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The Age of Legends
The Age of Legends was a time before the Breaking of the World with no war and very little crime. Saidin and saidar were wielded side by side to produce amazing feats. People of the Age no longer cared for material wealth. Instead, status and honor were considered most important. This status and honor could only be achieved through service to society. Those given the most status were the Aes Sedai, or "Servants of All." Many Aes Sedai followed lives which had nothing to do with the One Power. When their talents and skills were needed, they could be summoned by the Hall of the Servants. One profession, the Restorers was held entirely by Aes Sedai, however. Restorers used the One Power to Heal injury and disease, such that people seldom died of anything except old age. The Aes Sedai of the time did a great deal of research. One of the most impressive feats was the creation of constructs which could use the One Power to perform given tasks. Chora trees, one of these creations, passed a sense of peace to any who passed beneath their leaves. Another of these creations, the Nym, were able to utilize the One Power to help growing things. Someone once wrote that, "Where a Nym touched, all manner of green and growing things thrived." The Aes Sedai of the Age of Legends had a very loose organization. While influential in the world government, they did not by any means control it. The Hall of the Servants regulated Aes Sedai, setting and enforcing the rules which they must live by. Serving the Aes Sedai were the Da’shain Aiel. They were sworn both to obey the Aes Sedai and to follow the Way of the Leaf. The amazing level of their dedication, both to the Aes Sedai they served and their way of life earned them a respect second only to the Aes Sedai themselves. Being in harmony with the environment was extremely important to the people of the Age of Legends. Pollution was virtually nonexistant. City streets were lined with chora trees, such that any city which did not contain them was considered bare. During this Age, the Aes Sedai had numerous ways of traveling which were then lost. The most fabled was Traveling, which allowed a powerful Aes Sedai with the correct Talent to create a gateway which would allow the channeler to step between two places without crossing the intervening distance. Skimming was a somewhat similar procedure, which could be utilized by those with less power or skill handling either saidin or saidar. The most powerful Aes Sedai could also use Portal Stones, which were able to open up links to alternate realities or, "worlds that might have been."
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