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The '''War of Reckoning''' was a conflict on [[Roshar]] between [[Alethkar]] and the [[listeners]]. This name for the conflict was used by Brightness [[Hashal]]{{book ref|sa1|43}} in reference to the Alethi's goal of delivering justice upon the Listenerslisteners for their role in the assassination of the Alethi King [[Gavilar Kholin]].
 
== Background ==
== Participants ==
=== Alethkar ===
Each princedom in Alethkar hashad its own army. Ten [[highprince]]s, namely [[Roion]], [[Torol Sadeas|Sadeas]], [[Aladar]], [[Dalinar Kholin|Kholin]], [[Loradar Vamah|Vamah]], [[Ruthar]], [[Thanadal]], [[Hatham]], [[Bethab]], and [[Turinad Sebarial|Sebarial]], committed part of their armies into fulfilling their Vengeance Pact with [[Elhokar|King Elhokar]], and havehad set up warcamps on the leeward side of the [[Shattered Plains]]. Each highprince had his own warcamp built on one of ten crater-like rock formations that were once inhabited by the listeners.{{map ref|Alethi warcamps}}{{book ref|sa1|45}}{{book ref|sa2|i|1}}
 
[[File: {{map|Alethi warcamps}}|700px|center]]
 
There are around twenty [[Shardblades]] known to be owned by the Alethi{{book ref|sa1|52}}, as well as an unknown number of [[Shardplate]]. These are spread unevenly among more than thirty Shardbearers in the warcamps.{{book ref|sa2|5}} The majority of the Alethi army are darkeyed spearmen led by lighteyed officers. Only the lighteyes were allowed to be archers or to use swords.
 
Aside from regular weapons, the Alethi also had around twenty [[Shardblade]]s{{book ref|sa1|52}}, as well as an unknown number of [[Shardplate]] armor. It is uncertain exactly how many of these were used in the war and how many remained in Alethkar, but there were more than thirty official [[Shardbearer]]s in the warcamps.{{book ref|sa2|5}}
 
The Alethi also had [[fabrial]]s, some of which, like [[grandbow]]s, had military applications.
At some point during the war, Eshonai became the warform of the Five, and possessed the only remaining set of Shardblade and Shardplate in the listener army.{{book ref|sa2|i|4}}
 
Warform gave listener warriors a carapace armor as well as increased strength. Though not as strong as someone with Shardplate, listenerwarform warriorslisteners were a real threat to regular human soldiers. They often fought in pairs and used heavy weapons like battleaxes, hammers, and sometimes clubs and swords. They arewere also capable of jumping far enough to cross chasms, something that only those with Shardplate could do on the Alethi side.
 
When the war started, the listeners moved to the ruins of [[Stormseat]], at the center of the Shattered Plains. They called this central place [[Narak]], which in their language meant ''Exile''.{{book ref|sa2|i|1}}
The safest way to win a gemheart of a chasmfiend would be to wait for a chasmfiend to climb on a plateau, where it would pupate.{{book ref|sa1|15}} Once this happens, the chrysalis could be opened with a [[Shardblade]]{{book ref|sa1|26}} or more slowly with hammers and chisels.{{book ref|sa1|40}}
 
Both the Alethi and Listenersthe listeners used these gems to sustain their armies, prolonging the siege and greatly extending the duration of the war. Whenever a chrysalis is spotted on a plateau, a race between the Listenerslisteners and Alethi highprinces would occur.{{book ref|sa1|15}} Whoever arrived first would have to retrieve the gemheart from the chrysalis before the opposing army arrives, otherwise a battle would occur.
 
For five years, the war was fought mostly through these skirmishes over gemhearts.
[[File:Battle of the Tower.jpg|thumb|right|150px|A map of the Battle of the Tower by [[Isaac Stewart]]]]
:''Main article:'' [[Battle of the Tower]]
The [[Tower|Tower Plateau]] is a very large plateau not far from the center of the Shattered Plains. Because of this, the Listenerslisteners always arrived first whenever a chasmfiend pupated on the Tower Plateau, and they usually had enough time to arrange themselves into battle formation and prepare their defense. Consequently, no Alethi army had ever won a battle at the Tower during the first six years of the war.
 
