BioChroma

[trendkill]

So I'm most of the way through my third reading of Warbreaker, and I find that I'm even more fascinated with BioChroma than I was the first two times! I think that that is a little odd and amazing, seeing as there's relatively little discussion or use of it as compared to the amount of politicking that's done.

I thought that it would be fun to have a thread for us to talk about what we like or didn't like about this specific magic system. I personally think it's the most interesting one that Brandon Sanderson has come up with (although so far, Allomancy has had more exciting battles).

Am I the only one that thinks it would be fun to read a BioChroma textbook? One that was written by the Five Scholars?

[Emeralis00]

Personaly, I think that BioChroma is the most useful of all the magic systems, since anyone can use it without any specific genetics, change or prior interference.  Provided you have Breath of course.

As to a textbook of sorts, I don't think BioChroma is complex enough for it.  You can easily explain how Biochroma works in a paragraph.

[trendkill]

But Vasher also says that they know next to nothing about it, which intrigues me greatly. They are able to do so much with it, yet they know almost nothing about the possibilities of how it could be used.

[Ryan]

I thought it was rather dark and terrible, actually. In order to use this magic system, you have to accept a portion of another person's soul. And not just a few, but a large number of people have to give you their breath before you can do even rudimentary things with the magic.

I mean, at the very beginning, you find someone being tortured for their Breaths. Not for information, or punishment, or any of the traditional reasons for torture, no: they wanted a piece of his soul.

This is a theme with Warbreaker, actually. It is very light in tone, and if you were to ask me which of Brandon's books is the lightest, I'd pick Warbreaker. In fact, it's so happy and lovely and witty and colorful and charming that you almost don't realize how many truly awful things are happening all the time, right under your nose. That is IMHO the most brilliant aspect of the book, and my favorite by far.

Well, that and Lightsong's character climax. One of the best character climaxes I've ever seen.

[leinton]

If BioChroma were real, I would be very interested in learning the theory behind it. I'm not sure I would use it myself (I don't really know how I feel about breath), but reading a textbook, taking classes... that would be awesome.

A paragraph? The explanation that Vasher uses takes up at least 2 pages in the paperback if memory serves. And he as good as admits to leaving stuff out. And he also very freely admits to not knowing everything.

[trendkill]

Well, that and Lightsong's character climax. One of the best character climaxes I've ever seen.

I just finished the book again today, and that scene still makes me shudder in amazement! Very rare for a book to be able to do that to me.

[Emeralis00]

I was trying to say how we don't know enough to make a textbook of it.  And remember, Vasher was one of the Five Scholars.

Also, breath is not someones soul, that was the argument of anti-awakeners.

Personally, I believe that Breath is a part of Endowment and only happens to appear within Humans.

[trendkill]

I know that we don't know enough about it to make a textbook. I was just saying that I would enjoy studying the theory of BioChroma.

[Zas678]

As a hopeful engineer, I could some interesting free energy uses here (Sort of like Scribbler)

You could get a lifeless, make him run a treadmill to get energy, or  Awaken a gear and tell it to turn.

As for how to get breath, you have free health care- but. When you are about to die, you must give your breath. Those that don't (pending extreneous circumstances) give their breath, they must take a breath from their family.

The hospital sells the breaths to the 'energy' companie

[leinton]

The gear would have to be made out of something that was once living. Unless you have a large wealth of breaths and the knowledge on how to Awaken metal.

[Kykeon]

I think Awakening is one of most expensive systems of magic ever devised (definetly the most expensive in all of EUOL's books). ;D

[Emeralis00]

I think Awakening is one of most expensive systems of magic ever devised (definetly the most expensive in all of EUOL's books). ;D

But it balances with how useful it is.  The magic is literally limited by your imagination.

[trendkill]

The common uses of it aren't that expensive at all. An Awakener can retrieve his Breaths from the items he awakens.

Of course, the Returned are extremely expensive to keep alive, in terms of the number of Breaths they use through their lifetime. And Nightblood of course.

[Munin]

The common uses of it aren't that expensive at all. An Awakener can retrieve his Breaths from the items he awakens.

Right, but getting the breaths in the first place is very expensive.

[trendkill]

Unless you just happen to be amazingly charismatic. Like high 20's on your charisma stat.

[Zas678]

I don't know. I think Hemallurgy and the monks of Dahkor are more expensive. I guess it matters on your point of view. Is it worse to die, or to have your soul taken?

I guess it also depends if being a Drab affects you in the afterlife.

