It's a bird, it's a plane, it's an... Awakener??

[alder24]

I was leafing through Warbreaker and I thought - what are the limits of Awakening? Can an Awakener fly? Awakener can't control gravity like Windrunner can, or push himself away from metals like Mistborn can. The best Breaths can do is to pull you up with a rope. That’s not really flying. But I could Awaken material to expand when I fall which would act like a parachute. Still no flying. I can’t strap jet engines under my arms so is there any solution to it? Well, birds fly…

And this makes it so much easier. That’s it. I just need a material in the shape of wings that will just flap up and down like birds do. Awakener can fly! But that will just make you go up, and you don’t want to get stuck in the air with the only way down being falling after you recover Breaths from wings. You need control. And those are two basic components necessary for flying: wings and control.

Wings

Let’s talk about wings first, that’s easier. An average adult male human would need a wingspan of at least 6.7 meters to fly. That’s a lot. But here is a trick, the faster wings flap, the more lift they generate, so 6.7 meters is a maximum length your material needs to have. The Awakened material can become stronger than muscles so wings can flap much faster than normal birds can without getting tired and without damaging material. 

Quote

He breathed. The belt at his waist—touching his skin, as always—Awakened. Color drained from the kerchief tied to his leg beneath his trousers.
"Climb things, then grab things, then pull me up,” he Commanded. Three Commands in one Awakening, a difficult task for some. For him, however, it had become as simple as blinking.
The belt untied itself, revealing it to be far longer than it looked when wrapped around him. The twenty- five feet of rope snaked up the side of the building, curling inside of a window. Seconds later, the rope hauled Vasher up and into the air. Awakened objects could, if created well, have much more strength than regular muscles. He’d once seen a small group of ropes not much thicker than his own lift and toss boulders at an enemy fortification. - Warbreaker chapter 51

Moreover you don’t need any rigid metal/wood structure to give shape to the wings, as Awakening will grant wing shape and stiffness to it. And that will allow wings to fold on my back without restricting my movement. With this you need less than 6.7 meter long material in the shape of wings, and a coat with hood, and with seperation for each leg. Wings would be sewn strongly on the back of the coat (close to the center of mass), and the coat itself could be tied with straps and belts to your whole body. A single hair on top of the hood for Awakening focus, and this, with a human shaped coat, will reduce the cost of Awakening. 
And then the only thing left to add is a little handle, rope coming out of the left sleeve with a handle at the end which is straight piece of wood, and can be held by your hand - why? For control. 

Whole construction, wings, coat, straps and a handle, needs to be perceived as a single object for Awakening to work as needed. And that is easy, as it all can be made out of the same material and color sewn together, so there are no different or separate parts. Afterall a jacket doesn't differentiate itself into buttons, pockets or sleeves.

Control 

Quote

She never noticed Vasher hanging just outside. He wasn’t surprised—he was currently a Drab, his excess Breath stored in his shirt. 
She replaced the cup, and he pulled himself up as she walked back. Of course, the mechanics of how he moved about with the ropes were far more complicated than they seemed. His Command incorporated making the rope respond to taps of his finger along its length. Awakening was different from creating a Lifeless—Lifeless had brains and could interpret Commands and requests. The rope had none of that; it could only act on its original instructions.
With a few taps, he lowered himself again, Vivenna faced away from him as she picked up another colored swatch to use as fuel when she Awakened her cup- fetching ribbon. [...]
He had the rope lower him to the ground. He ordered it to let go up above, then—once it had twisted down around his arm - he recovered his Breath and climbed the external steps to the room. - Warbreaker chapter 49

And here is the answer to control. Vasher could Awaken rope to respond to specific stimuli in the form of taps. He could make rope pull him up, lower him down, even let go and hold something as well. 4 different responses. With a similar trick, my wings can react to my fingers, and I only need 4 responses as well!

1. start/stop flapping 
2. flap faster 
3. flap slower
4. extend/fold on my back 

That’s it. I can make those commands by tapping on the handle - 3 taps and wings flap slower. Or tie it to the specific finger - thumb tap -start/stop, index finger tap - flap faster. Easy. 

