Fallen Stars had grown, subme rging great swaths of
land beneath its waves.
Early in 1487 , earthqua kes and volcanic eruptions
abounded for months, as if the whole world was con-
vulsing. Rumors spread of chasms caused by the
Spellplague suddenly vanishing, and stories circulate d
of known destinations being farther away from one
anothe r, as if the world had quietly adde d miles of wil-
derness to the dista nce between them. Word be gan to
spread of places a nd peoples not heard from s ince the
S pell pl ague. It became appa rent that some of th e effects
of that terrible time had been reversed. During the year,
s hips cla iming to be from Evermeet, Lantan, a nd Nim-
bra l- nations thought va nishe d or destroye d- s ailed
into ports on the Sword Coast and in the Shining South.
Ta le s spre ad of the legendary skyships of Halruaa bein g
spotted in southe rn skies. No longer enga ged in Cormyr,
Netheril attacked Myth Drannor by floating the City of
Shade ove r it. In a struggle for control of Myth Dran-
nor's my thal a nd the Weave itself, the flying capital of
Ne theril was brought crashing down on Myth Drannor,
resulting in the cataclysmic destruction of both.
As the year drew to a close, there were nights whe n
the heavens seem ed to ha ng motionless. Throughout
much of Faeriln, the winte r of 1487 and 1488 las ted lon-
ger than a ny on record. The sols tice s and equinoxes had
somehow drifted. Late r seasons followed s uit, with each
starting and ending later tha n expected. Prayers to the
gods for knowledge and mercy seem ed to go unacknowl-
edged, apart fr om the presence of their Chosen.
Although the ores we re defeated in th e North, the
League of Silver Ma rches was disbande d in 1488 , as
former allies bla me d one another for failures in th e wa r.
Sembia divided into s e pa rate city-states only nominally
allied with one another. While a handful of settlements
s urvived, th e Netherese Empire was no more. The re-
m a inder of the Netherese forces battle with the Bedine
over control of the Memory Spire , thought to be a tomb
of the phaerimm, Netheril's ancient enemies. The battle
awakens what turns out to be a hive of the creatures ,
and they use the life and magic-draining power of the
s pire a gains t the la nds below.
By 1489 , m a ny of the wars th at began during the Sun-
dering had ground to a close. Othe r conflicts arose, and
mighty threats still imperil e d the world, but the deities
ceased interfering with the world through their Chosen.
The gods were no longer silent but quiet, and in ma ny
places new priesthoods arose to interpre t the gods' now
s ubtle signs.
The world today seem s a place filled w ith new lands
a nd opportunitie s , wher e those who dare can leave their
mark. S tudents of his tory and those elves and dwarves
who recall the past that short-lived humans see as dis-
ta nt perceive a world much like it was over a century
ago. For most folk, wild tale s of people empowered by
the gods, and of far-off lands returne d to the world, are
the s ubjects of fir eside chatter. Daily concerns and the
danger s and opportunities just beyond their doors take
precede nce, a nd plenty of both remain on the Sword
Coast a nd in the North.
CHAPTER l I WELCOME TO THE REALMS
MAGIC IN THE REALMS
From the simplest cantrip to the mightiest workings of
High Magic, from the blessings of healing m ercy to the
rais ing of mighty he roes from the de ad, magic perme-
ates the Realms. Any understanding of magic begins,
and ends, with a n under standing of th e We ave.THE WEAVE
The Weave is an essentia l eleme nt of the universe,
running through everything in unseen thre ads. Some
creatures, objects, and lo cations have deep, intrinsic
ties to the Weave a nd can pe rform extraordina ry feats
th a t come naturally to them (a beholder 's flight, a va m-
pire's charming gaze, a dragon's bre ath we apon, and s o
forth). Creatures with the necessary ta lent and s kill can
a lso m a nipulate the Weave to perform magic by ca s t-
ing spells.
The We ave is n't normally vis ible or de tectable , even
through the use of s pells. Detec t magic doesn't l et you
perceive the Weave, for instance. The Weave isn't magic,
precisely, a ny more than a collection of thre ads is a gar-
ment; it's the raw material from which the tapestry of
ma gic is woven.
In two senses, both the me taphoric al and the real,
th e goddess Mystra is the We ave. She is its keepe r
and tender, but all three times the goddess of magic
has di ed or bee n sepa r ate d from he r divinity (twice as
Mystra, and once as her pred ecessor, Mystryl), magic
has been twis te d or has failed entirely. With Mystra's
last death and the coming of the Spellpla gue, the
We ave was thought destroye d, and the term lost its
s ignificance. Since the e nd of the most recent Sunder -
ing, both Mystra and th e Weave have returne d to the ir
role s of centuries pas t, and s pells and magic ite m s
a re more reliable than they ha d been while the Spell-
pla gue raged.SUPERNATURAL POWERS
AND PSIONICS
The inborn magical abilities of certain creatures, the
acquired s upernatural power s of people such as monks,
a nd ps ionic abilities are simila r in that the ir users don't
ma nipulate the We ave in the customa ry way that s pell-
ca s ter s do. The me nta l s tate of the user is vitally import-
a nt: monks and some psionics-users tra in long and hard
to attain th e right frame of mind, while creatures with
s upernatural powers have that mind-set in the ir nature.
How these abilities a re relate d to the Weave r emains a
matte r of debate; many students of the arcane believe
that the use of th e so-called Unseen Art is an aspect of
ma gical talent that can't be directly studied or taught.MAGIC ITEMS
Where a s pell effect is brought to life by manipulating
the threads of the Weave, the creation of a ma gi c item
ti es some of those threads together in a specific way, to
produce the desired effect for as long as the item lasts.
The Weave provides immediately available energy for
s pells and als o enables those who know the craft to har-