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Awakener Wands


skaa

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(Warning: The hypothetical scenario I'm about to propose relies on the accuracy of my Cosmere theory on Investiture resonance in metal. Given this, complaints like "but there's no evidence that this is possible!" will be ignored.)

 

One of the cool things about Awakening is that almost every single Nalthian is an Awakener. As long as you are Nalthian and you don't give your Breath to someone else, you have within you the power to do magic. You could do it right now, if you wanted. Right this instant. No traumatic Snapping necessary (since the Nalthian equivalent probably happens during childbirth). No need to attract Splinters. Just grab something organic and say a single-Breath Command (since that's all you've got, presumably), and VOILA! Magic!

 

I think that's awesome.

 

Except... we don't really know many single-Breath Commands, do we? We only know of the improved Lifeless Command "Awaken to my Breath, serve my needs, live at my Command and my word. [insert security phrase here]", but that Command makes the one Breath used irretrievable. You'd be a drab afterwards, and that would be a drag.

 

From what we've seen in Warbreaker, access to other less permanent Awakening Commands requires much more than one Breath. So unless you could buy more Breaths from poor, desperate people, then you really can't do much with that bit of magic within you.

 

Well, you could use "My life to yours, my Breath become yours" to transfer your single Breath to a non-living, non-corpse object, then retrieve the Breath using "Your Breath to mine", but that's not much of a party trick, is it? Generic Breath-transfer Commands cause Breath to be transferred without adding a specific Awakening Intent to it, unlike other "real" Awakening Commands.

 

Unless you're a Returned, whose single Divine Breath already contains a healing Intent, generically transferring your one Breath won't do much to a target object.

 

Bummer.

 


 

Enough of this rambling; what's your point, skaa?

 

The point is it would be much more ideal, certainly much more ethical, if Nalthians can use their single Breath in more useful forms of Awakening instead of relying on getting more Breaths. Normally, this would require Awakener scholars to look for single-Breath versions of multi-Breath Commands, like how the Five Scholars figured out the single-Breath version of the Lifeless Command. I believe there must be many Commands that can be improved this way because, by the Law of Comparability, BioChromatic power is not simply a function of the number of Breaths.

 

Nevertheless, this task of finding more single-Breath Commands will probably prove difficult even for people with the Sixth Heightening's Instinctive Awakening.

 

But what if there was an easier way?

 

What if there was a way for regular Nalthians to somehow shape their one Breath with the Intent of a multi-Breath Command, then use the generic Breath-transfer Command to transfer this Intent-laden Breath to a target? If this can be done, then a Command that would otherwise require multiple Breaths can be used by a person with a single Breath. I got this idea from the concept of the Returned using the generic Breath-transfer Command to heal people; they could do this because the healing Intent is already in the Breath.

 

So how would I theoretically go about doing this? This is where my metal theory comes in. I believe that if an Awakener could somehow pass his Breaths through a piece of metal while Awakening another target using any Awakening Command, the Intent of the Command would become "imprinted" on the piece of metal, such that any raw Investiture that subsequently passes through it would be shaped/filtered by that particular Intent, like how metals filter Preservation's power in Allomancy. Note that the Awakener will NOT be Awakening the metal, but rather just attuning the metal to the Command.

 

Once the piece of metal has been attuned that way, another person with just one Breath could take that metal, then while holding it, use the generic Breath-transfer Command ("My life to yours, my Breath become yours") to transfer his Breath to a target object of his choosing. When this happens, the metal in his hand will resonate with the Intent of the previous Awakening Command and shape the Breath with this Intent, thereby Awakening the target object with just a single Breath.

 

This is similar to the ter'angreal concept in the Wheel of Time, but I guess it's okay to just call these Awakener Wands.

 


 

Limitations and Disadvantages

  • Each Awakener Wand could only be used for one specific Command. So you'll need multiple Wands to use multiple Commands. This would necessitate the labeling of each Wand so that people would know what each one does, and there's the risk of mislabeled Wands that do dangerous things.
     
