INFO

[truthwatcher]

« CHARACTER INFORMATION »

Character Name: Renarin Kholin
Canon: The Stormlight Archive
Canon Point: End of Book 4, Rhythm of War.
OU or AU?: OU
Species: Human

Age: 21
Height: 5"9 (175 cm)
Eyes: Sapphire
PB: Ookurikara from Touken Ranbu


Content Warnings: Autism Depictions Major Spoiler Warnings!

History: LINK

Personality:

World Summary:

Renarin Kholin is a lighteyes Prince of Alethkar on the planet of Roshar. He comes from a pre-Industrial age that has no guns but recently started to use air blimps with the aid of magic or stormlight. He grew up in Victorianesque conservative culture that requires chaperones for courting couples. Women in Alethkar wear a sleeve or glove over their safe hand (left hand). It's considered obscene to show one's safe hand. Alethkar has a caste system where lighteyes (blue, green, amber, etc) are at the top and darkeyes at the bottom. Slavery is also common. Furthermore, only Alethi women are allowed to read and write and it's considered obscene for a man to do either. Renarin learned both when he was trying to investigate his Future Sight ability and is looked down on by both men and women for this. The closest to reading a man gets is reading pictures or glyphs. Alethkar is renowned for its fighting prowess. Men are the warriors/soldiers and women their scholars/scientists. Lastly, there is a second species on the planet that are split into two ethnic groups, the Listeners (Parshmen) and the Singers (Parshendi). The Listeners were slaves until recently when they all escaped en-masse, while the Singers are highly intelligent beings who can change forms and during wartime they are all mostly warriors.


Courage

“I am not the first hero’s son to be born without any talent for warfare. The others all got along. So shall I."

Renarin has the heart of a soldier but for a long time he didn't have the physical disposition to be one. His culture reveres warriors, and his father stands among their greatest. Yet, born with a blood weakness (epilepsy), he’s denied even the chance to prove himself as a warrior. Instead of letting it define him, he withstands all the snide comments, insults, and pitying looks and puts his efforts into proving himself in other ways. The diligent son. The supportive younger brother. The well-mannered Prince. He finds different ways to compensate for his social anxiety and even when he’s hit with epileptic seizures that make a mockery of him among the soldiers, he persists. He doesn’t let the world drag him down and it’s only through courage and strength of will that he keeps pushing forward. In his current canon point, Renarin's epilepsy has been cured and he's had a year to come to terms with his new powers and what exactly it means to be bonded to a corrupted spren. He's a lot more secure with his powers than he is when they first showed up. They frightened him and since future sight is regarded as evil in his society he felt even more of an outcast for having the ability. Currently, he's still not sure what it all means or what his place is, but he's bolder in using his powers no longer hiding them afraid to be mocked or worse deemed a heretic. Often times, he goes off on his own to make things happen. Instead of waiting for the future to catch up with him as he did in the beginning, he takes action to change that future.


Foolhardy

“Renarin so desperately wanted to be useful on a battlefield.”

Renarin is brave, but foolhardy. Due to epileptic seizures, he wasn’t allowed to be a soldier. His brother, Adolin, started his sword lessons when he was 6, while Renarin was only allowed to take up arms at 19. Renarin feels like he has a lot to prove, and so little time to do it in with war approaching. He tries too hard, and in complete opposition to his normal behavior, he acts before he thinks. When a chasmfiend attacks their party he runs into the fray by instinct with no armor or thought to his seizures. Of course, he’s immediately recalled by his father who reprimands him for his foolhardy behavior and commands him to retreat with the women and children which he does leaving him feeling inadequate as usual. Later, when his brother is cornered by enemies in a duel of 4 against 1, Renarin rushes in to help him. His only thought is of helping his brother and forgoes donning his armor to get to him faster but ends up becoming a liability instead of an asset when he's hit with a seizure. In fact, they use him as a way to keep his older brother, Adolin, from forfeiting the duel giving his attackers a better chance of maiming or killing him. Adolin, fearing for his brothers life, stays in the duel and barely escapes with life and limbs intact. Later, when Renarin becomes a Knight Radiant, he fights an ancient stone creature of giant proportions without any regard for his safety and gets immediately smashed. Thankfully, his healing powers kick in automatically leaving him unharmed and he's able to drive off the creature despite being crushed by it at least a dozen times. While still foolhardy, his powers keep him alive and make it possible for him to fight though he still needs to learn proper battle skills.


Social Anxiety

“People had trouble following him sometimes, but that was merely because he tended to be so thoughtful.”

