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Kouk 02-03-08, 09:35 PM

Kouk's "True" Version of What Occurred During the Spell Plague Or, "Just because you don't want to support certain aspects of the FR, doesn't mean you should just nuke it all." In this post I will attempt to provide a slightly different version of events for the "Spellplague" in which the setting of the Forgotten Realms is less nonsensically trashed and rebuilt. This is a response to the article "Countdown to the Realms; Magic in the Forgotten Realms" which can be found here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080130a once you log in. It will be assumed that the information presented in the article is merely one version of the story that has achieved popular support from the common peoples of Faerun -- it is not what actually happened, merely what most people think happened. Here is my disclaimer though: I am not a Realmslore expert. I have only been involved in it since 2nd edition's gray box, and have only read a handful of the novels. I do however know most of the 3rd edition-era material. This "version" is my current plan for integrating 4th edition FR material into my (future) games, if I decide I want to use it at all. I believe that the changes I present would still allow for the vast majority of new FR materials that WotC publishes to be integrated seamlessly, while still preserving a large amount of the realms as they exist today. What Really Happened: The "Spellplague" is but one name sages have given to the magical catastrophe which befell the world of Toril. It was dubbed a "plague" for the observable effects which were left in the wake of its passing, however it would be incorrect to characterize it as such. Some effects from the event indeed seeped through planar boundaries, primarily through existing or what were thought to be long-dead portals. The effects of the "spellplague" on other planes was very localized however, resulting in a disruption of life around several miles of each entry point, but the majority of the affected areas have been reclaimed by the denizens of each plane and the powers that control them. In truth, Mystra was indeed dealt a grievous injury at the hand of Cyric; but she had enough foresight to have contingencies planned for such an event. When Cyric destroyed Mystra's main form, the magic she contained and controlled briefly went wild, surging through the Weave all across Toril, in some places magic suddenly ceased to exist entirely -- for a brief moment. This resulted in many persistent spells such as Mythals or permanent magic items being "overloaded" or disrupted, and their functions were either wholly destroyed, or radically reduced in power. In some cases, strange effects occurred where magic was particularly complex or woven over several generations as the magic rewrote itself when the Weave became reactivated. Mystra had spread her power throughout her Chosen and her godly allies, primarily Azuth, however much of it was still contained within her own form. In the event of her destruction, the Chosen, earthly vessels for her power, would perform a ritual in cooperation with Azuth to resurrect the goddess of magic shortly after her physical form was "killed". However, Shar had expected this much, and worked to stop Mystra's rebirth. In all the lands where the Chosen resided, Shar's earlier machinations caused hordes of monsters and evil humanoids to set upon the countryside once magic fell, slowing the Chosens' ability to meet with each other and in some cases directly killing some of the now weakened Seven Sisters. Where Mystra's death was intended to only last for a matter of days, the disruption of magic stretched on for months. Eventually, the surviving Chosen were able to gather and perform the ritual to return Mystra to the world, but the loss of several Chosen coupled with the extended amount of time in which magic escaped the world resulted in Mystra being reborn in a greatly weakened state -- much more so than she had anticipated. Now, Mystra and her closest aides are in hiding. Mystra wishes to regain her former power and repair the Weave to its former glory – but this is something that may take many more years to come. In the meantime, she and her followers are attempting to keep her existence a secret to prevent any further assassination attempts which might cause even more dire results for the world. Effects on Magic: The rebirth of Mystra "jump-started" the Weave again, however the resulting Weave was much changed from before. Due to the surge of magic which followed her "death" and the long period of time in which the Weave was left untended, the re-forged Weave was not like it had been before. Where the old Weave was more akin to a beautiful rainbow-hued curtain which covered the world, the "New Weave" was like a frayed and tangled spider web. The once tightly-woven threads of magic were now tortuously snarled, and the process of harnessing magic from the Weave was greatly complicated -- not even the gods could gather as much magical power as before. Shar’s Shadow Weave was similarly damaged in the initial surge, and it has reformed itself with the remnants of the Weave to form the “New Weave.” Shar no longer controls the Shadow Weave – it is now merely another part of the tapestry. Immediately following the “spellplague,” many people believed that magic had ceased to exist as it was known and was forever out of the grasp of mortals – but that was temporary. After Mystra’s rebirth it was soon discovered that magic did indeed continue to exist, however it took time for new methods of accessing it to be developed. Members of Azuth’s and Mystra’s churches struggled for years to reconnect their followers to magic, but they were not the only ones. Realizing the power and advantage that could come from “rediscovering” the secrets to magic, many power groups performed their own research, creating such things as the “plaguetouched” and “spellscarred” in the process. As a result of this “race for magic,” there now exist many different ways of accessing the New Weave, but the common theme seems to be that special tools or devices can be used to manipulate