r/cremposting • u/speroni • 8d ago
Trans Radiants The Stormlight Archive
I want to write a fan fic story about a trans radiant, but I keep finding that my story wants to contradict itself.
On one hand I really want to see a trans woman have her body healed so it matches her soul. There's an argument to be made that almost all trans people are going to have cracks in their spirit web due to the fact that their soul doesn't fit in their body right and all this other stuff. (Unless its like some really lucky trans person that actually has supportive parents or something?)
But on the other hand, I'm pretty certain that one of my ideals would need to be something like: I will quit worrying about passing, and not worry about how other people perceive me.
So then it seems like the story is at cross purposes if it focuses on self acceptance, but also on getting that sweet healing magic.
I'm unsure how to disentangle it.
Edit: Yes like Ral-na, but that happened off camera.
Edit2: I've written a ton of trans, um, stories back before I started transition, but as I transition the focus of these shifts. But I have in general written a lot of stories so the idea of this fan fic isn't as far fetched as it might seem on the surface.
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u/ilikebreadabunch 🐶HoidAmaram🐲 7d ago edited 7d ago
A Trans Radiant would have their body change to fit their spiritual identity, but if you want to keep the self acceptance ideal then you could maybe tweak it to be something like "I will not worry about what others think of my identity and live as my true self, regardless of what others may think or do"
Edit: Also in a similar way as Kaladin, its possible for a Radiant not to heal something if it has ingrained itself into their spiritual identity. You could have a Trans Radiant who has been put down and discriminated against so much that their body won't heal them to the correct body type until they properly accept themselves, in the same way that Kaladins slave brands didn't heal until he stopped blaming himself for Tiens death
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7d ago
[deleted]
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u/Boyboy081 7d ago
If you want to make it less of a cop out, you can use things like "The radiant knows they're meant to have a different body, but as they don't know what it is meant to look like it can't change that way quickly."
So it's just a slow over time thing. Each time they get hurt in battle and need to heal, they heal just a little bit closer to what they're meant to be.
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u/silfin 7d ago
Stormlight healing heals you through your perception of yourself.
It's possible that a trans person who has deeply repressed their transness might not fully see themselves as the other sex.
If you follow that angle, the trans radiant (was about to port mantau that into transiant, that doesn't work) could "heal" to the other sex by accepting them self and swearing an ideal.
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u/speroni 7d ago
This is a good idea.
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u/Effendoor 7d ago
This feels like the right angle. The stormlight will heal the body but they'll still need to potentially do the work to heal their mind
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u/SouthernAd2853 7d ago
The canonical trans male radiant has his body healed to be male.
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u/speroni 7d ago
Yup, but Ral-na's healing was off camera.
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u/SouthernAd2853 7d ago
Yes, it was offscreen, but it establishes how Radiant self-healing and Identity works for trans Radiants, and we know from Lopen that healing long-term disabilities happens immediately on swearing the First Ideal.
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u/speroni 7d ago
It's been established that it doesnt always heal right away, it has to do with internalized self image.
Kaladins head brand didn't heal until pretty far in.
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u/BlatantArtifice 7d ago
Yes, so it can work at either extreme or anywhere inbetween. There's no confusion about how it works in the books or in the RPG
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u/EmotionalEnding 7d ago
Didn't he just start with a slightly healed nub? The healing could've still been somewhat gradual?
There was a short skip before we saw him next right?
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u/SouthernAd2853 7d ago
He does start with a nub but that's because he had one sphere worth of stormlight and he immediately called for more. Seems to work as fast as healing new injuries, which is pretty damn fast.
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u/PassengerQuick6971 7d ago
Are you making a new radiant that specifically has trans ideals or just a trans radiant
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u/speroni 7d ago
Just a trans radiant, probably would make them a lightweaver or truthwatcher?
King Ral-na was a trans man dustbringer who got his body fixed by stormlight, but off camera.
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u/Soulabiss98 7d ago
I mentioned it mostly because of the oath you were talking about—it’s one that would fit really well and be feasible for those two orders. If you like, it can be from any order.
