Can a Raysium dagger steal the biochroma of a person? Including a returned?

[Sythrin]

And is there a way to use the biichroma?

[iceblade44 he/him]

I'm doubtful Raysium can steal Biochroma.

 

That stuff is sticky, it be like if raysium could draw out people's souls. That only happens with Cognitive Shadows so for normal Breath I doubt it

[Sythrin]

5 hours ago, iceblade44 said:

That stuff is sticky, it be like if raysium could draw out people's souls. That only happens with Cognitive Shadows so for normal Breath I doubt it

But Raysium is capable of moving stormlight. Even the one that has been breathed in by the knight. Like in the battle at heartstone were a fused stabbed multible times into Kaladin to drain him.

So if stormlight, the gaseos investiture lf Honor can be drained. Why not the biochroma, the gaseos investiture of Endowment?

[diamond]

The only investure radium can move is stormlight and similar. Only ones that are native to roshar. By that I mean that were created by honor cultivation or odium

[iceblade44 he/him]

35 minutes ago, Sythrin said:

But Raysium is capable of moving stormlight. Even the one that has been breathed in by the knight. Like in the battle at heartstone were a fused stabbed multible times into Kaladin to drain him.

So if stormlight, the gaseos investiture lf Honor can be drained. Why not the biochroma, the gaseos investiture of Endowment?

Because stormlight leaks, Breaths do not. Breaths are sticky, they want to stay in the soul. Its why you can only get Breaths if its given willingly and why WaT

Spoiler

Axinwidth couldn't steal Vashers Breaths and had to resort to torturing him despite being a agent of Odium should allow her access to Raysium

 

Edited September 3, 2025 by iceblade44

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, Sythrin said:

So if stormlight, the gaseos investiture lf Honor can be drained. Why not the biochroma, the gaseos investiture of Endowment?

It's not about draining Gaseous Investiture, it's about draining Kinetic Investiture. BioChroma, held by a person is Static and would not likely be drained by Raysium unless it was being used in Awakening, or being transfered to another person - that is when BioChroma is Kinetic. 

Spoiler

MoriWillow

The terms kinetic and static Investiture were introduced in Rhythm of War, but not defined or explained.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

MoriWillow

What are kinetic and static Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

Good question. So I've been talking about this for a while, so some of the arcanists out there know. Kinetic is a thing I'm defining that the Investiture is being actively expressed and used, and so it has certain effects. For instance, you're gonna see sand get charged by kinetic Investiture but not necessarily by static Investiture. Static Investiture being Investiture that is stuck in a sphere. If you just walk by with that sphere, particularly if it's in a bag or something, the white sand's not going to see anything. But if you are actively using it to do something, if you have created or are maintaining something, if you are flying or you are using one of the Surges, then we call that kinetic. And kinetic Investiture is going to show up much more easily to someone who can replicate the abilities of a Seeker, who can hear pulses. These are the things the spren notice when someone is using their powers. This is white sand. There are just many things in the cosmere that respond to Investiture being used in some way, and when it is not being used it is harder to hear, locate, or reference.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 3 (Dec. 16, 2021)

Hope that helps

[Sythrin]

8 hours ago, Treamayne said:

It's not about draining Gaseous Investiture, it's about draining Kinetic Investiture. BioChroma, held by a person is Static and would not likely be drained by Raysium unless it was being used in Awakening, or being transfered to another person - that is when BioChroma is Kinetic. 

Are you saying Stormlight is kinetic but Biochroma is static? I thought kinetic is when its actively used in something, like lashing, burning or lightweaving. While static is basicly a dormant power source. Like in metalminds and gemstones?

And what about the time anti-void light was injected into the fused? Was that not the transfer of static investiture?

8 hours ago, iceblade44 said:

Because stormlight leaks, Breaths do not. Breaths are sticky, they want to stay in the soul. Its why you can only get Breaths if its given willingly and why WaT

But they literally absorbed a cognitive shadow. Including their soul with a raysium dagger? How can that be more sticky. If you could steal biochroma with hemalurgy, but probably not a whole soul?

[iceblade44 he/him]

1 hour ago, Sythrin said:

 

But they literally absorbed a cognitive shadow. Including their soul with a raysium dagger? How can that be more sticky. If you could steal biochroma with hemalurgy, but probably not a whole soul?

Yeah but like again, that is not how Breaths work. You can't steal them. You bring up good points so I can't say I know why now but just that its made explicit Breaths van not be stolen. If they could I would again point to 

Spoiler

Axinwidth and Vasher

 

[alder24]

I think this might be possible. Brandon describes Breaths as kind of stuck in the Physical Realm, despite being innate investiture and part of one's soul. Raysium deals with this kind of investiture (and Spren and Cognitive Shadows) so I think it could steal someone's Breaths. 

However, I doubt they would be attuned to your Identity. It's the act of giving Breaths that changes their Identity, stealing them won't do it. So you might be able to steal them, but won't be able to use them.

Spoiler

Questioner

With spikes, would you be able to actually transfer Breaths, when they get to the other planets?

Brandon Sanderson

So spikes rip off pieces of the soul and so Breaths are not going to be part of the soul. You could maybe get a divine Breath but I haven't really decided on regular Breaths, they're kind of stuck there in the Physical Realm which is not a thing that spikes are dealing with. Divine Breath, potentially, because that's something that's actually melding onto your soul. But, you know, when you're using the Breaths they reach through to the Spiritual Realm so, maybe if you got it while the Breaths were kinetic, right, while you're using them, then you might be able to rip them off. I'm not a hundred percent certain on that one.

Bystander

There's still things to decide upon.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah there's still things, like I have to kind of see. My instinct says no right now. But, you know, how they interact is not something that I have-- Yeah.

Shadows of Self London UK signing (Oct. 19, 2015)

 

Spoiler

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, good question... Yes you can, actually. Breath is-- Once it is given to you, it is being keyed to you. Your Identity. So that transfer makes it yours to use however you want.

Arcanum Unbounded Chicago signing (Dec. 6, 2016)

 

[Jult]

On 9/3/2025 at 6:50 AM, iceblade44 said:

Yeah but like again, that is not how Breaths work. You can't steal them. You bring up good points so I can't say I know why now but just that its made explicit Breaths van not be stolen. If they could I would again point to 

I would disagree with this. Brandon has confirmed that a Leecher (a Chromium Misting) CAN drain breaths:

Quote

Podman36

How effective would a Leecher be at draining Breath?

Brandon Sanderson

They could be fairly effective.

Questioner

How significant would the difference be between Breath and Stormlight?

Brandon Sanderson

That, I'll RAFO for now, because we're actually getting the actual numbers. We have certain people working on a project for that.

Skyward release party (Nov. 6, 2018)

If a Misting can separate someone from their Breaths, I'd be very surprised to find that a God Metal can't.

 

On 9/2/2025 at 1:41 PM, Sythrin said:

And is there a way to use the biochroma?

This is a harder question. Even though you can likely remove it, I think it would still be keyed to the original owner's Identity; which would render it pretty unusable for you. I'd actually be pretty curious to see what the community thinks will happen if you reverse the Raysium so you can "inject" yourself with the Breath?

My guess is it wouldn't do much. It'd probably be similar to that scene where Vin tried to burn Sazed's earring in Era 1 Mistborn. You'd be aware of the Investiture, but unable to use it.

The interaction between Axindweth and Vasher would still make sense under this assumption. Even if she could force the Breaths out of Vasher, they would be useless to her. So, she'd want to get them the old-fashioned way.