The World After The Breaking
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No surviving maps tell exactly what the world was like before its continents were torn apart by the One Power, but there is no doubt it was very different from the world of today. The destruction seems to have radiated outward from Shayol Ghul - understandably, since that is where the Hundred Companions originally went mad - and the Breaking may not have been as cataclysmic in far distant parts of the world. Our present knowledge is lmited to occasional clues discovered by explorers and students of historical geography: ruins that have obviously been far removed from their original environment, or artifacts that give little clue to their origin.
Weights and Measures
mile: A measure of distance equal to one thousand
spands. Four miles make one league
hide: A unit of area for measuring land, equal
to 100 paces by 100 paces.
span: A measure of distance equal to two paces.
A thousand spans make a mile.
10 ounces = 1 pound
10 pounds = 1 stone
10 stone = 1 hundredweight
10 hundredweight = 1 ton
The World
Geographers of the modern world are only beginning to
understand its true dimensions and features. Explorers and merchants bring
back knowledge of lands beyond the sea and the waste, but a great deal
of territory is still uncharted.
There are three major continents, and an area of ice in each polar region. Our land, the Aiel Waste, and the land called Shara occupy one continent, and the Seanchan the second, much larger, which lies to the west far over the Aryth Ocean. An unnamed continent, known only from Sea Folk explorations, lies far to the south. A fourth continent may lie hidden beneath the massive ice of the souther polar regions, but it is unknown and likely to remain so.
The Main Continent
The only part of this continent which has been completely
mapped is that containing our lands, bordered by the Mountains of Dhoom
to the north, the Aryth Ocean to the west, the Sea of Storms to the south,
and the mountains of the Spine of the World (also known as the Dragonwall)
to the east.
The Mountains of Dhoom rise from the eastern sea to run through the Aiel Waste and Shara right into the sea in the west, and may even continue beneath its waters if they are, as suspected, a panetwide upheaval caused during the Breaking. Extending both north and south of the Mountains of Dhoom is the wasteland known as the Great Blight, a region entirely corrupted by the Dark One where Trollocs, Myrddraal, and other malignant shadow-creatures thrive. Deep within the Blight lies the dark volcanic mountain Shayol Ghul, the site of the Dark One's prison. Some ancient records hint that the mountain may once have been an island in a cool sea. Below the forbidding slopes of Shayol Ghul is a fog-shrouded valley known as Thakan'dar. Despite the fog and presence of ice only a few hundred leagues to the north, this winter-cold valley is as dry as any desert.
All around Shayol Ghul and north of the Blight extends the waste known as the Blasted Lands. Devoid of life, this desolation is even shunned by the foul creatures of the Blight. Historians believe that the area bore the brunt of the War of Power, which rendered it completely barren. Its proximity to Shayol Ghul and the corrupting influence of the Shadow no doubt keep it so. No one knows if anything lies north of the Blasted Lands other than the frozen ice of the northern ocean. Jain Farstrider was said to have willingly traveled there; however, whatever knowledge he gained wsa lost when he vanished within its trackless depths.
To the west lies the great Aryth Ocean.
To the south lies the Sea of Storms, and, some distance off the southern coast, the Isles of the Sea Folk. Roughly south of Illian and Mayene, these islands are scattered throughout the Sea of Storms. One is large and there is an unknown number of medium to small islands. Only the Sea Folk themselves know the exact number and location of all their island homes.
To the east of the land lies the towering mountain range of the Spine of the World, also called the Dragonwall, seperating the land from the Aiel Waste. There are only four usable passes through and one southern route around these mountains. The northernmost pass, Tarwin's Gap, lies in the valley between the Mountains of Dhoom and the Dragonwall, at the edge of what used to be the Kingdom of Malkier. It is now part of the Blight. Farther south, at the edge of Shienar, the mountains are breached by the Niamh Passes, actually a series of footpaths that travers the range into the Aiel Waste.
The best known crossing, the Jangai Pass, lies just south of Kinslayer's Dagger, the dominant peak of the range, in Cairhien. The Aiel crossed the Jangai into Cairhien during the Aiel War. Before that war it began the major trade route between Cairhien and Shara. It is still used by Tinkers and those merchants that wish to trade with the Aiel.
There is another, nameless breach in the mountains, at the eastern edge of Haddon Mirj, south of where the River Iralell originates, leading only to the Ogier Stedding Shangtai.
Passage by land to the south of the Dragonwall is possible, but requires travardous Drowned Lands just north of Mayene, and leads only to the Waterless Sand in the southern part of the Aiel Waste.
