Tin vs Pewter and the "Extra" Human Senses

[Kaymyth she/her]

OK, so science has identified a ton of other senses that humans have beyond the basic "five".  We have stuff like thirst, hunger, thermoception, pain, balance, the passage of time, the position of our body parts in relation to the others, etc.  Heck, apparently we even have the ability to sense magnetic fields, though we're kind of terrible at it in comparison to birds.

 

Obviously, Scadrians haven't figured out that they have more than five senses yet, but the question remains what sort of effect (if any) Allomantic tin would have on those "extra" senses.  (Obviously Feruchemical tin wouldn't do anything, because you have to know you have a sense in order to store it into a metalmind.)

 

So, specific question:  I chalked the sense of balance up as something that tin could enhance, and one of my beta readers came out and said, "Hey, shouldn't that actually be pewter that would do that?"  And my answer was, "I don't know.  Consult the boards!"

[Edgedancer he/him]

OK, so science has identified a ton of other senses that humans have beyond the basic "five".  We have stuff like thirst, hunger, thermoception, pain, balance, the passage of time, the position of our body parts in relation to the others, etc.  Heck, apparently we even have the ability to sense magnetic fields, though we're kind of terrible at it in comparison to birds.

 

Obviously, Scadrians haven't figured out that they have more than five senses yet, but the question remains what sort of effect (if any) Allomantic tin would have on those "extra" senses.  (Obviously Feruchemical tin wouldn't do anything, because you have to know you have a sense in order to store it into a metalmind.)

 

So, specific question:  I chalked the sense of balance up as something that tin could enhance, and one of my beta readers came out and said, "Hey, shouldn't that actually be pewter that would do that?"  And my answer was, "I don't know.  Consult the boards!"

If I remember corectly then yes allomantic pewter does increase one's balance, however it seems to be more of an effect of the allomancer growing overall more graceful/fluent/precise in their movement than a direct improvement of their senses.

Tin on the other hand certainly strenghtens the sense of pain, however this may count as a part of touch. I don't think that Spook ever mentiones feeling more thirsty or hungry nor an improved ability to tell what time it is, apart from judging outside sources such as how much light there is, (haven't read the book in a while) as such it may be that tin only affects senses that depend on a physical source not internal to the body.

Meaning both metals help with keeping your balance but it is possible that neither directly affects your sense of balance.

[EdroGrimshell]

Obviously, Scadrians haven't figured out that they have more than five senses yet, but the question remains what sort of effect (if any) Allomantic tin would have on those "extra" senses.  (Obviously Feruchemical tin wouldn't do anything, because you have to know you have a sense in order to store it into a metalmind.)

My question is, what would Feruchemy do to those senses? I mean, there's a book for a Space Age Tech Level apparently, so that may well be a part of it.

 

As for the actual question, the inner ear is part of balance, as is sight, and one other trait of the human body. And since those are enhanced by tin, I think it would increase your sense of balance. Pewter, however, enhances your ability to keep your balance.

[king of nowhere]

yes, the sense of balance is the capacity to tell which direction is down and where your baricenter falls, while the ability to balance is about staying on your feet. they are linked, but not the same thing.

as for the rest, it is possible that spook could have his sense of passage of time increased, if only he paid attention to it. most people don't even think about it.

[vertigo 1]

My question is, what would Feruchemy do to those senses? I mean, there's a book for a Space Age Tech Level apparently, so that may well be a part of it.

 

As for the actual question, the inner ear is part of balance, as is sight, and one other trait of the human body. And since those are enhanced by tin, I think it would increase your sense of balance. Pewter, however, enhances your ability to keep your balance.

the third part of balance is the pressure receptors in your feet, which counts as touch so tin could increase balance.

[Eagle of the Forest Path he/him]

Well, the 5 "classical" senses are the ones with obvious sensory organs.

Maybe those are the only ones tin can enhance?

The other are either purely mental (I'm thinking passage of time here) or in a gray area in between (balance, hunger...)

(I'm pretty sure thermoception is treated as a part of touch in Mistborn, i.e. Spook and burning buildings, and pain as an overload of any one of the other senses)

 

But to make any definitive conclusions, we'd need to know exactly how tin works.

Does it enhance the senses by making the sensory organs able to gather more input?

Does it enhance the nerves transmitting that data to the brain?

Or does it enhance the brain to better process said data?

(It could also be any combination of those three, but that makes it harder to draw any conclusions)

Any of those options has different implications on the possible enhancement of additional senses.

[50Metals he/him]

This has bothered me for a long time. Thank you for bringing up the question.

[tobar14 he/him]

Pewter enhances the auxiliary components of the body (physical components)

      for example: pewter enhances your physical components of your eyes, it gets them to the best eyesight a human can have, the ideal human. Same for the inner ear (balance)

Tin enhances the Brain

      for example: tin enhances the brains ability to process the information, and what it can do with it. Its like seeing in 1080p vs 480 (1080p has more data coming in per second, and the brain has to have the ability to process it)

 

That's how I think of it.

