Time is a wheel with seven spokes, each spoke an Age of existence. The Wheel weaves the threads of human lives into the Pattern of an Age, with each pattern of an Age being weaved into the Great Pattern. The power which turns the Wheel of Time is the One Power, divided into two halves: Saidar, the female half, and Saidin, the male half. These powers work together and against each other in the turnings of the wheel. A very small number of humans can channel this power. Female channel Saidar, males channel Saidin. These people were once all known as Aes Sedai.

The One Power has five threads: Fire, Air, Spirit, Water, and Earth. Anyone who uses the One Power has stronger ability with one or two of these threads and weaknesses with one or two of the others. Traditionally, men are stronger with Fire and Earth, and women stronger with Water and Spirit. Different threads woven in different degrees are the basis of channeling. The effect one desires is based on what threads one weaves and how one does it. As such, there are an infinite number of things that can be done with the One Power. Strangely enough, some tasks cannot be done, no matter the skill of the user or how much power is put into the weave.

Long ago, during the Age of Legends, a war wracked the land. The Dark One was breaking free of his prison, and his minions were conquering the world. A group of male channelers, called the Hundred Companions, sealed the Dark One back in his prison, thus removing the Shadow's influence and leadership from the land. However, the Dark One's counterstroke was fierce. He sent a backlash through the power as they sealed him in, putting a taint on Saidin itself. As a result, anybody who channeled this power eventually went horribly mad and rotted alive. Nowadays, only female Aes Sedai exist. Men found able to channel are hunted down and either killed or "gentled": cut off from the power by the Aes Sedai to prevent the madness and destruction that would overtake them.

Jaim Tashima was born into the military society of the kingdom of Sheinar in the Borderlands. He lost his family at the age of 6 in a nighttime Trolloc raid; only a lucky strike with a dagger he was carrying saved him from the Trolloc that killed his parents.

The orphaned child was taken in by the House of Tashima, a minor nobility, and raised and trained as a soldier. At 15, he enlisted in the military.

It was at this time that Jaim learned of his ability to channel the accursed power Saidin. He kept this a secret and, as he knew from stories that those who could channel but not control died rapidly, attempted to develop his power. Beating all odds, he successfully taught himself to channel.

He rose quickly in the military due to his excellent knowledge of tactics, military prowess, and secret channeling ability, and became commander of a small branch of Sheinar's army. Jaim was responsible for several heroic defenses of Sheinar's cities, fighting against superior numbers many times. His only major battle, though, was his first -- and last -- loss. He had organized a counterstrike against an army that had destroyed one of Sheinar's northern cities, but an ambush by the enemy cost him his troops, leaving him wounded and forced into flight.

Jaim wandered for several years, hiring himself out as a mercenary to survive. Upon hearing that the true Dragon Reborn had proclaimed himself, Jaim immediately set out to try to find him and join up in the "Army of the Light."

For a whole year he traveled, seeking the places the Dragon Reborn was rumored to be. One day, while Jaim was riding through a backwater village in Tear, a man calling himself Mazriam Taim appeared through a Gateway, looking for people to join the Dragon Reborn's army. Jaim went with him, then found out that Taim was actually looking for men who could channel. Jaim was immediately conscripted into this army.

For several months Jaim went through grueling testing and practice, greatly increasing his knowledge of and ability with channeling. He was one of the first to earn the rank of "Asha'man."

When the Dragon Reborn was captured and kidnapped by the tower Aes Sedai, Jaim went with the Asha'man on the rescue mission. He fought well in the battle, killing several dozen Shaido Aiel and two Aes Sedai, as well as wounding three more. In the end, however, he took a Shaido's spear in the belly. Grievously wounded, he took a desperate gamble and opened a Gateway, hoping to get away safely. The Gateway misfired, though, as he did not know the area he was in well enough to open an accurate Gateway. That, combined with all the interfering channeling in the area, tossed Jaim to another realm. He found himself in a multiverse, where people from all lands and times visited, and he now resides in this realm.

Jaim Tashima is 27 but looks slightly older, perhaps 35. He stand 6'1 and is of a medium yet muscular build. His sandy blond hair is long and usually tied back in a ponytail. His green eyes usually appear hard, as if he were engaged in some internal struggle.

He dresses in black robes or an open black vest with dark grey or black pants. His collar is always adorned with two pins: a silver sword and a red and gold enameled dragon. He wears no armor, but sheathed in his belt is an ancient, high quality bastard sword. This heron-marked, Power-forged blade was in his blood family since the Age of Legends, passed down among the generations among the males, given to the best warrior among them. This blade cannot be broken and will not ever lose its edge. He also possesses an angral to enhance channeling ability, and a ter'angreal, whose use is still unknown.

Jaim is extremely bright, conservative and cautious; he makes friends and enemies easily -- and keeps them. He is protective of and yet defensive around women, perhaps because of his deep-rooted fear of the Aes Sedai. He lives by the codes of chivalry and honor of his homeland. But his human body and spirit are suffused with the taint from Saidin that comes from his years of channeling. He has for a long time contained the taint within him, holding it at bay and using it as a most unusual defense: He strongly resists powers of darkness, evil and possession aimed at his body and mind. Yet he is beginning to show signs of the taint: a slight irrational behavior, and a beginning tendency to look away from the Light and more toward darkness.

Growing up in a society that always knows war, Jaim loves the thrill of battle and is very good at it. He always tries to act honorably. However, he has absolutely no sense of self-preservation, for he fears the madness of the taint more than death, remembering the stories of Lews Therin Kinslayer and the Hundred Companions.

His goal, therefore, is to die with honor in the service of the light before going completely mad.

The Wheel of Time series is copyrighted by Robert Jordan and Tor Books, Inc. Phrases "The Wheel of Time" and "Dragon Reborn" are trademarks of Robert Jordan. Any information found here is strictly unofficial and unauthorized and in no way should replace anything found in past, present, or upcoming Wheel of Time material.