The below information is the evolution of my ideas on the Spellplague and its implications on my 4E Realms. Please keep in mind that I'm trying to keep things internally consistent and steer things toward their logical conclusions.
I am looking for honest critique and input based on the information I am putting forward, not so much opinions on where I am taking my Realms. I am fully aware that 75% (maybe even more) of the people reading this will not like the direction I take events. It would be nice if people can put that aside and view my suggestions as presented, giving honest critique and feedback based upon the information provided.
The Cause of the Spellplague
In 75 DR, Moander the Darkbringer hurled his forces and the "creeping evil" against the elven city of Tsornyl, blighting much of the surrounding woods. The magic of Moander twisted and corrupted all life, both follower and victim alike. While the evil could not be destroyed, High Magic severed the creeping evil from Moander and imprisoned the corruption at Tsornyl (soon to be called the Darkwatch). This weakened the Darkbringer's presence in Toril, though it cost the lives of thirty-two elves, including two High Mages, to sever and bind the power.
This evil lurked in the area known as the Darkwatch and awaited a sliver of divine energy to return Moander to life. In the Year of Blue Fire this lingering divine essence got what it wanted.
Shar, some years earlier, had managed to procure the artifact known as the Karsus Stone which still had a direct link to the Weave. She cast this artifact into the Darkwatch. The essence of the dead god of decay, corruption and rot infected the Weave through the Karsus Stone. This, in turn, infected Mystra herself driving her insane instantly. Within a matter of hours the corruption spread throughout most of the Weave. All who drew their magic from the Weave, and even magical items enchanted by it became corrupted.
It is this event that marked the beginning of what is commonly known as the Spellplague.
The Irony and Death of Mystra
The events of the Spellplague were years in the making. In order to ensure success Shar and her Church formed an alliance with the god Cyric and his Church. Together the two deities and their mortal followers created many disasters leading up to the Spellplague.
Most well known among them was the kidnapping of Sune by Cyric. Cyric then impersonated the deity, manipulating events in Tethyr, arranging a marriage between Tymora and Tyr, and manipulating Helm and Tymora. These events led to the death of Helm and the destruction of the Triad.
Yet, it was the irony of this alliance that saved the world from utter destruction.
An alliance between two deities as powerful and as self-serving as Shar and Cyric could not last long. As long as they had a common enemy in Mystra the alliance was strong. Yet, their end goals differed. Shar wanted to see the world - and everything in it, including the gods - destroyed. Cyric, while agreeing that all other gods must be destroyed wished to be the last one standing and rule the world. It was inevitable for a parting of ways, and the God of Lies and Intrigue was more cunning than many thought.
As Mystra was driven insane by the corrupting essence of Moander, Cyric remained unaffected as he had begun to use Shar's Shadow Weave. A secret, well hidden alliance with Velsharoon allowed him to slip into the very core of Dweomerheart. There he found the insane Mystra madly destroying much of her own realm, mirroring much of the destruction going on in the mortal world.
It was with but a single strike that Cyric slew the Goddess Mystra, resulting in what is commonly known as the Blue Fire seen in the sky.
It was Shar's goal to leave Mystra alive, so that the plague would infect all living things, slowly killing the world and everything in it. Though, through the actions of Cyric, this was prevented from coming about indirectly making him the unwitting savior of the world.
After Mystra's Death and the Weave
In the wake of Mystra's death the Weave itself began to unravel. Corruptive Wild Magic Zones formed over the land in time eventually dying out. Yet, the irony is that the very safety devices put into place to save the Weave actually prolonged the Spellplague and made things worse.
The Chosen of Mystra were created to ensure that the Weave survived even after the death of the Goddess, and it worked, much to the detriment of the world. Although large swaths of Toril were now dead magic zones, regions where Chosen were located the corrupted Weave remained.
All of the Chosen were driven insane initially by the Spellplague, and each of them seemed to be in a competition to see how much of the world they could destroy before it fell into the hands of Shar. Immune to disease and normal forms of death, they were unaffected by that aspect of the plague, and overtime - those that survived - found their minds eventually clear and began to show semblances of sanity. A few of them, seeing what they had done, took their lives. Others, realizing that their very existence only made matters worse, fled to remote regions of the world.
Elminster, however, had other plans. Once freed from the insanity, he sought to bring about an end to the corruption and cleanse the remnants of the Weave.
Performing a magical ritual that was second only to the events that caused the Sundering, Elminster gathered the remaining Chosen, and drew the corruption of Moander into himself. The remaining Chosen were stripped of their status and link to the Weave, becoming mortal as a result.
Elminster having cleansed the Weave, but infected himself, moved into seclusion. Elminster now holds within himself the last seed of what was once the Weave, along with the corruption of Moander.
The Spellplague Infection
After the Weave was infected with the essence of Moander, the god of rot, decay and corruption, all those who drew upon the Weaves power, and even those who came into contact with magical items, had a strong chance to become infected.
The affliction became known as the Spellplague and its symptoms are outlined below.
The very first signs of an infection is a headache, painful aching (and sometimes swelling) of the joints, nausea and a general feeling of malaise. Once infected between two and five hours later the individual will begin to suffer from a very high fever that causes hysteria and hallucinations. This is often what attributes to the insanity of those infected. In more rare cases, especially those with stronger connections to the Weave (such as the Chosen of Mystra and powerful Archwizards) clinical insanity from the assault upon the Weave occurred. This was very similar to the fever induced hallucinations and hysteria experienced by others.
