Wailing Years

The Wailing Years, also known as the Plague Years, was a cataclysmic time period in the chronology of Toril and Abeir. Taking place between 1385 DR, the Year of Blue Fire, and 1395 DR, the Year of Silent Death, the Wailing Years was a period of ten years during which the effects of the Spellplague were at their worst.

Summary
After the death of Mystra, assassinated by Shar and Cyric in 1985 DR, the Weave collapsed triggering the Spellplague, a cataclysm of multiversal proportions that unraveled and reshaped flesh, stone, magic, and even space and time in its wake. A storm of virulent blue flames swept across the face of Toril and into the planes, until it reached the world of Abeir, where its devastating effects also changed that world. In the following decade, the effects of the Spellplague destroyed or reshaped entire regions, killed or mutated thousands of people, and even the gods and reality itself were forever changed.

Timeline

 * 1385 DR (Year of Blue Fire)
 * Mystra was assassinated by Cyric, act that destroyed the Weave and triggered the Spellplague.
 * The temple of Mystra in Harrowdale was destroyed when all the temple wards go haywire simultaneously, killing head priestess Llewan Aspenhold and most of her clergy.
 * The Fall of Stars in Harrowdale is shrouded in a halo of blue flames for a full day, but otherwise seems untouched.
 * At the same time, the worlds of Toril and Abeir were undergoing their periodic planar conjunction. This proved to be apocalyptic, because it allowed the Spellplague to unravel both worlds.
 * Dweomerheart was destroyed, killing Savras in the process. Azuth and Velsharoon were sent across the planes and disappeared without a trace. While Velsharoon actually died, Azuth was only presumed dead. Asmodeus fused with the dying Azuth, saving the God of Wizards' life but stealing his divine powers, and thus the archdevil underwent his apotheosis.
 * Halruaa, Sespech, the Golden Plains, and the Nagalands were destroyed by the blue fire storm caused by the destruction of the Weave, and were reshaped into the Plaguewrought Lands.
 * The Spellplague infected portals and planar magic, shaking the planes and spreading to the world of Abeir.
 * In Abeir, the fortress of the Primordial Nehushta exploded on contact with the Spellplague, in a blast of power akin to the Tearfall, sending the continent of Laerakond to Toril. The cataclysm created the Glaur Barrens in Gontal.
 * Djerad Thymar was separated from Skelkor and fell on Unther, creating the Black Ash Plain and sending Unther to the continent of Shyr in Abeir.
 * Laerakond was sent to the Trackless Sea, were it subsumed the lands of Maztica. Maztica was transported to Abeir, and Laerakond, which became known as 'Returned Abeir', remained on Toril.
 * Taking advantage of the planar instability, the new god Asmodeus sent the Abyss to the Elemental Chaos in a failed attempt to end the Blood War.
 * Cormyr was struck hard by the Spellplague, but not so violently as other nations. Roughly one third of all the War Wizards were slain, driven mad, or simply disappeared in the year following Mystra's death.
 * Kepeshkmolik Thymara, guided by the goddess Selûne, reconstructed Djerad Thymar above the God-Tomb of the death Untherite god Nanna-Sin. The dragonborn spent the rest of the year fighting the spellscarred horrors of the former lands of Unther while founding the nation of Tymanther.


 * 1386 DR (Year of the Halfling's Lament)
 * A portion of Shyr violently changed places with large sections of Chondath and western Chessenta. Displaced genasi quickly set about creating a kingdom of their own, Akanûl.
 * Large portions of the Sea of Fallen Stars collapsed into the Underdark. When the sea level reached its new equilibrium, the average drop in water level measured nearly 50 feet.
 * The waters of the Vilhon Reach were similarly drained, uncovering several ruins from ancient Jhaamdath.
 * The Arnrock volcano in the Lake of Steam erupts violently, wiping out the halfling settlement that had sprung up on its long dormant crater.


 * 1387 DR (Year of the Emerald Ermine)
 * The Emerald Enclave sent agents throughout the Vilhon Wilds to try to counter the effects of the Spellplague. As time passed, their original mission changed from one of respect for and guardianship of nature to a vain struggle against forces far beyond their control.


 * 1388 DR (Year of the Tanarukka)
 * Bullywug tribes from the Farsea Marshes began to thwart Zhentarim forces operating throughout the Tunlands, diminishing Black Network activities in the region.
 * Some of the remaining War Wizards began cross-training with the Purple Dragons in swordplay and martial defense, eventually becoming swordmages.
 * Fiirnel'ther Vandree of House Vandree of Menzoberranzan assassinated her mother, Troken'ther, and took the leadership of her House.
 * The Gundwynd Clan was rendered extinct in Waterdeep after the Spellplague first struck the city. All members were permanently transformed into trolls or giants.


 * 1389 DR (Year of the Forgiven Foes)
 * A strange black monolith appeared along Cormyr's coast, never in the same place twice.


 * 1390 DR (Year of the Walking Man)
 * Filfaeril Obarskyr died. Alusair Obarskyr disappeared shortly after her burial.
 * Arilyn Moonblade began training Azariah Craulnober at the behest of the latter's father, Elaith Craulnober.


 * 1391 DR (Year of the Wrathful Eye)
 * The human druid Zalaznar Crinios, transformed into a treant for his service to nature, took hold of the druid circle in Cedarspoke. A lesser druid called Firemane, rose to prominence in the same circle.
 * The elves of the militant Eldreth Veluuthra seized control of the Hullack Forest to use it as a base for their anti-human operations.
 * The Eye of Justice drove out Orbakh and the Night Masks from Westgate.
 * Auril's Winter Hall assimilated the Winged Mother's floating palace into her domain.
 * Randal Morn, the legendary leader of Daggerdale died. Sathrin Cormaeril arrived to Daggerdale not long after, and claimed the throne.


 * 1392 DR (Year of the Scroll)
 * The city of Pros became a vassal-state of Cormyr in order to protect it from the ravages of the Spellplague. By year's end, Ilipur joined Cormyr as well.
 * The receding waters of the Sea of Fallen Stars ruined small trading towns along its shore.


 * 1393 DR (Year of the Ring)
 * Sembian investors began to buy lands in the southern Dales. Concerned, Azoun V issued a formal objection to the Dale's Council in Archendale, but the King's emissary was rebuffed.
 * Spellscarred beings and pilgrims hoping to obtain a spellscar began to journey to Plaguewrought Lands.


 * 1394 DR (Year of Deaths Unmourned)
 * The Grand Cabal of the Emerald Enclave began to stem the tide of spellscarred pilgrims that journeyed through Turmish.
 * The city of Daerlun became a vassal-state of Cormyr.
 * The war between Cormyr and Sembia began.


 * 1395 DR (Year of Silent Death)
 * The Empire of Netheril came across the Lost Vale and displaced the saurials there into the Underdark.
 * Sakkors, a Netherese enclave, reappeared over Daerlun. Civil unrest broke out throughout the city, and Azoun V sends elite swordmages to restore order.
 * A great plague known as the Putrescent Anathema devastated the Goldenfields and Waterdeep, primarily to the poor as the supply of grain plummeted.
 * Most of the effects of the Spellplague had come to an end by this year and most arcane magic had returned to a semblance of normality, with a handful of major changes to the way spells were cast.