Plot Party: Saldaea + Kandor

[The Dark One]

Lead by The Lace of Ages and The Dark One

Notes:

NatGeo 🌈✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿06/16/2020
Same, although I would note that their populations might have been the hardest hit during the LB

Kay🌈✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿06/16/2020
True, but I think the Seanchan war might have evened things out a bit

✨Eve🌈✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿06/16/2020
Yeah the Seanchan war kept anyone from having peace for a full generation

NatGeo 🌈✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿06/16/2020
just throwing it out there to see what thoughts other might have had
[7:26 PM]
but the Seanchan War had a Borderland front in Saldaea and Kandor

Kay🌈✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿06/16/2020
True! So they could be still rebuilding even more than the others....
[7:26 PM]
Good to note for Saldaea and Kandor

Summary:

Kandor

Eve: Known for their forked beards, baggy pants, snazzy earrings and, of course, their national Merchants Guild! As with all Borderland nations, emphasis is on a strong armies, Blight border defense, and alliance with the other Borderlands.
Wealthy from trade (furs, particularly fox, and gems being the most valuable). They have one, national Merchant's guild (unique!) putting the financial needs of the country and wider Borderlands above personal gains. Identifiable by the chains across their chest.

Fun Fact those baggy pants you remember on Birgitte were only usually worn by women in the countryside. The ladies in cities still preferred their dresses, because damn practicality in town!

Kay: I think this pair of nations got particularly screwed by the one two combo. I have some notes on this for Saldaea...but Kandor didn't get off much lighter, and may have taken more damage up front.

Shai'tan: 25 FA – The siege of Caechin continues without abating and puts heavy pressure on the Borderland and Tower troops.

Lan falls in battle and Caechin is lost. Nynaeve, reminiscent of Eldrene’s sacrifice at Manetheren, destroys the city of Caechin and the majority of the western front with a huge burst of the Power, sacrificing herself at the same time.

sad because apparently it was sweet AF
Kandor’s capital city is Chachin. Although not usually counted as one of the great cities of the Westlands, Chachin is said to rival Tear in size. It is located around several hills with three great mountains rising out from the center of the city. The Aesdaishar Palace, the location of the Throne of Clouds, is located on the peak of the tallest mountain, some 5,000 feet above the rooftops of the rest of the city. The city is surrounded by an immense drymoat which completely encircles it, with twenty-four bridges crossing it to gates. Each bridge is overlooked by guardtowers and formidable defenses.

Eve: So, yes. Kandor was decimated early in this age, after already having to rebuild from Tarmon Gaidin. They were a fairly wealthy nation, due to their awesome chain wearing merchants trading prized furs and gems from the mines in Callum

Kay: Maybe the Aesdaishar Palace might have survived? It sounds like it was way out of the line of Nynaeve's fire? Or, like, parts of it 

Shai’tan : I think it would have to be rebuilt because no one wants gaps on the blight border, of course the blight didn't come back until.....
55 FA

Eve: Maybe, due to the immense sacrifice the Kandori and Saldaeans made with lives and land, the Ogier and channelers made a special point to rebuild them...Oooh, but close ties to the Ogier may be the opportunity I we’ve been looking for to coax some martial training out of them!

Kay: If so, we have 3 of our borderland nations with a special tie to the Ogier...I'm not sure if it's a neat twist or a widening of a niche, but it could work. An Ogier/Borderlands union is a scary thing to contemplate
I'm warming to the idea, though! Maybe this is an Ogier schism? The Borderland ones become more active and less pacifistic/isolationist compared to their southern cousins, while they ones to the west are getting scouted by the Deathwatch

Terrac’s/Menethil: Loial did say they couldn't be hidden from the world anymore. Maybe his generation took that to heart and a few do work to play a more martial role in the north?

Eve: I can see young hot heads like Loial starting to want to take up arms

Shai’tan : I like the idea of having the split be young vs older. we do have a running theme of young progressives and old traditionalists, but that feels pretty realistic

Terrac’s/Menethil : If not them, the borderland nations were seriously interconnected via marriages and family
so it's entirely possible the leaders of the other nations went "we got you"

Shai’tan: Found this in the chat history: Saldaea and Kandor probably have the best ties to the BT, Arafel more or less Switzerland and Shienar and Malkier leaning more toward WT. So BT makes sense too!

Eve: The Throne of Clouds was rumored to allow the monarch of Kandor some ability in controlling the weather. This could have been myth, some Aes Sedai with the Cloud Dancing ability giving them a hand, or it could be a ter'angreal (by far the most fun option, in my opinion). How should we handle this?

Kay: Special ter'angreal should always be things when possible

Shai’tan : and maybe that helps it survive? plus the crazy height

Eve: Yep, Even if the Palace is destroyed, the Throne survives, because BADASS! So, should we have all of the Palace or just the Throne survive the blast?

Kay: Maybe portions? Leave it a ruin/memorial? Heck, maybe leave, like, the highest of the highest peak which is conveniently where the throne is

Terrac’s/Menethil : So would it being Ter'Angreal be public knowledge then?

