BioChromatic Breath
also known as Breath, BioChroma
The substance scholars call BioChromatic Breath and most people just call Breath. Each person is born with one; it can only be transferred by the giver's spoken, willing Command, never taken by force. Gathering Breaths above the normal allotment grants tiered Heightenings — sharper senses, perfect pitch and colour, the ability to feel other people in a room — and provides the fuel an Awakener burns to bring cloth and straw to life. Without one's Breath, colours dull and the awareness of other people fades; the bereaved are called Drabs. STD:WB:Prologue
Known facts
- willing-transfer-onlyBreath cannot be taken by force. The donor must Breathe it out themselves and speak the Command — "my life to yours, my Breath become yours" — for the transfer to take. Torture in the God King's dungeons is therefore the long business of breaking a prisoner into voluntary surrender, not a quick extraction.STD:WB:Prologue
- command-transferPasses between people only by the giver's spoken Command — "My life to yours, my Breath become yours" — and once spoken the transfer is irrevocable; even a closed mouth does not stop it reaching the recipient.STD:WB:Ch 10
- cannot-give-piecemealCannot be transferred one Breath at a time — a holder gives the whole hoard at once or none at all, and if they have only their birth Breath they end as a Drab.STD:WB:Ch 13
- breath-invested-in-object-emits-no-auraBreath that has been invested into an inanimate object — a rope, a cloth — gives off no BioChromatic aura at all, and cannot be sensed by another Awakener the way a person's stored Breath can be. Vivenna works this out from the way she failed to feel Vasher or Tonk Fah before they ambushed her, and uses it to hide herself.STD:WB:Ch 37
- partial-transfer-may-be-possibleVasher takes the child aside on the street and has her repeat a few words back to him; from a distance, with the awareness of the First Heightening, Vivenna watches her BioChromatic aura flicker faintly. Denth had told her Breath could only be given all at once; what she saw looks like the opposite. He has been proven a liar about other things, too.STD:WB:Ch 48
Backreferences
- summarySA:RoW:Ch 99
- summarySA:RoW:Epilogue
- summarySTD:WB:Prologue
- factAwakening
- factHeightenings
- factReturned
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 3
- factReturned
- factDrab
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 5
- factVasher
- factVasher
- factHeightenings
- factBebid
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 6
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 7
- factVasher
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 10
- factVivenna
- factLemex
- factLemex
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 11
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 12
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 13
- factVivenna
- factLemex
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 14
- factAwakening
- factHeightenings
- factReturned
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 15
- factVasher
- factHeightenings
- factThe God King
- factSusebron
- factLight of Peace
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 17
- factVahr
- factDedelin
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 19
- factVasher
- factVivenna
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 20
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 21
- factVasher
- factVasher
- factAwakening
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 22
- factReturned
- factJewels
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 23
- factLightsong
- factReturned
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 25
- factJewels
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 27
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 28
- factVivenna
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 29
- factReturned
- factSusebron
- factSusebron
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 31
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 32
- factHallandren
- factReturned
- factThe God King
- factThe Five Scholars
- factThe Five Scholars
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 33
- factAwakening
- factLifeless
- factVivenna
- factIchor-alcohol
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 34
- factBluefingers
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 35
- factVasher
- factVivenna
- factDenth
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 36
- factSusebron
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 37
- factBioChromatic Breath
- factVivenna
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 38
- factLifeless
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 39
- factVivenna
- factDrab
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 40
- factVasher
- factTreledees
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 42
- factLifeless
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 43
- factAwakening
- factVivenna
- factTramaria
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 44
- factThe God King
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 45
- factAwakening
- factAustrinism
- factType One BioChromatic Entity
- factType Two BioChromatic Entity
- factType Three BioChromatic Entity
- factType Four BioChromatic Entity
- factLaw of BioChromatic Parallelism
- factLaw of Comparability
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 46
- factThe God King
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 47
- factSusebron
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 48
- factBioChromatic Breath
- factAwakening
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 53
- factBlushweaver the Beautiful
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 56
- factNightblood
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 57
- factVasher
- factDenth
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 14
- factHoid
- summarySA:WaT:Ch 69
- factAxindweth
- summarySA:WaT:I-9
- factAxindweth