Breath after Death

[Stormgate he/him]

What if somebody stores X number of Breaths in, say, a teddy bear. That person then dies, leaving the teddy bear full of Breaths. What happens to the Breaths? Can nobody access them, can anyone access them, does the bear gain some level of sentience, do the Breaths simply dissolve, or another scenario I haven't listed.

While thinking about this, I noticed the similarities between objects holding Breaths and metalminds. Perhaps there is a connection?

[Blaze1616 he/him]

The Breaths ought to be lost unless someone else comes along with the same identity as the deceased original owner, which to my knowledge is only possible through Hemalurgy  (Highlight for spoilers).

[Lindel he/him]

The Breaths ought to be lost unless someone else comes along with the same identity as the deceased original owner, which to my knowledge is only possible through Hemalurgy  (Highlight for spoilers).

I asked this question a while back:

Question

There's that trick with Feruchemy that lets you make metalminds that others can tap. Could you do something similar with Self-Awakening?

Answer

Oh yeah, there are all sorts of tricks that you can do. You could use other peoples Breaths, make it seem like you don't have any Breath-

Question

Awaken an object so that others could access its Breaths?

Answer

Yes.

So it seems there are other methods. The quote is slightly paraphrased, and if my memory serves me, he also started to say something about stealing other people's Breaths.

[Blaze1616 he/him]

I asked this question a while back:

So it seems there are other methods. The quote is slightly paraphrased, and if my memory serves me, he also started to say something about stealing other people's Breaths.

 

From his response it sounds like he means that there is a means to Awaken an object that allows others to take the Breaths, considering we know straight from the book that you can't retrieve someone else's Breath out of an object they've Awakened through regular means.

[Avivsm]

Maybe someone from the Eighth Heightening which grants Command Breaking could override the Awakened object with the Command "Your Breath to mine" and getting that precious Breaths.

But as the God King of Hallandren you have a more reliable way to get Breaths than scavenging on Awakened junk.

[Shardbearer he/him]

Using the Feruchemy trick, the Feruchemist can Awaken an object so that others can access the Breaths.

 

As to the OP, Breath will decay out of objects over a period of time, which is why they can't make Awakened Objects that keep working forever, which would be very useful in something like a factory or plantation. So eventually the Breaths stored in a teddy would just decay away and return to...wherever investiture goes after it's used.