Modern Awakening Opportunities

[Awaken Returner]

 

Hi guys! So, when I first read Warbreaker, I kind of fell in love with the magic system. Unlike your average Surgebinder or Allomancer, who could probably brute force a problem with Stormlight or Flared Pewter, an Awakener really had to understand how to use their abilities in order to do anything really. For the longest time I thought Awakening was one of the 'weaker' magic systems in the Cosmere, but then I had an odd thought about power scaling.

Unlike Surgebinding, which grows through oaths, and Allomancy, which increases in strength through burning a certain metal, Awakening can scale with raw population numbers. Everyone on Nalthis is born with Breath. Once Nalthis enters the modern or sci-fi era of the Cosmere, its largest city centres should each house millions of people. If a government manages to conduct a Breath collection project on a larger scale than Hallendren's - a forced tax maybe?, it might feasibly create an Awakener with millions of Breath.

Apparently, Nightblood was formed with the Ninth Heightening, which according to the Coppermind requires approximately 20, 000 Breaths. If an Awakener with a million breaths invested something, how much stronger will the Type IV Bio Chromatic Entity they create be stronger than Nightblood?

Personally, I like to imagine that Sci-fi Nalthis will build Breath powered Gundam-esque super robots as weapons against threats like Odium-if he's still somehow alive by then-with their commands being something like, "Splinter Odium" or "Destroy what I tell you to destroy".

What do you guys think?

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I'm sure walking-possibly flying-'Nightbloods' with highly invested modern weaponry would make quick work of the Fused though (not sure about the Unmade yet).

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Actually, now that I thought more about it, I'm actually curious if an Awakener can even safely invest something with that many Breaths at all. If what they Awaken acts anything like Nightblood, it will probably syphon all Investiture around a large radius of it at a really fast pace, effectively creating a magical 'dead zone' à la Larry Niven's Warlock Wheels. Soul eating blackhole-like bombs still count as effective weapons though.

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Vivenna's blade still seemed to have some of Nightblood's properties (the perma-death / separation from all three realms part I think) as the Fused were not really that enthusiastic about charging her down that one time.

So even without the Investiture hyper-drain, it might still be worth powering a human-shaped assault drone with the Breath-based power sources and artificial intelligences through greater Awakening. Though, if you built a robot with propulsion technologies and then invested it, would it know how to use them to fly? Will investiture improve them? If the alloy they're constructed of is stronger than uninvested stone they should serve the 'indestructible warriors' part well. Having them carry those artificial Shardblades (maybe instead integrating them into their structure) will make them defacto Windrunner style soldiers. Hopefully Breath also somehow enhances their projectile weaponry.

Regardless, I think there's a lot Awakening can do that we haven't seen done yet. I'm really excited to see what the Sanderman does with them in the future.

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I guess I misread that part from Oathbringer-no one in their right mind would charge a possible Shardblade after all. It seems Nightblood is special on both the Investiture drain and perma-death parts.

Sorry about double posting! I'm kinda new. Thanks @Scion of the Mists! How do I edit the posts I've already made to place them all in one area and delete the double posts?

I could totally see Endowment gifting free Breath to people. She did seem unconcerned about that whole Roshar thing that one guy was going on about. If ever she encounters a threat, she could just endow random individuals with absurd heightening levels to deal with it. I actually think Endowment is the strongest shard in this aspect, being that Endowment is her nature. (vs. Honor and Large Living Mistborn Spoiler)

Spoiler

Harmony

That said, she might have the most 'freedom' in handling her Investiture. (Can you 'un'-endow someone though, like, 'I endow you with not having this endowment!' kind of thing?) I can definitely see that being an interesting plot point in the future.

Not really sure how spoilery the next bit is so I'll just brand it something like an overall Cosmere spoiler,

Spoiler

Regarding the nature of Endowment as a divine attribute, given that many cultures take importantly the concept of divine beings endowing man with things like fire, law, life, etc, it would make a lot of sense for her to also serve as the most 'God-like' entity among all the Shards. This makes me wonder whether a shard along the lines of Forgiveness, Grace, or Salvation (could instead be something like Endowment merged with Forgiveness, Harmony, or Honor) exists as one of the sixteen, given that the Abrahamic religions in particular feature these themes prominently.

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Thanks again @Scion of the Mists, I've reported the redundant posts. Sorry for the troubles!

Edited April 8, 2019 by Awaken Returner

[John Flamesinger]

"SPILINTER ODIUM!" It might just be me, but I think that Odium might not like that... and that he might retaliate against (Insert Local Shards name here [I know it starts with an A...]).

[Awaken Returner]

I'm sure walking-possibly flying-'Nightbloods' with highly invested modern weaponry would make quick work of the Fused though (not sure about the Unmade yet).

 

Actually, now that I thought more about it, I'm actually curious if an Awakener can even safely invest something with that many Breaths at all. If what they Awaken acts anything like Nightblood, it will probably syphon all Investiture around a large radius of it at a really fast pace, effectively creating a magical 'dead zone' à la Larry Niven's Warlock Wheels. Soul eating blackhole-like bombs still count as effective weapons though.

