✦ The Spellplague
(As recorded by Toad, former Keeper of the Weave, Year Five of the Spellplague)

Definition:
The Spellplague is the name given to the unleashed chaos of magic that swept the world after Mystra’s death. It is not a single event. It is an ongoing condition - a wound on the world that refuses to close.

Origin:
When Cyric struck Mystra down in the moment of her return, the Weave tore itself apart. Untethered from any mind or will, magic erupted outward, reshaping the world into what we now live in.

Manifestations:
Arcane Instability: Spells no longer behave as expected. Some fail, some mutate. If unlucky, the magic devours the caster like it does any other magical source.

Spellfire Storms: Tempests of blue flame scour the land, consuming and remaking whatever they touch. These storms mostly appear near sources where the Weave is strongest. They vary in size and range depending on the source.

Plaguechanged: Exposure to raw magic warps both flesh and spirit. Some gain unnatural abilities that can vary from small effects that are harmless to effects that can destroy entire towns. Most are not so lucky and are changed irreversibly into monsters or shadows of their former selves.

Areas of Highest Instability:
The Spellplague burns fiercest where the ley-lines converge:

The Border of the Dead Kingdom and the Charred Plains: A land of scorched rivers and shifting bones, where spells warp the landscape daily.

The Ruins of the Dragon-Elf Isles: Shattered archipelagos where the air itself mutates. Storms of blue fire are common here and roam the coasts.

The ruin of Epida Amini: Once a seat of learning, now a hollow wound where reality frays. Magic here is feral, predatory and it more often than not lashes out against creatures instead of the land.

The further from these places one travels, the calmer the Weave becomes - though nowhere is truly safe.

Known Effects:
Geography Shattered: Continents are reshaped, oceans shifted, cities erased. New lands sometimes rise, only to sometimes crumble the next day.

Planes Frayed: The borders between worlds are thinned. Portals rip open without warning, spilling creatures from places mortal minds struggle to understand or drag mortals into those realms.

Divinity Diminished: Even the gods feel the strain, although divine magics seem to have been affected the least by the Spellplague. Miracles come slower, sometimes prayers return only silence.

Cultural Response:
The first year brought fear.
The second year brought false prophets.
The third year brought blood.
The fourth year brought famine.
The fifth year has brought a new truth: magic is no longer viewed as just a tool. The Weave is alive and it answers to no one.

Current Status:
The Weave remains broken. Some regions have learned to adapt. Others lie abandoned, uninhabitable. Wizards are fewer in years since and Sorcerers more common - and usually more unstable.

• Toad, Villain of the Merging and former Keeper of the Weave