Mystra Before Midnight: The Goddess Helm Killed
Two Goddesses Before Midnight
Most tables that know Mystra know Midnight, the mortal wizard who took the name after the Time of Troubles. The goddess who held the office before her was a different person with a different temper, and the Forgotten Realms Wiki gives her a separate entry. She was the second incarnation of the goddess of magic, a greater deity of the Faerûnian pantheon, lawful neutral, with a blue-white star as her symbol. The 1st and 2nd edition stat lines agree on all of that and place her home plane in Nirvana, with Azuth serving her.
Her titles run long: the Lady of Mysteries, the Mother of All Magic, Our Lady of Spells, Lady of Might, the One True Spell. Her detractors had cruder names for her. Worshipers swore "by Mystra's Truth."
Born From Karsus's Folly
Her story begins with a death. Her predecessor, Mystryl, sacrificed herself to protect the Weave from Karsus's Folly. Moments after the Fall of Netheril, a peasant girl with rudimentary magical training and an aptitude for spells became the new Goddess of Magic. The wiki dates her apotheosis to -339 DR.
The only description of her as a mortal is of a "beautiful peasant girl" just beginning her studies of the Art. In those first moments as a goddess she caught three of Netheril's floating cities as they plummeted and set them down on the ground, saving thousands of her people.
A rumor follows this moment. Some held that the new goddess destroyed Karsus's notes on his ultimate spell. Others said she sent them flying to the far corners of the multiverse.
Mystra's Ban and the Shape of Wizardry
Mystryl had been quixotic and quick to change. Mystra was described as a manifestation of the Cosmic Balance: she cared less about good and evil than about keeping the laws of magic intact, and she corrected great inequalities when things went wrong.
She wrote new rules for every spellcaster. She limited who had access to magic, capped how many spells of each level a mind could hold, lengthened casting times, and required long daily periods of memorization or prayer to replace spent spells. Arcanists no longer had to specialize in one form of magic and could generalize, and in time they came to be called wizards. For a DM, this is the in-world reason the spell slot system exists.
Sages call the centerpiece of these rules Mystra's Ban, and the wiki gives two different numbers for it. One section says she banned all magic above ninth level. The history section says spells above 10th level. The difference is small on paper, but it decides whether a lost tenth-level spell is forbidden by the Ban or exists somewhere just beyond it.
The Magister, Azuth, and Savras
Early in her reign, Mystra created the title of Magister. Only one master of the Art held it at a time, and the Magister was free to wander the Realms and use magic for good or ill, picking enemies that would bring glory to the title. Mystra expected each Magister to be challenged and eventually beaten by another mage, who would take the title. She believed this conflict made the Art stronger.
The first Magister was Azuth, a brash young wizard who found beauty in magic. Mystra sponsored him to godhood as a demipower, the Patron of Wizards. She later sponsored a second wizard, the methodical Savras the All-Seeing. Both wanted her favor, some say romantically, and they fought for years until both became lesser deities. Azuth won. He reduced Savras back to demigod status and imprisoned him in a jewel-encrusted staff, the Scepter of Savras. Azuth stayed on as Mystra's friend and adviser.
The Chosen
Mystra kept unaging servants, her Chosen. The wiki's timeline:
- 240 DR: Elminster Aumar becomes a Chosen.
- 292 DR: Aloevan of Ardeep becomes a Chosen of both Mystra and Sehanine Moonbow.
- 464 DR: A wandering wizard tutored in Myth Drannor sacrifices himself. Mystra rescues him from death and makes him the Nameless Chosen, later known as Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun.
- 761 DR: Mystra possesses the sorceress Elué. Over seven years Elué bears seven daughters, the Seven Sisters, who are immortal spellcasters because Mystra was present at their conception and birth.
- 851 DR: The necromancer Sammaster accepts her offer to become a Chosen.
- 1215 DR: The House of Wonder in Waterdeep is dedicated to her.
The wiki also records what she once told the young Elminster: "I am the One True Spell at the heart of all spells."
She worked with Oghma and his circle of Milil, Deneir, and Gond, though she had some sort of rivalry with Gond. Talos opposed her, and Bane tried to take power from her. Outside Realmspace she was an ally of Wee Jas of Oerth.
The Tired Goddess
By the end of her reign Mystra was worn out. Every power-hungry being, flatterer, and parasite had schemed against her for centuries because of her position. What kept her hopes alive was her pride in her station and the kindness of worshipers who did not want anything magical from her.
In 1358 DR the gods were cast down to walk Toril. In the last hour before that, Mystra gave Midnight part of her power in the form of a pendant and asked her to keep it safe. Then Mystra disappeared. Bane captured her and tortured her in Castle Kilgrave in northern Cormyr. Her avatar, a slim barefoot girl named Caitlan Moonsong, asked Adon, Kelemvor Lyonsbane, and Cyric to rescue her. Midnight went with them, and they freed Mystra.
Death on the Celestial Stairway
Mystra possessed Caitlan, took back the pendant, and opened a gate to the Ethereal Plane leading to the Celestial Stairway. Helm guarded it. Mystra told him she had nothing to do with the theft of the Tablets of Fate and demanded that he let her pass so she could speak to Ao and take back the Weave. Helm refused and warned her.
She attacked him with fire, ice, mystic blades, and summoned horrors. He absorbed all of it. Weeping tears of blue flame, she grappled him. Helm raised his visor, and when their eyes met she saw her doom and screamed loud enough to be heard across the Realms. He drove his fist through her chest, and Caitlan's body exploded.
When the heroes could see again, Castle Kilgrave was gone except for its circular stone foundation, and the land was scorched for half a mile in every direction. Helm told them to search for the Tablets more wisely than she had, then left through the gate. The pendant lay at Midnight's feet. When the Godswar ended, Ao offered Midnight the office, and she took Mystra's name to make the transition easier after so much chaos.
Where the Sources Disagree
- Where she died. The Forgotten Realms Wiki's account puts her death at Helm's hand on the Celestial Stairway, reached from Castle Kilgrave. The 3rd edition Magic of Faerûn says instead that she died in Waterdeep fighting Myrkul and other powerful beings. The wiki calls the 3e version an error.
- Ninth or tenth level. As noted above, the wiki gives two different limits for Mystra's Ban.
- Her clergy. Faiths & Avatars lists the church's allowed alignments as LG, NG, CG, LN, CN, and LE. Wiki editors removed NG, CG, and CN on the assumption that Midnight added them, leaving only the lawful alignments for the older Mystra. That is an editorial inference, not a published rule.
Using Pre-Midnight Mystra at the Table
- Challenge the Magister. If you decide the title outlived her, it passes to whoever defeats the current holder. A player wizard can become a target, a challenger, or the reluctant new Magister.
- Karsus's scattered notes. If the rumor is true and Mystra scattered his notes rather than destroying them, fragments could still be out there. Use the ninth-or-tenth contradiction deliberately: the fragment describes a spell exactly one level past the Ban.
- The Kilgrave foundation. Put a stone circle in the half-mile burn scar in northern Cormyr, where a goddess died. Pick the wiki's Kilgrave version or the Magic of Faerûn version, and let a sage who believes the other one argue with the party.