The Time of Magic

The golden age of their race when their pyramidal cities still existed. In hopes of restoring this Time of Nodes, Spellweavers seek out particular magic items or, more specifically, ancient gems imbued with "memories" that Spellweavers can telepathically read. By inspecting these rare and specific gems, many spells weavers try to collect pieces of what they call the Code of Reversion, a magical formula devised before the final experiment that destroyed the Spellweaver empire. The pieces of the formula were psychometrically inscribed on a series of precious stones for security reasons, and distributed in multiple copies to different keepers throughout the empire. Any Spellweaver could activate the formula, but it had to read and memorize all the pieces first.

Ravaged by the Disjunction, the ruins of Spellweaver nodes are thousands of years old - relics of an empire lost to time. Extraordinarily scarce, multiple nodes rarely exist on a single world and never on the same continent.

Every node has a similar structure, with the main pyramid that towers more than 500 feet tall. At the top perches a great crystal lamp once capable of illuminating the surrounding landscape with a pulsing azure light. With all probability, these lamps acted as a magical homing beacon for other Spellweaver planar travel facilities.

Inside, the most important room of any node was the breeding chamber, the home of the magic cylinders necessary for Spellweavers to reproduce. Only a few of these rooms survived the Disjunction intact, and they are desperately sought out and jealously guarded by modern Spellweavers. Secondary to the breeding chamber was the mortuary, a many-floored hall that protected Spellweavers undergoing their rejuvenating stasis. Deeper than these rooms slept the heart of the node, a gigantic magical furnace. While those in every node ever discovered have been destroyed, an active Spellweaver furnance is capable of producing effects on par with the powers of the deities. As such, Spellweavers throughout the planes dream of finding a near mythic live node furnace.

The Ba'etith create the Golden Skins of the World Serpent, known today as the Nether Scrolls.

The Nether Scrolls attracted the Phaerimm once more to the Sarrukh and the two races warred incessantly for control of this new source of magic. In an effort to destroy the Phaerimm, the Sarrukh redirected the Narrow Sea and inadvertently destroyed E.ril and it’s inhabitants as well as locking away the Phaerimm from this region of Toril for many thousands of years.

Sarrukh-ruled Mhairshaulk, faced with starvation, declines gradually, sinking slowly into somnolence. The Sarrukhs begin a cycle in which thousand-year hibernations alternate with brief periods of activity, during which food gathering and procreation could take place. The empire becomes the domain of the Yuan-ti.

With the fall of Isstosseffifil, this marks the Fall of the Sarrukh Empire.

The few survivors of E.ril were those transformed into Sarrukh, many of whom were now anchors for the Weave itself and part of the Nether Scrolls they had created. The most famous survivor was known as Ssr’nak’tu to the Sarrukh, but his truename was Jergal. He fled and travelled the world to escape his pursuing Sarrukh and phaerimm, to get vengeance upon the Sarrukh, and to try and locate his remaining kin on Toril, ultimately he failed and was trapped in stasis for centuries while the Spellweaver Empire destroyed itself performing a ritual known as the Disjunction.

In an effort to drown the phaerimm of Phaerlin (known today as the Buried Realms in the Underdark) and dispatch their enemies in one masterful stroke, Isstossef wizards rerouted the Narrow Sea so that it ran from east to west, inundating the land around the chain of hills known today as the Tagorlar with water.  Although the Isstossef succeeded in driving the phaerimms deep into the Underdark, the massive ecological change resulting from their weavings of Art caused the Isstosseffifil empire to collapse.

Although most of the sarrukh of Isstosseffifil died with the city's decline, many survived. The survivors retreated into lichdom in the depths of Oreme where they are protected by the asabis they had created

It is believed that the first human appear in the northern savannas of Katashaka. They soon migrate outward to populate the rest of the world.

In the lands south of Mhairshaulk, human tribes depended on fishing, hunting and herding to sustain themselves. The tribes of Lopango, however, utilize irrigation techniques which allowed them to take up pastoral farming.