Following the above symptoms was the appearance of fist-sized buboes in the groin, the neck and armpits, which oozed pus and bled. This also was accompanied by a deep cough, blood-tinged sputum, and the appearance of purpura - deep purple bruises on the skin that appeared in large patches.
Over the course of the next few days (generally anywhere between twenty four to seventy-two hours) the diseased progresses further, the sputum becomes free flowing and bright red, and the whites of the eyes become coal black often resulting in blindness.
From this point the individual either begins to recover or the symptoms worsen. If the symptoms worsen the infected develops a form of sclerosis and necrosis. The purpura spread across the entire body, resulting in sclerosis as the flesh hardens. This hardening often causes it to crack open and bleed. If death does not come from hemorrhaging and shock, the infected develops necrosis (often called "Moander's Rot") wherein the flesh of the individual literally begins to decay and die - rotting while the infected person is still alive. The end result in almost every case is death.
Of those infected three out of every five will die sometime within the span of a two week period. The plague was spread when individuals came into contact with magical items enchanted by the Weave, when individuals drew upon the power of the Weave to cast Arcane or Divine Spells, or when an infected individual came into contact with a non-infected individual.
The Aftermath
This is where I need the help. Here are some of the more obvious things.
- Depopulation: This is perhaps the most obvious. Three out of every five adventurers and those who had magical items enchanted by the Weave are now dead. As a result of the infectious nature of the plague it spreads to those who don't have such things as well. We're looking at anywhere from 30% to 90% population loss in some areas. Rural areas would be the least impacted and more populated areas (such as Waterdeep) would be the hardest hit. Regions with high concentrations of Wizards would also suffer greatly.
There are other things that would contribute to the depopulation as well, such as starvation.
- Elminster: It is important to understand exactly what he did. He effectively made Toril one giant dead magic zone, stripped the other Chosen of Mystra of their connection to the Weave, pulled the corruption of Moander into himself, and purified the remnant of the Weave. He controls this remnant.
This is important because it allowed the plague to eventually end. Any attempt to use the Weave to cast magic (which was sustained by the Chosen after Mystra's death) caused more infections. Coming into contact with a magical item also caused more infections. The world-wide dead magic zone ended the spread of the plague by use of the Weave or contact with magical items, limiting it to spread only from person to person contact (like a normal plague).
Elminster himself is now an Archmage fighting off insanity that can still use the Weave. Due to his drawing in Moander's Corruption, his entire body has developed a severe case of necrosis - known as "Moander's Rot" - which basically means all his flesh is dead and decayed. He still maintains his Chosen abilities, therefore he is impervious to normal diseases and infections, is immortal, and all that good stuff. If you want an idea of what he looks like now, just do a google image search for the Crypt Keeper and necrosis and that'll give you an idea. Anytime he uses magic he has to fight the voices in his head for control - he has a multiple personality disorder thing going on. He is now living in seclusion, hidden away in the catacombs beneath Candlekeep. Almost everyone believes him to be dead.
All of the remaining Chosen of Mystra were made mortal after this and died through various means.
- Persecutions and Destruction: As can be expected persecutions happened frequently once it became commonly known that the Weave and such were the cause of the Spellplague. Wizards and anyone suspected of Wizardry were killed. Anyone who was infected was killed. Riots formed around institutions of learning (specially magical learning), and anything considered magical was burned or destroyed (if possible).
This is the logical result of fear and panic. As well, anyone thought to have any type of supernatural connection to magic would have been persecuted as well. Elves, Fey, Tieflings, Aasimar, would have all been made ripe targets.
Of course, the destruction of things like magical items only ensured more became infected ironically as they had to come into contact with them in order to destroy them.
- The Destruction of the Weave: As pointed out in the Elminster section above, the Weave is no more. This has some obvious impacts. First, any magical item enchanted by the Weave no longer functions. Second, all arcane magic users who once used the Weave (with the exception of Elminster) who survived the Spellplague lost the ability to cast spells. Third, all divine magic also ceased to work. I will expand more on this point in another section.
- The Silence of the Gods: All of the gods with the exception of Shar and later Cyric granted divine magic through the Weave. When the Weave became infected with the corruption, to save themselves from being infected as well as to protect their followers, the gods stopped using the Weave. This meant that they could no longer actively enter the mortal world by forming avatars or have a strong impact upon it directly without a strongly focused effort.
The loss of divine magic caused many clerics to lose faith in their deities, believing them dead, and this was the general mood by most laypeople.
- View of the Gods and the Clergy: The vast majority of mortals did not know how the Spellplague came about. They only knew that all Wizards and the items they created were cursed with a horrible affliction that killed them, drove them insane, and spread to others.
They also know that the gods went silent and clerics everywhere lost their ability to call upon their gods power as once before. This led to cynicism toward religion in general, and clergy who could not keep their promises of curing plague victims and banishing the disease. Extreme alienation from the traditional churches culminated in support for different religious groups such as the Ilmateri Flagellants, which grew up from the ashes of the Church of Ilmater. They preached, and it became common belief, that the plague was due to the wrath of the gods, caused by the evils of morals. In response groups such as the flagellants traveled from town to town, whipping themselves in an effort to cleanse the sins of mortals, suffering as their god taught them to suffer, praying that he'd return to them.
