Iron pull variance

[Shard of Choice he/him]

Is it possible for an Lurcher to modulate the strength of his pull or is it like just an on off switch.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

It said somewhere in the books that Coinpushes were possible to control, but very difficult. I think we only see Zane and Kelsier do it. I assume Ironpulls would be the same.

[Shardlet he/him]

Yeah, it seems to be at least a very difficult skill.  Kelsier was exceedingly skilled with iron and steel and Zane had a spike that enhanced his iron? I think.  I don't even recall seeing Kelsier controlling the strength of his pushes or pulls except by flaring.

[Dahak he/him]

The safety Ranette built into Vindication implies she was expecting that she or Wax could exert fine control with Iron or Steel respectively.

 

Pushing it as hard as Wax pushes things to fly [i.e. not when he's flaring and smashing buildings.] would throw the gun out of his hand.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

I just found the quote I was thinking of from WoA.

It was possible to Push just slightly against a. Coin, regulating the amount of force with which one was thrown backward. It was incredibly difficult, however--so difficult that even Kelsier had struggled with it.

[Shardlet he/him]

It is important to remember that Wax has had his steel significantly longer than Kelsier had his allomancy.  This gives Wax much more experience and practice.  On top of which Wax only needs to work two abilities, while Kelsier needed to be practice six or more (he simply burned copper, didn't seem to have much interest in bronze, didn't do much with gold, and who could afford to practice much with atium).  Wax likely had a more deft touch with steel (evidence his steel 'shield').

[Shard of Choice he/him]

Thanks guys. I'm writing a fanfic with an Iron/Zinc Twinborn and I was thinking how to write him anchoring himself to the faces of skyscrapers without him breaking windows.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Oh I wasn't trying to imply thar Wax didn't have much control at all. I was just showing the only evidence I know of that talks about this. I think Wax has enormous amounts of skill with Steel and with combining that with Feruchemical iron.

[name_here]

It's quite possible to control the strength, although it takes practice to precisely tune it.

[Oudeis he/him]

Mr. Sanderson expressly says there is no variance in any metal besides burn and flare, but throughout the series Vin is constantly using tin, pewter, iron and steel with degrees of power. And obviously the emotional metals let you be crazy subtle. I'd say it is canon that you can do what you have suggested.

Please let me know how your fanfic goes. Will you post it in the fanfic section of the forum?

[Ete'ni]

in AoL one Lurcher drops some twenty feet pulling on iron bars in ceiling to slow his fall. That means pulling can be adjustable.

 

Wax is... well... this guys' a maniac in steelpushing, you find any kind of them from Wax. 

[Swimmingly he/him]

It's also possible that Sazed tweaked that particular aspect of Allomancy a little bit. If it was possible before, then it's not to far a stretch to say he made it easier afterward. More controllable Allomancy could mean more civic rather than military applications of Allomantic iron and Allomantic steel, anyway, so it seems like a very Sazed-like thing to do.

[Shard of Choice he/him]

This has all been really helpful. And yes when I get some content done I will definitely post on the fanfic thread. I had another thought as well. If a lurcher is in a very fast fall or even just moving very fast could he hurt or kill himself from pulling to hard in the opposite direction. Or would the allomancy account for this?

Edited November 12, 2013 by Shard of Choice

[Swimmingly he/him]

This has all been really helpful. And yes when I get some content done I will definitely post on the fanfic thread. I had another thought as well. If a lurcher is in a very fast fall or even just moving very fast could he hurt or kill himself from pulling to hard in the opposite direction. Or would the allomancy account for this?

I think it's safe to say it would hurt him a bit. Vin is hurt by bracing herself against Steelpushes, so Ironpull would hurt as well. Allomancy doesn't seem to have the same self-immunity rules granted by feruchemy in most cases. It's probably analogous to suddenly tying anything from a rubber band to a steel cable to your center of mass while falling. Your hero would probably have more luck slamming themselves into the side of a building, or dragging a paperweight through several floors via Pull to transfer the energy of their fall into the floorboards while letting the give enough that it didn't act like the aformentioned steel cable.

[Shard of Choice he/him]

Alright that makes sense. What if he Pulled on a far away metal source. The increased distance would decrease the force on him (as evidenced by the scene in which Vin Pushes herself higher and higher until the steel line is so faint she just sits suspended), slowing him down more gradually instead of all at once, and as he slowed down he could Pull on things closer and closer to him to eventually bring himself to a stop or change direction. Speaking of which if a far away anchor was not available he could instead pull at varying angles to change direction and let air resistance and friction bring him to a stop. Slower but as effective as the first. Or he could even Pull at angles such that the one plane of force cancels while the others add but to a small value that slows him gradually. Okay I'm rambling. Long story short you Pull to hard you can get hurt.

[Oudeis he/him]

Pulses. Pull for a fraction of a second, several times a second, to diffuse the change in speed over more time. Pulse your ironpulls against the metal of a skyscraper to hold yourself against it without harming the superstructure. You'd have to pull in 'blinks', a dozen tiny Pulls a second.

Just one man's opinion.