Baon

Baon
by botanicaxu
Abilities	Sand master, Worldhopper
Aliases	Vao, Blunt
Profession	Soldier
Groups	Seventeenth Shard, Dynasty
Ethnicity	Darksider
Nationality	Iiarian
Homeworld	Taldain
Universe	Cosmere
First Appeared	The Way of Kings

“You know a lot about war, dear man. Of course, that’s what you’re paid for, isn't it! ”

—Cynder to Baon.

Baon is a soldier from Iiaria on the Darkside of Taldain.

Appearance and Personality

Baon is tall and muscular, with broad shoulders. He has short, dark hair and dark skin, and wears a goatee. He typically wears a long white duster over khaki pants, a blue or gray shirt with a blue vest that has gold ornamentation at the collar. He typically has at least two holsters, often either underarm or on each side of his waist.

He is perceptive, speaks eloquently, and sometimes displays a sardonic wit. He is also pragmatic and blunt.

• Images of Baon
• 

  by Botanicaxu Portrait
• 

  by Julius Gopez On the White Sand Volume 1 cover
• 

  by Julius Gopez On the White Sand Volume 2 cover

Attributes and Abilities

Baon has the ability to worldhop, as well as the ability to use sand mastery.

He is a skilled soldier and marksman, and usually carries firearms. Fearing that relying on sunglasses would put him at a disadvantage in a fight, Baon stopped wearing his spectacles once their party started crossing the Kerla, to force himself to adjust the sun's brightness. He is very perceptive and skilled at reading body language.

He has been trained in many disciplines and is a gifted sailor.

History

On Taldain

Baon was sent by Skathan to Dayside to investigate whether the sand masters posed a threat to the Dynasty. Duchess Khrissalla hired Baon to guard her on her trip to Dayside to find the Sand Mages that Prince Gevalden was looking for. Baon went on the journey to Dayside with both of these purposes equally in mind and did not consider them mutually exclusive.

When Captain Deral and his lieutenant attempted to sell their party to a Dynastic border patrol, Baon killed both of them to ensure that they escaped and neither mission was jeopardized. He took Deral's pistols for himself thinking that no one would notice them for what they were.

Before docking at Dosha-Har'Ken, Baon noticed the unprofessional conduct of Khrissalla's military escort, Flennid and Torth, and warns Khriss that they will cause problems. While in Dosha-Har'Ken, he covers their party's retreat from an angered A'kar when Professor Cynder tries using the Kerztian holy language to ask for information. While passing the outskirts of Esh'Ker'Losh, he accurately identifies a zinkall as a pneumatic dart gun based on observation.

“Yes, but they are a disadvantage I'd distance myself from as soon as possible.”

—Baon to Khriss, on why he forgoes sunglasses in the Kerla

After Flennid killed their guide, Daazk, and fled with Torth and the group's provisions of water and food, Baon and Cynder find Kenton unconcious in one of the Diem's tents at the based of Mount KraeDa. Baon noted that Kenton spoke to him in Dynastic while semi-lucid, and verified that he was being understood. At Baon's prodding Kenton showed them how to get water from the dorim vines. Kenton then agreed to guide Baon and his companions to Kezare, the capital of Lossand. When their group was attacked by Kerztian warrior-priests, Baon used one of his pistols to kill two of the warriors and scare the rest of them away. When they arrived in Kezare the group parted ways with Kenton, who went to the Diem.

They followed N'Teese, the guide Kenton arranged, across the Ry'do Ali and headed for the Darksider quarter, Lonzare. N'Teese, for a ten lak fee, brought the group to meet with Loaten. Baon tried to join Khriss in her meeting with the man, but the guards at the door would not let him through. Khriss told him that it was fine and entered. When Khriss was leaving the office, Baon caught a glimpse of Loaten through the door and recognized him for who he was, a traitor to the Dynasty. He immediately pulled out his pistol and made to attack him, Khriss calmed him down, and the group made a hasty exit.

Baon accompanied Khriss as she attempted to meet with the Taishin, searching for information on the Sand Mages. After being stonewalled by all of the other Taishin, they went to the Diem where they found the new acting Lord Mastrell, Kenton, and the Sand Mages Khrissalla was looking for. Baon followed Khriss to the Mastrell's suite on the third floor of the Diem and met Aarik before being stranded by a broken ladder and having to be lowerd to the ground by mastered sand.

Baon accompanied Khriss when she intercepted Kenton at his meeting with Lord Artisan Rite at the Central Studio. They then returned to meet with the Lady Judge again on the Diem's behalf while Kenton was trvelling to the deep sands. High Judge Heelis advises they meet with Nilto to help repair the Diem's reputation with the common people. He was present when Nilto returned Prince Gevalden's pistol and signet ring to Duchess Khrissalla. As they return to Lonzare, he advises her not to give the weapon into the care of Professor Cynder.

Jon Acron came to Khriss to express concerns about Baon's trustworthiness, citing inconsistencies in Baon's version of the events surrounding the death of Captain Deral and his lieutenant, but Khriss notes that the information is inconclusive. After Kenton returned from his travels, he meets with Baon and Khriss at their new accomodations in Lonzare. While they were leaving together to return to the Diem and look for the missing tribute money, the group was attacked by another group of Kerztian assassins. Baon reacted quickly, pulling his charge out of harm's way. He tried to draw his pistols and join the fight, but an assassin noticed him and kicked him, knocking him to the ground. Kenton used his sand to pick up Baon's pistols from where they had fallen and used them against his opponents. Baon recovered in time to kill his assailant by stabbing him through his heart with his side knife. After the fight Khriss and Baon go to the Diem to help Kenton search for the missing tribute money.

