Aiel Waste

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In the fictional world of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, the Aiel Waste is an almost waterless desert that had no inhabited cities until Rand al'Thor opened Rhuidean to all. The Aiel also call the Waste the Three-Fold Land.

The Aiel Waste is a vast, arid land to the east of Randland, separated from the latter by the mountain range known as the Spine of the World. During the Trolloc wars, the Trollocs gave it the name Djevik K'Shar, or "The Dying Ground," due to the immense ferocity and fighting prowess of the Aiel.

The Aiel Waste is bordered by the Spine of the World, or the Dragonwall to the west, the chasms and precipices of Shara to the east, the Blight in the north, and the Sea of Storms in the south. These four borders, and the hot, dry, roadless terrain keep the Waste an isolated land, as does the Aiel's harsh treatment of foreigners. Blistering temperatures ravage the land by day and glacial ones freeze it at night. It is a land of mountains and valleys dotted by numerous rock formations, including many spires. It has almost no vegetation and what there is, is small and virtually useless. Not many animals live in the Waste, but the ones that do are usually as treacherous as the land itself.

Despite the daunting environment, the Aiel people make the Waste their home. The majority of Aiel live in and among the rock formations. These holds, as they are called, are approximately the size of villages. The Aiel have their own name for the Waste, the Three-Fold Land: First, because it is a shaping stone to make them; second, it a testing ground to prove their worth; third, it punishment for their sin against Aes Sedai. The Aiel have absolute control of the land and only allow peddlers, gleemen and Tinkers to enter it. At one time, Cairhienin merchants were permitted to enter, but lost that privilege due to Laman's Sin, which was King Laman's cutting down of a sacred Chora tree.

There is only one city in the Waste. The ancient city of Rhuidean has just recently been inhabited again. Located deep in the Waste, it lies in a valley beneath the mountain Chaendar, and sits above a large newly formed lake sustained by an enormous underground ocean of fresh water. The lake feeds a river that brings water to areas in the Waste that have not had water in living memory. The only known Chora tree, Avendesora, also known as the Tree of Life, resides in Rhuidean's central square. This square is where Mat Cauthon was nearly hanged and got the silver medallion and ashandarei.