Is it possible to create a kandra or other hemalurgic construct with Breaths instead?

[kaos he/him]

So, in order to crate something with hemalurgy you need to charge a spike with a bit of someone's spiritweb ripped off from them, correct? There have been mentions as to how the spikes and breaths have similar effects, i.e. losing a breath would be like getting spiked, though much less harmful. So if they have similar effects would it be feasible to give a mistwraith a breath with a specific command like "Become a kandra" or "Connect the cognitive and physical realms of this creature" and have it work to produce a kandra without spikes. Also would this consume the breaths like it does with Lifeless or would the kandra become an awakened object. Is it even possible to awaken something that is already alive, if not fully sentient?

[Yata he/him]

Actually I don't think you may create Hemalurgic Construcs with Breath.

Hemalurgy is a Spiritual Genetic Enginering...You remove a specific portion of someone-Spirit web and you put it in someone else's one. The Hemaluric Construct are simply the resoult of certain pattern in the Spirit Web made possible by the Hemalurgy.

On other hand, Breath are only "amount of Investiture" (Like the Mist to say) and they can't work as SpiritWeb as far as we see.

As example: Spirit-Web is like DNA while Breath (or Mist) are like just Atoms

 

Maybe (and I said MAYBE) for the specific case of a Kandra may work, because we see it's not very relevant what kind of Spirit-Web you gift them to gain sentience and it is quite a side effect of the Spike to them.

At the moment there are a Theory based on Mistborn: Bands of Mourning that if true. Would deny the possibility of a Breath-turned-Kandra (I would say no more to avoid Spoiler)

Edited September 18, 2016 by Yata

[Oversleep]

Hm. Breath isn't like Stormlight; it isn't just raw energy - after all, it produces life-like effects up to even granting sentience to inanimate objects.

On the other hand, the "spikes worn by the kandra cause only a small transformation in their hosts—leaving their bodies mostly like that of a mistwraith, but allowing their minds to begin working".
Since we know about the Cognitive-Physical blockage, I always imagined the spikes to puncture that blockage, much like perpendicularites puncture all Three Realms.

I guess it's possible, but not easy. Probably requires a ton of knowledge.

[A Secret Corner he/him]

Or perhaps it would involve Nalthis's focus... I'm not quite sure how a color-spike would work though...

[Yata he/him]

5 hours ago, Secrets said:

Or perhaps it would involve Nalthis's focus... I'm not quite sure how a color-spike would work though...

Whatever the Different-Material-Spike-for-Offworld-Magic is true o false (I think it's a no sense but it's meaningless), Nalthis's Focus is Commands not Colors.

17 hours ago, Oversleep said:

Hm. Breath isn't like Stormlight; it isn't just raw energy - after all, it produces life-like effects up to even granting sentience to inanimate objects.

Actually Breath, Mist,Stormlight and (maybe) Dor as far as I know are all the same raw investiture with "different package" or do I miss something ?

Of course they may have some features (like the Breath and their stickness) but they are actually "the same thing". It's the reason a Returned may live using Breath, Stormlight and (possibly) Mist.

[A Secret Corner he/him]

8 hours ago, Yata said:

Whatever the Different-Material-Spike-for-Offworld-Magic is true o false (I think it's a no sense but it's meaningless), Nalthis's Focus is Commands not Colors.

Actually Breath, Mist,Stormlight and (maybe) Dor as far as I know are all the same raw investiture with "different package" or do I miss something ?

Of course they may have some features (like the Breath and their stickness) but they are actually "the same thing". It's the reason a Returned may live using Breath, Stormlight and (possibly) Mist.

I believe Brandon mentioned one  time that mist, stormlight, etc. are a certain form of investiture. Returned possibly could live on other forms of investiture if they were able to convert it somehow, but that would be a ridiculously insane hack.

[kaos he/him]

9 hours ago, Secrets said:

I believe Brandon mentioned one  time that mist, stormlight, etc. are a certain form of investiture. Returned possibly could live on other forms of investiture if they were able to convert it somehow, but that would be a ridiculously insane hack.

Vasher on Roshar implies he can survive on stormlight, though it's not confirmed.

 

The biggest point towards this is, in my opinion, the fact that the only thing separating the kandra from mistwraiths is the 'block' the Lord Ruler put between their cognitive and physical realms. Brandon has said it's more that they're mentally handicapped than non-sentient. As far as I know it's not the stolen spiritweb that bridges that gap as much as the particular investiture. Blessings may need a specific form of hemalurgy, but I'm not sure why breaths would be unable to substitute as long as you used the proper command. 

[The One Who Connects he/him]

Just now, kaos said:

As far as I know it's not the stolen spiritweb that bridges that gap as much as the particular investiture. Blessings may need a specific form of Hemalurgy, but I'm not sure why breaths would be unable to substitute as long as you used the proper command. 

According to this, Brandon states that Parshendi could adopt a form with the spikes from a Kandra Blessing. So those weird hacks like the one you mentioned aren't completely impossible, just highly unlikely.

On the subject of making a Kandra with Breaths, the Blessings are made from spikes stealing Human Attributes. Breath(and Awakening) works within the concept of giving life to things, and enhancing the life qualities(Life Sense, Pitch/Color Recognition). While it has not been explicitly stated either way yet, I can see Breath being the easiest way of turning a Mistwraith into a Kandra. I do not see it being the same as the Kandra we know, but that's even further speculation

[A Secret Corner he/him]

14 hours ago, kaos said:

 

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Vasher on Roshar implies he can survive on stormlight, though it's not confirmed.

 

 

The biggest point towards this is, in my opinion, the fact that the only thing separating the kandra from mistwraiths is the 'block' the Lord Ruler put between their cognitive and physical realms. Brandon has said it's more that they're mentally handicapped than non-sentient. As far as I know it's not the stolen spiritweb that bridges that gap as much as the particular investiture. Blessings may need a specific form of hemalurgy, but I'm not sure why breaths would be unable to substitute as long as you used the proper command. 

I wasn't referring to stormlight, rather on completely non- gaseous(?) forms of investiture... the moon scepter might be useful in regards to that...