But I want more. I need to change direction of my flight, I want to turn left and right. And to achieve this, we need to look at how planes turn. The plane turns by lifting one of its wing, while lowering the other, which creates so called “bank angle”

Bank angle - The angle between the wings and the horizon, as viewed from the rear of the airplane. An airplane with its wings level has zero degrees of bank. 

Spoiler

So how do I do the same? Well, with my handle! If I could make wings respond to tapping with my fingers, I can make wings to align themself horizontally with the handle I hold in my hand. When I hold the handle leveled, the wings are also leveled, when I twist the handle left, wings are also banking left, maintaining the same bank angle with horizon, as the hantle has.  

I can call it complete at this point, as now I could perform a normal flight, but there is one thing that can be added, but it’s not necessary - vertical control. Flapping faster or slower is just one way of gaining altitude, the other is controlling the angle of attack of my wings, to pitch up and control my lift. 

The angle of attack is the angle between the wing and the direction of the oncoming wind. Increasing this angle increases the lift, but this is at the expense of drag which quickly increases.

Spoiler

How do I do this? With the Handle of course. Just by lifting or lowering  the handle with wrist movement only, I can slightly increase or decrease the angle of attack thus controlling my lift. Birds have an angle of attack of around 6-15 degrees so I don't need more than that.

The one additional thing is to make whole coat strap and tie itself onto you - it’s easy, just by tying the first strap, all straps hold onto you and tie themself up, later, when you untie one of the strap, all straps untie itself. With this I can quickly put wings on and fly, or take them off and fight on ground without worrying that wings get damaged. This however is not necessary component of the wings.

And thus the Awakened wings are complete. But wait a minute - isn't that too many things needed for a Command? And the simple answer is no. The Awakening command could be something like “Upon call, fly like a bird” or "Fly upon my commands" - Vasher used similar commands. Hoid in OB used even more difficult one. The hardest part is visualization. 

Quote

“The Command ‘Protect me,’ though only two words, is extremely complicated. So are others, like Fetch something. You have to give the right impulse to the object. This area is where you really begin to understand how little we know. There are probably thousands of Commands we don’t know. The more words you add, the more complicated the mental component becomes, which is why discovering a new Command can take years of study.”  - Warbreaker chapter 46

Mental image that accompanies Awakening is at this point extremely complicated. We have three different components - tapping the handle, twisting the handle and lifting the handle, and even forth one, self-tie straps. Vasher could probably already make wings which just respond to tapping, but the rest provide more complexity. However I would not call it impossible. I was thinking about it the whole day, and right now I can quickly imagine how all necessary components work within a few short seconds. A skilled Awakener can do it even faster. Of course, to come up with this idea and to perfect this mental image, it would take him weeks, months, or even years, but it is possible. Vasher already uses very complicated Commands with even more complicated visualizations, and Vivenna was able to copy his Commands after seeing him use it once or twice. Making wings that basically imitate birds, a living creature, can be done.

And that’s how a skilled Awakener can take up into the sky. It may take him years to achieve this, but I think it can be done. For simplicity, to make wings easier, he can strap them to his arms, and reduce the visualisation significantly, however that can make his arms tired (wings are moved by Breaths, taping on the handle to control them or bank arms to turn), and with that Awakaner is unable to throw Awakened ropes at people dawn below. Sitll for a prototype it would be much easier to make and could be a stepping stone towards fully controlable wings.

 

I also came up with the conclusion that zinc ferring would be great Awakener as he can speed up his mental speed and create better mental images faster as well as come up with better commands or create completely new ones. Being a zinc ferring would make Awakening so much easier, and developing working Awakened wings would be much faster. Copper ferring can recall necessary mental image in a short moment, so he could also be better at using very complicated Commands.

Do you think any other invested arts can also help in making Awakening easier? Can Awakening replicate other invested arts or surges with their effects? What do you think about my wings idea? Is there an easier way for Awakener to fly?

 

tldr - wings with a joystick.

Edited January 15, 2023 by alder24

[Frustration he/him]

I cannot even begin to state how impressed I am, this honestly changes how I see awakening.

