the Tower needs to be rehauled completely truth be told
darius_sedai Send a noteboard - 07/06/2010 08:13:10 PM
I think everyone would eliminate the Oaths for the obvious reasons.
I would, simply because of the implicit hypocrisy and sort of double-dealing and Tower-centric behavior it encourages. I'd makes some sweeping changes to "foreign policy" too. First and foremost I'd eliminate "AS Advisers" in lieu of full on Ambassadors to every country that would allow it. These Embassies would be lead by a Blue, this is how I would envision their purpose evolving from "causes". Within the Embassy I'd have 1 member of every other Ajah to serve each function. A Yellow to set up a hospital and coordinate the teaching etc of Healers. A Grey to run a court system for Channeling offenses. A Red to act as Channeler Police. A Brown and a White to set up schools (including channeling schools) and libraries and a Green to act as a military adviser.
The only problem with this is that Ajahs are more like organizations with a particular area of focus. They are NOT specializations of skills or divisions of labor. While the areas of interests mean that the two definitions have some overlap, and for all intents and purposes they WILL be divided up like that, it is still not the same as, for example, a military organization's branches of service (Engineering, Intelligence, Aviation, MP, etc). Thus Cadsuane, a Green, can be the premier hunter of male channelers in the world, and no one within the Tower ever comments on the apparent incongruity. That is because hunting male channelers is not the Red Ajah's JOB or specialty, but merely their area of interest, and the thing they believe to be the highest priority of the Tower. Additionally, your proposal to assign the sisters on-going jobs based on their Ajah runs counter to the personal rights of the sisters. They are not soldiers, and the Amyrlin is not their general who can command them as such. She is more like the head of their nation, and as such has no right to dictate their lifestyle choices or career pursuits. While in both cases, such a person has a great deal of power and authority and as a practical matter can make things very unpleasant for people who do not follow her wishes, your proposal would be as contrary to the traditions and spirit of the Tower as Elaida's proposed Oath.
With 7 "staff" AS in every major city they could actually have enough presence to effect the world in practical ways, thus gaining more trust. in addition each Embassy would be powerful enough in Channeling ability to take down pretty much any Channeling threat aimed at them.
How so? Are they going to stay in a perpetual link all day? Another way to describe this plan would be "dissipating their strength and inviting defeat in detail." In addition these 7 senior Sisters would have several junior Sisters, Accepted and Novices at hand should something more significant arise. Perhaps as many as 100 women at various levels in any given city would be a force of Channelers very few would think of attacking!
So you are going to completely redefine the non-combatant initiates as well? Because such women would be a pure liability from the standpoint of the sisters who would not consider using novices and Accepted to fight. At most, they might bring them into links, which would not matter much. Against conventional threats, a link is overkill. Most Aes Sedai possess sufficient strength in the Power to kill a person, so they don't need more than that. A link is counter-indicated for most fights, unless they are up against more powerful channelers, who would have better options, like picking them off one at a time. In addition I would have the Novice system of training changed a bit. Every girl would train in the local Embassy for the first year of her training, learning the basics of Channeling and getting the baseline education necessary. Those with enough potential would then be sent to TV for several more years of training until they are ready to test for Accepted. Accepted would then spend the first year or so studying in TV until they had decided on a focus of their studies. At which point they would be sent for a fixed amount of time on a rotation of Embassies. Teaching new Novices and learning from a variety of AS. After 2-3 years of travels she would return to TV for her final years of training and testing.
This would absolutely suck from the Tower's point of view! The Tower's training WORKS, whether or not it produces your ideal of a channeler. Your way would lead to drastic changes and alter the Tower out of recognizable shape. One of its strongest arguments and benefits is the continuity it provides and represents, and your reforms proposed thus far are dynamite placed at the foundations of that continuity. The Tower's training first and foremost inculcates a strong, predominant loyalty to the Tower. This allows the sisters as they rise through the ranks to hold the Tower and its traditions important enough to uphold and protect them for their own sake, hence the continuity. Additionally, it makes them put the Tower first over other polities. While sisters may not put aside their national loyalties sufficiently to remain objective on issues regarding their homelands, there are few to no cases in the books of a sister actually siding with her homeland over the Tower. In your scenario, women who lacked potential might never actually set foot in the Tower! How is that loyalty which is so important to the Tower supposed to be maintained? How is nationalistic sentiment supposed to be overcome if they don't ever leave their nations? The Tower's way has even the Kin who hide form sisters professing a superior loyalty to the Tower, and thus preventing them from acting against its interests. Your way is seeding a garden of anti-Tower sentiment and rebellion.
The women who do not have the potential (or inclination) to become full AS would be educated in trade and sent out as Tower employees to run trade organizations, hospitals, schools etc... keeping them attached to the Tower, but in useful functions.
What right does the Tower have to demand lifetime service in a manner they deem useful? Who are they to decide what is a useful function of a person's life? Why should they not have the freedom to spend their lives in ways that make THEM happy?Once a woman achieved the Shawl I would also enforce another year of service to the Tower, either in TV or at a specific location working for more senior Sisters.
On what grounds? Getting the shawl is not like being fully brought into the command structure, it is a graduation. This is like forcing a graduate to work for his university upon attaining his degree. The point of getting the shawl is that now you are an Aes Sedai, legally equal to all the others. Aes Sedai are not soldiers, minions or vassals of the Tower held to it by regulations and rules and discipline, they are independant women with their own interests and agendas who gravitate to the Tower by choice and affection. This is why the Amyrlin lacks the authority to demand sisters report on their whereabouts or swear oaths of personal obediance. If the Tower was what you seem to believe it is, Elaida's proposed Oath would be a non-issue, as Hitler's equivalent demand of the German military was. The nature of their oaths of service made that oath redundant. For the Tower, however, it represents a radically different way of interaction. Any thoughts on how you would change the WT?
Domani Drag Queen in the White Tower ... Aran'gar watch out!
If you were Egwene what changes would you make to the Tower?
04/06/2010 03:31:24 PM
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I like your ideas.
04/06/2010 03:52:24 PM
- 530 Views
Exactly!
04/06/2010 03:54:53 PM
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Honestly, I would love to burn down the Tower, and bring the Aes Sedai down from their high horse
04/06/2010 05:44:28 PM
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new drapes, toss Elaida's stuff, post charts of DFs on every floor, & pro-Rand posters everywhere! *NM*
04/06/2010 07:42:43 PM
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Re: If you were Egwene what changes would you make to the Tower?
04/06/2010 08:53:28 PM
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That's true, but if this system had been set up early on, recruiting would be very high.
04/06/2010 10:34:22 PM
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Didn't say she'd do it tomorrow. This is about "what would you do" not "what's realistic"
04/06/2010 10:39:57 PM
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Darius-sedai, I think your plan would ruin the White Tower.
05/06/2010 04:17:57 AM
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Deane Aryman had nothing to do with the damane system. It was a Seanchan born channeler who made it.
08/06/2010 07:52:15 PM
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Very good ideas. I'll add some more:
06/06/2010 04:22:14 AM
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Hmm...
06/06/2010 04:46:34 PM
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Reds, Blues, Greens and Whites... all need to evolve
06/06/2010 10:23:43 PM
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Your way would hurt the Tower to little gain.
07/06/2010 07:53:25 PM
- 424 Views
the Tower needs to be rehauled completely truth be told
07/06/2010 08:13:10 PM
- 554 Views