  • It would probably be very easy to overwrite the Command Intent that an Awakener Wand is attuned to, like how Feruchemy and Hemalurgy can easily override the Allomantic attunement of metals.
     
  • Awakener Wands would still require multi-Breath Awakeners to create the wands in the first place. The reliance on multi-Breath Awakeners will only be lessened slightly. Then again, in the end the important thing is to empower people with only one Breath, so this is just a minor setback.
     
  • The economy based on the buying and selling of Breath would probably take a direct hit once Wands become widespread, as Breath prices would probably go down. The demand won't disappear entirely, of course (as implied above), but I imagine the poor will have to find other ways to earn a living. Or they could sell their Breath to the Returned.
     
  • I think you will still need the Ninth Heightening to Awaken metals, so it's probably useless to create a Metal Awakener Wand because it would be very, very stupid for a person with Ninth Heightening (with 20,000+ Breaths) to use the generic Breath transfer Command to Awaken metal (which can normally be Awakened with just 1000 Breaths).


 

Even with the disadvantages taken into account, I still think the widespread use of Awakener Wands would be an improvement over the status quo on Nalthis. What do you guys think?

Edited by skaa
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This was an interesting read. I am similarly fascinated by Nalthian magic. Out of the entire Cosmere we've seen so far, it seems like it's the least understood in-world. A good Awakener is also an efficient one; coming up with something like these Awakening Wands that you proposed would be an enormous advantage.

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That would be awesome. Though seeing as it has been demonstrated that Breath can be taken off world, couldn't a Elantrian go to Nalthis, gather some Breaths and return to Sel. Then use those Breaths to create Aondor wands. Which would presumably be able to be taken off world as the Dor is no longer supplying the power, the Breath is. Huge market there for the right Scadrian. Just needs large capital funds, easy for a space traveler and a willing Elantrian.

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"Awakened" Wands. ;D

 

This sounds more like...tuning forks. You're tuning the fork to a specific Command like a tuning fork is tuned to one note, so, I...I actually think it would be possible, but I'm not sure you would need mental (or if mental would hold it the best), perhaps there's even a fabrial-like device pre-programmed to a specific command that could be created...

 

So, if this is possible, how much Breath (or Investiture) would it take to created a wand/fork/device tuned to that specific command? How much would you need to..."imprint" it and "save" that command into the mental? Would that take so much Breath/Investiture that the economics (and usefulness) of this would be to high for it to actually be useful or practical? Or am I not being crazy enough...meh, I could always use a little more crazy spunk...

Edited by Nymp
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"Awakened" Wands. ;D

 

This sounds more like...tuning forks. You're tuning the fork to a specific Command like a tuning fork is tuned to one note, so, I...I actually think it would be possible, but I'm not sure you would need mental (or if mental would hold it the best), perhaps there's even a fabrial-like device pre-programmed to a specific command that could be created...

 

So, if this is possible, how much Breath (or Investiture) would it take to created a wand/fork/device tuned to that specific command? How much would you need to..."imprint" it and "save" that command into the mental? Would that take so much Breath/Investiture that the economics (and usefulness) of this would be to high for it to actually be useful or practical? Or am I not being crazy enough...meh, I could always use a little more crazy spunk...

 

Thanks for the input, Nymp! One thing I need to clarify is that the concept I envisioned isn't "Awakened wands", since we're not Awakening the metal but rather letting the Breaths pass through it. Yes, the result does act as a "tuning fork" for Investiture.

 

I imagine that creating an Awakener Wand for a particular Command (e.g. "Fetch keys") only requires the same amount of Breath usually needed by the Command (in the case of "Fetch keys", around twenty five Breaths). There shouldn't be any wasted Breaths, if my assumptions are correct.

