Seanchan Log In

Basic Info

Ruler

Empress Fortuona

Allegiance

Seanchan

Description

A nation. Location Seanchan covers the entire continent which lies westward across the Aryth Ocean from the Westlands. Ruling Body The Empire previously ruled by the Empress from the Court of Nine Moons located in Seandar, where she reigns upon the famed Crystal Throne. Upon her death, Tuon became Empress and reigns from the Westlands.

Characters in Seanchan (50 Total)

Name	Class	Status
Abaldar Yulan	Soldier	Alive
Ajimbura	Soldier	Alive
Alivia	Channeler	Alive
Almurat Mor	Soldier	Alive
Alwhin	Noble	Alive
Tuon Athaem Kore Paendrag (aka Fortuona Athaem Devi Paendrag)	Noble	Alive
Bakayar Mishima	Soldier	Alive
Bethamin Zeami	Soldier	Alive
Blasic Faloun	Soldier	Alive
Dali	Channeler	Alive
Dani	Channeler	Alive
Falendre	Soldier	Alive
Furyk Karede	Soldier	Alive
Gamel Loune	Soldier	Alive
Gille	Channeler	Dead
Gueye Arabah	Soldier	Alive
Gurat	Soldier	Dead
Huan	Soldier	Dead
Egeanin Tamarath (aka Leilwin)	Sailor	Alive
Zaired Elbar	Soldier	Dead
Eliya	Soldier	Dead
Essonde	Soldier	Alive
Ianelle	Soldier	Alive
Iona	Soldier	Alive
Kennar Miraj	Soldier	Dead
Varek	Soldier	Alive
Efraim Yamada	Soldier	Alive
Yuirl	Civilian	Alive
Zakai	Channeler	Alive
Jinjin	Channeler	Alive
Jini	Channeler	Alive
Jillari	Channeler	Alive
Jalindin	Soldier	Alive
Jalid Magonine	Civilian	Alive
Jadranka	Soldier	Dead
Musenge	Soldier	Alive
Murel	Soldier	Alive
Mulaen	Civilian	Alive
Morsa, Lady	Noble	Alive
Mikhel Najirah	Soldier	Alive
Melitene	Soldier	Alive
Mehtan	Civilian	Dead
Marli Noichin	Soldier	Alive
Marille	Channeler	Alive
Mantual	Soldier	Alive
Macu	Soldier	Dead
Nadoc	Soldier	Alive
Neferi	Noble	Dead
Nerith	Soldier	Alive
Norie	Channeler	Alive

Interviews (34 Total<)

