The Dark One And The Forsaken
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Though neither male nor female by known standards, Shai'tan is usually referred to as male. He has no true physical form, being something outside and beyond this universe, yet he has the ability to affect the physcal world. Human motivations are often ascribed to him despite the fact that he is not human and therefore defies out complete understanding. Yet there is one human word which seems to embody Shai'tan - "evil".

His followers agree that it is his intention to break free of his prison and come fully into the world, and he has announced his intention to remake all creation according to his own design when he escapes after Tarmon Gai'don, the Last Battle. There is little dount that he has power to do this, since he is a being with godlike abilities, perhaps on a level with the Creator's. Many cholars believe him to be the complete antithesis of the Creator. He does not, however, have the ability to break free of his prison without assistance from our world. The fact that the War of the Shadow began with an attempt by his followers to complete what the Bore began is proof of this limitation. Those followers were and are essential to any possible escape, but since the drilling of the Bore, there have always been those willing to follow the Dark.

When Shai'tan first touched the world, his touch carried a promise of power and dominion beyond the dreams of man. He promised to remake the world and allow thse who prepared the way to rule it in his name. Those who served him faithfully would be granted immortality.

Dreadlords
Some Aes Sedai were extremely susceptible to these promises of domination and glory. It did not matter that the world they would rule would be a world of shadow. All that mattered was that they would rule, and with immortality their rule could last forever. These Aes Sedai forsook the Light and their oaths of service to follow the wishes of the Great Lord Of The Dark. They never called him by name, believing use of his true name to be blasphemy, instead using "Great Lord of the Dark". All of these Dreadlords, as they were known, travelled to the Pit of Doom in Shayol Ghul to dedicate their souls to the Dark Lord. The best of them were given power and ability beyond that of others, making them almost demigods. Among themselves they were known as "Those Chosen to Rule the World Forever", or simply "the Chosen". To all others, they were known as the Forsaken.

The Forsaken
One thing is clear from a number of sources: The Forsaken schemed against one another with almost as much fervor as they schemed for the Shadow's conquest. The greatest goal for all of the Chosen was to be named "Nae'blis", the one who would stand above all others, only a half step below the Great Lord himself after the Last Battle. They vied for that position of greates favour from the day they were sworn to the Dark, hoping to prove their worthiness to the Great Lord. Though other Aes Sedai went over to the Shadow, none who equaled or approached in strength those now called the Forsaken was still alive by the last year of the War of Power; yet not one of them is reported to have died by enemy action. These people wanted power, and teh desire became an obsession - and it is almost certain that the Dark One encouraged this deadly competition. No doubt the Dark One wanted only the strongest to serve him, and he prodded his servants to winnow themselves.

The survivors or this winnowing process, the thirtee nmost powerful of the Chosen, who were caught in the sealing of the Bore, are known in all cases but one by the Old Tongue names men had given them out of contempt. They are Aginor, Asmodean, Belthamel, Be'lal, Demandred, Greandal, Ishamael, Lanfear, Mesaana, Moghedian, Rahvin, Sammael, and Semirhage. The Chosen proudly embraced their new names as symbols of their rebirth in the Shadow, relinquishing the ones with which they had been born. From the War of Power to this day their names have been involed to frighten children, though the bleakest of the tales told of the Chosen are but pale shadows of the atrocities they actually committed.

Many details of their lives and originas have been lsot to time and history while their bodies remained trapped in the seal, but a remarkable amount of information has survived the three or possibly four thousand years since they were imprisoned by Lews Therin. Yet it is also remarkable that so little is known of their doings after their recent reemergence into the world. Whether the Forsaken destroyed any acurate information about themselves that might reveal weaknesses is unknown, but it must be considered a possibility. In any case, the amount of information available on the Forsaken differs considerably from individual to individual.

Ishamael
Foremost of the thirteen who formed the high council of the Shadow's forces was Ishamael, or "Betrayer of Hope" in the Old Tongue. Born Elan Morin Tedronai and also known as Ba'alzamon, Heart of the Dark, and Soul of the Shadow, he was assuredly the Dark One's top captain-general despite the fact that he never held a direct field command. Believed to be the most powerful of the Chosen in the use of the One Power, he was equaled by none but Lews Therin Telamon himself.