The Drowned Lands are a huge treacherous saltwater swamp, a thick jungle of foliage interspersed with large shallows clogged by tall grasses. There are a few open waterways, and even less dry land. Any piece of solid land a hundred paces long is considered huge.
The swamp is populated by a wide variety of flying and swimming creatures. Among the more hazardous swimmers are the water lizards, which can grow to twenty feet in length and have very sharp teeth in powerful jaws. Several varieties of snake are exceedingly venomous. Some of hte less dangerous creatures include a multitude of brightly coloured birds; the nedar, or tusked water pig that can grow to three hundred pounds; the soetam, or great rat, that weighs ten stone; and the swamp cat, which weighs on average one and a half hundredweight. Mottled greenish grey, the swamp cat, unlike its land-bound cousins, loves to swim. There are two types of very small deer: the spikehorn, which is little more than knee high to a man, and the forkhorn, which grows to waist height. Like every other mammal of the Drowned Lands, they swim very well.
East of the Drowned lands and bordering the coast is the Termool, or Waterless Sand. South of the Aiel Waste, it is a place where even the hardy Aiel cannot find water. This sand desert of drifting dunes that can be two or three hundred feet high contains no oases, no springs, and no known life. Fearsome windstorms arise suddenly and blow unabated for several days. Their passing leaves vast area of the harsh landscape completely changed. Even the Aiel do not travel here.
North of the Waterless Sands is the Aiel Waste, home to the vast clans of Aiel who call it the Three-Fold Land. Very little is known about this land, save by the Aiel. The majority of the Waste is trackless badlands and baked flats, with the occasional oasis or mountain range. Three small ranges are known to branch off from the Spine itself into the waste.
Somewhere deep within the Waste lies the ancient city of Rhuidean, but only the Aiel know its exact location.
Along the northeast edge of the Waste rise cliffs one hundred to five hundred feet in height. Named the Cliffs of Dawn by the Aiel, this great land shift (no doubt dating from the Breaking) extends southward for approximately 250 leagues from the Mountains of Dhoom and is topped by a series of mountain ranges of varying height. The rest of the eastern edge of the Waste is bordered by a massive split in the earth that ranges from one to three miles in depth. The Great Rift runs over four hundred and fifty leagues frmo the end of the Cliffs of Dawn into the Sea of Storms. It is bordered on both sides by badlands and mountains, but the eastern side of the rift, away from the Waste, appears to have much more water.
How far these badlands extend to the east is unknown, as is most other information concerning the east. Shara, as it is called (among other names) by the inhabitants who zealously protect their privacy, is bordered by the Sea of Storms to the south and the Morenal Ocean to the esat. It is known to have five walled seaports along the southern shore, in which all foreign seaborne trading is done. Only a few maps showing the Shara shoreline exist, and many are incomplete, for simply coming within sight of the eastern coast brings a fierce and often deadly response from the natives. The five walled ports in the south are the only allowed landfall for foreign vessels, and the Sea Folk (at least) are wise enough to avoid the chance of shipwreck anywhere else along that coastline.
The Sea Folk Islands
Most of the islands in the Aryth Ocean and the Sea of
Storms are home port to the Atha'an Miere, known to most as the Sea Folk.
Only a few of these island groups are known to outsiders, and fewer still
have been seen by them, since the Atha'an Miere do not usually allow visitors
or traders, though they are certainly not as cruel to intruders as are
the folk of Shara or Seanchan. The Sea Folk perform most sea trade, and
nearly all of the trade in silk and ivory from Shara, yet few people know
them save through stories and legend.
The best known of the Sea Folk islands is Tremalking, located southwest of Tarabon and Amadicia. Much smaller in size are the island groups that make up the Aile Jafar, approximately due west of Tarabon, and the Aile Somera; due west of Toman Head. Many other small to medium islands sprinkled throughout the ocean remain known only to the Sea Folk themselves.
To understand the Ata'an Miere, one must study not their islands, but their ships and the waters they sail, for the People of the Sea prefer to live out most of their lives aboard their ships. They are born on the water - even if the mother must row out from shore in a borrowed boat to bear her child - and they die on the water if at all possible. Any time spent away from the sea is that spent awaiting another ship, another voyage.
At the Breaking of the World, when their ancestors fled the heaving land for the safety of the sea, the Atha'an Miere knew nothing of the ships they took, or of the seas on which they drifted, only that no landbound place was safe. Ove the course of many years they learned the ways of storm and tide, and became as one with their vessels. The Jendai Prophecy, first spoken during those early years, held that the People of the Sea were fated to wander the waters until the Coramoor should return. Indeed, the vast reaches of the open sea are their true kingdom.
