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| Quote of the Moment |
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I will find the song, or another will find the song, but the song will be sung this year or in a year to come. As it once was, so shall it be agian, world whitout end.
-farewell among the Tuatha'an
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Aiel Waste
The Aiel Waste is located between the enormous mountain range known as the Dragonwall and the chasms and precipices of Shara. It stretches from the Blight in the north to the Sea of Storms in the south. These four borders keep the Waste an isolated land. It is a rugged and harsh land, that until recently was nearly void of water. Blistering temperatures ravage the land by day and glacial ones freeze it at night. It is a land of mountains and valleys dotted by numerous rock formations, including many spires. It has almost no vegetation and what there is, is small and virtually useless. Not many animals live in the Waste, but the ones that do are usually as treacherous as the land itself.
Despite the Waste's daunting environment, the Aiel people make it their home. The majority of Aiel live in and among the rock formations. These holds, as they are called, are approximately the size of villages. The Aiel have their own name for the Waste: the Three-Fold Land. First, because it is a shaping stone to make them; second, it is a testing ground to prove their worth; third, it is punishment for their sin against Aes Sedai. Trollocs call the Waste Djevik K'Shar, or "The Dying Ground." The Aiel have absolute control of the land and only allow peddlers, gleemen and Tinkers to enter it. At one time, Cairhienin merchants were permitted to enter, but lost that privilege due to Laman's Sin.
There is only one city in the Waste. The ancient city of Rhuidean has just recently been inhabited again. Located deep in the Waste, it lies in a valley beneath the mountain Chaendar, and sits above a large newly formed lake sustained by an enormous underground ocean of fresh water. The lake feeds a river that brings water to areas in the Waste that have not had water in living memory. The only known chora tree, now fully grown, resides in Rhuidean's central square. It is known as the Tree of Life.
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