The Collapse

The Collapse was the term given to the period of around a hundred years, between the drilling of the Bore and the start of the War of the Shadow, in which society as known in the Age of Legends gradually began to fall apart. With the Dark One able to influence the world, feelings such as greed, envy, anger and resentment were enlarged and a world that new little crime and no war, rediscovered both. The rules of society as it was then were not sufficient to deal with the increasing problems and the people were unable to control them.

As it continued, some people began to suspect the true cause and the first people swore themselves to the Dark One, in return for promises of power and immortality, including Aes Sedai, who came to be knows as Dreadlords. It was also during this time that brutal sports, such as sha'je originated, using left and right handed duelling daggers, Aran'gar and Osan'gar, tipped with poison, which would often kill both contestants. Immediately before the actual war, spectator sports had accommodated this blood lust and often featured murder, rape or torture.

(Reference: The World of Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" Chapter 4).