The Spren

The Spren are an amazing group of whimsical creature that come in all shapes and sizes. According to the Ardent Scholar Jade Jav-Nehk:

"One could spend the entirety of a century doing nothing but exclusively study and interact with Spren and find them just as mesmerizing as the first day.

Summary

Spren are generally very tiny creatures who are linked to both the elemental as well as the metaphysical realms. Their home is located in the ethereal plane, set up in a civilization that mirror the cities and locations of the material plane. They are attracted to a certain type of elemental/natural occurrence or emotion that allows them to temporarily jump from the ethereal to the material plane. It is unknown why spren jump to the material plane only to disappear after some time, however that seems to be just their nature. Spren come in all shapes in sizes, and their presence can be brought about through one of two methods: natural and emotional.

Natural Spren

Natural spren are spren that are summoned and exist in the natural world without human interaction. For example, wind spren are know to "ride the wind", and rain spren appear during rain and storms. The same can be said for lightening, snow, storm, fire, water/ocean, tree/plant, rot spren, and many more. These spren appear without the need for human creation through emotions or other summoning, and exist on their own. When the conditions that created the natural spren no longer exist (ie fire goes out, snow melts, trees are cut down, or a storm ends) they slowly fade from existence, and return to their home on the Ethereal plane.

Emotional Spren

Emotional spren are spren that are summoned and exist based on the emotions of individual humans. These spren also live in the Ethereal plane, observing our world, seeking out specific emotions to use to jump to the material plane. There are numerous emotional spren, including truth, shame, lies, joy, anger, sadness, anxiety, pain, honor, glory, and more. While truth and lie spren are almost always unseeable, even when in the material plane, all other spren are easily noticeable. Spren do not always appear whenever a emotion is felt, however it has been recorded that the stronger a person feels an emotion, the more likely it is spren will appear.

Historical Basis

While most spren have very little impact upon Roshar, there are two specific spren that are considered more than just spren who appear and disappear easily. These spren are name the Stormfather, and the Nightwatcher.

The Stormfather

The Stormfather is a massive spren that control the Highstorms. The Highstorms are massive storms that sweep across Roshar regularly, bathing the continent in the furry and power of the most powerful storms on Earth. The Stormfather creates and watches the storm, and while it is believed he feels some general good will towards humanity, he still brings the most powerful storms ever to the continent. The Stormfather is considered the father of all spren, and some theorize he controls them to some degree. However not much is known about him other than he seems to be quite similar to the Almighty, and might even be related to the Almighty somehow. It is said that those who possess the most incredible luck, accomplish feats not considered doable by a normal person, or perform some other act that seems to be aided by a higher power are called "Stormblessed".

The Nightwatcher

While not much is known about the Stormfather, plenty is known about the Nightwatcher. The Nightwatcher is a spren the is the equal and opposite of the Stormfather. Considered the mother of spren, she generally walks the lands of Roshar at night, watching for something lost to the ages. She appears as a tall humnoid beast with multiple arms and glowing white eyes, and according to many local tales, the Nightwatcher will come and take naughty children while they sleep and eat them. While that has never been proven to be true, the Nightwatcher does stalk the land, for what purpose (be it in search of lonely travelers to eat or to fight enemies of humanity in the dark) it is not known. The Nightwatcher interacts with human beings quite often during the day, in fact, if one were to travel to her temple on the outskirts of Waterdeep, they could communicate definitely with her. The Nightwatcher has an offer to humanity, seek her aid and she will offer you a boon based on what she believes you deserve. However, along with the boon she will deposit a curse on you as well. Boons can be anything from: self-confidence, a guide to world peace, a new skill or trade, aid of any kind etc, and the Nightwatcher will fulfill the request however she sees fit. Then she bestows a curse upon you: loss of smell, nausea when eating certain foods that used to be your favorite, being unable to hear certain words or remember certain names, having your vision inverted, and much more. It is said that those who express skill in old magic, and are able to predict and exploit bad luck and mistakes are considered "Nightblessed".

In Literature

Spren have been noted in literature thought the centuries, and while well documented, not much more than basic research has been done on spren.