Re: It's a huge honor to be a sul'dam, and they test for that on the same day - Edit 1
Before modification by Mats imaginary friend at 02/06/2010 06:00:58 AM
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.
That is an interesting thought. I don't know if it has even been stated if someone with the spark can be tought to use the power before it starts to manifest naturally. I would think this would have been mentioned beforehand if it was possible, as it probably would have led the Seanchan to realize that Sul'dam can channel. It is clearly stated (not including the possibility that the some of the Seanchan high elite might know) that this was a very new and startling revelation to those who learned this. I really don't think this is going to happen, or we probably would have seen evidence of it before now.
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?
As for the Seanchan being outnumbered just because they don't accept learners I think there are a few factors to offset this disadvantage. First, Seanchan is as large as, if not larger than Randland, the Aiel Waste, and Shara combined, and if the strength of the army that they brought to Randland (which was really just an over sized reconnaissance mission) is any indication, then they have the massive population to match the scale of their empire. To give you an idea of a potential population, at it's height I believe the Roman Empire had a population of around 50 million people and only had an army of 600,000 or so soldiers. IIRC the Seanchan have easily surpassed this number just considering the soldiers brought over to Randland (which can hardly be anywhere near their full army if they have any intention of retaining their current holdings in Seanchan.) Also, the fact that Seanchan (outside of occasional rebellions and new conquests on the fringes of their empire) would have been relatively stable for many centuries, should have allowed for their population to expand while in Randland it has been in near constant decline, as is shown in the numerous countries that have dissapeared due to depopulation and continuous war.
I can only speculate about the food production levels of the Seanchan Empire, but given what seems to be a much higher level of organization and the greater stability that they enjoy, I would think that they could easily have been near the thresh-hold that any society would reach prior to
the industrial revolution. The Ming Empire in the mid 17th century had an estimated population of 150 million and that was pre-industrial revolution, so Seanchan could potentially be comparable in size.
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.
Can't comment too much on this. I could see it going either way, though the Seanchan's tendency towards superstition makes me think that they might think this way.