Question	Action
Is the Court of Nine Moons something that moves with the Empress. In other words, wherever the Empress is holding court is that the Court of Nine Moons? I think that would be subject of debate, depending on what…I think that if the Empress were to declare herself on a different continent she would expect that it would and I think there would be those that would argue with her and wouldn’t expect that it would. Does that make sense? So, my answer would be that it would move with the Empress, but there are those that would disagree with me and with the Empress, may she live forever.	View More Details
How is it possible for Aes Sedai who have taken the Three Oaths to become damane and use the One Power as a weapon? They can't us the One Power as a weapon, not in any conventional sense. This presents some problems for the Seanchan, but then, damane are used for more than just weapons. And from the Seanchan point of view, at worst, an Aes Sedai who has been collared is one less marath'damane running around loose and doing the horrible things that their history tells them such women inevitably do. Remember, Seanchan history records a time under Aes Sedai rule, when no one could go to sleep at night with the certainty they would wake in the morning and Aes Sedai took whatever they wanted and killed anyone who crossed or opposed them. To the Seanchan, just removing these horrors from the board is a win.	View More Details
Was there corruption of both Karaethon Cycle and Essanik Cycle prophecies? People are not perfect, alright? Let’s just say that and there are lots of forces at work. The Essanik cycle, they have tried to preserve it as perfectly as they can. If the Outriggers ever get written there will be more information about what the Essanik cycle is. It is had only in Seanchan. It was given by damane in Seanchan, so nobody knows about it on the main continent.	View More Details
We know that the Karaethon Cycle and the Essanik Cycle are different. Is that because there were different contributors to each, or some other reason (like tampering by Ishy)? Which is more correct? The Essanik cycle had only in Seanchan and there were different contributors. Which is more correct? I’m not going to say which is more correct. There has been tampering… People are not perfect, alright? Let’s just say that and there are lots of forces at work. The Essanik cycle, they have tried to preserve it as perfectly as they can. If the Outriggers ever get written there will be more information about what the Essanik cycle is. It is had only in Seanchan. It was given by damane in Seanchan, so nobody knows about it on the main continent.	View More Details
We know that the Karaethon Cycle and the Essanik Cycle are different. Is that because there were different contributors to each, or some other reason (like tampering by Ishy)? Which is more correct? The Essanik cycle had only in Seanchan and there were different contributors. Which is more correct? I’m not going to say which is more correct. There has been tampering…	View More Details
We know the Tower of Ravens located in the Seanchan capital city is used as an imperial prison especially for members of the Blood, but there is also a reference to the first marath'damane shaking the Towers of Midnight. Are the Towers of Midnight also a prison? Can you tell us more about them? There are thirteen Towers of Midnight. The Towers of Midnight are a fortress complex, and were - at the time this happened, Seandar wasn't the capital and the Towers of Midnight were the center of military might, or the forces that were beginning the consolidation before the conquest of Seanchan.	View More Details
Would Rand technically be a bladesmaster since he killed the Seanchan blademaster [Turak] in The Great Hunt? Or is there more to being a bladesmaster than that? There's more to it than that.	View More Details
In Falme we saw Rand fighting Ishamael and the Heroes of the Horn and the Seanchan were mirroring the progress of the battle. Does this mean that there is something inherently evil about the Seanchan Empire? Nobody in WoT is inherently evil, except for Shadowspawn. At the time, the Seanchan were being led by a Darkfriend.	View More Details
Do certain races have better ability at channeling than others? For example, the Sea Folk at very good at weather, the Aiel have a high proportion of Dreamers, and the Seanchan can make ter'angreal. The Seanchan can only make one kind of ter'angreal. They haven't thought about making another. Certain groups are better at some abilities but its a matter of need. The Atha'an Miere are dependent on the sea, the wind and water and it would be natural for them to develop high skills to deal with control of weather and winds. For the Aiel, Dreaming is one of the ways to find new water, using need is how they find water. When the population in a hold is too great, and they have to find a new hold, the Dreamwalker uses need to find it. So yes, there are more Dreamwalkers there.	View More Details
Was pre-Consolidation Seanchan like [the Land of Madmen] or was it different? No, pre-Consolidation Seanchan was a quilt of petty kingdoms, or queendoms, if you will, ruled by Aes Sedai, with no unifying power. More Aes Sedai died by assassination than by any other means. They ruled by use of the One Power, gathering a small group of other women around them who could channel, constantly struggling for power against other small groups of women who could channel, who ruled their own small kingdoms, and the constantly shifting quilt - because if the wrong woman died or the right woman died in a particular country, or small fieflet, whatever, small kingdom, it would be absorbed by those around it - there were two continents of almost continual rolling open warfare: there’s war here, war here, war here, war there, stop here, now there, now here, now stop there, okay this could go on here, and constant plotting and scheming, because the only way to rise to the top is if you were and Aes Sedai is to kill those ahead of you. The most common means of death for an Aes Sedai, or cause of death for an Aes Sedai there was assassination. That is the world in which Arthur Hawkwing’s army arrived and began the Consolidation.	View More Details
How does Mat's medallion damage the gholam? Also, what significance to the Seanchan does his spear have? Laughing... Read and Find out. If I tell you you get bored with the new books!	View More Details
