MikeAqua:

 

Wheel of Time back story for anyone interested.  No genuine spoilers but you may learn aspects of the world prematurely compared to just watching the series.

 

In this world there is source of magic called the one power.  This has two aspects Saidar and Saidin.  Saidin can be channeled by men (Asha'man) it's harsh, difficult to control and very powerful, Saidar is channeled by women (Aes Sedai) and is more gentle but still very powerful.

 

In this world events are woven by the wheel of time.  It's circular.  Each cycle is an age.   The story is set in the third age.   The weaving of the wheel can be seen as fate/destiny.  Some people have the ability to reweave their own fate (and by extension those around them) they are called Ta'veren.  

 

In the age of legends men and women used the one power, they were different but equally powerful.  

 

The overall baddie is the Dark One.   The Dragon was Lews Therin Thelamon he and his followers used magic to imprison the Dark One.  But the Dark One had the last laugh he tainted Saidin.  This caused any male channeling the  one source to go mad.  Notably The Dragon ended up killing his family. This mass outpouring of uncontrolled magic 'broke' the world, rearranging the geography at an apocalyptical scale.  Civilisation, technology and arcane arts were largely lost.

 

In the third age, there are no Asha'man.  The Aes Sedai hunt down men who can channel power and 'gentle' them, which means removing their ability to channel power.  Women who can channel are taken in and trained to become Aes Sedai in 'The White Tower"

 

The Aes Sedai are divided into seven Ajah (sects).  Each has it's own area of expertise.  E.g. Blue is justice, Red hunts down men who can channel power.

 

The Aes Sedai serve the light (antithesis of the dark one). The Children of Light also serve the light.  They are a fundamentalist militia who also conduct an inquisition. 

 

The servants of the dark one are shadow-spawn - creatures that are made not born.  This includes humanoid monster called Shades who control trollocks - bipedal monsters made of variety of animal body parts.

 

That's the basics. Enjoy.

Thanks for reawakening my interest in this series.

I have all the The Wheel of Time books, have had since initial release. A thoroughly enjoyable series. I hope they have done justice to it. In scope and depth it is similar to the Foundation series but I think it might be a bit easier to write a screen play for though.