ChickenBonanza

though, of course, the only confirmed examples of non-Breath Awakened objects are high-Investiture sentient creations, and the process used to make them is not stated to be ‘Awakening.’ (Of course, Awakening as a verb could be said to be ‘the process of creating an Awakened object,’ but that’s just useless conjecture. to be safe, one has to stick to confirmed facts only, how droll.)

from those examples, the most common form of Awakening, that of creating small-scale manifestations from which Breath could be withdrawn is not something we know can happen. (though I would say that Awakened objects of foreign Investitures would be able to move, whether in statue or cloth. [[NOTE: Kalad’s Phantoms are not solidly encased in stone. That stone is cut at joints to allow for movements. Bones wearing stone armor. So, then, Awakening cannot power movement that is impossible. An Awakened stone rod wouldn’t bend unnaturally, while a piece of cloth can twist all it likes, because it physically can do that. …Actually, is that true? In the Phantom’s case, it’s not the stone that is Awakened, just the bones. If stone were Awakened, could it perform movements that would otherwise break its form? I’d think not. Nightblood’s form does not shift, but if a metal form was meant to move, like the Father Machine, it could.]] Investiture of all kinds could power movement, could they not? and transformations of the soul can warp the physical form to allow for such. of course, we have no examples to clarify, but it feels an odd exception to make. perhaps this could be explained by Breath’s relation to life, but that property could also be intrinsic to Innate-Investiture as a whole. [beings not shaped like humans with Breath would find Awakening their own shape easier than the human one, so Breath could take its… inspiration from the soul of the bearer. like an imprint.])

anyways, this is all just supposition, extrapolation, conjecture built upon others of its kind. an embarrassment to dwell upon, really. i think i’ll stop now.

edit: good god, there’s no confirmation that Investiture, upon Command, will actually inhabit an object like Breath would. so those foreign Awakened objects are most likely the result of Investiture already within an object gaining sentience, like a metalmind. (the father machine being Commanded in its creation could go either way. “When you Awaken a device like this, be very, very careful what Commands you give it to follow.” the use of the word ‘Awaken’ implies a connection to the word Awakening, so it’s not just that Awakened objects are sentient Invested objects, but an object that has been subject to the verb ‘Awaken.’ still, it’s not exactly used that way, but the leap from ‘Awaken a device’ to ‘Awakening’ is such a small one that i cannot help but see the refusal to tentatively accept it as a little too cautious. unless one specifically only refers to the Nalthis art when saying ‘Awakening’, but we use terms like Yolish Lightweaving. why not extend that principle? understandable either way, I suppose. honestly artificial expectation driven by uniform theoretical understanding does nothing at best and harms later novels and newer readers at worst.)

sigh, i hate being wrong. still, i find it quite odd that Awakening, as a system, takes most of its intricacies and operations from the properties of Breath rather than its focus of a Command. but i suppose that’s true for all systems. only thing the focus does, really, is change the end result happenings.

doubly odd, since focuses from shardplanets seem to be tied to that planets spiritual aspect, yet color is also an important tie for reasons unknown. fie, color!

i have once again reneged, sort of. The result being me saying that ‘Awakening’ can easily extend beyond Breath. (Certain Heightenings make using Breath for Awakening easier, same for possessing Royal Locks, but… I don’t know. We can explain that as simply Endowment’s Investiture allowing for easy manipulation of Breath.

So, Breath. Innate Investiture. Fulfills the same niche as Allomantic sDNA. Unique in many ways. A few tied to Nalthis, as Allomancy to Scadrial, and a few not.

First, the ability to respond to Command. Investiture can be directed by Commands, as long as it’s yours or otherwise manipulatable, and is useful or assumed to be necessary in certain enactments of Investiture. (like the Set thinking Command would help in non-lethal Hemalurgy, or Khriss thinking Command would be necessary in the creation of anti-Light. Stoneshaping and Soulcasting. Those would probably be different, given how they interact with sapient things.) However, the ways Breath can respond to Command is unique. Like…

The ability to leave the soul, to give to others or an object. This property I would ascribe as inherent to Investitures of Endowment. Investiture meant to be given freely. This plays exceptionally well to the Awakening of objects. A mundane Scadrian with their own minute amount of Innate Investiture would not be able to Command it so. Or much at all, really. Tis not in Preservation’s nature to serve in a way that is not the liveliness of the host, as Innate Investiture does by default.

Second, interactions with color. All of these, those involved with Awakening and not, I would say relate to Breath as a Nalthian Manifestation of Investiture. Other Nalthian Manifestations, such as the Royal Locks, relate to color.

Third, relation to life. Awakening is easier when one Awakens organic material and those shaped like humans (or the shape of the Awakener). This I would say is a property of Innate Investiture attempted to create a soul to fulfill a Command. Less legwork, less Investiture, needed to construct a soul from scratch when the object is formatted in a way that matches the soul one is trying to create.

Properties seen in Awakened objects on Nalthis, such as moving and seeming to perceive the world around them, would be the result of a specialized Invested being. Breaths ability to do so effectively, however, could also be unique. What greater gift could Endowment give than the gift of life? An action perfectly suited to Breath’s Intent.

However, I would not necessarily restrict such a result to Breath. Other Investitures are also well suited to the supporting or creation of living or pseudo-living beings.

Next, Heightenings. Many of these relate to Awakening directly. To Awaken metal or silently, to drain more color from objects. Others less so. This is a weak point, I admit. The best answer I can supply as to relation to Awakening would be that by aligning more closely with Endowments, one gains greater abilities to interact with such Investitures.

While Heightening-like effects exist when holding any Investiture in large concentration, I’d say that Breath-Heightening’s are particularly potent, because Endowment’s Intent would create a Manifestation suited to do so.

In short, Breath is a Manifestation, Awakening is not, but Breath plays into Awakening extremely well and potentially allows for feats of Awakening impossible to see otherwise.

…It is with melancholy that I write these. To stick to fervently to one’s one interpretation is shameful, is it not? Presents one as unintelligent. Worse. Unwilling to learn. Alas, perhaps I am those things.

I am certain Awakening is intended to be and is it’s own system, and that the Awakened objects we see not created by Breath are called such not for their creation involving the system Awakening but for the phenomenon of sentient manifestations of Investiture in nonliving objects (albeit Commands are involved, somehow, often, still).

Last thoughts for real, promise. Tiny WAT stuff.

This whole extrapolation is holding to the assumption that the Father Machine was Awakened without the aid of a Manifestation of Investiture. That is, that there is no system which would specifically enable Virtuosity’s Investiture to behave in the same way we see Breath’s do. I assumed that such a thing was not the case.

If the Awakened Father Machine was created through a supporting system, then Awakening would not be a universal system, only a commonly emergent one. (That Awakened Steelmind, was it Commanded to be Awakened, or did it achieve that by Invested status alone?)

Personally, I lean towards the former. That Awakening is a universal application rather than a common one. That’s probably unwise of me. Lightweaving is seen in multiple places, through supporting systems. Those gemstone spikes may or may not be created by Shardic Investing of a planet (ie, without a system to support its use).

My reasoning for my belief perhaps stems from a lack of differentiation. If the Father Machine was Awakened through a parallel system to Nalthian Awakening, how are they different? If only a Command and Investiture was needed, as is true for Nalthian Awakening (color, fie), why would a specialized system even be necessary? (The answer I find is to enable Investiture to respond to Commands with the creation of a pseudo-sentient soul.)

I swear. This thinking will forever plague my soul.