The Breaking

[Blackhoof]

I wonder what the breaking would have looked like, because for some reason i can't seem to picture a bunch of crazies running around blowing things up. I suppose it is on to big of a scale, and over too much time. But how would they have moved mountains, or raised seas, and changed the geography of the world.... they probably weren't individualy powerful enough to do that, unless they joined together, but theres fat chance of that with no women to link with. And why didn't the women stop them? Surely they could have done something, i know men are stronger, but if bands of linked women roamed around capturing and shielding male Aes Sedai, then maybe something could have happened.

[Mr Ares]

When the Breaking began, the War of the Shadow was still going. The Shadow might have lost its most senior members, and their god, but their were still hundreds of thousands, or maybe even millions of Chosen and armies of Darkfriends and Shadowspawn to face. They didn't go away. And there were potentially millions of male channelers. If the worlds population was 1 billion, then there would have been 30 million channelers, of those half went to the Shadow, and about half were men. So, 15 million insane channelers, 7.5 million evil women, and only 7.5 good women to keep them in check. The War carried on until they were forced to abandon it in the fight for survival. You don't think 15 million men could cause such devastation? Even if they all acted as individuals, even if none had sa'angreal, it's still a huge problem. The Light's women were outnumbered and outgunned. And even without linking, it's still possible to act in concert. It might not be as precise, but it can be done. Do you have a better view now?

[Arkelias]

As far as physically moving mountains and changing geography I'm guessing some of those men had Sa'Angreal, and possibly access to ter'angreal that were created before the breaking as weapons.

[Durinax]

I figured that most of the destruction was caused by men and women during the final years of the war, and the rest was caused by men drawing too deeply and guiding the destruction kamikaze style

[OptimusPrime]

As far as physically moving mountains and changing geography

 

They didnt change geography by physically moving mountains. They damaged the planet to such a degree that the earth shuffled about constantly, and when it settled, mountains had either moved, vanished or appeared. Look at Dragonmount; Lews Therin made that by himself. Imagine what however many insane men would have done, taking into account that Lews Therin killed himself deliberately. Not all of them will have realised what they were doing, not all of them had Elan Morin there to Heal them before they started tearing the world apart.

[Kaznen]

Give 15 million insane men an unlimited source of dynamite and they will charge the face of the earth, with just that.

 

When it is men who have the power to summon cruise missles..Well.

[Bob T Dwarf]

... not all of them had Elan Morin there to Heal them before they started tearing the world apart.

 

You're assuming that Ishy really did "heal" him.  Given that it's Ishy, that's a pretty big assumption.

[Durinax]

didn't ishy just lift the madness temporarily?

[Bob T Dwarf]

We don't really know what Ishy did.

 

All we know is that whatever it was, LTT was able to see Ilyena's body, and believed what Ishy said about her death.

[Durinax]

all I can remember is that he said something to the effect of

your pathetic, I make you see it although I can only make it last for a little bit

be prepared the Great Lords healing is. . . different from those you felt before

[OptimusPrime]

... not all of them had Elan Morin there to Heal them before they started tearing the world apart.

 

You're assuming that Ishy really did "heal" him.  Given that it's Ishy, that's a pretty big assumption.

 

Except Lews Therins PoV shows us that he was Healed

[Balefire to da face!]

You know, it's funny, when I read this thread it made sense that the male AS could remake the land(sheer numbers) but it was a little difficult thinking of how they could literally reshape the land entirely.

 

Then I was reading the thread on the front page about heartstone and if it could keep a gateway open and the image of a single gateway, tied off, under the surface of the ocean popped into my head. Just imagine an insane male AS doing that and leaving it open and gleefully watching an area flood for months...or years.

 

Yeah, it's one of those things where a bunch of insane men using the power could probably do any number of hard to imagine things to totally reshape the geography of the planet....

[Jaric Mar Tedronai]

well when rand is in the glittery columns in rhudeian and the aiel meets with the female aes sedai who have callandor, she says one insane man destroyed and entire city..something to the effect that a sheet of glass stands where the worlds second greatest city was. also, take into account that men had greater strength in working earth, so if they were powerful enough, im sure they could cause the plates under the earths crust to move (this is assuming the planet is structured similar to ours, which i think is a safe presumption). this probably was not their intention, but if they used a strong enough weave to cause the ground to errupt, it was probably a side effect. if this happens one out of a thousand times,  going by the statistic that there were 15 million insane guys, 15,000 shiftings of the above mentioned plates is enough to change the face of the entire planet. i mean im not a geologist or anything, and if this is out of the realm of reality and someone has more extensive knowledge on the scientific facts please correct me, but i think its a distinct possibility.

