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Mournblade
Master of Realmslore
USA
1287 Posts |
 Posted - 05 Feb 2012 : 02:11:52
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I am confused about the spellplague. Was it LITERALLY a plague? A disease? I thought it was a figurative expression. I have been reading a few posts and I am quite confused now. Any help would be appreciated.
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A wizard is Never late Frodo Baggins. Nor is he Early. A wizard arrives precisely when he means to... |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2012 : 04:45:37
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The Spellplague was not a plague or disease.
The Spellplague was the sum of events following the murder of Mystra at the hands of Cyric.
Her murder unraveled the Weave, causing magic to burst its bonds and go wild, everywhere.
The Spellplague touched everything: mortals, monsters, rock and stone, plants, the entirety of Faerun and the boundaries between the worlds and the planes.
Which kind of makes sense, since much of what's on that list is where magic comes from. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2012 : 13:16:48
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This is a good entry on the Spellplague. The sources include novels and sourcebooks. |
Every beginning has an end. |
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Matt James
Forgotten Realms Game Designer
USA
918 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2012 : 15:54:55
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The term 'Spellplague' was created by mortals to explain the unraveling of the Weave. The metaphysical and magical afflictions that affected many of the mortals on Abeir and Toril were seen as a plague (deformities, illness, etc...)
I hope this helps. |
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Mournblade
Master of Realmslore
USA
1287 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2012 : 16:24:24
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Yes, Thank you all it has been very helpful. I was getting confused by reading some of the scrolls, where individuals were describing it with properties of an actual plague.
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A wizard is Never late Frodo Baggins. Nor is he Early. A wizard arrives precisely when he means to... |
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Laeknir
Seeker
68 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2012 : 16:32:53
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quote:
Originally posted by Mournblade
Yes, Thank you all it has been very helpful. I was getting confused by reading some of the scrolls, where individuals were describing it with properties of an actual plague.
Perhaps ironically, the "plague" part actually refers to the part of the FR fanbase that was made physically sick from the SpellPlotDevice.
And that illness shows little signs of abatement for many, three years later. So, yeah. Plague working as designed, I'd say. 
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4430 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2012 : 18:13:35
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quote:
Originally posted by Laeknir
Perhaps ironically, the "plague" part actually refers to the part of the FR fanbase that was made physically sick from the SpellPlotDevice.
And that illness shows little signs of abatement for many, three years later. So, yeah. Plague working as designed, I'd say.
Wow what a helpful, constructive, and optimistic response! And you wonder why the "illness" is still prevalient?
snark aside, I think to the plebeians of the Realms it appeared much the same as a plague to them. The raging blue fire consuming a lot of magic and magical usesrs as well as changing areas of their world might appear to be a plague. Also, Erik de Bie also mentioned a while ago about how the Spellplague would've happed when Mystra was destroyed during the Time of Trouble if it weren't for certain factors and instead, we got wild-magic and dead-magic zones because the tattered frays of the weave were still kept together. Perhaps he can elaborate more on that? |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2012 : 19:25:25
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It could be likened to a disease, if one wants to interpret it thusly, but not like anything RW we have to compare it to.
It would be an energy-based disease - it literally latches onto stray bits of (uncast) power, like a cancer. It corrupts the magic (similar to Wild Magic), but it also affects the physical world by affecting the physical item or place that magic is stored in (and in the case of Wizards, that means their mind),
Going by that last observation I made, I would have to say Sorcerers were far less susceptible to it then Wizards. If the Sorcerer tried to cast magic while the plague was raging (locally or globally, at any time), then he/she would also fall victim to it - it latches onto 'hanging' magic - the actual energy of the spell that is yet to be released. Unfortunately for Vancian casters, thats just about all they know. Trap-magic is likewise affected - it is 'hanging', and waiting to be released (which is very different then Place-Magic, which I have discussed elsewhere - that's a continuous field-effect).
The closest real-world analogy I can come up with is this: A few years ago a major portion of the NE (electrical) grid went down. This was caused by a major spike; a plant or something had some transoformers 'blow'. The system was designed so that when a section went out, other sections would be able to 'take up the slack'. However, the adjacent regions were already over-taxed (I think it air-conditioning season), and each adjacent section also 'went down' under the added pressure, and so on, and so forth - we had rolling black-outs all over the North east, which took several days (in some areas) to fix.
