Weave

The Weave, controlled by Mystryl or one of her successors, was a way through which raw magic was accessed, tapped into and used by casters of magic. The Weave was the way in which magic presented itself to beings for their use, and it flowed throughout the world, touching almost every corner of existence, with exception of dead-magic zones. The Weave coexisted with the Shadow Weave.

Nature of the Weave
"Thus comes the question: what is the Weave? It is an essential element of the universe. It runs through everything in unseen threads. It is what makes magic possible."

- Excerpt from Magic of the Weave - An Introduction.

The Weave was considered many things, including Mystra's body, the source of magic, all the studies of casters, arcane and divine alike, and the many energies and forces that existed around the planes. Many saw it as a "fabric" on which magic was "drawn", and damaging the fabric caused magic to go awry. Preparing a spell was a means by which a small amount of the Weave could be "contained" and transported for a specific effect, while the casting of a spell was equivalent to telling the Weave to rearrange itself to create the effect.

Importantly, the Weave was not magic itself, but rather a force by which its flows could be channeled, and a means by which magic could be understood and harnessed. In the years after the Spellplague, the term Weave also became a synonym of the use of magic, although this was not true either. Other systems for calling upon magic had always existed within the Realms, but the Weave was by far the most commonly used, thoroughly refined and best understood.

The Weave was also linked to fate, and a rare few individuals could manipulate such connection to alter the future to their advantage. However, usually the Weave punished those who used "her" in such a way.

Some textbooks deliberately falsified the nature of the Weave, as an attempt to limit the knowledge associated with spellcasting. One book that correctly outlined the nature of the Weave was Magic of the Weave.

The Weave did not exist on Abeir, making casting magic in that world more difficult than in Toril.

Special Powers
The Weave was able to grant extra powers to certain individuals. Silver fire was an ability granted by Mystra only to the Chosen of Mystra and enabled its users to envelop themselves in silvery white flames that bestowed many potent magical powers. Spellfire was a rare talent that allowed its user to manipulate the Weave in a variety of unique and powerful ways.

Special Practitioners
Elves of the Realms were born with a natural and special bond to the Weave.

Spellplague
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. With the death of Mystra, Shar was unable to maintain the Shadow Weave and it collapsed as well.

In 1479 DR 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. In 1487 DR the Weave was almost repaired to its former state.

Anomalies
Places such as dead-magic zones or wild magic zones were places where the Weave had been damaged or was non-existent.

Dead 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.

Everywhere but Evermeet
When the elves caused the First Sundering, 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.

Shadow Magic
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.

Wild Magic Zones
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.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * The Nether Scroll • Return of the Archwizards (The Summoning, The Siege)
 * The Nether Scroll • Return of the Archwizards (The Summoning, The Siege)