the power of the Weave. With the threads of the New Weave as spread out and tangled as they are, it is helpful to have a focus for drawing power from the correct threads necessary for casting spells, such as drawing out evocation magic or enchantment magic. In addition, most new magical academies limit their studies to several aspects of magic rather than all of them at once due to the increased difficulty of harnessing eldritch energy. A wizard who can now master all schools of magic is rare indeed. Effects on the Gods: All the gods of Faerun had their powers drastically limited, similar to what happened during the Time of Troubles, and many of the lesser gods were cast upon the earth in the form of avatars. To protect themselves and their followers, the weakened gods have sworn fealty to those greater powers which were able to retain their divinity. Most of the gods believe Mystra is truly dead (including Cyric and Shar) and struggle to provide their worshipers with the power they need to thrive in this new world, as well as attracting new followers. Effects on the Planes: The realm of Faerie, which some call the "Feywild," was impacted by the "spellplague" in a similar way to many other planes but in a more extreme way. The ancient pathways with which the Elves originally migrated to Faerun were reopened -- sometimes explosively so -- and the attentions of the lords of Faerie were once again drawn to the tiny world of Toril. In several instances, long forgotten Portals between the world were left propped open, allowing two way travel between the realms of Faerie and Faerun, and many creatures have migrated back and forth between the realms. Contrary to beliefs of the common folk of Faerun, the Abyss was not actually affected by the happenings of one world on the material plane. However, as a result of the various disturbances which befell Toril, many ancient sealed evils were released again upon the land to roam free. Demons and Devils from ages past swarmed up out of the darkness around the world, and entrapped evils like the Phaerimm and Fey'ri were entirely released from their prisons. These evils attempted to make pacts with Fiendish forces, calling more of them to Toril than before to roam the world. Effects on the Landscape: The effects of the "spellplague" were varied as the surge spread outward through the Weave. Manifold disasters befell the land, partly due to the disruption of magical effects which supported the landscape such as underground cities of the Drow collapsing, and partly due to wars amongst various factions and gods in the ensuing months, which destroyed large areas of the landscape. In the aftermath of the “spellplague” the Underdark caverns beneath the Sea of Fallen Stars were destroyed by earthquakes from the magical surge as well as wars amongst the avatars of the Underdark pantheons. Large portions of Unther and Mulhorand sank into the earth, crushing the Underdark inhabitants below. The conflict between these two nations was called off in the wake of such disasters, and they now maintain a tenuous peace. Halruaa: While it is true that many explosions wracked the nation of Halruaa, the nation certainly was not destroyed overnight. The collapse of magic severely weakened the country however, as it had been a culture which relied heavily on magic for its architecture, agriculture, trade, defense and the people’s livelihoods. Many powerful spells went awry, magically supported structures collapsed, imprisoned creatures and pets were released upon the streets and monsters from the surrounding countryside took the opportunity to invade the weakened Halruaans while they could not use magic to defend themselves. Even after magic was reaccessed, life was never the same in Halruaa... The descendents of ancient Netheril suffered a similar fate to their forefathers. With the collapse of their society, a New Diaspora occurred. Survivors who made their way through the inhospitable mountain passes to the north reported that the nation of Halruaa was indeed “destroyed.” Maztica: A continent did appear across the Trackless Sea, but it did not subsume Maztica -- it appeared in the middle of the sea, preventing the normal trade routes from going to or returning from Maztica, and thus many believe that the western realm was somehow destroyed. Those in Maztica similarly believe that Faerun was replaced by this new land, but they have their own problems to deal with, such as how to survive in this new world. Traders from Faerun are now unable to return to their home ports. Some have decided to set up countries in their own image, while others organize expeditions to travel to the new land and make their way across it to return home -- though none are certain that "home" still exists. Other Lands: Many countries around Toril were compelled to recall their forces to the hearts of their empires to protect them from the ravages of monstrous attacks. As a result, many of the former powers of Faerun have significantly reduced borders, with nations of monsters spreading out to fill in the gaps. Effects on Creatures: Where there were already zones of Wild Magic or Dead Magic, the surge warped magic further to create “change lands.” Similar to Wild Magic zones, change lands are even more unpredictable places where living spells can often be encountered, sometimes persisting after having been cast, but also spontaneously arising as the crossed threads of the Weave spark off each other. Plaguechanged are primarily creatures which were subject to magical experimentation when the surge hit, or created after the surge in an attempt to reconnect a creature to the Weave before more safe methods were devised. Spellscars result from random surges of power experienced near areas of change land, but also are the result of some early experiments which sought to harness the lingering power of magic, though much less severe deformities resulted than with the Plaguechanged. Many a former spellcaster went to extreme lengths after the Weave was disturbed to regain their power, with often horrifying results. Please let me know what you think, and if there are any inaccuracies about realmslore I could shore up on. :D