Sadly, groups such as the flagellants contributed more to the actual spreading of the plague, rather than its cure. As they passed through towns that were largely unaffected by the plague, flagellants or their followers who were victims of it, spread it to the people there as well.
This is the ironic and common theme on how individuals at the time dealt with the plague - that nearly all cases, the methods employed to defend against the plague encouraged its spread.
The plague hit many churches especially hard because of their proximity with the sick, who sought refuge there; in addition to that divine magic items enchanted through the Weave also caused the plague. This caused a severe loss of clergy, and resulted in a mass influx of hastily-trained and inexperienced clergy members, many of whom knew little of the discipline and rigor of the veterans they replaced. This led to many of the fractured religious groups in the Realms today.
- The Shadow Weave and the Churches of Shar and Cyric: The Shadow Weave dissolved after the death of Mystra. The Shadow Weave was created by Shar but made to be a dark reflection of the Weave held by Mystra. Upon her death the image it mirrored was destroyed and thus it followed suit. The Churches of Shar and Cyric were no less susceptible to the Spellplague as any other group. However, those that used the Shadow Weave were not infected by the Spellplague nor did Shadow Weave items cause the plague to spread. But with the loss of the Shadow Weave they no longer function.
The Shade Enclave, like the ancient floating cities of Netheril before them, fell from the sky officially ending any hope of the Empire of Netheril rising from the ashes.
- Social and Political Impact: As you might expect this changed many things socially. In general, the culture turned rather morbid. The general mood was one of pessimism, and any art from the time turned dark with representations of death.
Before the Spellplague, many depended upon the clergies of various gods to offer them their services for a fee (or in some cases even for free). Since most clerics lost their ability to work divine magic, this caused an influx and search for non-magical methods of medicine. This charge was led by many churches, but most notably the church of Ilmater.
The Spellplague also inspired architecture throughout Faerun, generally toward a darker more gothic style.
Entire nations were thrown into turmoil (even more so than would be expected). Thay, for example, experienced massive slave rebellions which ultimately led to the destruction of the nation and the Red Wizards.
The Drow underwent drastic changes. With the destruction of the Weave the curse placed upon them was shattered, transforming the Drow back into Ilythiiri. Drow cities throughout the Underdark erupted into rebellion against Lolth and her Church. However, many of the cities were hit very hard as a result of the high concentration of magical items within Drow society. Those that managed to somehow survive found themselves vulnerable to assaults by Illithid and other Underdark horrors that were largely unaffected due to their magic primarily being psionic in nature. A large number of Ilythiiri returned to the surface. Those that remained within the Underdark are confined largely to the Upperdark, and every city in the middle and lowerdark has been destroyed.
I need to expand this section more.
- Economic and Quality of Life Impact: Most governments instituted measures that prohibited the exports of foodstuffs, condemned black market speculators, set price controls on foodstuffs and outlawed large-scale fishing. At best, they proved mostly unenforceable, and at worst they contributed to the downward spiral. The hardest hit lands were unable to buy foodstuffs from abroad either because of the prohibition, or because of crop failures as a result of shortage of labor. Any foodstuffs that could be shipped were eventually taken by pirates or looters to be sold on the black market. Meanwhile, these desperate times led to conflicts between neighboring nations, which used up treasury. Malnutrition, poverty, disease and hunger, coupled with outbreaks of war, and economic problems crippled if not collapsed most governments.
As the world recovered from the devastation the consequence was large social and economic change during the recovery period. With the loss of the Weave the power of Wizards and Clerics were broken, and the social roles that they once filled were taken over by other groups.
In many cases the great loss of population brought economic changes based on increased social mobility, as depopulation further eroded the more traditional systems that kept peasants and other commoners in their place. This resulted in many governmental authorities attempting to maintain social order through instituting wage controls. These governmental controls were set in place to ensure that workers received the same salary post-plague as they had before the onslaught of the Spellplague. Within Cormyr, for example, the Statue of Laborers created in 1390, restricted both wage increases and the relocation of workers. If peasants attempted to leave their current post, lords were given the right to have them imprisoned. The Statue was strictly enforced in some areas. However, the Statue quickly proved to be difficult to enforce due to the scarcity of labor.
In other areas of Cormyr (and the rest of the world) the sudden shortage of cheap labor proved an incentive for landowners to compete for peasants with wages and freedoms. In many ways the Spellplague and its aftermath improved the situations of surviving peasants and others of lower class noticeably.
Workers such as servants now had the opportunity to leave their current employment to seek better-paying, more attractive positions in areas previously off limits to them. Another positive aspect of the aftermath was that there was more land available to the population; however, there are caveats are listed in the Environmental Impact section. However these improvements were not universal, and in some cases, life for the common folk got much worse under even more oppressive laws.
- The Environmental Impact: I am still debating on this. We know that groups such as the Red Wizards used magic to modify the weather. However, I do not think weather was accurately reflected in the world. Thus, I have to consider it something magical, likely kept in check by Chauntea using the Weave. With the destruction of the Weave, this means that the weather will return to a more normal state.
I am not sure of the impact it will have on the map. However, I am trying to put together something here in this thread.
I need to expand this section more.
