What is a Paralis-Net

[Luckers]

This is not a huge topic or anything, but I was writing up the list of Cadsuane's ter'angreal and I remembered this.

 

But . . . the fool Aes Sedai no longer regarded her as they had. Semirhage hadn't changed, but they had. Somehow, in one swoop, that cursed woman [Cadsuane] with the paralis-net in her hair had unraveled Semirhage's authority with the entire lot of them.

 

[tGS; 22, The Last That Could Be Done]

 

This raises the question of what a paralis-net is. The Encyclopaedia WoT offers the suggestion that a paralis-net is a group of ornamental ter'angreal designed to protect and/or serve the wearer as a weapon--which seems plausible, but if so why specify that the paralis-net was in her hair? If these ter'angreal are always ornaments wouldn't the name include the point that they were being worn? For instance you wouldn't say 'the cursed woman with all the jewellery on her body', you'd just say 'the cursed woman with all the jewellery.'

 

I still think EWoT hit the nail on the head though, I just think we need to drop the 'ornamental' part and say that a paralis-net is a group of ter'angreal designed to work together. It makes a great deal of sense when you consider that this is somewhat abnormal. Listen to what Alanna has to say about what happens when ter'angreal of a similar nature are made to work in close proximity to each other.

 

“Child, I should have stopped this when I had the chance, when I first noticed that - reverberation. It came back. That is what happened. It came back a thousandfold. Ten thousand. The ter’angreal almost seemed to be trying to shut off the flow from saidar - or melt itself through the floor."...

 

..."The only time I have ever seen anything like it was once years ago when we tried to use a ter’angreal in the same room with another that may have been in some way related to it. It is extremely rare to find two such as that. The pair of them melted, and every sister within a hundred paces had such a headache for a week that she couldn’t channel a spark.

What’s the matter, child?”

 

Egwene’s hand had tightened around her pouch till the twisted stone ring impressed itself on her palm through the thick cloth. Was it warm?

 

[tDR; 23, Sealed]

 

This is quite strange as the two intertwined moons, which work like Mat's medallion and disrupt flows of the Power, and the unknown ter'angreal Cadsuane uses to break Semirhage's Illusion are as close in function as the ring and the arches. For that matter so is the eight pointed star which detects male channelers and the swallow which detects channeling seem quite similar too.

 

Obviously we can't be certain on this--they could be absolutely different in function. But those seem the two viables--ter'angreal designed to be worn as ornaments, or ter'angreal designed to work together.

[dwn]

I always understood the 'paralis-net' to mean a specific type ter'angreal that disrupts flows of the power, probably similar to the thing in Far Madding. Given what happened to Semirhage, Cadsuane would seem to have a smaller, weaker sort of thing among her ornaments. Such a function could be described as a "net" since it affects an area around the ter'angreal.

 

Semirhage's choice of words in "unraveled [her] authority" was meant, I think, to parallel the unravelling of her disguise (and plans).

 

(As for the resonance problem, I would agree that the ter'angreal having different functions mitigates that risk.)

 

-- dwn

[Swithin]

This is not a huge topic or anything, but I was writing up the list of Cadsuane's ter'angreal and I remembered this.

 

Luckers, you've posted this exact post before here: http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/topic/48226-what-is-a-paralis-net/page__b__1 Oddly enough, I remember replying to that thread, but my response has evaporated.

 

I believe that "paralis-net in her hair" is specified simply so that the reader can distinguish to which object Semi is referring. If it were just "the woman wearing the paralis-net", the reader would be left wondering whether it's part of Cads's collection or something else entirely, perhaps a brooch or even a weave of the Power. I think all the passage established is that one of Cadsuane's items (or the whole set) was familiar enough in the AoL (or at least, during the violent end of it,) to be instantly recognizable to an FS, but whose number or use was in such decline that the post-Breaking AS didn't feel the need to mention them often or pass down info on them.

 

It's very likely something meant for Power combat, but whether it's one of the TA whose function Cads has deciphered isn't clear. It could even be her Well under its archaic terminology (although it's more likely that it's one of the items for which there hasn't yet been an explanation.)

 

This leaves me wondering if there's some reason you bring this up again... I'll think on it.

 

By the way, I realize that I've usually played Dark One's advocate in your threads. I really do love your posts, and I don't want to seem combative or anything. Debating the finer points is fun!

