Steel Feruchemy; How does it work?

[Magestar he/him]

So, basically, I was just wondering if there is a definite answer to this question; How does Steel Feruchemy work? The title really says it all.  I've looked around, but have not found a definite answer, and was wondering if anyone knew.  If not, I have an idea, but I'd like to make sure that there is not another, correct answer, before I make a fool of myself in the Cosmere Theories section.

[Voidus]

38 minutes ago, Magestar said:

Ok.  Well, those are all good answers, but it appears there is no firm 'this is how it works'.  I was wondering if it had something to do with storing 'seconds' or something similar.  There is a good deal more to this theory, but I would like to flesh it out a bit before putting it in Cosmere Theories.  The way it would work would have something to do with storing half the seconds you would normally live, in exchange for going a half faster later, for the same amount of time.  This would fit with a good deal of the normal feruchemy standards, even if it does need some work.  There are a few other problems, but what do you guys think?

It's been sort of hypothesized a bit before but I don't know that anyone has posted a complete theory on it before, pretty much how I think it works, the kicker would be to find out if Steelrunners experience any issues with aging when storing/tapping.

[The One Who Connects he/him]

To answer your question: I'm not 100% sure on how it actually works beyond this, so your guess is as good as mine. (Edit: As long as your theory makes a bit of sense, most of us don't mind if its wrong)

Quote

Steel stores physical speed. Tapping steel will allow the Feruchemist to move at amazing rates, while storing it will cause the Feruchemist to move more slowly. Storing speed has negligible if any effect on the Feruchemist's ability to speak. It seems that steel Ferrings are able to make at least basic decisions while using speed. Source

Quote

A steel Ferring is known as a Steelrunner. Steel is used to store physical speed. Then, by tapping his steelmind, a Feruchemist can move many times faster than a normal human, even one burning pewter with duralumin. While storing speed, a Feruchemist is very sluggish and is described to feel like moving through molasses. Source

The most telling aspect of how F-powers work is their storing limits. Knowing what bodily function is physically, sometimes fatally, impeded by over-storing gives the best clue of its inner workings.

Edited August 22, 2016 by The One Who Connects

[shadowwisp]

Maybe it alters how much the mass of the individual interacts with the higgs boson/field? hmmm or maybe that would make more sense with iron Feruchemy. 

 

[Voidus]

It's tricky to say exactly and it's relatively certain to be quite complicated. It would seem to do more than simply increasing the speed of your muscles, there's accelerated perception as well at the least and given that we've seen no countermeasures needed for Steelrunners to walk or run it should probably interact with gravity and friction in some way.

[Magestar he/him]

I've posted the idea before in other threads, but never really gotten anything going.  I will post the full theory tomorrow or later today, when I have time.

[Spoolofwhool]

The thing is though, steelrunning is only the storing and tapping of physical speed, not mental speed. So it isn't really compressing time, While I imagine that it is altering your mental state slightly to compensate for the increases and decreases, and maintain reaction times, more or less, there isn't a giant shift in mental perception compared to physical movement. Otherwise, if there were, then Sazed wouldn't feel like he were moving through molasses, and instead just have a perception akin to how the outside of a slow bubble looked to Wax. 

My opinion is that it is steel is storing your physical capacity to move quickly; how quickly your muscle fibers can act. Magic slows them down while you're storing, and when you're tapping it speeds them up. That's basically though the limit of how much science can explain this. 

[The One Who Connects he/him]

17 minutes ago, Spoolofwhool said:

My opinion is that it is steel is storing your physical capacity to move quickly; how quickly your muscle fibers can act. Magic slows them down while you're storing, and when you're tapping it speeds them up. That's basically though the limit of how much science can explain this. 

I like this idea but the heart is a muscle (kinda) so wouldn't storing speed slow your heart rate?
Biology was years ago, so I could just be spouting rubbish

[Magestar he/him]

Plus, Speed does a lot of things that don't make sense AT ALL for simple physical speed, IMO.

[Spoolofwhool]

26 minutes ago, The One Who Connects said:

I like this idea but the heart is a muscle (kinda) so wouldn't storing speed slow your heart rate?
Biology was years ago, so I could just be spouting rubbish

It would, though I think steelrunning has mainly to do with storing the muscle speed in the limbs. Speed in the torso isn't changed. Can't remember if Sazed was chewing more slowly though in WoA.

Edited August 23, 2016 by Spoolofwhool

[Voidus]

4 hours ago, Spoolofwhool said:

The thing is though, steelrunning is only the storing and tapping of physical speed, not mental speed. So it isn't really compressing time, While I imagine that it is altering your mental state slightly to compensate for the increases and decreases, and maintain reaction times, more or less, there isn't a giant shift in mental perception compared to physical movement. Otherwise, if there were, then Sazed wouldn't feel like he were moving through molasses, and instead just have a perception akin to how the outside of a slow bubble looked to Wax. 

My opinion is that it is steel is storing your physical capacity to move quickly; how quickly your muscle fibers can act. Magic slows them down while you're storing, and when you're tapping it speeds them up. That's basically though the limit of how much science can explain this. 

It does speed your perception on tapping at the very least, there's quite a bit about it in the AoL era books but we also have direct WoB that it's mostly bullet-timing you.
Plus it needs to do a lot more than just speed up your muscles to allow for proper movement, for example it needs to mes with friction or else Steelrunners would all fall on their face the second they tried to actually move. Given that running seems possible it needs to mess with gravity a bit to allow you to actually fall to the ground when you're in your stride.

[Spoolofwhool]

3 hours ago, Voidus said:

It does speed your perception on tapping at the very least, there's quite a bit about it in the AoL era books but we also have direct WoB that it's mostly bullet-timing you.
Plus it needs to do a lot more than just speed up your muscles to allow for proper movement, for example it needs to mes with friction or else Steelrunners would all fall on their face the second they tried to actually move. Given that running seems possible it needs to mess with gravity a bit to allow you to actually fall to the ground when you're in your stride.

I could be wrong about the muscle fibers and it is instead screwing with your gait speed and the like. So your rotational muscular movement around joints is somehow increased without increasing the force you're applying. Like I said, a lot of magic probably goes into it, since physical speed is fairly vague.

[Magestar he/him]

Well, the theory is up in cosmere theories.  I spent about an hour or so cobbling everything together, late last night, so it will have holes.  But it will also be fun to read, I hope, and it is probably the most complete theory on this that I have seen.

[Magestar he/him]

Ok.  Well, those are all good answers, but it appears there is no firm 'this is how it works'.  I was wondering if it had something to do with storing 'seconds' or something similar.  There is a good deal more to this theory, but I would like to flesh it out a bit before putting it in Cosmere Theories.  The way it would work would have something to do with storing half the seconds you would normally live, in exchange for going a half faster later, for the same amount of time.  This would fit with a good deal of the normal feruchemy standards, even if it does need some work.  There are a few other problems, but what do you guys think?