Aiel
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In Robert Jordan's fantasy series The Wheel of Time, the Aiel are a race of people. They live between the "wetlanders" in the west and the Sharans in the east, in a desert which the Aiel call The Three-fold Land and which everyone else calls the Aiel Waste. They have earned a reputation as skilled warriors; little else is known about them in the wider world. Physically, Aiel can be recognized through their height, characteristic pale eyes, and red or blond hair.
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History
Modern Aiel are descended from the Da'shain Aiel, servants of the Aes Sedai during the Age of Legends, who swore never to touch a sword. Some time after the Breaking of the World, however, the Da'shain Aiel turned from one people into three: today's Aiel (literally, Dedicated), the Tuatha'an (also known as Traveling People or Tinkers), and the Jenn Aiel (literally, True Dedicated). The Tuatha'an are hated by today's Aiel because the Tinkers abandoned the charge given to them by the Aes Sedai, although most Aiel are not aware of this reason. The Aiel and the Jenn Aiel made their way across the Spine of the World into the Aiel Waste, where the Aiel increased as the Jenn Aiel, who still followed the non-violent Way of the Leaf, decreased. The Tuatha'an also follow the Way of the Leaf, but as they broke the oath given to them by the Aes Sedai they are no longer Aiel. The remnant of the Way of the Leaf remaining to the Aiel is that they refuse the use of swords, though they are just as dangerous, perhaps more so, with knife and spear. The average Aiel is not aware that they were once Da'shain, only that they owe some sort of debt to the Aes Sedai.
Reputation
Not much is known about the Aiel by the outside world. Any wetlanders (as they call those who live to the west) are killed on sight; only peddlers, gleemen and Aes Sedai are left unmolested. Tinkers can also move freely as no Aiel will go near them. They have a reputation for being vicious fighters, and "black-veiled Aiel" is a common epithet for someone who is trying to provoke a fight.
The Aiel once allowed a fourth class of wetlander to traverse their lands: the citizens of Cairhienn. After the Breaking, while the Aiel wandered, friendless and alone, the Cairhienin gave them water and shade; in thanks, the Aiel allowed the Cairhienin to travel through their lands to Shara, where the Cairhienin were able to obtain precious silks and spices (think the Silk Road). The Aiel also gave Cairhien a small tree: Avendoraldera, a cutting of Avendesora, the Tree of Life. Unfortunately, several centuries later, a Cairhienin king with more ambition than sense, Laman Damodred, cut down Avendoraldera to make himself a throne. The Aiel, outraged, boiled out of the Waste to bring back Laman's head. Four of the twelve Aiel clans went, led by a charismatic Tardaad clan chief named Janduin, and they had their way with the wetlanders, killing any who opposed them and finally cornering Laman at Tar Valon, at the Blood Snow, in the year 978 NE. Their mission accomplished, they went home. The wetlanders call this the Aiel War. The Aiel call this business as usual. Since then, however, the Aiel have been even more hostile to the Cairhienin than to other wetlanders, calling them "treekillers" and "oathbreakers."
Customs
The Aiel have a number of cultural practices that are quite distinct from those of outsiders. For example, women frequently become soldiers and fight alongside men. In addition, the taboo against nudity is much weaker amongst the Aiel than in some cultures (much to the astonishment of many of the novel's main characters, who are rather Puritan in their upbringing). The Aiel moral code is called ji'e'toh, an Old Tongue word which roughly translates to "honor and duty" or "honor and obligation"; it is seen by outsiders as quite labyrinthine, but Aiel live and die by this code.
One of the most bizarre convolutions of ji'e'toh has to do with the taking of gai'shain, "those sworn to peace in battle." Aiel earn honor and prestige for deeds in battle--or accumulate shame by misdeeds--but killing an opponent earns the least honor; any fool can kill. What earns the most honor is touching the opponent while holding a weapon, but without harming them. Any Aiel so shamed will march straight to the person who shamed them and demand to be made gai'shain, at which point they don white robes, become that person's servant for a year and a day, and forswear to touch a weapon during that time. Wise Ones, blacksmiths, children, and women with a child under the age of ten cannot be taken gai'shain. Exact "ownership" of the gai'shain is a variable matter; though each gai'shain swears only to one person, they can be and are often instructed to obey commands from other people as well.
