The Unforgivable Betrayal

What really caused the Great Calamity. is a betrayal so foul it is unforgivable.

---

There were two great wizards, one master and her apprentice Merlineine and Morgaine. Merlineine used her magic to side with the forces of humanity, namely Camelot and its legendary king, Arcturus.

Arcturus was a tyrannical king, not at first, but he crusaded across the land ‘freeing’ his people from the ‘horrors’ of the ‘beasts’ and ‘monsters’ that lay beyond the great forests and mountains surrounding Camelot. King Arcturus did this because he had lost his beloved wife a few years prior to a frightened young drake one night, as Morgaine and Genievere (siblings) snuck out to the enchanted forests as they had when they were children.
Arcturus held resentment in his heart for Morgaine which grew more so as he sided and tried to defend the magical creatures of the forests that he and Genievere loved. Arcturus would not listen, and so Morgaine sought to stop Arcturus at whatever the cost. This led him down a dark path, experimenting with shadow magic, magic that could defy time and space (gravity). However Morgaine’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed, Merlineine saw what he was trying to do and demanded that he stopped, this only escalated the matter however and Merlineine told Arcturus what he was doing.

Arcturus seeing this as an act of treason pursued Morgaine into the enchanted forests. Arcturus eventually cornered Morgaine, and Morgaine in an attempt to survive used his new shadow magic to escape, where he ended up though, is unknown. When he awoke, he started plotting for his inevitable revenge, attempting and succeeding to create a spell that he would use to wipe out Camelot and save the magical creatures of Rondo.

Many years had passed as Arcuturius’ reign and dominion continued during this time Merlinene had spent every waking moment preparing for the day that Morgaine would eventually return and seek revenge, some of these defences include Camelot flying, having magic barriers and creating a null magic field. Upon Morgaines’ return he attempted besieging Camelot, being thwarted by Merlinene’s defences. Although Merlinene could stop the initial assault the two Master Mages eventually engaged in a long and arduous duel, flinging deadly and counter magics the likes of which none had witnessed before. Morgaine eventually got the upper hand using his mastery of shadow magic and knocked Merlinene unconscious. At this Morgaine was finally able to cast his new ritual.
Morgaine’s ritual extracted shards of each Cardinal Plane of existence (Elysium, Limbo, Hades and Mechanus) each extracted and placed into a foul abhorrent ritual that took years of planning and preparation.
Using shadow magic each shard was accelerated at extreme speeds into each other colliding all at the same time, using this chaotic ritual he would then extract the pure magical essence from all the opposing planes and ascend to a level of godhood eventually being able to protect the magical creatures of Rondo.
Merlinene however awoke and attempted to stop the ritual, but what she had done would be everyone’s undoing. Merlinene’s interference caused Morgaine to lose his concentration and fail in absorbing all of the new magics. This meant that the magic containing the plane's essence ceased. With the shards polarising magic being in the presence of each other they dispersed rapidly across existence.
Mystryl who was the god of magic, lost her ability to keep the Weave intact on the material plane and the inundation of magic tore the weave, the effect of this caused all things magical to quadruple for a short time. To save the weave, Mystryl sacrificed herself and, in the process caused all magic to briefly cease functioning.
Without magic the great cities of the Unbreakable Alliance broke down, wards shattered and exploded, mages laboratories disintegrated, life and magic warped into the astral planes or merely ceased to exist creating anti-life and dead magic zones all across the land.
After Mystryl was slain, the goddess of Magic reincarnated within moments as Mystra, and her first priority was to recreate the Weave of magic. She established new rules for using magic, and no spell of 11th level (such as Morgaines’) or above would function.
At this, the Golden Age of Heroes had ended.