Difference between revisions of "Listener"
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=== Foreign Policy and International relationship ===
==== Alethkar ====
The listeners have a
After the Alethi king [[Gavilar]] revealed to one of the listeners, [[Eshonai]], that he was going to return their gods the listeners decided to assassinate him.{{book ref|sa1|prologue}} The assassination attempt was successful, and the Alethi highprinces [[Vengeance Pact|swore]] to destroy the listeners. This started the [[War of Reckoning]], a war between the Alethi and the listeners. The War of Reckoning went on for six years and eventually ended in the [[Battle of Narak]].{{book ref|sa2|81}}
=== Military ===
==== Armament ====
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, which are made from horn,{{book ref|sa1|55}} 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 arrows.{{book ref|Sa4|45}} These arrows are fletched with painted [[scragglebark]].{{book ref|sa1|65}} The listeners also use blowguns to hunt small game, these blowguns are deadly enough to hurt humans.{{book ref|sa2|43}}
The listeners had eight sets of [[Shardplate]] and eight [[Shardblade]]s,{{book ref|sa4|68}} although they gradually lost all of these during the War of Reckoning.{{book ref|sa2|i|3}} It is considered forbidden for these shards to be wielded against other listeners, they were originally used only for [[greatshell]] hunts, although they were also used to fight the [[Alethkar|Alethi]] during the [[War of Reckoning]]. Before this war it was tradition that when one of the proper eight listener cities was conquered the defeated family would relinquish their shards to the victors.{{book ref|sa4|68}}
==== Funerary Practises ====
The listeners revere their dead, even going so far as to endanger the living to preserve the corpses of the fallen. For example, they would take roundabout paths of attack to avoid their fallen while fighting on a battlefield.{{book ref|sa1|57}} They find it horrible to touch their dead, and will fervently attack anyone who does so.{{book ref|sa1|56}}{{book ref|sa1|62}} Listeners also consider their gemhearts sacred and personal.{{book ref|sa3|i|7}}
Listeners are buried in a ritual called a sky burial, although it is not completely clear what this entails.{{book ref|sa4|109}}
=== Families ===
=== Alethi Discovery ===
To modern humans, the listeners were originally discovered by Alethi [[Gavilar|King Gavilar]]'s brother [[Dalinar Kholin]] during a hunting trip in {{rosharan date|1166}}.{{book ref|sa1|28}}{{book ref|sa1|45}}{{book ref|sa4|45}} Dalinar was scouting in a forest that wasn't on any maps, in a valley south of the [[Shattered Plains]] and about two weeks' march from the [[Drying Sea]]. There, he found Eshonai, exploring.{{book ref|sa3|prologue}}{{book ref|sa4|45}} She led the humans to her family's camp. In that same day, [[Venli]] had discovered that [[painspren]] may be the key to discovering warform, but her discovery was overshadowed by her sister's.{{book ref|
At first, the Council of Five only let a few listeners come to meet the Alethi, afraid of frightening them. Slowly, some of the listeners, including Eshonai, began to learn the Alethi language. The Alethi were very interested in the listener's ancient weapons and in the chasmfiends. Due to a mistake in translation, the Alethi started believing that the listeners worshipped the chasmfiends.{{book ref|sa4|48}} The listeners were very intrigued by the Alethi's parshmen, believing they had no souls.{{book ref|sa4|52}} The Alethi called the listeners the "Parshendi", or ''parshmen who can think''.{{book ref|sa1|prologue}} They gave many steel weapons to Eshonai's family, wanting them to take one of the cities at the edge of the Plains.{{book ref|sa4|48}}
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