History of Modern Randland

The Purple Tower The History of the Purple Tower Seal

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Fourth Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.

Down the slopes of the mountains it blew, whipped into frenzied eddies by the rush of cars travelling on secluded highways. Carrying the sweet scent of alpine meadows and the acrid tang of asphalt, it made its way past the borders of the small metropolis called New Manetheren. By the time it dropped past skyscrapers to Rivendell Drive, any hint of the mountains it was born in was long gone, washed away by the smells of this bustling city.

Down sidewalks, thick with people, dodging taxis and convertibles, the wind turned sharply down Empiriana Avenue. It died into a mere breeze before an old ramshackle building proudly bearing an antique sign: The Imperial Hotel. The Imperial Hotel, now home to the renegades who called themselves the Purple Tower, a school of the Arts, home to people crossing all social and ethnic backgrounds.

Time Frame

The Third Age ended much as the Prophecies predicted. Rand al'Thor--Lews Therin Telamon reborn, the Dragon--battled the Dark One in Tarmon Gai'don, cleansing the taint on saidin and totally erasing the Bore simutaneously. Unfortunately, the world was hurled into chaos not unlike the Breaking, and it took most of the Fourth Age to return to something near normality.

We live in what scholars believe is the late Fourth Age. Society and technology are currently near the levels of Earth today, perhaps slightly further along. With technology like this, accidents are prone to happen, and one did. An experiment dealing with nuclear weapons, balefire, and the One Power had the disastrous effect of re-opening the Bore. The Black and White Towers, realizing the threat to humankind, merged and re-sealed the Bore. Seeing as we still don't know as much as we did in the Age of Legends, the resulting thirteen seals aren't quite as thorough as the original seven, but the Dark One has little more power to reach beyond his prison then he did in that Age.

Meanwhile, an Aes Sedai named Jennaea--a Blue sister--decided that there needed to be a rebirth of the Arts, and she proposed a new ajah: the Purple Ajah, dedicated to art in all its forms. The White Tower definitely did not like this, but despite all its efforts, Jen persevered and became the Sitter for the Purple Ajah.

This small victory didn't last long. The majority of the White Tower treated the Purples "like so much garbage," as Jen Sedai put it. So, she gathered her Ajah together and proposed a frightening action.

The Purple Ajah was to leave the Tower.

Everyone was horrified at this announcement. Most of the former Purples turned their backs on the renegade ajah; many grew to hate the Purples. The most avid conspirator against them--and Jennaea--was the late Mayadi. Solandra Sedai has since been raised to the stole.

The renegade ajah formed itself into a "tower," mimicking their White predecessor in structure, if not formality. Jen, now affectionately known as "Mom," is the Cubiyar, the Amyrlin. The Tower is divided into Septas, the members of which are Ayende Vera. The Septas are broken down as so:

Moiraine Damodred High School

The first home of the Purple Tower was in Tar Valon itself. The run-down, abandoned Moiraine Damodred High School served its purpose well until the Red Ajah came after the Purples and turned the building into a pile of rubble. The Tower escaped into the mountains, travelling through Shadar Logoth on its way to find a new home base.

The Purple Tower found what they were looking for in the bustling metropolis of New Manetheren, in the foothills of the Mountains of Mist. The Imperial Hotel, like Moiraine Damodred High, was also abandoned, but the Tower fixed it up and are currently using the building as a school of the arts to cover their true identity.

((::laffs:: I know, it's not the Imperial, but I needed a picture!))

The Shadow

The Shadow, though beaten badly by al'Thor and his companions, hasn't just laid down and died. There will always be people to lean towards the Dark, and that small number skyrocketed after the Bore was torn open. There are new Forsaken, although the White Tower refuses to accept it, and improved Shadowspawn.

The Forsaken
Long ago, Liandrin Sedai took charge of the Black Ajah and decided to bring back the Forsaken. Thirteen darkfriend Whitecloaks and thirteen Black sisters produced thirteen children, who were raised to know an individual Forsaken better than they knew themselves. When they turned thirteen, they became the Forsaken in an odd ritual ceremony. Even though they still hold their own thoughts, they also hold those of their Forsaken, even to the point that they physically resemble them. Despite its difficulty, the Second Generation Forsaken can separate their thoughts from their Forsaken's and temporarily become the Forsaken. So far, three of the Second Generation have chosen the Light, three are undecided as of yet, four have chosen to remain Dark, and two have been killed. (These two have been reincarnated yet again, but they have also chosen the Light.) Each of the Second Generation has a symbol on their left wrist protecting them from balefire. Liandrin Sedai, however, did not, and has been dead because of it for 210 years.

Myrdraal
The Myrdraal are the Shadow's executive managers. When travelling in the real world, they are equipped with top-of-the-line body armor (illusioned to appear like a black power suit), sunglasses, and trenchcoats that act much like their cloaks in the Third Age. They carry shotguns and ammunition made in Thakandar, and are every bit as deadly and menacing as ever.

Trollocs
Highly skilled scientists (not to mention the new Aginor) have further tweaked the Trollocs' genetic make-up, resulting in a kind of were-beast. Trollocs appear quite convincingly human to an average observer. One more well-acquainted with them would notice small, almost insignificant variations in their teeth, fingernails, ears, noses, to name a few. When they engage in battle, they morph into their ancient man-beast forms. A gash from their claws, if not soon treated, could turn the victim into a Trolloc as well if the Trollocs didn't eat him first. In their human form, they have varied intelligence, but whatever it is they loose when they transform. One throwback about making them more human also made them even less intelligent in their beast forms. They often go into a blood rage so fierce that any weapon more intricate than an axe or cleaver is beyond their skill. They cannot be trusted with firearms unless they are in their human forms, where they are faster and stronger than an average man.

Draghkar
These are the Shadow's elites, now far more common than in the Third Age. A small force of them will often be under the command of a Myrdraal. Charming, charismatic, and graceful, they look human save for the slight difference in the mouth and a certain glint in their eye. Their filmy, bat-like wings have been replaced by retractable metal ones with razor-sharp edges. Draghkar are used mostly as theives and assassins, but are occasionally used in battle, where their deadly wings are used to their full effect.