HoAs, look over here! Ajah CLASSES?

[Leala]

So, the Blues have posted their outline for an Ajah class.  That was a new one for me, but after reading over it, I thought it looked very objective and cool.

 

Basically, an Ajah class would be for Accepted to take to learn about an Ajah in more detail.  There is no pressure to join the Ajah.  It's really more to get to know you a little better, and what role you would fill in the Tower, and really, if you would fit in with the Ajah sisters at all.

 

So, I invite you to create your own.  I think these are really handy, especially for Accepted (like mine) that are a bit confused as to where they should go.

[U4ea]

Don't forget we already have Tea with the Greens, too. :) We get them OUT of classes...mwahahaha

[Kathleen]

I wrote this up on August and left it for Yellow Ajah member approval. I've not had any feedback for it there, but since its been sitting over a month I thought I'd bring it here for Ajah Head and MoN approval.

 

Yellow Ajah Class for Accepteds Outline:

 

 

Lesson One: Introductions

 

• Welcome the Class
• Explain What it is the Yellows do in a general sense (save lifes, without predjudice, so that those who may have been lost have the chance to make their mark in the world can have another chance to do so.)
• Explain the ups and down (feel like a hero every day, helping with something that no one else could (other ajahs do things that any person could do - fight battles, make and in force laws etc) but the yellows save lives where others cannot. Down side, you are faced with people every day who are dying and you can't save them all, you see people at their worst, you have to deal with not only the patient but the crowds of people, you have the responsibility of being the last hope. You often have to clean up messes of bodily fluids and such)
• Explain that it is not for the faint of heart

Home work: 

 

Have the Accepted explain their ideas of the Ajah before the class started, and then again at the end of it. How has it changed. This could be done by IC writing a report, or just OOC as instructions to reflect on those points.

 

 

Lesson Two: Traditions

 

• Explain that we have tradtions to further the bond between sisters, even as the generations add new members and older generations may no longer be around. It draws us all together as one ajah, as a reminder that we all face the same things, and we are all there for each other. 
• Crazy Coloured Halls/New sister's rooms decorated by the last three to join the ajah - to keep our spirits up, since we deal with such heavy stuff its easy to get depressed
• Yellow Ajah sisters bond only one Warder at a time. - Not sure why, but it is so. 
• The Yellow Ajah has only a minimal eyes-and-ears organization -
• Upon being raised a new sister is required to plant a herb bush of choice that does not already exist in the WT garden, she will be required to provide supplies of this herb to the Infirmaries. She will also be required to explain its uses and dangers to the Yellow Ajah as part of her self introduction to the Ajah.
• Yellow Sisters will be given a Yellow dress of her choice for her fiftieth Birthday in the Ajah and a piece of gold jewelery for her hundredth. Both are sponsored by the Ajah.

Home work:

 

Get their reactions to the Traditions, and ask if they think continuing traditions is important, or if it is unneccessary and why.

 

 

Lesson Three: Herbs Lesson

 

• Explain that while the main focus is on using the One Power to Heal, there are benefits to knowing herbs. (when you are somewhere you can't channel, when you've exhausted yourself but still have patients, teaching patients how to care for themselves after you've left etc). 
• Show them how to plant herbs and care for them
• Have them plant some as you showed
• Show them signs of which are poison and which are not
• Show a few common herbs and explain how to use them

Home Work: 

Have the students RP out the events of the day, planting their herbs, responses to the rest of the info they got

 

Lesson Four: Infirmary Lesson

 

• Take the Class to the infirmary - explain that they will get their first taste of what it really takes to handle being a Yellow. They will see real injuries, possibly even open wounds, guts and gore. Real fear and pain in the eyes of the patience, and real gratitude when they are all better. 
• Have them go one at a time to a patient, have the patient explain to them what the injury is, and have the Accepted give her thoughts on what should be done to solve it. 
• The Accepteds will not use the One Power on the patients, but they may be allowed to do other things to help, if the patient agrees and the Yellow Sister approves. 

Homework: RP out their day in the infirmary and their experience with the patient - what was the issue, what did they suggest, were they right or wrong, how did they feel about it all?

 

 

Lesson Five: Where does a Yellow Serve her Ajah?

