Awakening, BioChromatic Parallelism, and Edge Scenarios

[Duxredux he/him]

I'm taking heavily from Vasher's lecture to Vivenna on BioChromatic entities and Awakening. BioChromatic Parallelism states that the closer something resembles life, the easier it is to Awaken (and the few Breaths it takes). The example given is that a cloth in the shape of a square and a cloth cut into a person will take very different amounts of Breaths to Awaken. The Law of Comparability notes that once an object has been Awakened, it performs more or less the same task even if there is a disparity in the number of Breaths used. Third observation is that once Awakened, some objects will still move in a mimicry of life - for example an Awakened banner that gains musculature similar to an arm when lifting an Awakener.

Scenario 1: either by laying it out or doing something similar to knitting or crochet, you have a rope that has been shaped into a person. Presumably it will take less Breaths to Awaken. Once Awakened (but before it has moved to act) you unravel it into a straight line. Does this cause any issues? One option I see is the visualization component of Awakening will mean that it will still attempt to move in a semblance of the original form it was Awakened in, and may lose effectiveness. Alternately, perhaps it will not work at all in the same way that Vasher's Awakened sets of clothing were less functional once cut. However, it seems like some Awakened objects can move far differently than the life it approximates - namely Vasher and Vivenna's cloaks that grab people and arrows in a squid-like fashion.

Scenario 2: You have a large square banner. You Awaken it and Command it to lay down, or some similar Command, with the goal of it taking on the shape of something living at least as it moves. You reclaim the Breaths, and then Awaken it again, now that it has fallen more or less in the form of a person. Does it take less Breaths to Awaken this time? Is this a somewhat slower method of Awakening that nonetheless allows for optimization of Breath utilization?

Scenario 3 (and the reason this is in the General Cosmere thread): A Soulcaster transforms a person (dead or alive, not sure if it matters yet) into something shapable - moss maybe. We know that items that were previously alive Soulcast into something not alive are easier to Awaken. Now, we take our pile of moss, weave it into a rope, and then Awaken it. The question is (or perhaps a similar experiment with slightly altered parameters), is it possible to have something formerly alive, Awakened as a Type III BioChromatic entity (regular Awakening with cloth or ribbons, etc.), and then have it move close enough to a similitude of life that it previously was in and have it "lock in" the Breaths and make them inaccessible to the Awakener, more like a Type II BioChromatic entity known as a Lifeless? Presumably it would still be operating under the Command it was given, something presumably not the Command to Awaken a Lifeless. There's a WoB that notes that there part of what makes a Breath inaccessible once in a Lifeless is that the Identity that it is keyed to changes - is this because of how close to life Lifeless are, or is this because of the Command, "Awaken to my Breath, serve my needs, live at my Command and word"?

Scenario 4: similar to the end of Scenario 3, can you use a basic Awakening on a dead body and turn it into a Lifeless that basically only does that one task? Dead body in front of you, Command: "Grab Things", and then dump it in your spook alley. Would it have the same transformation where it loses its color? Could it be broken and made into a conventional Lifeless that can then take orders? Alternately, is this an expensive but quick way to make sure your dead bodies can't be used against you as Lifeless (assuming you don't have time to cremate them)?

Scenario 5: you get a skeleton. You Awaken it as a Lifeless, though it is not in a position to move yet. Then a Kandra eats it and incorporates its bones into a new body. What shenanigans happen? Can you still Command the bones to act contrary to the Kandra's will? Can you get setup a Command to the Lifeless that lets it moved with a Breath-powered skeletal system? Alternately, if a Kandra ate a Lifeless for disguise purposes, could the bones still be Commanded?

Edited March 31, 2023 by Duxredux
added thought

[S. Stormy she/her]

2 hours ago, Duxredux said:

Scenario 5: you get a skeleton. You Awaken it as a Lifeless, though it is not in a position to move yet. Then a Kandra eats it and incorporates its bones into a new body. What shenanigans happen? Can you still Command the bones to act contrary to the Kandra's will? Can you get setup a Command to the Lifeless that lets it moved with a Breath-powered skeletal system? Alternately, if a Kandra ate a Lifeless for disguise purposes, could the bones still be Commanded?

I am not a Cosmere scholar, so I'm afraid I don't know the answers to any of these questions. All I can say is that I think that would be very interesting.

Edited March 31, 2023 by Shallan Stormblessed

[cometaryorbit]

1-2) I don't think which way the rope is coiled or how the banner is folded matters, only the actual shape of the object (probably through Cognitive object definitions), but that's just my feeling with no evidence.