Are there any channelers on the Seanchan continent that suffer from an emotional block like Nynaeve had? Read and find out.	View More Details
You wrote about a very exotic place, called the Towers of Midnight. I think it seems to be an evil place, because as far as I know the Deathwatch Guard is trained there... No. The Towers of Midnight are a place that is run by the Seekers: a political prison, a place of execution at least for very high-ranking political prisoners. They can’t shed your blood, so they simply stuff you into a sack and hang you over the side of one of the towers until you die, but very careful. A sack lined with velvet so none of your blood will ever seep out and be spilled. Remember there have been times this has been done - this is not an invention of mine. There are cultures in this world where [for] people of certain classes, it was illegal to shed their blood: you could not, even in an execution. Therefore, they would roll a man in layers of velvet and put him inside a bag and have him trampled to death by horses, but the velvet was there to absorb his blood, and the leather bag to insure nothing seeped out, so his blood was never shed. It was never spilled on the ground. You see? So that’s what the Towers of Midnight are. I won’t tell you a lot more, because I don’t know that I will ever show them in one of the books, but it’s possible, so…	View More Details
Were the Seanchan animals created before or after the Shadowspawn? They are the 'exotics'. They were brought to Randland from parallel dimensions (like in the portal stones). When Rand saw grolm in the Portal Stone world, he was seeing them in the native 'land'.	View More Details
Is the Court of Nine Moons something that moves with the Empress. In other words, wherever the Empress is holding court is that the Court of Nine Moons? I think that would be subject of debate, depending on what…I think that if the Empress were to declare herself on a different continent she would expect that it would and I think there would be those that would argue with her and wouldn’t expect that it would. Does that make sense? So, my answer would be that it would move with the Empress, but there are those that would disagree with me and with the Empress, may she live forever.	View More Details
Have the visions and other such prophecies about Egwene and the Seanchan (such as the running one and the one with the sword) have they been fulfilled yet? No, none of those have been fulfilled other than the attack on the White Tower. She still has more to go.	View More Details
How long does the Bloodknives' ter'angreal effect last? That effect can be stretched if they take it off, for several weeks. It is going to kill them eventually. If they are wearing it straight, it’s not going to last long, a matter of days, but if they take it off they can hide for a matter of weeks. So, there are four unaccounted for, who have orders to kill as many Aes Sedai as they can.	View More Details
In a previous statement I believe you had basically said that the action of the series would take place in the Lands known to Rand and his friends i.e. not Shara or Seanchan and yet the new book has alot of stuff about those lands--have you changed your mind? Is action in either of these two lands a possibility now? No. Except for the possible occasional divergence, except for Rand's excursions to Seanchan when he chased after Aviendha. I was willing to put as much as I did into the the guide because I will not be using those things in the books in the same way that I used Kandor or Saldaea.	View More Details
Did [the pre-Consolidation Seanchan] speak the same language? The people there did not. But the people there…this is like an acquisition. This is sort of like what the Han did: when the Han conquered China, there were many languages in China, as there still are. Because Mandarin is one language and Cantonese is another. They use the same ideograms, because the Han said: “You may speak any language you wish to use, but you will use our alphabet, our ideograms.” And it is as if the French said poisson, you say whatever you say for “fish” [note that the interview takes place in Budapest, Hungary], but all of you spelled it F-I-S-H, in English letters. The French spelled it F-I-S-H, in English letters and said poisson and that’s what they wrote when they said poisson And that’s what you wrote: you would say whatever the Hungarian word is for “fish” but if you wrote it, you would write F-I-S-H in the English letters. And with the Consolidation, culturally the people of that conquering army had been much more absorbed than they were. Culturally they have little left of the culture that they brought with them. But their language was imposed: they imposed the language they brought with them. I’ve thought about it a little bit and I think there was, because of that history, probably more languages than one. The languages would have had more time to drift and more incentive to split apart than they did on the [Randland] continent, as I postulated its history, but those languages were wiped out. Yes. Those languages [on the Seanchan continent] were wiped out and the language that remains is essentially the language that was spoken by Arthur Hawkwing. But, because, as I say, of the things that happened after Hawkwing’s death: the shifting around of populations, mixing and blending of populations from different parts of the continent, and a thousand years of growth, and no time for that language to change a great deal. Also the one thing that has survived, which helped, I think: printing presses were one for the first things rediscovered, you might say, after the Breaking. People began printing books very shortly after the Breaking - I mean very shortly - as soon as people were setting up cities, there were people who had book presses going, and it’s an interesting thing:. I can read Shakespeare and understand 98, 99 percent of the words and language. If you went back the same length of time between me and Shakespeare to behind him, he could not have understood what those people were saying, he could not have read what they wrote. Because the English language had changed in pronunciation, in the way the spelling was, in the way the letters were written, everything. What happened simultaneously then: it wasn’t as I’ve heard postulated that Shakespeare was so beautiful and so wonderful that he froze the English language. What happened was: the printing press came into common use and