Training
Due to the Last Battle being very close, Asha'man training is much more militaristic and battle-oriented than the training of Aes Sedai, as they are being trained purely to fight in the Last Battle. Training also proceeds at a much faster pace than that of Aes Sedai, and consequently the percentage of training Asha'man who burn themselves out or kill themselves accidentally is much higher than the comparative percentage for the Aes Sedai. The number of students they are finding, however, is comparatively greater, since no one has searched systematically for men who can be taught to channel (as opposed to those with the spark) in thousands of years.
Males who can channel saidin often describe it as a torrential storm of fire and of ice which they must continually fight to maintain control, whereas women are taught to surrender to saidar, and in surrendering to it they gain control over it. In addition, the taint placed on saidin by the Dark One makes their training particularly hazardous, and several Asha'man have already had to be "put to sleep" with poisoned wine due to growing insanity. Rand's instructions to Mazrim Taim were explicit: he needs an army of male channelers to help fight the Last Battle with him. However, he does not have time to train them himself. This seems to be the reason that he continues to allow Taim to train his Asha'man despite growing evidence that Taim has priorities that conflict with Rand's eventual purpose.
From the start Asha'man do all their chores with saidin, even if it takes them much longer than the normal time it would take to do a chore by hand. Although their primary purpose is to learn how to inflict damage with the One Power, all Ashaman learn Healing and, at Rand's instruction, how to use a sword as well as unarmed Aiel martial arts. Should an Asha'man defect, they are hunted down and have their head hung on the Traitor's Tree.
Recently an offer from Rand himself has been accepted by the Salidar Aes Sedai to bond Soldiers and Dedicated to a total of forty seven of their number. However the Red Ajah have also made a truce with the Asha'man, allowing the bonding of Asha'man to members of their Ajah, done by Mazrim Taim without the knowledge of Rand or his most powerful Asha'man ally, Logain Ablar. How these two separate agreements will converge in the future is uncertain.
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