Unfortunately the proximity of primitive human tribes to Mhairshaulk proved disastrous. Sarrukh raiding parties routinely patrolled Thinguth lands returning to Mhairshaulk with humans for food or slavery. A few are experimented upon by their sarrukh captors. Tainted and augmented by sarrukh magic, these unfortunate individuals in time become known as vrael olo, the yuan-ti.

In the Empire of Mhairshaulk, in what is now known as the Chultan Peninsula, the Sarrukh began anew, and again the Bae’tith aided them in the creation of a new Weave Anchor, this one much smaller but split into multiple parts, (10 emeralds of exceptional size and quality). It was during this time that conflict came to the Bae’tith, as Ssr’nak’tu left to pursue another group of sarrukh as they migrated north, and Ssh’arst’rune tried to create another more powerful Weave Anchor, (and merge herself with it as Miss’ashak had done centuries before).

Ultimately the Sarrukh empire of Okoth began to fracture and was ultimately destroyed, but not before new empires arose in their wake, far to the west and north. The Bae’tith moved with the Sarrukh, pursuing their enemies, and remaining dedicated to their destruction.

After a century of civil strife that drove many sarrukh of Okoth to the planes, the Okoth Empire collapses.

The clans of Sarrukh wandered the planes for millennia but never found a plane where they wished to remain for more than a generation. This nomadic existence hardens them, turning them inexorably toward evil.

As the Sarrukh of Okoth increasingly embraced their darker natures, a few dissenters, despairing of their kindred's push toward evil, broke off from the main group. They entreated Jazirian, a fragment of the World Serpent, for succor, and it responded by transforming them into Couatls. A bitter war ensued, but the Couatls held their own against the more numerous Okothian Sarrukh until Merrshaulk, a darker fragment of the World Serpent, finally slew Jazirian. At that point, the Couatls were forced to flee to Abeir-Toril, where they eventually settled in Maztica. The god Qotal embraced them as his divine minions, and they acknowledged him as Jazirian reborn.

After the war with the Couatls, the Sarrukh begin to explore the Barrens of Doom and Despair, where they happened upon the Khaastas. Believing these creatures to be inferior and weak reptilians, the Sarrukh attempt to enslave them. Much to the invaders surprise, not only were the Khaastas extremely resistant to serving, but they also had powerful demonic allies willing to aid them. Thus begins a centuries long war between the Sarrukh and the Khaastas, which the Sarrukh eventually lose. To escape the wrath of the victorious Khaastas, the Sarrukh secretly return to Faerun and begin skulking around the ruins of Okoth, on the shores of the Azulduth.

The Sarrukh civilization enters a new troubled phase as they had conquered so many races that they had became the minority in their own empire.

Writing is invented as an aid to administration in communities that had grown so complex that Sarrukh memory could no longer store all the information needed for efficient government. The earliest Sarrukh signs are pictographs scribed on clay tablets then dried. The Sarrukh writing systems are widely adopted by their slaves.

The Sarrukh establish the realm of Mhairshaulk, on the Chultan Peninsula westward from the Lhairghal to the Jungles of Chult.  The Mhairshaulkans are believed to have created Nagas, Pterafolk, Troglodytes, and Yuan-ti, as well as numerous other races long since lost.

The Sarrukh establish the realm of Isstosseffifil, based in present-day Anauroch.

The Bae’tith first targeted the Sarrukh, who were living near the spellweaver Node, (in what is now Lake Azulduth), and at that time were the only humanoid lifeform with any intelligence. The Bae’tith were led by 3 prominent individuals; Miss’ashak, Ssh’arst’rune, and Ssr’nak’tu who worked together to come up with the strategy to destroy the Sarrukh.

