Nature of the Taint

When Lews Therin and the Hundred Companions sealed the Dark One and the Forsaken back into the prison, Saidin was tainted by the Dark One's counterstroke.

Saidin is like a clear, pure pool, but the taint lies atop it like a slick of oil or the scummy film on a stagnant pond. Saidin is still pure beneath that film, but it cannot be touched without reaching through the taint and touching it as well. Every time a man channels Saidin he brings more of the taint into himself.

Because of this taint, every man who channels will eventually become mad unless he is captured and gentled(permanently cut off from the One Power). If he continues to live after the madness, the very advanced stages of the taint include a rotting alive affect, similar to leprosy.

Each man resists taint differently. Some go mad in a matter of days, while others have channeled for as much as a decade without succumbing. Regardless of how long it takes, eventually it is inevitable. The price of touching tainted Saidin is madness and death.

In game terms, it is up to each person to decide how tainted his character is. The vast range of time it can take for someone to give in to the madness makes it incredibly difficult to come up with a fair system for determining it. It is also somewhat contrary to good RP to just arbitrarily force someone to play his character as being taint-mad. Use your own best judgement and discretion in regards to the taint in your RP.

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