The Recovery
The recovery would have begun the moment Elminster pulled the corruption of Moander into himself. However, the Spellplague would have still raged on for perhaps as long as a decade after it first began.
The recovery period needs to cover everything from the rediscovery of magic and the reintroduction of divine magic, to any number of other things. However, before I really dive in here I need input on the previous sections first, as it will be built upon all of that.
I am running into a problem, in that I am not sure if the 100 year time jump is enough for my Realms. It may just be barely enough.
My Forgotten Realms will have a much different feel than the old. Unlike the frontier image of a lone self-sufficient farmer or adventurer who moves when he sees smoke from a neighbor's chimney, the settlements in my Realms will be thickly populated, with larger zones of unpopulated wilderness in between. To be alone, and not part of a community, will carry great risk. Crowded communities will exist as islands in a sea of uncultivated and dangerous wilderness. And out there, in that dangerous wilderness is adventure - the ruins of the old world that existed before, ripe for exploration and conquest by the brave and foolhardy.
Bravo.
Bizarrely, my own take was somewhat similiar and different in other ways.
Mind if I share it?
I can't say I like the Cryptkeeper Elminster but otherwise, very nice.
Sure go ahead. I might steal some ideas. :P
Basically, what I've tried to do is take 3E, take the Spellplague, and the most believable way it could come about... and then draw things from there taking them to their logical conclusions.
I want the worst to be behind everyone, likely in a generation or two in the past, and have the world on its way toward recovery. It should be at a crossroads, as they emerge from a horrific dark age. One road will take the world into even darker times, and the other will take them toward hope and prosperity - recovering some of the lost splendor of the old world, now lost.
As for Cryptkeeper Elminster, I actually came up with that on the fly. I figured that since he took in Moander's corruption, then there should be some evidence of it - something that anyone could easily spot. Though, to be honest, in my mind he looks much worse than the Cryptkeeper. Just google for some pictures of necrosis.
I also find it rather humorous and a slight dig at Elminster. He was always such a ladies man, and it was always something I found rather ridiculous about the character. I mean, for crying out loud, he had sex with the Goddess of Magic. Now, I can't imagine anyone - male or female - wanting to touch him unless they have some type of necrophilia fetish.
In the end, though, I wanted Elminster to go down as a hero and a savior. The only reason I didn't kill him was because I didn't want to close off any potential future plotlines. So long as Elminster lives there is always the possibility of the Weave returning, even if I never decide to go that route, it's there for me if I want it. In the mean time, Elminster is living in Candlekeep, a place I hold close to my heart, within the catacombs.
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Side Note: As a rather unintended consequence of events, something rather funny has happened. Maztica (and likely other places, but Maztica in particular) did not use the Weave. The only individuals who used the Weave and Weave based magic items, as well as Weave based Divine Magic, were the Faerunian invaders. Guess what happened? Most of them died and the Maztican's eventually rebelled.
Maztica is now once again a lost and forgotten land, but they learned well from their would be conquerors. I really don't have any intentions on doing much with Maztica as of yet. However, they were virtually unaffected by the Spellplague (outside of the invaders and those who betrayed the Maztican people to join them).
A possible future plotline.... invaders from across the sea.... conquerors from Imperial Maztica.... oh, the irony. Karma is a real b*tch. ;)
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Additional Side Note: I hope everyone caught what I did with Cyric. As I thought about it, I hated it that he looked like nothing but Shar's stooge. It was rather unappealing, and poor Cyric - since his creation - has gotten nothing but kicked around. While I blame TSR for his lameness, I hope that his coup against Shar's plan, and his revenge against Mystra helps redeem him slightly. In the end, who was using who? Plus, the fact that the world was saved by Cyric is funny.
[Some elements retconned from earlier god descriptions]
The first thing to understand is that Cyric is Loki in my games. His personality is drastically different and he's not the God of Murder so much as the God of Illusion, Lies, and Intrigue. His mind is a maze of Labyrinthian plots within plots. Worse, he inevitably bites himself in the butt because he has no real interest in actually winning so much as the plotting itself. Cyric has steadily gained influence since his birth less because he suceeds than because if you perform ten different plots then one will probably succeed and he's playing with other people's money/worshipers so to speak.
In the end, Shar badly misunderstood Cyric because she operated from the assumption he was either insane or simply incompetant. In truth, it was a case of an immovable force meeting an irresitable object. Shar knows the secrets of everyone, Cyric is able to decieve anyone. The only people immune to their probes are "Divinely Ineffable Gods" (a concept from Steve Jackson's In Nomine) and even that immunity isn't absolute. Shar made Cyric her catspaw while Cyric made Shar his patron.
A third member of this conspiracy was created with Asmodeus the God of Evil. They recruited him after the events of Elminster in Hell and the reward for the Lord of Deceivers was a simple one, each deity donated some of their divine spark that would allow the god to at last ascend to true deity status (as Orcus proves: Demon Princes becoming Gods is the worst thing imaginable and only the profoundly stupid amongst ANY deity would risk allowing one to do so----or someone as nihilistic as Shar).
The actual plot to kill Mystra has been in the works pretty much since the Trial of Cyric the Mad. No longer insane, Cyric was still a mindset of utter Conspiracy within Conspiracy. What caused the resurrection of Bane? Why Cyric of course. It was he who encouraged Xvim to absorb all of Bane's followers to once more join together while gathering all of the Dark Lord's former followers together and summoning the God's soul from the Astral Plane (Cyric had seized it from the Guardian of Dead Gods while still Lord of The Underworld).
