The Eye of the World: Wot

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Important Terms

Aes Sedai
Wielders of the One Power. Since the Time of Madness, all surviving Aes Sedai are women. Widely distrusted and feared, even hated, they are blamed by many for the Breaking of the World, and are generally thought to meddle in the affairs of nations. At the same time, few rulers will be without an Aes Sedai adviser, even in lands where the existence of such a connection must be kept secret.

Ta'veren
A person around whom the Wheel of Time weaves all surrounding life-threads, perhaps all life-threads, to form a Web of Destiny.

Dark One
Most common name, used in every land, for Shai'tan: the source of evil, antithesis of the Creator. Imprisoned by the Creator at the moment of Creation in a prison at Shayol Ghul; an attempt to free him from that prison brought about the War of the Shadow, the tainting of aaidin, the Breaking of the World, and the end of the Age of Legends.

Ajah
Societies among the Aes Sedai, to which all Aes Sedai belong. They are designated by colors: Blue Ajah, Red Ajah, White Ajah, Green Ajah, Brown Ajah, Yellow Ajah, and Gray Ajah. Each follows a specific philosophy of the use of the One Power and purposes of the Aes Sedai. For example, the Red Ajah bends all its energies to finding and gentling men who are attempting to wield the Power. The Brown Ajah, on the other hand, forsakes involvement with the world and dedicates itself to seeking knowledge. There are rumors (hotly denied, and never safely mentioned in front of any Aes Sedai) of a Black Ajah, dedicated to serving the Dark One.

Amyrlin Seat
The title of the leader of the Aes Sedai. Elected for life by the Hall of the Tower, the highest council of the Aes Sedai, which consists of three representatives from each of the seven Ajahs. The Amyrlin Seat has, theoretically at least, almost supreme authority among the Aes Sedai. She ranks as the equal of a king or queen.

Flame of Tar Valon
The symbol of Tar Valon and the Aes Sedai. A stylized representation of a flame; a white teardrop with the point upward.

Warder
A warrior bonded to an Aes Sedai. The bonding is a thing of the One Power, and by it he gains such gifts as quick healing, the ability to go long periods without food, water or rest, and the ability to sense the taint of the Dark One at a distance. So long as a Warder lives, the Aes Sedai to whom he is bonded knows he is alive however far away he is, and when he dies she will know the moment and manner of his death. While most Ajahs believe an Aes Sedai may have one Warder bonded to her at a time, the Red Ajah refuses to bond any Warders at all, while the Green Ajah believes an Aes Sedai may bond as many Warders as she wishes. Ethically the Warder must accede to the bonding, but it has been known to be done involuntarily.

The One Power
The power drawn from the True Source. The vast majority of people are completely unable to learn to channel the One Power. A very small number can be taught to channel, and an even tinier number have the ability inborn. For these few there is no need to be taught; they will touch the True Source and channel the Power whether they want to or not, perhaps without even realizing what they are doing. This inborn ability usually manifests itself in late adolescence or early adulthood. If control is not taught, or self-learned (extremely difficult, with a success rate of only one in four), death is certain. Since the time of Madness, no man has been able to channel the Power without eventually going completely, horribly mad; and then, even if he has learned some control, dying from a wasting sickness which causes the sufferer to rot alive-a sickness caused, as is the madness, by the Dark One's taint on saidin. For a woman the death that comes without control of the Power is less horrible, but it is death just the same. Aes Sedai search for girls with the inborn ability as much to save their lives as to increase Aes Sedai numbers, and for men with it in order to stop the terrible things they inevitably do with the Power in their madness.

Bel Tine
Spring festival in the Two Rivers.

Aiel
The people of the Aiel Waste. Fierce and hardy. Also called Aielmen. They veil their faces before they kill, giving rise to the saying "acting like a black-veiled Aiel" to describe someone who is being violent. Deadly warriors with-weapons or with nothing but their bare hands, they will not touch a sword. Their pipers play them into battle with the music of dances, and Aielmen call battle "the Dance."

Far Dareis Mai
Literally, "Maidens of the Spear." One of a number of warrior societies of the Aiel; unlike any of the others, it admits women and only women. A Maiden may not marry and remain in the society, nor may she fight while carrying a child. Any child born to a Maiden is given to another woman to raise, in such a way that no one knows who the child's mother was. ("You may belong to no man, nor may any man belong to you, nor any child. The spear is your lover, your child, and your life.") These children are treasured, for it is prophesied that a child born of a Maiden will unite the clans and return to the Aiel to the greatness they knew during the Age of Legends.

Sea Folk
Inhabitants of islands in the Aryth Ocean and the Sea of Storms, they spend little time on those islands, living most of their lives on their ships. Most seaborne trade is carried by the Sea Folk's ships.

Tuatha'an
A wandering folk, also known as the Tinkers and as the Traveling People, who live in brightly painted wagons and follow a totally pacifist philosophy called the Way of the Leaf. Things mended by Tinkers are often better than new, but the Tuatha'an are shunned by many villages because of stories that they steal children and try to convert young people to their beliefs.

