Shalash (The Stormlight Archive)

Summary
Shalash, also known as Shush-daughter-God, is one of the Ten Heralds of the Almighty, and the Patron of the Order of Lightweavers. She fought in countless Desolations over the millennia, protecting mankind from the Voidbringers, and returning to Braize to be tortured by Fused in order to uphold the Oathpact. Over the Millenia she broke and after nearly 5,000 Years during the Aharietiam, where she, along with the rest of the Heralds barring Talenel, whom they abandoned, spread across Roshar and abandoned their duties.

Powers and Stats
Name: Shalash, Shush-daughter-God, Ash, Epan, Pom, Herald of Beauty, Lady of Dreams

Age: At least 8,000

Gender: Female

Classification: Herald of the Almighty, Patron of Lightweavers

Powers and Abilities: Herald = Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Limited Durability Negation and Soul Manipulation via her Honorblade, Regeneration with her Honorblade, Weapon Mastery with her Honorblade, Light Manipulation and Illusion Creation via Surge of Illumination, Transmutation via Surge of Transformation, Enhanced Memory via Surgebinding Resonance, Immortality, Resurrection, Resistance to Poison Manipulation via her Honorblade Post-Aharietiam = Immortality, possibly Enhanced Senses

Herald =

Honorblade
She received from Honor a special form of Shardblade known as an Honorblade. This is made directly from the essence of Honor himself and by using them they draw upon his power.

They do not act as ordinary blades in that they do 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 Honorblade, or even a Shardblade for that matter, leave distinctive perfectly clean cuts.

Surgebinding
From her Honorblade, she gains the power of Surgebinding, capable of using the Surges of Illumination and Transformation.

Unlike most Knights Radiant, they receive power directly from Honor through the blade, therefore do not need to collect Stormlight. Due to this they also have access to raw power far beyond that of any normal Radiant.

Illumination
The Surge of Illumination allows her to create visual and auditory illusions out of Stormlight and the manipulation of light and all forms of electromagnetic radiation. These Illusions must be imagined in the mind and a Spiritual connection to the intended creation. It is possible to connect the Illusion to herself so that it moves with her.

These illusions have no physical presence and would fuzz as the Stormlight withdraws when it is touched. However, light cannot pass through it, so holes must be made in the Illusion if she wants to see through it.

If she had the necessary knowledge, she would have been able to form lasers or radiate her opponents with gamma radiation, however, this would also irradiate herself, and it wouldn't be practical in the skill needed and the excess amounts of Stormlight required to manipulate it. . Despite this being a possible usage, she does not use it in this manner out of a lack of knowledge of such usages.

Transformation
The Surge of Transformation can be manipulated to change an object into one of the ten essences. To Soulcast she must send her mind into the Cognitive Realm in order to communicate with the Cognitive Aspect of an object and convince it to change. Not every object is inclined to change, depending on how the object is seen by the sentient species and how it sees itself, so the Surgebinder may need to negotiate with it. Once it is convinced into changing, it is infused with Stormlight bringing about the transformation. Skilled Surgebinders can do this in a very short period of time.

While it is possible to Soulcast an object into anything, it is easiest to Soulcast it into one of the Ten Pure Essences.


 * Translucent Gas, Air
 * Opaque Gas, Smoke, Fog
 * Fire
 * Quartz, Glass, Crystal
 * Wood, Plants, Moss
 * Blood, All Non-Oil Liquid
 * All Kinds of Oil
 * Metal
 * Rock and Stone
 * Meat, Flesh

While she could Soulcast something into aluminium, she would be unable to Soulcast Aluminium itself into anything else due to its Investiture Inert properties.

Immortality
The Heralds, Shalash included, have a very potent form of Immortality. They do not age, allowing them to survive for millennia, and when attacked they are far more difficult to kill than an ordinary human, able to heal from significant wounds that would be fatal to most beings.

Even if killed, they would return to Braize and resurrect.

However, they can perish under special circumstances. With a specially crafted Raysium dagger, which upon being stabbed by it, would have their soul trapped into the gemstone at its hilt. With the Oathpact severed and Honor Splintered, they can not survive long without a body, and would fade away and perish within weeks. This is ultimately how her father, Jezrien, perished.

Cognitive Shadow Nature
She is no longer human, but rather, is a Cognitive Shadow. She naturally lacks a body, but gets a new one returned to her with every Return.

As a Cognitive Shadow, she is Connected deeply to the Rosharan System, and is thus incapable of leaving it by any normal means.

Post-Aharietiam = She left behind her Honorblade after the Aharietiam, losing access to her Surgebinding abilities.

Sword Usage
While she may have given up her Honorblade, she still uses more mundane blades.

Senses
She is noted as having exceptionally good hearing.

Disguises
She is very good at spying and infiltration, easily able to mix into a new city or military camp whenever she sees it as necessary.