Aiel Progressing System

 

They are the fabled warriors from beyond the Dragonwall, the black-eyed Aiel.  There are lots of positions in Aiel society, giving a wide variety of different positions to role-play from.  Far Dareis Mai to Wise One, Blacksmith to Warrior to Gai’shain; the number of possibilities is almost as vast as the Freelanders themselves.  They are a self-contained society and they are now spilling into the Wetlands in search of their Car’a’carn, or Chief of the Clan Chiefs. 

 

The Aiel are all from the Dragonmount Clan, with the exception of the Shaido.

 

Aiel Weapons Scores

 

We want to accurately portray the inscrutable, multi-dimensional and intriguing culture from Robert Jordan’s books with a close-knit, familial atmosphere.  As a rule, given the arduous nature of the Threefold Land and the fact that an Aiel is extraordinarily tough compared to a normal dweller of the world, Weapon Scores for new characters will begin at WS8.  From there, and in order to be accepted into a society, two lessons will have to be role-played.  These are:

 

What it Means to be Aiel

 

Taking you to WS9, you will learn about life and survival in the Threefold Land.  You will learn customs and a little about the weapons you will wield for the rest of your life.  Basic training with the spears will follow, as well as defensive work with the bucklers.

 

Ji e Toh

 

This will take you to WS10, and take you to the point of readiness of entering your chosen society.  In this lesson you will learn discipline and explore further one of the most intriguing tenets of the Aiel culture.  Ji e Toh, or Honour and Duty, is the way Aiel live their lives.  Completion of a role-play situation where you learn about Ji e Toh and then use it to prove your understanding of it will take you to WS11.

 

Furthering your Training

 

From here, the work really begins in earnest.  Now you will have a chance to learn the skills specific to your chosen society and practice dancing the spears.  Completion of this ten-post minimum training thread in weapons and skills relating to your chosen society will take you to WS11.

 

Welcome to your Society

 

You are now ready to join your society of choice.  Each of them will have a short, role-playable initiation ceremony or some sort, written by the Society Leader to welcome you and give you a chance to meet your new family.  You will then be a member of whichever society you choose.  You are now WS12, and ready to do battle.

 

Progressing your Weapon Score

 

You already have quite a high Weapon Score and can easily hold your own against the armies of the land, but if you wish to improve it further you will have to either train junior members of your society or take place in threads where battles or raids take place.  You are a Warrior now; the other members of your society look to you to help protecting the hold, be it by training new warriors or actively defending the hold.  Complete this task and you will be raised to WS13.

There are additional ways to raise your Weapon Score, should you wish to take them.  These are:

 

+2 Organise and complete an interdivisional role-play involving four or more separate players.  Outlines should be run past the Division Leader before this is carried out.

 

+1 Organise and complete an Aiel only role-play involving five or more separate players.

 

These are one-off bonuses; no more than one of each per character will be allowed

 

Promotion – Becoming Second in Command

 

Every good army has a Second in Command should anything happen to the Commander.  To reach the level of Second in Command of the Society, you will have to take some lessons that deal more with management and other skills than purely concentrating on weapon skills alone.  These are:

 

Hunting and Tracking: Knowing how to follow prey or enemies without being seen and lessons in stealth will help both in hunting to help feed the hold or party while out in the Threefold Land.  Learn well from a Society Leader or someone well versed in the Waste by role-playing hiding, tracking and stealthy actions.

 

Orienteering: You will never get lost if you learn how to read the surroundings and navigate over any terrain.  The Society Leader will blindfold you and leave you in an unknown location.  Find your way back to the hold and Oosquai will be waiting.  May you always find water and shade!

 

Survival: In this situation you will take a small scouting party into one of the less inhabited parts of the Threefold Land and you must survive a week on your wits and whatever provender you can garner alone.  A Society Leader will brief you on which succulent plants will provide water and which wildlife is dangerous or toxic. 

 

 

If you are successful in reaching the role of Second in Command, you will be awarded a Weapon Score of sixteen.