 

 

• Give examples of the diversity of the type of work that Yellow sisters do. While the focus is Healing, the means and locations can vary greatly. Do not think you are locked down if you join this Ajah.
• Infirmary - there are three infirmaries within the tower in which you can serve - helping those from in the tower, the guard, and those who come to Tar Valon.
• War - Yellows are found around the sidelines of wars, healing the innocent bystanders and wounded soliders alike. In this way the yellows can be a major factor in the out come of battles, and the making of history itself.
• Remote Towns - Traveling from town to town, training Wisdoms or simply seeking out the wounded or sick and doing what you can for those who would otherwise be unable to get help.
• With Royals around the world - Not all advisors are Grey, and a Yellow on call would make sense. You'd be privy then to all that goes on in the country, with a good roof over your head to boot. 
• Other - Let your imaginations go. Anywhere you go, your ability goes with you. You will be a help in any situation at any time. You skill is not limited to times of war, or the off hand chance you find a specific person. etc etc.

Homework:

 

give the characters reactions and thoughts to the diversity. Write up an outline/report or whatever on If your character was to join the Yellows, what type of Yellow would the be given all the info from the classes above. Where would they choose to do their work? How would they focus their gift? If they know at this point they won't go Yellow, explain why. This would likely work best as a written assignment IC, which they could reply OOC with either the paper they wrote, or their thoughts on what they are going to write.

 

Class 6: Dismissal

 

If one more post is needed, Do a sum up - something like, I hope you learned a lot, glad to have you all, work hard and all that. See you later! The end!

[Kathleen]

*pokes* MoN?? Thoughts?

[Leala]

Oops!  Sorry.  Just saw that.

 

I love it!

 

I'll be working on one for the Whites.  ^^

 

I think I'm also going to make a thread that has all the Ajahs that offer Ajah classes.  ^^

[Leala]

Here is the outline for the White Ajah class.  :)

 

Post 1:  Introduction

 

• Start the lesson off by asking everyone why they think the White Ajah is in the White Tower.  Make sure that they understand that you are not asking what the mission is.  In this assignment, there will be a challenge:  do not use the word "logic."
• Once ideas are presented, explain why the White Ajah is there.  They are there for the progression of ideas, they keep their heads in crisis situations, they search for answers others would not.
• Clear up some misconceptions.  The White Ajah does not strive to be cold and off-putting.  That is just the way they must be in order to find the truth they seek.  The Whites, much like every other Aes Sedai, are human and do have feelings.  Their Ajah color is not a reflection of the novice dresses or the White Tower.  It is symbolic for the pure truth and logic that they value so much.  The White Ajah values not only education, but intelligence, in order to make the world a brighter place.

Homework:  Write a short essay (no minimum word count) on why they themselves, as Accepted, are in the White Tower.  As a challenge, they cannot say in any way that they are there to become Aes Sedai.

 

Post 2:  Traditions

 

• Bring to class a small sheet of white silk, and a small leather notebook.  Have the students pass around both items and decipher what it is that makes them special.  Mention somewhere in the narrative that the piece of white silk has the Flame of Tar Valon sewn into it, but it's not immediately visible, because the Flame isn't embroidered or painted on: the thread of the silk is facing a different way from the rest of the thread, and can only be seen at the right angle in the light.  The notebook has cryptic writing in it that seems mundane: it seems to be a dream journal, but it's actually code.
• When someone figures out what's different about the silk, confirm that they are correct, but their answer is not complete.  There may be some guesses about the notebook, but keep guesses open for a moment.  If no one guesses correctly, or someone does guess, explain their purposes.  
• Aes Sedai of the White Ajah are given the white silk upon entering the Ajah.  This is used to communicate with contacts and other sisters.  It can announce your presence to anyone from the White Tower if they care to look at it in the right light.  The notebook is another tradition.  Each notebook has a white Flame of Tar Valon on the inside of the back cover.  It is used to create and maintain a sister's code.  However, each sister has three of these, and two of them are not her code.  

Homework:  None today.

 

Post 3:  Philosophy

 

• Explain what philosophy is in your own words.  Guidelines:  Philosophies are mental constructs that help guide us to the truth.
• Give some of your own philosophies and how they have helped you out of different dilemmas.
• Explain that there are all kinds of different philosophies for all kinds of different things.  Choose one subject (the Wheel, Saidar, something you can latch on to easily) and give your philosophy on that, and expand on it with examples.  Use symbollism, make it your own.  Philosophy is a broad subject, so the best way to handle it is to be as specific as possible.

Homework:  Write out your philosophy on Saidar and its use.  As Accepted, they have worked with Saidar well enough that they should have formed their own opinions and philosophies.