The Spellweavers that survived "The Darkness" disease abandoned E.I.L.1 to magical servitors and retreated to colonies elsewhere in Toril, (in an effort to limit the disease and stop it spreading to other Nodes). It wasn’t long before the Sarrukh of Okoth claimed the Node for themselves, and the Sarrukh abandoned it sometime after when their civilization was torn apart by civil strife brought about by the Spellweaver’s interference.

The Sarrukh quickly adapted to using this new form of magic and greatly proliferated thanks to its protection and the magical abilities it conferred, (they even added many of their own spells into the Weave Anchor). The Sarrukh spread from the Lake of Steam to the lands around the Spellweaver node, inadvertently coming into conflict and then war with the Spellweavers, forcing the Spellweavers into what is now known as the Dragonsword Mountains.

The introduction of cattle, sheep, and goats revolutionizes farming in the Durpar region. Herdes are semi-nomadic, driving their animals between seasonal pastures. By -35,000 DR, desertifiation of Durpar begins perhaps in part because of overgrazing. The herders' respond by migrating northwest from The Goldenwater to a region of semi-arid savanna they name Okoth.

In Okoth, south of modern-day Mulhorand, the sarrukh found their first permanent settlements. Early sarrukh villages are dominated by temple complexes dedicated to the worship of the World Serpent. Most sarrukh settlements of this period have a population between two and eight thousand people, though Daar Mundigak itself, the largest city in Okoth, has over ten thousand.

Within a hundred years, most of Faerûn is theirs

The truth of the matter is that the Bae’tith were a cadre of Spellweavers, chosen to infiltrate the lesser races, (to them all races are less, but to modern day scholars these lesser races are known as the Creator Races) and destroy them from within. The typical modus operandi of these Spellweaver saboteurs was to transform themselves into dominant race of the target nation and then proliferate magical power among them until the nation became a dominating empire and then ultimately destroyed itself, descending into barbarism.

At the time, Raw Magic was abundant on Toril, the unwary that tried to use it were often consumed by the magical backlash caused by its mishandling. The Bae’tith created the first Weave Anchor, which projected a magical field that protected those within it from the effects of Raw Magic, and allowed them to prepare and cast spells pre-programmed into the Weave Anchor.

The Spellweavers of E.I.L1, (all Nodes are given a complex planar, spheric, geographic, and numeric notation that indicates it’s location) encountered the Sarrukh of Okoth after a millennia alone on Toril. As is typical for Spellweaver interactions, the Spellweavers attempted to enslave the Sarrukh for menial labour, (and failed). Then they attempted to bring about the downfall of the Sarrukh by seeding their civilization with powerful magic, (allowing them to alter shape and form). The end result was the creation of an apex magical race known as the Phaerimm and the splintering of Okoth and scattering of the Sarrukh, but not before most of the Spellweavers witnessed their own demise from a strange disease they termed, “the Darkness”.

The Darkness was a strange malady that interrupted the natural death and rebirth cycle of the Spellweavers, so that when the Spellweavers entered their cocoons to die and be reborn those afflicted were transformed into star shaped gems as black as midnight. The disease showed no obvious signs of infection nor any obvious method of transmission, the Spellweavers of E.I.L.1 were so badly afflicted that their numbers dwindled to the point that their civilization began to collapse. If not for their servitor golems, the Spellweavers would have been defenseless.

During the Second Sundering in the 1480sDR, five of the Seven Sisters vanished and were presumed deceased. Storm and Dove remained, but much diminished in magical power and living under assumed names.

Laeral and Alustriel came out of hiding to assist Elminster in securing Mystra's Weave and stopped Shar's quest to seize dominance over magic from Mystra.

The Battle for the Weave

Princes of Shade, Vattick Tanthul, is killed by Dove Falconhand. Dove Falconhand succumbs to injuries sustained while rallying the Baelnorn of Myth Drannor to come out of their tombs and defend their city.