The Borderlands
The nations bordering the Great Blight: Saldaea, Arafel, Kandor, and Shienar.

Stedding
An Ogier homeland. Many stedding have been abandoned since the Breaking of the World. They are portrayed in story and legend as havens, and with reason. They are shielded in some way, no longer understood, so that within them no Aes Sedai can channel the One Power, nor even sense that the True Source exists. Attempts to wield the One Power from outside a stedding have no effect inside a stedding boundary. No Trolloc will enter a stedding unless driven, and even a Myrddraal will do so only at the greatest need and then with the greatest reluctance and distaste. Even Darkfriends, if truly dedicated, feel uncomfortable within a stedding.

Breaking of the World
When Lews Therin Telamon and the Hundred Companions resealed the Dark One's prison, the counterstroke tainted saidin. Eventually every male Aes Sedai went horribly insane. In their madness these men, who could wield the One Power to a degree now unknown, changed the face of the earth. They caused great earthquakes, leveled mountain ranges, raised new mountains, lifted dry land where seas had been, made the ocean rush in where dry land had been. Many parts of the world were completely depopulated, and the survivors were scattered like dust on the wind. This destruction is remembered in stories, legends and history as the Breaking of the World.

The Great Hunt of the Horn
A cycle of stories concerning the legendary search for the Horn of Valere, in the years between the end of the Trolloc Wars and the beginning of the War of the Hundred Years. If told in their entirety, the cycle would take many days.

Children of the Light
A society holding strict ascetic beliefs, dedicated to the defeat of the Dark One and the destruction of all Darkfriends. Founded during the War of the Hundred Years by Lothair Mantelar to proselytize against increasing numbers of Darkfriends, they evolved during the war into a completely military organization, extremely rigid in their beliefs and completely certain that only they know the truth and the right. They hate Aes Sedai, considering them, and any who support or befriend them, Darkfriends. They are known disparagingly as Whitecloaks; their sign is a golden sunburst on a field of white.

The Questioners
An order within the Children of the Light. Their avowed purposes are discovering the truth in disputations and uncovering Darkfriends. In the search for truth and the Light, as they see it, they are even more zealous than the Children of the Light as a whole. Their normal method of inquiry is by torture; their normal attitude that they know the truth already and must only make their victim confess to it. The Questioners refer to themselves as the Hand of the Light, and at times act as if they were entirely separate from the Children and the Council of the Anointed, which commands the Children. The head of the Questioners is the High Inquisitor, who sits on the Council of the Annointed.

Darkfriends
Those who follow the Dark One and believe they will gain great power and rewards when he is freed from his prison.

The Dragon's Fang
A stylized mark, usually black, in the shape of a teardrop balanced on its point. Scrawled on a door or a house, it is an accusation of evil against the people inside.

Dreadlords
Those men and women who, able to channel the One Power, went over to the Shadow during the Trolloc Wars, acting as commanders of the Trolloc forces.

The Forsaken
Name given to thirteen of the most powerful Aes Sedai ever known, who went over to the Dark One during the War of the Shadow in return for the promise of immortality. According to both legend and fragmentary records, they were imprisoned along with the Dark One when his prison was resealed. Their names are still used to frighten children.

Myrddraal
Creatures of the Dark One, commanders of the Trollocs. Twisted offspring of Trollocs in which the human stock used to create the Trollocs has resurfaced, but tainted by the evil that made the Trollocs. Physically they are like men except that they have no eyes, but can see like eagles in light or dark. They have certain powers stemming from the Dark One, including the ability to cause paralyzing fear with a look and the ability to vanish wherever there are shadows. One of their few known weaknesses is that they are reluctant to cross running water. In different lands they are known by many names, among them Halfmen, the Eyeless, Shadowmen, Lurk, and Fade.

Trollocs
Creatures of the Dark One, created during the War of the Shadow. Huge in stature, vicious in the extreme, they are a twisted blend of animal and human stock, and kill for the pure pleasure of killing. Sly, deceitful and treacherous, they can be trusted only by those they fear. They are omnivorous and will eat any kind of meat, including human flesh and the flesh of other Trollocs.

11:44 PM

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Main Characters

Rand al'Thor
Rand al'Thor is special in that he is the only known soul to be woven out by the Wheel of Time for a specific Rebirth. Although there are other known cases of rebirth, only Rand al'Thor's rebirth has been predicted. Most think of his soul as being Lews Therin Telamon, a male Aes Sedai from the Age of Legends who gained prominence in the Hall of Servants as the Dragon, the leader of the Forces of Light against the Shadow during the War of Power. This is, of course, why al'Thor is generally known as the Dragon Reborn.

Perrin Aybara
Perrin is a broad-shouldered, shaggy-haired man who was training to be a blacksmith before being forced to leave Emond's Field with Moiraine and his friends, Rand al'Thor and Matrim Cauthon. Perrin's wolf name is Young Bull. Communicating with the wolves changed Perrin somewhat. The irises of his eyes are now gold. He can communicate in a form of telepathy with other wolves, using them for reconnaissance and occasionally as irregular shock troops in battle.

