I dont think I've posted on here from the beginning of 4e up until today... so I do apologise if this was already discussed. I used the search feature and found only ancient topics and rage about this issue.. 
Any word/talk on bringing halruaa back? The Lawful Neutral Magocracy on the southern frontier (and with southern magic back in AD&D) was really interesting..
I don't know, but I would love for Halruaa (and much of the rest of the Shining South) to make a come back. Elaine (and Tom Reid) did such a spectacular job describing it in her books. It's nice having truly exotic locales like those in the South. There is only so much difference between the Western and Eastern Heartlands that the exotic locations on the periphery are, IMO, very important to the Realms as a whole. That said, one challenge is 3E and 4E takes on magic being kinda prevalent vs. 5E's magic is rare. I think it can work, but we'll have to see.
According to one scribe over at the Candlekeep.com forums:
Well, as Ed explained it to me at a recent convention, Halruaan magical shields went up, making teleportation and scrying impossible and clouding most divination magic into chaotic uselessness . . . and when the Spellplague hit, many Halruaans died went magic briefly "went wild" and structures collapsed, in-flight effects failed and gravity took over, active magics turned chaotic, and so on. At the same time, many wizards went insane or got brain-burned or were killed when caught in their own spells going chaotic . . . and a lot of the surviving Halruaans assumed the realm was under attack and cast or activated all of their appropriate "rainy day" defenses - - so MORE shields went up, many of them twisted or going wild as time passed . . . so Halruaa was effectively cut off from the rest of Faerûn. And caught in mid-dimensional segueing between Abeir and Toril (and not the entire country as a neat whole unit, but bits and pieces of it in a very localized fashion). Which in turn meant more wild magic and the leakage of other magics from elsewhere through it, and MORE defensive spellcasting, and . . . an increasing "no go zone" from the POV of those nearby in Toril.So it doesn't so much "blink" as it disappears into/behind impenetrable mists of tangled magic (old comics readers, think of all of those weird panels drawn in elder Doctor Strange issues), for a time.
To emerge with many structures devastated (think of many World War II cities after heavy bombing), the populace scattered, weary, and wary . . . and even more determined to be isolationalist.
Have I got it right, THO? Ed?