Eshonai (The Stormlight Archive)

"Progress is learning to control your world. Put up walls to stop the storms, choose when to become a mate."

- Eshonai

Summary
Eshonai was a listener Shardbearer who lived in Narak during the War of Reckoning. She was one of the first Parshendi to come in contact with Gavilar Kholin's soldiers in the Unclaimed Hills.

She was born in the year 1156 to Jaxlim in the First-Rhythm Family, and throughout her life, as Listener history was an oral tradition, her mother tried to make her memorize the Listener Songs, though she rarely obeyed and spent most of her time exploring on expeditions. Which did form a sort of conflict between her and her sister, Venli.

Throughout her youth she explored beyond the Shattered Plains daily, mapping out the world beyond it, and starting to spark within her people an interest in exploring the outside world.

Her exploration lead to the listeners' first contact with humans in 1166, when she encountering Gavilar's expedition to the south of the Shattered Plains.is communication would come to be one of the most important events in recent Rosharan history, and would lead to the formation of a Treaty between the Listeners, named the Parshendi by the Alethi, and the Alethi.

In the year 1167, on the day of his assassination, Gavilar spoke to Eshonai privately, and it was during this meeting that she learned that Gavilar wanted to bring back the listeners' old gods, which horrified her. He gave her a sphere of Voidlight and told her to bring it to The Five. Taking the gemstone, Eshonai went to the Five and told them of Gavilar's plans, and the group decided to assassinate the Alethi king. She was given a vote due to her role as interpreter, and she voted for his assassination.

Sometime between the assassination of Gavilar and the Battle of the Tower, Eshonai became a member of the Council of Five and was made the general of the listener army. She at some point managed to get her hands on a Shardblade and Shardplate.

During the Battle of the Tower, 1173.9.6.4, Eshonai dueled Dalinar Kholin as the army made its retreat. She came to deeply respect his skill and ability, and to wish to fight with him once again.

Eshonai was the first to adopt Stormform on 1173.10.2.5 after it was discovered by Venli, and the form led to a massive shift in her personality. With her becoming warlike and destructive, she stopped wishing for peace with the Alethi, and began to wish only for their extermination. She rounded up many disobedient listeners, including her comrades, friends, and family; with the intent of having them executed for their disobedience.

It was during this period that Timbre tried to bond her, but suffered great difficulty with it.

In the Battle of Narak, 1173.10.10.3, she led the listener army with the purpose of completely destroying the Alethi army. But in a duel with Adolin Kholin she was pushed into a chasm and shoved her Shardblade into the rock to try to not be thrown away by the rushing waters from the two storms crashing above. However, she still perished, drowning in the flooding storm water.

After her death, the Stormfather briefly stopped her soul from entering the Beyond in order to let her ride his winds across all of Roshar as the highstorm swept over the continent, and she was able to take joy in seeing the entire world before her before she fully passed away.

Personality
She loves exploring and discovering more of the world, and her curiosity and will to go beyond the Shattered Plains spread to other Listeners, giving them more will to learn about the outside world. This zeal for discovery was present through her entire life, even as a small child she often got distracted from tasks by whatever interesting thing caught her eye.

She accepts her role as a General for her people, though at the same time feels constrained by the role, the repetitive tasks of military life numbs her mind, and her uniform causes her great emotional discomfort. She ultimately wishes to be free of her role as general, so that she can explore the world, both the wilderness and the countless human civilizations and cultures around the world; but she recognizes the importance of her role and stays firm to it.

She enjoys the strength granted to her by her Shardplate, for it gives her a sense of something reliable she finds difficulty finding anywhere else in the world.

She finds it hard to tolerate Mateform Listeners for their difficulty paying full attention to anything, and has trouble understanding why anyone would want to remain in that form for longer than necessary to produce offspring. This also spreads to humans, with her difficulty understanding that humans have only one form which is easily distracted by sexual urges, comparing it to a permenant Mateform.

