Magic

Magic is the ability possessed by some individuals to manipulate the ambient energies of the world to produce desired results. In the Realms, arcane magic is commonly known as The Art, while devine magic is referred to as The Power. In addition to granting spellcasting abilities, magic is an influential force in the Realms. It serves as a source of energy for enchanted items, allows creatures to live and even shapes the physical landshape of the planes. The basic essence of magic is known as raw magic.

The goddess Mystra controls the Weave which is the main medium for channeling the arcane energies. The goddess Shar controls the Shadow Weave, a dark and distorted imitation of the Weave which flows inbetween its empty space. Divine magic is drawn from these specific deities.

Types of Magic

Divine Magic

Magic that originates from a spell-granting deity, usually through prayer, is considered divine in nature and called the Power by the common folk. Clerics, druids, paladins, rangers and others all derive their spells and spell-like-abilities from their deity.

Arcane Magic

Any magic that doesn't originate from a deity is defined as arcane magic. The use of arcane magic is referred to in day-to-day speech as the Art, and a wide variety of people are able to practice it, to a small or larger extent, though the way in which they access the Weave differed dramatically.
Most wizards spent long years researching their art, gathering spells to their personal book, and each day they could only memorize a small fraction of these. The memory of the spell is wiped from his or her mind as it was cast. The wizard had to re-study the spell before he or she can cast it again, unless more than one casting of the spell in question was prepared. This changed at the conclusion of the Spellplague when the goddess Mystra was reborn, and the casting of magic changed once again with her rebirth. Spells only require preparation once per day and are not forgotten upon casting, meaning that as long as the wizard has spell slots, the spell can be cast repeatedly.

Schools of Magic

Schools of magic are categories into which spells were organized by function. Spells are created by wizards with these schools in mind.
Wizards chose to specialize in spells from a certain school. These schools have existed for ages and their origins are mostly unknown. They weren't used by arcanists of Netheril however, who only distuingished three schools: inventive, mentalism and variation.
The schools of magic are Abjuration, Transmutation, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion and Necromancy. Throughout the centuries a few lesser known schools have emerged. Chronomancy, the school specializing in the manipulation of time, is specifically frowned upon for its risks. Practitioners of this school either study chronomancy in the lonely friendship of secracy or executed.

Raw Magic

Raw magic is a powerful force, locked within all matter, that is difficult and dangerous for even the most patient of mortals to wield. Mana, also referred as "spell power", appears as a golden light and was gathered through meditation. Spellfire is a rare supernatural-arcane ability refined and controlled type of raw magic, drawing the living energy from diverse sources throughout the world. This manifests in a variety of ways, such as destructive silver bolts, healing radiance of silver light or white-hot jet of consuming energy. It is believed to uniquely manifest in a single person once per generation, granting the wielder magnificent feats capable of great magical transference or absolute mass destruction. Wild Magic is one of the results from the Time of Troubles. Wild magic produces spells and abilities exhibit random complications like spell failure, effects rebounding back to the caster, or other strange results.

Artificial Magic

In the late 15th century DR, artificial magic in the form of mechanical enhancements and firearms has become its own separate form of magic. Even though it originally was linked to arcane magic, its source seems to come from material components rather than tapping into the weave with a spellfocus. After the use of divine magic, the use of material components and mechanical enhancements has become the most popular use of magic starting at the turn of the century.
This allows wizards to still use certain spells, as long as it uses the exact material components. The ability to become an artificer is one not many wizards are capable of pursuing, due to its physical requirement being vastly different from the study of arcane magic.

History

Creation of the Weave

Lord Ao created the universe. At first it was nothing but energy, with neither light nor dark, heat nor cold. Eventually the energy created two deities – Selûne and Shar. Together they created heavens and Chauntea, the embodiment of the world of Toril. Chauntea begged for light and warmth so that she could create life on the new world, Selûne supported this endeavor and Shar opposed it vehemently.

The subsequent war between the sisters created new deities—war, murder, and destruction among them. When Selûne lit one of the nearby heavenly bodies on fire to provide the light and warmth needed for Chauntea, Shar became enraged and tried to extinguish light everywhere. Selûne tore the energy from her own body and flung it at Shar, where it joined with Shar's energy and passed from both of them, thus creating the goddess of magic, Mystryl. The birth of Mystryl not only brought a truce to Selûne and Shar, but created the Weave.

Karsus's Folly

A powerful mage named Karsus once created a link to Mystryl in an attempt to steal her power, become a god, and save the Netherese empire. This caused a great rift in the Weave, and Mystryl was so weakened that she sacrificed herself to save the world. Since she was the Weave, magic immediately ceased all across Toril. A new goddess of magic named Mystra was born, and she was able to repair the Weave in a way that such powerful spells could never be used against it again.
While the shared belief among most scholars was that the new Mystra altered the Weave to prevent another similar catastrophe, others offered another interpretation. They believed this event caused the Weave to be permanently split, granting some practitioners to a different form of arcane magic from a distinctly separate source. Magic as it existed previously was later referred to as 'whole magic' by the Netherese who held to this theory.

Avatar Crisis

In 1358 DR, the gods Bane and Myrkul attempted to steal the Tablets of Fate, artifacts that recorded the names and duties of all of deities, from Lord Ao. In retribution, the Overgod declared that every god be forced into mortal bodies upon Toril. As a result, divine magic ceased to function unless the caster was within one mile of the avatar of their patron deity.
During the crisis, the avatar of Mystra was destroyed by Helm, which caused the force of the Weave to be released into the land of Toril itself. This resulted in the appearance of areas of wild magic and dead magic across the Realms. The goddess of magic was eventually reincarnated.
After the tablets were returned to Ao, he destroyed them, thus beginning a period known as the Era of Upheaval.

Spellplague

In 1385 DR, a storm of massive blue flames erupted over southwest Faerûn and rapidly grew in size. The changes to Toril were immense, some people became warped and disfigured by the storm. They came to be known as plaguechanged, some of whom gained arcane powers through spellscars..
However, these effects paled in comparison to the overall destruction across the other planes. The homes of the gods, previously known as the World Tree were set adrift across the Astral Sea. Mystra herself was assassinated by the god Cyric, via the machinations of Shar. Seemingly as a result, the bonds of the Weave were destroyed and magic ceased to function as expected.
This change in magic, along with the effects of the storm on Toril, would rage for 10 years, in a period that would come to be known as the Wailing Years.

Second Sundering

After nearly a century, Lord Ao decided to rewrite the Tablets of Fate, and begin the Second Sundering. Many of the spellplague changes were reversed and the wizard Elminster brought Mystra back in power. Both She and the Weave returned to their roles from before the Era op Upheaval, now once more merged together as one being.

The Dissipation

In early 1500 DR, a noticeable change in Arcane magic has started to turn the heads of some of the greatest wizards alive; the power of Arcane magic has started to weaken tremendously. Whereas initially magic was common among most planes, their connection to the weave seemed to vaguely disappear. Many theories and failed attempts have occupied the most skillful magic users as their abilities were slowly nullified. Around 1512 DR, users of arcane magic have lost the ability to connect to the weave by magical focus and have retorted back to the use of material components. As the days tick on, many fear the seemingly inevitable end of arcane magic itself while divine magic users have been gaining significant power as the economy surrounding material components has shifted priorities.