Pressure Surge = Force push

[Swimmingly he/him]

@cem I see your point but we have seen a few instances that do not really conform to the three lashings:

 

1. Pressure wave as described above (could be one off second ideal awesomeness)

 

2. Kaladin falling from the bridge. His landing does not follow the three lashings either.

 

I am prepared to give the benfit of the doubt and say that there are other applications than just the three lashings.

I think the falling from the bridge was more the stormlight making him stronger, similar to Allomantic pewter. I'd bet every order of the Knights had at least that - some of the powers could get pretty self-destructive without immediate healing from minor injuries. Flinging yourself around with gravitational manipulations could be nasty if you're unable to heal bone stress and windburn.

[Aether he/him]

I think the falling from the bridge was more the stormlight making him stronger, similar to Allomantic pewter. I'd bet every order of the Knights had at least that - some of the powers could get pretty self-destructive without immediate healing from minor injuries. Flinging yourself around with gravitational manipulations could be nasty if you're unable to heal bone stress and windburn.

It should be noted that this resistance to falls and the ability to enhance natural instincts and abilities mimic Shardplate's attributes (or rather, the other way around?). Since Shardplates are objects of high Investiture (powerd by Spheres, at least in modern times), it seems likely that this would just be a direct consequence of holding Stormlight/Investiture..

Edited December 13, 2013 by Aether

[MalcolmR]

In my opinion he did push the parshendi back using stormlight, the wiki note that Honor spren give a person access to atmospheric pressure. What is atmospheric pressure? Well in short its differences in the pressure that the air have on a person at any given place. So why can’t it mean that he have the ability to make a emptiness that drags people to him or more useful in a fight an increase in pressure that blast away from him. I am having trouble using physics to explain it. It’s magic so. But to me the power of atmospheric pressure is logically the ability to make shockwaves. It probably cost a lot of stormlight to do it. As someone noted her it who’d be fun to see a line of windrunners blasting down hundreds of men before carving them up with shardblades.

[Aether he/him]

In my opinion he did push the parshendi back using stormlight, the wiki note that Honor spren give a person access to atmospheric pressure. What is atmospheric pressure? Well in short its differences in the pressure that the air have on a person at any given place. So why can’t it mean that he have the ability to make a emptiness that drags people to him or more useful in a fight an increase in pressure that blast away from him. I am having trouble using physics to explain it. It’s magic so. But to me the power of atmospheric pressure is logically the ability to make shockwaves. It probably cost a lot of stormlight to do it. As someone noted her it who’d be fun to see a line of windrunners blasting down hundreds of men before carving them up with shardblades.

Well, you're basically making my argument from my first posts on this thread. I agree, it was probably not Stormlight that pushed them back, but a hitherto unknown application of the Pressure Surge (fuelled by Stormlight, mind you), thereby my "Pressure Surge = Force Push" hypothesis.

 

And in the spirit of reiterating past arguments, it would make sense too, for the Windrunners to have this ability. In-universe, they seem to make up what would be the KR Shock-Troopers - the avant-guarde - meant to run ahead the main body of an army to disrupt enemy lines. What better way for them to do this than randomly dropping from the sky and just shoving back every uninvested enemy trooper around them? ODSTs can go and cry silently in a corned somewhere - they are severely outclassed.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Aether

[Aminar]

On flying speeds. It all depends on how flight works. At 1G(A single lashing) we can rely on terminal velocity somewhat. But multiple lashings allow for more. Moreover, if flight is done with air pressure(You know, like how flying works for airplanes) there is a lot that Windrunners could do to make really impressive, supersonic speeds. Create a vaccuum in front of them(To eliminate drag), Compress the air in their lungs so they don't need to breathe as often while holding the pressure in such a way where nothing breaks/explodes/gets the bends, Use multiple lashings for speed allowing gravity to propel them at multiple G's worth of falling speed, etc. It all depends how clever the windrunner is and how much stormlight they can muck around with. They are almost specifically designed to fly, shardplate or no.

I would really hope that Windrunners get more than, Give an object a gravitational push/pull and suction bond two things together with air pressure. I'm sure they can. It would be rediculous not to.(Also I will now forever snicker at the spren bonding two objects together, because frankly, they're suction spren.)

[hoser he/him]

Suction spren: snap-upvote!

[PorridgeBrick he/him]

On flying speeds. It all depends on how flight works. At 1G(A single lashing) we can rely on terminal velocity somewhat. But multiple lashings allow for more. Moreover, if flight is done with air pressure(You know, like how flying works for airplanes) there is a lot that Windrunners could do to make really impressive, supersonic speeds. Create a vaccuum in front of them(To eliminate drag), Compress the air in their lungs so they don't need to breathe as often while holding the pressure in such a way where nothing breaks/explodes/gets the bends, Use multiple lashings for speed allowing gravity to propel them at multiple G's worth of falling speed, etc. It all depends how clever the windrunner is and how much stormlight they can muck around with. They are almost specifically designed to fly, shardplate or no.

I would really hope that Windrunners get more than, Give an object a gravitational push/pull and suction bond two things together with air pressure. I'm sure they can. It would be rediculous not to.(Also I will now forever snicker at the spren bonding two objects together, because frankly, they're suction spren.)

This is so true. Atmospheric pressure should be an incredibly useful and versatile surge, so for it's only use to be creating vacuums between two objects would be an incredible waste, especially since Gravity can also bind objects together anyway, if less effectively. With atmospheric pressure you could fly with incredible speed and control, stick objects together, implode with powerful compression or make explosions with decompression, and suffocate by giving someone too little atmospheric pressure or burst their lungs with too much. With enough compression, you could even make shields or deadly cutting edges of air. And imagine the projectile capabilities. Coat an arrow or a bullet with the Full Lashing on all surfaces except the back, and then launch it at a target with several Gs of Gravity. Since it's surrounded by a vacuum, the only atmospheric pressure should come from the back, pushing it forward and further accelerating it.

Hmm... This gives me another idea. With the ability to both fly and deploy such powerful projectiles, the optimal place on the battlefield would be high in the sky where only other Windrunners could reach, sending a hail of death down onto the enemy ranks. Without any other surgebinders to defend against them, a lone Windrunner could slaughter armies with no risk.

Windrunners are really scary.