3-4) I think Lifeless (type II Biochromatic entity) vs Awakened object (type III) is determined by how close to its living form the subject of Awakening is. So I don't think you could Awaken an intact corpse as a non-Lifeless object (type III), and I don't think making something transformed into a human shape is enough to make it act as a Lifeless. A Lifeless isn't just person shaped (or squirrel shaped, etc) it has all the details of the living form, and the same composition. I don't think a wooden statue of a human, even a very well-made one, would Awaken as a Lifeless; it'd be a type III Awakened object.

5) a skeleton would take way more Breaths than a normal Lifeless, and what you'd get might be a hybrid entity like the Phantoms rather than a "true" Lifeless/type II. That aside, I think the kandra eating it would break the unity of the skeleton and thus it'd stop functioning as a Lifeless.

If hypothetically the kandra was able to engulf it all at once without breaking the skeleton apart, yeah, I think it could struggle against the kandra's muscles.

[alder24]

Yeah, I wish I knew answers to these questions because they are very awesome  

1 hour ago, Duxredux said:

Scenario 1: either by laying it out or doing something similar to knitting or crochet, you have a rope that has been shaped into a person. Presumably it will take less Breaths to Awaken. Once Awakened (but before it has moved to act) you unravel it into a straight line. Does this cause any issues?

It shouldn't. Like the coat that Vasher and Vivenna Awakened has, it has the shape of a person, but it doesn't move like a human back or legs, and can move in a way to catch arrows in the air. 

2 hours ago, Duxredux said:

Scenario 2: You have a large square banner. You Awaken it and Command it to lay down, or some similar Command, with the goal of it taking on the shape of something living at least as it moves. You reclaim the Breaths, and then Awaken it again, now that it has fallen more or less in the form of a person. Does it take less Breaths to Awaken this time? Is this a somewhat slower method of Awakening that nonetheless allows for optimization of Breath utilization?

I think it might take less Breaths to Awaken. But I don't know if folding an object in the shape of a man is enough for Breath reduction, but on the other hand what are Vasher's strawmen if not straws folded into the shape of a man?

2 hours ago, Duxredux said:

Scenario 3 (and the reason this is in the General Cosmere thread): A Soulcaster transforms a person (dead or alive, not sure if it matters yet) into something shapable - moss maybe. We know that items that were previously alive Soulcast into something not alive are easier to Awaken. Now, we take our pile of moss, weave it into a rope, and then Awaken it. The question is (or perhaps a similar experiment with slightly altered parameters), is it possible to have something formerly alive, Awakened as a Type III BioChromatic entity (regular Awakening with cloth or ribbons, etc.), and then have it move close enough to a similitude of life that it previously was in and have it "lock in" the Breaths and make them inaccessible to the Awakener, more like a Type II BioChromatic entity known as a Lifeless?

In the case of Soulcasting I say no. You're changing the body into the object, so it stopped being the body. Type 2 Awakening replaces the soul of a dead person with Breaths. Plus intent matters a lot too, so if Awakener Awakens a type 3, it will remain type 3.

2 hours ago, Duxredux said:

There's a WoB that notes that there part of what makes a Breath inaccessible once in a Lifeless is that the Identity that it is keyed to changes - is this because of how close to life Lifeless are, or is this because of the Command, "Awaken to my Breath, serve my needs, live at my Command and word"?

Command, intent and because Breaths are used to replace missing a soul.

2 hours ago, Duxredux said:

Scenario 4: similar to the end of Scenario 3, can you use a basic Awakening on a dead body and turn it into a Lifeless that basically only does that one task? Dead body in front of you, Command: "Grab Things", and then dump it in your spook alley. Would it have the same transformation where it loses its color?

I see no reason why not. Vasher's strawmen are dead plants, every rope is dead plants. So making type 3 out of the dead body should be normal. But you would need to give color, it won't be taken out of the body.

2 hours ago, Duxredux said:

Alternately, is this an expensive but quick way to make sure your dead bodies can't be used against you as Lifeless (assuming you don't have time to cremate them)?

Likely, investiture resist investiture.

2 hours ago, Duxredux said:

Scenario 5: you get a skeleton. You Awaken it as a Lifeless, though it is not in a position to move yet. Then a Kandra eats it and incorporates its bones into a new body. What shenanigans happen? Can you still Command the bones to act contrary to the Kandra's will? Can you get setup a Command to the Lifeless that lets it moved with a Breath-powered skeletal system? Alternately, if a Kandra ate a Lifeless for disguise purposes, could the bones still be Commanded?

That would be fun for sure  No idea.