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Actually... Cannoli Send a noteboard - 18/12/2011 03:47:35 AM
after everything that went down. They have false prophecies, they were ruled by a Forsaken and they have a superiority complex that sets my teeth on edge. They are a society built on the slavery of others AGAIN at the behest of a forsaken and that slavery is built on a lie. They enslave SOME who have a certain ability yet let the others who have the same ability just that it must be trained and doesn't manifest itself at adolescence without guidance actually control the slaves.
There is no proof that they have false prophecies. There is only the fact that there are some differences between theirs and the wetlanders. There is no proof that their prophecies are false. In fact the only difference that we know of is their prophecy about Rand kneeling before the Empress, and we have already seen how that might be necessary. Tuon delayed her coronation to meet with him, because the Empress cannot treat anyone as an equal, but after he blew that meeting, she went ahead with it. Now Fortuona cannot meet Rand as an equal, and if he is going to make any deal with her, he will have to kneel. So their prophecy is highly likely to be valid.

The Seachan were not ruled by a Forsaken. In fact, every place that has been ruled by a Forsaken is currently one of the good nations. Rahvin ruled Andor, now under good queen Elayne; Sammael ruled Illian, now under good king Rand; and Bel'al ruled Tear, now under good king Darlin. Semirhage took a role as a member of the entourage of the heir to the Seanchan throne. If the Seanchan are bad for allowing a Forsaken that much influence, how much worse is the White Tower, both of which factions had a Forsaken influencing their Amyrlin?

Finally, the slavery of the Seanchan is based on necessity. they were forced to use damane to defeat the worst channelers known to the world, outside of the insane males and Forsaken/Dreadlords/Black Ajah. They could not fight the Aes Sedai who made Seanchan into such a horrific place without the aid of the Power, and they could not trust the natives, who had no concept of honor or loyalty. The extreme measures the Imperials took to secure their rule, which rub so wrongly against modern sensibilities, were necessary actions to maintain their power over a degenerate and chaotic society with no morals or decent traditions, and which fell apart completely once that Imperial Family was removed from the picture. The civil war devastating the continent is pretty much a justification for all the things they have had to do to stay on top of their treacherous subjects. They needed damane to subdue enemy channelers, because they had none of their own and would not have lasted long enough to breed some of their own, much less train them, if they did not have damane.

Their society is not built on a lie. They collar all channelers, because channelers cannot be trusted. In their experience, after the persecutions of their progenitor, Artur Hawkwing, by the White Tower, and their encounters with the monstrous tyrants who made Seanchan look like a minor case of the Breaking, how can you blame them? As for their sparing sul'dam, the sul'dam would never ever channel if they were not trained to do so. They are no threat to society, while mareth'damane WILL channel, whether they want to or not. And objectively speaking, are the Aes Sedai much better? They force women to come to them for training whether they want to or not, they crush any other channelers who wish to associate, to the point of telling them they cannot even socialize with each other, and drag them forcibly to the Tower, where they are treated like a combination of children and servants, whether they want to be Aes Sedai or not. They punish students for having a difference of opinion with their teachers in history classes, and they MURDER women who don't want to be a part of their organization or who choose priorities other than mindless Tower rules, or who do not conform to the Aes Sedai image. There is no other way to describe their shoving people they see as children into a ter'angreal they don't understand, or deliberately creating lethal scenarios to kill women of whom they disapprove. They might not TECHNICALLY force you, but if you do not "voluntarily" choose to accept their ways and their customs and their rules and their attitudes, they will imprison you in a single building, restrict your channeling, and/or murder you. Practically speaking they are no better than the Seanchan, just because they reward the women who break down and accept their ways with wealth and societal prestige.

That in itself sets up the society to come tumbling down when the truth of their supposed warrior women and saviors in the suldam actually being no better than damane. Even their empress is a damane walking around unleashed. Her comments of well i CHOOSE not to channel doesn't change the fact that she CAN CHANNEL.

No, she CAN learn, but CHOOSES not to. She will NEVER channel involuntarily. The women who have the spark that WILL result in their channeling no matter what are the ones who are collared. Rand tried to protest that he would never channel, but was told by two different Aes Sedai that he WOULD, regardless of what he wished or intended, so plainly that is what even the Tower believes. For some pretty good reasons, the Seanchan do not trust channelers, so they can justify their collaring any and only those with the spark.

THAT in and of itself is the crux of the lie of their entire society. I find it very hard to believe that the average person will be so forgiving of finding out that their suldam can channel and even their own EMPRESS can channel as well.

She can't unless she is taught how.
And their entire society is not built on any lie. The POWER of the Empress is built on the damane and their ability to protect the Empire from more rogue channelers. Without the power of the Empress, well, we have seen what happens... Oh, and you are forgetting that the vast majority of their subjects are now wetlanders, who are used to being dominated by female channelers and will probably not give a damn about any supposed hypocrisy. Right now, in the USA, there are protests and demonstrations going on, complaining about the most powerful 1% of the population. Are you seriously contending that people in WoT will get upset about THEIR most powerful 1% getting put to work for the common good?

I see a revolt coming and a big one because THAT is the bombshell that has yet to be dropped on the society as a whole.
Meh.
Cannoli
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Inde muagdhe Aes Sedai misain ye!
Deus Vult!
*MySmiley*
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