We have some thirty-odd "main" characters as of book four. RJ may have been planning a four book series, but he sure didn't set himself up for one. His story actually weaves the pattern for us with I'm estimating nearly 200 characters with names, faces, and back-stories, whom we see more than once in the series and who serve a purpose. Everyone and everything is connected and his scope is huge. In all of that mess, RJ couldn't fit in a ton of information about the AoL without making everything even MORE complicated. We know what our characters know, and that's enough.