THE SHADOW

Any history of the Shadow in the Fourth Age must first start with a basic accounting of how the Shadow fared at Tarmon Gai'don. To sum it up: they lost. The Shadow was broken hard at Tarmon Gai'don. The Forsaken who had not succumbed prior to the War were slain. The Trolloc hordes were smashed and scattered. The Dark One was once again sealed by the Dragon.

After the battle the forces of the Light even held Shayol Ghul for a short period of time, in which they researched the Dark One's new hole patch. However, the loss was not total on any account. The occupying garrison left the Pit three weeks after the conclusion, and immediately things, which had been waiting for them to leave, came into the open. The forges at the foot of the volcano had been banked and scattered but the strange stone creatures which worked them emerged only moments after the goodly folk left. They weren't the only spawn to return so swiftly. Powerful Dreadlords, having survived the battle, snuck into the Pit to see how their Lord had fared. It is unknown when the first visited, but it was before the first month was up. Somehow, the Dark One managed to touch a fingers-width with the world, to communicate with his acolytes. He spoke to them, when they came. His voice was a whisper rather then the shout it had been before, but had lost none of its power. He called these who came to him at this time "Chosen". For some reason or another none of the old Forsaken could (or would) be revivified. He told these first of his forces to return to gather and knit anew the Shadow. They were told that when the time came they might vie amongst themselves for the honors, but for the time being they were to work together, or at least in parallel.

These first of the Fourth Age Chosen were Denardeon, tsorovan'm'hael, Nogdra, Tol Gorrin, Vivensui, Frenzy and Eshamaele. An eighth, Mordeth, was also made Chosen, but it was apparently an unwilling choice on his part. Each of the Chosen separated to go their own ways and do what they would to reform the Shadow. Denardeon stayed in Shayol Ghul, and began almost immediately to construct a great edifice in Shayol Ghul. He gathered Trolloc and Forger labor (with so many dead Fades about, the Forgers didn't have to worry about making more ahead of other projects). Nogdra and Mordeth rallied and strengthened the web of Darkfriends. Vivensui became a terror of the Blight, working to help the Trollocs so enough would survive to breed up to hordes and also working to gather Shadowspawn types which had gone wild in the Blight. Frenzy went back to being an upstanding Aes Sedai to give the Shadow a Chosen in Tar Valon. It is currently unknown what Eshamaele, tsorovan'm'hael and Tol Gorrin did to help the Shadow in these times. But more Chosen were forthcoming. Anyone who went into the Pit with enough strength in the Power (and the strength necessary in the Four Age is less then it had been back in the Second), at least moderate intelligence, and capacity for evil was proclaimed Chosen. There were two more Chosen before the end of the first year. Neither was anything spectacular, but the number was rising.

In the early years after Tarmon Gai'don, the Blight retreated quite quickly. It had fluctuated back and forth in the years leading up to the Last Battle, but afterwards it made noticeable retreats. Within twenty years, the Blight had faded back as far as it had been eighty years before the Aiel War. That didn't mean that it had become a cuddly place to visit. While the Blight had retreated before, this time it was a fighting retreat. It fought as it fell back, and it left behind gifts. The Blight had given up land before, but never land it had held for over a decade. Most life forms recovered from the Blight or withered and died in short order, but a number that started small but increased the further back the Blight pulled some strains and species formed in the Blight remained changed. These creatures survived the change back from the Blight environment, and the "Blightspawn" remain an evermore part of the Borderlands ecology as it goes north. Shadowspawn, and the creatures of the Blight which could not survive outside it are more constant along the edges of the Blight, as they are pushed north and thus are thick around the borders evermore as time passes.

Despite the loss of the war of the Last Age, the Darkfriend population was still quite strong. Many had turned to the Shadow in the chaotic final years near the end of that Age. The Shadow played upon this in the Fourth Age. Nurturing what of that advantage remained after the Last Battle. The Darkfriend threat, believed to be dispersed in the last Age, returned with a vengeance. Within a generation, they were as prevalent as they were anytime in the Third Age with few exceptions.