 

Post 4:  Truth

 

• Truth is the end result of one's philosophy.  Explain this in a logical way:  Set up two clearly different (or opposing) philosophies, give a scenario, apply both philosophies, and see how the truth differs.
• Apply this to the Ajahs.  (Ex:  Political leaders sometimes hire Aes Sedai as advisors.  Those who are concerned about their political standing normally hire Grays.  Those who are more concerned about the happiness of their citizens hire Blues.)  You can use any example you want.
• To expand on this, talk in general terms about Portal Stone Worlds.  Each world, according to records, has a different outcome because of different circumstances.  The truth in each place is different from the truth that we know.

Homework:  Write a scenario in which a decision that you made changed the outcome of events.  What would have happened if you had chosen differently?  Challenge:  Do not write about deciding to come to the White Tower.

 

Post 5:  Logic and Strategy

 

• Meet in the library in a room sectioned off from the actual library.
• Start with something along these lines:  Why are we meeting in the library?  Information and logic often go hand in hand.  The more information we have about a particular situation, the more effective our actions brought about by logic will be.  Give a situation that applies to this line of thinking. Ex: evacuating a village because of an attack or a natural disaster.  Who do you lead out first?  It can't be healthy and capable adults, because it's likely that they can help locate and move elderlies or infants, they can help you organize their neighbors who would likely trust them over you as an Aes Sedai.  You use strategy to get people out in the most effective way possible.
• Pass out history books where failures of strong leaders are marked.  Their assignment before they leave is to find holes in the logic of the leaders.  OOC:  Leaders may be made up for the sake of creativity, just as long as they didn't do anything significant.

Homework:  Explain your findings, and explain how things would have ended up differently if the leaders had had more information about the situation.

 

Post 6:  Human Element

 

• Meet in the library again.
• Ask your students what every single book out there has in common.  Try not to give it away in the narrative.  After sufficient guesses have been made, tell them that the common denominator is people.  Humans.  Authors.  Every piece of information that enters books, that enters minds, that enters trains of logic has passed through a person.
• It's a common misconception that the White Ajah lacks feeling and empathy, that all they care about is logic.  Give examples of your own life (trying to avoid instances in the tests to become Accepted and Aes Sedai) that evoked emotions.  Try to give examples after you have attained the shawl.  The White Ajah is still made up of Servants of All.  Logic and philosophy must take into account feelings and individuality of human beings in order to serve all.
• As an assignment: have students take every piece of homework they have written, hand it to another student, and have them write about their classmate.  What kind of person are they?  What will they contribute to the Tower?  Anything they can glean from their assignment adds to their view of their classmate.

 

 

•  

[Jagen Sedai]

Bumping, but also noting I will begin working on a Red Ajah one. Hopefully I will have a complete outline in a week or so.

[Guest]

I'll have a look for the Greens if it is ok for you ? ^^

[Jagen Sedai]

Sorry, I don't understand. A look for the Greens? (Are you asking Kathleen this?)

[Guest]

Yes sorry... asking Kath lol

I was thinking about making a first draft since I have an active Green character and some time on my hands. It can be all broken and modded afterwards but at least we'll have something to work on ^^

[Kathleen]

I think that should be fine shape. I haven’t heard from lore in a very long time. It would be on her to make one and/or approve it. But if you want to make one and she’s not around to approve it then I will review it on her behalf.

 

As the current staff, if you guys want to take on the project of writing up outlines for the other ajahs I would be fine with that.

 

The downside of that though is that I know a lot of out of character things are written in the boards so it would make sense that if you had access to those boards you could see things like the traditions and be able to base it off of it. That’s why I wanted the heads to do it they would be more familiar with the actual things that would be important in their groups. 

[Jagen Sedai]

I find a bit of difficulty for the Traditions part. Aren't Ajah traditions supposed to be kept secret? Or just some of them, I suppose?

[Kathleen]

My thoughts on the tradition this is that they would only disclose things that are very minor and don't have any real impact.. things like wearing a certain colour sock when leaving the Tar Valon, or explaining why the Yellow Halls are decorated so crazy - things someone could pick up on and don't really matter. I wouldn't say give out secret signals to eyes and ears or 'rules'. 

[Jagen Sedai]

Yes, that makes sense... like everyone knows Reds don't bond Warders; we can explain why that is.

[Kathleen]

1 minute ago, Jagen Sedai said:

Yes, that makes sense... like everyone knows Reds don't bond Warders; we can explain why that is.

 

Exactly :)

 

Its a good opportunity to show the Accepted that there is a softer more collective feel to the Aes Sedai when you are one of them. and it reinforces the idea of the Ajah being a collective Group/Unit. But obviously they aren't going to share anything too deep..they are Aes Sedai after all lol.

[Jagen Sedai]

Okay, Red Ajah Class Outline is Complete!