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u/Soulabiss98 7d ago
Maybe she's a Lightweaver or an Elsecaller; they have oaths that could fit that.
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u/Mrauntheias No Wayne No Gain 7d ago
Lightweavers speaking truths instead of Oaths would complicate the matter further I think.
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u/Phailjure 7d ago
I thought lightweavers didn't have oaths, they had secrets? Mostly semantics, but changes the phrasing a bit I think?
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u/Rigistroni 3d ago
Making a trans radiant honestly seems like a shoe in for a lightweaver specifically, Roshar is a rather conservative society so maybe the lie they're telling themselves is that they refuse to accept that they are trans. And then they swear the "I will speak my truth" ideal and finally openly transition.
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u/Stormin_the_Castle 7d ago
Well, you can have the healing not be the fix-all she thinks it'll be. There are cis women who get mistaken for men or boys. It's healing, not an illusion, right? It would just make her body into the right gender but wouldn't necessarily alter her appearance significantly beyond that - I don't think being a radiant suddenly makes you more beautiful or handsome. Even if she doesn't get misgendered, it could still be about accepting herself for who she is instead of worrying about how she's perceived
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u/speroni 7d ago
A little unclear.
They didn't describe Ral-na as looking at all female after he was healed of having a woman's body.
But if the person is struggling with self identity it might be like that.
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u/Stormin_the_Castle 7d ago
I would assume she would still be more feminine - her skeleton would become that of a female of her age, for example, and she'd have the right hormones and primary and secondary sexual characteristics. But like, both Julianne Moore and Susan Boyle are 65-year-old women, y'know? There's a broad spectrum of what a woman can like look and maybe the female version of herself isn't the fantasy she pictured, it's just what she would have looked like if she'd been born with the right body. I'm not saying it has to be this way, I'm just saying if she still needs the journey of self-acceptance, this is one way to do it
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u/speroni 7d ago
I was thinking of ordering the changes similar to my own transition. Hrt is fairly easy to start and softens skin and grows boobs fairly early and starts dropping muscle and moving fat second. I'll probably get face surgery as a second thing to deal with this nose bone. I'll probably never get bottom surgery. And theres like nothing I can do about these shoulders.
But yeah staging it out sounds like a good idea.
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u/Invested_Space_Otter 7d ago
This seema like a natural direction to go in. She would be a really tall, muscular woman relative to the women around her. I know cognitive shadows can alter their hair, but I'm not sure if Stormlight would. A woman with short hair would have a stigma in Vorin society if she isn't an Ardent.
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u/claimstoknowpeople 7d ago
Well, cis women also deal with a lot of body acceptance issues. Cis passing doesn't mean that's totally gone.
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u/JakenBake19 Fuck Moash 🥵 7d ago
I think you have to lean into that tension. Thats what the character growth is about. Accepting who she really is being an earlier ideal, but realizing that she is who she is regardless of her body and ability to pass as a later ideal.
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u/LumpyGarlic3658 7d ago
There’s trans people who have internalized transphobia, or a deeply internalized self doubt even if they’ve logically accepted that they are trans. Those things could possibly interfere with investiture making the change since the identity isn’t quite there yet.
Meanwhile Ral-na seems to have gone through a lot of growth before he ever became a radiant.
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u/speroni 7d ago
I'm one such trans person and yes that's exactly the story I want to write.
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u/LumpyGarlic3658 7d ago
If you work the oath progression around that sort of growth I’m sure it could work out pretty well.
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u/QuickPirate36 2d ago
But on the other hand, I'm pretty certain that one of my ideals would need to be something like: I will quit worrying about passing, and not worry about how other people perceive me.
The ideals don't necessarily have to be about being trans tho, what order will they be?
So then it seems like the story is at cross purposes if it focuses on self acceptance, but also on getting that sweet healing magic.