Renarin is odd. At least that’s the first impression he gives off. He keeps to himself and prefers to be on his own. He doesn’t like being around too many people feeling overwhelmed in a crowd. He often gets nervous when spoken to directly in a crowded room and gets tongue tied. He's a deep thinker and is someone who weighs his words heavily before speaking. He can often be found fidgeting with a metal box using it to ground himself when he's feeling nervous. He becomes so focused on the box that he forgets where or who he's with making him look odd and out of place - definitely a fool - in the eyes of the nobles. Renarin also gets lost in thought when he’s talking to someone and only says half of what he's thinking which makes it hard for people to follow what he's saying. Most women find him odd or creepy because he has a tendency to stare off into space while deep in thought. While, the men look down on him for his frailty. Alethkar is a war-like nation where soldiers are revered and anyone who can't hold a sword is looked at as less. Anyone with any means becomes an ardent or priest to keep their dignity, but Renarin refuses to become an ardent because that's what everyone expects of him and remains in the warcamps alongside his father and brother which makes him a perfect target for the Alethi court. Due to this, his father and older brother make it a point to stay with him to protect him from the harsh scrutiny of the Alethi court. The nobles of Atlethkar are renown for their sharp tongues and barbs which Renarin is wholly inadequate to navigate. Adolin, his brother, always steps in to defend him and has often dueled other Princes for offenses made against Renarin. It's the same with his father, Dalinar. God forbid anyone make a snide remark about his son around him - the warlord who won them their kingdom. Dalinar is feared by everyone even into his late 50's. The name of Kholin carries the weight of his accomplishments which still keeps the kingdom together. No High Prince wants to cross Dalinar for fear of retaliation and even the King of Alethkar, Renarin's cousin, uses the Kholin name to keep his subjects in line. Furthermore, Renarin like any Prince, has his own bodyguards who keep him safe and make it possible for him to live a normal life even with his seizures because there's always someone there to help when they hit him out of nowhere. His position and name have kept Renarin relatively protected both physically and politically. However,  the nobles still make snide comments about him but never directly. Renarin is grateful for his family's interference but their intervention also means he doesn't get the chance to defend himself so he's not well versed in physical or political combat.  Since gaining his powers and becoming a Knight Radiant, Renarin has been able to step away from his family's shadow and fight his own battles an experience he finds wholly terrifying but also makes him feel amazing. He's a lot bolder than he used to be which amounts to actually stating his opinion and defending his own honor. He's gained confidence and has become an integral part of the war effort due to his Fore Sight. 


Selfless

“Renarin cried out and ran for Adolin. He grabbed his older brother in an embrace, then gasped. Good lad, Dalinar thought as Renarin immediately set to healing his brother.”

Renarin is the first person to help others and the last person to help himself. Despite the array of problems he’s plagued with like seeing the future and bonding a corrupted spren, his first thoughts are always on others. No one knows he's struggling because he doesn’t deem it important enough to tell them and they assume his struggles are to due with his physical ailments or his odd way of navigating the world. When his foresight shows his cousin killing him for bonding a corrupted spren, Renarin doesn't try to stop her and surrenders to her judgement. Jasnah, thankfully, doesn’t kill him and instead of feeling relieved he didn't die, his first thoughts are of his father and the visions he kept being plagued of Dalinar defecting to the enemy. If Jasnah didn't kill him that means his visions can be wrong, which also means the visions he saw of his father joining their enemy can also be wrong which brings him so much hope and happiness. Renarin always thinks of others instead of himself no matter the situation. His first instincts are always to help.


Friends

"Jasnah lowered her pages and looked at her cousin, who was joking with the men of Bridge Four. Storms, Navani thought. He truly looks happy. Embarrassed as they ribbed him, but happy. She’d worried when he had first “joined” Bridge Four. He was the son of a Highprince. Decorum and distance were appropriate when dealing with enlisted soldiers. But when, before this, had she last heard him laugh?"

Renarin joined Bridge Four out of sheer stubbornness. It's the first time he's depicted actually fighting for something he wants, but no one understands why he would want to join the group of ex-slaves. Yes, his father put them in command of the Cobalt guard, the Kholin's personal bodyguards, but they are still darkeyes and so far beneath his station no on understands his motivation. But Renarin wants to be a soldier and he wants to learn from people he respects and he respects Bridge Four, men who rose in station by sheer merit. Men who saved his father and brother from being slaughtered when everyone else turned their backs on them. Men he finds h0norable. By sheer determination, he convinces Kaladin, their captain, to let him join and insists they treat him like any soldier because he wants to rise on his own merit. Despite being a Prince, he happily follows their orders without complaint scrubbing pots, and baking bread with an enthusiasm the men don't understand. They find him odd but eventually they realize that despite his high station and upbringing he's as much of a misfit as they are and warm up to him over time joking and treating him like one of their own. For the first time, Renarin makes friends on his own and feels like a part of a group without the name of Kholin.  To the bridgemen he's just Renarin which makes him happy and why he often seeks out their company whenever he's done with his Princely duties. Despite the fact that almost everyone in Bridge Four eventually becomes a Windrunner while Renarin is a Truthwatcher they still welcome them into their fold. Bridge Four is everything to Renarin and he can often be found in their company.