[Vhar Khoebhan Xudan]

 

 

In truth, the male Aes Sedai did not go mad at the instant the Bore was sealed, except for Lew Therin Telamon and his sixty-odd remaining Hundred Companions. Many other male channelers wondered what the taint was on the Source, and most either burned themselves out trying to fix it, some just went mad after continuing to use over time, and some went to the stedding, where they wouldn't be able to access the One Power, and thus be safe from the taint on saidin.

 

Lews Therin and his Hundred Companions went crazy on the instant, seeing as they were at the Bore when it was sealed. For everyone else it was probably over course of time due to exposure to saidin and its taint, and them not at the Bore when it was patched up.

[Blackhoof]

When the Breaking began, the War of the Shadow was still going. The Shadow might have lost its most senior members, and their god, but their were still hundreds of thousands, or maybe even millions of Chosen and armies of Darkfriends and Shadowspawn to face. They didn't go away. And there were potentially millions of male channelers. If the worlds population was 1 billion, then there would have been 30 million channelers, of those half went to the Shadow, and about half were men. So, 15 million insane channelers, 7.5 million evil women, and only 7.5 good women to keep them in check. The War carried on until they were forced to abandon it in the fight for survival. You don't think 15 million men could cause such devastation? Even if they all acted as individuals, even if none had sa'angreal, it's still a huge problem. The Light's women were outnumbered and outgunned. And even without linking, it's still possible to act in concert. It might not be as precise, but it can be done. Do you have a better view now?

 

Woah, there were 15 million? I didn't know that!  :o Given those numbers, i suppose that makes a lot more sense. And yeah, all the men didn't go crazy instantly, it happened over time. If 15 million men went crazy at once, then there probably wouldn't have been a world to break.  ;)

 

 

[Vhar Khoebhan Xudan]

 

 

That was given as an example number. We don't know for sure how many people were alive during the War of Power. We do know that it lasted for 10 years. In that time, Aginor's harvesters rounded up around 10,000 a day - men, women, and children, to feed his Trolloc hordes.

 

I'd have to say there was at least 6 billion, if not more. Think about their lifespans during the time, non-channelers lived around 150-200 years, while some, or most channelers lived to maybe up to 700-800 years old. It's quite possible; and yes, their methods of birth control were perfect.

[Blackhoof]

fair enough, but 1 billion is a fair assumption.

[Vhar Khoebhan Xudan]

 

 

If not for the Da'shain Aiel, Ogier, and Nym Singing.....

 

How would you FEED that many people come harvest time...

 

Now I see why Aginor made Trollocs.  :P

[Blackhoof]

Perhaps the AS made ter'angreal that produced food? Its possible. In theory they could make ter'angreal that did anything.

[Mr Ares]

How would you FEED that many people come harvest time...

By growing a lot of food. How do we feed 6 billion people today?

[Blackhoof]

I suppose that we can assume that there are more than 6 billion people in the AoL, so thats basically something over 80 million koo-koo male channelers....  :o  Oh, Light help us!

[Majsju]

I suppose that we can assume that there are more than 6 billion people in the AoL, so thats basically something over 80 million koo-koo male channelers....   :o  Oh, Light help us!

 

Why would we assume any such thing? A society as advanced as the AOL society would most certainly control the size of the population, to avoid all the problems over-population brings.

[Charlz Guybon]

I suppose that we can assume that there are more than 6 billion people in the AoL, so thats basically something over 80 million koo-koo male channelers....   :o  Oh, Light help us!

 

Why would we assume any such thing? A society as advanced as the AOL society would most certainly control the size of the population, to avoid all the problems over-population brings.

If modern agriculture was practiced everywhere, it would be easy to support our population and I'm sure the agriculture of the AOL was even more advanced.

[Vhar Khoebhan Xudan]

 

 

They had the Singing - involved Ogier, Nym, and Da'shain Aiel 'linked' in a circle, "singing" the One Power into the crops, protecting them from blight, disease, and maximizing their nutritional and growth capacity. We know this from Rand's various depictions of the Aiel's past in Rhuidean.

 

There was also a ter'angreal Aviendha 'read' that had to do with this in KoD

[Blackhoof]

You would assume that the normal problems overpopulation bring (underemployment, pollution, poverty, etc,) wouldn't exist, because of the AoLs near-perfect lifestyle and management system. So in theory they wouldn't have to worry about overpopulation too much.