The True Source and The One Power

The True Source is the pure, universe-driving energy of creation. This energy is divided into two distinct varieties, saidin, and saidar. It is in everything, around everything and everywhere and yet only a lucky few can touch it and weave it to do their bidding. When this happens, a person is channeling the One Power, the source of life and existence.

In order to weild or guide the One Power, one must understand weaves. The One Power is made up of elemental energy, and in order for one to manipulate it, they must understand how to "weave" together the correct "threads" of elements. Men have affinities for Fire and Earth, while women have affinities for Water and Air, and affinity for Spirit occurs in both men and women equally.

Saidin
Saidin is the masculine form of the One Power, and only men may seize it. The sensation of seizing saidin is like having a torrential flood of blistering flame and penetrating ice gushing through your mind and body as you attempt to stay afloat, to hold on until your task is done. This feeling of heightened mortality and endless power is beautifully and terrifyingly addictive, and some lose themsleves in it, channelling so much that they burn themselves out, or worse, explode with the sheer force of creation, destroying swaths of land with them. Weilding Saidin requires immense willpower and brute force, for in order to weave it, men must essentially beat it into whatever "shape" they desire.

Saidar
Saidar is the female half, and only women may embrace it. Guiding saidar is like kneeling by a stream on a sunny day, next to a budding rose. In order to guide it, to feel it, a women must imagine herself abosorbing that heat, and submerging herself in the stream, and experience the rose expanding and blossoming into the power of creation. The pleasure this sensation causes is just as addictive as the state a man falls into, and the same outcome can occur, for if a woman tries to force or control Saidar, the sun easily becomes a scorching dessert, and the stream a coursing river washing you away. Women must have immense control and knowledge over Saidar in order to guide it while exposing themselves to such vast amounts of power.

Channelers in Arenor
Of the Western races only Halflings, Elves, and Humans with Elven heritage are born with the ability to channel. In the Westlands, most channelers belong to the religous order of The White Tower. Its members are called Aes Sedai. Channelers who do not belong to this order are usually untrained, as well as illegal, for the White Tower recruits children with the ability to channel the One Power from villages and cities across the Empire and punishes non-members severely, naming them Wilders. If an initiate of the Tower encounters a Wilder, they will usually report the channeler to the local Seat and have them arrested where they are either Severed from the Source or made into an initiate, depending on the circumstances.