Why would Cyric raise one of his greatest enemies? Well, because Mystra hated him and it would weaken the gods. Cyric attempted the same with Myrkul and Bhaal. He patronized Sarevok but was thwarted by the Children of Bhaal (played by my player characters) while Myrkul's Crown was destroyed before Velsharoon could absorb his essence. I could list the other plots but ultimately, they were designed to weaken Mystra and try and force her to be the Champion of Justice she longed to be.
In the end, Asmodeus struck against Tyr and briefly replaced him after gaining his godhood. Trapping the god in a heroic quest to try and destroy the King of Evil and using Cyric's illusions plus Shar's power to slay Helm. From there, the forces of Justice were out of balance in the universe and unable to foresee what would happen next. Mystra's death was almost assured at this point with Velsharoon betraying the "keys" to Dwemeanorheart to Cyric. With Shar's dark power and Cyric's own, Mystra died.
What few suspected was that she allowed herself to do so.
Mystra's restoration of the God of Divination was not without its boons. She recieved from Savras the simple truth. She was doomed and that any Mystra that rose again would be weaker than Shar. The Dark Lady would eventually destroy Selune, she, and others. The Weave would cease to exist and the universe would die. Mystra knew the only chance was to permanently seperate magic from any deities control. Her death, horrifying as it was, covered the whole of Toril with the energy of the Weave. Everyone human being, animal, and plant is now coated with the power on a fundamental level and no one can destroy magic by killing a god ever again.
Thus, in her greatest triumph, Shar failed.
The Second Godswar
The Second Godswar occurred not long after the death of Mystra. Sensing the hand of Shar and Cyric in her death and seeing the sudden cataclysmic effects on the world (see below), the gods of Light under Lathander began the Dawn Crusade. Shar was unused to direct battle and was taken aback when the God of Tyranny joined with Lathander's forces against her. The absence of Tyr was a great one though and the battle tore entire planes from their center. Asmodeus lead the Baatezu in invasions of the Heaven swhile The Demon Princes lead seperate invasions of countless Prime Material worlds. The gods slain this conflict are myriad but would have been many more if not for the appearance of Ao.
The Overgod was outraged and his commandments were simple. With a wave of his hand, the Infinite Abyss was annihilated and all the gods of the Realms sheered from their infinite status across myriad realities but for a bare few acting within their portfolio. The Blood War might continue on different realities but their infinite armies were no more. Unfortunately, the same punishment was levied from the gods as their Outer Planes were consumed to preserve the sancticity of the cosmos. Ao taking souls of the dead to another realm and leaving only tiny Astral pockets for the gods left.
Ao's final words on the subject were this "There has been a second punishment. The Third will see the end of you and all your creations."
Cyric and Lathander, in repayment for their parts in this deed were given special punishments. Cyric was to be bound for a thousand years. Lathander, meanwhile, was slain outright. His essence was merged with that of the weakened and dying Tyr to become a new god in the shape of the Old Netherese God of the Sun.
Shar's punishment was stranger still but perhaps the worst. Ao gave all of Mystra's old power to Selune and then stated that she would always strive for her oblivion but that she would never ever achieve her aim.
Time of Blue Fire
Mystra's death charged every wizard in the Realms. Unfortunately, the price of that charge was to go utterly insane with the power or voluntarily forsake it. The Simbul, alone, amongst the Chosen could not and was killed in battle with Ssass Tam. Countless other wizards became maurading monsters that slung spells left and right. Also, many new sorcerers were born. More than ever in the history of the Realms.
Halruaa's death was not a massive conflaguration but something infinitely worse as the kingdom effectively killed itself nearly to the last man. Only a handful of survivors fled to Anauroch where they joined with the City of Selune (brought back from the Astral) and the other Netherese descendants to form a new compact in the utter chaos. The Church of Shar losing its power with the loss of the Shadow Weave and their goddess' preoccupation.
Thay managed only barely to survive thanks to the plague of undeath protecting wizards from the insanity. Even then, they were reduced to relying on their magical items and for a time it seemed the age of mankind would come to an end. A Dragonrage occurred again and other creatures of magic went insane. The elves suffered horribly as many simply wasted away and died.
Religion and Nationalism both strengthened during this time as the individual power of wizards and monsters weakened versus the power of the Multitude. Magic was outlawed in not just Amn but most nations but Cormyr (whose War Wizards managed to almost universally stay sane by being more loyal to Cormyr than magic---an unconscious but necessary choice). Witch burnings occurred for the first time in the Realms as no one else was sure of any method that could kill them.
All in all, a tenth of Faerun died and most expected it to be the end of the world for at least three years. By the end of the fifth, the Spell Plague had died down with most wizards now dead along with most adventurers. The Order of the Radiant Heart, the Knights of the Silver Chalice, countless Harpers, numerous Heralds, High Mages, and Bladesingers all perished seeking to contain as much of the horror as possible. Magic items, containing their own weave, became impossibly valuable with no good way to replace them.
But in the end, it seemed to be the end of the Age of Magic and Heroes.