 

Promotion – Becoming Society Leader

 

The strongest and toughest of the each society will be eligible to apply for the Society Leader when the position is available.  The Second in Command will usually fill the role after some additional lessons have been taken to make certain the candidate is the correct one to lead the society, although if another character has the better experience they will be chosen.  The Aiel are a tough race, and they need the toughest of the tough to lead them.  Lessons will include:

 

Leadership: Knowing when to dance the spears is one thing, ensuring the survival of as many warriors as possible quite another, and it is the job of the Society Leader to direct his or her spears at the Clan Chief’s order.  Create a role-play where you learn about leadership either as a lesson from a Society Leader himself or herself, or on the field where you have to assume command.

 

 

The Wise Ones: Learn about the Wise Ones and spend time among them.  They will tell you a little more about the prophecies and some of the geography of the Wetlands.  Listen well, for the politics and concerns of the lands beyond the Dragonwall are of concern to a Society Leader, who must look out for the good of the Society.

 

Tactics: A Society Leader must know about the tactics of war and about the different formations used in other countries.  Know your enemy, as the saying goes!  Use maps to plot attacking and defending masses and tell the Society Leader the best method of victory.  Sometimes, the cause is useless and the best method is to withdraw and cut losses.  Learn how to tell the difference!  Many lives may depend on it.

 

Upon reaching the rank of Society Leader, you will have a Weapon Score of eighteen. A Society Leader may only undertake one of the bonus Weapon Score requirements.

 

Election of the Clan Chief

 

The Clan Chief will be given a Weapon Score of twenty upon election; there is only to be one character at WS20 at any one time.  To become Clan Chief, the candidate must undertake a trip to Rhuidean (as agreed with the Division Leader) and take part in role-plays with the Wise Ones to learn more about the grave role.

 

The Path of the Wise Ones

 

When a girl wishes to learn to channel or has the spark in her already, the Wise Ones will seek her out and make her an apprentice to them.  They will grow their hair out and wear an algode blouse and linen skirt, and her previous possessions will be burnt or passed to friends as families as tokens.  Sometimes, a Wise One will make an apprentice give part of their belongings to an enemy; a lesson in humility that some find difficult to swallow, but it is always fair, no matter how hard it is.  The Threefold land calls for hard people, after all.  These are the role-plays your character must do.

 

Apprentice Wise One

 

First Trip to Rhuidean: Apprentices with meet the Wise Ones on the slopes and be sent into Rhuidean. They will go through the Ter’angreal that allows them to see all their possible futures. You must describe entering and ter’angreal and leaving it disoriented. Only minimal detail of the events seen inside is required, but the more the better.  (Three post minimum)

 

Herbal Healing: This is one option.  Apprentices will learn how to gather herbs to make medicines.  All Wise Ones know healing with herbs, so if you choose not to take this option, it will be assumed as learnt.

 

What it Means to be Wise: Apprentices will learn from a Wise One the true meaning of what they do.  This can be done by encountering a Wise One in the sweat tents, or by being caught in a misdeed.

 

Chores/Punishment: Your apprentice will be sent on an errand or get herself into trouble and will be punished.  (Four post minimum)

 

Second Trip to Rhuidean: After your apprentice has completed all of their classes (including any Talent specific role-plays) she is sent to Rhuidean again.  This time she faces the Ter’angreal that shows the history of the Aiel.

 

Aven Sedai Atha’an:

(Call to serve the people) This is the last step. A secret ceremony of Wise Ones will happen immediately after your apprentice’s second return from Rhuidean. Gifts are offered to the newest Wise One, including the first of her ivory and gold necklaces.

 

If your Wise One can channel, has the ability to Dreamwalk or any other talent other classes will be required.

 

As a Wise One

 

As the newest Wise One, you have been welcomed to the ranks.  Now your lessons will begin again.  Channelling classes will mark the start if your character can channel, if not, then lessons will be relating to the Aiel as a people and their survival as a whole.  Those lessons will be Tactics, Survival and Leadership (see above) as well as any of the other non-weapon related classes that an Aiel Warrior may take.

 

Channelling

 

Channeling Classes ( 3 post minimum each)

Learning to channel consists of 4 separate sections. 1 skill point will be added after each section.