The Atha'an Miere
With brightly coloured tattoos upon their hands, some
of which denote clan, equally brilliant sashes on their waists, gold and
silver jewellery, and a distinct style of dress, the Atha'an Miere are
as exotic in appearance as they are mysterious. Throughout the known world
tales relate the almost irresistable allure of the Sea Folk women, the
epitome of beauty and temptation. The deep chocolate colouration of their
skin and their unequaled grace, born of years balancing on wind-lashed
rigging on the high seas, contribute to their true allure; the Sea Folk
custom of wearing nothing above the waste except jewellery once beyond
sight of land has enhanced the legends. The well-muscled men, clean-shaven
and bare-chested, are also considered dangerously handsome.
Men and women both wear baggy breeches held at the waist by brightly coloured sashes, multiple earrings, neck chains and bracelets, and bare feet, though the quality of the breeches and scarf fabrics is directly realted to the status and financial state of the wearer. The women also wear brightly coloured, loose-fitting blouses, though only while in port - probably in an attempt to avoid shocking the locals. The women also often wear a ring in the left side of their nose. Women of rank wear a fine chain, hung with medallions, connecting the nose ring with one of their earrings. The quantity of medallions is directly related to rank, with high-ranking women wearing more medallions than those of lower rank. The men do not wear nose chains or nose rings.
The Waste
East of the Dragonwall and west of the cliffs and chasms
of Shara lies the Aiel Waste. Called Djevik K'Shar, "The Dying Ground"
in the Trolloc Tongue, it is a harsh, rugged, and all but waterless land
that appears that appears uninhabitable. Yet this Waste is home to the
Aiel, a race of people as fierce and hardy as their rugged environment.
These tall and fair-haired people are lethal fighters and skilled trackers,
with both men and women serving as warriors. Believed to be the most deadly
fighters on the continent, if not in the world, they veil their faces before
they kill and have established a well-earned reputation for defending their
land from outsiders. They call the Waste the Three-Fold Land, for they
believe it is first a shaping stone to make them; second, a testing ground
to prove their worth; and third, a punishment for their sin - though the
exact sin is apparently inknown. Only those select few on friendly terms
with the Aiel dare to enter the Waste: peddlers, gleemen, and the Tuatha'an
Tinkers. At one time the merchants of Cairhien were also welcomed, but
that welcome was revoked when Laman destroyed Avendoraldera. Everyone
else is also considered an enemy.
The Tuatha'an
Known as most as the Traveling People, they roam the
land, both in and out of the Waste, in caravans of brightly coloured wagons.
Led by a man called a Mahdi, each caravan continues its search for
the lost dream of peace. Clothed in equally bright coast and dresses, they
move as if always listening to a tune, always ready for a dance. Unlike
the Aiel, who only sing battle chants of a dirge for the slain, the Tuatha'an
sing or play at any opportunity. Where they go, music is always near.
The Tuatha'an are known also as the Tinkers, though they occasionally do other work. Their craftmanship is superb, usually mending items better than new. Yet they are shunned and distrusted by folk in villages and small towns who do not understand them. Stories, usually false, say that the Tinkers steal young children and try to convert young people to their beliefs. The fact that the Tinkers will not defend themselves against such attacks simply lends credence to those wnting to hate. In actuality, most who convert to the Tinker way are simply drawn to following them by the simplicity of their beliefs.
By the Tuatha'an Way of the Leaf, all people should live their lives with the leaves as an example. "For the leaf lives its appointed time, and does not struggle against the wind that carries it away. The leaf does no harm, and finally falls to nourish new leaves." The Tuatha'an believe that no man should harm another for any reason whatsoever.
The Ogier
Unlike the other races so far chronicled, the Ogier do
not have a specific country to call their own but rather live in secluded
stedding scattered throughout the world. They are also the only
natural nonhuman sentient race known. Ogier resemble humans in general
build and dress, but are a genetically seperate species with long tufted
ears and broad, vaguely snoutlike noses. Much larger than humans, the men
average ten feet in height or better with the women standing only slightly
shorter. They are also much longer-lived. A typical Ogier life span is
at least three to four times that of a human, and they are not considered
mature enough to leave the stedding until they have reached the
age of at least one hundred. This longer life may also be the cause of
their deliberately slow and certain behaviour. They consider humans to
be much too hasty and impatient.