The Time of Troubles

The Time of Troubles was a cataclysmic time period in the chronology of Faerûn. Taking place during 1358 DR, the Year of Shadows, the Time of Troubles was a period during which magic ceased functioning as it should. In the Dungeonscape, divine magic of any sort ceased to function altogether, with clerics and paladins finding themselves cutoff from their divine powers. Arcane magic, on the other hand, became dangerously unpredictable, producing drastically more powerful and altered effects.

Effects on the Dungeonscape

The effects on the city were catastrophic. The University District was rocked by a series of explosions and magical feedback, causing half of it to sink into the Tranquil Depths or get vaporized. Divine wards throughout the city failed, causing the rapid dungeonization of parts of Poisondredge and the Boneyard Level that had been kept at bay by them, and causing an entire level to be lost to the dungeon in a miniature repeat of the Vent.
The city found its ability to respond to these disasters weakened as the clerical and paladin orders that usually responded found themselves significantly weakened. The Covenant retreated into the Barbed Cathedral. A contingent of Spirewardens of unprecedented size marched through the World Crevasse grim-faces and armoured to the teeth, leaving behind but a fraction of the order to assist in the city's defense.
The Covenant eventually reopened the Barbed Cathedral's doors and the Spirewarden company returned, drastically reduced, guarding a locked carriage.

Effects on the Prime Material

On the Prime Material, things were no less hectic; as later discovered, an edict by Toril's Overgod Ao had cast all Faerûnian gods down to walk on Earth in mortal form. Divine magics functioned only within one mile of the deity's avatar, and the goddess Mystra was unable to regulate the arcane Weave. Deities battled across the plane, several falling and mortals being ascended in their place.
The events of the Time of Troubled led to the Spellplague scant decades later, in 1385 DR.

Date of Setting

1358 DR

Related Locations

• The Dungeonscape
• The Prime Material

Related Organizations

• Spirewardens of Ethrenna
• The Covenant of Latent Slaughter