« POWERS »

Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping:


- Spirit Bond  Glys: LINK PICTURE: LINK
Renarin is bonded to Glys, a corrupted mist spren. Glys is usually timid but can get excitable and tends to hide inside Renarin's heart where not even other spirits can see him. As a spirit, Glys is invisible to all but other spirits or those who can see spirits unless he chooses to show himself to someone. Renarin is the only Radiant bonded with a corrupted spren until the end of Book 4 making him unique among the Knight Radiants. They are  also the only same-sex spren and Radiant pairing to date, while all other Radiants are paired with a spren of the opposite sex. All Radiant and spren pairings have a telepathetic bond which Renarin too shares with Glys often seeking his advice on things. Glys also looks different from other mispren who bond with Truthwatchers which is why Glys used to hide inside Renarin's heart afraid of how others would react to him. Considering that Jasnah, his cousin, amost killed Renarin for bonding with corrupted spren, Glys had a reason to worry and even to this day finds it comforting to hide in Renarin's heart. Glys is bright red and crystalline, shimmering and dripping light upwards.

- Knight Radiant
He's bonded to a corrupted mist spren which are similar to spirits.
He is a Knight Radiant of the Order of Truthwatcher with the Surge of Progression and Illumination.

- Sharblade
He uses his spren, Glys, as a Shardblade. Spren can change into Sharblades which are long  (nearly 6ft usually) extremely light swords. They have the ability to cut through living and non-living objects. Non-living objects will be perfectly cut and living objects will not be physically harmed. Instead the blade cuts through a different dimension harming the soul instead of the physical body. Once a limb has been severed it is useless. There are magical ways to heal a Shardblade wound like stormlight healing, but any mortal wound will leave them dead on the spot without a single cut to their body. Only Shardplate can withstand a Shardblade. Glys can turn into any weapon he needs but usually turns into a long and thin blade with a waving pattern to the metal.
Nerf: His Shardblade will not be able to harm any Sleepers souls. Any unkillable monster that Deerington releases will also be immune.
Warp: If used against a Sleeper or unkillable monster, the sword will not be able to pass through dimensions to harm the soul and instead act as a regular sword cutting flesh.

- Truthwatcher
He is a Knight Radiant of the Order of Truthwatcher. He can see the 'truth' and knows when someone is lying.
Nerf: This ability will be used only with player permission.

- Surge of Progression
The surge of Growth and Healing, or Regrowth. He can heal others.
The fresher the wound, the easier it is to heal. He can't heal wounds that have been there for a long time. Once the soul grows accustomed to a wound, it’s harder to fix. Due to his Surge of Progression, Renarin has an easier time healing himself and does it faster than Radiants that don't have the Surge of Progression.
Warping: If he heals anyone w/in 10 ft of another he'll transfer the wound to the other person.


- Surge of Illumination:
The surge of Light, Sound, and Various Waveforms.
He can summon and manipulate globes of bright blue light with little effort. He uses this ability more as a parlor trick to keep children entertained. He can also use it to weave an illusion to show someone an alternate - better - version of themselves. He shows them an apparition of what they can be. This concentrated pure light feels warm and benign and can be mentally incapacitating to corrupted beings who cannot stand to see how far they've fallen. Renarin cannot make traditional illusions. This is the only illusion he's been able to make which seems like a corruption of his Surge of Illumination mixed with his Order of Truthwatcher due to the fact that he's bonded to a corrupted spren.
Nerf: Illusions like this will only be used with player permission.

- Future Sight: Pic: LINK
He can see the Future. Stormlight healed his epilepsy, but in its place, he has another more dangerous fit. His visions hit him out of nowhere incapacitating him while he sees the future. Glys can capture his visions rendered beautifully in stained-glass windows depicting scenes of the future for Renarin to later examine.
Nerf: This power will only be used with player permission or with mod approval if it touches on upcoming events or plots.



« GAME SPECIFIC »


In-Game Tattoo Placement: The inside of his left wrist usually hidden by his long coat.

Inventory:

- 4 sapphire broams filled with stormlight.
- His Bridge Four Uniform (military outfit)
- His metal box he likes to fidget with.

AC Post: LINK