Dark Friends

Friends of the Dark

Men and women who could not channel were also susceptible to promises of power and immortality. With the Dark touch fueling baser emotions like greed and envy, there were many who would give their oaths. In the Beginning, these people styled themselves as Friends of the Dark. In Modern times they are known simply as Darkfriends. Like the Forsaken, they originated with the Dark One's touch through the bore. Unlike the Forsaken, they have not known immortality, yet they have survived as a society for over three-thousand years, serving and waiting for Tarmon Gai'don; the Last Battle.

There's many levels of commitment among the Friends of the Dark. Some extremists are deeply dedicated to obtaining freedom for the Dark One and thus immortality and dominion for themselves, while those on the lowest levels simply want to belong to something greater than themselves... Something dark and naughty.

It is unclear just how Friends of the Dark rank themselves as a highly placed Noble may oft have to take orders from the lowliest of street beggars. When the proper signs are given, any Darkfriend is expected to obey and to succeed or face the consequences for failure. There is no seniority amongst them either. There has been some mention as to a mark that only a Friend of the Dark can see. Shaidar Haran (The Dark One?) marks Alviarin as his on her forehead in Crossroads of Twilight and when she looks at herself in the mirror she cannot see the mark.

While the current Age contains relatively few Darkfriends who are truly dedicated, compared to those that are merely dabblers, altogether they make up a small yet significant percentage of the population. Every major city contain Cells of Darkfrends. A city of one-hundred thousand may contain between five-hundred to perhaps as high as one-thousand Friends of the Dark. Even the Children of the Light, supposedly dedicated to the eradication of all Darkfriends, and even the modern Aes Sedai are not invulnerable to infiltration by those allied to the Dark One. While the Aes Sedai will not admit to it, there is an eighth Ajah... The Black Ajah.