suddenly the language stopped changing as rapidly. It still changed, but you would take me back to Elizabethan times and I would have a hard time understanding the accents, but eventually I would work into understanding what would sound to me like strangely accented English, but pretty recognizably English for most, at least for London and the south of England. So we’ve got printing presses, and so in relatively short periods of time, the language is largely unchanged, not completely but largely, in each thousand year segment. Although over the three thousand year segment it has diverged from the Old Tongue, which you must learn to be an educated man, to what people speak now, and most people do not speak the Old Tongue and can not understand the Old Tongue. A thousand years back, you’ve got Arthur Hawkwing, and that’s the language that the Seanchan speak. And these people can understand it, they only think “You’ve got a funny accent, you speak too fast, and you speak too slow, and it’s all slurred.”	View More Details
I have heard rumors that you confirmed the identity of the Daughter of the Nine Moons as Tuon, the Seanchan Empress's second daughter. Is this true or just a rumor? A rumor. I very seldom confirm my very own existence.	View More Details
Is Tuon's new name, Fortuona, an intentional play on the Latin Fortuna? Many see this as a semantic trick for calling her Lady Luck, which fits being Mat's wife. Good question, and I'm going to allow you to say yes, as I don't think anything of that nature was done without a purpose, but it was Jim's (Robert Jordan) choice, which Maria dug out for me when I realized I needed to create a new name for her upon ascending as Empress.	View More Details
Is it an assumption that we haven’t seen the last of these individuals right here (I was pointing at the Seanchan assassins)? There were five sent. We know one is dead. The other four, they may have lived or died through the assault, it was pretty chaotic, but they are expert warriors with ter’angreal focused on letting them hide.	View More Details
In The Fires of Heaven, in the chapters "The Far Snows" and "A Short Spear," was the timing of events deliberately precalculated by him, or not? If the first is true, I'm not asking for an explanation --presumably we'll get that in a later book. I'm just asking for a yes or a no. (If he wants to know why the question was put, please just say the two words "time zones.") Yes, the timing was calculated. I know how far to the west Seanchan lies.	View More Details
What is the origin of the raven as a symbol of the Seanchan Empire? Why isn't it a hawk? The conquerors of Seanchan suffered the fate of many smaller groups that conquer larger. They were, in many ways, absorbed by the conquered, with only an overlayer remaining of what and who they were before. In pre-conquest Seanchan, the raven was a symbol of rulers because (1) it was supposedly wise, and (2) (perhaps more importantly) it supposedly saw and knew everything that happened. Nothing escapes the eyes of the raven, and frankly, any hawk or eagle that tries taking on ravens, gets chased off. So, the golden hawk remains the symbol of the Imperial family, descendants of Artur Hawkwing, but the raven is the symbol of rule and of Empire.	View More Details
What a kind of numbers militarily do the Seanchan have on this side of the Aryth? I don't want to answer this as it could be a spoiler for those who have not read far enough.	View More Details
Is the Hawking era and or the Seanchan based on any actual historical era and do you plan on including some more historical data about the Age of Legends and maybe a separate series? The first part of your question: no. It's based on several combined. The second part: Only insofar as it affects the story in the "here and now." In a separate series: no.	View More Details
Do the Seanchan consider the raid on the White Tower a success? Yes, they consider it a success, but they’re disappointed that they didn’t get their hands on the Aes Sedai superweapon.	View More Details
Did Ishamael have a hand in how the Seanchan prophecies have come to differ from those of the westlands? RAFO	View More Details
Mr. Jordan stated that the Seanchan only know how to make one kind of ter'angreal. Then there are the Bloodknives' rings. Is this a departure from Jordan's notes, or a discrepancy in a past answer? Neither. The Seanchan only know how to make a'dam.	View More Details
In your future Wheel of Time books will we start to see things from the Seanchan perspective? It's quite possible, but the only real answer I can give is RAFO.	View More Details
Is it an assumption that we haven’t seen the last of these individuals right here (I was pointing at the Seanchan assassins)? There were five sent. We know one is dead. The other four, they may have lived or died through the assault, it was pretty chaotic, but they are expert warriors with ter’angreal focused on letting them hide.	View More Details
How long does [the Seanchan assassin] effect last? Days? That affect can be stretched if they take it off, for several weeks. It is going to kill them eventually. If they are wearing it straight, it’s not going to last long, a matter of days, but if they take it off they can hide for a matter of weeks. So, there are four unaccounted for, who have orders to kill as many Aes Sedai as they can.	View More Details
Which cultures in the Seanchan? (based on things in the Guide) The Seanchan also are the melting of things that have come from many different human cultures to make their culture. There have been many rigid stratified, rigidly hierarchal cultures. It's a very human thing. The concept of being able to climb above your station is a relatively new one in human culture. You were born where you were born for a reason, and that is the place you will stay, that has been the norm for human culture, for most of history.	View More Details
Mr. Jordan, I play one of the best telnet games based on your books (cshadow.net port 4000). It runs as close to your books as we can get. My question is this: I play a Seanchan character and have for some time. What was your basis when creating the Seanchan race and the structure of their society? I enjoy the race completely and love the structure of its hierarchy and was just curious as to what they are created from in your mind. Thank you! Imperial China. Japan during the Shogunates, with strong dollops of the Persian Empire and the Ottoman.	View More Details