Aginor
The second most powerful man, known by the Forsaken name Aginor, came close to rivaling Lews Therin and Ishamael in strength. Before he turned to the Dark, he was Ishar Morrad Chuain, one of the foremost biological scientists of the Age of Legends. If available sources can be believed, he understood "the most basic structures of living things" better than anyone else in the Age. It is certain that he chafed under the widely held belief that there was nothing left to discover, only as occasional loose end to tuck in. His work apparently concerned new variations of plant life, both as crops and as ornamentals ,but he was disciplined more than once for unauthorised work on animals.

Balthamel
Balthamel, born Eval Ramman, was a historian specialising in the study of vanished cultures. Though quite strong in the Power, he was unable to distinuish himself enough to earn the coveted third name. Some sources suggest that the quality of his work was not the only reason he lacked status. He was said to have a wildfire temper that he often could not control. More than once he supposedly came very close to being bound with the Power against doing violence.

Sammael
Most of the other Forsaken were trapped deeply enough to remain untouched and undamaged by time, though it made them a little slower to escape than Aginor and Balthamel. They lacked even scars, except for the one worn by the Chosen named Sammael, of "Destroyer of Hope". Sammael's scar was a livid groove that slanted across his otherwise attractive face, as if a red-hot poker had been dragged from hairline to jaw. In his Age, such things were easily Restored. But he refused to allow his scar to be removed, wearing it as a reminder of the humiliating defeat in which he gained it. It was a badge of hated and vengeance. An active, solid man with golden hair, blue eyes, and an abrupt manner, Sammael was ruggedly handsome. His compact physique made him seem larger than he actually was. When compared to other men, he was only of average height. This rankled him, for he felt he was judged more often by height than by skill, and was usually found lacking. As Tel Janin Aellinsar, he was a world-renowned sportsman before the War, competing in a number of events, among them archery and a sort of bloodless competition with swords, at which he was the world champion.

Rahvin
Sammael hated political intrigue, but Rahvin much preferred such diplomacy and manipulation to open conflict. A tall dark man of large build, Rahvin was quite handsome despite the white hair streaking his temples. Nothing is known of Ared Mosinel before the Collapse, when he appeared among the highest council of the Dark One's forces, and in truth not a great deal after. There is little doubt that he thirsted for power above all else, and turned to the Dark Lord to satisfy that thirst. It is believed that he used Compulsion discreetly, bending minds and wills to assure his constant control of any situation.

Be'lal
While Rahvin preferred manipulation, the Forsaken known as Be'lal, the Envious, was a master of it, to the point that he was often known as the Netweaver. As Duram Laddel Cham, he was the Age of Legends' equivalent of an advocate, representing pepole in courts of law. That he as good at what he did is proven by the honorific third name, but not by any other source. He is the Forsaken about whom the least is known.

Demandred
Demandred was another of the Forsaken who, like Sammael, turned against Lews Therin in the War of the Shadow for reasons of envy. He hated the Dragon even more that Sammael did, though with much less direct cause. Before his conversion to the Dark he had been Barid Bel Medar, second only to Lews Therin Telamon as the most honoured and influential man of his age. He was tall and reasonably good-looking, though not so tall as Lews Therin, and his hawk nose left him almost, but not quite handsome.

Asmodean
Probably the man among the Forsaken with the most unusual reason for turning to the Shadow is Asmodean. A dark-eyed, dark-haired, handsome man, Joar Addam Nessosin was an acclaimed composer before the War of the Shadow. Born in the small port city of Shorelle (location unknown), he was a child prodigy, in both composition and performance on a variety of instruments. (Of these only the harp and several sorts of flute would be familiar in the modern era. He also played the shama, the balfone, the corea, and the obaen, but of these instruments nothing remains except their names.) Joar Addam never fulfilled his early promise, at least never to the extent expected. Works he composed while as young as fifteen were performed in many of the great cities of the world, but he never rose to the exalted heights that many had foretold, and was never ranked among the great composers of the Age. It is reliably reported that his reason for dedicating his soul to the Shadow was the promise of immortality .With eternity at his disposal, surely he would reach that greatness and, perhaps even more important, the recognition of it that had eluded him.

Lanfear
The most powerful of the female Forsaken, possibly the most powerful of all next to Ishamael, was Lanfear, "Daughter of the Night" in the Old Tongue. She alone of the Forsaken chose her own name, claiming the territory of the World of Dreams - Tel'aran'rhiod - and other people's dreams as her domain. Tall and lithe with pale skin and flowing midnight tresses, she was usually seen wearing gowns of purest white, often accented with a woven silver belt and jewelery in mon and star motifs. Unquestionably the most beautiful and seductive of the Chosen, Lanfear was probably one of the most beautiful women of her Age or any other. Born Mierin Eronaile, she was not world-famous or well known, though she was respected by her colleagues. She worked at the Collam Daan, the prime centre for research into the One Power, located in V'saine. She was, in fact ,a mamber of the team which discovered the Dark One's prison and drilled the Bore while trying to find the new source of power that seemingly could be drawn on by men and women without the divisions of saidin and saidar.

