Karsus' Folly

The Fall of Netheril and the Breaking of the Weave

Overview

Karsus’ Folly is the name given to the great cataclysm that ended the Netherese Empire in -339 DR. In the final days of Netheril, the archmage Karsus attempted the impossible: he cast a spell of such magnitude that it seized control of the Weave itself, seeking to replace the goddess of magic as its master.

For a few moments, Karsus held Mystra’s power in mortal hands — and then the Weave collapsed. Spells unraveled, enchantments failed, and the fabled flying cities of Netheril plummeted from the sky.

Even now, centuries later, the phrase “Karsus’ Folly” is a caution against hubris, invoked whenever scholars or mages seek to overreach the bounds of wisdom.

The Breaking of the Weave

To most mortals, the magic is the Weave — the ordered lattice through which spells are shaped. Mystra’s stewardship made magic safe, stable, and teachable. But when Karsus tried to tear that stewardship away, the Weave could no longer sustain itself.

“It was not magic that died, but our access to it.”
— Elthariel of Berdusk, Magister of Weavercraft

Dead magic zones blossomed across Faerûn. Cities that had floated for centuries became tombs in moments. Those who relied on spells were rendered powerless — and many perished in the collapse.

Regional Perspective

In the Chionthar valley, where Berdusk and Evenshade now stand, Netheril’s fall was a distant but shattering event. Local oral tradition speaks of:

• Stardrop Nights: strange stars streaking across the heavens, likely the last fragments of the Netherese enclaves.
• The Hollow Year: sometimes also called "The Severing", it was a time when even hedge magic failed.

Yet some tales speak of miracles that still occurred — dreams that guided farmers to shelter, visions that warned of storms, lights that danced in the woods after torches failed.

The Severing (The Hollow Year) In the Chionthar valley, the aftermath of Karsus’ Folly was remembered as The Severing, the year when the Weave was cut away from mortal touch. To mages, it was like losing a limb; to clerics, like being forsaken by the gods. In Evenshade, where bards gather as pilgrims to the Temple-Library of Oghma, it is remembered as The Year of the Broken Harp — or, in some songs, The Year of Still Echoes. Bards say the Weave always hums faintly in tune with mortal creativity, and when it fell silent, the world felt out of key.

I sang, but the song didn't answer. I played, but no note rang true. So I learned, at last, to listen.

— Common bardic refrain from the Hollow Year

Ironically, many of the most enduring bardic traditions trace their roots to this period, when art was stripped bare of enchantment and bards had to earn every cheer with unaugmented talent. The songs of this era are often spare, haunting, and achingly fragile.

Psionic Implications

A few scholars of Evenshade have suggested that these lingering wonders were not brief flickers of activation in the broken Weave, but rather manifestations of Resonance — the psionic art of shaping reality through thought alone.

Where the Weave was torn, Resonance endured. Psions, it is said, were able to continue their works unimpeded, their mental discipline bypassing the need for Mystra’s tapestry altogether.

This revelation is controversial among Mystra’s faithful. Some fear psionics represent a loophole in the goddess’s stewardship, a power outside divine oversight. Others see it as proof that magic itself is a birthright of mortal minds — not merely a gift mediated by gods.

Legacy

Karsus’ Folly serves as both warning and inspiration. Wizards study it as a lesson in the limits of mortal ambition, yet its very existence is a reminder that mortals did once touch the divine.

For psions, the tale is different: it is a whispered validation, proof that their path stands apart. Some old psionic orders believed that Resonance is the “true magic” — and that the Weave is merely a crutch that keeps lesser minds from breaking under the weight of raw power.