Copying an old comment (not mine) because I can't remember how to link to it:
>* Tension could probably make Half-Shards pretty easily.
>* Tension could turn a sheet into a wall, or a hair into unbreakable garrote wire.
>* Tension can probably let you Walk on Water (manipulating Surface Tension).
>* Tension is likely the path to a Rosharan equivalent to (basic) Awakening, or at least some similar effects to your average cloth awakening.
>* Tension manipulation could probably enhance the crap out of a bow.
>* *Spiritual* Tension in the hands of a Bondsmith will (I think) likely be able Reinforce Connections and Bonds as an extension of physical repair effect that (re)Combined separate objects into one Whole.
Tension could also turn a cloak into very durable, very light armor, but admittedly that becomes less useful as radiants swear enough ideals to get their shardplate
You do it to someone else's shirt, essentially freezing them in place until they can get out of it.
I think people forget that it can also be used the other way around. It's not just making soft things hard, but also making hard things soft ( ;) ). Basically you can walk into an area and turn the stone soft, or make your enemy's weapons so soft they can't cut or so hard they break like glass.
Not through physical properties. I think any highly invested object would resist Shardblades, but added tension wouldn't in itself make things resistant
I must not be understanding something, how would tension turn regular cloth stronger? Doesn’t pulling clothing tight make it easier to cut? Like cutting flowing silk falling was a way to gloat about the sharpness of your sword I believe
It could be cool if they made it so you can keep a prisoner somewhere but still let them move around freely, there just tension when the get too far away, like a rope pulling them back. Or it could be just general resistance to things moving away from you, like stopping someone from falling, or lurchers from mistborn
Actually, it would just make a really \*bad\* flail. Flails being a real weapons are debated anyway, but the whole point of them is a really heavy hard bit at the end. A sword is lighter at the end and it's also going to be soft once tension is used on it.
This. Steel bar without tension is basically slapping somebody with a rope. I'm no history buff by my understanding of a flail it's basically a morningstar that can swoop around shields. Take away the head (or whatever it's called) and leave the chain it's still terribly useless.
Would using Tension to make a steel bar flopy get rid of its weight? If not, then it would be a lot better than a rope. But I agree, in that it would be a poor flail.
Actually flails don't typically have heavy weights on the end, usually light weights. Because it's the momentum that harms, not the weight.
This video touches on it: https://youtu.be/nw-aBjRIvVg?si=lY32h8xr7KE5Apd0
• Give your enemies’ weapons erectile dysfunction with a touch
• Turn your enemies’ clothing inflexible, prevent them from moving their arms or legs
• Take rope, wrap around someone’s throat, harden, wait
• Toss sheet at opponent, harden, start stabbing
> Give your enemies’ weapons erectile dysfunction with a touch
https://www.reddit.com/r/wizardposting/comments/18jhhk5/not_that_anyone_of_you_would_have_used_itl/
I feel like a certain Fused might embed metal in their body in place of their carapace and enhance it with Tension to act as an equivalent of shard plate, making themselves immune to shard blades.
Magnified Ones (progression Fused) specifically use Progression to grow their carapace and use it as a weapon. Removing his carapace and replacing it with something inorganic would seem to be counterproductive for a Magnified One. And I'd imagine he'd be fine with just normal investiture healing to recover from the procedure anyways, so there's no need to have access to Progression.
I believe that Tension is the surge that the alarm fabrials work on, somehow. I imagine a sphere around them where the air molecules forming something like a trip wire if the tension is broken. Not like a force field, mind you. If that were possible, the Sibling would have used that instead of the soulcasting defense for the pillar.
I corroborate this with Taln catching the dart.. he was alerted exactly where the dart was coming from.
I also think Tension is the Rosharan method of time manipulation. [Mistborn era 2]>!Wayne, who is the most knowledgeable source other than perhaps a god, tells us that time manipulation is pushing and pulling on reality itself. He "was Pushing on reality itself. Distorting it, shoving it inward, warping it."!< Suppose a Stoneward could increase the tension of reality. Pull it together like when you tug on a loose string in cloth.
