Nonbedience
Nonbedience was a magical spell designed to liberate the city of Tarris from the tyranical overlord, Calathon Blackheart who had taken power in the city in the final century of that age which would become known as the Time of Terrors.
At the 8th bell on the morning of 8th Doloph, 3566 APC, spirals of a strange firey energy began to appear in the streets of Tarris as the rebels activated Nonbedience and launched the revolution. Initially the spell worked well, rousing the citizens into a righteous wrath which swelled their ranks. Unsure quite how his control mechanisms had been subverted, Blackheart was caught by surprise and killed by a mob of angry commoners supported by non conformist mages.
Unfortunately, Nonbedience then took on a life of its own, altering the fabric of autonomy and forcing people into erratic, uncontrollable defiance in the face of the everyday tasks of living.
The spell spread as a contagious defiance of control, mutating into a curse that caused those infected to rebel against any form of order or instruction, even to their own detriment. Infected citizens refused to eat, sleep, or move if suggested to, and even revolted against natural instincts, resulting in tragic deaths by starvation or exposure. Nonbedience became an infectious phenomenon, spreading even to the rebel mages who cast it. Those afflicted developed a greyish pallor and suffered tremors, as if their bodies were resisting any external influence.
The curse devastated the city, which became lawless and almost abandoned, save for wandering groups of the afflicted who become known as “The Resistants.”
Tarris was ungovernable for several decades and only began to recover properly when the Preceptor, Rigel Langless took charge in 3601 APC.
The experience of Nonbedience led mages to view spells of autonomy and obedience with extreme caution, fearing that even slight miscalculations could drive masses to deadly defiance. The event became a bleak symbol of rebellion taken too far and a warning against weaponizing autonomy magic.
Calathon Blackheart by DMFW with Night Cafe
Within the first few years of the rule of Calathon Blackheart, which began in 3540 APC, when he defeated and killed the previous Prime Mage, Fithar Harrit in a magical duel, it was obvious that he cared little for the people of Tarris and was only interested in the wealth he could make from his control of this important port on the east coast of Tinturbean. He ruled with a streak of cruelty and callous disregard for the welfare of his subjects, employing compulsion spells to turn the most recalcitrant into virtual slaves.
Before long there was an active rebel movement which sought to overthrow him, yet Blackheart's spies and agents always seemed to succeed in finding his internal enemies and converting them into loyalist drones against their will.
But finally a group of exiles and sympathisers in the Free Union of Magical Scholars devised a plan to rid themselves of the tyrant, crafting a special spell they called Nonbedience. The purpose of Nonbedience was subvert the natural and unnatural shackles of obedience with which Calathon had chained the citizens of Tarris to make them docile slaves.
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