D&D: Mystryl, Lady of Mysteries
Before there was Mystra, there was Mystryl, the Lady of Mysteries, and the first goddess of magic in the Forgotten Realms.
Talk to Gale for a little while in Baldur’s Gate 3, and you’ll discover much of the history of The Weave. This is the expression of magic itself in the world of Faerûn. Full of wonder and power and secrets whose depths mortals only ever glimpse.
And yet the origins of the Weave are tied inexorably to the death and rebirth of the first goddess of magic. She would become Mystra.
But before Mystra, there was Mystryl. Mystryl is the First Blood or the original Mad Max that everyone thinks they know, but actually, they don’t. Everything you’re thinking of is actually from the sequel.
So it is with Mystryl. But the first goddess of magic in the Forgotten Realms brought her own style and flair to magic. Mystryl, called the Hidden One, or the Controller of the Weave, as a mysterious and complex deity.
Mystryl at the Dawn of Time
According to legend, Mystryl sprang into existence during an early battle between Shar and Selune. Mystryl was a goddess created from light and dark, and as you might imagine, was all about balance. In Faerun, and the rest of Toril, she embodied the Weave. Her job, as goddess of magic, was to supply and regulate magical energy to all creatures.
This makes her sound less like a deity and more like a power grid. But Mystryl was not an absent deity. Mystryl preferred to make her presence known through subtle manifestations, but that’s all it took.
The goddess would reward followers by pulsing an aura over them, guiding them in the world. She would gift those who met her approval, often with gifts like gemstones. But just as often she would send messages or warning in the form of small, translucent magical creatures. Or normal creatures ready to deliver Mystryl’s Messages.
Mystryl the Chill
Where Mystra is known as the Lady of Might and is all about power and people wielding it. Mystryl represented a more lush and vibrant time of magic. She was a mercurial god, and magic was too, by extension.
Just as Mystryl could be serious and dour when needed, she could be whimsical and innocent the next. Her detractors would say she was unfocused. Her followers would say she was relentlessly dedicated. And these and more were true.
She wanted to see magic spread throughout the Realms. But at times could be too trusting. Which is ultimately what led to her downfall.
The Folly of Netheril
In the distant past, in the ancient empire of Netheril, Mystryl met her end. When Karsus, an archwizard with delusions of grandeur and dreams of godhood, decided to reach for that divine brass ring. Karsus created the only 12th-level spell known to exist: Karsus’s avatar.
This spell was designed to temporarily rob a deity of their power, granting it to Karsus. Naturally, Karsus decided to rob Mystryl of her power, and you can imagine how that went. He was overwhelmed by power a mortal body was not meant to hold. Complications and backfiring on a cataclysmic scale. All magic goes haywire, and Netheril falls.
As did Mystryl, who reincarnated as Mystra and has never been herself ever since.
Happy adventuring!