Eve: There were rumors at best in the canon

NatGeo : all items of the OP resonate with Aes Sedai, they might not know what it was for but they would know it was a Ter'angreal

Terrac’s/Menethil: unless it was made by men? It would explain why Aes Sedai didn't catch it, and I doubt the BT would care about taking something from one of their only allies

Eve: I am pro-male ter’angreal and so even if a sister thought it might do a thing, they were never able to study it and so left well enough alone, because why pick a helluva fight with a nation that overall gave the Tower respect rather than suspicion and fear

Kay: It's justifiable...and would be a great reason for the BT to be on their good side. Heck, maybe even some tension when the city was detonated, where the BT offered to 'safeguard' it

Eve: Oooh, low key trying to see what it was/how to use it??

Kay: Mhmm. It would have cooled by now, I think, but it's a neat wrinkle

Eve: And there is no monarch, so super interesting to have an unclaimed throne ter’angreal artifact!! So part of the palace and throne survive. But does the royal line?

Kay: they're...generic? We could do something interesting, especially considering the power of the merchant guild

My initial thought is essentially a plutocracy, probably with buffers through the guild bureaucracy
So, you'd have a surprising amount of politicking for a Borderland as a result

Eve: The Merchants Guild was always known for placing the needs of nation and the Borderlands as a whole above any personal gains (that’s in meh notes, lol) I think it’s still ripe for corruption if the wrong people get in the right places, but, Borderlanders

Kay: This may be highly idealized, but yeah, they are still borderlanders

Eve: Could have started our as a stop-gap, but just worked so they never went back to a monarchy

Terrac’s/Menethil : So if we're going with the guild running things, are we putting a Doge type figure in charge?
or are we leaving it in the hands of a council, because I don't know that nobles would just roll over and let the monarchy die

Eve: There were only three noble houses listed in anything I could find, and given the nature of Borderlanders, I imagine many of them perished between TG and the sacrifice of Chachin

Terrac’s/Menethil : so would the guild become the new nobility?
because my understanding is nobles usually took charge of armies, so that leads to asking what about the army?

Eve: Well, they wouldn’t be nobles, because anyone with enough financial smarts can become a merchant and become one of the Guild and thus in power, it wouldn’t be just by virtue of lineage

Tseia: If the army was as decimated as their noble houses, likely if the nobles died in battle, then I could see their fellow Borderlanders committing troops to both hold the Kandor-Blight border and aid in training/rebuilding Kandor's forces.

And while that was the intent, perhaps it led to Kandor becoming a host military nation, with "it's" army a quiltwork of all the other Borderlander nations. It's not unusual, historically speaking, for wealthy nations to outsource for soldiers and the other Borderlands would not want a weak spot in the Blight border.

Saldaea was fairly prosperous because of river trade with the Southlands. I imagine Kandori would need to utilize Saldean river ports for transport, so potential for a strong mercantile relationship there. They're known for furs and ice peppers (which I imagine to be close to ghost peppers, lol).

Eve: Before the wars, Chachin had major trade roads to Saldaea, Arafell and south to Tar Valon. “capital city of Kandor, in the Borderlands. It is located on the junction of several trade routes, including the cross-Borderland route running from Bandar Eban to Fal Moran and another running south to Tar Valon”

Saldaea

Kay: A land of horses, warriors, convoluted naming schemes, domestic abuse ...and a fish sigil despite being essentially landlocked, with no navy to speak of. My first point has an addendum, because we've touched on it briefly during Kandor's party, and can append the Ogier to it too. Saldaea's nobility got its butt kicked during the Last Battle, and presumably during the Seanchan War as well, given they were one of the front lines. It wasn't pretty! This lead to entirely new houses being raised, like House Rashai and Destine in Tyr. Can we think of any other impacts this might have had? Saldaea was, likely, one of the most thrashed nations by the combined TG/SW battles.

I can't see Faile letting that go; she'd probably badger Two Rivers and Andor to provide aid

I think the consensus is they picked themselves up pretty well, yes?

Tseai: House Rashai were merchants, initially. Primarily horse breeders and traders, but they're also stationed in Sidona, which is a port on the Arinelle River. Pretty sure it's the Arinelle. It's a river, for sure.
So perhaps their merchant ties, as well as the founder's feats during The Last Battle, is what got them raised to nobility? Sidona, I think, was a domain of House Bashere, so handing that over to someone who could revitalize it as a port of trade makes sense

But House Rashai strongly adheres to their merchant roots. I imagine they wouldn't really play The Game or have a particular amount of influence but I do see them as being well-known throughout Saldaea. Because horses. And trade. Maybe even a reputation that extends past Saldea's borders.

Shai’tan : Still need to figure out House Destine specifics

Maedin Bashere was followed by our present unnamed bashere king

 For Julian I have:

68 FA - Julian is transferred to Saldaea

75 FA - Julian is named a deserter of the Black Tower for failing to heed Rhalin's call and remains in Saldaea, working for the nation as a free agent on an as needed basis.

78 FA - Julian is accepted back in the Tower and is promoted to Captain of the Spirit Legion (North Theater)

NatGeo : I pretty much have Aravell tied to various WT and BT factions, but otherwise they don't really play the Game of Houses they got no time for that shit haha...just need to kick up the gear
maybe under her he gained some practical experience fighting the Blight
since he's of the Spirit Legion he'd have some things to learn maybe

Shai’tan Yeah he is mostly a bookworm, but he wanted adventure so asked for a transfer to the borderlands after the blight reopened and got it b/c of seniority so that fits perfectly....though I doubt he ever considered himself under her even if she did.
He was all "I'm a freelance consultant" when he was labeled a deserter so only half felt like he was working for them even though he was totally working for them.