What are the Children of the Light?

Doctrine

The Children of the Light believe in the destruction of Darkfriends, in all echelons of society and in every land. They believe that all Aes Sedai are Darkfriends, and therefore do not believe in the existence of the Black Ajah, as they believe that all channelers (whether they be men or women) are Darkfriends. They consider the Three Oaths to be a lie perpetuated by the White Tower. Since politically, Amadicia is largely under the Children's control, there are laws in that land that prohibit channeling or Aes Sedai training on penalty of death; even Queen Morgase of Andor was subject to hatred and suspicion for having been trained in the White Tower, although she was only able to channel very weakly.


Organization

The Children of the Light are led by the Lord Captain Commander who
is elected by the Council of Anointed, the Lord Captain Commander has
absolute control over the Children of the Light.


The Hand of the Light

The Hand is an organization within the Children. They regard
themselves as mostly separate from the military part of the Children.
They are disparagingly known as the "Questioners". They are the people
to whom accused Darkfriends are turned over to be tortured. They are
led by the High Inquisitor (currently Rhadam Asunawa), and are often at
odds with the Lord Captain Commander Pedron Niall, who believes their
techniques are extreme and not always in the right. The High
Inquisitor's power base within the Children seems to protect him from
reprisal by even the Lord Captain Commander. Likewise, the Lord Captain
Commander's power base protects him from the Hand. They are represented by the same sunburst icon on their cloaks as the rest of the Children, but with a red shepherd's crook behind it. Asunawa wears only the crook, as a symbol of supposed equality with the Lord Captain Commander, but it is unknown whether or not this is typical of High Inquisitors or exclusive to Asunawa.


Methods

The Children are known for being exceedingly zealous (with a few exceptions), and when traveling in large numbers across the continent any who the Children believe are Darkfriends are hanged on the spot. Often, suspected Darkfriends are handed to the Hand of Light (most often referred to as Questioners), and members of this organization torture the suspects until they either are killed or admit (often fabricated) crimes. The Children's methods when it comes to anything related to the Dark One tend to be much more widespread, forsaking the survival of large numbers of people for the death of a few Darkfriends.