Lezian

Lezian
by rspixart
Died	1175, killed by El
Abilities	Fused
Titles	The Pursuer
Species	Singer
Homeworld	Roshar
Universe	Cosmere

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Lezian, The Pursuer is one of the nex-im, a rare Fused brand which has access to the Surge of Transportation.

Appearance and Personality

by EccoS

Appearance

Lezian is described as being easily seven feet tall. He has hair the color of dried blood, and it seems to meld into his clothing, which is woven out of his hair. His skin is pure black, with lines of red marbling around his softly glowing red eyes. He also has a markedly wicked-looking jagged carapace, with a strange pair of carapace fins/horns rising above his ears.

It is unknown which of these characteristics (other than his skin color and patterning) are uniquely his, over being shared with other nex-im.

Personality

Lezian - like many of the Fused - prefers not to speak Alethi (or any other modern human language) though he is proficient enough to be able to understand and speak it if he wants/needs to.

According to Leshwi, Lezian takes great pride in worming his way into the stories of the humans, and manages to do so every Return.

Leshwi notes that while he is respected for his determination, he is also reckless, having endangered plans and ruined many missions.

Lezian considers it of the utmost importance that his tradition (of killing whoever killed him) continues, and it doesn't matter to him whether he beats and kills his quarry in genuine combat, or murders them when they are defenseless and unconscious. Venli remarks that in this, he is more like a spren, with his tradition taking over his reason. She also notes that in this, Lezian also has a madness to him, much like some of the other Fused, even if the way it affects him is subtler.

Attributes and Abilities

Surgebinding

As one of the nex-im, Lezian has access to the Surge of Transportation. This allows him to leave his body behind and shoot out of it as a spren-like flying ribbon of red-violet light, which can then expand to re-form a new body elsewhere. The old body collapses as if it was a dead corpse, and disintegrates into ash within minutes. This effectively allows Lezian to teleport, using the ribbon of light to transfer between locations. Lezian can do four such "jumps" before completely running out of voidlight, and typically uses three of them in battle, using the fourth to retreat and resupply.

Once Lezian leaves a body, the "corpse" that he leaves behind starts turning dry and fragile, with colors fading. The flesh turns to a light and porous stone, and the whole body (including the carapace) disintegrates into ash soon after.

Combat Skills

Lezian uses a fighting style based around forms of grappling, and is extremely proficient at fighting Surgebinders. He can break off his sharp and jagged carapace spurs to use as improvised daggers. He is also proficient at using the quirks of his powers to his advantage, such as when he breaks Battalionlord Teofil's battle lines by attacking from several directions and using his husks as decoys to sow confusion.

History

Previous Desolations

Lezian was the first Fused to have ever been killed by a human. To avoid the shame that came from this, he went into battle seeking only the human that had killed him, ignoring all orders and rationality, and succeeded in killing him. This started his tradition - every time someone managed to kill him, Lezian would single-mindedly chase them and claim their life. He never failed at this, always successfully managing to find and kill the humans who had bested him before every Isolation. Once an Isolation began, he would kill himself to avoid having to return to Braize without killing his killer in turn. When not actively pursuing a previous killer, Lezian would seek to go after the strongest enemy Radiants, effectively creating a cycle of either chasing after and killing the strongest enemies, or getting killed by them, and then pursuing them until they die, then picking some other strong Radiant, and so on and forth.

He was so successful at this that the other Fused encouraged his tradition, giving him leeway to act and Pursue his quarry even outside normal command structures, though he was also reckless enough to have endangered others' plans, ruining missions and undermining strategies.

The True Desolation

The Evacuation of Hearthstone

Lezian first appears at Hearthstone in 1175, just before the Knights Radiant and the forces of the Coalition land the Fourth Bridge there in an effort to evacuate the village. Kaladin and the Fourth Bridge had been spotted while flying to Hearthstone, and Lezian, alongside a group of Shanay-im under the command of Leshwi, were sent by the Nine to gather intel on the Fourth Bridge, and test a new suppressor fabrial that would prevent Radiants from using their powers.

Lezian leads a small squad of warforms, and is able to successfully find and identify Kaladin from his description, who takes to the skies. Lezian engages him immediately, and his novel powerset and his brutal and expert fighting style give Kaladin a hard time. When Kaladin eventually starts predicting and reacting to Lezian's jumps, Lezian leaves him, warning Kaladin to watch for him from the corner of his eye. He shows up again later, when Kaladin and his windrunners are engaged with Leshwi and the rest of the Shanay-im, but Kaladin sees him coming, and Lezian retreats without engaging. He then gathers a squad of warform singers, and starts accosting a group of civilians, as well as Godeke the Edgedancer, to lure Kaladin to him. When Kaladin lands and challenges him, Lezian takes Godeke, and retreats into the manor with the remaining squad of parshmen, saying he will fight him inside. Once Kaladin follows, they trigger the suppressor fabrial powered by voidlight to stop Kaladin from summoning Syl or using his powers. Lezian assumes that Kaladin would not be used to fighting without his powers and mocks him, but Kaladin quickly overpowers four of the warform Singers, and then proceeds to kill Lezian by successfully predicting where he would teleport to.

Lezian is then reborn again, soon after, and is summoned by the Nine to provide a report on what happened at Hearthstone. He refuses to take blame for losing the device, and immediately claims his right to Pursue Kaladin by his tradition. He is angered, and lashes out when Leshwi challenges his sanity and his right to Pursue Kaladin, which undermines his claim, and leads to the Nine allowing Leshwi - or someone else if the situation demands it - prior claim on Kaladin's life. Lezian storms out of the meeting, and is later seen conferring with Raboniel soon after the invasion on Urithiru is decided upon.

Occupation of the Tower

Lezian loans his troops to Raboniel for the invasion.

During the invasion, he approaches Raboniel, and gets permission to continue his hunt for Kaladin from her, as he is confident that if Kaladin was not already at the tower, then he would return to try and liberate it. He also advises Raboniel that the captured Radiants were dangerous, and should be beheaded. Lezian is later instrumental in breaking apart Battalionlord Teofil's final stand, as he is able to teleport across their entire line faster than they can reorient and readjust themselves.

Lezian is next seen tracking Kaladin, after the latter kills one of the Singers that came to Lirin's clinic to collect any Radiants he might be caring for. He repurposes the entire force sent to go through homes on the sixth floor and look for any unconscious Radiants to hunt for Kaladin. While Kaladin manages to avoid him once, and is able to distract him further with Syl's help, none of these work long term, and Lezian always catches on after a while, though Kaladin ultimately manages to escape the Purser and his forces with the Sibling's help. Lezian continues to sweep the upper tiers for Kaladin, sending Raboniel reports periodically. He manages to capture Kaladin's family, and intends to exact revenge for the Regal Kaladin killed after interrogating them.

Kaladin fought the Pursuer multiple times during Raboniel's occupation of Urithiru, ultimately killing him again just prior to the restoration of the Sibling and naming him "Defeated One".

Aftermath of the Occupation

When Lezian returns after this death, El annihilates him with a dagger charged with anti-Voidlight in order to test whether the inverse Light functions as Raboniel theorized. It does, and Lezian permanently dies.

Trivia

According to Venli, Lezian's troops have a fearsome reputation. They were among the strongest and proudest of Singer troops, and were known for treating the humans of Kholinar harshly. They resent the fact that they were not allowed to kill during the original incursion into Urithiru, and both Leshwi and Venli see them as violent and bloodthirsty.

Notes

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