 

I wonder if I need six full posts, though, because I could only come up with five. I would definitely welcome any input and ideas, though! :D

 

 

Quote

 

Red Ajah Class

 

Lesson One: Introductions

 

• Welcome; the Red Ajah is the largest Ajah, with the most important mission.

• Reds' Purpose: To Prevent another Breaking of the World

• Method: Gentling Male Channelers, we make sure to keep on eye on their madness, and to not let them stray. Male channelers should fall under White Tower control, to be taken to the WT to be gentled for their safety and the safety of the world.

• Not man-haters, but our mission requires us to often maintain an emotional distance from men.

• Red Amyrlins (Let's skip this, shall we?)

 

Homework: Impressions of the Red before the start of the class. Also, what does the student think would or could happen if a male channeler is allowed to run lose? Can they name any examples besides False Dragons?

 

Lesson Two: Traditions

• No bonding of Warders; this accomplishes two things; 1) Keep the Red sisters at an emotional distance from men, 2) A Red would never have to worry about gentling a Warder, which would surely cause them both pain.
• Relationships with men are discouraged for the above reason; conversely, relationships within the Ajah, to support one another, are strongly encouraged. (And relationships with other Sisters).
• Sisters practice Weaves to help with reading Residues, to help detect evidence of saidin.
• We have a lot of pride in what we do and encourage our members to always wear something red. We also feel our mission is one of the most important in the Tower.

 

Homework: In your own words, explain why having a Warder could be detrimental to the Reds' mission. Also explain what One Power weaves would be useful in tracking down men who could channel--or helping to capture them and keep them contained.

 

Lesson Three: The Traitor's Court

• Go over the three reasons the Traitor's Court is used for; further explain why men are not gentled on the spot wherever they are found (they deserve a trial, too).
• Press upon the student the importance of the Red Ajah mission; one needs a stable world to do anything else in, thus we support the other Ajahs' missions by keeping the world safe; we help guarantee the Tower's mission of success
• The Reds also help keep countries stable and wars from breaking out by preventing False Dragons from causing a ruckus. Go over a few past False Dragons.

 

Homework: Reflect on the importance of the Reds' mission. Explain what could have happened if the False Dragons were allowed to run free.

 

Lesson Four: Not Single Minded

• Because of the Red's narrow mission, we have other benefits; we are free to pursue other goals.
• We can and will assist other sisters (even in other Ajahs) in their goals if our main mission is not compromised.
• Getting out into the world is encouraged to help seek rumor of men who can channel. Thus being advisors to nobles, teachers and researches outside the Tower is encouraged, as it plants a Red out in the world.

 

Homework: What could or would you find yourself doing if you chose the Red Ajah? Would the mission of the Reds impede your own goals?

 

Lesson Five: Dismissal, Reflections

• Explain that the Red Ajah is very necessary.
• What is the over-all impression now of the Red Ajah?

 

•  

 

Edited June 22, 2018 by Jagen Sedai

[Kathleen]

The idea of the six post is that the six post was a minimum post for out of character requirements. So by having six classes or lessons you work into the system at least six replies so they can get their out of character requirements.

 

Requirements are all being reworked right now so it may not be necessary going forward to have that amount but I’m working closely with them on and we have an actually discussed those requirements yet we’re still discussing the main things. L The idea of the six posts is that the six post was a minimum post for out of character requirements. So by having six classes or lessons you work into the system at least six replies so they can get their out of character requirements.

 

Requirements are all being reworked right now so it may not be necessary going forward to have that amount but I’m working closely with them on and we have an actually discussed    Post or number count requirements yet we’re discussing the main things. 

 

You could always  split one of the topics up into two classes so they have to reply twice, or you could add a activity. For the yellows we have them go to the garden and try to pick out poison plants and then plant their own. I’m not sure what the Reds could do 

[Jagen Sedai]

4 hours ago, Kathleen said:

You could always  split one of the topics up into two classes so they have to reply twice, or you could add a activity. For the yellows we have them go to the garden and try to pick out poison plants and then plant their own. I’m not sure what the Reds could do 

 

I thought about this, and I'm also having trouble coming up with a solution. Still, when I hear your update, once things have been decided, OR if I come up with something to add, I'll add a sixth post in, somehow. Maybe "Tea with a Red", where the student gets this one opportunity to talk fairly casually with a Sister! :D

[Jagen Sedai]

By the way, can I post the Red Lesson onto the Red board for all sisters to see?

[Guest]

I'd say yes since I did the same with the green class I wrote (it still needs to be checked by the HOA though - in my case).

 

 

[Jagen Sedai]

Great, thank you!