In many people's eyes, Jordan's The Wheel of Time is the contemporary successor to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Like Tolkien, Jordan focuses on conflict between good and evil, set in a fantasy world that includes magic and imaginary races. Jordan goes further: he adds sexual and political tensions, setting his plot in the past, present and future. The action in the Wheel of Time (wot) mud follows this world. 

   Central to the Wheel of Time is magic, referred to as Channeling, or the use of the One Power. The One Power is made up of five elements, named according to the sorts of things that can be accomplished using them: Fire, Spirit, Air, Water and Earth. Only the most polished of channelers have the use of all five elements: most have two, possibly three. 

   The amount of the One Power that can be handled by individual channelers varies according to individuals but can be increased by the use of ancient artifacts from the 'Age of Legends', a previous time. These Angreal are highly sought after and are almost impossible to find. Probably the best known of such all Angreal is Callandor, the crystal sword imprisoned in the Stone of Tear, a fortress in the south of the land. Sizzling with the One Power, its bearer can instantly command Balefire, the most cataclysmic and controversial of all known spells. Balefire 'undoes' those that have been hit by it, and can devastate whole areas. 

   Since 'The Breaking', a period primarily remembered for the bloody descent of male channelers into a frenzy of genocide, women have sought to keep a monopoly on the use of the One Power. Throughout the land, young girls that show promise in the use of the One Power are sought by the order of female channelers, Aes Sedai, and taken to the tower in their city, Tar Valon, for training and evaluation. Novices at first, upon successful completion of the Three Tests, they become Accepted and after recital of the Three Oaths they become full Aes Sedai. 

   Once they have earned the title of Aes Sedai, they must choose their Ajah, clans into which all Aes Sedai are organised. Each Ajah has different characteristics, and an Aes Sedai's Ajah can be discerned by the colour of the shawl they wear. The White Ajah devotes itself to questions of philosophy and truth, Yellows are committed to the study and use of healing, Blues take up causes and justice and the the Grays are mediators and arbitrators. Browns seek forgotten knowledge and largely avoid daily events. 

   Caustic and ancient antagonism exists between Greens and Reds, which occasionally spills over into violence. The former cooperate with and protect men from harm, whilst the latter detest males intensely and devote themselves exclusively to male channelers: their capture, imprisonment, torture, gentling and utter humiliation. Rumours of a Black Ajah, dedicated to serving the Dark One, are officially and vehemently denied. 

   Much to the frustration of Aes Sedai, there are always some whose channeling abilities seem elude Tar Valon detection. Often its the case that the rural Wisdom, leader of the village Woman's Circle and ostensibly a skilled healer, has minor channeling abilities. Equally, the Aiel have Wise Ones and the Sea People have Windseekers that are deft at peculiar aspects of the One Power. 

   Occasionally women teach themselves how to channel the One Power. Known as Wilders, if they survive their adolescence, they can be amongst the most powerful channelers in the land. 

   The handful of men that are born with an ability to channel vex Tar Valon most of all. The One Power has both male and female parts, Saidin and Saidar. Quoting history, the time of 'The Breaking', Aes Sedai are convinced that men tainted with the Power must inevitably lose their senses and descend into indiscriminate butchery and insanity. Prevention of this is Tar Valon's self-appointed role, at which Reds, in particular, excel. 

   Rural hearsay and urban gossip offers another view of male channelers. They believe that Shai'tan, the Dark One will ultimately only be routed by a channeling man, and that all the forces in the land, including Tar Valon, shall fall before his armies. He will be known as the Dragon Reborn. Fearing this and the inevitable dilution of their political eminence, Aes Sedai seek out male channelers in order to nullify their grasp of the One Power: Gentling. The bloody upheaval that has marked the appearance of many False Dragons throughout history suggests that they may be right. 

   In their task of fighting False Dragons, most Sedai will be assisted by Warders: warriors that have chosen to bond with individual Aes Seadai. Such bonding is a thing of the One Power: by it he gains certain gifts. What the Aes Sedai gain from this arrangement is a closely held secret. 

Peoples 
The eternal struggle against the Dark One, Shai'tan, is the background to everything that occurs in the Wheel of Time. He is the antithesis of the creator and source of all evil. His minions glory in malice. 

   Most dreaded amongst these are the Forsaken, or Chosen as they prefer to call themselves. They were 13 of most powerful channelers in a previous age who went over to the Dark One in return for the promise of immortality. Responsible for a litany of deaths too innumerable to mention, their names still inspire terror throughout the land. Once again, rumours that the Black Ajah swear allegiance to the Forsaken are sharply rebuked. 

   Trollocs arc the most abundant of the Dark One's servants. Twisted brutes of hunan and animal stock and huge in stature, they will eat anything or anyone. They live for the kill. They cooperate with the Forsaken, and often accompany the Dark One's other creations: Dragh-kar, Fades and Grey Men. Beware of the valley of Shayol Ghul and the Mountains of Mist! 

   The most austere opposition to the Dark One's forces are the Children of the Light, or Whitecloaks. They are an ascetic fighting Order from Amadicia. Independantly-minded, they loathe and fear the One Power. Aes Sedai, male channelers and anyone that supports either are considered Darkfriends: they are exposed and cruelly tortured by the Questioners, an extremist group within the Order. 

   The Aielmen, the people of the Waste, are ruthless and sturdy. Glorifying combat, they veil their faces before the kill and refer to combat as the 'dance'. They are divided into a number of different societies, some of which are mortal rivals. Lethal warriors with their bows and arrows, they will neither touch a sword nor ride a horse. The Aiel can be recognised by their sand-coloured clothing, Cadin'sor, and a veil which they wrap round their head and neck leaving only their faces bare, the Shoufa. 