Greandal
The most flashy and decadent of all the Forsaken was the woman Greandal. Though not as beautiful as Lanfear, she was quite stunning in her own way. Blonde and somewhat fleshy when compared with her dark-haired rival, she sheathed her voluptuous body in clinging gowns that left little to the imagination, styling her red-gold hair in elaborate bejeweled ringlets, and surrounding herself with gorgeous half-naked servants who doted on her every whim. Though as one of the Chosen dedicated to sensual pleasure, she had been far different before the Bore. Kamarile Maradim Nindar wsa a noted ascetic, not only living a spare and simple life, but preaching that others should as well. Kamarile Maradim was famed and loved around the world, if apparently more often by people who had heard of her than by those who actually knew her. Dedicated to curing those with mental illness that the One Power and Healing could not touch, whe was possibly the best at subtle manipulations of the human mind who ever lived.

Semirhage
While Greandal had been a healer of the mind beyond compare, the woman to be known as Semirhage, then Nemene Demendar Boann, had been a nequally renowned healer of teh body. An unusually tall, dark-eyed woman possessed of remarkable calm and grace, Nemene Damendar was known for her ability to heal any injury, even to bring people back from the brink of death when all else had failed. She was often summoned around the world to deal with the most difficult cases, in particular to do with the brain. In addition to being a Restorer, she was also a sadist.

Mesaana
Unlike Semirhage, or Greandal, the Chosen called Mesaana turned to the Dark Lord because she was not the best in her profession. A woman of average height and appearance, Saine Tarasind was hardheaded, practical, and intelligent, though often taken for being dreamy because of her introspection. It had been said that she was always interested in real power, not the apearance of it. Appearances were never important to her. She wanted desperately to be a successful researcher. She spent her youth working toward that goal, aiming for the cutting edge of exploration. But her dreams were shattered when she was denied a place at Collam Daan. The board labelled her "unsuited for research," but agreed to allow her to instruct students.

Moghedian
Moghedian, the Spider, avoided gambling or risk taking of any kind, but not because of an innate carefulness. A sturdily handsome dark-haired woman, she was named the Spider because she preferred to lurk unseen in the Shadows until her prey was safely caught in her web, rather than facing any kind of open confrontation. Before going over to the Shadow, Lillen Moiral was an "advisor for investments", a profession that no source explains. Whatever the work entailed, it is recorded that she was cautioned a number of times, and even disciplined, for violating its ethics and the laws surrounding it.

Friends Of The Dark
Men and women who could not channel were also susceptible to promises of power and immortality. With the Dark touch fueling baser emotions like greed and envy, there were many who would give their oaths. In the beginning, these people styled themselves Friends of the Dark. In modern times they are known simply as Darkfriends. Like the Forsaken, they originated with the Dark One's touch through the Bore. Unlike the Forsaken, they have not known immortality, yet they have survived as a society for over three thousand years, serving and waiting for Tarmon Gai'don: the Last Battle.

There are many levels of commitment among the Friends of the Dark. Some extremists are deeply dedicated to obtaining freedom for the Dark One and thus immortality and dominion for themselves, while those on the lowest level simply want to belong to something greater than themselves, something dark and naughty. Many of the latter do not really believe that they might actually be held to their oaths. Some may not even believe in the existence of the Dark One.

Though it was known that Friends of the Dark could repudiate their oaths, as "no one can walk in the Shadow so long that they cannot return to the Light," very few sought redemption. Fear of revenge frmo their Shadow masters upon breaking their oaths to the Dark One wsa a major deterrent. Punishments for failure or sloppy work were bad enough; even brave souls did not like to think upon the penalties for oathbreaking. the Trollocs and other constructs had to be fed, and a forsworn Friend of the Dark would do to fill Shadowspawn bellies just as well as any other human.

Renunciation of the Dark did not mean automatic forgiveness for the crimes done while in service to the Shadow. Friends of the Dark could find redemption, but they would probably also find punishment, often death, for their crimes. For most Darkfriends the thought of gaining redemption only to go to the grave usually left them deciding to stay sworn to the Dark. Life under the Shadow was still life.