Chosen on Chosen

Telamont tried to gain the power of Myth Drannor's mythal so that Shar could become the new deity of magic. Thultanthar, the flying city of Shade moves directly against Myth Drannor. Telamont Tanthul drains the energies of Myth Drannor's mythal in order to turn the new Weave into a Shadow Weave for his mistress. He and his fellow Shadovar were stopped by Larloch, who wanted to absorb the mythal himself, and Telamont is killed by Elminster. Shade eventually crashes into Myth Drannor, but a hastily erected ward protects the Tree of Souls from the impact.

Lich on Lich

Larloch, lich, strikes against the elves in the confusion and the Srinshee, Baelnorn, appears to defend them. The Srinshee sacrifices herself to wrest the stolen Weave energy from Larloch and Telamont and bolster Mystra's new Weave. She also teleports Ilsevele Miritar and Fflar Melruth to safety in Semberholme.

There were a large number of wielders of shadow magic in south Faerûn around the time of 1372 DR. Although none would admit to skill in the art, there were rumors of a growing shadow cult within the Council of Elders of Halruaa, and that they planned on attempting to overthrow the followers of Mystra and Azuth. Further rumblings in the area had the Conclave of Halruaa on the verge of exposing and bringing this group to justice, while others had the two organizations in league with one another.

As Vhaeraun was the drow patron of shadow magic, he worked together with Shar in projects that concerned this magic. One was the School of the Shadow Weave, which had followers of both Vhaeraun and Shar among them.

The Shadow Weave originated from Shar rather than from Mystryl; Shar studied the Weave in ancient times and created her own dark distorted version. Though the Shadow Weave had existed for quite some time (at least several millennia), only around 1372 DR did it become known and widely used.

Though Shar sought to use Mystra's death to replace the Weave with the Shadow Weave, she had miscalculated; just as the Weave collapsed with the death of Mystra, so too did the Shadow Weave.

Certain practitioners of shadow magic could create a form of "dimensional twisting" from shadowstuff. By creating a barrier in this manner, a shadow mage could prevent anyone from passing through a designated area, and cut off access to the Weave for anyone within.

The secrets that the Shadow Weave was based upon were disquieting, maddening, and otherwise dangerous to the mortal mind. A spellcaster who wanted to manipulate the Shadow Weave had to either worship Shar or make some sort of arrangement with Shar and their existing patron deity or otherwise permanently lose a piece of their mind. A shadow adept was a spellcaster who specialized in using the Shadow Weave.

The Shadow Weave was best suited for dark magic that drained life or muddled the mind and the senses, but less suited for magic that manipulated energy or matter. Spells from the schools of enchantment, illusion, and necromancy were enhanced, while those from the schools of evocation and transmutation were impaired. The Shadow Weave was also superior for fueling spells that created darkness, while it was impossible to use it to create light of any kind.

Since the Shadow Weave was a separate force of magic, it was not affected by areas of dead magic or wild magic within the Weave. An antimagic field however countered all magic within its area, and that included Shadow Weave magic. Shadow Weave users had to also overcome any spell resistance a creature might have. It was harder for a Weave user to perceive, counter, or dispel spells created by using the Shadow Weave, but at the same time it was also harder for a Shadow Weave user to affect spells created using the Weave. Any magic item created using the Shadow Weave was a Shadow Weave item and was affected by the same benefits and limitations as a Shadow Weave spell.

The war wizard Ilstan Nyaril sacrifices his life to allow the return of the god Azuth. The gods Asmodeus and Azuth separate and become individual gods.

The Weave is almost repaired to its former state.

Abeir begins to re-separate from Toril in the spring, heralding volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The process is completed by the fall.

Rumors abound about that chasms created by the Spellplague are disappearing.

People and lands thought lost during the Spellplague begin to reappear.

It was revealed that Mystra foresaw her own fall and let it happen because the Weave was growing more and more unstable, and needed to be renewed as part of a cycle fated to repeat again and again.