 

edit:

 

I also remembered most of what I had typed back then, but my points were directed at other posts that have since disappeared, making this response seem a bit... off topic. I think people were trying to argue the meaning of "paralis", and some were adamant that it functioned to "paralyze" opponents, their flows, etc. As you say in your post, there really doesn't seem to be enough information to determine whether it's the whole set or not, or what its function is. The hints are tantalizing though. Hope we find out!

[Demiandre]

I think a paralis net is a group/cluster of Ter'angreal, which function are complementary to perform a special task. Cads bunch of ornamentary in her hair seems to be created/designed to fight/denfend against chanellers. Male or female. Nyn set of Ter'angreal seems to be mostly protective. An angreal, pretty strong, a well, an Air-woven Armor. (subsidiary question : does an angreal work on a Well-drained-Power?).

 

Luckers is right. Some ter'angreal seems to perform the same task, or be quite equivalent in what they do. During the testing (see Luckers' quote above) we see that two ter'angreal whose function are related, but not the same, reverberated. So why don't two ter'angreal that detect channeling have the same reverberation? Either their function are too close and so aren't disturbed by that reverberation, or they are too different in function to reverberate.

 

Which I think is the case with the chanelling detection. The Testing ter'angreal and the twisted Ring use T'A'R in some fashion. But the ter'angreal for detection only react to something extern, i.e, someone else chanelling. They don't use the Power, T'A'R, or else. So maybe that's why they don't reverberated together. The same with the two intertwined moons and the illusion breaking ter'angreal. One works when flows are directed toward it, the other to flows not directed toward it. I think we first had a rare exception, instead of the norm of howthe ter'angreal interact with each others.

 

As Luckers indicated in his last Thread (May the last embrace of the Mother welcome you home, DM7 :D) there are some ter'angreal in those sets we don't know the use of. Maybe one of them is there to prevent those reverberations. It would be strange to have those sets of ter'angreal, obviously made to be worn together, and don't consider the fact that ter'angreal with similar function could be dangerous.

[Charlz Guybon]

I always understood the 'paralis-net' to mean a specific type ter'angreal that disrupts flows of the power, probably similar to the thing in Far Madding.

 

-- dwn

 

Cyndane/Lanfear seemed surprised when she ran into Alivia, so I don't they had them back in the AOL, or at least they were very rare.

[Demiandre]

I always understood the 'paralis-net' to mean a specific type ter'angreal that disrupts flows of the power, probably similar to the thing in Far Madding.

 

-- dwn

 

Cyndane/Lanfear seemed surprised when she ran into Alivia, so I don't they had them back in the AOL, or at least they were very rare.

In fact, Cyndane just doesn't know of a ter'angreal that disrupt flow. She never mentions a paralis-net. Semirhage mentions the paralis- net, so we can assume that every AoL-er know of them. A ter'angreal to disrupt flow (like the Ter'angreal in Far Madding)/detect a man chanelling were created during the Breaking of the World to fight agaist male Aes Sedai. As the Forsaken were bound in Shayol Ghul at that moment, they couldn't know what they are. And after their release, we only see three of them. So the Forsaken probably didn't know of them before they faced them.

[chuckievi]

I always understood the 'paralis-net' to mean a specific type ter'angreal that disrupts flows of the power, probably similar to the thing in Far Madding.

 

-- dwn

 

Cyndane/Lanfear seemed surprised when she ran into Alivia, so I don't they had them back in the AOL, or at least they were very rare.

In fact, Cyndane just doesn't know of a ter'angreal that disrupt flow. She never mentions a paralis-net. Semirhage mentions the paralis- net, so we can assume that every AoL-er know of them. A ter'angreal to disrupt flow (like the Ter'angreal in Far Madding)/detect a man chanelling were created during the Breaking of the World to fight agaist male Aes Sedai. As the Forsaken were bound in Shayol Ghul at that moment, they couldn't know what they are. And after their release, we only see three of them. So the Forsaken probably didn't know of them before they faced them.

 

Exactly, which is why I always assumed it was just a type of jewelry common in the AoL, that happens to be what the ter'angreal are shaped as.

[Demiandre]

I'm not sure I was very clear. I implied that Cyndane, and every Forsaken, know of the Paralis-net as a set of ter'angreal, which combined, enable the bearer to perform a defined task. But they don't know of flow-disrupting ter'angreal, thus Cyndane's shock upon discovering one, and more, with a woman stronger than she is/was.