“Someday, Duchess, you will need to learn how to judge people, and not faces or titles”

—Baon to Khriss.

Back in Lonzare Baon watches as Khriss conducts experiments on white sand in her bedroom-turned-laboratory, he also takes the opportunity to observe the sand through the microscope and watch the demonstration of light emmission from sand, that Khriss believes to represent all of the colors of starmarks. Khriss and Baon then discussed Skathan's powers, and Baon admits that Skathan looked the same when he left Iiaria as he did twenty years earlier when Baon was a child. Afterward he accompanied her to Lord Admiral Delius' party and then retires to the servants tent to wait for her. After the party, while Kenton is investigating a disturbance at a worksite of the Company of Masons, Baon readies his pistols and prepares to defend Khriss should the disturbance be another ambush.

The next day, while he was cleaning his pistols, Khriss offered to make more gunpowder since Baon was running out of charges, if they could procure some saltpeter. Khriss then noticed that his pistols were, specifically, Elisian officer's pistols and she confronted Baon about the incident with Deral. Baon admitted to having killed the captain and his lieutenant, then admitted to having been sent to Elis by the Dynasty. They were interrupted by the return of Professors Acron and Cynder, who dropped the newly bought saltpeter. Without saying what his mission was, Baon took his pistols and left. Soon after his departure Khriss began to miss his company, assistance, and advice; she regretted his hasty departure, without a chance to explain himself.

Later, Khriss confronted Nilto at the docks by loudly calling to him by his true name, Gevin. Acron, revealing himself as an assassin sent by Skathan to find and kill the missing prince, pulled out a pistol and moved to shoot Gevin. Baon reappeared then, and pushed a crate of fruit down onto Acron from atop a tall stack of crates, knocking the man to the ground. While he was talking to Khriss, Acron recovered and, still on the ground, fired at Baon, grazing him on his arm.

After Acron's apparant death, Baon explained to Khriss that while he was indeed an agent of the Dynasty, his mission did not conflict with his obligation to guard Khriss, and so he was able to fulfill both of them. He explained that his mission to investigate the threat the sand masters posed to the Dynasty was complete, since he could report that the sand required the sun to be charged and would not work on Darkside. Khriss asked him to retake his position as her guard and he agreed. Later, at the Diem, Baon explained the he killed Deral, who was a traitor and planned to turn their party over to a Dynasty border patrol, because it would jeopardize both Khrissalla's mission and his own.

Baon traveled with Khriss and Kenton to Lraezare when they were chasing Lord Merchant Vey with Delius' assistance. When they were attacked by assassins on their journey back to Kezare, Baon was locked below decks with Ais, and was unable to join the fight. After Aarik intervened, joining the fight with ferocity and skill, Baon expressed surprise that the man was hiding such skill. He helped Ais return the bodies of the assassins to their boat, which their ship towed back to Kezare.

“Merely surprised, Duchess. Merely surprised.”

—Baon, after mastering sand for the first time.

The group went to the Tower to search for the missing Lord General, Raagent. They found Raagent's corpse in the Tower's cellar, where he had been tortured to death by Sharezan. On the way back to the Diem Baon theorized to Kenton that it was suspicious that one of his strongest supporters was murdered the day before the Taishin were to vote on the fate of the Diem. Kenton responded that he didn't think the Kerztians would do such a thing; but Baon maintained that if whoever was sending the assassins was really trying to disband the Diem, then killing a Taisha or one of Kenton's protectors would accomplish their goal as well. The next day he, together with Khriss, watched Kenton's duel with Drile at the Diem. When Khriss was distraught about how Kenton was being dominated by Drile, Baon told her that she must not interfere as Kenton chose this fight with bravery and she must not rob him of his sacrifice for his people. Baon was also present for the Taishin vote on reversing the descision to disband the Diem, since it was held immediately after the duel.

Two weeks later Baon, Khriss, and Cynder set sail for Elis, taking a few sand masters and three barrels of Invested sand with them. During the journey, at Khriss' prodding, an unnamed Lestrell administers the test for sand mastery to Baon. To everybody's surprise, he succeeds with a massive release of power.

On Roshar

Blunt was the nickname Ishikk assigned to Baon when he was hunting for Hoid at the Purelake on Roshar with other members of The Seventeenth Shard. He was described as tall and broad-shouldered, but lean and muscled, with hair that was short and dark. Ishikk believed that the name he provided, Vao, was a false name. Baon was accompanied by Galladon and Demoux. Baon joined The Seventeenth Shard sometime after the events of White Sand. Baon wondered if there was something to the abilities that the Purelakers ascribed to their fish, but Galladon thought he had a tendency to believe in superstition. Baon also spoke Selan well. Two years later, the group had given up on finding Hoid and left Roshar.

Trivia

• Long before the concept of the cosmere was developed, Baon appeared as Doram in the first story Brandon ever wrote.
• Baon was previously called Bowen before the linguistics of Taldain were worked out.
• Brandon once said that Baon was not Invested. It is unclear whether this has changed, or if being able to master sand does not count as being Invested.

Notes

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