   Few people in the world have been privileged enough to meet an Ogier, an elusive, ancient race with long forgotten skills. Creation of Cuendillar, or Heartstone, a peculiar type of stone that has One Power properties and was used to make the seals that are said to imprison the Dark One, is one of their skills. They live in Steddings, tranquil domains where neither man nor beast is allowed to bear weapon. 

   The Travelling People, or Tinkers, are one of the few neutral peoples in the world: they follow a pacific philosophy known as The Way of the Leaf. Things mended by them are often better than new, but Tinkers are shunned by many people because of stories that they steal children and try to convert young people to their beliefs. 

   Gleemen are a welcome sight in this war-weary land, with their multicoloured patchwork cloaks. They tell stories spread news, providing a pleasant distraction to the grim reality of daily events. 

   Yet other, even older forces exist in the fight against evil. Years ago, when the world was primeval, wolf and man used to hunt together. Man and wolf could converse, and man could assume animal form. Mankind no longer remembers this, but his allies against evil, wolves do. They rejoice on the rare occasions when a man with such abilities, a Wolfbrother, appears. 

Geography 
The entire area on which the action takes place is riddles with a massive network of underground tunnels, the Ways, guarded by Waygates. One peculiar and little understood aspect of the Ways is their corruption of channeling. For those that successfully use The Ways, easy reach of distant destinations can be the reward. For the less fortunate, an unenviable death at the hands of the Black Wind, the creature that haunts the tunnels is the result. Indeed, even Trollocs fear The Ways. 

   The land in which the action takes place is actually the southwest corner of a vast continent. Oceanic and continental weather systems regularly collide over this corner, so lightning and thunder are a frequent phenomenon. The land is bordered by mountain ranges to the north and the cast and by the ocean to the south and the west. The flat coastal strip which extends inland rises quite dramatically to a mountainous area in the west of the land. High plateau country dominates the other side of this range, the centre. This sheltered plateau is at a higher altitude than the coastal areas but a lower altitude than the mountains that surround ii to the north, east and west. 

   Swamps, quagmires and quicksand all feature heavily in seaboard areas, especially around the Fingers of the Dragon near Tear and the Shadow Coast in the southwest of the land near Windbiter's Finger. The land here tends to be covered with the reeds and tall grasses that characterise the south's semi-tropical climate. 

   Vegetation is sparse at the highest altitudes, which are usually permanently covered with snowdrifts. Heavy snowfalls, frequent avalanches and enormous glaciers all make ventures here a challenging adventure, though not without its rewards. 

   The fertile central plateau is hilly, heavily forested and well irrigated. This area is highly productive and occupies about one quarter of the land. Braem Wood covers this area: it is part of the great forest that stretches for many hundreds of leagues and it is possible to walk from the Mountains of Mist to the Spine of the World without ever meeting anyone. Braem Wood gives waiy to the Haddon Mirk in the cast of the land, a huge tangled forest without villages, roads or paths. 

   The Aiel Waste in the northwest is a parched, inhospitable wilderness. It is possible to boil by day and freeze by night there, and only Aielmen can find food or water. There is insufficient rainfall here to support agriculture, and the barren land is shared between the semi-nomadic Aid and wild creatures. 

   The oldest Kingdom in the land is the Crown of Andor, which rules the area around Caemlyn, located broadly in the centre of the land. Directly to Caemlyn's north lies the Dragonmount, a mysterious peak just south of Tar Valon, city of the Aes Sedai. To Tar Valon's north lie the vast battle plains of Saldaea, Kandor, Arafel and Shieriar, and the area of Ghealdan. The city of Fal Dara lies here, whose inhabitants are directly in the front line in the battle against the Dark One's forces which come from the nearby Blight, Mountains of Dhoom and Shayol Ghul. 

   Caemlyn lies some way east of the massive mountain range that dominates the west of the world. Known as the Mountains of Mist, they are almost impossible to traverse and provide an ideal refuge for the Dark One's creatures. Trollocs are rumoured to have a well hidden fortress there. Baerlon, the Two Rivers area and Jehamiah all lie in the eastern foothills of the Mountains of Mist. 

   At the southernmost point of the Mountains of Mist is Amadicia, home of the Children of the Light. Far to the west, on the coastal plain on the other side of the Mountains of Mist, are Bandar Eban, Falme and Tanchico, ports that all lie on the coast of the Arith Ocean. Several islands lie off the west coast: the loose collection of Aile Dashar to the north, the larger island of Tremalking to the south and many others in between which are as yet unnamed, undiscovered and uninhabited. The Seanchanraces come from one of these islands, a highly stratified, militaristic race that threatens to invade the mainland. The southern Sea of Storms contains several small islands: Cindaking in the east and Qaim in the west. Between and beyond these lie the Isles of the Seafolk. Little is known of these, as only sporadic contact has existed with the mainland for hundreds of years. 

   Stedding Shangtai, Tear, Lugard, Ilian, Ebou Dar and Amador are the main towns in the south of the land. Stedding Shangtai in far to the east, on the south of the Spine of the World, the eastern mountain range. Tear and the Fingers of the Dragon, the name for the delta of the River Erinin, are almost directly south of Caemlyn. Lugard is due south from the midpoint of Four Kings and Whitebridge, two towns that lie west of Caemlyn, and is connected to the latter by the River Manetherendrelle. Ilian, the port on a peninsula which extends into the southern Ocean, the Sea of Storms, lies south of Lugard. 

   Cairhien, leading to the Janghai Pass through the Spine of the World, lies to the east of Caemlyn. The mountains of the Spine of the World are the easternmost boundary of known lands. The Aiel Waste lies in the northeast: harsh, rugged and all but waterless country, travellers are advised that strangers are not welcome. Maps of the Waste are not known to exist.