 

If it only was an ornament, Semi's comment would have been something like 'the woman with the Paralis-net-shaped ter'angreal(s)', or 'the ter'angreal(s) that look like a paralis-net', not just "the woman with the paralis-net in her hair.

 

 

Also the precision she added on where it was could have been for us to understand what a paralis net looks like, but I don't believe this. It could have been cleared as a thought on Semi's part, like 'she had heard of one that looked like <insert des cription here>'. So the way it is written, the comment on Semi's and Cyndane's part make me feel I'm right.

 

"Na!"

[dwn]

I always understood the 'paralis-net' to mean a specific type ter'angreal that disrupts flows of the power, probably similar to the thing in Far Madding.

 

Cyndane/Lanfear seemed surprised when she ran into Alivia, so I don't they had them back in the AOL, or at least they were very rare.

 

Good call, I'd forgotten that.

 

However, I didn't mean a ter'angreal that melts active channeling--like Mat's medallion--when it touches someone, though it's suggested Cadsuane has one of those as well. The one that tripped up Semirhage seemed to unknot a tied off weave or something. Cadsuane claimed she could do something to disrupt the masked/inverted channeling that Nynaeve sensed when approaching the trap, so it seems one of her ter'angreal does have that function. Also, it apparently affects an area (like a net) because she didn't know the exact source of the channeling. Perhaps a kind of One Power bulk degaussing device, if you will.

 

-- dwn

[chuckievi]

I'm not sure I was very clear. I implied that Cyndane, and every Forsaken, know of the Paralis-net as a set of ter'angreal, which combined, enable the bearer to perform a defined task. But they don't know of flow-disrupting ter'angreal, thus Cyndane's shock upon discovering one, and more, with a woman stronger than she is/was.

 

If it only was an ornament, Semi's comment would have been something like 'the woman with the Paralis-net-shaped ter'angreal(s)', or 'the ter'angreal(s) that look like a paralis-net', not just "the woman with the paralis-net in her hair.

 

 

Also the precision she added on where it was could have been for us to understand what a paralis net looks like, but I don't believe this. It could have been cleared as a thought on Semi's part, like 'she had heard of one that looked like <insert des cription here>'. So the way it is written, the comment on Semi's and Cyndane's part make me feel I'm right.

 

"Na!"

 

No I understand what you were saying, I just don't agree with it. My issue being that either from afar, or after being heavily shielded Semi would have had to ID'd exactly what it was that broke her weave, and assuming she figured out it was a ter'angreal then would have had to ID'd the ornaments handing in Caddy's hair. The converse could also be true, and you could be completely right, and I am by no means certain or even close to certain of how I perceive the quotes and circumstances surrounding said net. I don't mean to imply that the set of angreal aren't designed to work together, they clearly are, I just infer a different meaning of paralis-net.

[Gympok]

I believe this is answered in ToM.

[yoniy0]

I believe this is answered in ToM.

Best not to elaborate here, we don't want spoilers on this board.

[Taura-Tierno]

As to why the paralis-net ter'angreal don't react like the arches and the ring, I don't think it has as much to do with ter'angreal doing to same (or similar) things in general as the Aes Sedai seem to believe. Since ter'angreal were abundantly common durin AoL, it seems weird that they would short each other out if they shared a purpose or method of achieving something. Wouldn't the Aes Sedai of AoL have designed them so that things like that would not happen. Instead, I believe that there are certain, specific ter'angreal, or ter'angreal whose purpose is extremely rare (which dream ter'angrael don't seem to be), that don't go well together. Not similar-purposed ter'angreal in general, just that there are some specific ones that cannot be used in close proximity to each other. Such ter'angreal might always do something similar. The Aes Sedai of the current age don't know squat about ter'angreal, so when they discovered that 2 of the same function did short each other out, they just generalized and said that that's how it is for all ter'angreal.

[Demiandre]

Or else, one ter'angreal has for function to absorb such reverb in a paralis-net. We see in both clusters of ter'angreal that there are pieces with unknown uses.

 

As for the Arches and the Ring, they weren't supposed to be near one the other. So no need of absorbing thr reverberation. Thus a risk.

 

But I like your explanation of "Aes Sedai first law of generalization"