When Dalinar worked together with Sadeas, a chasmfied was spotted on the Tower.{{book ref|sa1|64}} According to their plan, Sadeas, whose armies were faster than Dalinar's, had to clear a space on the Tower for Dalinar's troops, who were better trained, to engage the Parshendi.{{book ref|sa1|64}} This worked as planned until Sadeas abandoned Dalinar, leaving no way to retreat for Dalinar.{{book ref|sa1|65}}
Seeing the steady decline of her people and becoming war-weary, Eshonai was eager to find a way out of the protracted war. She had been planning to approach Dalinar Kholin and sue for peace. However her sister, the scholar [[Venli]], did not believe such a plan would work. Instead, Venli argued that they should use a [[Singer#Forms_of_Power|Form of Power]] in order to defeat the Alethi.{{book ref|sa2|i|1}}
 
Secretly guided by the voidspren [[Ulim]]{{book ref|sa3|i|3}}, Venli had previously captured a [[stormspren]], a spren that granted [[Stormformstormform]]. This Form of Power was believed to allow the summoning and control of storms.{{book ref|sa2|i|1}} Eshonai initially protested the idea due to the form's connection to [[Fused|their hated gods]]. However, after the other leaders sided with Venli, Eshonai ended up volunteering to experiment with Stormformstormform to see what it does.{{book ref|sa2|i|4}}
 
Prior to bonding the stormspren, and with the help of Dalinar's son [[Adolin]]{{book ref|sa2|26}} and the Listenerlistener warrior [[Thude]], Eshonai was finally able to arrange a meeting with Dalinar to discuss a possible end to the war. The plan was for the meeting to happen in seven days. Having received confirmation of the arrangement, Eshonai went out to experiment with Stormform.{{book ref|sa2|i|5}}
 
Stormform gave Eshonai a different kind of armor and the ability to jump chasms more easily. She started attuning to a new set of [[Singer#Rhythms|Rhythms]] that were more aggressive.{{book ref|sa2|i|8}} More importantly, the new form changed Eshonai's personality, making her more arrogant and belligerent. She abandoned her plan to negotiate. Instead, she challenged the Alethi to try and destroy theher Listenerspeople if they could.{{book ref|sa2|51}} She planned to lure the whole Alethi army out far away from their warcamps and destroy them with a summoned highstorm.{{book ref|sa2|i|11}}
 
Along with Venli, Eshonai organized the adoption of Stormform for all of their people. A few of the Listenerslisteners did not agree to this plan and managed to escape.{{book ref|sa2|i|11}} [[Rlain]], a Listenerlistener spy who infiltrated the Alethi army and joined [[Bridge Four]], returned from his espionage mission and discovered the new Stormform army. He decided not to join them.{{book ref|sa2|78}}
 
=== The Battle of Narak ===
:''Main article:'' [[Battle of Narak]]
After negotiations with Eshonai fell through, Dalinar proposed a joint assault on the enemyParshendi camp in order to end the war and fulfill the Vengeance Pact once and for all.{{book ref|sa2|51}} Out of all the Alethi highprinces, only [[Aladar]], [[Roion]], and [[Sebarial]] joined him in the end. They set out near the start of the [[Weeping]], expecting no highstorm to impede their attack.{{book ref|sa2|76}} Along the way they met up with Rlain, who reported to Dalinar what had happened to his people.{{book ref|sa2|78}}
 
Upon the arrival of the Alethi armies in Narak, a large number of the Stormformstormform Listenerslisteners initiated the ritual song to summon a storm, while the rest prepared to fight the invaders.{{book ref|sa2|81}}
 
The battle was fought on three plateaus. Aladar, Roion, Adolin each led soldiers on their own designated plateau while Dalinar gave orders from the command tent on another plateau. Sebarial's army reinforced Aladar's and Roion's, as Sebarial himself did not fight.{{book ref|sa2|81}}
 
