For three thousand years, the nations of the Westlands have risen and fallen, but the immutable constant has always been the Shining Walls of Tar Valon and the Aes Sedai within who have pulled the strings of kings and queens since the Breaking of the World. Ever since the Last Battle, and the role that they played in defeating the Sharan channellers in the Heights, the Aes Sedai have regained much of their lost trust and prestige, returning them to an influence unseen since before the Trolloc Wars. However, within the White Tower, the politicking between Aes Sedai remains as strong as ever, and new factions apart from the Ajah have arisen over the years since the Last Battle …

After the War of Hundred Years, the Aes Sedai had laid no claims to land beyond the Shining Walls. However, after the Last Battle, the bounds of Tar Valon have expanded to reclaim their lost glory since the Breaking of the World, with a swathe of land to rival any nation in the world. Maps now mark out the boundaries of Tar Valon’s rule to an extent very similar to that prior to the Trolloc Wars, and effective Aes Sedai administration has led to the country becoming one of the most prosperous and influential among the Dragon Pact.

Tar Valon, for which the nation derives its namesake, is the seat of Aes Sedai power. A vital trade and transport link between the Borderlands and the southern kingdoms via its location on the River Erinin, the buildings of Tar Valon are noted for being graceful, tall, and sometimes linked together by unique 'skybridges'. Many of these structures have held since the city’s conception, having been strengthened with the Power, much like the Shining Walls themselves. The White Tower in the centre of Tar Valon is the tallest structure in the known world, and now houses more Aes Sedai than have ever been seen since the Trolloc Wars.

The White Tower is one of the most prominent landmarks anywhere in the nation of Tar Valon, and is often considered almost a separate entity to the city that hosts it, for it is the seat of Aes Sedai power and the heart of their influence. Once constructed to hold three thousand Aes Sedai, since the days of the Last Battle and the active recruitment of all women who can channel around the world by the Red Ajah, the ranks of the Sisters of all Ajahs have expanded beyond the imaginations of those who created the White Tower. Katerine de Ziago, the newest of Amyrlins, has recently hired Ogier to expand the boundaries of the White Tower.

Dragonmount was once the symbol of the Kinslayer’s greatest acts of madness as he ran away from the deaths of his family, with Tar Valon constructed under its shadow to remind the Aes Sedai of the coming of the Dragon Reborn. Now, it stands as a symbol of his sacrifice during the Last Battle, and there can be no greater monument of honor. To the east of Dragonmount sits the city of Tar Valon, and to the west lies the Black Tower. A shared landmark between the two nations, it stands as a reminder to both the White and Black Towers of the price that the Shadow enacts upon the world: that nothing worth fighting for comes without a sacrifice.

Tar Valon is, of course, governed entirely by the Aes Sedai and therefore the Amyrlin Seat and the Hall of the Tower. However, since the Last Battle it is now the Keeper of Chronicles that handles the day-to-day administration of the city and the lands that surround it. Before the days of the Last Battle, the Keeper had rank in name only, but now with the expansion of the city borders into a nation, the Keeper has her hands full of domestic affairs and therefore commands a significant degree of authority among the general populace, if not the Aes Sedai themselves.

Beneath the Keeper are Aes Sedai magistrates for each of the major towns within the bounds of the nation, appointed by the Keeper. These Aes Sedai enforce the law and justice of the Amyrlin as they see fit, and few would dare to gainsay them. Typically, these Aes Sedai are either of the Blue or Gray Ajahs, but it is not unheard of for Aes Sedai of other Ajahs with talent for administration to hold this role.

the internal politics of Tar Valon - WIP

Before the days of the Last Battle, the Aes Sedai, and by extension Tar Valon, had a chilly relationship with all the nations except Andor and the Borderlands. The efforts of a succession of strong Amyrlins, the outreach programs to the most vulnerable by the Blue and Yellow Ajahs, the change in nature of the Red, the disseminating by the Browns in academies and libraries, and the role of the Gray Ajah in the Dragon Compact, have all since magnified the prestige of Tar Valon to heights unequaled since the days of the Ten Nations. Even the Crystal Throne of the Tai’Seanchan listens (if reluctantly) to the voice of the Amyrlin despite historical animosity with regards to damane. All the nations of the Dragon Compact acknowledge the importance of Tar Valon, as it has become common in the last fifty years for rulers within the Compact to openly consult an Aes Sedai advisor.

Tar Valon’s relationship with Caralain has been relatively rocky ever since the Tower Wars, but the Asha’man have made consistent overtures for the last thirty years, and both nations are now close to coming to an accord, much in the same way that Cadsuane and Logain came to after the Last Battle.