Good point, I forgot about the "positive" aspect of sul'dam. But even so I would expect fear. I mean the whole thing is basically a sort of lottery where you might win big, but you might ALSO be horribly tortured and enslaved for life. I would think the negative part would have to be on your mind at some level. And even sul'dam continue to be tested until 25.

I wonder if it possible for a sparker to first test positive for a sul'dam and then afterwards for the collar itself. I guess it must be given that the testing is done. That would still mean fear and doubt even after you became a sul'dam. More so perhaps since at that point you would actually have seen firsthand what would happen to you. Heck, if you tested positive for channeling as a sul'dam, one would think the chance that you might also have the spark would be significant so a lot of sul'dam eventually end up as damane afterall.

Hmm. Do we know the statistics involved? I mean there seem to be a lot of damane around. Makes me wonder actually how they could possibly compete with the channeling capacity of the AS and the Asha'man who both also accept/train learners. Should they not already be outnumbered? How many people are in Seanchan total? I am not entirely sure what the percentages or channelers to population are, nor how many people the foodproduction in a medieval society like Seanchan could support. Help?

Anyway, you might be right about the "someone else" thing. Especially if actual sparkers are rare enough that someone being caught happens very rarely. Out of sight, out of mind and all that. It also just occurred to me to wonder if the average Seanchan citizen knows how involuntary becoming a channeler is. I mean one would expect this would be obvious since no one wants to be a channeler there, but the Seanchan are brainwashed in other ways too. Maybe they are conditioned from childhood to think that all those who are caught were evil people who chose to become channelers, rather than the innocent victims with bad luck that they are in truth. And naturally this would mean that a "good girl" would not need to fear becoming a damane since they would never "choose" to channel.

But yeah, I guess the impact is probably much less significant than I originally thought.