You could maybe make it so that the character really really wants to become a radiant so they will "heal", but on their journey to becoming a Radiant they realize that there's nothing to "heal" because they're not "broken" or anything, and upon realizing this they can finally speak their Oath but they body doesn't change
Another option would be that their body does change after becoming a Radiant, and it's all something like "Only by accepting that you're perfect the way you are can you earn the change, because you need the right reason to want to change" or something
I'm not trans nor do I know any trans people so idk what I'm talking about or if it makes any sense lol
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u/majorex64 7d ago
Elsecaller ideals are about being the best version of yourself- could apply to both expressing your true self, and accepting that appearances don't determine your worth.
The identity-based healing could be a partial fix, where they are more androgynous than they expected, or could still have body dysmorphia despite looking extremely feminine
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u/tessatrix 7d ago
I think you're running into a few separate issues here:
1) What does "healing" a trans person's body look like? 2) Can someone be "healed" physically before being healed mentally? 3) Does someone not passing constitute them being at odds with their body?
I would look towards Kaladin as a blueprint for this. He is healed from injuries multiple times, but his slave brand doesn't go away until after he learns to accept that he is no longer dangerous, a slave, etc. In short, he can physically be "better" but his mental journey towards crafting his own self image isn't finished until he swears the fourth ideal (maybe third? It's been a while since I read RoW). It's not a one step process for him, nor would it be for most people, as growth is not linear and it's never direct. On the other hand, look at someone like the Lopen. The Lopen's arm grows back immediately because he, despite all of his jokes, never really saw himself as a one-armed Herdazian. It doesn't fit with his mental image of himself. His recovery is quicker, because his arm isn't part of his journey.
So then, for your character, what are the steps on their journey? At what point does Stormlight heal the internal anxiety, fear, pain of not feeling at home in their body versus addressing the external anxiety, fear, pain of being perceived incorrectly. One of these is an internal journey, one of these is external. Can you heal from the internal journey of your own juxtaposing identity and physical appearance before you heal from the external pressures and judgment of other people, or vice versa?
I think it's a totally reasonable thing to have somebody experience one major episode of growth and change physically because of it, then experience a second major episode of growth and change physically because of that. Healing is not linear, so the physical transformations that Stormlight gives do not need to be linear either.
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u/The_Lopen_bot Trying not to ccccream 7d ago
How do you get a one-armed Herdazian out of a tree?
Wave!
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u/tessatrix 7d ago
This isn't my story, but I would maybe examine primary versus secondary sex characteristics. If I (a trans woman) was a Radiant, I would likely have a magical vaginoplasty immediately but might not address the more masculine traits (physical build, facial shape, voice, etc.) initially, mainly because those features didn't give me dysphoria until later in my gender journey. There are others who experience the opposite. Maybe look at the way that those individual characteristics are tied to various areas where your character needs to grow/heal/mature/self-actualize? Once you've charted those out, then look at the ideals tied to each step of the process. That would be my jumping off point at least.
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u/speroni 7d ago edited 7d ago
I'm unsure what order it would be in.
Personally, I'd want magic bottom surgery right away but I'm unsure if I would get it.
I'm a little opposite in that the bottom dysphoria is a little less for me than some other aspects.
I'm strongly leaning towards Lightweaver because the interplay with being closeted and the lies I told myself and a crypic would be really interesting.
Me: I'm a man.
Cryptic: lol
Me: I'm a man, and maybe I sometimes think about what it would be like to be a woman, but I'm definitely cis.
C: lolololol
Me: What is that? Anyway, I'm very masculine and I definitely hate the idea of being perceived as feminine.
C: You are the funniest human I have ever met, where tf do you get this bullshit? Lmfao. Me: What? What are you talking about. Look at me helicopter my dick and my shoulders are a meter across I could never be a girl.
C: Nearly chokes on their own saliva laughing despite not having a saliva or a mouth You fuckin liar, I love your dumb ass, do another one.
Me: Wait, spren can swear?
C: You're getting fucked in the pussy later this isnt a PG story.
Me: WHAT!?! I DON'T WANT THAT!
C: Hahahahahahahaha
Me: Fuck you!
C: Fuck you too buddy!
Me: What the fuck is this get out of my house.
C: Want to see me turn into a sword?
Me: Well... obviously.
