campino

I can't find this theory anywhere else on the forum, so I'm hoping it's not a rehash. I have an idea about emotional allomancy that I am having a hard time thinking of how to explain. So I'll try to explain it by analogy to physical allomancy. "When you push against something - whether with allomancy or with your hands - it goes directly in the opposite direction. Force, reactions, consequences." - TFE, Nook edition p. 136 When you Push (steel) on something, you increase the distance between yourself and that object. If it is smaller than you this happens as the object moves farther away, and if it is bigger it happens as you move away from the object. Similarly, when you Pull (iron) on something, you decrease the distance. Again, the heavier, larger object stays stationary and the lighter, smaller object moves. Is it possible that emotional allomancy works the same way? If I try to Push (soothe, Brass) on someone's emotions, but their emotions are "heavier" than mine (deeper, more stable, etc), would I instead be pushed the other way? Imagine a situation in which Allomancer A is with Friend F who is afraid. F is really really firmly solid in his fear. A is trying to not be afraid, so is more calm than F, but not really solid. If A tries to Soothe away (Push) F's fear, would F's fear Push back since it is "heavier" than A's calm? "Force, reactions, consequences."

Wow. I leave town for a week, and suddenly everybody wants to comment on my silly idea. Fun to see other people get as excited about it as I was

I would think so. It's all about equalizing forces. So, if she were to pull up with the force to accelerate the object 9.8m/s/s, that would hold it at the same distance from the ground. I'm not sure exactly how that would affect the size of the orbital though. I feel like I would need a real physicist (or someone who took physics 101 less than 8 years ago) to give that one some thought.

That is a pretty awesome idea. As long as he keeps moving, he could (I think) keep the projectile moving.

Yeah, that first one would be a serious problem for sustained "orbits", but I don't think that gravity would be. When I first thought about this, I was also thinking that the orbit would slowly decay as the "satellite" fell due to gravity, but IIRC, pushes and pulls draw the center of the metal's mass toward the center of the allomancer's mass. This means that the satellite would be in an orbit somewhere around the chest of the allomancer, because whenever it falls below his center of mass, it is pulled up by his iron. That said, I do recognize that there are serious limitations on this, and it would be impractical to actually do. I just like to theorize about what is on the margins of possibility.

Not to overcomplicate things, but can't Vasher look like...whatever he wants to look like? Doesn't that sort of rule him out as a recognizable character?

Yeah, I think that would be super-awesome. Slingshoting any bullets that aren't directly aimed at them back at the assailant. But, as you said, it would be really, really hard. Maybe some sort of Iron-savant? I'm pretty sure no Lurchers have done anything like this

I can't believe that no one else has theorized about this yet, but I can't find it anywhere on the forum. So, I apologize if this thread already exists. I am wondering if it would be possible for a Lurcher to pull an object in a circular path using the same straight-line-only physics that is used to create orbital paths. For this discussion, I am assuming you have a basic understanding of physics (which is all I have). And as with all good physics discussions, I will discuss things in a frictionless vacuum to simplify my life. First, brush up on orbital mechanics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_mechanics is a good place to do that. Basically, an orbit is a circular path created by the combination of a constant momentum moving "forward" in a straight line (tangential to the circular orbital path) and a force drawing the object toward a larger object at the center (like a satelite being drawn slowly toward a planet by gravity). So, assume that a metal ball is thrown in a straight line on a trajectory 5 feet to the left of a Lurcher. When the ball is directly to his left, he subtly pulls on it. The ball would continue with its forward momentum, but would feel a slight pull towards him, angling its trajectory slightly. If he keeps pulling (very gently) as it continues moving on this new slightly-angled path, it should continue moving forward and changing its trajectory to create a circular path around him. Using this, couldn't a (very skilled) Lurcher create an orbiting shield of bullets, kind of like Magneto in X-men II? I just feel like Lurchers are under-utilized because they can "only" draw things in a straight line from mass-center to mass-center, but that's a pretty powerful ability.

I can haz contest entry?