[leinton]

Also, energy is lost in Hemallurgy. Not only are you killing someone to get power, you're losing some of the energy. That's pretty damnation expensive.

On that note, I wonder if something similar happens with the monks of Dahkor.

[Munin]

I doubt it, since the Dor is basically the power of balance and unity, and that appears to be what the Dahkor monks are using.

Hemalurgy destroys energy because it's of Ruin.

[happyman]

In reference to this discussion, I should probably add in that Brandon has now confirmed in the Annotations on his website that losing your breath really is bad for you.  It's not just prejudice on the Idrian's part; Drabs are more irritable, more prone to disease, and generally not quite all there anymore.  It really is part of their soul they have given up, and it does have bad side-effects.

[Emeralis00]

In reference to this discussion, I should probably add in that Brandon has now confirmed in the Annotations on his website that losing your breath really is bad for you.  It's not just prejudice on the Idrian's part; Drabs are more irritable, more prone to disease, and generally not quite all there anymore.  It really is part of their soul they have given up, and it does have bad side-effects.

Well thats there choice to sell it. 

[Zas678]

Also, energy is lost in Hemallurgy. Not only are you killing someone to get power, you're losing some of the energy. That's pretty damnation expensive.

On that note, I wonder if something similar happens with the monks of Dahkor.

I know that or some of the higher levels of Dahkor (transportation, for example) takes sacrifices. Same with the anti-AonDor thing that the Dahkor Gradget had.

[trendkill]

In reference to this discussion, I should probably add in that Brandon has now confirmed in the Annotations on his website that losing your breath really is bad for you.  It's not just prejudice on the Idrian's part; Drabs are more irritable, more prone to disease, and generally not quite all there anymore.  It really is part of their soul they have given up, and it does have bad side-effects.

I wonder if, given enough time and experimentation, there would be a way for them to make synthetic Breath? I doubt that Brandon would work something like that into the stories, but it seems like something that the Five Scholars would have wanted to work towards.

[happyman]

In reference to this discussion, I should probably add in that Brandon has now confirmed in the Annotations on his website that losing your breath really is bad for you.  It's not just prejudice on the Idrian's part; Drabs are more irritable, more prone to disease, and generally not quite all there anymore.  It really is part of their soul they have given up, and it does have bad side-effects.

I wonder if, given enough time and experimentation, there would be a way for them to make synthetic Breath? I doubt that Brandon would work something like that into the stories, but it seems like something that the Five Scholars would have wanted to work towards.

Dunno.  The number of breaths you can get limits the magic pretty strongly and in interesting ways, so it's a useful thing to keep in full force, from a story viewpoint.  From a philosophical viewpoint, it just doesn't seem likely given what little we know about the world of Warbreaker.

[trendkill]

In reference to this discussion, I should probably add in that Brandon has now confirmed in the Annotations on his website that losing your breath really is bad for you.  It's not just prejudice on the Idrian's part; Drabs are more irritable, more prone to disease, and generally not quite all there anymore.  It really is part of their soul they have given up, and it does have bad side-effects.

I wonder if, given enough time and experimentation, there would be a way for them to make synthetic Breath? I doubt that Brandon would work something like that into the stories, but it seems like something that the Five Scholars would have wanted to work towards.

Dunno.  The number of breaths you can get limits the magic pretty strongly and in interesting ways, so it's a useful thing to keep in full force, from a story viewpoint.  From a philosophical viewpoint, it just doesn't seem likely given what little we know about the world of Warbreaker.

Oh I don't doubt that it will never happen in the books, but it was just a fun little thought I had. It would definitely take away from the stories a lot.

[ZeldaDad]

I thought it was rather dark and terrible, actually. In order to use this magic system, you have to accept a portion of another person's soul. And not just a few, but a large number of people have to give you their breath before you can do even rudimentary things with the magic.

I mean, at the very beginning, you find someone being tortured for their Breaths. Not for information, or punishment, or any of the traditional reasons for torture, no: they wanted a piece of his soul.

This is a theme with Warbreaker, actually. It is very light in tone, and if you were to ask me which of Brandon's books is the lightest, I'd pick Warbreaker. In fact, it's so happy and lovely and witty and colorful and charming that you almost don't realize how many truly awful things are happening all the time, right under your nose. That is IMHO the most brilliant aspect of the book, and my favorite by far.

I totally agree with you. When I think about this book, it appears very brightly in my head. I love that aspect of it alongside its darker aspects.

And while I realize this a dangerously close to thread necromancy, I love Warbreaker and it is under-appreciated.

Edited March 14, 2011 by Endra kin'Fox