Steelpushing/Ironpulling direction

[CoderDrag0n8 He/Him]

In Era 2 Marsh squishes a gun. In most steelpushes/ironpulls, the location doesn't matter. You push the bullet farther. However, when Marsh does this, it would require pushing from multiple parts of the hand. Can you change the location the steelpush/ironpull is based? Does the lurcher choose to pull towards the metal plate at their chest?

[Quantus he/him]

Per WOB, it's skill thing to be able to target specific a specific part of the object instead of the object as a whole (which defaults to forces acting on their center of mass)

 

Quote

 

The Forumlurker (paraphrased)

Can a [SA stuff]

Spoiler

Windrunner use a Basic Lashing

on a specific body part?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, but it works the same way a Steelpusher could push on a specific part of metal. Usually, you'd just affect the whole body, because of its Identity and cosmere magic not working as well on parts of something that considers itself a unit. When you're very skilled, you can isolate a hand, like Kelsier could push on specific sections of metal.

Stuttgart signing (May 17, 2019)

 

 

Edited February 11, 2025 by Quantus
Formatting

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, CoderDrag0n8 said:

You push the bullet farther. However, when Marsh does this, it would require pushing from multiple parts of the hand.

@Quantus gave one of the WoBs, so I'll just add:

The text describes what Marsh did (a combination of Iron and Steel, likely flared - accounting for the fact that with multiple spikes Marsh is likely stronger in both metals than a normal allomancer would be): TLM Ch 28:

Spoiler

“Sword,” Death said, focusing spikes upon him. “We need to speak.”

Wax gestured into the room with the others, and Death walked past the stunned constables, though one—bearing the shoulder patch of a Seeker—managed to pull out a gun. Not a move Wax would have advised. All Death did was wave absently and Pull the gun across the room to catch it. Then, making it hover between his hands—an incredible feat, the difficulty of which few non-Allomancers would grasp—he flexed. And the gun’s barrel crunched.

Wax froze. Hell. He’d never seen someone do that with their powers before. How would you even accomplish it?

Push on the near end, Pull on the far end, he thought. But damn, the power involved …

The gun dropped to the floor, and as Wax and Death reached the door, they saw that Entrone and Blantach had stepped out of an office, their eyes wide.

We have also seen both Kelsier and Wax do something similar:

BoM Prologue: 

Spoiler

He was going to die here.

I just want to do what is right. Why is that so hard?

Forch stepped forward, grinning.

Waxillium’s eyes fixed on that bullet, glittering golden. He couldn’t breathe. But that bullet …

Metal is your life.

A bullet. Three parts metal. The tip.

Metal is your soul.

The casing.

You preserve us …

And the knob at the back. The spot the hammer would hit.

In that moment, to Waxillium’s eyes, they split into three lines, three parts. He took them all in at once. And then, as the bar crushed him, he let go of two bits.

And shoved on that knob at the back.

The bullet exploded. 

TFE Ch 34:

Spoiler

The archers drew. But he could see their atium-shadows.

Kelsier released the bars and Pushed himself to the side just slightly, allowing the bars to fly between the archers and the fleeing prisoners.

The archers fired.

Kelsier grabbed the bars, flaring both steel and iron, Pushing against one tip of each bar and Pulling against the opposite tip. The bars lurched in the air, immediately beginning to spin like furious, lunatic windmills. Most of the flying arrows were sprayed to the side by the spinning rods of iron.

The bars clanged to the ground amid the scattered, discarded arrows. 

Hope that helps

[CoderDrag0n8 He/Him]

Thank you! That makes so much more sense!

[DoctaDajman]

On 2/10/2025 at 3:59 PM, Treamayne said:

@Quantus gave one of the WoBs, so I'll just add:

The text describes what Marsh did (a combination of Iron and Steel, likely flared - accounting for the fact that with multiple spikes Marsh is likely stronger in both metals than a normal allomancer would be): TLM Ch 28:

  Reveal hidden contents

“Sword,” Death said, focusing spikes upon him. “We need to speak.”

Wax gestured into the room with the others, and Death walked past the stunned constables, though one—bearing the shoulder patch of a Seeker—managed to pull out a gun. Not a move Wax would have advised. All Death did was wave absently and Pull the gun across the room to catch it. Then, making it hover between his hands—an incredible feat, the difficulty of which few non-Allomancers would grasp—he flexed. And the gun’s barrel crunched.

Wax froze. Hell. He’d never seen someone do that with their powers before. How would you even accomplish it?

Push on the near end, Pull on the far end, he thought. But damn, the power involved …

The gun dropped to the floor, and as Wax and Death reached the door, they saw that Entrone and Blantach had stepped out of an office, their eyes wide.

We have also seen both Kelsier and Wax do something similar:

BoM Prologue: 

  Reveal hidden contents

He was going to die here.

I just want to do what is right. Why is that so hard?

Forch stepped forward, grinning.

Waxillium’s eyes fixed on that bullet, glittering golden. He couldn’t breathe. But that bullet …

Metal is your life.

A bullet. Three parts metal. The tip.

Metal is your soul.

The casing.

You preserve us …

And the knob at the back. The spot the hammer would hit.

In that moment, to Waxillium’s eyes, they split into three lines, three parts. He took them all in at once. And then, as the bar crushed him, he let go of two bits.

And shoved on that knob at the back.

The bullet exploded. 

TFE Ch 34:

  Reveal hidden contents

The archers drew. But he could see their atium-shadows.

Kelsier released the bars and Pushed himself to the side just slightly, allowing the bars to fly between the archers and the fleeing prisoners.

The archers fired.

Kelsier grabbed the bars, flaring both steel and iron, Pushing against one tip of each bar and Pulling against the opposite tip. The bars lurched in the air, immediately beginning to spin like furious, lunatic windmills. Most of the flying arrows were sprayed to the side by the spinning rods of iron.

The bars clanged to the ground amid the scattered, discarded arrows. 

Hope that helps

Not to mention, I believe, Marsh could have iron feruchemy as well making him a much more solid anchor. 

We also see Wax destroy some steel beams with his duralumin push. However I feel like the way steel works he had to also have combined a massive amount of weight to pull off the stunt. Given that iron conserves momentum I imagine he tapped weight then duralumin pushed and then stored weight again to gain even more budge as he had to push himself and Wayne to a ship he likely could barely see out in the harbor. 

I have little doubt Marsh has double or even triple spikes for steel and iron but I think bolstering the efforts with F-iron allows the scene of him crushing a gun make more sense to me.