A weave is a combination of One Power flows manipulated by a channeler to elicit a specific effect. During the Second Age channelers referred to the concept as a Web.
Each weave described below includes whether or not it has been rediscovered in the First Age, a description, and characters who can perform the weave.
Cutting
The cutting weaves are used in a duel among channellers to cut and so dispel the weaves formed by an adversary. It is woven differently by women and men. Women’s weaves are composed of threads of Fire and Air and in some cases the threads of fire can be reinforced by Earth. For men the weave is composed of spirit, fire and earth.
Characters adept in this weave:
Sebastian, Nox Durante
Inverting
Inverting is a means of hiding weaves of the One Power from being sensed by another channeler. An inverted weave is manipulated such that only the channeler that wove it can detect it.
Inverting a weave is a complex task of reversing the visible weave starting from the end and weaving backwards to the start all the while twisting the threads of Power in a manner that they are no longer seen by a channeler including the one weaving it.
Characters adept in this weave:
Nox Durante – There may be other ways to do it, but Nox’s technique is one of brute force as is most of his other experiments.
Shielding
Also known as “buffering”, shielding is the act of forming a weave that will block another channeler from accessing the One Power, though the blocked channeler will still be able to sense it. The act of shielding is an incredibly useful tactic when a channeling foe needs to be subdued. It is a complex weave of Spirit. A shield placed upon a person who can channel can be tied off and left, though such a weave can eventually be broken by someone with enough patience or pain tolerance. However, the more complex the weaves in the shield are, the harder it is for even another channeler to undo with the power. Shielding weaves can also be made semi-permanent if tied off expertly, but will still eventually break. It is possible to be exceptionally talented with shielding. An individual with this talent is able to hold a shield that even a much stronger channeler cannot break through. Instead of breaking, the shield stretches and bends.
Characters adept in this weave:
Nikolai Brandon, Cruz Vega, Nox Durante, Oriena Rusayev
Severing
This is a weave that cuts off a channeler from accessing the One Power permanently and renders them incapable of channeling.
Severing a person from the ability to channel is considered by most to be worse than death. A severed channeler can still feel saidin‘s or saidar‘s presence, but they can no longer seize or embrace it. It is often described to be as if part of the channeler itself has been cut away. In men, the experience of being severed is described as similar to castration. Without the ecstasy of the One Power within themselves, those who are severed usually lose the will to live, and will often die of various direct causes connected to this. Death after being severed is commonly caused by suicide, refusing to eat or drink, or simply becoming too weak to continue onward. Living on after being severed isn’t unknown to happen, however. Accounts of people who survive the ordeal say that to hold on to their will to live, the presence of something else in their life to fill the emptiness left by the One Power is required. Often, this involves a great hobby, duty, or a lover. Severing can be healed by an advanced healer known as a Restorer.
Characters adept in this weave:
Illusion
This is a rather common talent compared to the others on this list, although illusion can be rather simple or incredibly intricate. Air and Fire woven together can create a disguise over a person or an object. From a distance, this is very convincing; although, up close, the illusion can be discerned unless the creator was a master illusionist.
Simple illusion: The most common form of illusion, it is created using air and fire and placed over a person or object. The target of the illusion must remain motionless otherwise the illusion will be apparent.
Major illusion: This can be used to create elaborate illusions, including altering someone’s voice or even the words they say. The target of the illusion can change shape or size and can move and be touched without disrupting the weave.
Characters adept in this weave:
Jaxen Marveet (major), Nox Durante (simple), Nesrin Aziz (simple)
Invisibility
Also called “Folded Light”, this is created with spirit in order to turn an immobile object or person invisible, or rather, the eyes of viewers slide right over the target. As soon as the object moves, the invisibility is broken. Of course, any channeler who can see the weaves of another channeler would be able to see the flows that are keeping the invisibility in place, rendering it useless. That is unless the creator can invert their weaves, but that is incredibly difficult.
Characters adept in this weave:
Healing
This weave heals the body or mind of physical ailments. There are two levels of healing, and each require different combinations of threads and have separate energy requirements for the channeler and the patient. Some people can heal very minor wounds, sicknesses or injuries, and some people cannot heal so much as a scratch. Healing by a woman is accompanied by a great chill rippling through the body; contrarily, Healing by a man it is accompanied by a wave of warmth. More factors affect the success level of Healing. The strength level in the Power and the amount of Talent possessed, and the skill of the Healer, he latter two more so than strength in the Power. With less Power but more skill and Talent one can perform better Healing.
Lesser Healing: This weave can be learned by those with an affinity for healing, but the channeler must have at least some ability to heal in order to perform it. This is akin to a sort of first-aid level of healing. Variations of lesser healing include easing pain or easing fatigue. Women creating this weave use spirit, water and air while men creating this weave use spirit, earth, and fire. Small wounds and scars vanishe instantly, visible to all viewer’s eyes, while larger wounds will close and heal as if they had healed naturally, but do so in mere seconds. Lost appendages cannot be replaced and major wounds will be left with a scar. It uses the body energy of the injured person. The more serious the injuries are the more energy the Healing requires. In case of a very serious injury it could kill the patient by draining their energy. Once a patient has been Healed in this manner, his energy reserves must be replenished. The patient usually feels imminent increasing hunger. In case of a serious injury or illness the patient will be unable to stand under his own power without eating a huge amount of food and literally would starve to death. It requires a disproportionate amount of strength from the Healer so in case of many injured, the Healer’s strength might not last long enough.