Because Mystra, (and formerly Mystryl) was inextricably bound to the Weave, (one cannot exist without the other), when Mystra was assassinated by Cyric and Shar on Tarsakh 29 1385 DR, the Weave collapsed and initiated the Spellplague. Henceforth it presented itself as scraps of burning crystal tumbling through an endless void.

In wild magic zones, a spell could backfire upon its caster, target the wrong location, be dramatically increased in power, or many other things. A wild magic zone and its parameters could be detected using a detect magic spell. A caster could temporarily fix a wild magic zone with any dispel or permanently fix it using a wish spell.

Cosmic disasters like the Time of Troubles caused the emergence of severe wild magic zones after the Weave was heavily damaged. After the Time of Troubles, most wild magic zone disappeared but some remained.

Another source of wild magic zones were the artificial distortions of the Weave called mythals. Apart from decay due to neglected maintenance, events such as the Fall of Netheril or the Time of Troubles damaged them. The damage turned these corrupted mythals into - even by wild magic standards - unpredictable wild magic zones.

Dead magic zones were places where the Weave was no longer in existence. Both it and its boundaries could be detected in the same way a wild magic zone could, but from outside the zone. Unlike wild magic zones, most casters innately knew when they've stepped into a dead magic zone. A dead magic zone could only be fixed with a wish spell or silver fire.

When the elves caused the First Sundering, (Ever'Sakkatien) they did almost destroy everything, which the timely intervention of the Seldarine limited to the destruction of a continent.

Alongside sundering the continent of Faerûn, they ripped the Weave in an irrecoverable manner beyond its self-repairing capabilities with the parts in Evermeet being the only whole parts of it, turning it into the only normal Weave to exist, and thus causing no abnormalities to exist on that island.

According to Corellon Larethian, the elves robbed themselves of the ability to cast true elven high magic outside of Evermeet and people such as the Grand Master Laeroth Runemaster suspected in the 13th century DR, that their ancestors did indeed destroy the entire elven race's special connection to the Weave when they caused the disaster.

It is possible for sentient beings to merge with The Weave, giving up their material form to become one with what they believe to be Magic itself, (and by extension, whatever deity of magic they believe in).

For most this merging is a religious ritual performed as a boon for devotion to the deity of magic. These merged sentiences have been called many names over the millennia, the most recent of which is the Weave Ghost. However, to those few that understand The Weave, it’s nature, and it’s purpose (although it’s true purpose is hidden from all but the Spellweavers), merging with The Weave allows them to become guardians of the magical knowledge stored within, and even gain control over some of it.

Almost every Weave Anchor was created alongside a Weave Ghost which became the guardian and protector of that anchor, and added their own sentience to the multitude of ghosts in The Weave.

The Weave exist as a result of a series of Weave Anchors that extend the area that The Weave covers. Originally these Weave Anchors were sparse and usually mobile (an example of which is known today as The Nether Scrolls), but in ages past The Weave would have centered on the land controlled by the empires of the Creator Races. As time passed, and more Weave Anchors were created, The Weave has extended to cover almost the entire surface of Toril, including Faerun, Kara-Tur, and Maztica.

The Disjunction destroyed all Nodes in a cataclysmic magical backlash that saw all the magical furnaces powering the Nodes go into meltdown, leaving large craters upon the land, and all the Spellweavers at the Nodes were slain, (which included 95% of the entire population). The few remaining Spellweavers left alive on Toril are those that survived the disease known as the "Darkness", and the destruction of E.ril at the hands of the Sarrukh, and the destruction of E.I.L.1 during the Disjunction.

The Code of Reversion essentially formed an incredibly powerful mutipart spell, designed to revert time in the entire multiverse to the point when the formula was inscribed. Aware of the risks involved in their final experiment, the Spellweavers devised the Code of Reversion as a chance to restore their empire if something went wrong. The catastrophe, however, exceeded their worst expectations, and the inscribed gems were scattered and lost. As such, no Spellweaver has yet been able to locate and perform the Code of Reversion. Even the Spellweavers are not sure if a complete copy of the formula has survived, and most gems suffer gaps in their memory that cannot be filled. Needless to say, the successful activation of the Code of Reversion would inevitably mean the erasure of thousands of years of history and the effective annihilation of all present things.