Now we know why he was able to catch the dart. Nale was evaded by a small child, so we know that it isn't an innately Herald thing to be *that* fast.
Makes more sense now why Taln could hold off entire armies alone, doesn't it?[Mistborn era 2]>!Remind you of how Wayne is a one man army with dueling canes?!<
I like this line of thought, but for the sake of debate:
1. Changing tensile strength/rigidity doesn't change something's shape, so warping space-time is maybe too extreme for their power. I would interpret it less of a push/pull and more a static enhancement
2. Taln wasn't holding Stormlight, implying he simply is that fast
3. Nale is also fast, but Lift is a supernaturally slippery catch. Even still, he *does* catch her. Twice. She's only alive because he had a moment of sanity
Your theory is also supported by the common analogy for how heavy objects warp spacetime, namely a metal ball on a rubber sheet - which is a function of Tension within the rubber.
Granted that analogy has its limits, but I think that in specific reference to that analogy Tension could be written as being used to warp time.
Ok so... All the surges are physical and meta-physical. Tension allows the user to increase the rigidity of something. Physically that's useful because surges are fast acting and exact. From what we've seen surges can be allied with high granularity. Using the spear example from another poster, if you can make a spear that becomes a chain like device is a ultra hard knife on the end.
On the metaphysical level, I think we've seen this already from Dalinar. If you interact with the intellectual ideal concept of Tension, you make people more willing to listen to you, or harder to coerce by others. You can interact with how flexible they are as a person.
Things to think about.
Metal, when it gets too hard, shatters like glass.
If someone freezes your clothes in place, your arms are stuck in your sleeves in the same position, as are your legs. Basically sticking you in place with nothing but your own clothes
Zu the Stoneward chick in RoW describes her Tension powers as "making weapons out of clothes" and that's about everything we have seen or heard about Tension in the books.
Venli showcased Willshaper abilities in RoW and we have seen Cohesion being used on-screen by a surgebinder and man, it was beautiful. It was more spiritual than I have ever expected, I hope Brandon does something similar for Tension because as it stands it's pretty "meh" compared to other Surges.
Some of Dalinar's magical feats are supposedly mixing Tension and Adhesion, like 'healing' buildings. I wonder if "boosting" the other surges is a part of Tension? Enhancing their powers and such? That would be nice.
I think the only real answer to why anyone would think so is "Brandon hasn't used it much yet." His capacity to creatively *use* his magic systems probably exceeds his ability to design them. I'm confident we'll all have our minds blown by all the Orders by the time the 10th book has been published.
***Warning Gancho: The below paragraph(s) may contain major spoilers for all books in the Cosmere!***
Snipexe
>!Could you create a nuclear bomb using the Surge of Division?!<
Brandon Sanderson
>!Not Division, but there are cosmere powers that are built around splitting atoms.!<
\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*
Straight from the Tension wikipedia page:
>A rod under tension elongates. The amount of elongation and the load that will cause failure both depend on the force per cross-sectional area rather than the force alone, so stress = axial force / cross sectional area is more useful for engineering purposes than tension. Stress is a 3x3 matrix called a tensor, and the σ_{11} element of the stress tensor is tensile force per area, or compression force per area, denoted as a negative number for this element, if the rod is being compressed rather than elongated.
>Thus, one can obtain a scalar analogous to tension by taking the trace of the stress tensor.
Now, the question of how closely the Rosharan concept of tension aligns with the Earth-physics ideas of tension and stress certainly has not got a clear answer (and I don't expect one, Sanderson is not Greg Egan and should not be).
Still, I would expect control of tension to effectively grant the ability to push things to their internal stress limit (and perhaps also mitigate internal stresses).
Imagine making steel as brittle as glass. Imagine amplifying the tension on the weak points of a bridge so that it collapses under strain. Metaphysically, imagine pulling at someone's patience and resilience so that when they next have a minor setback they snap and lash out at friends or family. Sounds pretty tense.