She personally prefers Workform, and it is what she spent most of her life in. Only going to Warform and later Stormform due to the militaristic benefits.

She does not enjoy the war, and wants to find a more peaceful alternative, to make peace and end the War of Reckoning.

Stormform
Upon taking on Stormform she became far more violent, rash, and less willing to go into negotiation or peace. She was quick to try to have those who disobeyed her executed, including her comrades, friends, and family. Showing little care for her connection to anybody that she punishes.

Venli
Eshonai and Venli love eachother, but ultimately have a rather negative relationship with one another. With Venli having a spiteful attitude towards Eshonai for skipping out on Song memorization practice, and also having a strong sense of jealousy of her and her position, and tries to take over once the two are both in stormform. This leads to them not having the most positive of interactions with one another.

Jaxlim
Eshonai thought little of Jaxlim, her mother, due to her memory loss, though despite this she still respected her. However, despite this respect, their bond was never very strong. And when her mother refused to change to Stormform, she still rounded her up with the other dissenters to be executed. However this could simply be a result of the negative influence on her mind Stormform had.

Dalinar
She deeply respected Dalinar for his skill and strength, and wished to be able to fight him once again. Though they never had a personal connection.

Powers and Stats
Name: Eshonai

Age: 17 upon death (19 in Earth Years)

Gender: Femalen

Classification: Shardbearer, Member of the Council of Five, Listener | Knights Radiant, Willshaper, Stormform Regal

Powers and Abilities:

Workform =

Limited Extrasensory Perception (Can hear the Rhythms, fundamental aspects of the Cosmere imperceptible to most beings)

Life Manipulation via certain Rhythms (Using certain Rhythms can stimulate the growth of plants, making them grow quicker and more abundantly)

Possible Large Size (She stands at over seven feet tall using Rosharan measurements, which are longer than standard Imperial measurements. Kaladin stands at around 6"4 in Rosharan Units, but is over 7"0 in standard Imperial)

Possible Language Decipherment (Type 3) (Her and her people are described as picking up the Alethi language surprisingly fast. It is unknown if this is some power possessed by the Parshendi people, or if it is simply a high capacity for language aquisition)

Warform = Superhuman Physical Characteristics

Limited Extrasensory Perception (Can hear the Rhythms, fundamental aspects of the Cosmere imperceptible to most beings)

Life Manipulation via certain Rhythms (Using certain Rhythms can stimulate the growth of plants, making them grow quicker and more abundantly)

Soul Manipulation and Durability Negation via Shardblade

Possibly Large Size (She stands at over seven feet tall using Rosharan measurements, which are longer than standard Imperial measurements. Kaladin stands at around 6"4 in Rosharan Units, but is over 7"0 in standard Imperial)

Possible Language Decipherment (Type 3) (Her and her people are described as picking up the Alethi language surprisingly fast. It is unknown if this is some power possessed by the Parshendi people, or if it is simply a high capacity for language aquisition)

Stormform = Superhuman Physical Characteristics

Electricity Manipulation

Limited Extrasensory Perception (Can hear the Rhythms, fundamental aspects of the Cosmere imperceptible to most beings. However, she is limited to only being able to hear Odium's Rythms)

Soul Manipulation and Durability Negation via Shardblade

Possibly Large Size (She stands at over seven feet tall using Rosharan measurements, which are longer than standard Imperial measurements. Kaladin stands at around 6"4 in Rosharan Units, but is over 7"0 in standard Imperial)

Possible Language Decipherment (Type 3) (Her and her people are described as picking up the Alethi language surprisingly fast. It is unknown if this is some power possessed by the Parshendi people, or if it is simply a high capacity for language aquisition) Knights Radiant = Superhuman Physical Characteristics

Electricity Manipulation

Limited Extrasensory Perception (Can hear the Rhythms, fundamental aspects of the Cosmere imperceptible to most beings. However, she is limited to only being able to hear Odium's Rythms)