[Treamayne]

Very impressive. Certainly seems plausible.

1 hour ago, alder24 said:

Do you think any other invested arts can also help in making Awakening easier? Can Awakening replicate other invested arts or surges with their effects? What do you think about my wings idea? Is there an easier way for Awakener to fly?

Don't forget you also need the shape to generate lift. Your "wings" couldn't simply be cloth (flat on top and bottom) since lift is generated by having more surface area above the wing surface than below the wing surface (ref your "angle of attack" image), so the cloth would have to be double surface area that folds back on itself to present the rounded section forward (splitting the air stream above and below). Birds have the bone structure up front to create this effect. Also, a bird's "flapping" motion is not simply up and down, but a scoop motion (that should be part of the visualization - think of a swimmer using the "butterfly" stroke). You covered Aviation Pitch (angle of attack*) and Roll (bank angle) but did not account for Yaw. From Wikipedia:

Spoiler

Principal axes - An aircraft in flight is free to rotate in three dimensions: yaw, nose left or right about an axis running up and down; pitch, nose up or down about an axis running from wing to wing; and roll, rotation about an axis running from nose to tail.

•     Normal axis, or yaw axis — an axis drawn from top to bottom, and perpendicular to the other two axes, parallel to the fuselage station.
•     Transverse axis, lateral axis, or pitch axis — an axis running from the pilot's left to right in piloted aircraft, and parallel to the wings of a winged aircraft, parallel to the buttock line.
•     Longitudinal axis, or roll axis — an axis drawn through the body of the vehicle from tail to nose in the normal direction of flight, or the direction the pilot faces, similar to a ship's waterline.

Ailerons, Elevator and Flaps are also instrumental in these motions for an Aircraft, but birds obviously achieve these effects biologically - so you would also need a way to "spread" the wing's trailing edge to simulate flaps, simulate the tail to effect the pitch and yaw changes in conjunction with wing angle.

[alder24]

9 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Don't forget you also need the shape to generate lift. Your "wings" couldn't simply be cloth (flat on top and bottom) since lift is generated by having more surface area above the wing surface than below the wing surface (ref your "angle of attack" image), so the cloth would have to be double surface area that folds back on itself to present the rounded section forward (splitting the air stream above and below). Birds have the bone structure up front to create this effect.

Good point and great solution. I was thinking about wings as a thin but highly curved surface, somewhere in between the shape of the upper and lower wing's surface, with a thickened part on the leading edge, to mimic the desirable aerodynamic effect. However material simply folding on itself to fully recreate proper wing cross-section is even better.

9 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Also, a bird's "flapping" motion is not simply up and down, but a scoop motion (that should be part of the visualization - think of a swimmer using the "butterfly" stroke).

Yes, that's what I had in mind, I was just lacking proper words for it. The Awakener needs to copy the mechanism of birds fly, for it he must observe how they fly. With time and observations he can learn how to mimic that flying motion, as well as gliding and hovering.

9 hours ago, Treamayne said:

You covered Aviation Pitch (angle of attack*) and Roll (bank angle) but did not account for Yaw. From Wikipedia:

Another great point. There are several ways I think it can be recreated. First one is by movement of the body, leaning your upper body left, or right, which will result in a slight turn. Second is movement of legs - leaning them left and right - to mimic the rudder on the plane. These are just body movements that don't need to be included in the Command and visualization. However it's tiring, so it can be viewed just as a stepping stone towards fully functional wings. So the third idea is the coat, that is tied up to your legs, will do the leaning of your legs left and right for you. This can be initiated by leaning your wrist left and right, just like the yaw axis. The very last component could be remaking a fully functional tail section of a plane or bird. The material would have to be sewn into the legs section of the coat, and Breaths would do all the shapes and movements.

9 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Ailerons, Elevator and Flaps are also instrumental in these motions for an Aircraft, but birds obviously achieve these effects biologically - so you would also need a way to "spread" the wing's trailing edge to simulate flaps, simulate the tail to effect the pitch and yaw changes in conjunction with wing angle.