Matrim Cauthon
Mat was something of a black sheep in Emond's Field. Though he, Rand al'Thor, and Perrin Aybara got into trouble quite a bit, Mat was generally the force behind it. A joker and prankster, he can be very charming with women and people of authority when he wants to be, and is fond of drinking and gambling; he also swears a lot.

Egwene al'Vere
The youngest of five daughters of the Mayor, Egwene grew up in Emond's Field. She was particularly close with Rand, whom (it was assumed by all and sundry) she would marry when they both came of age. She was also apprentice Wisdom to Nynaeve,

Nynaeve al'Meara
Nynaeve's father thought of her as the son he never had and taught her to track, hunt and fish. Older than the rest of the Emond's Fielders who left after Winternight, Nynaeve was the village Wisdom, or healer, by the time Moiraine Sedai and her warder Lan Mandragoran arrived. She had been the youngest Wisdom the Two Rivers had ever had, partially due to her forceful personality.

Moiraine Damodred
Moiraine Damodred was born in Cairhien and, as niece to King Laman, spent a lot of time in the Sun Palace. At 16, however, she discovered without guidance that she possessed the spark to channel, and left for the White Tower to become an Aes Sedai. She along with her warder had journeyed to the town of Emond's Field in the Two Rivers region of Andor searching for Dragon Reborn.

al'Lan Mandragoran
Lan's, skills as a Borderland warrior have served him well in service as Moiraine's Warder. He is also the last king of Malkier, the country will fell to Blight the year he was born.

Thom Merrilin
A gleeman who comes to Emond's Field to perform at Bel Tine.

Loial
Like all Ogier, he is slow and methodical in his thought; haste leads to waste appears to be his people's motto. However, when roused to anger, he is an implacable enemy. He is 90 years old, at a stage of development roughly corresponding to that of a 15-year-old human; he is considered very excitable by his people. Very well read, he is a rarely without a choice bit of arcane history to offer, whether concerning humans or Ogier, and he carries books on his person at all times.

Morgase Trakand
Queen of Andor, High Seat of House Trakand. Her sign is three golden keys. The sign of House Trakand is a silver keystone.

Elayne Trakand
Queen Morgase's daughter, the Daughter-heir to the Throne of Andor. Her sign is a golden lily.

Gawyn Trakand
Queen Morgase's son, Elayne's brother, who will be First Prince of the Sword when Elayne ascends the throne. His sign is a white boar.

Lord Galadedrid Damodred
Half-brother to Elayne and Gawyn. His sign is a winged silver sword, point-down.

Gareth Bryne
Captain-General of the Queen's Guard in Andor. Also serves as Morgase's First Prince of the Sword. His sign is three golden stars, each of five rays.

Elyas Machera
A man encountered by Perrin and Egwene in the forest who is capable of talking to the wolves.

Ba'alzamon
In the Trolloc tongue, "Heart of the Dark." Believed to be the Trolloc name for the Dark One.

The Dragon
The name by which Lews Therin Telamon was known during the War of the Shadow. In the madness which overtook all male Aes Sedai, Lews Therin killed every living person who carried any of his blood, as well as everyone he loved, thus earning the name Kinslayer. A saying is now used, "taken by the Dragon," or "possessed of the Dragon," to indicate that Someone is endangering those around him or threatening them, especially if without cause.

Dragon Reborn
According to prophecy and legend the Dragon will be born again at mankind's greatest hour of need to save the world. This is not something people look forward to, both because the prophecies say the Dragon Reborn will bring a new Breaking to the world, and because Lews Therin Kinslayer, the Dragon, is a name to make men shudder, even more than three thousand years after his death.

Artur Hawkwing
A legendary king who united all the lands west of the Spine of the World, as well as some lands beyond the Aiel Waste. He even sent armies across the Aryth Ocean, but all contact with these was lost at his death, which set off the War of the Hundred Years. His sign was a golden hawk in flight.

10:42 PM

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Prophecies

And the Shadow fell upon the Land, and the World was riven stone from stone. The oceans fled, and the mountains were swallowed up, and the nations were scattered to the eight corners of the World. The moon was as blood, and the sun was as ashes. The seas boiled, and the living envied the dead. All was shattered, and all but memory lost, and one memory above all others, of him who brought the Shadow and the Breaking of the World. And him they named Dragon.

(from Aleth nin Taerin alta Camora
The Breaking of the World.
Author unknown, the Fourth Age)

And it came to pass in those days, as it had come before and would come again, that the Dark lay heavy on the land and weighed down the hearts of men, and the green things failed, and hope died. And men cried out to the Creator, saying, O Light of the Heavens, Light of the World, let the Promised One be born of the mountain, according to the prophecies, as he was in ages past and will be in ages to come. Let the Prince of the Morning sing to the land that green things will grow and the valleys give forth lambs. Let the arm of the Lord of the Dawn shelter us from the Dark, and the great sword of justice defend us. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.

(from Charal Drianaan to Calamon,
The Cycle of the Dragon.
Author unknown, the Fourth Age)

7:51 PM

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Map

12:25 AM