Rules and Guidelines

Biography rules for the White Tower

A Traditional Novice arrives at the Tower between the ages of 14 & 19. She will take an average of 10 years each as Novice & Accepted. These characters will ALWAYS be RPed in retro, until raised to Aes Sedai, at which time you can set her age as anything between mid twenties to over 200.

A Salidar Novice arrives at the Tower a maximum of 5 years in retro and may be 20 to 70 years old at that time. Once raised to Aes Sedai, they may be no older than their bio age plus time in training (min 3, max 7 years added). These characters will be “forced” and pushed hard, and so will be raised much faster than Traditional Novices. A minimum of 2 years as Novice & 1 year as Accepted and a maximum of 4 years as Novice & 3 years as Accepted.

1. Your character cannot be a wilder or otherwise have started channelling before her arrival at the Tower. (Exceptions can be made with DL approval, be warned it is very hard to get approval.) If you are interested in being a sparker or wilder, you must have rp ideas set up, a block set up, and how the block will be broken.
Application for Spark Inborn (to be submitted with bio):
Has your character started channeling before arriving at the tower: Y or N
If yes, explain the circumstances/frequency with which she has channeled:
If yes, has your character experienced the channeling sickness? What happened?
Your character should have a block? What is it?
How will your characters block be broken?
Please outline RP ideas you have for the future if your character is allowed to be a sparker/wilder:
2.1. If your character is a Traditional novice, she must be between the ages of 14 and 19 when she enters the Tower. Only under special circumstances are novices admitted older or younger.
2.2. If your character is a Salidar novice, she must be between the ages of 20 and 70. No exceptions will be made on this age, and she may not be older than 77 when the Last Battle arrives (see point ? below under Guidelines for Novices and Accepted). Your character will never become a Sitter, Ajah Head, Keeper, Amyrlin or any IC position of power. Ever.
3. Your character cannot have a power-wrought item that she brings with her. Not even if it is a family heirloom.
4. No pets arriving at the Tower with you without permission of the Tower Admin or the MoN.
5. Your character does not have a weapons score (i.e. you shouldn’t be a blademaster, great with throwing knives, or shoot like Birgitte, etc.)
6. Your character does not have a known Talent before she arrives at the Tower. (i.e.: Healing, Dreamwalking, Reading Auras, Compulsion, these things are assigned to characters upon be approved by the DL and usually don’t manifest until late Acceptedhood or into Aes Sedaihood.)
7. No weird colored eyes. (Wolfkin have their own division. Sorry.)
8. Your character must be from a nation on the known continent. If you want to play a character with Atha’an Miere background, contact the DL. Under no circumstances should you be Aiel, Seanchan, or from Shara or the Land of Madmen.
9. Characters who are not from the Borderlands should not have encountered trollocs or fades in their histories.
10. Characters should not have any mention of the forsaken in their histories.
11. Characters should not have mention of random CoL violence in their histories.
12. No blind characters, if you can’t see the weaves or threads you cannot channel correctly.
13. Your character must have a first and last name or your bio will not be approved.
14. Under the History section of your bio, the word count needs to be above 500 words.
15. Now that you know the rules, please submit your character biography to DMWTBIOS[at]gmail[dot]com for approval before you begin roleplaying. You must have an approved and cross-checked biography before you roleplay.

General Rules for Aes Sedai, Accepted and Novices

1. No restricted items,(angreal, Power-wrought objects, etc) being used by Novices at all period, Accepted may use them but only with permission from the staff and only while teaching a class that requires them. This also requires a IC PC Sister to supervise.
2. No breaking in or out of the Tower without advance permission of the Mistress of Novices (Novices & Accepted only).
3. Bonding may only be done between an Aes Sedai and a character who is at least WS 8, who is not Wolfkin, Ogier, Seanchan, Sea Folk, or Aiel. This character need not necessarily be a member of the Warders Division but upon bonding they will automatically transfer to the Warders Division. Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah may bond up to Four times and members of the Red Ajah will only be allowed to bond members of the Black Tower, to the maximum of 3 Bondeds in total. They may also BE bonded BY members of the Black Tower, but only BY one. Reds who are bonded BY a BT member must have the Division Leaders’s approval to enter into any other Bonds.
Please notify the Division Leaders prior to bonding a Warder. Your Bondee needs to do the same with his or her DL.
4. Breach of conduct damages the reputation of the Tower. Therefore any character who breaks conduct guidelines in public should be prepared to have their actions viewed in a hostile light by the Tar Valon community. Punishment may be appropriate depending on the severity of the breach. Conversely, if conduct guidelines are broken in private, there is no damage to the Tower’’s reputation and thus punishment need not necessarily occur.
5. If you are a first time player you must also have an approved Novice Quiz and approved OP score before you begin rping.
6a. In order to teach a One Power-based class you must be of the minimum rank of Accepted. Only an Aes Sedai may teach both Accepted and Novices. It is not allowed for one to teach another of the same rank unless they have gained the shawl.
6b. Class Outlines must be approved by both one ADL and the DL unless started otherwise. DL & ADL’s retain the right to request the full class prior to it being taught.

Note: The rules are here to create realism. They are not intended to stop interesting plot. Breaking conduct guidelines can lead to character development and much entertainment. Your character’s actions will have consequences for your character; however, the consequences can also be fun to play out.

