The political climate in the Order has always been varied. But there has been a lot of changes, and many of them can be traceable and analyzed. In the usage of politics, I do not refer to leadership or the Game of Houses, I refer to the idealogical divides, the differences in opinions. By looking at the political climates, many things can be seen.

Let me start off by noting the different groups of idealogues. I'm not going to talk about Democrats or Republicans or Labor Party, modern parties; I will be talking about the idealogical groups: the conservatives, the liberals (progressives), moderates, and the two extremes. The basic catagory is change. Left side is pro-change, right side is anti-change.

<----Radical------Progressive------Moderate------Conservative------Radical-------->

Progressives desire change and seek the betterment of the clan through change. The conservative are more weary of change and try to maintain the status quo. The moderates, are as its name imply, are between the two groups. And the two Radical wings take changes to the polar extremes.

Children of the Light, be definition, are a conservative. A progressive Child of the Light would be considered a moderate in the global system, and a moderate Child of the Light would be considered a conservative in the global system, and so on.

I will be focusing on the Children of the Light idealogies, so for the purposes of this analyses, assume a "moderate" to correspond with a Child of Light moderate.

Pro-change and anti-change is an easy rule, but it can also be very vague, and is not always true. The more important rules are the issues.

Conservatives believe in a strict heirarchy of rule. They are the traditionists. They believe in using military power and keeping a strong military force.

Progressives believe in a loose heirarchy of rule, and will not follow orders blindly. They are more modern and try to keep with the times. They believe in diplomatic power and do not think force is always the answer.

A moderate will hold both conservative and progressive views, and generally consists the majority of the Clan at one time.

The radicals of each end takes views to extremes. A radical conservative believes that anyone who questions authority is a traitor. They spit on diplomacy and prefer to kill.

A radical progressive believes in a democratic system, and try to be more friendlier to Andor or Tar Valon.

The analyses will date back to after the collapse of the Golden Age. Before that, most of the Clan was united and besides I wasn't there :P

There was a marked increase in factions. We were centered around a moderate position, but there were indeed progressive and conservative elements. As a progressive during that time, I have actually fought reactionary Children of the Light inside Amador (I was winning too, until the mobs started assisting against me. He was later expelled for stealing from chest.) over issues. But that is an extreme example, and not a common occurance.

The young recruits were generally the progressives. The younger you are, the likelier you will be progressive. They were more idealistic and I was part of that cadre. Then there were the conservatives, who were older and wiser, and kept a balance of ideals for a while. But enough progressives were recruited that the balance was tipped towards the Left for a while. There were many changes during that Progressive Age. Many results were the expulsion of the Fortress of Light Fade, and many treaties with the outside world.

Let me just add something about the idealogical cycle. Recruits are most likely progressive, and every time there is a recruitment cycle, more progressives join. However, this particular Clan has a conservativing force. The longer you stay the Clan, the more likely you are a conservative. There will be a right-shift for most people. There are exceptions. Some Children are actually liberalized, but they are a minority.

Then there was the Conservative Shift. Recruitment had stopped, and the cycle turned Right, centering the Clan upon the moderate wing again. I, myself, was still very much progressive, but we were balanced out. Then recruitment began again, in the form of Amadician Army (based from the Progressive Age). There were some Progressives, but note that some Conservatives were introduced to the clan at this time.

There was some pulling and tugging, but there came a balance. Take the Council of the Anointed for example. It was first dominated by a conservative leadership. Because the older members had the most respect and power, and thus were elected. But soon Progressive elements also found a possession, to bring some balance. Inon and I entered to balance out some of the more traditional members. Then in the next Council, two more balancing members joined, Djal and Vaylor. Djal, I would have to say, is one of the most progressive of the Children of the Light (even a tad liberal than I liked), and Vaylor is one of the most conservative. The Council was at a balance. For a while.

Then came the massive shifts, with many causes. We had a lot more conservatives to balance out the progressives. So, we had a lot more radicals than before. Radicals started hunting in Andor, and there were some noise about it. I, being a progressive, was annoyed by this and found this distasteful. I didn't like the actions of some of my superiors, some who went to attack unwarranted women to force them to channel, thus justifying the actions. But all of these troubles could have been solved.

Then Doyn destroyed any chance of clan relations between Andor and the Children of the Light. I'm not going to go into it, because I'd just get angry. If you're interested, you can just ask any Child of the Light.

There was a huge shift in idealogies. It was a massive shift Right. For a brief moment, I was conservative. If I had become conservative, then the Clan had become EXTREMELY conservative. Yeah, some of the progressives stayed progressives. But this was the creation of modern factions. The arguments was vicious between the two bodies. The Council was split. Tangit was a moderate and Inon stayed a liberal. But the rest of us were conservative. And everyone was PISSED OFF. The Clan was completely polarized. The majority was the angry conservative (to which I belonged) but there was a vocal minority of the left. This was not the first political shift, but this was one of the most powerful. Even now, though I am a moderate, I'd spit nails if anyone mentions Andor in my hearing.

The Clan managed to survive, but the results lasted a long time. The radical whose policies in Andor I despised? I cheer them on now. There was a massive rift in the Clan, that would heal slowly. And would heal if Immortals did not interfere again.

Our Council was removed. This matched the Doyn's actions in results. Complete polarization, and another Right Shift. There were now more conservatives than ever, and angrier.

The End of Politics? No. The reason given to remove the Council was to stop the "bickering." But, this created more bickering, because it created more ardent factions. The moderate majority dropped completely out. The political activists are generally the extremes, because they have strong opinions. Without any moderates, the extremes were left in control. Because, hell, they weren't going to get out of "politics." Both sides were basically clawing at each other's throats, because both sides were extremely angry at the Immortals, at the world. There was also some rising in the Moderates. With everything dropping out around them, and people renouncing politics, they threw off their gloves and dug in. Politics is a dirty job, but it's an IMPORTANT job. If people renounce it, who's going to LEAD, who's going to FOLLOW. Politics is participation. If you renounce it, you renounce participating in the clan. I hated politics but these changes made me an activist once more. Great changes makes the activists.

That's truly where we are today. There has been some moderating forces, but we are still extremely polarized. How can we heal the rift? The solution is TO GET INVOLVED. Those who renounced "politics" to only exp and smob? Participate in the Clan again. If you don't participate, you are only hurting the Clan. Get involved, get interested, DO SOMETHING.