Editors
1,767
edits
Difference between revisions of "Listener"
Started rework
(Started rework) Tags: Mobile web edit Mobile edit Advanced mobile edit |
|||
|
|[[Venli]] to [[Shumin]]{{book ref|sa4|11}}
}}
The '''listeners''', called the '''Parshendi''' by the [[Alethi]], are a [[singer]] ethnic group on [[Roshar]]. By the end of the War of Reckoning they were roughly 37 thousand people strong.{{book ref|Sa2|i|11}}
Prior to the [[True Desolation]], they lived on 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.
== Geography and Agriculture ==
==== Geography ====
The Listeners lived 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.{{book ref|Sa4|45}}
{{image
|Narak by Connor Chamberlain.jpg|side=right|width=350px|Narak, the home of the Listeners during the War of Reckoning}}
After the assassination of King [[Gavilar Kholin]] the Listeners fled to the Shattered Plains, after this event they began inhabiting the city of [[Stormseat|Narak]].{{book ref|WoR|i|1}} After the end of the [[War of Reckoning|war]] and the [[Battle of Narak]] the remaining Listeners roamed around the Shattered Plains for a while.{{book ref|Sa2|i|1}}{{book ref|Sa4|115}}
==== Agriculture and Animal Husbandry ====
The Listeners cultivate multiple plant species. Some of these species are rockbuds, while others are trees. They 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 do it for decoration.{{book ref|Sa2|i|4}}
They also practice animal husbandry and hunting. They have at times hunted [[chasmfiend]]s, although the amount differs heavily through time. They have access to leather, although it is unknown what creature this leather comes from.{{book ref|Sa1|prologue}}
== Government ==
=== The Five ===
==== Use and Function ====
The Listeners are ruled by five individuals, collectively known as the Council of Five, or simply the Five. 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 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}}
==== Composition ====
{{for|:category: Council of Five|a full list of those in the group|Category: Council of Five}}
{| class='infobox sortable' align=center
! Form !! Name
|-
| Dullform || [[Zuln]]
|-
| Mateform || [[Abronai]]
|-
| Nimbleform || [[Chivi]]
|-
| Warform || [[Eshonai]]
|-
| Workform || [[Davim]]
|}
=== 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, and sometimes clubs and swords.{{book ref|sa1|40}} They are also capable of jumping far enough to cross the chasms on the [[Shattered Plains]].{{book ref|sa1|27}} The Listeners are also fond of bows and two-handed slings.{{book ref|sa1|65}}
The Listeners had multiple sets of [[Shardplate]] and [[Shardblade]]s, they gradually lost all of them during the War of Reckoning however.{{book ref|sa2|i|3}} 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}}
==== Tactics ====
A notable aspect of the listeners' 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}}
[[Listener]]s also use two-handed slings to hurl head-sized rocks at Shardbearers, these rocks can 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}}
==== Organisation and Hierarchy ====
The Listener army is divided into multiple divisions, each a hundred and twenty-eight in number. These divisions have their own name, and may sometimes be made up of of different forms entirely, an example of this is the Storm division, a division made entirely of Stormforms. During wartime the Listeners also have many warpair scouts, usually from a single division, roaming around, searching for any sign of their enemies. Near the end of the War of Reckoning the entire army was around seventeen thousand Listeners, or 133 divisions, strong.{{book ref|Sa2|i|11}}
The Listener military is commanded by a general, also called a warleader, who is also the warform representative in the [[Council of Five]]. During the [[War of Reckoning]] [[Eshonai]] served as general.{{book ref|sa2|i|4}} Beneath the general are a number of lieutenants, it is likely that these lieutenants control a division each.{{book ref|Sa2|i|11}}
== Culture ==
=== Families ===
Prior to the [[War of Reckoning]], the listeners were organized in tribe-like families that would vie for control of the ten cities along the western border of the Shattered Plains. Some notable listener families include:
;;{{anchor|First-Rhythm}}First-Rhythm
The family of [[Eshonai]], [[Venli]], [[Thude]],{{book ref|sa4|57}} [[Bila]],{{book ref|sa4|57}} and likely also [[Rlain]].{{book ref|sa4|81}} They were thousands strong around the time Eshonai first met with King [[Gavilar]]'s expedition and boasted a noble heritage, though it had been many years since they had controlled one of the ten cities.{{book ref|sa4|45}}
;;{{anchor|Living-Songs}}Living-Songs
The second family approached by the First-Rhythm family after the discovery of warform in their attempt at unification of the listener tribes.{{book ref|sa4|68}}
;;{{anchor|Pure-Song}}Pure-Song
Known to have raided the Fourth-Movement family out in the wilderness, away from any city, in an attempt to steal their weapons. This action earned them the scorn of other families.{{book ref|sa4|45}}
;;{{anchor|Fourth-Movement}}Fourth-Movement
Once raided by the Pure-Song family in an attempt to seize their weapons.{{book ref|sa4|45}}
=== Songs ===
{{expand}}
In order to remember their history and important skills the listeners remembered them via songs, each to the beat of a different rhythm of Roshar. These songs were practiced and preserved by a Keeper of Songs. The known songs are as follows:
{{columns|
* [[Song of Histories]]
* [[Song of Listing]]
* [[Song of Making Paper]]
* [[Song of Mornings]]
* [[Song of Revision]]
* [[Song of Secrets]]
* [[Song of Spren]]
* [[Song of the Fallen]]
* [[Song of Wars]]
* [[Song of Winds]]
}}
=== Language ===
;;Terms in the listener language
* essai -- human-lover (literally "hairy"){{book ref|sa4|60}}
* narak -- exile
* neshua kadal -- Knight Radiant
* ulo mas vara -- monster of the chasms/chasmfiend
;;Listener Concepts translated into Alethi
* long sleep -- the long span spent in dullform
* lull -- the time the Alethi call "The Weeping"
* Rider of Storms -- the Stormfather
* stormpause -- the span between two highstorms
The listener language is descended from the [[Dawnchant]] and is related to the [[Shin]] and [[Unkalaki]] languages.{{wob ref|3977}} They measure time using the rhythm of peace, they use movements and half movements as units of time.{{book ref|Sa2|i|4}}
;;Phrases and Idioms
See [https://coppermind.net/wiki/User:King_of_Herdaz/Curses_and_Phrases#Singer.2F|Listener Curses and Phrases]
=== Architecture ===
Prior to the [[True Desolation]] the Listeners were technologically behind the rest of [[Roshar]]. They lived in huts made from hardened crem over frames of shell, which were huddled on the leeward side of lumps of stone to protect from [[highstorm]]s.{{book ref|WoR|i|4}} These buildings were fragile and would often be destroyed by highstorms, although the Listeners would simply rebuild them.{{book ref|WoK|45}}
When a highstorm is close the people prepare their homes, this includes stuffing rags under their doors, shoving bracing boards into position and pounding large wooden blocks into their open windows. Before the start of the War of Reckoning some of the Listener families occupied the 10 circular craters near the western edge of the plains, but they were eventually forced to move to the center of the Shattered Plains.{{book ref|WoR|i|1}}
=== Freedom ===
Due to their history the Listeners value their freedom. During the War of Reckoning many listeners stopped caring about their origins. It is also important to the Listeners that everyone can choose their own form, and the [[Council of Five|Five]] cannot command people to choose a form.{{book ref|Sa2|i|4}}{{book ref|Sa2|i|11} Some singers hate trapping spren, instead they prefer to go out into the highstorms themselves and attract the proper spren. {{book ref|Sa2|i|8}}
=== Crafts ===
==== Paper ====
The Listeners have their own unique way of making paper. They make the paper from dried [[rockbud]] pulp following a harvest.{{book ref|sa2|i|1}} These rockbuds are native to the unclaimed hills and shattered plains. Their paper is much rougher then human paper and varies in Color. Their paper is also textured and full instead of neat and sterile.{{book ref|WoR|i|4}} They also have a [[Song of Making Paper|song]] describing the process. This ensures that the Listeners never forget how to make it.{{book ref|sa4|45}}
== History ==
| |||