The Chosen were growing in number, and in versatility. The growth was slow. It took thirty years for the group to gain over twenty members. Tar Valon and the Tower of Shadows in Shayol Ghul had already struck up a feud. Many of the Chosen stationed themselves there, but there were exceptions. Odaer, a woman trained in basic physician skills joined the Shadow, and shortly afterwards found the ruins of a laboratory in the Blasted Lands where Aginor once worked. Things don't rot well in the Blasted lands, and especially not Second Age items made to last, if no attempt was made to destroy them. Still, Odaer couldn't influence life as her predecessor could, at the "genetic" level, whatever that means, with any recurrent skill. She could make little changes, but most of what she did was breeding species. She did have more time then Aginor did to make the Trollocs though.

As the first century rolled to a close the Shadow was once more a great power. Its recovery was mostly fast breeding of its creatures, recruiting and refurbishing of its organization, taking advantage of the turmoil created by the Seanchan wars, and the growth of a fairly stable and highly dangerous ruling clique. The Forsaken, called the Chosen by the Shadow, had reached the number of fifty. The Dark One apparently didn't feel the need for more, as after he had Fifty Chosen, he stopped accepting more into his ranks. Those with the strength in the One Power who swore after the Chosen number was completed found themselves made Dreadlords, not Chosen. They made a new niche for themselves, as so called "High Dreadlords". As well, three who had the material for Chosenhood were refused the honor by the Dark One, and offered nothing higher. There were not many of these 'should have been Chosen' breed yet, the number fifty having been reached in 95 F.A., but the number of overly powerful High Dreadlords only promised to grow.

The next century quickly solidified into a fairly solid Stalemate of Shadow fighting viciously while trying to build on the fairly sturdy base it gained while trying to hinder the Light from doing the same to any great extent. The Shadow started the century well, and didn't suffer any great losses. Neither, of course, did the Light. Tar Valon and Shayol Ghul glared at one another across over a thousand miles, and they fought. Trollocs and Myrddraal and humans died. The Light gained an occasional victory. The Shadow drew blood more then once. Aes Sedai and Asha'man fell as often as Dreadlords did, and the only thing that said either side was doing at all well was the continual retreat of the Blight, which had slowed to the crawl that its advance in the Third Age had had. The other wars around the continent were calming down, and peace was settling in slowly everywhere but the old enmity between the island and the pit. Near the middle of the first century, the Gray Tower is built in Shienar, and begins its tasks of tending and ministering to the people, collecting and disseminating knowledge and mediating between Tar Valon and Shayol Ghul.

Not much can be said about the second century. The Blight kept the ever-growing borderlands busy, and the Shadow never let up on the pressure. Tar Valon fought the Blight, and the Shadowspawn bred more and more. Due to Vivensui's efforts, the Shadowspawn which had gone wild (and thus hadn't been hunting the Light much) came from the Blight. Darkhounds became more common, as did worms. But still worms tamed enough to be used effectively were very rare. Vivensui was trying to re-tame other breeds and not doing very well.

The war between channelers and Borderlanders (other nations sent troops north, but those units set to guard the Shadow were a minor percentage of those fighting) with the Shadow continued into the third century, where it shifted into a different phase. Both sides were finally earning significant victories against each other. In 221 F.A. the Light killed one of the Chosen. Aes'kriig was considered very substandard by the Chosen and many higher Dreadlords and was one of the last to join up, but he was the first Chosen to fall since Tarmon Gai'don.

At the same time, within five years several Sitters fell to Dark ambitions. The conflict, which had been fairly cold to cool like most blood feuds, was growing more and more heated. By 250 F.A. it was at a mild broil. Some assassinations of minor but useful cogs in the Borderlands had been performed by Darkfriends, three separate Chosen were found to be working up to attacks from angles that weren't expected. One of those possible raids was turned on the Chosen and a young pair of Tar Valon aligned channelers made names for themselves bagging another Chosen.

