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The Breaking of the World
While Lews Therin and the Hundred Companions successfully sealed the Bore, they did so at a tremendous cost. A backblast at the moment of the sealing tainted saidin. While this may or may not have been a deliberate action of the Dark One, the results were catastrophic. Lews Therin and the surviving Hundred Companions went immediately insane. Within days they were destroying everything in their path. This was the beginning of the Time of Madness, a time when the One Power was used in ways never befored considered. Mountain ranges were destroyed, and new mountains rose. The weather was greatly affected, creating raging storms. While each of these men destroyed a great deal, it is only Lews Therin whose individual acts are still known through legend. He killed every person who carried a drop of his blood, and all those close to him, earning him the name Kinslayer. Away from Shayol Ghul, male Aes Sedai everywhere noticed the taint immediately. They were unsure what it was, but it did not affect the way the One Power was used. Some time passed before other male Aes Sedai began to go insane, and even more time passed before it was discovered that it was the taint on saidin which was causing this to happen. Even while maddened Aes Sedai were beginning to tear apart the land, armies of the Shadow still threatened civilization. Without any major leadership, however, these armies fell upon each other as often as on any forces of the Light. With Lews Therin gone, Latra Posae rose to prominence in the fight against the Shadow. She earned the name Shadar Nor, "Cutter of the Shadow," but she died some time during the Breaking. The Breaking itself eventually put an end to the war, as forces of the Light and the Shadow focused on survival. Some of these men tried to avoid their fate by avoiding the saidin. They went to Ogier stedding, where the True Source could not be detected. These men hoped that the taint on saidin could be removed. Eventually, though, they all left the stedding, no longer able to accept the lack of the One Power. Scholars argue over whether these men made things better or worse by temporarily moving to the stedding. While it did prolong the Breaking, it spread the destruction out over a much longer span of time. Despite the fact that male Aes Sedai were going insane, the Aes Sedai continued to work wonders. Chief among them was the creation of the Eye of the World, created to protect various artifacts against the need to come in the future. The Aes Sedai hid the seals to the Dark One’s prison, lest a maddend man find them. Humanity fell apart, all the great works of the Age of Legends destroyed. Eventually, though, society would be rebuilt.
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