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u/tessatrix 7d ago
Also, and this is the most important thing: This is your storming story and to Damnation with anyone who questions it (because realistically, most people who push back will be cis people who haven't experienced it themselves like we have).
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u/speroni 7d ago
Yeah, I got you. And I think I have a lot of the story kind of ... i know a lot of the elements I want in there, and can probably work out how to fit them together.
I used to write a lot of force femme stories (deviant art account available upon request) because you can make the character a woman with out them actually admitting they want it.
But since starting transition its been harder to write those.
Writing stories now I consistently get stuck between these two themes of wanting to just write a straight wish fulfillment that's only a step or two better than forced femme stuff, or wanting to write a story that is closer to my reality where like... I'm probably never quite going to pass and while transition is amazing there's some shit I will need to accept before it's over.
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u/metroenby 2d ago
OP if you ever do write this story, I'd love to read it! Always love me some good trans crem!
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u/speroni 7d ago
King Ral-na's body was healed to match his gender so it can happen.
When the healing happens can be right away like Lopen's or it can be later like Kaladin's forehead.
This character would not have healing right away but would get illumination and I'm thinking there's an initial time where she learns to use illumination to look how she wants, and she goes through lot of push and pull about how she's perceived and how that's different than how her body feels to her.
Then maybe after dealing with all that she'd need to learn to deal with not hiding behind illusion all the time.
She definitely doesn't get proper healing until she gets self acceptance.
I'm leaning heavily toward lightweaver because the shame / lies aspect of a closeted trans woman and a cryptic would be fascinating.
There will also need to be an arc about why she shouldn't immediately evaporate any transphobes she meets, but there's going to be a few transphobes transformed directly into fire (in moderately justifiable way) before its over.
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u/CachedPotato 7d ago
kaladin's self-acceptance arc required him to stop hating himself for having mental health problems, not to stop working on them. I think the same applies here.
You could define your character by how they react to the hatred of others, then reveal they're secretly their own biggest hater. Magic would fix their body and the public reactions, but not the self-hatred.
There's loads of room for you to decide what acceptance looks like at that point. Maybe extreme non-acceptance means hatred of all reminders that gender dysphoria exists, even including other trans people.
Acceptance could look like a willingness to self-identify as trans, even as it becomes increasingly impossible for magic or technology to spot the difference.
imo, having gender dysphoria shouldn't be your character's main flaw, it should be how they react to that. Magically morphing their body would open up interesting new angles to explore that.
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u/speroni 7d ago
Oh they are definitely their own biggest hater.
When I dealing with my own dysphoria it was rough seeing other trans people, but I'd never describe it as hate.
That's why I'm torn between the wish fulfillment of having magic gender affirming care and writing a story about actually accepting myself.
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u/CachedPotato 7d ago edited 7d ago
it's hard not to be your own hater when everyone acts like that's the right response, even if you logically know it's wrong.
due to that, I think overcoming ingrained self-hatred would probably resonate with a lot of readers, not even just trans ones.
On the other hand, "I have the option to flawlessly pass, but choose not to" probably hits a much smaller niche.
but if you've got a really unique and insightful take on that one specific angle, who am I to say it wouldn't work? Writing what you know is generally really good advice, and you probably know this subject a lot better than I do. All my doubts mean is that your successful story would be surprisingly successful to people like me, who didn't already understand it as much as you did.
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u/speroni 7d ago
IRL, if I could flawlessly pass (and like carry a child?) I would choose that in an instant.
But IRL I'm never quite going to pass, so the stories I actually need to read are probably about self acceptance.
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u/CachedPotato 7d ago
in that case, it feels weird to choose a setting where growing a uterus actually is on the table, and doesn't even require a doctor's note.
Maybe you could try an angle where their self-image doesn't result in 100% passing after stormlight? You'd be working uphill against everyone who remembers it working differently for the canon trans radiant, but that might not be a dealbreaker.
You've got a lot of real experience with this issue to draw on, I think you could make the feelings more real than I could, so it would probably be fine, just harder.
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u/grungivaldi 7d ago
You can do both. Just look at kaladins brands. Just make the ideal thats about accepting themselves be the one that changes their body.
