Great Separation

After the War for Enlightenment, the rules of Magic itself seemed to shift. Spells which had worked the same way for millennia no longer responded the same as before, often with unpredictable and even volatile results. No discipline was as impacted as the humble yet critical Portal Magic.

Early Changes

Magic permanently changes the creatures repeatedly exposed to it.
— Fillimet's Third Law of Magic

In the beginning, Portal Magic appeared to be the least effective. While other disciplines found themselves cautioning fellow practitioners to cast smaller spells first to more reliably achieve their desired strength, with some even swearing off magic entirely due to the elevated risk of Malady, Portal mages remained free to cast at will with little fear of repercussions. In fact, the only notable change to Portal Magic appeared to be the rescission of the Third Law of Magic. The previously unavoidable portal swirls, once a colorful indicator of those accustomed to frequent Portal Travel, no longer appeared or grew regardless of the quantity of travel. Creatures with the markings still retained them, but further travel failed to add its own patterns. Originally seen as verification that Portal Travel remained safe despite the instability elsewhere, historians and scientists alike now claim this was merely a sign of the catastrophic dangers building beneath the surface.

The Separation

In 5 EVT, those pressures burst, sending ripples across all of Fillimet and its planes. Permanent Portals crashed closed, with little care toward anyone currently traveling through them. New Portals failed to emerge at their intended destination. Worse still, the formerly extensive range of Portal Travel now appeared severely limited, a mere fraction of its former glory. Travel between planes had become impossible, disrupting trade agreements and dividing families. Those traveling the planes were now stranded, with no way to even communicate with their loved ones. But with that single, terrible moment, Magic regained its stability.

Hypothesized Causes

As with most disasters, attempts to identify the true cause of the Great Separation involved more political maneuvering than scientific research. The Human Defense League became a popular scapegoat, particularly because of their shift to guerrilla tactics and even outright terrorism after their lost in the War for Enlightenment. The HDL protested their innocence, instead pointing fingers at their opponents during the War, and the subsequent influx of frequent, new, and experimental spells and Technoarcana. Today, experts tend to side with the HDL's explanation, although most papers credit the hypothesis to their new name, the Space Defense Legion. Evidence points to the Separation as merely the final pressure relief of a major stresses placed on the very foundation of Magic as a result of the War, much as an earthquake or volcano relieves the stresses building up within a planet. These researchers believe Portal Magic bore the brunt of the final collapse of Magic's former laws simply because it was the last to buckle to its effects, although arcanologists have still not identified what made Portal Magic so resistant to the shift in the first place. Regardless, Magic's newfound stability has remained unchanged since the Separation, regardless of the additional strains placed upon it as civilization continues its never ending quest for new technology and magic in its expansion across The Void.