The Rebuilding
Khelben the Blackstaff was, ironically, the first Chosen to die forever but also the one who was able to revive magic. Khelben had been forewarned about Mystra's death by she, herself, and his death was the releasing of his Spellfire to protect Rhymanthiin the City of High Magic from the oncoming blue fire. They alone kept their spells, within the confines of the city, and used that magic to study the new world and its relation to the Weave. From there, they formed a new Harpers and a new Magical Order as they gathered the new sorcerers and taught them how to create focusing objects for their magic.
Thus, magic survived thanks to his deeds.
Of the Seven Sisters, Dove and Storm are the only surviving members. Alustriel lives but the devastation and deaths of all of her sons in the protection of Silverymoon changed her and she left to live with the Elves as the White Lady. Qilué Veladorn perished breaking the curse on the Dark Elves by Corellon. They no longer had to fear Sunlight and could return to the surface en masse. Her soul was taken to live with her goddess while Mielikki, herself the goddess of Half-Elves, took up the patronage of the Forsaken People. Sadly, the Dark Maiden died battling her evil mother's ambitions while Vhaeraun happily revealed himself to be Mask all along and discarded his Drow identity altogether. Laeral passed her power onto her daughter, the consort of King Lamauril of Evermeet, and allowed herself to join her husband.
and Elminster of Shadowdale? Elminster endures. Ironically, he gave up his Silver Fire to Azuth (now a servant of Oghma but still a God thanks to Elminster's sacrifice) and is merely a minor hedge wizard now. Using non-magical elven potions to keep himself vital and a Bag of Holding with many magical items in it, he is still possessed of the greatest power he has---almost infinite knowledge. Sadly, he must rely on adventurers rather than his own power.
The greatest beneficiaries of the Spell Plague though are the Nonhumans. For most, their gods were outright destroyed. Only Great Gruumsh yet lives and he has lost the personal favor of most orcs. Many worship Tempus or other gods now as both inhuman and man was forced to work together to rebuild the world to any degree. Elves and Dwarves are deeply uncomfortable now along with many "Good" human orders with the fact that a man who slays an Orc in the middle of town will be hung for murder.
The populous also immigrated en masse to many cities and thus the beginnings of genuine nations have started to occur. Baldur's Gate is the name of the Capital but it is in control of a massive number of smaller towns that exist to make it self-sufficent. So it is with many other people that they refer to the NATION of Waterdeep now. Ironically, Thay and Netheril have both rebuilt themselves as well. The Rashemi with only a small number of witches now, is in dire peril as is Agarlarond from the vast hosts of undead on their borders.
The Fall of the Southlands
The past hundred years were not good for Maztica either. Cut off completely from their homeland, the Priests of Helm and other gods effectively turned to genocide as disease ravaged the continent along with their own disasters. Converting the survivors to the worship of their own gods, the new resulting kingdoms exist uncomfortably alongside the old ruined ones. New arrivals to the land are often taken aback by fairy tale Faerun kingdoms existing beside savage tribes of Dwarves who have reverted to primitivism in the meantime. Exploring the "ruins" of the "ancient" civilizations around them has become a new occupation as trade is tentatively restablished.
The nations of Kara-Tur have also abandoned their old gods that were cut off and re-adapted themselves to the Faerun pantheon taking on similiar roles while filling it with a host of new spirits and angels that correspond to their old functions. Kozakura conquered the land of Wa and the two lands have since merged into one as their two islands collapsed against one another. Currently, an uneasy alliance exists between the Emperor and Shogun's forces.
Mulhorand was conquered, unexpected, by a vast host of Sarrukh awakening and aiding the Priests of Set. Set continues to exist as the primary god while nearly every other reference to other gods, outside of old tombs (which even Set would not violate) is obliterated. Unther was conquered by, of all things, a host of Draconians and Knights of Tiamat (or as they pronounce her "Tak'hesis") fleeing their own world where apparently her avatar had recently been slain by an Elf Prince. The two empires effectively are expanding every which way BUT into each other's territory but the two theocracies will eventually go to war.
Oddly, many Dragonborn have visited the Northlands through Portals and encountered the expansive Saurians who worshiped the Exarch Finder. This resulted in the two peoples becoming mixed as they were genetically compatible and some turning away from Tiamat's evil.
We seem to have similar ideas with the Dragonborn, and the Church of Set conquering Mulhorand.
I want to have a powerful Prismatic Dragon awaken (she was imprisoned by other dragons during the Age of Dragons) named Asinbayar. I'm more or less thinking about having Asinbayar be the strongest NPC in my Realms, more-or-less a demi-god walking Toril.
Asinbayar is a devoted daughter of Tiamat who is working toward conquering Unther. A cult to Asinbayar and Tiamat will be established there, and Asinbayar is viewed as a Messiah-like figure. Unther will be the birthplace of the Dragonborn, who are created by Asinbayar. They will be humans that are transformed using a divine ritual.
I have an idea of what I want it to look like... but I am not sure how well it will mesh once I iron things out. Right now, during the beginning of the reconstruction period, my Realms looks more like Harnworld hit by a horrific plague. There is literally no magic - well, not much, anyway.
I am trying to think of ways to nudge it toward becoming more in line with the 4E Rules. That way I can explain why things work the way they work under the new system. This means I have to find a way for new magical traditions to develop. I already have Cleric's covered.
