Mystryl (Dead)

Mystryl, the Lady of Mysteries, was a greater deity and the first incarnation of the goddess of magic. Mystryl was most notably known as the being who embodied the Weave, the primary source of magic in the cosmos. She supplied and regulates magical energy to all, making possible spells and magical effects. Her portfolio also included knowledge and energy, invention and creativity, song, time, and the season of spring. Mystryl was slain by the events of Karsus's Folly, her mantle taken over by Mystra.

Description

Mystryl manifested herself in many ways through many conduits, but her followers usually described her as a beautiful human woman with intense blue eyes that wore gracefully refined blue-white robes of fine, thick silk. Her skin glowed and her hair was every color of the rainbow. Manifestations

When being mysterious, she was depicted as a swarm of rainbow-colored will-o'-wisps in the vague shape of a humanoid female, but usually a subtle manifestation was all that was necessary: her trademark blue-white aura pulsing on the person, place, or thing she wished to illuminate. Occasionally this aura would coalesce into a point of light that she used to lead her faithful in a particular direction, write a message, or even cast spells.

Mystryl's followers and those who used magic for good or ill were sometimes made aware of her approval or disapproval by a gift, a message, or aid in some form. Gifts were often blue or clear gemstones (perhaps containing an agathinon), multicolored tourmalines, beljurils, shieldstones, or a rogue stone. Messages, aid, or warnings were usually delivered in the form of small, translucent, magical creatures or normal creatures such as blue jays; sparrowhawks; pseudodragons; white cats; dogs; beasts of burden (horses, mules, donkeys unicorns; pegasi; selkies; and mephits from the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Radiance. For more exigent circumstances, the goddess might send hollyphants; gem or metallic dragons; guardinals of any kind; incarnations of hope, faith, or courage; einheriar; light aasimons; devas; or a dreaded marut. All Mystryl's incarnations, messengers, and servants had blue or mismatched eyes.

Personality

Mystryl has a mercurial personality that reflects her chaotic nature. She can be coldly serious one moment and laughingly boisterous the next. She can be blushingly innocent or sagely wise, blithely unfocused or relentlessly dedicated, but in all her capriciousness she tries to do what she thinks is best for the Weave and practice of the Art in Toril. If she has a flaw, it is that at times she seems naïve and too trusting.

Activities

One of the aspects of her portfolio that Mystryl pays particular attention to is time and the continuity of the time line. In order to prevent abuse of time travel, she creates the time conduit spell and makes its restrictions binding on all other attempts at traveling back in time. She is aware of anyone attempting time travel and causes all research into circumventing her rules to lead back to her time conduit spell as the only solution.[note 1] Her awareness even extends to other planes of existence, preventing reentry to the Prime Material Plane for those that attempt anachronistic mischief.

Worshippers

Mystryl's relationship with her worshipers and followers was open and welcoming to members of all alignments. The majority of her venerators were human but all seekers of arcane lore were accepted.

Dogma

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Church_of_Mystryl

Relationships

Mystryl distrusted Shar, who was one of her progenitors, because Shar constantly sought to usurp her power and role. She regarded her other progenitor, Selûne, as overly maternal and sometimes acted contrary to her motherly advice. Mystryl was an eternal enemy of both Kozah and Moander, whom she saw as trying to corrupt or destroy all that she and her worshipers sought to build and accomplish.

History

Legend has it that at the dawn of time Lord Ao created the universe, and out of the early chaos came twin deities: Shar of the darkness and Selûne of the light. Together, these two beings created the spheres in the firmament, one of which was the world of Abeir-Toril and its spirit, Chauntea. Chauntea desired new and more abundant life for her world and asked the sisters for light and warmth in order to nurture it. In this, the two beings could not agree. Selûne eventually acted on her own and gave Toril a sun, which Shar immediately sought to put out, thus beginning the battle between light and darkness that raged for eons.

At some point the Dark Goddess got the upper hand and doused many of Selûne's motes of light. In a desperate move, Selûne tore a piece of magical essence from herself and hurled it at her sister. When it hit, Shar also lost a portion of her essence and was cast into the void for centuries. From the blending of dark and light energies, Mystryl was born as a being of pure magic inextricably tied to the Weave. Both of the twins were diminished as a result, with the Moonmaiden's wound being more grave. However, Mystryl was ideologically closer to Selûne, and being created from both light and darkness, Mystryl (and later goddesses of magic) acted as a balancing force between Selûne and the Lady of Loss.

In −339 DR (3520 in Netherese reckoning), the Netherese archwizard Karsus took it upon himself to defeat the phaerimm that were threatening the Netherese empire. He had spent years researching Karsus's avatar, the only 12th-level spell ever created, which was designed to temporarily rob a deity of their power and grant it instead to the spellcaster. Karsus chose to rob Mystryl, and when her godly essence poured into him his mind and body were overwhelmed and he found that he was incapable of wielding such power. Mystryl's hold on the Weave was weakened and it began to unravel. Magical effects doubled in power briefly, then became wild and chaotic. To save the Weave from permanent damage Mystryl chose to sacrifice herself, which broke Karsus's connection, killing him, and stopped all magic for a short time. In the time it took for the Mother of All Magic to reincarnate herself, most of the floating cities of Netheril crashed to the ground.

When the goddess of magic was reborn—this time as Mystra—she used as a vessel a beautiful peasant girl who was just learning cantrips but who had the capability of one day becoming an archwizard. She immediately took control of the Weave and magic returned to Toril. In the aftermath of the Fall of Netheril, the new goddess took a much more lawful view of magic use and laid down some rules, including a decree that the most powerful of spells would fail utterly.

Mystryl (Dead)

Dead Power

Basic Information

Titles

The Lady of Mysteries
Lady of Mystery
Our Lady of Spells
The Mother of All Magic
The Muse
The Hidden One
Controller of the Weave

Adjectives

Mystrylan

Pantheons

Astoran
Netherese

Attributes

Alignment

Chaotic Neutral

Symbol

A single blue-white star

Realm

Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo/Dweomertor

Portfolio

Magic, Spells, The Weave, Wizards, Spellcasters, Energy, Creativity, Knowledge, Invention, Time

Following

Worshippers

Wizards
Bards
Any type of arcanist

Alignments

All

Domains

Related Historical Events

• 2,479 BCR
  Karsus' Folly