Fallen Stars had grown, submerging great swaths of
land beneath its waves.
Early in 1487 , earthquakes 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 circulated
of known destinations being farther away from one
another, as if the world had quietly added miles of wil-
derness to the distance between them. Word began to
spread of places and peoples not heard from since the
Spell plague. It became apparent that some of the effects
of that terrible time had been reversed. During the year,
ships claiming to be from Evermeet, Lantan, and Nim-
bral-nations thought vanished or destroyed-sailed
into ports on the Sword Coast and in the Shining South.
Tales spread of the legendary skyships of Halruaa being
spotted in southern skies. No longer engaged in Cormyr,
Netheril attacked Myth Drannor by floating the City of
Shade over it. In a struggle for control of Myth Dran-
nor's mythal and the Weave itself, the flying capital of
Netheril was brought crashing down on Myth Drannor,
resulting in the cataclysmic destruction of both.
As the year drew to a close, there were nights when
the heavens seemed to hang motionless. Throughout
much of Faeriln, the winter of 1487 and 1488 lasted lon-
ger than any on record. The solstices and equinoxes had
somehow drifted. Later seasons followed suit, with each
starting and ending later than expected. Prayers to the
gods for knowledge and mercy seemed to go unacknowl-
edged, apart from the presence of their Chosen.
Although the ores were defeated in the North, the
League of Silver Marches was disbanded in 1488 , as
former allies blamed one another for failures in the war.
Sembia divided into separate city-states only nominally
allied with one another. While a handful of settlements
survived, the Netherese Empire was no more. The re-
mainder 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
spire against the lands below.
By 1489 , many of the wars that began during the Sun-
dering had ground to a close. Other conflicts arose, and
mighty threats still imperiled the world, but the deities
ceased interfering with the world through their Chosen.
The gods were no longer silent but quiet, and in many
places new priesthoods arose to interpret the gods' now
subtle signs.
The world today seems a place filled with new lands
and opportunities, where those who dare can leave their
mark. Students of history and those elves and dwarves
who recall the past that short-lived humans see as dis-
tant perceive a world much like it was over a century
ago. For most folk, wild tales of people empowered by
the gods, and of far-off lands returned to the world, are
the subjects of fireside chatter. Daily concerns and the
dangers and opportunities just beyond their doors take
precedence, and plenty of both remain on the Sword
Coast and 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 mercy to the
raising of mighty heroes from the dead, magic perme-
ates the Realms. Any understanding of magic begins,
and ends, with an understanding of the Weave.THE WEAVE
The Weave is an essential element of the universe,
running through everything in unseen threads. Some
creatures, objects, and locations have deep, intrinsic
ties to the Weave and can perform extraordinary feats
that come naturally to them (a beholder's flight, a vam-
pire's charming gaze, a dragon's breath weapon, and so
forth). Creatures with the necessary talent and skill can
also manipulate the Weave to perform magic by cast-
ing spells.
The Weave isn't normally visible or detectable, even
through the use of spells. Detect magic doesn't let you
perceive the Weave, for instance. The Weave isn't magic,
precisely, any more than a collection of threads is a gar-
ment; it's the raw material from which the tapestry of
magic is woven.
In two senses, both the metaphorical and the real,
the goddess Mystra is the Weave. She is its keeper
and tender, but all three times the goddess of magic
has died or been separated from her divinity (twice as
Mystra, and once as her predecessor, Mystryl), magic
has been twisted or has failed entirely. With Mystra's
last death and the coming of the Spellplague, the
Weave was thought destroyed, and the term lost its
significance. Since the end of the most recent Sunder-
ing, both Mystra and the Weave have returned to their
roles of centuries past, and spells and magic items
are more reliable than they had been while the Spell-
plague raged.SUPERNATURAL POWERS
AND PSIONICS
The inborn magical abilities of certain creatures, the
acquired supernatural powers of people such as monks,
and psionic abilities are similar in that their users don't
manipulate the Weave in the customary way that spell-
casters do. The mental state of the user is vitally import-
ant: monks and some psionics-users train long and hard
to attain the right frame of mind, while creatures with
supernatural powers have that mind-set in their nature.
How these abilities are related to the Weave remains a
matter of debate; many students of the arcane believe
that the use of the so-called Unseen Art is an aspect of
magical talent that can't be directly studied or taught.MAGIC ITEMS
Where a spell effect is brought to life by manipulating
the threads of the Weave, the creation of a magic item
ties 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
spells and also enables those who know the craft to har-