Magic in my 4E Realms is MUCH scarcer than it was in 3E, and things are more in line with the way they were in the 1E Realms. 15th level is more-or-less the highest level for 'uber' NPC's. Though I may adjust this a bit once I become more familiar with the 4E rules. I want to make sure that everything balances out and makes perfect sense. I don't want to have a wizard who can easily conquer an entire city simply due to levels.
The focus in my Realms, in terms of religion, has moved away from gods being the center of everything and more toward the churches themselves. Gods no longer walk the land, and are much more mysterious and mystical in nature. Everyone knows they exist but their interactions in the Realms is normally limited toward sending dream visions (to their faithful) as well as signs and omens. All of these things are abstract and can easily be interpreted in different ways, leading to confusion and sometimes even conflict on the desires of a deity.
There are a large number of churches in the Realms, some devoted to the same deity even work in direct opposition to one another, and can even have completely different views of the same deity.
Clerics no longer receive their powers through prayers (though that does not mean they do not pray often), but rather since the loss of the Weave, they are ritually linked to a deities divine essence. This allows them to draw upon their deities power to manifest miracles.
The vast majority of the priesthood of a church are simply mundane priests who do not have this ability. (It is very taxing to a deity to have to constantly have individuals sapping them for divine power.) These priests can, however, utilize divine rituals.
Now that the Drow are once again Ilythiiri many have returned to the surface, although those that remained in the Underdark underwent another transformation. Ilythiiri typically worship Eilistraee, whom they regard as the Masked Lady, although there are multiple forms of her church. Only females become clerics, but males may become more mundane priests.
There is a more hybrid form of Lolthite society still lingering in them. I am contemplating having them conquer Myth Drannor after the worst of the Spellplague ends. They will still be very much evil elves, though their evil will be more subdued, more refined, less chaotic and self-destructive. A society in which it would not be improbable for good Ilythiiri to exist.
I'm curious to know what you plan to do with Cyric and Shar and their clerics - will they function in the same way as all other clergy or do you have something special in mind?
I brought Moander into things for a number of reasons. First, it was a plot hook that was never touched. Second, it seemed silly for Shar to have the Karsus Stone and no intention of using it. I felt it was an unresolved plot hook and wanted to wrap it up. Third, it makes the entire situation much more believable, as it ensures that Mystra is unable to defend herself when Cyric shows up to kill her. Fourth, it also makes the Spellplague an actual plague, without resorting to magical silliness. Fifth, it gives a reason for the Chosen and other powerful epic level NPC's to be driven insane. Sixth, it allowed me to get rid of epic level NPC's across the board through having magic items carry the plague. Seventh, it allowed me to get rid of the high number of magical items in general because I felt they were too widespread and numerous. There would have been conflicts otherwise, as many of the magic items from previous editions would be extremely overpowered by 4E terms, and thus eliminating them was the easiest option.
Simply destroying the Weave would have only provided half of my intended consequences. I wanted to completely wipe the slate clean giving me a free hand to move the setting forward in any direction that I chose. Now, there is nothing left to oppose any change that I decide to make, no matter how drastic or radical.
Basically, at this point, all I am getting from the Realms are ideas, inspiration, an extensively detailed history and a map. I will certainly steal things as inspiration from the 4E setting, but I cannot imagine myself using it whole cloth anywhere.
Belegan-
The Churchs of Shar and Cyric are largely in the same boat as everyone else now. Since the Weave was destroyed the Shadow Weave followed suit, therefore preventing them both from easily directing their divine power to their mortal clerics. Likewise, with the destruction of the Shadow Weave, this saw the destruction of the Shades as any flying cities that they had erected fell to the ground. (You would think that they would have learned from their ancestors that gravity is a b*tch, and flying cities just don't pay in the long run.)
Those who had used the Shadow Weave, though, did not become infected with the plague when using it. However, they were still susceptible to infection through coming into contact with Weave-based magical items and other individuals who carried the plague.
Shar's intentions were clear: She fully meant to destroy the entire world. By infecting the world with a horrific plague, it ensured that the vast majority of people died. This massive number of deaths would have a direct impact upon the gods. As their followers died they would become weakened, and from there, she could destroy them.
Despite what may seem obvious, Shar wanted Mystra to remain alive. She was no longer a threat as she had become infected with the Spellplague. So long as Mystra remained alive it ensured that the plague spread.
Cyric knew Shar's goals and like Shar he had perfect motive to work against Mystra. However, he had little desire to see the world come to an end. After all, he isn't a fool - despite how he's portrayed in the novels - and he knew that if he became weakened enough, he would have been one of the first to die at Shar's hand.
Thus, he got what he wanted from the deal: Revenge against Mystra. He secretly allied with Velsharoon to get access to Dweomerheart, where he then located and killed her. His actions indirectly saved the world from Shar, even though they were completely motivated out of hatred of Mystra and a sense of self-preservation.
I had things go down like this because I didn't want Cyric simply to be viewed as a stooge.
In the mortal world, pockets of the Weave endured thanks to the existence of the Chosen. Elminster solved that problem through drawing the corruptive essence of Moander into himself and separating it from the Weave, which he also maintained within himself.
The end result of things? Still bad for the churches of Cyric and Shar. Some Sharran's saw it as the ending of the world and the plague a "blessing" from their goddess. They willingly infected themselves with it and died. Most Sharran's simply did what they do best: Laid low, hunkered down and tried to ride it out. However, in the chaos of the times absolutely no one anywhere was left untouched.
