Not quite minor discrepancy in Ways origins

[Kalessin]

In EotW and tGH we learn that the Ways were set up by the few male Aes Sedai who reached the refuge of the steddings before they went mad, and so were able to survive while the rest of the male Aes Sedai went mad and Broke the World. They made the Ways from their understanding of the Many Worlds Theory, which in this case was already proven.

 

In the EotW and tGH, we also learn that the Ogier were exiled from the steddings and had to wander until they found them again. This set the Longing in their souls, and in WoT, they can no longer spend time freely whenever whereever; they are tied to the steddings. In tDR, we see through Rand's Da'shain ancestors the pitiful plight on one such band of Ogier, looking for the steddings and not finding them.

 

Which of those stories is true? Or is it a case of some Ogier having the luck to find steddings and offering them to the male Aes Sedai they knew, while other Ogier, working Outside when the Breaking of the World happened, finding themselves refugees like everybody else, and finding the old paths no longer there? (It's Either/Or from one perspective, or Both/And from the other one.)

[KakitaOCU]

I always assumed the second.  The Ogier off the steading had it bad, but I doubt the entire population was conveniently away from home when things went bad.   

[Scarloc99]

1 hour ago, KakitaOCU said:

I always assumed the second.  The Ogier off the steading had it bad, but I doubt the entire population was conveniently away from home when things went bad.   

I mean I imagine there is a Venn Diagram 

Ogier who where away from home when the world went bang and went hunting for there home or another one.
Ogier who where in Stedding when the world went bang and stayed there. 
Ogier who where in Stedding that went bang when the world went bang and needed to find a new home. 

[bringbackthomsmoustache]

Loial directly states that it was the Ogier who were still in the stedding who "offered refuge to the servants of the light" and were gifted the talisman of growing.