Sea Folk
From Wotpedia
The Sea Folk, or Atha'an Miere in the Old Tongue, are a society of seafaring people who inhabit the seas and islands surrounding the Westlands.
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Society
The Sea Folk live as much of their lives as possible over open water. Contrary to popular Westland belief, most Atha'an Miere do not live on the "Sea Folk Isles." In fact, most Sea Folk are not happy unless aboard a ship. Many, like Tremalking, are inhabited solely by a peaceful society known as the Amayar.
Hierarchy
The Atha'an Miere are headed by the Mistress of the Ships, who is essentially a queen. Her consort hold the title Master of the Blades. These leaders do not have a specific geographic seat. Instead, like all Sea Folk, they reside on their ship.
Below the Mistress of the Ships are the twelve Wavemistresses. They head the various Sea Folk clans and essentially act as seagoing governors. It should be noted that there are also governors appointed to each Sea Folk island, but, given the culture's aversion to land, it can be assumed that these governors do not stand nearly so high as Wavemistresses in Sea Folk society.
Each Wavemistress is responsible for all of her Sailmistresses, or ship captains. Sailmistresses are ranked by the class of ship they sail. The consort of each Sailmistress is given the title Cargomaster, and he is responsible for accounting, merchanting, and defense.
Just below the Sailmistress and her Cargomaster stands the ship's Windfinder. Windfinders are essentially navigators, generally because they have the ability to channel. This fact is kept well-hidden from Aes Sedai until Elayne and Nynaeve travel aboard a Sea Folk raker in The Shadow Rising.
Science and Technology
The Atha'an Miere are known by a few to possess a number of scientific advances beyond those of the mainland Westlanders. The most widely acknowledged superiority is their ships. The Sea Folk build the fastest ships of all the known cultures. Their rakers can out-sail any other ship in the sea. Furthermore, many Sea Folk ships do not use a traditional tiller for steering. Instead, ships are mounted with a steering wheel.
The Sea Folk also appear to have refined lens-crafting far enough to allow them to develop spectacles for reading.
Relationship with other cultures
Westlands
Little is known of the Sea Folk society by the people of the Westlands. A secretive people, they tend to mistrust foreigners. Despite this, all Sea folk vessels will willingly take on passengers from any nation.
There is, of course, one exception to the rule of passage: a Sailmistress may only refuse passage to an Aes Sedai. This is less an issue of the ubiquitous mistrust of anything to do with the One Power as it is a necessary precaution to prevent Aes Sedai from discovering the closely-held secret that Windfinders can channel the One Power. The Sea Folk fear that the discovery will lead inevitably to Aes Sedai meddling in Sea Folk affairs.
Otherwise, the Sea Folk are friendly with Westlanders. They are valued trading parters with all of the coastal nations, as they consistently bring goods from distant lands and rare items from their isles, including Sea Folk porcelain.
Shara
Given the secluded nature of Sharan society, the Sea Folk know less of the Sharans than the Westlanders know of the Sea Folk. They are not permitted to make port anywhere but in designated cities, and those who are foolish to fail in this are never seen again.
Aside from the Aiel, The Sea Folk are the only traders still to bring silk from Shara.
Seanchan
Since the appearance of the Seanchan in The Great Hunt, the Sea Folk and the invaders have been enemies. The Seanchan Hailene took possession of several Sea Folk isles as advance bases before launching its invasion on Toman Head and Tarabon.
Sea Folk and Seanchan ships are often seen in naval battles, with Windfinders and damane wreaking havoc upon each other's vessel.
