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During the final Cataclysm of the Mage Wars, Urtho sent the Kaled'a'in people far away through a Gate, to safety in a distant land. One clan, k'Leshya or Spirit Clan, volunteered to accompany and care for the gryphons. This led to their separation from the rest of the Kaled'a'in. They settled at White Gryphon, a fortified city built into the side of a cliff on the far western shore of Velgarth, and allied themselves with the "Black Kings."

The other nine clans, believing k'Leshya forever lost, spent years walking back to their homeland. When they arrived, Urtho's Tower and the land of the Kaled'a'in were gone. All that remained was "a vast crater, as far as the eye could see, dug many, many man-heights into the ravaged earth. So intense had been the heat of the blast that had caused it, that the earth at the bottom had been fused into a lumpy sheet of glassy rock."[1]

The shamans and Clan Elders of each of the remaining nine clans met to decide the future of the Kaled'a'in people. Soon they split along ideological lines regarding magic. Five of the clans used magic, and had produced many of Urtho's junior mages. They also bred the battlesteeds and bondbirds, using magic to shape their evolution. Of these, the Falcon, Owl and Raven Clans refused to give up magic. Eagle and Fox Clans were undecided, but very hesitant to give up magic use entirely. The other four clans--Hawk, Wolf, Grass-cat and Deer--were adamant about doing away with magic. These clans rarely used these abilities to begin with, and were mostly concerned with tending and continuing to breed the horse herds.[1]

The foremost opponent of magic was Silverhorse, the Clan Chief of the Hawk Clan, later called Tale'sedrin. He looked at the destruction as proof of the evil of magic. The other side of the debate was led by Firemare Valavyska, Elder for the Owl Clan (k'Vala), and Suncat Trevavyska of Falcon Clan (k'Treva). They argued that magic was necessary for protection against their enemies and to cleanse the land that magic had twisted. Compromise could not be reached. In the end, the five magic-using clans left the crater, moving north. They became the Tayledras, settling what is now known as the Pelagirs. The Clan Chiefs of the four remaining clans sacrificed themselves to call upon the Star-Eyed for aid. She offered to give them a homeland, but required payment: they would be charged forevermore to guard the remains of Urtho's Tower so that no one could use those magical artifacts. When they agreed, she transformed the blasted crater into what is now known as the Dhorisha Plains. The Clans took up residence on the Plains, becoming the Shin'a'in.[1]

This splitting of the surviving Kaled'a'in is now known to Tayledras and Shin'a'in alike as the Sundering of the Clans. The story, from the perspective of the Tale'sedrin shaman Ravenwing, is woven into the Webs of Time, magic tapestries hidden away in the oldest part of Kata'shin'a'in. When Kra'heera and Tre'valen visit the tapestry, they experience the full tale.[1]

The Clans continued to live apart for millennia, only to be brought back together by the Mage Storms. Fearing that the Final Storm would set off Urtho's remaining magical weaponry and annihilate the Dhorisha Plains for a second time, nearly all the Shin'a'in moved temporarily to the Tayledras Vales, where they could be shielded from the worst of the effects.

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