Spell-web

A spell-web, spell web, or spellweb was one of a number of different practices, most of which involved linking multiple "hanging" spells together, so that they would be released upon various triggers.

Cormathan Spell-Webs
Cormathan spell-webs held spells in abeyance, waiting for a trigger. They were magical glowing constructs, often room-spanning, which shapes akin to those of webs; spells could be placed at junctions in the web, not necessarily by the caster themselves. The web always had at least at one point two loose ends, which triggered its gradual collapse on being spanned by the caster's finger: the collapse triggered the spells left hanging. The target was preset, and didn't need to be present. Though falling through a web could disrupt the spells present in it, the embodiment of the spell-web allowed people to walk along its lengths no matter the orientation of gravity. Some simple spell-webs were used by Cormathan mages to protect towers or vaults.

By the, Deluma Dauntrael, the matriarch of the Dauntrael clan, was close enough to developing her own version of the ancient Cormathan spell-web.

Arcanaweaves were self-aware spell-webs – an offshoot of Cormathan spell-webs, devised by Jhesiyra Kestellharp, one of Halaster Blackcloak's many apprentices. She eventually became an arcanaweave herself.

Lantanna Spell-Webs
Spell-webs devised in Lantan were said to feed on the magic of enchanted objects, spells as they were cast, and even the minds of nearby wizards, feebleminding them and removing, perhaps for years, perhaps permanently, their ability to employ any magic. The spell-webs then employed the stolen sorcery to power a variety of effects; such practices were said to be amongst the many defenses that Lantan had against pirates.

Other Spell-Webs
Other so-called spell-webs were used to protect the Warlock's Crypt where the Netherese lich Larloch dwelt: they were constructions that could spring to unleash magic upon intruders. Another Netherese lich, Saharel, kept up a bespoke spellweb which handled the defenses at Spellgard. The spell-web was stable enough to endure with little trouble the Time of Troubles.

The two sorcerous brothers ruling Adaerglast were reputed to have looted magic from all over Faerûn, and to use spell-webs to protect their castle. Those spell-webs were constructions such that triggering one spell led to a number of others to be activated in unison.

Two of the Seven Sisters were known to have used spell-webs. Ever-grander spellwebs were woven under Alustriel Silverhand's rule in the Tower of Balance, within Silverymoon, but nothing was said of their functions. The Simbul kept her study copy of the Simbul's spell trigger concealed within a series of wards that included a spell-web.

Eirhaun Sooundaeril, a Zhentarim mage, had a functioning spellweb as of the.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Elminster in Myth Drannor &bull; Elminster in Hell &bull; Crown of Fire &bull; The City of Splendors: A Waterdeep Novel &bull; Farthest Reach
 * Short Stories
 * How Wisdom Came to the Maimed Wizard