So something like that - Mystra 'goes down' (stop smirking!), and the added-load is passed onto Azuth, the Magister, Chosen, other agents of Magic, etc... and they can't handle the over-flow (through them), and all over Toril 'the grid' that is The Weave goes down. Now, the way electricity works, it looks for the easiest route to 'be grounded', so if Arcane energy works in a similar fashion, then it was 'shooting for' living beings with magical interfaces inside of them, in the same way that lightening strikes metallic objects before anything else. The Wizards all became arcane 'lightening rods'.
The only difference (maybe) is that I think magic has a certain 'life all its own', which is why I liken it to a disease (based on energy, rather then biology). However, I've heard electricians and fireman say the same about electricity and fire, so who knows? Maybe magic isn't that different from RW energies after all.
But to answer your question, NO - AFAIK the 'spellplague' was just a poetic name for what happened, and wasn't a real disease at all. It is possible that someone could be a 'carrier', I guess, but only in the same way that 'arced' electricity can get imbedded in something (I've seen that happen to a comp), and then get 'passed on' when that something comes into contact with something else (energy gets transferred). In this way, it acts very much like the Wild Magic we had in 2e - any of it in an area can cause other magic to 'run amok', like a contagion. Its not really a disease at all, though - it just behaves like one (the 'infected' mage is literally a 'broken piece of the weave', which destabilizes magic around them, causing further break-downs). |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 05 Feb 2012 19:26:08 |
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Dark Wizard
Senior Scribe
USA
830 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2012 : 20:02:22
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| Thinking over this a bit, perhaps it's plague in the Old Testament Biblical sense. |
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Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2012 : 21:34:02
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I think the name is just appropriate for what it stands for.
Merriam-Webster defines plague as "any widespread affliction, calamity, or evil." The Spellplague is a magical phenomenon, thus the "Spell." And it brought pervasive affliction to the world and its inhabitants, thus the "plague." |
Every beginning has an end. |
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sfdragon
Great Reader
2285 Posts |
Posted - 06 Feb 2012 : 02:18:01
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| so you could say it was litterally a figurative play on words.... hahaha |
why is being a wizard like being a drow? both are likely to find a dagger in the back from a rival or one looking to further his own goals, fame and power
My FR fan fiction
Magister's GAmbit
http://steelfiredragon.deviantart.com/gallery/33539234 |
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Erik Scott de Bie
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
4598 Posts |
Posted - 06 Feb 2012 : 20:16:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Diffan
Also, Erik de Bie also mentioned a while ago about how the Spellplague would've happed when Mystra was destroyed during the Time of Trouble if it weren't for certain factors and instead, we got wild-magic and dead-magic zones because the tattered frays of the weave were still kept together. Perhaps he can elaborate more on that?
Well, we can't know for certain that's what would have happened, but it seems pretty reasonable to me that the results were similar.
Mystra is the personification and tender of the Weave, which requires constant maintenance. I think of it as an infinitely complex tapestry that Mystra needs to keep weaving to keep it going. When Mystra perishes, the Weave naturally starts falling apart.
This happened at the Fall of Netheril: the Weave started failing all over the Realms, starting with the really, really stretched ends (i.e. the ones the Netherese arcanists had pulled almost beyond the breaking point to power their Mythallars). Thus, the mythallars shut down and the floating cities fell. Fortunately, Mystra was able to reincarnate quick enough to catch the unraveling edges of the Weave before we had magical chaos.
It happened during the Time of Troubles: Mystra was not in place to "tend" the Weave, so magic started going wild all over the place. But since Mystra still *existed*--and Mystra *is* the Weave--magic didn't *fail.* Even when Mystra perished, she had invested so much power into her Chosen (particularly Elminster) and her eventual successor (Midnight) that they were able to maintain the Weave in the same way Mystra had. When Midnight arose to become the new Mystra, she was not nearly as adept a Weaver as the old Mystra (who had the advantage of thousands of years more experience than she did) and the Weave had already been damaged by the neglect it suffered during the Time of Troubles, hence dead and wild magic zones.
