NotABabbleNorAMumble

And to move on, the title has nothing to do with the blog.

Anyways, this blog is about two things--the absulotely incredible awesomness of Physics, and to write out my train of thought about the Seanchan, since I don't feel like writing about anything real.

So, first of all--Physics rocks. It's so much fun, and so simple. It looks complex (which makes it all the cooler) and it's easy (which makes it cooler yet!). All it requires is logical thinking to come to a logical conclusion, which is usually the write one. If it's not the write one, then somewhere along the lines, you abandoned logical thinking and the formulas that you have and made up or altered another.

I like Physics.

I also like the Seanchan. I've actually spent a considerable amount of time in thought about that. Why do I like the Seanchan? Yes, they're new enemies. Yes, they have raken and to'raken and grolm, etc. But cool creatures and being antagonists aren't enough to make me like something.

So I was interested in just why I was interested in the Seanchan, so I thought about it. They have big, spacious ships for carrying troops. They have an entire empire. They invade. However, I think that the reason that they are so cool boils down to these several things:

1. Their empire spans a large range of races
2. They have messed-up ideas of Aes Sedai, Shadowspawn, etc.
3. They have a unified military
4. Seanchan was once ruled by the Armies of Night.
5. They have the Deathwatch Guard.

Now, I'll start with the first bit (though it would be kind of fun to start with no. 3 and go in a random order). I've noticed throughout the books that the Seanchan have people of many different skin tones. Also, their skin tones are often accompanied with the name of the region of the Seanchan Empire that they are from. For instance "______s with coal-black skin," or "______s with skin the colour of honey," etc. The way that it's all described is completely without any real racial prejudice. Now, while I know (or at least, I'm fairly certain) that Robert Jordan intended for it to be that way (especially since doing it otherwise would have offended a number of people), the simple fact that people of any race have equal opportunities to succeed in the Seanchan Empire. At least, in their individual castes. It's kind of an endearing point--the Seanchan are, IMO, like the Romans, but cooler, and without racial prejudice, which really makes them neat.

The second bit. They have one awful opinion of Aes Sedai and those who can channel. They also do not have Shadowspawn. That, to me, is really, really interesting. To have never seen a myrddraal or trolloc, to have never heard a draghkar--and yet still believe in their existence. I can't think of any of the Seanchan who has expressed disbelief in the existence of Shadowspawn. To them, it is evident that they exist, merely by the effect that they have on those who have seen them. In a sort of odd way, that's like a lot of Christians--we believe in God, even though we've never seen him. We've seen the effects that He has on people, and the results of His actions, but we have no direct evidence. We lack the resources or the capability to research every little thing to prove, beyond doubt, that God exists, and yet we believe. To us, his existence is obvious, yet so many people do not believe, even those who have heard of him. This ties back into the Seanchan&Shadowspawn thing because most people in Randland have heard of Shadowspawn. However, most of them also scoff, mock, and persecute those who claim to have actually seen them or believe in them, because even if they could look up the proofs of Shadowspawns' existence, or even back up their disbelief with fact, they instead base their response off of the fact that if they haven't seen Shadowspawn, then Shadowspawn can't exist. Just because Shadowspawn have not directly and profoundly influenced things for a while, these ignorant people (who sometimes have absolutely no right to be ignorant) deny their existence. The Seanchan, meanwhile, have never experienced Shadowspawn for themselves, and have only the tales from Artur Hawkwing's era and earlier to go off of, and yet they do not doubt. They return, and to them as well, the effects that the Shadowspawn have on people are plain. God's handiwork is plain to Christians, and even those who have never heard of Him--they see His effects, and believe. Meanwhile, non-Christians scoff and persecute Christians for being fools and believing in Christ, when they could take the time and think about things, research things, and find out for themselves the truth of the matter. I mean, really. How can someone take a Biology class, learn all about the wonders of the human body, the intricacy with which the eyeball functions, or the brain, or the sense of hearing, etc., and not believe that there is a Creator? What are the odds that ALL of our body's features could have evolved by chance, to the degree of precision with which they operate? I find it unbelievable that people don't believe, when God's effects are so plainly evident.

Anyway, that's kind of straying a bit from my simple topic of how the fact that Seanchan have no Shadowspawn. However, I think it did cut down to the point of why I find that interesting, so I'll move on.

The Seanchan have a unified military. They have standardized, regimentalized, and organized troops. That's not unique to them, of course--the Children of the Light, for example, also have standardized, regimentalized, and organized troops. However, compare it to Andor's conscripts, or merely the feudal ways of most of the southern lands, such as Cairhien, Tear, or Illian, and it's really cool. It's a big empire, and it's not feudal. However cool Feudal systems might be sometimes, they're impractical, and they weaken the kingdom in the end. With a unified army, no lord of the land can raise an army and go sack his neighbor, because the Seanchan Army is, for one thing, keeping the peace, and also, most militarily-adept men are already in the army. I like that.

Then there's the fact that Seanchan (meaning the continent) was once ruled by the Armies of the Night. Now, we know no more about them except that they had Aes Sedai with them. The simple fact that Aes Sedai were involved and corrupted with these "faceless", cool-sounding armies, makes me really intrigued. I love those sorts of things. It peaks my curiousity, and ever since the first time I read about the Armies of the Night, I've wondered about them. It's one of those things that a person gets inspired to write fanfiction for, to fill in the blanks. The same thing has occurred to me after reading a lot of Mat's old memories, as well. I want to know about those things that he remembers. I want to know more about the Armies of the Night. Who were they? Were they associated with the Forsaken and the Dark? If they were associated with the Dark, why didn't they have Shadowspawn? Why were there dreadlords with them? Why did the dreadlords seem to be somewhat fractured, too? Why?

It's all so interesting.

And this being one of the seemingly lesser and petty reasons, but still one that is as large as the others--they have the Deathwatch Guards. Banner-General Furyk Karede, Captain Musenge, Hartha the First Gardener--each encounter with them throughout the books leaves me bouncing in my chair hoping for more. The sheer coolness of the Deathwatch Guard's blind loyalty to a Royal Family that doesn't even seem to realize their existence is amazing, as are their skills in combat. They are far cooler than the Defenders, the Companions, or any other elite units. The Deathwatch guards are not only in a league on their own, they're in the Major Leagues while the rest are still failing the tryouts for Little League. They rock. Furyk Karede is on my list of top 10-15 favourite characters. He is such an awesome character, and we see way too little of him.

So, those are what I think are the main reasons for why the Seanchan are so interesting to me, but they're not the only ones.