Oudeis Posted January 25, 2015 Report Share Posted January 25, 2015 This has been covered before but I've got a new take on the subject. People have wondered forever why timebubbles don't shift light. I have two theories, both of which rely on something. All metals have a mental aspect. Pewter has balance, tin lets you filter noises and sights, etc. Maybe that's the answer for the external temporal metals. First scenario. The light is changing wavelength and shifting to red or blue, but the metal puts out a field that makes people see it adapted for the shift. Second scenario. The light doesn't change wavelength, but fewer photons make it through. People think televisions show moving images, but they don't, they just show a lot of still images very very fast. Flipbooks work the same way. The human brain has a compensating mechanism called Persistence of Vision which tricks our brains into thinking we're seeing a single, moving image instead of a hundred stills. In the second scenario, the metals take advantage of that. People are in fact seeing fewer images, but the allomancy manipulates your natural persistence of vision to string the images together in your head, making you see someone moving at 1/8 (or whatever) speed, rather than getting 1/8 (or whatever) photons than you'd expect, which would make the image darker. Or 8x (or whatever) or lighter. Just came up with this. Please, tear it to shreds. My own personal problem with this... it seems weird that a guy a thousand feet away looking at Marasi in her time-bubble through a sniper scope would be mentally affected by her allomancy... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurkistan Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 (edited) So far as the first scenario goes, it's unlikely. One of the primary motivators for why so much handwavium has to be burned for light and timebubbles is because of Peter's concern that a guy with a flashlight could kill everyone around him by putting up a speed bubble. Just changing how people perceive the light wouldn't have any effect on whether or not their cells are cooking. Edited January 26, 2015 by Kurkistan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oudeis Posted January 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Sigh. This is why you should never mess with time travel. The past is the future, the future's the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natc Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Well, feruchemy already burns tons of handwavium. I guess it's a built-in feature of investiture now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oudeis Posted January 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Aru? Apart from the oddness of iron, what's handwaved in Feruchemy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voidus Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 My answer has always been: Relativity is weird stuff man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natc Posted February 1, 2015 Report Share Posted February 1, 2015 Aru? Apart from the oddness of iron, what's handwaved in Feruchemy? Steelrunning too fast also doesn't tear you apart, last I checked, even when air resistance still would. If your hand is going fast enough while the rest of you is stationary you'd think you'll break something. Also seems to take minimal effort to stop without your insides being mushed around by the sudden deceleration when it should probably be as bad as hitting the ground after going over a cliff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oudeis Posted February 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2015 We've only actually seen a few moments of steel feruchemy "on screen" and as I recall nothing Sazed did broke the laws of physics. In fact, while the MAG itself is non-canon, Mr. Sanderson himself does interject a few thoughts here and there, and one of them references steel feruchemy and its limitations. Tapping speed is one of a Feruchemist’s most powerful tools, but remember that the Metallic Arts are all about ramifications and consequences. For example, dramatically increasing your speed and hitting someone with an iron bar while running past them might do a lot of damage, but the hand(s) and arm(s) holding the bar are jolted backward with the same force. At a certain point the Narrator is fully justified in applying some of the character’s damage back on him or her, and this can result in serious injury, or even a Burden. I hasten to suggest that rather than "handwaved", things like this are actually something the author fully considers in the application of feruchemy. Can you cite an example of a time in the actual text or WoB that aspects of feruchemy are hand-waved? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voidus Posted February 1, 2015 Report Share Posted February 1, 2015 We've only actually seen a few moments of steel feruchemy "on screen" and as I recall nothing Sazed did broke the laws of physics. In fact, while the MAG itself is non-canon, Mr. Sanderson himself does interject a few thoughts here and there, and one of them references steel feruchemy and its limitations. I hasten to suggest that rather than "handwaved", things like this are actually something the author fully considers in the application of feruchemy. Can you cite an example of a time in the actual text or WoB that aspects of feruchemy are hand-waved? And even for where there are not consequences it's not exactly handwaved, it has been explained that Feruchemy generally protects against the side effects of it's use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natc Posted February 2, 2015 Report Share Posted February 2, 2015 And even for where there are not consequences it's not exactly handwaved, it has been explained that Feruchemy generally protects against the side effects of it's use. Which kind of comes back to the whole handwavium thing >_> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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