Soul Manipulation and Durability Negation via Shardblade

Possibly Large Size (She stands at over seven feet tall using Rosharan measurements, which are longer than standard Imperial measurements. Kaladin stands at around 6"4 in Rosharan Units, but is over 7"0 in standard Imperial)

Possible Language Decipherment (Type 3) (Her and her people are described as picking up the Alethi language surprisingly fast. It is unknown if this is some power possessed by the Parshendi people, or if it is simply a high capacity for language aquisition)

Limited Teleportation via Surge of Transportation

Possible Limited Molecular Manipulation via Surge of Cohesion (Manipulates the molecules that make up an object in order to make it easy to stretch and shape), mostly focused on Stone Manipulation

Regeneration and Soul Manipulation via Stormlight

Workform = "Workform worn for strength and care. Whispering spren breathe at your ear. Seek first this form, its mysteries to bear. Found here is freedom from fear."

- 19th stanza of the Song of Listing

When she is in Workform she is endowed with strength suited towards labour, this is beyond that of forms such as Dullform and Nimbleform, but is ultimately not superhuman in nature. While sometimes used for combat, it is not specialized for that purpose.

While in workform, singers are more obedient, and have greater difficulty committing violence, forcing one to find peaceful solutions to various problems.

In this form she is fairly resistant to cold weather.

Rhythms
She is able to attune to the fundamental Rhyhtms that permeate the Cosmere. These cannot be heard or attuned to by normal humans.

She can hear these in all Forms.

Bilingualism
In all forms she is capable of speaking both Parshendi and Alethi, and is fluent in both, to the extent she was made to be an interpreter at the signing of the treaty between Alethkar and the Parshendi people.

Warform = "Warform is worn for battle and reign, Claimed by the gods, given to kill. Unknown, unseen, but vital to gain. It comes to those with the will."

- 15th stanza of the Song of Listing

Shardblade
It does not act as ordinary blades in that it does not cut living flesh, but rather effervesce and pass through it, leaving the flesh unharmed and instead cutting the Spiritweb itself. If the Blade cuts the core of a person's limb, the person feels a flash of incredible pain and then the limb turns gray and becomes limp and numb. If an internal organ is pierced by a Shardblade, it may be killed or cease to function. If the spine or head is cut, the eyes of the person blacken and burn out with a dark smoke rising from them.

When cutting through something not classified as alive, they still cut far better than any other sword, able to cut through any non-Invested material with relative ease. A cut from a Shardblade leaves distinctive perfectly clean cuts.

Shardplate
Shardplate is a form of armour powered by Stormlight, using it greatly increases her strength, allowing him to do things impossible for an ordinary Listener. Along with this, it is incredibly durable, able to take heavy blows without breaking.

Upon having a portion of it shatter, it can be regenerated with the addition of more Stormlight. If one runs out of Stormlight, or the breastplate shatters, the added strength would fade and he would be left immobile from the weight of the armour.

Due to being very heavily Invested, this cannot be effected by Lashings.

Stormform = "Stormform is said to cause A tempest of winds and showers, Beware its powers, beware its powers.

Though its coming brings the gods their night, It obliges a bloodred spren. Beware its end, beware its end."

- 4th stanza of the Song of Winds

Stormform
In Stormform she gains the ability to pull upon the Investiture of Odium to become incredibly powerful, their strength increases to the degree she can fight a person in shardplate, and gains thin and light armour which is as effective as the formally bulky and heavy armour of the Warform, with ridges on the nose and cheeks, capable of deflecting a blade away from the face without causing too much damage.

Stormforms are capable of unleashing grand bolts of lightning that electrocute and burn their enemies, cooking them alive in their armor. Even capable of destroying stone structures. They can also physically touch a foe and release a powerful shock. These bolts of lightning create massive claps which can be permanently deafening in close quarters to those not properly shielded.

The lightning itself is difficult to control and moves unpredictably, sometimes moving the wrong direction or channeling directly into the ground.

It takes a moment in order to produce a bolt of lightning, and along with this, the power is not limitless. Successive bolts of lightning would become weaker.