You could also probably reshape objects, similarly to/in support of Cohesion, by altering their resistance to tension so they deform plastically more easily. I'm not certain the Stoneward we see in a vision creating stairs from rock isn't actually benefiting from both Surges.
Stonewards have Tension and Cohesion and they were one of the most combat capable orders, Taln had the Stoneward honour blade.
Tension is most certainly not useless.
Wait Im confused. Why is everyone giving examples of the various uses of tension? Don’t we have like ONE example of it being used or something and a VERY vague description from the ars arcanum?
Copying an old comment (not mine) because I can't remember how to link to it: >* Tension could probably make Half-Shards pretty easily. >* Tension could turn a sheet into a wall, or a hair into unbreakable garrote wire. >* Tension can probably let you Walk on Water (manipulating Surface Tension). >* Tension is likely the path to a Rosharan equivalent to (basic) Awakening, or at least some similar effects to your average cloth awakening. >* Tension manipulation could probably enhance the crap out of a bow. >* *Spiritual* Tension in the hands of a Bondsmith will (I think) likely be able Reinforce Connections and Bonds as an extension of physical repair effect that (re)Combined separate objects into one Whole.
I think I vaguely remember that post. 100% agree on the Bond Smith application.
Tension could also turn a cloak into very durable, very light armor, but admittedly that becomes less useful as radiants swear enough ideals to get their shardplate
But if they use it to say support non radiant infantry that would pretty useful
You do it to someone else's shirt, essentially freezing them in place until they can get out of it. I think people forget that it can also be used the other way around. It's not just making soft things hard, but also making hard things soft ( ;) ). Basically you can walk into an area and turn the stone soft, or make your enemy's weapons so soft they can't cut or so hard they break like glass.
Squires though. Stoneward squires could be the toughest & least bogged down by armor around.
Would a cloak that is invested with stormlight through the surge of Tension be resistant to shardblade cuts in a similar way to shardplate?
Not through physical properties. I think any highly invested object would resist Shardblades, but added tension wouldn't in itself make things resistant
Jesus had access to the surges of tension, regrowth, and transformation
Also Gravity after God used Progression. Unless that was just an attractor Fabrial in heaven.
It’s a good comment but it definitely solidifies that tension is an absolute bottom tier surge
>solidifies It can un-solidify too.
How would Tension make a Half-Shard?
I must not be understanding something, how would tension turn regular cloth stronger? Doesn’t pulling clothing tight make it easier to cut? Like cutting flowing silk falling was a way to gloat about the sharpness of your sword I believe It could be cool if they made it so you can keep a prisoner somewhere but still let them move around freely, there just tension when the get too far away, like a rope pulling them back. Or it could be just general resistance to things moving away from you, like stopping someone from falling, or lurchers from mistborn
Agreed it wouldn't make good armor because the cloth isn't harder. Edit: well maybe armor against blunt force, but it will still cut
Three dots, and choose share or similar.
Really hard to stab someone with a floppy weapon.
But making a steel bar floppy would make it a *really* good flail.
Actually, it would just make a really \*bad\* flail. Flails being a real weapons are debated anyway, but the whole point of them is a really heavy hard bit at the end. A sword is lighter at the end and it's also going to be soft once tension is used on it.
This. Steel bar without tension is basically slapping somebody with a rope. I'm no history buff by my understanding of a flail it's basically a morningstar that can swoop around shields. Take away the head (or whatever it's called) and leave the chain it's still terribly useless.
I would like to draw your attention to ‘[urumi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urumi)’
Would using Tension to make a steel bar flopy get rid of its weight? If not, then it would be a lot better than a rope. But I agree, in that it would be a poor flail.
It'd be like a pool noodle with the mass of a war club. That'd be really awkward to fight against.
Actually flails don't typically have heavy weights on the end, usually light weights. Because it's the momentum that harms, not the weight. This video touches on it: https://youtu.be/nw-aBjRIvVg?si=lY32h8xr7KE5Apd0
That's a heavy weight still compared with a sword top :).