Yes, however all the elevator and flaps are doing is changing the airflow around wings, which creates necessary force to lift the wing or lower it down, to maneuver along the 3 axis you describe. However, the Awakened wings would just do it, they would just turn and twist as needed to position the wings in the right configuration for any maneuver, as they are powered by Breaths. So flaps and elevators are not needed, as Breaths provide necessary force instead.

[Treamayne]

17 minutes ago, alder24 said:

10 hours ago, Treamayne said:

so you would also need a way to "spread" the wing's trailing edge to simulate flaps, simulate the tail to effect the pitch and yaw changes in conjunction with wing angle.

Yes, however all the elevator and flaps are doing is changing the airflow around wings, which creates necessary force to lift the wing or lower it down, to maneuver along the 3 axis you describe. However, the Awakened wings would just do it, they would just turn and twist as needed to position the wings in the right configuration for any maneuver, as they are powered by Breaths. So flaps and elevators are not needed, as Breaths provide necessary force instead.

Right - that's why I said what you quoted. You don't need flaps or ailerons - but you do need enough material in the fabric from which your wing coat is made to allow it to "spread" into the configurations.

[Tglassy]

So I hate to burst your bubble, cause having Awakened Wings does sound super awesome, but there's something else Awakening can do that would do this better. It can make things spin.  

That's it.  That's the cornerstone of all of our technology.  Or at least, a large portion of our technology.  Make something spin on command, and at different speeds.  The basic Motor.  Put it on an axle of a wagon and you have a car.  Put it on a few blades and you have a fan.  Put it on a generator and you make electricity.

But get this.  Awakener's don't need fuel after using the Breath.  It's self sustaining.  You might have to come up with a way to do it not using metal, but if you could make an Awakened Motor, simply making something spin, fast enough, you could make a car without the need for fuel.  Just something that allows for resisstance.  Breaks, basically. The gas petal releases the break, allowing it to spin.  The brake petal increases resistance, making it slow and stop.  That's it.  A car that runs perpetually without fuel.

An electric Generator that doesn't need fuel.  It just continually generates electricity.  Infinite energy, via the power of Awakening.  If the object itself ever wears out, you just take the Breaths back and get a new object.  Which is honestly just a length of cloth.

Then just make helicopter blades.  Add in some controls that let you determine how fast it goes (pull this lever makes faster, pull this lever makes slower) and the rest is all about aiming, which doesn't even need to be awakened.  You can make an Awakened Helicopter.  An Awakened Jet Engine.  An Awakened Motorboat.  None of it needing refueling after using the initial Breaths, which you can probably take back. 

So if I have my own car, and I know the commands, I can awaken it or not whenever I please.  No need to leave your Breaths in a vehicle when it could be stolen.  

Again, I'm not sure exactly how you'd make the motor.  It would probably have to do with cloth or wire or rope or whatever designed in such a way to spin something.  But, I mean, we can make a hamster wheel with something inside designed to spin it, I'm sure you could make something like that and not need the 9th Heightening's ability to Awaken Steel. 

[alder24]

16 minutes ago, Tglassy said:

Again, I'm not sure exactly how you'd make the motor.  It would probably have to do with cloth or wire or rope or whatever designed in such a way to spin something.  But, I mean, we can make a hamster wheel with something inside designed to spin it, I'm sure you could make something like that and not need the 9th Heightening's ability to Awaken Steel. 

You need two gears or two separate rods, and a belt running between them, the belt is Awaken and spinning. So even if you or I don't know how motor is made, we both know what it does. Spin. Making a motor with Awakening is extremely cheap and easy, I'm really surprised that they didn't invent it yet and went fully into industrial revolution. 

Jet engine, I don't know if Awakening could make it, as it heats up and compresses the air inside it. But a propeller engine - easy. Breaths spinning the propeller would also generate electricity for the whole plane.

 

However it's easy for us to imagine Awakening in our daily life, on Nalthis they are far behind us in tech, and making helicopters without understanding advanced aero engineering is far beyond their possibilities for now. In the future of Cosmere, that should be common, because as you point out, no fuel is needed. But for now I think wings could be a good starting position from which aviation on Nalthis could advance further.