Lifeless

Lifeless
Type	Awakened entity
World of Origin	Nalthis
Universe	Cosmere

“Awaken to my Breath, serve my needs, live at my Command and at my word. ”

—The Command by which Lifeless can be created with a single BioChromatic Breath.

Lifeless are a type of magical entity originating on Nalthis, created by Awakening. They are classified as Type Two BioChromatic Entities: Mindless Manifestations in a Deceased Host.

When an Awakener infuses a skeleton or a corpse (typically human) with a Breath, it becomes animate without becoming fully alive. This creature is then able to follow specific Commands much like any other Awakened creation.

However, Lifeless differ from other Awakened objects in several ways. Firstly, the Breath used to animate them cannot be reclaimed by the Awakener. Secondly, they are much more flexible and intelligent in obeying orders; this is ascribed to the fact that they have a brain and are therefore less reliant on the cognitive impulse from the Awakener to determine their actions. Thirdly, they can be given further Commands, or have their previous Commands rescinded, without an infusion of more Breath.

Appearance

A Lifeless has all color drained from it upon its creation, bleeding to grey, the Awakening feeding off the body’s own colors to help fuel the transformation. While their clothing is not drained of color, lifeless, like Clod, are often dressed in muted colors or greys. They do not need to breathe and their muscles do not involuntarily twitch, so they appear as still as a statue when they are not moving. Lifeless came in as many shapes and sizes as people. They do not eat. They cannot talk or write.

Self-Awareness

The soul of a Lifeless is so diminished that, while it is possible to make a Hemalurgic spike from one, you could only get the barest hint of a charge, producing a very weak spike. Nonetheless, Lifeless retain a certain amount of self-awareness after their Awakening, although the implications of this are as yet unexplored. The Lifeless known as Clod seems to help Vivenna beyond his Commands on multiple occasions.

A Lifeless holding more than just the Breath that Awakened them are more self-aware than others. They would begin to form a personality, much like a Cognitive Shadow.

Command

All Awakening works by way of the Command, but Lifeless are particularly valuable because anyone can give them Commands after they have been created. So long as someone knows the Lifeless' security phrase, they can imprint that Lifeless with new Commands. This is not true for regular Awakened objects, which can only take a Command once in advance. In addition to this, Lifeless can remember a long list of complicated orders and are generally good about not misunderstanding them. Denth believes that this is because they retain a bit of their humanity.

There are also different levels of command phrases. Lightsong shared the command phrase "Fledgling Fruit" with Llarimar, giving him limited access to issue non-combat commands.

Maintenance

A Lifeless will remain animate and useful for several years as long as the body remains in good condition. This period of usefulness may be extended by injecting ichor-alcohol into the blood vessels of the Lifeless. Physical damage to a Lifeless may be repaired to an extent; lacerations may be sewn shut, damaged muscles replaced. Yet in time the accumulated modifications lessen its resemblance to a living thing, making it more difficult for Breath to keep it functioning as intended.

Lifeless are useful soldiers due to the fact that they do not feel pain and require very little maintenance and no food. Furthermore, the Lifeless retains a measure of the skill that it possessed when alive. This makes it exceedingly economical to reuse the dead soldiers in one's army as Lifeless, as doing so saves money on training costs as well as upkeep.

History

Around 300 years before the Pahn Kahl rebellion, Shashara was instrumental in creating a single Breath command to awaken Lifeless. Before that, it was much less efficient. This allowed Kalad to start the Manywar when he created a vast army of Lifeless (called Kalad's Phantoms) to seize power in Hallandren. They were used to protect the kingdom and drove the royals to the highlands.

After Shashara created Nightblood, Kalad realized the horror of an army of near-indestructible Lifeless carrying sentient swords that could kill anything. In an effort to stop this future from happening, he killed her and sent his Phantoms back to Hallandren to retake it and bring peace. It was such a difference in character that the citizens decided that he must have been a different person, and called this "new" Returned Peacegiver.

During the Pahn Kahl rebellion, the Lifeless army was sent to Idris. This was prevented as Kalad's Phantoms were awakened and sent to hunt them down.

Cultural Views on Lifeless

Hallandren

“Lifeless are like swords. They’re tools. We can’t destroy all of them in the city, nor would we want to. Just the ones being used by your enemies. ”

—Denth to Vivenna.

In Hallandren, lifeless are seen as emotionless tools. They can be found guarding shops, acting as packmen, and sweeping walkways in the wealthier districts of T'Telir. In wealthier areas, Lifeless aren't plentiful, but they also aren't uncommon and few will take heed of a lifeless performing mundane labor. While they are not uncommon, most people will give them a wide berth.

Within Hallandren you can pay someone to create a Lifeless, if you provide the body. Families were well paid for recently deceased well-built corpses.

The Court of Gods keeps an army of 40,000 Lifeless close at hand, in the Lifeless Enclave, just outside their palaces. As a form of checks and balances, 4 gods are given command of 10,000 Lifeless each. Before the Pahn Kahl rebellion, the commands were owned by Lightsong, Allmother, Mercystar, and Hopefinder.

Idris

Just as Breaths and Awakening are seen as taboo in Idris, Lifeless are seen as the most unholy of abominations. Idrians believe that a person’s body shouldn’t be abused by making it come back to life and serve someone.

Interactions with other Magic Systems

Corpses that have been Soulcast into stone could be Awakened, however, this will not reanimate the person who died. The existing Spiritual Connection of the deceased person, and the shape of the Soulcast stone, however, will make the stone easier to Awaken. Unlike Kalad's Phantoms, corpses Soulcast into stone do not need bones imbedded in the rock to be Awakened.

A spren that has had their Cognitive form pulled into the Physical Realm will have a new body spontaneously form organs and muscles, but the spren will die within minutes. These bodies can be made into Lifeless.

Lifeless can tap unsealed metalminds, although some metalminds might cause the Lifeless to stop being a Lifeless.

Trivia

• Around the time he wrote Warbreaker, Brandon has hoping to include a Lifeless viewpoint character in the Warbreaker sequel; it is unknown whether or not this is still the case.
• An Awakener who is turned into a Lifeless using their own Breath, could theoretically reclaim Breath from objects they had Awakened while alive.
• Emotional Allomancy would have more of an affect on a Lifeless than a regular person.
• A body killed with a Shardblade could be Awakened into a Lifeless.
• A Lifeless Mistborn and/or Feruchemist could not use Allomancy and/or Feruchemy.
• A chasmfiend could not become a Lifeless using a single Breath, and even if multiple were used it would not retain the Nahel Bond which allowed it to support its own weight.

Notes

This article is still missing information. Please help The Coppermind by expanding it.