No Spellweaver or researcher from any other race knows what accident caused the ruin of the Spellweaver empire and brought about the end of the Time of Nodes. While Spellweavers acknowledge that their leaders were attempting some far-reaching magical feat, they remain universally secretive of its specifics. Two commonly held possibilities follow:

Ascension: Through their study of language, Spellweavers discovered the prime form of communication, words of reality capable of manipulating all existence. Revealing that deities were little more than bickering entities with knowlege of this language, the Spellweavers attempted to take their place among the powers en masse. Their intentions discovered by the existing deities, these covetous beings warped the Spellweavers' attempt to elevate the population of an entire node, creating a magical backlash that rippled through and destroyed the Spellweaver empire, along with all knowledge of the prime language.

Unification: Spellweavers came to believe that, at the beginning of creation, all of the planes and countless worlds were in fact one single, balanced reality. This equilibrium, however, was shattered by the mercurial whims of the deities. Traveling to all of these fragmented existences and creating their nodes as anchors, the Spellweavers hoped to cast a multiverse-spanning spell capable of drawing the shattered planes back to together. The power of infinite infinites proved too great for even the bold Spellweavers, though, and their first trial wiped their empire from the reality they hoped to save.

A vestige of Mystra had survived her death in 1385 DR, and was guiding her Chosen to aid in her renewal. The Simbul was tasked to close multiple rifts in the Weave and between realms. In doing this task, she absorbed much Silverfire and Blue Flame. The Simbul gifted all of that energy to Elminster, who in turn freely returned it to Mystra in a cave within the King's Forest of Cormyr. This new Mystra was a combination of the memories of Mystra and Midnight/Mystra, and presumably of Mystryl as she had drawn her memories from the Weave rather than from personal experience.

Mystra's return was highlighted as part of the War of Everlasting Darkness. She assisted the adventurers in defeating Lolth and her efforts to plunge Faerun into everlasting darkness, which would have allowed the Drow to invade and conquer the surface realms.

While Mystra might be the most powerful god, that doesn't save her from Cyric and Shar, in the year 1385, when the two group together to kill her in her own realm of Dweomerheart, destroying it utterly, and ruining several smaller realms and lesser deities.

Mystra is no longer a part of the Forgotten Realms pantheon. The Weave that she controlled and oversaw from her plane, Dweomerheart, burst - as did its counterpart the Shadow Weave. Azuth dies and is subsumed by Asmodeus.

This results in the Spellplague spreading across the cosmos.

At the end of the Time of Troubles, Midnight was bestowed Mystra's godhood and portfolio by Ao. Midnight adopted Mystra's name in order to make peace with her worshippers, and named her mortal friend Adon, a former cleric of Sune, as her head of church. At this time Mystra's stated alignment shifted from Lawful Neutral, maintaining the balance in use of magic, to Neutral Good, reflecting the mortal's attitudes towards the uses and purpose of magic. Midnight/Mystra retained her home among the clockwork planes of Mechanus. She remained aided in her work by Azuth and Elminster.

In the Avatar Series, Mystra was revealed to be a uniquely powerful being. In Shadows of the Avatar, she is described as more powerful than any god (save Ao). The major catch is that roughly half of Mystra's power lies in her Chosen and in the Lesser Power Azuth; Ao arranged things this way so that Mystra would not rule all Realmspace.

Mystra's secret was that she was more powerful than any god, save for Lord Ao, but therein lay the secret. Roughly half of her power lay in her Chosen and in the lesser power Azuth, as planned by Ao so that Mystra did not rule all Realmspace.