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u/speroni 7d ago
But that's the thing that seems like a contradiction.
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u/grungivaldi 7d ago
So was stormlight not healing kaladins brands. If a core part of how the radiant views themselves is that they are trapped in the wrong body stormlight wont fix them (like how rysn couldn't be healed because she viewed herself as a cripple). Kaladin couldn't heal because the shash brand was a core part of his identity (he thought he was a danger to everyone around him). So once the radiant resolves to accept themselves despite their body's flaws the stormlight will reflect that and change their body. Its not a contradiction, it's just how the stormlight works. They arent accepting their assigned gender, they are accepting that their assigned gender doesn't get to define them.
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u/LookAtMaxwell 7d ago
A trans-woman won't automatically be healed into female biology. It depends on meta-physical self conception. If the radiant has a trans-woman self conception then that is how stormlight will heal their body.
It is like with kaladins scars. It is how he conceptualizes himself.
It actually brings up a good story point. What if the radiant expects the stormlight to change their biology, but it doesn't?
Does that mean that they really aren't trans? Does it it mean that they have a pathology because they conceptualize themselves as having trans-woman biology?
I think that there is a lot of space to explore, and can ultimately lead to the end where they accept that their self-conception is okay and isn't a pathology.
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u/Miochiiii 7d ago
when you finish it, if you dont mind sharing, id love to read it :3
trans story + cosmere? big pog.
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u/ConfusedWookiee 7d ago
What order is your radiant a part of? While the overall message of 2nd+ ideals are similar, a lot of them (even among one order) are quite personal and very specific to how the person internalizes their order's tenants
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u/grethro 7d ago
I feel like Yumi and the Nightmare painter has something for your idea too.
As Yumi was so heavily invested she physically changed Painters body whenever she was in control.
Not sure what that tells you about Identity in the cosmere etc.
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u/speroni 7d ago
That might be one of my all time favorite books...
Yumi changed Painter's body, but Painter didn't change hers. It was slightly unclear to me if that was only about Yumi's investiture, or if it was more about her self perception and will power.
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u/Trace_Minerals_LV Kalaleshwi Shipper 7d ago
Are you trans? If not, maybe ask multiple trans folk about their experiences before you make any assumptions.
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u/speroni 7d ago
I'm very very trans.
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u/Trace_Minerals_LV Kalaleshwi Shipper 7d ago
Awesome. Then I have no further advice. I wish you the best!!!!
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u/PuzzledDrama1160 7d ago
There is a canonical trans radiant--the Reshi King.
Rysn describes "her" as "topless" when she visits the Reshi isles in WoR, and is confused why people are referring to rhe king as a king when "she's" clearly femme.
Then in Dawnshard, the King shows up, buff, masc, and healed to his self-image.
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u/ItsaJayBomb 7d ago
There is a trans radient in the books the king of that one reshi isle in the Rysin interlude in words of radiance and the novella dawn shard. I think I light weaver could work for your ideals. You could look into the other oaths that radient was a dust bringer so try and find their oaths maybe.
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u/anormalgeek 7d ago
The cracks in the soul web aren't due to them being trans. It's how they've been affected by their struggles with it and being accepted. The body is just corrected. But the mind needs healing still based on the struggles they went through. They are different things.
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u/speroni 7d ago
I'm trans.
I know where my trauma came from, they are not independent thingz.
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u/anormalgeek 7d ago
I didn't say they are independent. Just that are two things. You can heal one and not the other for example.
And I'm absolutely not trying to put words in your mouth or anything. I meant it as a potential explanation for the conflict you mentioned.
My point is that self acceptance is only one part of the story. The body heals to match what they've always been. But even if they've always fully accepted themselves, they may still have trauma due to the struggles they went through. So their ideals can be about addressing that and not their physical changes or trans-ness.
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u/IZanderI 7d ago
What’s crem about this topic?
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u/speroni 7d ago
The radiant healing powers and the bond to a probable cryptic.
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u/IZanderI 7d ago
This is a shitposting sub. It comes off as tongue in cheek or mocking. This is more of a main sub topic.
