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. See also channel; Time of Madness; True Source.
Pattern of an Age: The Wheel of Time weaves the threads of human lives into the Pattern of an Age, often called simply the Pattern, which forms the substance of reality for that Age. See also ta’veren.
Powers, the Five: See Five Powers.
Questioners, the: An order within the Children of the Light. Their avowed purposes are to discover the truth in disputations and to uncover Darkfriends. In the search for truth and the Light, 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, the Hand that digs out truth, 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 Anointed. Their sign is a blood-red shepherd’s crook.
Ragan (rah-GAHN): A Shienaran warrior.
Red Shields: See Aiel warrior societies.
Renna (REEN-nah): A Seanchan woman; a sul’dam. See also Seanchan; sul’dam.
Rhyagelle (rheye-ah-GEHL): In the Old Tongue, “Those Who Come Home,” or “Homecomers.”
sa’angreal (SAH-ahn-GREE-ahl): Any one of a number of objects that allow an individual to channel much more of the One Power than would otherwise be possible or safe. A sa’angreal is like unto, but much more powerful than, an angreal. The amount of the Power that can be wielded with a sa’angreal compares to the amount of the Power that can be handled with an angreal as the Power wielded with the aid of an angreal does to the amount of the Power that can be handled unaided. Remnants of the Age of Legends, the means of making sa’angreal is no longer known. Only a handful remain, far fewer even than angreal.
saidar (sah-ih-DAHR): saidin (sah-ih-DEEN): See True Source.
Saldaea (sahl-DAY-ee-ah): One of the Borderlands.
Sanche, Siuan (SAHN-chay, swahn): An Aes Sedai formerly of the Blue Ajah. Raised to the Amyrlin Seat 988 NE. The Amyrlin Seat is of all Ajahs, and of none.
Sea Folk: More properly, the Atha’an Miere (a-tha-AHN mee-AIR), the People of the Sea. Inhabitants of islands in the Aryth (AH-rihth) 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.
Seanchan (SHAWN-CHAN): (1) Descendants of the armies Artur Hawkwing sent across the Aryth Ocean, who have returned to reclaim the lands of their forefathers. (2) The land from which the Seanchan come. See also Hailene; Corenne; Rhyagelle.
Seandar (shawn-DAHR): Capital city of Seanchan, where the Empress sits on the Crystal Throne in the Court of the Nine Moons.
Selene (seh-LEEN): A woman met on the journey to Cairhien.
Seta (SEE-tah): A Seanchan woman; a sul’dam. See also Seanchan; sul’dam.
Shadar Logoth (SHAH-dahr LOH-goth): A city abandoned and shunned since the Trolloc Wars. It is tainted ground, and not a pebble of it is safe. See also Mordeth.
Shai’tan (SHAY-ih-TAN): See Dark One.
Shayol Ghul (SHAY-ol GHOOL): A mountain in the Blasted Lands, the site of the Dark One’s prison.
Sheriam (SHEER-ee-ahm): An Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah. The Mistress of Novices in the White Tower.
Shienar (shy-NAHR): One of the Borderlands. The sign of Shienar is a stooping black hawk.
shoufa (SHOO-fah): A garment of the Aiel, a cloth, usually the color of sand or rock, that wraps around the head and neck, leaving only the face bare.
span: See Length, units of.
Spine of the World, the: A towering mountain range, with only a few passes, which separates the Aiel Waste from the lands to the west.
stedding (STEHD-ding): An Ogier (OH-geer) homeland. Many stedding have been abandoned since the Breaking of the World. 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