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I note that your hypothesis hinges on one thing you pointed out in your initial post, that the Returned are able to "heal" with just a single Breath because the Breath has a healing "intent" already in it. I'm not sure I buy the premise. You seem to be saying that there's nothing unique about a Divine Breath, and I disagree.

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I note that your hypothesis hinges on one thing you pointed out in your initial post, that the Returned are able to "heal" with just a single Breath because the Breath has a healing "intent" already in it.

Actually, it hinges on my Investiture resonance in metal theory. The thing about Divine Breaths is just to show an example of generic Nalthian Investiture transfer ("My life to yours, my Breath become yours") with pre-existing Intent. I could have opted not to mention Divine Breaths at all, so I don't see why you think my theory hinges on that example. I'm certainly not claiming that Divine Breath wands are possible, if that's what you thought.

You seem to be saying that there's nothing unique about a Divine Breath, and I disagree.

That's a peculiar interpretation of my words, Odeis. Endowment Invested the Returned with big chunks of his own power, creating Splinters of himself in the process. Clearly the Splinters are special. The Divine Breath can be as complex as Brandon wants them to be. I simply pointed out that they seem to have a healing Intent. That's just one property I choose to describe. I did not claim it was their only property. Edited by skaa
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I'm not entirely sure that I agree with the metal resonance theory you've posted, I have some theories of my own in that regard that conflict. But assuming it's true for the purposes of this post I really like the idea but given that the amount of breath variability is already altered by the material and structure of the object that you're Awakening I don't know that a template like that would work, at least not universally.
I also believe that the only reason lifeless have a one-breath command is that they're recently deceased things still in the shape of their living parallels, they're perfect representations of the spiritual ideal and so require minimal amounts of Investiture.

But even though I disagree with parts of it it's really well-thought-out, would be awesome if canon and ties in nicely with your metal resonance post so kudos!

Edited by Voidus
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Skaa: I don't know if we're using the word "hinges" to mean the same thing. Let me start over.

 

There's not a ton of evidence that a single Breath has infinite power. There are ways to make power work more efficiently; see Lifeless being Commands that take only one Breath. As Voidus pointed out, it takes fewer Breaths to awaken things the closer they are to human; a Lifeless is an actual human.

 

I don't see why many Breaths can be shaped by "intent" into doing a specific thing, but then also one single Breath can be done the same way. Doesn't a Command already do exactly what you're claiming a wand would do? It's putting a specific intent to the Breaths, the way you're claiming your wand could do. If that can't be accomplished with a Command, why can it be accomplished with a wand?

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Doesn't a Command already do exactly what you're claiming a wand would do? It's putting a specific intent to the Breaths, the way you're claiming your wand could do.

 

Yes. A Wand is supposed to replicate what a Command does. That was kind of the point, Odeis.

 

 

If that can't be accomplished with a Command, why can it be accomplished with a wand?

 

Because the wand has a memory/attunement/alignment of the multiple Breaths that once passed through with the Intent of a Command. The initial (and successful) Command resonates within the wand, allowing it to shape any subsequent Investiture that passes through it.

 

I believe that if you try to use a Command that normally requires more Breath than you currently have, your Breath doesn't get transferred at all, so there is nothing for that Command to shape with its Intent. Please tell me if there is anything in the book that refutes that belief. Anyway, by using "My life to yours, my Breath become yours", we are basically working around that limitation, moving the Breath so that it can be shaped with Intent (in this case, by the wand).

 

Again, this is all completely speculative. It may very well be that the Law of BioChromatic Parallelism will make Wands impossible. But I feel that Law only talks of the difficulty of Awakening things that aren't close to living things with one Breath, not necessarily the impossibility thereof.

 

But please feel free to continue with your rebuttals. Perhaps you can convince me to give this theory up. ;)

Edited by skaa
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I think it's wildly speculative and not based as solidly as you're making it seem, but I will be the last person telling someone they should give up a theory as long as it's plausible, and this one is. (Ask me sometime about my crazy allomantic copper hypothesis).