Guidelines for Aes Sedai

A. Priority & Loyalty. You have dedicated your entire life to the Tower; it is your top priority. Forget about any other affiliations, family or friends you may once have had. Aes Sedai live for centuries, watching all their friends and family die long before they do, while bound to a higher duty that ordinary people cannot even comprehend. You are willing to betray anyone and forsake anything, no matter how important it is, for your Ajah and for the Tower. You are Aes Sedai now. Nothing else matters.
B. Age & Maturity. Aes Sedai are generally raised at around thirty-five years old and anyone immature will have been weeded out before they reach the shawl. Therefore you will be expected to demonstrate maturity and responsibility.
Once your character becomes Aes Sedai, you give her an age in the Main Time Line. For Traditional novices, this can be anything from newly raised (late 20’s minimum) to over 200. See the rules on age here: http://whitetower.aliciawilkerson.com/?page_id=33
Salidar novices may not make their character older than 77 by the time of TG (roughly 1001 or 1002 NE)
C. Relationships. Life as an Aes Sedai is not conducive to love. Other people scorn, fear and revile you; you follow a duty that they can never understand. Saidar is a sweeter feeling than sex anyway. You will be expected to practise isolation and restraint in your private life. You must gain permission from the Division Leader if you want to get married; you must gain a separate permission from the Division Leader if you want children.
D. Discretion. Aes Sedai are expected to restrain themselves in public at all times. You have learnt total self control; you will remain composed and a credit to the Tower at all times. If you cannot control yourself, your reputation will suffer, your future career is damaged and you will be punished for it.
E. Education. Aes Sedai are the most highly educated people in the world. Commoners and princesses alike, you have all been given an excellent education in history, science, mathematics, philosophy and economics. You are familiar with the Old Tongue. If there is anything you do not know, you can make an educated guess.

Guidelines for Novices & Accepted

A. Emulation. Initiates do their very best to emulate Aes Sedai; you act as much according to the above principles as possible. Follow the above rules unless you have a compelling reason not to.
B. Free Time & Chores. Novices have one free day every two weeks, a week being ten days long, and they will also be subjected to chores. Accepted can guide their own studies to a greater extent. All initiates will be working hard. Your days are full; between classes you have chores. You will collapse into bed exhausted every evening, rise still worn out, and thank your lucky stars for every free moment.
C. Pranks. Pranks must be approved by both the Mistress of Novices and the victim of the prank. Generally speaking an Accepted will be expected to show more maturity than a novice and therefore Accepted will be punished harder for pranking.
D. Curfew & Limits. Novices are not permitted to leave the White Tower and they must be in their quarters after 9pm in character time. Also, novices may not channel without supervision. Accepted may visit Tar Valon between 10am and 2pm in character time, but they must be in their quarters after midnight. Anyone breaking these rules in character will be caught in character and punished in character.
E. Relationships. Novices are not allowed to interact with members of the Warders Division except when ordered to by an Aes Sedai. If they are caught in the Warders” Yard they will be punished severely. Accepted may go to the Warders” Yard if accompanied by or at the order of an Aes Sedai; since they emulate Aes Sedai they will behave with proper discretion and restraint.
F. Diligence & Dedication. An average Traditional initiate spends ten years as a novice and ten years as Accepted. Once you have committed yourself to twenty years of a harsh, dedicated life you know you want to become Aes Sedai and you are willing to do anything to become Aes Sedai. Study hard.
G. Raising Time.
General:
Several factors determine how fast a character gets raised, ie Strength in the One Power, intelligence (there are NO stupid AS!), diligence (there are NO completely lazy AS!), etc. At the PSW, the average Strength in the OP for a female is 28, and the range is minimum 22, maximum 34.
A Traditional character with an OP of 28 and medium intelligence and diligence, will therefore take 10 years to be raised to Accepted, and another 10 years to be raised to Aes Sedai. The minimum we will allow is 5 years overall. Don’t try to get away with god-modding or excessive Betty Sueness (ie the most beautiful, intelligent, wonderful princess ever to walk the earth), please.
Salidar characters:
There was worry about Tarmon Gai’don approaching, and the lack of Aes Sedai to fight in it. They therefore opened the novice book to “older” novices in roughly 995NE. These women get raised faster than normal, due to the following reasons:
b) They will be “forced”, and more so the closer TG comes.
Quote:
forcing; forced: When someone with the ability to channel handles as much of the One Power as they can over long periods of time and channels continually, they learn faster and gain strength more rapidly. This is called forcing, or being forced, by Aes Sedai, who abjure the practice with novices and Accepted because of the danger of death or being burned out.
Glossary, KoD
c) There’s some mention in the Books of those older Salidar novices learning much faster than the more traditionally younger ones (more life experience, more discipline, less time to fool around). They will also be pushed much harder than any novices and accepted before, except maybe during the Trolloc Wars. You thought Traditional N&A had it bad? These ladies are going to be pushed to the breaking point … and beyond. Remember to mention that in your RPs
The limits will be as follows (bearing the average and guidelines given above under Traditional novices above):
Maximum time 4 years as novice, 3 years as Accepted
Average time 3 years as novice, 2 years as Accepted
Minimum time 2 years as novice, 1 year as Accepted

Role playing in Retro

The Retro time line for Traditional N&A is more fluid (it can be anything from months before Main Time Line, to over 200 years before), whereas the time line for Salidar N&A is fixed to a maximum of 5 years before Main Time Line.

There are 2 different Mistresses of Novices. One is for Traditional novices and accepted, and another for Salidar novices and accepted. The 2 different groups will do the same reqs, but they will NOT RP together, as they are in 2 completely different time lines. Even if you end up making your Traditional character a newly raised Aes Sedai, stick to this rule – it will avoid confusion.