Reacher

Reacher
by Ben McSweeney
Type	Spren
Abilities	Nahel bond, Willshaper magic, Splinters
World of Origin	Roshar
Universe	Cosmere

“ They like to travel, to see new places. They sail all across Roshar's Shadesmar, peddling goods, trading with other spren. ”

— Azure

Lightspren, more commonly known in Shadesmar as Reachers, are a subset of sapient spren on Roshar. Bonding with them makes a person a Surgebinder of the Order of Willshapers.

Appearance

In Shadesmar, Reachers appear human, though they have metallic bronze skin, similar to living statues. They have bronze metal eyes with holes where the pupils would be. The ones on Captain Ico's ship wear human clothing, though they are barefoot. Their clothing is tan and has many buttoned pockets.

In the Physical Realm, lightspren appear as a ball of light, small enough to hide in a palm of a hand. The light can grow stronger or fainter, seemingly depending on the spren's mood. They seem to be a little more physical than their kinsmen -- wind pushes them, they are warm to touch, and feel somewhat like silk. They can communicate through pulsing to singer Rhythms, which produces bursts of light, as well as audible vibrations. For a singer, those vibrations appear to carry more meaning than simple mood, including more abstract concepts like familial relations and high numbers.

History

At some point, Reachers were the spren of the Order of Willshapers of the Knights Radiant but the Recreance seems to have instilled a mistrust in humans and their oaths in some of the Reachers, like Ico.

The Reachers are the spren who picked up Kaladin, Shallan, Adolin, Azure, Pattern, Syl and Mayalaran from the Rii Oracle's Lighthouse and conveyed them to Celebrant in exchange for barter supplies.

Culture

by taratjah Timbre, a Reacher, in Venli's hand

They are often guides in Shadesmar as they like to travel to different places, trading and selling goods. There are Reachers living in Celebrant and Captain Ico's daughter once lived in the city and worked there at the moneychangers.

Their ships are pulled by Mandras and they always have more than one as Mandras have a tendency to vanish. The sailors don't carry weapons aside from knives but their ships are equipped with large harpoons.

Abilities

The Reachers on Ico's ship are barefoot so that they can walk along the vibrating copper lines set into the deck, which Shallan believes are used for wordless communication between the lightspren.

In the Physical Realm, Reachers seem able to move very quickly, although they cannot become invisible. They can hover and fly They are, however, capable of overpowering lesser voidspren, and can live inside the gemheart of a singer.

Reachers are one of the spren types capable of forming Nahel Bonds. Bonding them makes a person a Surgebinder with the Surges of Transportation and Cohesion. Notably, they are the first sapient spren to be shown capable of forming a Nahel Bond with a singer rather than a human. While the bond does seem to afford them a higher level of intelligence as it does with other spren, Reachers appear incapable of communication; however, it's uncertain whether this is a consequence of bonding a singer, or of a lightspren bonded to a human would also be mute.

Notable Lightspren

• Captain Ico
• Timbre (bonded to Venli)

Notes

This page is probably complete!

This page contains most of the knowledge we have on the subject at this time.
It has yet to be reviewed.