Edited April 8, 2019 by Awaken Returner

[Seon Are]

@Awaken Returner (Minor) Oathbringer Spoilers

Spoiler

We have seen from Vivenna's Blade that it is absolutely possible to make a Type-4 entity that doesn't turn out like Nightblood. Admittedly we don't understand how yet but that doesn't change that it is possible.

 

 

[Calderis]

6 minutes ago, Seon Are said:

@Awaken Returner (Minor) Oathbringer Spoilers

  Hide contents

We have seen from Vivenna's Blade that it is absolutely possible to make a Type-4 entity that doesn't turn out like Nightblood. Admittedly we don't understand how yet but that doesn't change that it is possible.

 

 

Per this WoB, I think that creating anything like Nightblood is absolutely not the expected outcome. 

Quote

Megasif [PENDING REVIEW]

In London I wanted to ask about Nightblood. The way he is Invested, is that a one-off-case kind of thing, or is it possible to do another of that level?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

It was really bizarre, and I will explain it eventually and that will let you know why. It's theoretically possible to do almost anything so it's theoretically possible to do what he did but it'd be very hard.

Oathbringer Leeds signing (Dec. 1, 2017)

I think that normally your going to get something far far simpler. 

Stormlight spoilers. 

Spoiler

I actually think that Vivenna's Blade is the reason that Vasher is so downtrodden and on Roshar to begin with. 

He murdered his wife in order to prevent more swords like Nightblood from being created. 

When one finally was... It wasn't like Nightblood. That has to be devastating. 

 

[Seon Are]

Spoiler

2 minutes ago, Calderis said:

I actually think that Vivenna's Blade is the reason that Vasher is so downtrodden and on Roshar to begin with. 

He murdered his wife in order to prevent more swords like Nightblood from being created. 

When one finally was... It wasn't like Nightblood. That has to be devastating. 

 

I actually can't remember, did we see Vivenna learn that Vasher killed his wife? That seems like something that could drive them apart.

[Awaken Returner]

Vivenna's blade still seemed to have some of Nightblood's properties (the perma-death / separation from all three realms part I think) as the Fused were not really that enthusiastic about charging her down that one time.

So even without the Investiture hyper-drain, it might still be worth powering a human-shaped assault drone with the Breath-based power sources and artificial intelligences through greater Awakening. Though, if you built a robot with propulsion technologies and then invested it, would it know how to use them to fly? Will investiture improve them? If the alloy they're constructed of is stronger than uninvested stone they should serve the 'indestructible warriors' part well. Having them carry those artificial Shardblades (maybe instead integrating them into their structure) will make them defacto Windrunner style soldiers. Hopefully Breath also somehow enhances their projectile weaponry.

Regardless, I think there's a lot Awakening can do that we haven't seen done yet. I'm really excited to see what the Sanderman does with them in the future.

 

Edit^ I guess I misread that part from Oathbringer-no one in their right mind would charge a possible Shardblade after all. It seems Nightblood is special on both the Investiture drain and perma-death parts.

Sorry about double posting! I'm kinda new. Thanks @Scion of the Mists! How do I edit the posts I've already made to place them all in one area and delete the double posts?

I could totally see Endowment gifting free Breath to people. She did seem unconcerned about that whole Roshar thing that one guy was going on about. If ever she encounters a threat, she could just endow random individuals with absurd heightening levels to deal with it. I actually think Endowment is the strongest shard in this aspect, being that Endowment is her nature. (vs. Honor and Large Living Mistborn Spoiler)

Spoiler

Harmony

That said, she might have the most 'freedom' in handling her Investiture. (Can you 'un'-endow someone though, like, 'I endow you with not having this endowment!' kind of thing?) I can definitely see that being an interesting plot point in the future.

Not really sure how spoilery the next bit is so I'll just brand it something like an overall Cosmere spoiler,

Spoiler

Regarding the nature of Endowment as a divine attribute, given that many cultures take importantly the concept of divine beings endowing man with things like fire, law, life, etc, it would make a lot of sense for her to also serve as the most 'God-like' entity among all the Shards. This makes me wonder whether a shard along the lines of Forgiveness, Grace, or Salvation (could instead be something like Endowment merged with Forgiveness, Harmony, or Honor) exists as one of the sixteen, given that the Abrahamic religions in particular feature these themes prominently.

 

Edited April 8, 2019 by Awaken Returner
Fixed sentence wording*

[Scion of the Mists]

On 4/6/2019 at 8:10 PM, John Flamesinger said:

"SPILINTER ODIUM!" It might just be me, but I think that Odium might not like that... and that he might retaliate against (Insert Local Shards name here [I know it starts with an A...]).

Nalthis's Shard is Endowment.  

 

@Awaken Returner it's a very interesting question: what happens at higher Awakening levels (if there are any)?  I also think that Endowment could just straight up gift (or endow ) people with large quantities of Breath, if she wanted to, similar to what she does with the Returned or what Honor did with the Heralds/Honorblades.  

P.s. Double posting is against the forum rules.  If you need to add thoughts, you can use the "edit post" button to modify your previous post.  

 

Edit:

@Awaken Returner You can use the "report post" button to notify the moderators that you accidentally double posted.  They can delete the redundant post or merge them together.  Don't worry about reporting yourself - you won't get into trouble.  

Edited April 8, 2019 by Scion of the Mists