 

I still think you're ignoring the power problem; you're making it seem like literally anything, no matter how much power it might need, can be fully powered on one Breath, and I think that's ludicrous. I also don't understand how you're not writing over the "attunement" Command when you send a Breath through the wand with the generic Command. You'd have to assume a dozen other laws of BioChroma that haven't even been hinted at in the books for your idea to work, and the best that can be said of it is, "it has not yet been directly refuted by WoB." Sorta damning with faint praise, there. Still, it does have the virtue of people something that might be true.

 

I do, however, hope it's not. One of the Sanderson laws is that limitations make for interesting stories. Breath is fascinating because power for one person requires self-sacrifice on the part of many. That's powerful, and very interesting.

 

Mistborn spoilers.

 

When Elend ran out of that cave at the head of hundreds of Seers to sacrifice themselves against the Koloss hordes, that was an incredibly powerful moment in the books.

 

On a world where anyone and their brother has all of the power with a sacrifice approaching zero, the stakes of the story are dropped and the novel gets a lot less interesting. It's sorta nice in a throwaway fantasy sorta way to imagine that you could have incredible power without any sort of cost or sacrifice, but a story based on that premise wouldn't have any tension, it would just be fairy tale wish fulfillment.

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I think needing more Breaths has less to do with power (Since there doesn't seem to be much in the way of correlation, asking something to grab things requires much less power than animating a body forever) and more to do with making up for the requisite spiritual connection to humans so that the Commands can be properly carried out, from my current understanding and theory colour is what actually powers the Command, Breaths just do the interpreting.
Mistborn spoiler


On it potentially overpowering everyone I see it more as a parallel to the southern continent of Scadrial, where they've discovered how to use Allomancy mechanically. It reduces some limitations sure but it introduces others, each wand could only carry one Command so you don't have versatility and you still need sacrifice in the number of people who have to initially charge the wand.

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@Odeis: Well, I did list down some limitations of Single-Breath Wand-based Awakening in the OP, and I can think of a few more:

  • A person with tons of Breath is only limited by the number of Commands he knows that require less Breath than what he has (which, for people with thousands of Breaths, might practically be limitless). A single-Breath person relying on multiple Wands will be limited by the number of Wands he can carry. (Edit: Voidus already pointed this out above.)
  • A person with tons of Breath can use multiple Commands in quick succession. A single-Breath person will have to retrieve his Breath every time before moving on to the next Command.
  • Single-Breath people can't even make Lifeless without turning into drabs.
  • Single-Breath people don't even have access to the First Heightening. That sucks.

Anyway, as Voidus said, the power or complexity of the Command does not necessarily have to do with the number of Breaths that will be used. This is the Law of Comparability that Vasher talked about (which I also mentioned in the OP).

Edit: By the way, Odeis, I'm pretty sure I am not as confident about this theory as you seem to think, by your "it's... not based as solidly as you're making it seem" comment. Perhaps my way of defending it makes me seem convinced about this theory. I am not. I am just giving this admittedly strange idea a chance, because I want to see if it will survive intense scrutiny. Please continue looking for holes. Thanks! :)

Edited by skaa
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Voidus: A body has muscles, the Breath just animates them. It has to provide all the mechanical energy for the rope to 'grab things'. And the Breath doesn't power them forever. They need maintenance and repair, if they take damage they need more Breaths.

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Voidus: A body has muscles, the Breath just animates them. It has to provide all the mechanical energy for the rope to 'grab things'. And the Breath doesn't power them forever. They need maintenance and repair, if they take damage they need more Breaths.

If it's powering the bodies own mechanisms that's even more demanding, people need to take in way more chemical energy than say a car does to move the same distance. Muscles don't intrinsically have energy it's not as simple as simply animating them, directly applying the energy required as kinetic energy would be far more efficient than fueling an entire body.

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