As the centuries passed, Mystra had grown tired of the ceaseless grasping for power through pleading, flattery, or treachery. She and her portfolio were the target of gods and mortals alike and that took its toll on the Mother of All Magic. In the last hour before the gods were banished to walk the land as mortals, Mystra entrusted Midnight with a portion of her power in the form of a pendant, and asked her to keep it safe for a time.

Being thrown down to Toril with all the other gods and then being captured and tortured by Bane was apparently the last straw. After securing a portion of her power with Midnight, Mystra disappeared. Days later, Caitlan Moonsong pleaded to a group of adventurers, (Adon, the mortal Kelemvor Lyonsbane, and the mortal Cyric) to rescue her mistress from imprisonment in Castle Kilgrave in northern Cormyr. Midnight accompanied the band of heroes on the rescue mission and with her help they succeeded in freeing Mystra from the clutches of Bane.

Immediately upon being freed, Mystra possessed Caitlan as her avatar and retrieved the pendant from Midnight, regaining much of her power. She then opened a gate to the Ethereal Plane and took the group to the Celestial Stairway, which was guarded by Helm. Mystra argued with Helm saying she had nothing to do with the theft of the Tablets of Fate and to let her pass so that she might speak to Lord Ao and regain her rightful place as keeper of the Weave. Helm steadfastly refused to let her pass and gave her fair warning. Furious, she attacked him with bolts and beams of energy, fire and ice, mystic blades and magical hammers, and dread creatures with fangs and claws, coils and maws, wings and tentacles. Helm held firm, absorbing or brushing off each of her assaults. Weeping blue-flame tears of anger and frustration, she grappled with Helm and fire leaped from her mouth. Helm held her off with one hand and raised his visor. As their gaze met, Mystra let out a terrible scream heard across the Realms as she saw her doom written in his face. Helm drew back and punched his gauntleted fist through her chest and Caitlan's body exploded in a blindingly hot flash of devastating power.

When the heroes regained their sight, they were standing on a circular stone foundation; all that was left of Castle Kilgrave. The landscape around them was charred and blasted for a half-mile (800 meters) in every direction. Helm had lowered his visor and stood in the mouth of the gate. He admonished the group to seek out the Tablets of Fate with more wisdom than the former goddess. He then vanished through the gate as it closed behind him. Midnight looked down to find Mystra's pendant lying at her feet

The House of Wonder in Waterdeep was dedicated to Mystra.

Foreseeing the death of one of her Chosen, the goddess Mystra appears to the Archmage Sammaster. The Necromancer, accepted the offer to become a Chosen of Mystra. Sammaster later meets Elminster to learn how to handle his new powers, including silver fire.

After Elué died, Dornal abandoned his daughters and they were cared for by various foster parents.

Qilué Veladorn, the youngest daughter, was not widely known like her sisters—when she was whispered of she was called "The Dark Sister"—and that was probably a good thing for she was a drow (born to Mystra in exceptionally odd circumstances), but also a fair and mighty priestess of both Mystra and the good drow goddess Eilistraee. She was slain by the Lady Penitent, Halisstra Melarn, in 1379 DR, and became a Weaveghost as a result.

The Simbul ("Alassra Silverhand" was her birth name, but few knew it and fewer used it) was the Witch Queen of the eastern kingdom of Aglarond, former lover of Elminster and once the most powerful sorceress in all Faerûn—her kingdom stayed intact only because of the might she could bring against the nefarious Red Wizards of Thay and their zulkirs.

Laeral Silverhand Arunsun, the radiant and good-hearted Lady of Waterdeep, who married the great wizard Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun and with him led the secretive organization known as the Moonstars, (who were once Harpers).

Storm Silverhand, a famous and much-loved Harper, sorceress, and Bard of Shadowdale, who, despite sometimes appearing flighty, had taken it upon herself to protect and care for the people of her home dale to the best of her abilities.

