Spears of Light

[Mushroom Catalog]

Vin's time as a vessel shows us something (okay, a lot of things). But specifically, I am talking about the way they view investiture. At least, Ruin and Preservation. Both shards are unable to make out words in metal because the metal glows, and the glow covers up the words, leaving then unable to see the difference in depth and shading that lets normal people see words. This is why the whole scratching in metal is only safe things deal happens. Anyways, this shows us that the 2 shards, and maybe others, see investiture as glowing. Another time we see this is when Vin talks about Elend traveling to the Pits from Fadrex. HoA says he is jumping on spears of light. SPEARS. A long line of glowing from Elend to the metal he is pushing.

The common idea about Iron and Steel is that they push or pull a metal by applying a force to move it. Then I go down the rabbit hole of broken allomantic physics, where the universe explodes a few times and Vin doesn't actually fall over. Basically, the forces that hypothetically are used according to this method don't line up with what actual forces should do in the books, meaning coins break the speed of light in order to push Vin over, or something like that. Whatever. It pretty much just means it does not work that way. 

If steel applies a force to a metal, directly using investiture to move it, then Vin would not see a push as a spear of light. It would appear more as a sort of glowy blob pushing around objects and people when told to. I think it doesn't work that way. The spears of light line shows us that is not a glowy blob, and is instead a line of investiture from allomancer to target. 

I was talking to my friend about cosmere physics for an hour or two, and we got onto the topic of iron and steel. He said that he thinks they work like this: When iron or steel are burned, it creates a line from allomancer to possible targets. Each target has a set amount of investiture linked between allomancer and itself, and as they move this line gets thicker or thinner based on distance. This is what he thinks the blue lines are. When iron or steel are burned, according to his theory, it adds or subtracts investiture from this line, pulling or pushing objects in this way, like a string that gets pulled to bring a TV remote closer. No, I never did that. Stop accusing me. It was convenient, allright? Anyway, there are a few obvious problems (i think). The first comes when they have a lot of objects around. This would do bad stuff to investiture, and things would happen. However, Preservation has a lot of power (duh). I think there would be enough power to see a line between the two objects.

I agree with this, and think the best explanation is to put it like this. Think about a curtain rod, the kind that you twist to extend or shorten it to the length you want. When an allomancer burns iron or steel, it creates an investiture curtain rod between them and their targets. This is viewed as the spears of light by Vin. When they push or pull, it extends or shortens this rod at a certain speed, depending on how hard they are pulling or pushing. Pushing harder lengthens the rod at a certain speed. If the investiture the allomancer is controlling is enough, then it will move the object. If it is not enough, then it might move it slower. Or, if the allomancer is able to be moved by this curtain rod lengthening, then it will move the allomancer instead. The allomancer pushes or pulls at a speed, not a force. If this speed can be met, it will. If not, it will go as fast as possible. This applies to both allomancer and target.

This theory would fix the allomancy broken physics problems, and explains a few other things. Do y'all (Cody would be proud) agree or disagree?

[RShara]

A bit of a correction: Metal is not invested. It glows to Shardic sight because of the power trying to come through it. It's the key to accessing the investiture, rather than the investiture itself (except for god-metals). Also, I'm thinking the "spears" are the horseshoes being Pushed down as he jumps with them?

Edited May 20, 2019 by RShara

[Karger]

Perhaps but a rod of pure investiture would explain some of the problems we have with the system.  If you create a rod as you use it...

[RShara]

4 minutes ago, Karger said:

Perhaps but a rod of pure investiture would explain some of the problems we have with the system.  If you create a rod as you use it...

I believe @Jofwu said that it still doesn't work? I've suggested it working like a telescoping rod before.

[Jofwu]

There's a great thread here that gets into lots of details about iron/steel Allomancy:

I'm a little confused by the premise here though. When you burn iron/steel you see blue lines connecting your body to nearby metal. I would definitely assume that these lines are what the "spears of light" refers to, and I think we're all on the same page with that. (just making sure)

So why are we assuming that they think of those blue lines as Investiture? I'm under the impression that they are merely how your brain visualizes your connection to nearby pieces of metal.

[+Artemos]

12 hours ago, Jofwu said:

So why are we assuming that they think of those blue lines as Investiture? I'm under the impression that they are merely how your brain visualizes your connection to nearby pieces of metal.

This was my impression as well, that the lines were the manifestations of Connection between you and the metals. Burning iron and steel gives you the power to see them.

In Secret History, when Kelsier smashes the Ire's orb and starts to Ascend, he sees a little bit of the Spiritual: (bolding mine)

Quote

Lines like threads burst out from him. Glowing, effulgent. Like the lines from burning iron or steel, except they pointed at everything.
Arcanum Unbounded page 333

And later on:

Quote

Kelsier tried to get close to Marsh, focusing his attention on his brother. Those same lines were there as had been with Vin, lines of Connection linking Kelsier's soul to his brother.
Arcanum Unbounded page 338

It's not a perfectly sound argument, but it feels very right to me.

Edit: In my brief search, I can't find anything in HoA where Vin sees these lines after Ascending. Let me know if I'm wrong. There's an argument to be made that Kell sees those lines because of the Connection between Preservation, Kell, and everything on Scadrial.

Edited May 21, 2019 by Artemos