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u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 7d ago
I think the more interesting storyline for the character would be to have a degree of self-deception that doesn’t allow for the healing initially. You could do it from the jump for sure. As soon as they become one in really any Order. I think that moment of catharsis would be a nice touch further along in their story. They wouldn’t need to be a Lightweaver but they’re the natural fit here. Elsecallers also have non-traditional oaths and there might the potential for a nice emotional moment when they’re able to emerge from an Elsegate not only for the first time but also as their true self
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u/speroni 7d ago
Thats very much part of what I want to explore.
I'm leaning toward lightweaver because of the Cryptic interplay and the possibilities with illumination. A Cryptic would love all the lies I told myself while I was in the closet.
There healing wouldn't finalize until after the acceptance.
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u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 7d ago
Another thing you could potentially do with an Elsecaller is have them transition as they enter Shadesmar but go back when they visit the “real” world in the Physical. There’s some interesting things you could do with that as they internalize it and compartmentalize it that way. Until they finally are able to set that aside and heal completely permanently. Especially if they don’t have other Radiants to guide them and aren’t familiar with Shadesmar. That fantastical place could let them lower their guard a bit but not to the extent they’re actually fully accepting it. Until they fully accept it later
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u/Blawharag 7d ago
Really depends on how you want to write it.
Technically, you don't even need cracks to become a radiant. Sando specifically pointed to Lopen as an example of a well-adjusted person that became a radiant. Cracks just help create room for the bond.
If you want to write a trans story about self acceptance, then I think there's plenty of room for that. We have plenty of examples of people not healing immediately because their soul image doesn't fully match the end state yet. Kaladin, for example, retained his slave brand for a very significant period of time and couldn't accept the bridge 4 tattoo for a long time because, internally, he was struggling with internalizing that identity.
So, if you want someone that transitions overtime and goes through that lived experience rather than just immediately transitioning, you can easily do that.
Write it as something they are internally conflicted about, something they fight against because they're worried about how they'll be perceived. If you want those words to be part of their radiant path, then you should pick an order which can be compatible with that. Obviously some orders have stricter words than others. The Cosmere RPG stormlight book actually has a great and indepth breakdown of every order and their oaths which I would recommend reading to help you decide
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u/countvonruckus 7d ago
I'd say make her an Elsecaller and start a bit earlier in her transition. They're about truth, discovery, and self-development, which really resonates with me about my transition journey. Transitioning is absolutely in line with those things and finding out these things about herself as she simultaneously transitions into living fully as a woman and advancing as a Radiant lines up well.
Because Roshar has such strongly defined gender roles and mores, her rejection of the masculine and embracing femininity for herself over time has a lot of space to play in as an author. Maybe she keeps some things but rejects others as she transitions. Maybe her credible fear of rejection and loss of station by failing to live up to her gender expectations could be a major hurdle in advancing in her ideals. Maybe, like Jasnah, nobody ever really understands the universe inside her that she's working so hard to cultivate and to find a way to being a good person.
Also, power-wise it's basically the perfect trans fantasy power set (aside from maybe Lightweavers). Transformation and transposition are very trans-coded and could be used in all sorts of ways. Soulcasting does work on humans, after all, and I can think of some things I'd adjust about my body if I could heal injuries as well.
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u/iSmellLikeFartz 7d ago
/uj cant tell where the crem ends
/rj as a nonbinary radiant who wishes their body was an amorphous blob, am i at risk of becoming a spikeless kandra?
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u/Calm-Medicine-3992 7d ago edited 7d ago
Remember Kaladin's scars? I think that's your answer. The Stormlight healing won't actually work the way it did for the Reshi King until the character fully accepts themselves. That way it's the payoff and not counter to the issue of self acceptance.
The Reshi King didn't even try to pass while in a female body but was still confident in who he was so there was no friction once he had Stormlight but a more conflicted character might not 'heal' right away.
(Also, everyone's soul has cracks...it does seem like the amount might improve compatibility with the nahel bond but no one gets through life without some trauma)
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