cks and balances for the White Tower. The Hall is also responsible for selecting a new Amyrlin when the office falls vacant, and can remove an Amyrlin or Keeper. In that function, they are similar to the College of Cardinals in the Vatican, which elects the new Pope. Sitters are highly esteemed sisters who have been chosen by their Ajahs to represent their interests in the Hall of the Tower. Each Ajah has its own method for selecting new Sitters, but the Ajah Heads generally have a significant role. The Sitters also vote to raise a new Amyrlin Seat.
Each Ajah has its own ruling council. The women in this council are known as Ajah Heads, and are not necessarily sitters of the Hall. If this is the case, Sitters are answerable to their Ajah heads for their actions in the Hall. Though sitters are public knowledge, the names of the Ajah heads are a closely guarded secret of each Ajah. Ajah Heads have no extra authority outside their Ajah.
Other Aes Sedai
Although Aes Sedai enjoy almost unrestricted power among the wider world, they have their own strict hierarchy that allows little room for deviation. The hierarchy is a custom as strong as law, and failure to defer to a higher ranking can lead to the offended sister setting the other a penance. The hierarchy is based on four factors:
Granted authority: Where the Amyrlin sets one sister to lead a group, all in the group defer to that sister. In the Blue Ajah, and presumably most others, the Ajah Head can set a sister above others within the Ajah in the same way.
Strength in the One Power" Aes Sedai defer to those that are stronger in the One Power than themselves. If there is a large gap in strength, that deferral becomes obedience.
Training Time: Where there is little difference in strength, a woman is deemed higher up in the Aes Sedai hierarchy if she spent less time as novice and Accepted than another. This may be a way of measuring pure ability among Aes Sedai, since training in the Tower involves both skill in the One Power and knowledge of non-Power information such as law, history, and the Old Tongue. Nevertheless, there is still a bias towards those who are stronger in the Power.
Age: Lastly, where women have roughly the same strength in the One Power and the same training time, the place on the hierarchy is based on age. Older Aes Sedai are higher up in the hierarchy.
Though Aes Sedai do not openly recruit, all women found by Aes Sedai who were born with the spark and all other women of appropriate age who can channel and wish to learn how are entered in the novice book to begin training. The Mistress of Novices is in charge of the training, care, and punishment of all trainees, and she has the last word regarding them. There are two levels of training: novice and Accepted.
Novices attend classes taught by sisters and Accepted concerning the One Power. They are treated as children because they could easily harm themselves with the Power and lack the knowledge to protect themselves. They have hardly any time for themselves, because when they are not training they are usually doing chores. Novices who have little potential in the Power or who are otherwise unsuitable to eventually become Aes Sedai are taught just enough to keep them from hurting themselves. For the others, when the Mistress of Novices determines she is ready, she is summoned to a ceremony to be raised to Accepted. She has the right to refuse the ceremony twice, but on the third time if she refuses she will be put out of the Tower. Once she starts she cannot stop, or she will be put out of the Tower. The ceremony consists of the novice stepping unclothed through a special three-arched ter’angreal that forces her to face her fears to test her dedication to the White Tower.
Once Accepted, the women have more privileges and are not usually forced to do chores. They can also wear the Great Serpent ring of the Aes Sedai, but only on the ring finger of their left hand. They train harder and also teach courses to novices. They usually spend several years more as Accepted, and when they are deemed ready to becom