Breaking of the World
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“Whoever reads this, if any remain to read it, weep for us who have no more tears. Pray for us who are damned alive.” |
The Breaking of the World, also known as the Time of Madness, was a period when male Aes Sedai destroyed much of the world, ending the Age of Legends, and heralding the beginning of the Third Age.
In their insanity the male Aes Sedai used the One Power to destroy mountains and raise new ones, to drain oceans and flood dry land. Cities were wiped out and civilization completely collapsed during this time, only re-establishing itself in primitive form after the last of the male Aes Sedai were dead. Language maintained some cohesion, however, due to the continued printing of writings in the Old Tongue during the chaos of the period.
The duration of the Breaking is a matter of great debate amongst historians. However, it is generally held that the Breaking lasted no less than 239 years and no more than 344.
Give that Aes Sedai lived for 700 years or even longer during the Age of Legends, it is believed possible that some female Aes Sedai who had been alive during the War of the Shadow, or even before the Bore had been created, could still have lived at the end of the Breaking. However, with the possible exception of some of the Aes Sedai involved in the construction of the city of Rhuidean, this does not appear to be the case. It is unclear why. The remaining living Aes Sedai formed the White Tower , they also began the use of the Oath Rod a device used during the Age of legends to bind people to a task. The side effect from the rod negates the longjevity provided by the power. It is safe to assume that those already several hundered years old would die out in a relativly short period of time 30-40 years
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[edit] Stedding controversy
Some male Aes Sedai escaped the madness by staying in Ogier steddings, but they eventually left and went mad, thus prolonging the Breaking, according to some. Other scholars state that this allowed the world to recover from those already mad, and that if all had gone mad at once, the world would not have survived. For their service, the Ogier were given the gift of the Talisman of Growing, and with it the ability to create the Ways.
Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah and Blue traditionally hold differing views of the Ogier help, with Reds acceding to the former, and Blues to the latter.
[edit] Effects on Ogier
The Ogier also suffered from the Breaking. All were separated from the stedding, for while the One Power had no effect within a stedding, when a madman creates a volcano outside the steddings boundaries, or shatters the earth around it, there is nothing left to do but run. Unfortunately the Ogier were bound to the stedding in ways not understood. The years of the Breaking would be called the "Long Exile" by the Ogier of the lands of the west of "Randland", and would leave them with the Longing, restricting them from journeying away from the stedding for long periods of time, ever again.
[edit] Ogier in other continents
The Ogier of Seanchan were spared from the Longing, for the concentration of stedding on their continent was much higher than it was in the west. This presumably allowed the Ogier to rest in the stedding long enough to counter whatever caused the Longing.
It is unknown if there are any Ogier in Shara or the Land of the Madmen.
[edit] After the Breaking
The Breaking officially ended when the last male Aes Sedai died.
Much of the world was completely changed, and most of the world's population died in the upheaval. The glorious civilization of the Age of Legends had disappeared in three hundred years of blood and fire.
Among the geographic changes, the great World Sea had disappeared (although some hold that the Aryth Ocean partially lies across its former extent) and many 'new' mountain ranges had formed. These mountains, formed in three centuries or less under very violent seismic shifts, can be identified as being very jagged and show little sign of erosion. 'New' mountain ranges in the Westlands include the Damona Mountains in Altara and the Mountains of Dhoom in the far north.
After the Breaking there was a feeling that the glories of the prior Age might come again, and indeed, civilization would return, with the construction of great Ogier-built cities like Tar Valon and Al'cair'rahienallen.
