Why does pewter increase your sense of balance?

[the_bros11_2]

Why does Pewter increase your sense of balance when Tin increases all your other senses? And there are more than five senses, do they only know of five? Is it increasing all the other senses? I've been thinking about this one but I can't figure it out

Edited July 29, 2020 by the_bros11_2

[Frustration]

Should be in Mistborn thread.

[the_bros11_2]

sorry

[Frustration]

Just now, the_bros11_2 said:

sorry

Your fine, it happens, I just called for a mod, they can move it.

[the_bros11_2]

Thanks!

[Raphaborn]

BartimaeusTrilogyFan

Can Feruchemists store more than the five ‘traditional’ senses, and does Allomantic tin enhance more than the traditional five senses?

Brandon Sanderson

More is possible.

/r/books AMA 2015 (May 17, 2015)

 

[Karger]

It is partially because you are faster.

[Quantus]

6 minutes ago, Karger said:

It is partially because you are faster.

That's a lot of it, along with being capable of more precise physical control.  Compare balance to marksmanship:  Tin will make you see the target better at a distance, but Pewter is what would let you Aim and Fire precisely enough to take advantage of it.  Meanwhile, put a tin-eye on a boat and they might be just as likely to get horrifically motion-sick because they can feel every tiny rock and shimy of the boat but cant counter it, instead of being super-balanced.    

[+Harrycrapper]

I think both improve balance, but in subtlety different ways. Kinda similar to how iron and steel both allow you to manipulate metals, but in different ways. I think there was an older thread about this that I participated in. I think I looked at what contributes to a humans ability to balance and found there were multiple components to it. My guess was that the different metals contributed to different factors that affect balance and therefore both had the potential to improve it. 

[Tomatkatt]

Could be pewter doesn’t amplify your actual sense of balance, but instead corrects it?

like you could stand on one leg as long as you burn it without problems, not because you have grater perception, but because your body is more controlled.

[Hoidolasium]

On 7/29/2020 at 3:50 PM, Tomatkatt said:

Could be pewter doesn’t amplify your actual sense of balance, but instead corrects it?

like you could stand on one leg as long as you burn it without problems, not because you have grater perception, but because your body is more controlled.

If you ever stand on one leg, the reason you sway back and forth is because you're constantly making micro-adjustments to stay up, being both stronger and faster would help with that. Your actual perception of balance (i.e. what gets messed up when you spin too much) would be much less effected. Now that I say that, I'm not sure having greater sensitivity would help since balance is a sense with a direct physical input (you have a little fluid that tells you what way is up).

[Tglassy]

It's your stabilizing muscles.  If you were to go work out for the first time ever, and lift a really heavy weight, one that is near as much as you can lift, you will be all kinds of shaky.  That's because your stabilizing muscles are really, really weak.  In fact, if you were to only work out on machines, which are geared to isolate muscle groups, and get really strong, when you go to lift free weights, you'll be shaky, because while your main muscles, like the biceps, are strong, your stabilizing muscles aren't used to the strain and will wobble.

 

Balance is the same thing.  Yeah, your inner ear has a lot to do with that, but your muscles have more.  Your inner ear just tells you which way is up.  Your stabilizing muscles have to be taught just right to keep you still.  

 

Increasing your muscles to the point that Pewter does makes all muscles and bones and everything two to four times stronger than normal.  Being twice as strong doesn't sound like much, but it really, really is.  Last year, I was able to do a 250 lb squat, which is ok, but not great considering I'm a 6'2" male who weighed almost 400 lbs at the time. 

Twice as strong would be 500 lbs.  That's power lifter levels.  And if you were already a power lifter who could squat 500 lbs, you now can squat 1000.  

 

But it's not just your main muscles being strengthened.  It's all of you.  Your bones, your stabilizers, your ligaments, your joints, your cartilage, etc.  And you heal so fast you don't get sore, so you are able to keep it up for much, much longer, with less fear of injury.

 

If all your stabilizing muscles are suddenly at power lifter levels, your balance instantly improves almost as much.  You'll still need to learn where your center of gravity is, and how to manipulate it, but that's the difference between Vin and Zane.  Vin was naturally good with balance and became better.  Zane was a BEAST when it came to balance.  

 

It's actually the reason I always pick Pewter when people ask "What kind of Misting/Twinborn would you be?"  There's just too much granted by it.  

Edited August 3, 2020 by Tglassy

[Halyo_Alex]

On 8/3/2020 at 3:58 PM, Tglassy said:

It's actually the reason I always pick Pewter when people ask "What kind of Misting/Twinborn would you be?"  There's just too much granted by it.  

It just gives a real-life person too much useful stuff for real-life scenarios. Enhancing your physical body in those ways is almost always useful IRL, no matter what you're doing. Exceptions may include typing on a keyboard or sitting around doing nothing, but they're exceptions for a reason

[+robardin]

9 hours ago, Halyo_Alex said:

It just gives a real-life person too much useful stuff for real-life scenarios. Enhancing your physical body in those ways is almost always useful IRL, no matter what you're doing. Exceptions may include typing on a keyboard or sitting around doing nothing, but they're exceptions for a reason

And even then, it increases your stamina and healing factor.

It'd probably be hard to resist burning it pretty much all the time, which is basically what we see Ham doing in Era 1, walking around without a vest in winter weather. (So "increased stamina" there might also include fortitude to cold, or maybe Ham would always have been one of those don't-feel-the-cold types of people that do exist anyway.)

[+robardin]

10 hours ago, Halyo_Alex said:

It just gives a real-life person too much useful stuff for real-life scenarios. Enhancing your physical body in those ways is almost always useful IRL, no matter what you're doing. Exceptions may include typing on a keyboard or sitting around doing nothing, but they're exceptions for a reason

And even then, it increases your stamina and healing factor.

It'd probably be hard to resist burning it pretty much all the time, which is basically what we see Ham doing in Era 1, walking around without a vest in winter weather. (So "increased stamina" there might also include fortitude to cold, or maybe Ham would always have been one of those don't-feel-the-cold types of people that do exist anyway.)

Speaking of Master Hammond, I always wondered how he got away with being both an open Pewterarm (it's mentioned that he was in high demand as a bodyguard in that capacity) and evidently a known skaa (he didn't have any kind of "cover story" to provide a false noble background)? He was even asked to join the Luthadel Garrison, wasn't he? Perhaps his value as a pewter Misting led his employers (even the Lord Ruler's own Garrison?!) to overlook investigating his background, but that feels like a dangerous line to tread with the Steel Ministry's Inquisitors.