Spellplague The Spellplague , called the Blue Breath of Change by the inhabitants of Returned Abeir , was a disaster that struck Realmspace , the world of Abeir , and even the planes themselves on Tarsakh 29 of the Year of Blue Fire , 1385 DR , and was caused by Mystra ' s assassination at the hands of Cyric and Shar . It continued for a decade , leading to the Wailing Years , during which arcane magic ceased to function and the planet of Toril was transformed . The diviner Yaphyll had a vision of the event : In her vision , Yaphyll referred to Mystra as the white queen and to Shar , goddess of the night , as the black queen . Cyric , god of murder , was the assassin , Savras , the god of divination , was the soothsayer , and the city , cavern and tree symbolized the ordered structures of magic crumbling into chaos . The Plague . After Mystra was killed , the Weave , the universal structure of arcane forces , was destroyed and was replaced by Cyric ' s own madness , that became a " physical " force after being bolstered by the corrupting energies of a Far Realm portal opened by Shar to destroy Dweomerheart , believing that she could control the Weave after destroying the plane of her former enemy . Without the Weave , the Shadow Weave was unable to be maintained and collapsed as well . The breakdown of the Weave was felt by all wizard s across Faerûn . The corrupted madness of Cyric defiled what arcane forces remained from the dissolution of the Weave , resulting in a new magical source of defiling arcane energy in the form of blue flames , that destroyed Dweomerheart and continued to spread across the multiverse . Since the Spellplague was born from the defiling powers from the Far Realm , a plane that existed outside of Realmspace , not even Lord Ao had the power to stop it once it started . The Storm of Blue Fire . The Spellplague manifested in Toril as a storm of blue flames in the Mhair Jungles , west of Halruaa , and quickly grew to a massive size . Halruaan wizards , having divined the death of Mystra and the destruction of the Weave , were able to use the energy of the blue fire to save most of their kingdom by shifting it into another world , Abeir . However , the remaining Halruaan lands in Toril were laid to waste due to the heavy wild magic activity in the area , and Sespech , the Golden Plains , and the Nagalands were transformed into an unpredictable and surreal place , dubbed the Plaguewrought Lands . The blue flames also infected portal s and planar gate s , spreading even further across Toril . Almost every part of Faerûn was affected by the Spellplague and certain areas were eliminated entirely , while others were created anew . Thousands of spellcaster s were either destroyed or went insane due to the collapse of the Weave after Mystra ' s death . In Cormyr , a third of the War Wizards were either killed or driven mad . Those who survived lost their ability to use arcane magic . Other continents , such as Kara - Tur and Osse , were affected by the Spellplague as well . It was through the planar gates that the Spellplague traveled across time and space , and reached the world of Abeir . In that world , the Spellplague first appeared in Gontal , the southwestern region of the continent of Laerakond , where it made contact with ancient Glaur , the fortress of the Primordial Nehushta . The fortress detonated when the " Blue Breath of Change " ran through it , in an explosion as potent as the Tearfall , rocking the entire planet of Abeir and creating the Glaur Barrens where the old fortress once stood . Laerakond was torn apart in a powerful earthquake , and a portion of the nation of Skelkor , were the capital of the dragonborn nation of Tymanchebar was located , was torn asunder and disappeared amid the blue fire . That region , where the city - citadel of Djerad Thymar was located , crashed on Unther , still enveloped in the blue flames . Many believed the Untherites and the Mulhorandi occupation forces were obliterated in the explosion that created the Black Ash Plain , but actually Unther was instead transported to the world of Abeir . However , it was transported to the lands of Shyr , the equivalent continent to Faerûn in Abeir . The rest of 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 . Aftermath . By 1395 DR , the majority of the effects of the Spellplague had come to an end and most arcane magic had returned to a semblance of normality , with a handful of major changes to the way spells are cast . The Empire of Netheril came across the Lost Vale and displaced the saurials there into the Underdark . By 1479 DR , areas of Toril still affected by the Spellplague were referred to as Plaguelands . By 1480 DR , the Spellplague had ended with the event known as Mystra ' s Return . The Weave was resurrected with the goddess and magic became what it was before the Spellplague , though some areas with lingering effects from it remained . In 1482 DR Lord Ao began the Second Sundering , as a way to restore the worlds of Toril and Abeir of the ravages of the Spellplague .