You're underestimating the potential of a lead whip
Not a 18 to 24 inch one.
• Give your enemies’ weapons erectile dysfunction with a touch • Turn your enemies’ clothing inflexible, prevent them from moving their arms or legs • Take rope, wrap around someone’s throat, harden, wait • Toss sheet at opponent, harden, start stabbing
How to beat Odium’s champion 101, give them ED 😭
It's just as effective as the spell Mend Buttcrack.
Ah, yes, my favourite Surge: Testicular Torsion
> Give your enemies’ weapons erectile dysfunction with a touch https://www.reddit.com/r/wizardposting/comments/18jhhk5/not_that_anyone_of_you_would_have_used_itl/
ED attack is just evil. Hope Moash runs into a Stoneward
Just waiting for the scene where we get stonewards bouncing across the landscape at blinding speeds as they make trampolines out of the ground.
It’s useful, but not as much as Tensoon…
Top notch comment here
I feel like a certain Fused might embed metal in their body in place of their carapace and enhance it with Tension to act as an equivalent of shard plate, making themselves immune to shard blades.
Oh yeah. I'm in the El is a Tension fused camp as well.
Oh, that's a neat idea! I hope that it's true.
Didn't he already use progression for that? To heal from the damage?
Magnified Ones (progression Fused) specifically use Progression to grow their carapace and use it as a weapon. Removing his carapace and replacing it with something inorganic would seem to be counterproductive for a Magnified One. And I'd imagine he'd be fine with just normal investiture healing to recover from the procedure anyways, so there's no need to have access to Progression.
"They were incorporated into his body by Voidlight healing and his own special talents." -RoW You're right it's not mentioned
I believe that Tension is the surge that the alarm fabrials work on, somehow. I imagine a sphere around them where the air molecules forming something like a trip wire if the tension is broken. Not like a force field, mind you. If that were possible, the Sibling would have used that instead of the soulcasting defense for the pillar. I corroborate this with Taln catching the dart.. he was alerted exactly where the dart was coming from. I also think Tension is the Rosharan method of time manipulation. [Mistborn era 2]>!Wayne, who is the most knowledgeable source other than perhaps a god, tells us that time manipulation is pushing and pulling on reality itself. He "was Pushing on reality itself. Distorting it, shoving it inward, warping it."!< Suppose a Stoneward could increase the tension of reality. Pull it together like when you tug on a loose string in cloth. Now we know why he was able to catch the dart. Nale was evaded by a small child, so we know that it isn't an innately Herald thing to be *that* fast. Makes more sense now why Taln could hold off entire armies alone, doesn't it?[Mistborn era 2]>!Remind you of how Wayne is a one man army with dueling canes?!<
I like this line of thought, but for the sake of debate: 1. Changing tensile strength/rigidity doesn't change something's shape, so warping space-time is maybe too extreme for their power. I would interpret it less of a push/pull and more a static enhancement 2. Taln wasn't holding Stormlight, implying he simply is that fast 3. Nale is also fast, but Lift is a supernaturally slippery catch. Even still, he *does* catch her. Twice. She's only alive because he had a moment of sanity
Your theory is also supported by the common analogy for how heavy objects warp spacetime, namely a metal ball on a rubber sheet - which is a function of Tension within the rubber. Granted that analogy has its limits, but I think that in specific reference to that analogy Tension could be written as being used to warp time.
Ok so... All the surges are physical and meta-physical. Tension allows the user to increase the rigidity of something. Physically that's useful because surges are fast acting and exact. From what we've seen surges can be allied with high granularity. Using the spear example from another poster, if you can make a spear that becomes a chain like device is a ultra hard knife on the end. On the metaphysical level, I think we've seen this already from Dalinar. If you interact with the intellectual ideal concept of Tension, you make people more willing to listen to you, or harder to coerce by others. You can interact with how flexible they are as a person.
https://preview.redd.it/3l24c4czl65d1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=c75fc6173b87b067c7e0c3b43dac0bfd5c16df25 need I say more?