The armoured carapace is less bulky than that of Warform, but is nearly as effective. She has barbed carapace on the backs of their hands. The spiking armor plates present under their skin elsewhere on their bodies makes grappling with them difficult, jabbing attackers and preventing them from getting a decent hold.

She gains immunity to the effects of Storms, able to move through the Highstorm and Everstorm with ease.

Shardblade
It does not act as ordinary blades in that it does not cut living flesh, but rather effervesce and pass through it, leaving the flesh unharmed and instead cutting the Spiritweb itself. If the Blade cuts the core of a person's limb, the person feels a flash of incredible pain and then the limb turns gray and becomes limp and numb. If an internal organ is pierced by a Shardblade, it may be killed or cease to function. If the spine or head is cut, the eyes of the person blacken and burn out with a dark smoke rising from them.

When cutting through something not classified as alive, they still cut far better than any other sword, able to cut through any non-Invested material with relative ease. A cut from a Shardblade leaves distinctive perfectly clean cuts.

Shardplate
Shardplate is a form of armour powered by Stormlight, using it greatly increases her strength, allowing him to do things impossible for an ordinary Listener. Along with this, it is incredibly durable, able to take heavy blows without breaking.

Upon having a portion of it shatter, it can be regenerated with the addition of more Stormlight. If one runs out of Stormlight, or the breastplate shatters, the added strength would fade and he would be left immobile from the weight of the armour.

Due to being very heavily Invested, this cannot be effected by Lashings.

Surgebinding
During her last moments of life she becomes a Knights Radiant of the Order of Willshapers, giving her access to the Surges of Transportation and Cohesion, however, she did not get the time to truly use her powers, much less become skilled in their usage.

Her bond to Timbre not only gives her access to Surgebinding, but also would allow her to pull upon and use Stormlight.

Surge of Transportation
Through the use of the Surge of Transportation, she can transfer herself in and out of Shadesmar through the creation of a miniature Perpendicularity. She is not very practiced in this Surge, and furthermore, as a Willshaper, she is not as powerful in this Surge than an Elsecaller would be.

Surge of Cohesion
The Surge of Cohesion allows them to alter the shape of solid objects in a way called Stoneshaping. Allowing her to make more malleable, like clay, or even a liquid. Allowing her to reshape it to her desire. This is done through the manipulation of all of the Axi which make up the stone and the forces which bind them together. However, it had strict limits put on it by Honor, in order to prevent it from being as powerful and destructive as the Yolish Art of Microkinesis.

This can manipulate most substances, but it manipulates Stone the most efficiently, and this art is heavily resisted by Investiture. Therefore, it is extremely difficult or even impossible to use Cohesion on an Invested material.

Stormlight
Through the use of Stormlight she can bring about various enhancements to himself, increasing her own physical strength to superhuman levels, and giving her regenerative powers.

Due to her death, she was never able to truly use Stormlight.

Physical Enhancements
When drawing upon Stormlight she has her physical strength greatly enhanced along with er speed, agility, and reaction speed to superhuman levels, in proportion to the amount of Stormlight in which she pulls upon.

Regeneration
By using Stormlight she is able to heal herself from even the most severe of injuries, and even heal herself from various poisons and even alcohol. This can even regenerate entire limbs given enough time. Though it is ultimately limited by the self-percpetion of the user. Therefore it cannot heal that which she considers a part of himself.

This does not solely heal the body, but is also capable of healing damage to the soul itself, and as such it is capable of healing the damage caused by Shardblades by essentially crafting a new portion of soul out of Investiture and grafting it onto oneself. This however, as one would assume, takes an extreme amount of Investiture compared to other forms of healing.

She can still die if she is killed before he is able to heal from her injuries.

Perhaps as a expansion of this, Radiants are capable of holding their breath for very long periods of time as long as they are holding onto Stormlight.

Odium's Rhythms
She ceases to be able to hear the Rhythms of Honor and Cultivation, and is instead made to only be able to hear the Rhythms of Odium.