Advanced Healing: Also called “Restoration”, advanced Healing can only be performed by those with an innate talent for it. This weave is created with all five threads by both men and women. It requires no sacrifice of energy from the healer or the patient and can heal anything short of death. It is described as a peaceful experience and creates a sort of telepathic bond between healer and patient such that if the patient experiences future wounds, the healer is aware of it.
Delving: The act of ‘feeling around’ with the One Power to detect injury or sickness is referred to as ‘delving.’ It is often used directly before healing, and similar to other forms of healing, a channeler must have an affinity for the weave in order to create it. Also, simply having the ability to detect an injury or sickness does not imply one has sufficient skill to heal it.
Characters adept in this weave:
Jensen James (advanced), Helena Asquith (advanced), Morven Kinnaird (lesser), Spectra Lin (lesser), Eidolon (lesser)
Compulsion
This is the name for the art of subjugating another person’s will through the use of the Power. There are two levels of compulsion. Both forms require using the Power to stimulate and control nerves in the brain, and forcing too hard can damage a person’s mind permanently once they are released. Additionally, the greater the user’s knowledge of the functions and anatomy of the human brain, the more effective their Compulsion becomes
Lesser compulsion: Normal use of Compulsion is to channel the Compulsion weave, often described as whip-like and making use of mostly Spirit, and then to issue a command. The victim will then carry out the command of the channeler. Through normal use, Compulsion is not thought to have any lasting effects. Repeated use on the same subject, however, can lead to the subject being more likely to be obedient, even if not under active Compulsion. Lesser Compulsion can be lifted by an experienced enough channeler.
Advanced compulsion: This weave is spirit with streaks of water and air. If one is commanded under Compulsion to commit an action that is an innermost desire, the command will persist for the remainder of that person’s life. Advanced compulsion can be placed on a person permanently as well. By leaving the weaves tied off on a person’s mind, their orders or even entire thoughts can be left by the channeler to stay with them until it is either lifted or they die. The more complex the Compulsion weaves, the harder it is to remove them. Advanced compulsion literally end up taking the place of one’s mind, rather than manipulating it, so lifting them evidently results in brain damage or death.
Resisting compulsion: Some people have the strength of mind to try and resist Compulsion subconsciously. If they are able to resist, they are then able to free themselves of the implanted command. This does not, however, protect the victim from a subsequent or more powerful use of Compulsion. Someone actively embracing the One Power cannot be placed under compulsion.
Characters adept in this weave:
Ryker Petrovic (advanced), Oriena Rusayev (advanced), Nesrin Aziz (lesser), Sterling Mishina (lesser)
Folded Darkness
This weave is a creation of Nikolai Brandon, inspired by myths of Hades, whom was said to cloak himself in darkness to obscure his comings and goings. It is a combination of air, fire, earth and spirit that results in a contained area of cloud-like, black fog. It is an opposite and equal weave to Folded Light.
All eyes were drawn to the front of the ballroom, drawn to a billowing black cloud. It churned slowly on the currents of air permeating the room, but did not dissipate. Some brave souls tried to scoop a bit of the seeming-mist into the palms of their hands, only to find the darkness unwilling to be captured so easily.
The Grand Ball
Characters adept in this weave:
Earth Delving
Characters adept in this weave:
Earthquakes
Characters adept in this weave:
Nikolai Brandon, Elias Donovan
Weather manipulation
Characters adept in this weave:
Kemala, Leon Corlinson, Ezekiel
Creation of power-wrought objects
Characters adept in this weave:
Marcus Dubois, Cruz Vega
Traveling
Traveling is the ability to shift oneself from one place to another without crossing the intervening space and is a major Talent. In order to Travel the channeller must know their starting place in great detail. Men bend the Pattern so that there is no space between where they are and where they want to go and bore a Hole in the Pattern from one to the other. Women change the weave of the Pattern with a flow of Spirit to create a similarity between where they are and where they want to go so that there is no difference between the two at that point. A gateway then opens. The two methods are completely incompatible with each other. In general, the stronger the channeller, the larger the gateway they can make, and without enough strength, a channeller may be only able to open small hole, or else no hole at all. Women can link, though, and then weave a gateway. However, Androl, a very weak channeller, has a strong Talent for Traveling and can make gateways when he should not be able to. If the starting area is not well known, but the destination is, a different weave can open a gateway for Skimming. The channeller stands or sits on an imagined platform and moves through the void to their destination. It is slower than Traveling, but fairly secure.
Travel to other planets within the solar system is possible and would require a circle of fairly strong channelers, though not necessarily as many as thirteen, depending on exactly how far out they wanted to go. Travel to a planet in another solar system would require a circle of the maximum possible size of very strong channelers, and there would a limit on how far they could go in one jump. They could planet-hop, of course. Another galaxy is too far away to reach by Travelling.
Characters adept in this weave:
In the First Age, nobody has rediscovered the ability to Travel. The first person will eventually be Allan Rykovi.
Wards
A ward is a weave of the Power that creates a barrier or triggers an effect if crossed. A ward is a standing and passive enchantment. Wards can be made to serve a variety of purposes from creating an alarm when one is crossed to preserving food within the area of the ward and in some cases harming or killing a person when they attempt to cross a Ward.
Characters Adept in this weave:
Michael Vellas (Master)
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