Finally, what happened with the Spellplague: Mystra was killed for a third time, but this time the circumstances were different enough (killed on her home plane by someone who knew her true name, it was Midnight not a more capable Mystra, etc.) and she was unable to reincarnate (for whatever reason[1]), so the Weave started coming completely unraveled. I also speculate that she had reclaimed much of her power, either because she anticipated an attack (by Shar/Cyric) and thought she could handle it, or she was engaged in some sort of great universal ritual, who knows? (Or maybe Mystra knew the Spellplague was going to happen and LET IT happen, for a greater good?[2]) Her proxies and servants couldn't handle it this time, not without Mystra herself to aid them. The Weave went wild as it unraveled (just as it had before), on a setting-wide scale and with much more fury than ever before. Basically, one rolled on the Wild Magic table for every region, and that's what happened to it. The Spellplague happened over a decade or so (the Wailing Years) and finally died down around 1395. I believe that any lingering pits of Spellplague left in Faerun (or beyond) are the last remnants of the Weave, which either tied themselves off in some way (there are numerous wild magic effects that do this), or are just taking a long time to decay and fall apart.
So that's my explanation for this whole Spellplague debacle, drawing on my understanding of how magic works in the Realms.
Notes:
[1] There could be lots of reasons Mystra couldn't reincarnate: Cyric trapped her soul in his sword (a version of Godsbane), Cyric absorbed Mystra's power so there was no need for a new Mystra, Ao purposefully blocked her from returning because Cyric was just fulfilling his purpose, Shar had set it up so that Mystra was unable to respawn, etc. We don't have a canonical reason--for better or worse, this was left purposefully ambiguous. I wouldn't want to speculate overmuch because Ed's obviously doing something with Mystra. Read his books!
[2] As above. Ed's handling this!
Cheers |
Erik Scott de Bie
'Tis easier to destroy than to create.
Author of a number of Realms novels (GHOSTWALKER, DEPTHS OF MADNESS, and the SHADOWBANE series), contributor to the NEVERWINTER CAMPAIGN GUIDE and SHADOWFELL: GLOOMWROUGHT AND BEYOND, Twitch DM of the Dungeon Scrawlers, currently playing "The Westgate Irregulars" |
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Erik Scott de Bie
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
4598 Posts |
Posted - 06 Feb 2012 : 20:18:42
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And no, the Spellplague was not actually a plague or disease. You might consider it a consuming sickness of the Weave which wreaked amazing havoc in the Realms, and it can certainly get inside people and work its changing effects in and on them, but it's not actually a disease the way ebola or influenza is a disease. Just a metaphor.
Cheers |
Erik Scott de Bie
'Tis easier to destroy than to create.
Author of a number of Realms novels (GHOSTWALKER, DEPTHS OF MADNESS, and the SHADOWBANE series), contributor to the NEVERWINTER CAMPAIGN GUIDE and SHADOWFELL: GLOOMWROUGHT AND BEYOND, Twitch DM of the Dungeon Scrawlers, currently playing "The Westgate Irregulars" |
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Mournblade
Master of Realmslore
USA
1287 Posts |
Posted - 06 Feb 2012 : 20:34:18
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quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
So something like that - Mystra 'goes down' (stop smirking!), and the added-load is passed onto Azuth, the Magister, Chosen, other agents of Magic.
REALLY MARKUS! If you hadn't said to 'stop smirking' I would not have even caught on. Then THAT image was in my head and you had to use a word for what was passed on to Azuth etc. Really? HOw was I not supposed to get an image after that!
Added Load.
I should not be this immature.
I have to go on duty now.
heh... Doodie.
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A wizard is Never late Frodo Baggins. Nor is he Early. A wizard arrives precisely when he means to... |
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Mournblade
Master of Realmslore
USA
1287 Posts |
Posted - 06 Feb 2012 : 20:43:16
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I am thinking I could handle the spellplague more if there was an adventure or novels that allowed mortals to set up the plague. Cyric Worshipers one up Mystra worshipers, which force her attention, giving cyric and Shar time to strike.
It was also a weak excuse for the planar and alignment shift. I have trouble being on board with how the WEAVE of faerun can severely cut up its cosmology.
All of these 4e issues could have been addressed with a more careful accounting of the Spellplague. Perhaps instead of having it explained only in Grand History and Orc King at first, they should of eased us into it with a novel and adventure set like the ToT.
I might have accepted it better.
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A wizard is Never late Frodo Baggins. Nor is he Early. A wizard arrives precisely when he means to... |
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A question for 4e experts
