Nightstar The Bright

Prior to the [[True Desolation]], they lived onin eastern Roshar, near the [[Shattered Plains]]. During the [[War of Reckoning]], they inhabited the city of [[Narak]], but after the arrival of the [[Everstorm]] and the start of the [[True Desolation]] the remaining Listeners left Narak, roaming around on the Shattered plains.

The Listeners livedused to live in the [[Unclaimed Hills]], very close to the [[Shattered Plains]]. Some Listener [[Listener#Culture|families]] occupied the circular craters near the western edge of the plains, while others spent their lives living in the wilderness around these craters. SomeMany Listeners thinkbelieve that the wildernis should remain uncharted, left to [[greatshell]]s and [[spren]], although others strongly disagree with this.{{book ref|Sa4|45}} It is likely duebecause toof this reasonattitude that the Listeners knewknow very little about theirthe world and the wildernis beyond their cities.

The Listeners cultivate multiple plant species. They grow and eat grain from a certain type of rockbud.{{book ref|sa4|62}} They also use the dried pulp from a species of rockbud to make paper.{{book ref|sa4|45}} The Listeners also grow and prune Shalebark, although they mostly do this for decoration.{{book ref|Sa2|i|4}} They also eat mushrooms, which they gather in the forests near the Shattered Plains.{{book ref|Sa4|45}}

The Listeners are ruled by five individuals, collectively known as the Council of Five, or simply the Five. Before the Listener families unified each family had their own Five, but after their unification thesethe rulerslisteners alsoaccepted joinedthe intorule of a single fiveFive.{{book ref|Sa4|45}} It is unknown how these five Listeners are chosen. The Five seem to have absolute authority over the Listeners, although any decision needs at least a majority among the Five before it can be put into action.{{book ref|Sa2|i|4}} The duties of the Five are very diverse, from approving ideas to planning attacks on other families.{{book ref|sa2|i|1}}{{book ref|sa4|45}} At least some professions have leaders whose authorities exist outside of that of the Five. One such Listener is [[Denshil]], who serves as the Listener head of farming.{{book ref|Sa4|86}}

The composition of the Five has changed over time as more [[Singer#Common forms|forms]] were discovered. At first, the Five were all in [[dullform]], and later, after the discovery of [[workform]], the members of the council were all in workform. When [[nimbleform]] was discovered, the Council changed to being made up of one member of each form. The Council had pondered whether to add another representative for each newly discovered form, but the discovery of [[stormform]] and the subsequent [[Battle of Narak]] meant that there was never an opportunity to do so.{{book ref|sa2|i|4}}

Listener soldiers use Warform, this grants them strong carapace armor as well as increased strength.{{book ref|sa2|i|1}} Though not as strong or resilient as someone with Shardplate, warform listeners are a real threat to regular human soldiers. Their strength allows them to use heavy weapons like battleaxes, hammers, spears and sometimes clubs or swords.{{book ref|sa1|40}}{{book ref|Sa4|45}} They are also capable of jumping far enough to cross the chasms on the [[Shattered Plains]].{{book ref|sa1|27}} Most of the steel weapons owned by the Listeners are either of [[Alethkar|Alethi]] origin or have been passed down from parent to child starting at the abandonment of the old gods.{{book ref|Sa4|81}} The Listeners are also fond of bows and two-handed slings,{{book ref|sa1|65}} although bows were viewed as to deadly to wield against other listeners.{{book ref|sa4|68}} Some Listeners carry large shields called [[stormshield]]s when going out into a highstorm, however it is unknown if this type of shield is also used in combat.{{book ref|Sa4|88}} It is considered the duty of each warrior to care for his ancient weapon and make his own arrowarrows.{{book ref|Sa4|45}}

The Listeners had eight sets of [[Shardplate]] and [[Shardblade]]s,{{book ref|sa4|68}} they gradually lost all of them during the War of Reckoning however.{{book ref|sa2|i|3}} It is considered forbidden for these shards to be wielded against other listeners, they were originally intendedused only for [[greatshell]] hunts, although they were also used to fight the [[Alethkar|Alethi]] during the [[War of Reckoning]]. ItBefore isthis war it was tradition that when one of the proper eight listener cities iswas conquered the defeated family relinquisheswould it’srelinquish their shards to the victors.{{book ref|sa4|68}} Regular soldiers often wear simple garments that are tailored around their warform carapace. Some of them also wear long coates, although these aren’t worn into battle. The Listener general wears a cap on their skullplate and a tight red cloth as a cape.{{book ref|Sa2|i|4}} The Listeners believe that a man should be able to see his own death coming, and for this reason they dress assassins in white.{{book ref|Sa1|prologue}}

A notable aspect of the listeners' new combat strategy is their use of '''warpairs'''{{book ref|sa1|26}}, pairs of warriors who fight side by side as partners. These listener warpairs move around the battlefield in coordinated maneuvers and attack enemy troops with heavy weapons from multiple directions.{{book ref|sa1|28}} The Listeners also use shortbows to harry and weaken their enemies.{{book ref|sa1|17}} The listeners have at times executed raids during a highstorm.{{book ref|sa2|i|5}}

ListenersAfter six years of war the listeners also became very adept at dealing with the [[Alethkar|Alethi]] Shardbearers. They would use two-handed slings to hurl head-sized rocks at Shardbearers,; these rocks canwere capable quickly damage Shardplate, with a single blow being enough to make cracks in an unharmed section of Plate.{{book ref|sa1|65}} The Listeners also use shortbows to harry and weaken their enemies.{{book ref|sa1|17}}