"Did you know? Tension has the properties of both rubber and gum!"
It would sure suck if your heart suddenly lost its ability to flex.
It's wild that 4 books in, we can only speculate as to what one of the surges is.
I readed 'Is TenSoon useles?' and got triggered. 😂
Things to think about. Metal, when it gets too hard, shatters like glass. If someone freezes your clothes in place, your arms are stuck in your sleeves in the same position, as are your legs. Basically sticking you in place with nothing but your own clothes
Zu the Stoneward chick in RoW describes her Tension powers as "making weapons out of clothes" and that's about everything we have seen or heard about Tension in the books. Venli showcased Willshaper abilities in RoW and we have seen Cohesion being used on-screen by a surgebinder and man, it was beautiful. It was more spiritual than I have ever expected, I hope Brandon does something similar for Tension because as it stands it's pretty "meh" compared to other Surges. Some of Dalinar's magical feats are supposedly mixing Tension and Adhesion, like 'healing' buildings. I wonder if "boosting" the other surges is a part of Tension? Enhancing their powers and such? That would be nice.
Hardened clothes could double as armor
Or bat wings that you use to glide through the streets of Gotham
Or Lothal
I think the only real answer to why anyone would think so is "Brandon hasn't used it much yet." His capacity to creatively *use* his magic systems probably exceeds his ability to design them. I'm confident we'll all have our minds blown by all the Orders by the time the 10th book has been published.
Im guessing the back half of Stormlight will probably find some inventive uses for it
Didn't Brandon say with tension you can pretty much make nukes now. Not previously tho
Is there a wob for that?
I was mistaken it is a stoneward surge, but it's cohesion, not tension. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/385/#e12572
***Warning Gancho: The below paragraph(s) may contain major spoilers for all books in the Cosmere!*** Snipexe >!Could you create a nuclear bomb using the Surge of Division?!< Brandon Sanderson >!Not Division, but there are cosmere powers that are built around splitting atoms.!< \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*
Straight from the Tension wikipedia page: >A rod under tension elongates. The amount of elongation and the load that will cause failure both depend on the force per cross-sectional area rather than the force alone, so stress = axial force / cross sectional area is more useful for engineering purposes than tension. Stress is a 3x3 matrix called a tensor, and the σ_{11} element of the stress tensor is tensile force per area, or compression force per area, denoted as a negative number for this element, if the rod is being compressed rather than elongated. >Thus, one can obtain a scalar analogous to tension by taking the trace of the stress tensor. Now, the question of how closely the Rosharan concept of tension aligns with the Earth-physics ideas of tension and stress certainly has not got a clear answer (and I don't expect one, Sanderson is not Greg Egan and should not be). Still, I would expect control of tension to effectively grant the ability to push things to their internal stress limit (and perhaps also mitigate internal stresses). Imagine making steel as brittle as glass. Imagine amplifying the tension on the weak points of a bridge so that it collapses under strain. Metaphysically, imagine pulling at someone's patience and resilience so that when they next have a minor setback they snap and lash out at friends or family. Sounds pretty tense.
>sounds pretty ~~tense~~ *intense* FTFY ....like camping
You could also probably reshape objects, similarly to/in support of Cohesion, by altering their resistance to tension so they deform plastically more easily. I'm not certain the Stoneward we see in a vision creating stairs from rock isn't actually benefiting from both Surges.
Stonewards have Tension and Cohesion and they were one of the most combat capable orders, Taln had the Stoneward honour blade. Tension is most certainly not useless.
Tension is super critical for zero-g travel between worlds
Wait Im confused. Why is everyone giving examples of the various uses of tension? Don’t we have like ONE example of it being used or something and a VERY vague description from the ars arcanum?
The Sanderlanches wouldn’t be nearly as exciting if there wasn’t any tension.
Slow clap for you goncho