Though only men can become clan chiefs, only women can hold property. The owner of any given roof (house) or holding (settlement) is the roofmistress, and she must give permission to step under her roof.
Culture
The Aiel are organized on several different levels. There are twelve Aiel clans, each of which has a clan chief; clans are further divided into septs, and septs subdivide into holdings (which are individual settlements; each clan and sept also has a central hold). Aiel warriors also affiliate themselves with various warrior societies, of which there are twelve: Mountain Dancers, Thunder Walkers, Stone Dogs, Brothers of the Eagle, etc. The only society to accept women is the Far Dareis Mai, the Maidens of the Spear; their members 'marry' their spears and are forbidden to take men into their lives on a permanent basis without forfeiting membership. The lines of loyalty amongst clan, sept and society are tangled; but, roughly, allegiance to one's warrior society trumps clan allegiance. This appears counter-intuitive until one remembers that the clans are in a state of almost perpetual twelve-way warfare; since Aiel from any clan can join any society, and will not raise spear against fellow society members, this allows open lines of diplomacy between all clans at all times. (Some Aiel even sojourn with their societies to avoid participating in clan feuds.)
The twelve Aiel clans are a reference to the Tribes of Israel. There is a thirteenth clan, not counted among them: the Jenn Aiel, who built the city of Rhuidean, a repository of Aiel history, equivalent to the Hebrew Levites.
Aiel women who can channel are not sent to the White Tower; instead, they remain among the Aiel and become "Wise Ones." Some Aiel women are also skilled in walking Tel'aran'rhiod, the World of Dreams; they too become Wise Ones (even if they cannot channel). Wise Ones undergo a grueling testing period, culminating in a trip to Rhuidean; inside there are ter'angreal which administer the final test. Aiel clan chiefs must also undergo this test. They come out marked with an iridescent dragon tattoo around one forearm--or not at all. Women receive no marking. Two of three who go, do not return; what happens to them is unknown.
There is also a Car'a'carn, a chief of chiefs, spoken of in prophecy; of late, a man named Rand al'Thor has been proven to be that chief. The arrival of He who Comes with the Dawn has caused a number of upheavals to the Aiel stratification. For one, one of the twelve clans, the Shaido, has splintered off from the Aiel proper; its (late) leader, Couladin, claims to be the real Car'a'carn, a claim that has been supported by his wife Sevanna after his death. For another, Rand al'Thor revealed the secret he learned in the Rhuidean test, a secret that drove two Aiel of three to insanity: that the Aiel had once been the Da'shain Aiel, and served the Aes Sedai, and followed the Way of the Leaf. To a culture that lives and dies by its oaths, the news that they had broken an oath sworn to never touch a weapon was devastating, and many Aiel have since succumbed to the resulting "bleakness." Some take on gai'shain white, in hopes of paying off a debt that can never be repaid. More escape to "wetlander" cities, forsaking the spear and cadin'sor, and attempt to live the Way of the Leaf as their ancestors would have. Others simply disappear. And some of them run away to join the Shaido, hoping for a return to an earlier time. Because of this, the Shaido ranks are swelling, but these runaways, having abandoned their clan and sept, are scorned by the Shaido, and their warrior societies will not accept them. This resulted in the unofficial creation of a thirteenth warrior society, peculiar to the Shaido: the Mera'din, the Brotherless, those who have lost everything. At present, the other eleven clans remain loyal to al'Thor, but as battle and the bleakness take their tolls, the number of loyal Aiel diminishes daily.
Clans and septs
The thirteen Aiel clans (including the ancient Jenn Aiel), and their known septs. [1] (http://photeus.com:8080/ewot/organizations/aiel/)
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Societies
- Far Dareis Mai (Maidens of the Spear)
- Shae'en M'taal (Stone Dogs)
- Aethan Dor (Red Shields)
- Seia Doon (Black Eyes)
- Far Aldazar Din (Brothers of the Eagle)
- Rahien Sorei (Dawn Runners)
- Sha'mad Conde (Thunder Walkers)
- Hama N'dore (Mountain Dancers)
- Sovin Nai (Knife Hands)
- Cor Darei (Night Spears)
- Tain Shari (True Bloods)
- Duadhe Mahdi'in (Water Seekers)