014 by aeromancer

[Kurkistan]

Thanks for this info, Aeromancer.

 

Fear not, though!

 

It's not that we're nowhere close, just really far away.

 

Source:

Kurkistan: If I get a Slider, a Pulser, and a Nicroburst in a rocket with a lot of metal, do I have FTL?

Brandon: Hehehehe. You're getting _closer_ but you haven't figured it out yet.

 

So "closer" implies that nicrobursts and/or time-bubblers are involved, at the very least (or Brandon is a cruel monster and he was talking about rockets or metal, but I think I'll ignore that option).

 

---

 

If I had to guess ( ), I'd say that the unknown Allomantic ability is the solution to the "anchoring problem" that has always been present in time-bubble based FTL solutions.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Kurkistan

[Numb]

Aren't there a ton more abilities that we haven't seen yet since people still think there are only 16 metals instead of the 50 odd there really is? Or am I completely mental

[Kurkistan]

We know there to be 16 "normal" metals, but there are a crem-load of "extra" metals you can make with god-metal alloys. Malatium is Atium/Gold, for instance. Their properties are unknown beyond Atium alloys having "various Mental and Temporal effects".

Edited April 10, 2014 by Kurkistan

[Tempus]

It's also possible that the current allomantic abilities have applications beyond what we know about, because either the situation is rare and the context never came up (like the effects of sliding or pulsing on say, an aluminium rocket chassis) or because they had insufficient technology to explain or notice the effect (like the effect of steel or iron on an electromagnetic field radiation).

[king of nowhere]

 

So there's the clincher folks. Allomantic FTL is possible (of course) but there's no point of guessing about it.

(if you don't know what Zemo's Paradox is, look it up. It proves you can't walk)

That won't stop people from trying. Never understimate the headstrongness of the nerd community.

 

By the way, I think "close" in this context don't mean "you're on the right way" but "it could get close to the speed of light but not surpass it" - which is what we can already do with regular physics.

[Kurkistan]

That won't stop people from trying. Never understimate the headstrongness of the nerd community.

 

[Mistdork]

I bet it might be related to whatever Pewter x Atium does...since well...*speculation babble*

 

Or not...

[FirstSelector]

It could also be that Scadrians up until this point fully understand their power.  We know from WoR that cosmere magic is inexorably linked to the practitioner's preconceptions - perhaps the fact that time bubbles can't move is because modern Sliders/Pulsers believe that they cannot.

 

As a second example, Brandon has stated that something else to watch is what happens to objects when they enter/leave a bubble.  We haven't seen this in detail yet, but if an object entering/leaving warps the shape of the bubble in any way (and if this can be controlled by the Slider/Pulser) then it's just a little bit of tricky geometry to an Alcubierre-style warp drive.

 

So, perhaps the "Allomantic ability we haven't seen" refers to a new twist on something we think we understand, not some new metal.

[Kurkistan]

Turns out that (despite my own theories on the matter), the shape of the bubble doesn't change as objects traverse its edge.

 

Source:

 

Kurkistan: Last question: If Wayne was inside of a speed bubble and punches somebody who's standing outside it, what's happening with his fist and them: are they like sucked into the bubble, or what?

Brandon: So, I have... So _exiting_ a speed bubble, while it's going, has _weird_ ramifications on lots of things. It would be really hard to punch somebody through a speed bubble-

Kurkistan: So would the surface like distend around his fist-

-<Illustrates with fist "stretching out" invisible film>

Brandon: It's going to steal your momentum, but if you actually managed to do it, then- yes. Anything in the speed bubble that's touching through is counted as being as part of the speed bubble.

Kurkistan: Okay, so the bubble would end here <Draws invisible surface in the air> and his fist would be out there <Illustrates by "punching" arm through the fake surface, demonstrating the fist extending past the bubble while he arm is within>, but still fast?

Brandon: Yes.

Kurkistan: Oh okay, thank you.

Brandon: That's how I would imagine it so far.

Kurkistan: But the bubble does _end_ at [the same place still, with the fist extending out past its boundary].

Brandon: The bubble does end, yes.

Kurkistan: <Makes pleasantries and goes to leave>

Brandon: And when you're punching through, it's going to- your momentum is gonna'- you're going to lose momentum and get a ricochet, because you're lurching from- <notices Kurkistan (very foolishly) acting like he's about to leave> anyway... I'll let you figure that one out on your own.

[Empyrus]

What about Sanderson's hints at there being a "technological" way of using Allomancy?

"Technological" methods of using other magics in the Cosmere is possible, Fabrials are an example of this.

I very much doubt that Scadrian FTL-drive involves a Misting team or a Mistborn sitting in the engineroom burning metals. Though of course that is kind of cool, a bit like Dune Navigators.

[Tempus]

I wrote a Metallic Art FTL theory based on the premise of technological ways of using Feruchemy. In summation, it takes the concept of an Alcubierre Drive (a real life FTL concept), and suggests that if a Feruchemical technology were available it could be created fairly simply with a powerful Feruchemical Iron device.

 

You can find the full thread here: Allomantic Faster than Light - Something that doesn't...

[ruffblade027]

What exactly is steelrunning? I can't find this term on any wiki or Forum post? I mean, I'm not exactly new to this, I've been following Sanderson for years, love Mistborn, had hour long debates about Allomantic Theory but... never heard the term Steelrunning.

[Swimmingly]

Use of feruchemucal steel - a steel feruchemist is a steelrunner, thus the act of using it is steelrunning.