Stonewards

The order's two Surges: Cohesion (top left), Tension (bottom left) and Ideal/Essence.

Stonewards are one of the ten orders of Knights Radiant. Stonewards share Surges with the orders of Willshapers (Cohesion) and Bondsmiths (Tension). Talenel is the patron of this order.

History

Stonewards
Artwork by Steve Argyle[1]

As observed by Dalinar in one of his visions, the Stonewards were one of two orders of Knights Radiant who had turned their backs on their fellows (i.e., the Day of Recreance).

“	Now, as each order was thus matched to the nature and temperament of the Herald it named patron, there was none more archetypal of this than the Stonewards, who followed after Talenelat'Elin, Stonesinew, Herald of War: they thought it a point of virtue to exemplify resolve, strength, and dependability. Alas, they took less care for imprudent practice of their stubbornness, even in the face of proven error.	”
–From Words of Radiance, chapter 13, page 1

Characteristics

Stonewards are the infantry and ground troops of the Radiants and are renowned as their finest soldiers. (A title that, on occasion, the Windrunners dispute.) They tend to attract those who are most interested in warfare, prowess with weapons, or athletics of any sort. They like a challenge, and in times of peace are seen engaging in (and running) various sporting events of both a military and non-military nature. Many enjoy the outdoors, and one will find exploration enthusiasts among them, as well as those who just like the fresh air. They tend to be known for their can-do attitudes and for taking on enormous projects (sometimes more than they can handle). However, most agree that the primary attribute of the Stonewards is their dependability. Though sometimes gregarious, they are never flighty. If a Stoneward is one's friend, they will be there for such a friend, and that is a core tenet of their order - to be there when they are needed. Another key attribute is their ability to take a difficult situation with few resources and make something better of it. Though not known as inventors or creators, they are good at improvising solutions to problems in the moment.

The Shardplate of Stonewards is likely made up of lesser spren than those with which they bond.

Stonewards usually have squires.

Technicalities

This ability manipulates the Surge of Cohesion, and is in many ways a cousin to the axial manipulation known as microkinesis - as both grant the ability to manipulate the forces that bind individual axi together. It appears that Stoneshaping is far less explosive of a power, bounded by the rules that Honor placed upon it to protect from the mistakes that happened on Yolen.

A Stoneward or Willshaper can mold stone as if it were clay, weakening the bonds between axi. (Indeed, this can be done to other materials, but stone is the easiest and most common application.) This is not simply a chemical process. Normally, one might expect heat to be involved to excite the axi, but this is not the case. Indeed, it is the Intent of the user that is relevant here.

The stone senses the desire of the Stoneward, and the practitioner is able to shape it through desire as much as through physical force.

There are three ways to look at the nature of Intent as it relates to Stoneshaping.

Willingness: Stone seems to be uniformly willing to obey the commands of a Surgebinder attuned to Cohesion. This is curious, as stone is often among the most difficult of materials to work with in Soulcasting - even more difficult than living beings, depending on those beings’ emotional, mental, and spiritual states. The stone lets the Surgebinder guide it.

Connection: The stone can sense the Intent of the Surgebinder, and even their past. There are reports of stone reaching back through generations of Connection to display events, feelings, emotions, and ideas from long ago. It will shape the faces of Stonewards long dead. It will create pictures of events long forgotten.

Command: The Stoneshaper must often make a Command, mental or verbal, to truly control the stone. This is much like many other arcana around the cosmere, and is in itself not that novel.

Appearance

The glow of their Shardplate was amber.

Known Stonewards

• Badali is a Radiant of this order.
• Talatin was a Radiant of this order.
• Zu is a Radiant of this order.

Motto

Oaths

Stoneward oaths focus on team dynamics, on learning to work with others, and on being there for those who need them. They put the interests of others before their own, and will not bend their Ideals for the sake of convenience.

Immortal Words

Stoneward
Artwork by Petar Penev[2]

All Stonewards must speak the Immortal Words of the Knights Radiant, which are a set of rules by which Radiants live. The First Ideal, identical for all orders of Radiants, is used as their motto. Each of the Radiant orders then had an additional number of Ideals that were unique to each order. For the Stonewards, these Ideals are as follows:

The First Ideal

Also known as the Ideal of Radiance.

“

"Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination."

”

Epigraphs

“	As a Stoneward, I spent my entire life looking to sacrifice myself. I secretly worry that is the cowardly way. The easy way out.	”
–From drawer 29-5, topaz

Notes

Brandon's original pitch to himself on Stonewards concerned one of their main powers, which was the ability to grab matter and just kind of manipulate it, like if the whole world was clay to those Radiants. Not just stone, not just rock, but if one could just pick something up and stretch it, whatever it was, that was his original pitch for this order.