The Stormformstormform Listenerslisteners showed the ability to shoot red lightning, which they successfully weaponized against the Alethi. Adolin and Aladar managed well enough on their plateaus, but Roion's army was eventually defeated{{book ref|sa2|82}}, and Roion himself was killed by later in the battle by -[[Szeth]], who was there on a mission to assassinate Dalinar.{{book ref|sa2|85}}
 
Having been warned by Rlain that the Stormforms' song will bring destruction, Dalinar instructed Adolin to stop the singers.{{book ref|sa2|81}} Adolin found a way to get to the singers and killed many of them, but Eshonai attacked before he could finish the task.{{book ref|sa2|83}} In the end, even though he defeated Eshonai, he was unable to prevent the song from being completed. The summoned storm turned out to be the [[Everstorm]], and it came towards them from the west, bringing red lightning.{{book ref|sa2|84}} In addition, the [[Stormfather]] sent an unexpected highstorm, coming from the east as highstorms usually do.{{book ref|sa2|86}}
[[Kaladin]] arrived in time to save Dalinar from Szeth, who had been sent there to assassinate the highprince.{{book ref|sa2|86}} [[Shallan Davar]] managed to find and activate the ancient Oathgate within the city, and the surviving Alethi army was safely transported to [[Urithiru]] before the combined Everstorm and highstorm destroyed the whole city of Narak.{{book ref|sa2|84}}{{book ref|sa2|86}}
 
The surviving remnants of the Stormform army eventually ended up as vessels or subjects of the [[Fused]], the immortal commanders of [[Odium]]'s army that returned through the Everstorm.{{book ref|sa3|i|6}} Aside from Rlain, it is currently unknown whether any of the Listenerslisteners who did not join the Stormform army survived.
 
== Warfare ==
 
=== The Use of Bridges Between Plateaus ===
While Warformwarform Listenerslisteners were able to jump the distance between plateaus, an Alethi army could only cross a chasm with a bridge from an adjacent plateau. There was no way to climb a plateau from a chasm. The bridges were made of wood.{{book ref|sa1|6}} Permanent bridges could only be constructed next to the warcamps because any permanent bridge built further on the plains were destroyed by Listenerlistener raids.{{book ref|sa1|17}}
 
During a race for a gemheart, mobile bridges were used by the Alethi armies. There were two main types of bridges.
:Bridges that functioned like siege-towers. Those were very heavy and needed to be pulled by chulls and thus were very slow. Their advantage was that they offered cover for the Alethi army until the bridge was lowered over the chasm.{{book ref|sa1|55}}{{book ref|sa1|28}}
;Light Portable Bridges
:These were only light in comparison to the bridge-towers. At least 25 men were needed to carry a bridge{{book ref|sa1|6}}. Their advantage was that they could be carried even running, so they were much faster than the bridge-towers. Instead of offering cover, the bridgemen were exposed to the Listenerlistener archers during the approach of the final plateau.
 
Sadeas was the first one to use the light bridges <!--- he was first? ---> and had much success with them because of their mobility. He also used the exposed bridgemen on purpose to attract enemy fire that would otherwise have centered on his own soldiers.{{book ref|sa1|6}}{{book ref|sa1|15}}{{book ref|sa1|32}} That is also why bridgemen were neither armored nor trained.{{book ref|sa1|15}}
 
=== Chasm Duty ===
During battles, Alethi soldiers and Listenerlistener warriors often fell into the chasms. The dead who were left after a battle were blown into the chasms during highstorms. At the bottom of the chasms, the dead were flooded to the leeward end of the chasms, where they stayed until another flood pulled them elsewhere.{{book ref|sa1|27}}
 
Soldiers or bridgemen were sent down into the chasms to gather weapons, armor, spheres or anything other of value from the dead. Chasm duty was dangerous because of the risk of another highstorm flooding the chasms and because of chasmfiends who could come upon a search-team.{{book ref|sa1|27}}
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