As of 259 F.A. the Shadow has lost four Chosen and an undisclosed number of Dreadlords. As these folks were acting as the Shadow's leadership branch, their losses were felt. However, creature-wise the Shadow was ready almost for the Trolloc Wars come again. The same could be said about the Darkfriend organization.

In 270 F.A. the Chosen known as Mordeth slipped the leash the Dark One had placed upon him. The first thing he did was slay Nogdra, who had been set to capture or kill him in case any such thing occurred. Then he attacked the Tower of Shadows and caused a good deal of damage to it as well as killing Denardeon who has set himself up as captain of the Tower after his prominent part in building it. Then Mordeth fled somehow eluding the Shadow long enough to raise a force at the ruins of Shadar Logoth to attack Tar Valon, which had been pressing the Shadow as it suddenly seemed to show weakness. Three-way war erupts, mostly spurred by channelers but with smaller conflicts spinning off from it. In the Shadow, casualty counts are fairly high. The loss of high-ranking Darkfriends to Mordeth took out only a minute but select percent of them out. Otherwise, Darkfriends get off easily. Shadowspawn take some heavy losses here and there, but Trollocs can lose tons of troops and still make a goodly force (which is why the Trolloc groups are referred to as "Trolloc hordes) and other Shadowspawn were only hurt. The number of Dreadlords lost was anywhere from one in seven to one in five. Of all groups, the Chosen suffered the worst. Eleven were killed by Mordeth or by his direct forces; he targeted the Chosen as much as he did the highest echelons of darkfriends. In the meanwhile the Light eliminates nine others. (Which brings the Light's total up to 13 with the four they bagged before). Infighting among the Chosen themselves actually slays a full dozen.

During the fall of Tar Valon several notable events occurred. The first was a mass-exodus of books and materials from the White Tower. Most of the treasures in the Tower storerooms were safely evacuated by three Aes Sedai: Danette Galliana, Ilyara Tomakin and Frenzy Rook. The second was the discovery that Frenzy was the mysterious Dark Amyrlin, and she was forced to flee the City, with the M'Hael Logain Ablar (junior) hot on her heels. The third was an attempt to evacuate the island. This failed, however, and most of the civilian population and almost a third of the Aes Sedai and Asha'man were killed in the attack. During this attack, which leveled Tar Valon, Ilyara was killed, along with the Amyrlin Seat, Keeper of the Chronicles and half of the Hall of the Tower.

The fighting continues almost non-stop against Mordeth and between the factions for the next five years. After the fall of Tar Valon, the Tower of Shadows and the Gray Tower, something downright bizarre happened. The forces of Light and Shadow agreed on a cease-fire, and combined forces to destroy the Renegade. Chani Moonshadow, who was Keeper to the Gray Amyrlin (after having left Tar Valon), brokered this unprecedented accord. Danette Galiana and Frenzy Rook represented their sides, although their sides were hardly one voice. Many of the Light and the Shadow denounced this truce, and kept fighting on their own.

After all three Towers were destroyed, the leaders of this fragile truce met to discuss options. As one might expect with high-ranking people from both sides of the line, nothing much got done. Most everyone left, but Chani, Frenzy & Danette stayed. Since everyone was now Tower-less, they ironed out an agreement. In a large Valley in the Mountains of Mist, south of the Great Lake, and in nobody's territory, three great Towers would be built. Each on a high mesa, with a common valley between them all, the Light Tower, the Dark Tower and the Twilight Tower coexisted in a wary peace. In the center of the Valley was a large Academy, which houses the greatest Library and University in the wetlands. It was believed that with each faction in plain sight of the other, they would reign in their attacks on each other, and focus on Mordeth and his forces.