Artemos

In another good post about the physics of Allomancy Jofwu suggested a model that I don't think has been mentioned in this thread: With a force F and distance r, F is proportional to e^-r. It doesn't look like a very natural formula, but it works out very well. See a graph here (the green line represents e^-r, with a constant coefficient). At close range, the force isn't magnitudes stronger like with the r^2 relationship. The force decreases with range at a reasonable rate, approaching zero as the distance approaches infinity. We talk a bit more about this theory in another thread about making a mistborn video game (shameless plug).

We definitely understand that it's magic and that every problem could be solved with handwavium. However, the purpose of these conversations is to discuss and theorize how to represent magic with more rigorous math than just a wave of the hand. Leaving it to that wouldn't be very fun.

Nightblood actually seems androgynous. Lift uses "she" to refer to the sword near the end of Oathbringer: I don't think the "she" refers to Lift, so she must be interpreting Nightblood's voice to be female.

The blue lines are more of a Spiritual thing. I doubt that they'd bend with gravity and would instead- as Calderis said - just point straight from the Allomancer to the target. Do you have any good reasons for why they might bend with space-time?

We know it's possible to burn a spike: I'd bet that spikes are too invested to be quickly burned away with the aluminum.

I would assume that he's using Yolish Lightweaving. The two magics have the same name, after all.

Somewhat relevant wob for regarding Creation and Adonalsium and capital-G God: I'm not trying to argue how Adonalsium was related to the Big Bang (if there even was a Big Bang in the cosmere?), but it's something to keep in mind.

16 is a very important number in Scadrial. It's their base number system; it's like how we think the number 10 is important in our metric system. There's also 16 known allomantic metals (not counting god metal shenanigans) and Leras used the number 16 as a sign in his plan during the first trilogy.

I don't have anything to add other than I think that's a really interesting idea. Thanks for thinking of it.

I doubt it would no longer make it end neutral. Most likely, it would simply strengthen the feruchemist's ability to use feruchemy - similar to how a mistborn burning lerasium only increases their strength.

I don't imagine the ash would make the ground much more slippery. Rough stone still has pretty strong friction, and the coins could easily get caught in the cracks between the tiled cobbles - and if a coin's stuck against the cracks in the street, the ash won't make much of a difference. Also, think about how much the allomancer is pushing down on the coin. To be flying upwards, they have to be pushing with a downward force at least greater than their weight, usually more. That's a lot of downwards force and a lot of friction.

Friction. It's the same reason pushing on anything keeps it from moving. With a low enough angle, the clip would indeed start to skid, but friction keeps it in place otherwise. Taking your example of an open field, the clips would likely never move at all - they'd dig pretty into the ground from the initial push, like a nail or stake, depending on its orientation. It would take a lot to get a coin to skid across dirt and grass.

No, but there are other theories as to why anchored pushes are stronger. One is that the push gets weaker the faster your object is moving. At any given moment, if the metal is completely stationary, your push is strongest. If the target is instead flying away from you with a high speed, it'll be weaker. It's a valid theory, and the books never fully prove or disprove it. There's not as much "confusion" as there are multiple possible explanations.

Iron and Steel. Ironpulling and Steelpushing are really interesting movement-based magical powers to me.

Douglas Venture is the only descendant listed on the coppermind. I assume you want to know who kept the line going through the Catacendre, in which case I don't know.

Having someone to explain each facet of a Mistborn's power seems like a valid reason to include him. As Serack said, Ham was more focused on pewter than Kelsier, so he was able to teach Vin the finer details of fighting with it (they spent a lot of time sparring together off-screen). The rest of the crew have more plot significance than Ham, but he did give depth to the crew, such as when he talked/debated with Breeze. Personally, I prefer depth more than plot significance. Ham did have connections to the Luthadel garrison, which is where they first learned of Yeden's attack on the Holstep garrison.

I would rather think that the connection between the beads and the Physical Realm is made through the Spiritual Realm, where space and time don't really matter. Capital-C Connection already provides an easy framework for this, so a bunch of tiny perpendicularities seems unnecessary.

Stars definitely aren't an option. Only Allomancers burning tin are able to see them through the ash and mist. I can't remember if they ever mention how they determine direction in-book. Looking through Arcanum I only see references to compasses, so I can't say if they used the sun for navigation.

You're in luck, as they tried to do exactly that. And I'm certain that not every metal has a power in the Metallic Arts. Each Allomantic metal is like a key that opens a door to some flavor of Preservation's investiture for Pulling, Pushing, improved senses, strength, etc. There's no reason that every metal in existence has to be a key to some new kind of power from Preservation. Also, I didn't mean to imply that people's perceptions actively decide what each metal do. They don't. I was giving a bad example in implying that steel isn't a metal, but that people's perceptions making it one. Steel is a metal. People's perceptions don't change that. Sorry for the wording.

Right. It's a matter of the perception and belief of the people/world as a whole, not the perception of a single person. One person's will can't change much (unless it's a really powerful will, like a Shard, perhaps).

The Elder Scrolls universe has a similar property of perception significantly affecting reality. In the context of TES, "mythopoeia" describes people's ability to rewrite the mythology of the world by simply collectively believing it. If a lot of people believe X is the god of Y, X is the god of Y. Mythopoeia doesn't mean that by definition (literally, it just means making myths), but the TES community has adapted that term to explain this. It usually relates more to gods and histories (both of which are very real and malleable in TES) than it does to magic, but it's a similar idea.

In every Cosmere magic system, perception plays a huge role into what makes a magic work. Color plays a role in both the gemstones on Roshar and in Awakening. People's perception of what constitutes a metal gives the final say as to what a metal is. Most of the alloys of metals used in the Metallic Arts are formed of two metals, but steel is made of iron and carbon, a nonmetal. Iron and steel are an extremely famous pair of metals such that people (or Leras, or Scadrial, or nature itself) made them pairs in Allomancy - despite steel not being made of only metal atoms. In sum: Perception is more important than what occurs on the chemical or quantum level for magics in the Cosmere.

Guy who's coding up the video game here. My idea was that pushing on a coin (or any metal, really) is in some ways similar physically pushing on the coin from a distance with a long pole. If you push on an anchored coin with a long pole, your force pushes on the pole, which pushes on the coin, which pushes on the ground. The coin doesn't enter the ground, meaning the ground must push back on the coin to counter the Push. This resistance pushes on the coin, which pushes back on the pole, which pushes back on you, giving you an extra boost to your Pushes on anchors. If you pushed on a freely-falling coin, you don't experience the same resistance that you would from pushing on a coin on the ground. Picture yourself jabbing at the air beneath you with a pole, as opposed to solidly pushing on the ground. Regardless of if that's true, we're very confident that pushes get weaker with distance, so pushing on an anchored coin that stays relatively close to you will always provide stronger pushes over time than a coin that shoots far away from you very quickly.

There are several instances of cardinal directions being inconsistent throughout Era 1. Luthadel is the magnetic north of Scadrial, so compasses always point to it and different "norths," "souths," "easts," and "wests" don't always indicate the same direction. It's also fully possible the position was retconned.

I assume the reasoning would be that Feruchemy is the result of interplay between Preservation and Ruin. While Allomancy is of Preservation and Hemalurgy is of Ruin, Feruchemy is of both - similar to Harmony.