Dove Falconhand, whose magic was second to her skill at arms, for she was a ranger and a renowned Knight of Myth Drannor married to another Knight, Florin Falconhand.

Anastra Syluné Silverhand, more commonly known as "Syluné", the kindly Witch of Shadowdale, who was slain by a red dragon but remained in Faerûn as a ghostly spectral harpist. She was destroyed later by the actions of the Church of Shar.

It soon became clear to Mystra that most mortals were not tough enough to carry divine power. They either soon withered and died, burnt out by the load they carried, like the elfqueen Aloevan of Ardeepor, or they thrived but were twisted and corrupted by their power, like the mage Sammaster, who began to think of himself as a god and set about building himself a cult of worshippers, (which survives today as the Cult of the Dragon). Thus Mystra proceeded to breed her own children, known as the Seven Sisters through the possessing of the Half-Elf Elué Shundar and mating with Dornal Silverhand. Elué/Mystra and Dornal were wed in the Year of Drifting Stars (760 DR).

While journeying across Anauroch, Arun's son rescues three Evereskan elves from an ambush by Phaerimm but at the cost of his own life and that of his father, Arun Maerdrym. Mystra rewarded the self-sacrifice of a wandering wizard tutored in Myth Drannor by rescuing him from death and making him the Nameless Chosen, "he whom magic, duty, and honor defines." later known as Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun.

Adopting the worship of both Mystra and Sehanine Moonbow, Aloevan, a laranla of Ardeep, becomes a Chosen of both goddesses.

Elminster Aumar declines the crown of Athalantar and is made a Chosen of Mystra instead. Helm Stoneblade becomes king of Athalantar, beginning a new royal line.

Mystra came into being after Mystryl sacrificed herself to save Faerûn from the destruction of Netheril caused by Karsus in DR -339. Mystryl sacrificed herself to save the Weave before the damage became irreparable. When reincarnated as Mystra, she used the form of a peasant girl learning the basics of cantra magic but with the capacities for archwizardry. She recreated the "Weave" of magic with a few more rules, and no spell above 9th level would function.

Priests and priestesses of the new goddess of magic were told the story of Karsus in dreams and visions when they prayed for spells. It was Mystra's attempt to make sure that nothing like this ever happened again. Yet Karsus was accredited as being the only human to have ever achieved godhood through spellcasting, even if it was only for a fleeting moment.

A party of adventurers from Luruar descended into the ruins of Eryndlyn, where they helped a resurgent Mystra take command of the Demon Weave. She then began using it to strengthen her own resurgent Weave to restore it closer to the condition it was in before the Spellplague.

The first effect of this was, that in the spring of 1484 DR, drow wizards led by Tsabrak Xorlarrin would use the power gained from the new Weave to create magical darkness over large areas of land on the surface so they could comfortably exist there, even in the light of the sun. More and more of these areas of darkness appeared on the surface lands over the next year-and-a-half - this was known as the Darkening.

In 1480 DR, Lolth sent her avatar, Danifae Yauntyrr, to the cities of the drow to task them with recovering items to fuel the creation of her new Weave. Those who obeyed traveled to the surface, scouring the land for ancient items from before the Spellplague, relics that were sacred to Mystra, sources of primordial energy, and sites of magical power. Those drow would then channel the power of those items and places to their goddess.

House Jaelre's attack on Shadowdale

Valan Jaelre attempted to steal and channel the power of the Pendant of Ashaba in order to weaken Shadowdale for a full invasion.

Drow political strife

By Lolth's will, arcane spellcasters in drow society (most of whom were male) found their social status elevated to that of drow females. Those who favored the status quo refused to follow Lolth's edicts, causing conflict that was further manipulated by the Jaezred Chaulssin.

The Darkening

As well as making life on the surface easier for drow, the magical darkness covering the land inspired many evil humanoids and monsters to become bolder. Several tribes of orcs, for example, split off from Many-Arrows to lay siege to Mithral Hall, Citadel Adbar, and Sundabar.