 

The Basics

Apprentices will learn how Wise Ones use the Power and take their first steps towards embracing the source.

 

Control and Identify

Apprentices will learn about the five elements of Saidar and how to control them.

 

The Art Of Saidar

Apprentices will learn how to form a circle, shield another person and how to sever attacks

 

Careful Now

Apprentices will learn how to tie off their flows and how to pick apart weaves. Keep in mind that no one can pick apart a weave the very first try.

 

Dreamwalking Classes (8 post minimum)

The class takes place in eight parts:

 

1) Introduction- this is where The Wise One in charge lecture the apprentices about the dangers of the dream.

 

2) Learning control- The Wise One in charge takes the apprentices into the World of Dream, and they have to learn to control their thoughts in order to control the Dream.

 

3) Travel and Use of Need- the apprentices are taught to travel in the Dream by imagining themselves somewhere else, and how to use Need to find things.

 

4) Dealing with nightmares- the apprentices are taught how to destroy nightmares and other dangers of the Dream.

 

5) Enter the Dream at will- now that the apprentices know control and how to defend themselves, they are taught how to focus their sleep to enter the Dream. How to fall asleep at will (regardless of the circumstances) and how to enter a light sleep so you can be in the dream yet talk to those awake are also learned.

 

6) Entering "dreamspace"- the apprentices are taught how to enter the place where all peoples dreams are (the "starry field" that Egwene describes).

 

7) Finding specific dreams- the apprentices are taught how to find one persons dreams, and enter them at will or simply touch them to speak in that persons dream.

 

8)Cool Healing sleep- the apprentices are taught how to enter the dreams of one that is sick or injured, to encourage good dreams and facilitate faster healing. (This was VERY briefly mentioned on page 389 of The Shadow Rising when Bair explains Dreamwalking to Egwene. Unfortunately, Egwene didn't stay with the Wise Ones long enough to learn it, so there isn't any real description of it other than this one mention. I though it was cool, though, and since it's knowledge that the Wise Ones are supposed to have it may be worthwhile to throw it in.)

 

The learning of all these skills may take place in one thread or several as long as all the points are covered.

Two questions, if i may.

 

What happens if someone (okay, i'm talking about myself here *shifty look*) makes an Aiel, and has her be taken in as an apprentice Wise One while her WS has exceeded 10? Would WS be 'reset' to 10 as per the Wise Ones not being allowed to dance the spears?

 

Second question concerns craftsmen. In the Books, the clans are said to have craftsmen (seamstresses, blacksmiths etc.) that aren't expected to dance the spears either, how would things work out for them?

Good questions, Jehaine :)  Let me clarify a bit:

 

If a Maiden had exceeded WS10 and the Wise Ones approached her to become an apprentice, she would be accepted but the WS would slowly regress back to ten.  Once the Maiden has renounced the spears and become an apprentice she can no

longer progress above WS10. :) 

 

As for craftsmen and blacksmiths - as they have not joined a warrior society but are Aiel and probably have some skill, they will start in the same way but follow the Freelander progression system (i.e., you improve your Weapon Score by being in fights or training) for the fights they would get into.  Craftsmen and seamstresses are valued in the Threefold Land. :)

Do we get to keep our old WS, or do we have to start afresh at some level? Also, old society initiations or should we come up with new ones?

Hmm... I'm guessing you'd keep your old WS, you've earned it during previous RPs after all and not many changes in an RP are retroactive. Further WS raising would need to be along these new requirements though.

 

Society initiations... would depend on what the Society Leader wants them to be, i guess. If he or she favors the old initiations, those will be the requirement, but they're free to change them (being, y'know, Society Leaders).

 

Of course, Winter would need to make the final call on this, but those are my two cents' worth ^^;

Thanks for answering for me on this, Jehaine.  I can't really get on to post here, but wanted to chip in.

 

You get to keep your old Weapon Score - you've already earnt it so it's yours. :)

 

Yes, Society Initiations are down to the Society Leader's discretion.  I haven't any outlines for initation ceremonies in mind and if you do have any, I'd love to hear them by PM (just for my information too :) )