The Church of Cyric reveled in the chaos and strife caused by the whole situation. In many cases, they helped spread the plague to followers of enemy faiths. Zhentil Keep was completely decimated through this act, which was tantamount to biological warfare. The Church of Bane was completely crippled and the Zhents completely destroyed. Of course, many Cyricists died as well.
You've certainly taken your Realms in a completely different direction than my own! Although...
We seem to have similar ideas with the Dragonborn, and the Church of Set conquering Mulhorand.
Actually, aside from Unther, the differences between our worlds is less than you might think
For me, the idea is that magic in 4E is now something that is only recently developed. People develop magic via hereditary "gifts" and then go forth to study. Wizards must also face persecution if discovered and tend to be very tightly knit (I liken it to Dragonlance post the Cataclysm).
Most of all, the biggest effect is to levels. The vast majority of "Great heroes" in the Realms are dead because they fought in the Spell Plague. Thus, 12th to 14th level folk are very impressive while those over 20th level are very rare.
The potential to reach that power level still exists, but now it belongs only to "named NPCS" for the most part.
Yes, my Realms is very much like that as well. Especially the bit about the level ranges. A great military general, for example, is something like 12th to 14th level. The epic stuff... well... I can probably count on both hands the number of epic level NPC's in Faerun. Additionally, they're pretty well spread out.
If or when PC's begin to approach 20th level I'll likely be sending them to the planes. However, a lot of that depends on how things roll in 4E. I've only read over the rules, liked what I've seen (over all at least - some things I would have done differently), and I am working it out from there.
I am trying to return things to a more 1E / 2E Forgotten Realms type feel in regard to power levels.
Have I covered all the bases or... is anything missing that should be there?
The Realms is like Discworld. The idea of man turning against the gods is so fundamentally stupid (for the person who tries it) that my player characters would beat him up the moment he started spouting that nonsense.
Also, there's a lot about how various countries are tearing each other apart and how the upward mobility has increased but the Realms were pretty much already near Bronze age anyway. Very few established noble families existed.
In Cormyr, really, the Royal Family HAD to marry enobled commoners according to Ed.
The Realms is like Discworld. The idea of man turning against the gods is so fundamentally stupid (for the person who tries it) that my player characters would beat him up the moment he started spouting that nonsense.
Hmmm... I didn't mean that people turned against the gods just that for a time people were very cynical and fearful. I looked at it this way. Since the oldest living man could remember there has existed the Weave, and from that flowed all divine magic to clerics. These clerics often and regularly displayed their gods power, curing and aiding the sick and diseased.
Yet, in their greatest hour of need, the gods fell silent and the clerics, once able to help them, were powerless.
It wasn't until later, after the chaos died down, that churches began to re-establish themselves. And these re-establishments were often fragments of what remained of the old churches that came before them.
I didn't mean that people turned AWAY from the gods as in, becoming agnostics in mass, in fact many people became very FANATICAL in nature. I am obviously basing the Ilmateri Flagellants on the real world Flagellants that existed during the Black Death that swept across Europe, simply because it sounds very Ilmateri in nature.
However, groups such as those were not uncommon throughout many faiths. Everyone was trying to come up with explanations as to how and why everything went so horribly wrong.
Also, there's a lot about how various countries are tearing each other apart and how the upward mobility has increased but the Realms were pretty much already near Bronze age anyway. Very few established noble families existed.
In Cormyr, really, the Royal Family HAD to marry enobled commoners according to Ed.
Yes, I actually lifted a great deal from the Black Death time era. It's the only thing remotely equivalent that I can think of to compare it too. I may have to make some changes to make things more appropriate - it's just hard because of the vast cultural differences across the setting.
I might have to take things region by region.
Honestly, its so morbid and depressing it doesn't feel like the Realms.
That's exactly the type of feel I was going for - it's supposed to be horrific and terrible - a dark age unimaginable, something that could have only been cooked up in the twisted mind of Shar.
Things will get better over time and not be as depressing in the future, just bleak and foreboding.
I think it's good but you need to expand on the post-rebuilding world.
1. I'm already going to end up doing a massive amount of work.
2. When the maps for the Forgotten Realms were created, there was little in the way of any attempt to make things geographically plausible. In creating this second sundering, I want to make it all plausible.
3. I want everything logically consistent.
Net result? This sucks. I had hoped to use the maps and now all I have left is history. Most of this history will also be made irrelevant as I do massive geographical shifts. Additionally, this means a huge time jump. At least 1,000 years. Oh well, my world will look more Homebrew now than anything like FR.
I'm going to have to label my Forgotten Realms: The Fallout Realms.
Sounds fun.
Reminds me of when I ran a Alternity Game from Realms in two thousand years.
Second: Extremely good work, gentlemen. I think that absent any canon explanations in the upcoming FR Campaign Guide, much of what you've written could be incorporated by a Realms DM for their own games, as a means for both filling in the back story and for use as adventure hooks.
Elminster's saga opposite Moander is particularly evocative and, I think, is something I could use in my own FR game. I've introduced Elminster in my 3E game and would find it fun to see how my players react to a sort of rotting away version of him in 4E.
Thank you for sharing.