Edited December 7, 2015 by tobar14

[skaa he/him]

Tin does enhance the senses of hunger, pain, and thermoception, at least. From the Final Empire:
 

She was hungry. That, too, she had been ignoring—yet now her hunger seemed far more pressing. Her skin felt wetter, and she could smell the crisp air mixed with scents of dirt, soot, and refuse.

“Tin enhances your senses,” Kelsier said, his voice suddenly seeming quite loud.

 

Sure enough, a cane smashed against his shoulders. He stumbled to his knees as the wood cracked, but flared tin kept him conscious. Pain and lucidity flashed through his mind.

 

However, burning tin made the night seem even more chilly to his overly sensitive skin...

 

 

I'm not sure what to think about the how Tin affects balance. On one hand, multiple characters attributed an enhanced "sense of balance" to Pewter, not Tin. Here's just one instance:

 

Burning pewter enhanced more than muscles—it increased all the body’s physical abilities. Keeping pewter at a low burn gave her a sense of balance that any night burglar would have envied.

 

 

On the other hand, balance is a sense, so Tin should also affect it. I guess it's quite possible that the characters in the book were just using the term "sense of balance" to describe something else that just so happens to leads to the same result.

 

I theorize that Pewter Allomancy counteracts the effects of any force that might change the user's expected physical position, condition, and form. When a Pewter Allomancer expects to remain upright, forces that are counter to that expectation do not affect the user as much as normal. Hence the perception of an increased sense of balance.

 

This fits the other effects of Pewter. The reason a Thug could lift a heavy object isn't really because he physically gets stronger as he burns Pewter (though that's what he feels is happening). His muscles don't grow bigger as they would if he was using Feruchemical Pewter. Instead, what I think is happening is that when he exerts effort to lift his hands up from underneath the heavy object, his body's expectation is for his hands to move up, so Pewter Allomancy counteracts any force contrary to that expectation (e.g. the downward force caused by gravity on the heavy object on his hands).

 

Similarly, the body expects itself to be whole and healthy, and so Pewter Allomancy makes the body less affected by wounds and sickness, and boosts the body's healing.

 

Tin, on the other hand, does not work with expectations, but with physical realities. It doesn't matter if you don't expect lunch for another hour, Tin will make you feel your hunger as long as it's there. It doesn't matter that you don't expect to see things in almost complete darkness, Tin will show anything that is there to see.

 

So I guess, if I'm correct, this is the real difference between Tin and Pewter: Tin "pulls" the environment's reality towards the user, while Pewter "pushes" the user's "reality" onto his environment.

 

 

Edit: tobar14's idea is also valid, I guess.

Edited December 7, 2015 by skaa

[Kaymyth she/her]

It looks like the general consensus is, "Both probably enhance balance, but would do it in different ways."  Thanks, everyone!  You guys are the best.

[Eagle of the Forest Path he/him]

Well, when running full speed over rough terrain, the pewter version of balance would keep you from stumbling.

The tin version would still have you fall flat on your face, but you'd really feel when.

 

A couple of years back, I had a disease that affected my nervous system.

I've still got a pretty good sense of balance, but because I haven't got enough control over the muscles in my hips I can't act on it.

(that's actually gotten better over time, but I won't be doing any parkour any time soon)

[Blackhoof]

When Spook became a Tin savant he certainly seemed to have good balance when fighting the guards.

[natc]

Well, if you feel your balance more acutely you should be able to correct it sooner than most people once you notice it going wrong.

But really it shouldn't be humanly possible to run over several kilometers of rough terrain like that pewter drag without tripping. Stamina aside.

Noticing that something is in need of correcting sooner as well as being better able to correct it probably both help. And really drives home the impression Spook gets that each misting ability really feels half-chulled and incomplete once you gain access to the paired metal as well.

[Oversleep]

One of the most obvious examples of complementing metals are Iron/Steel and Zinc/Brass. Misting able to both Ironpull and Steelpush and Misting able to both Riot/Soothe are far more 'complete'. I can't put it into words, but I hope you understant what I mean.
The metals are most efficient when used in pairs.

[natc]

Wonder how disoriented you would be with gold+electrum . . .

[Oversleep]

Well, copper+bronze seems useless. But nobody said you have to use both at the same time.

[natc]

Wonder if it's possible with hemalurgy to pierce your own coppercloud and seek anyway?

Or was it a hard restriction on bronze?

[Oversleep]

I believe your bronze has to be doubled. Like Vin.

[natc]

Hence why I put hemalurgy in that sentence

[Oversleep]

Sorry, I didn't notice the hemalurgy part of your sentence. You may say I... overslept *ba-dum tss*

I believe that with double bronze you can pierce your own coppercloud, by cannot pierce others, since you are using that additional power already.

[Lindel he/him]

Sorry, I You may say I... overslept *ba-dum tss*

Took me a second... XD