The premise is that mysticism draws upon the living web of Krynn, the wild magic that is deeply connected to the souls of mortals, that "divine spark" which is reached through personal faith. It's already been established that if mysticism existed prior to the Fifth Age, it was minor indeed - minor telepathy among the elves, for instance. So, clearly things were raised to a higher level by the sundering of the Graygem.
We pick a group of mystics with some reason not to be interested in giving it up or turning to the "true" gods. The Knights of the Skull make an excellent choice, or at least one faction of them. Morham Targonne's old cadre of thought control, for example, minus their leader of course. Alternately, you could take some fringe group from somewhere else, but the idea is to provide some kind of organized group of mystics who will stop at nothing to retain their power.
Then, in the course of a "normal" campaign against the machinations of these Dark Knights, and with the newly-restored Holy Orders of the Stars making efforts to regain members, you drop the bomb so to speak that Ansalon's mystics are about to lose control of the magic they've been using for the past few years. By drawing upon the living energy of Krynn, the antagonist mystics overreach themselves in order to hold off their opponents, and trigger a surge in mystic power.
This surge, like a breach in a dam that spreads cracks through the dam walls, begins to spiral out of control. Life forces in the immediate vicinity are snuffed out as power is drained from them and channeled into the dark mystic's spell. The spell itself takes on a life of its own, pulling in more and more life energy from the environment in order to sustain itself. It would be like a storm of anti-life, moving out of Neraka and into the surrounding regions, killing anything in its path.
You could tie in a number of things to this eventual disaster, from the creation of anti-life "undead" animated by the storm (similar to shadow wights, or perhaps even identical to them), to the response of the Solamnics, the ogres, the draconians of Teyr, and the gods themselves. One particularly spectacular moment might occur when one of the gods manifests to help his followers turn back the anti-life storm, only to have his own divine spark (in all of its might) drawn into the storm, elevating it to a truly godlike force.
How would it end? What consequences would such an event have to the life of those on Ansalon, or indeed Krynn as a whole? There's a lot of potential in this to echo some of the themes of the Chaos War and apocalyptic movies in which nature runs amok due to the fallible nature of mortal ambition, etc.
At any rate, something to throw out there.
Cheers,
Cam
*scribbles down notes*
IIRC, Heroes of Hope had three factions for the Skull Knights. One of them was the Cabal of the Black Heart (or some such), which were the ones providing the Vision after the supposed loss of Takhisis. Perhaps someone fills the void after Targonne is gone, and starts following the path of this dark art.
The good mystics of the world would have problems convincing people that mysticism isn't inherently evil. The Holy Orders would have various takes on this, perhaps gaining followers in the process. Would the gods consider this an abomination? Would the evil gods take advantage of this? And if this is anti-life, how would Chemosh fit in with this?
Great campaign idea, Cam!
Additionally, there are good reasons why good people might want to keep practicing mysticism (and sorcery). While they might well understand the Gods of Krynn didn't intentionally leave and might never depart again...that doesn't mean it won't happen. If it does, it will be up to mysticism and sorcery to bear the burden of healing and magic throughout the land. So from the point of view of a good person that is cautious, it is best to keep exploring and teaching this magic. Of course, in your scenerio, there would likely be Kingpriest-like zeolots that decide all mystics must die.
-Drachasor
Originally posted by Cam Banks
Then, in the course of a "normal" campaign against the machinations of these Dark Knights, and with the newly-restored Holy Orders of the Stars making efforts to regain members, you drop the bomb so to speak that Ansalon's mystics are about to lose control of the magic they've been using for the past few years. By drawing upon the living energy of Krynn, the antagonist mystics overreach themselves in order to hold off their opponents, and trigger a surge in mystic power.
This surge, like a breach in a dam that spreads cracks through the dam walls, begins to spiral out of control. Life forces in the immediate vicinity are snuffed out as power is drained from them and channeled into the dark mystic's spell. The spell itself takes on a life of its own, pulling in more and more life energy from the environment in order to sustain itself. It would be like a storm of anti-life, moving out of Neraka and into the surrounding regions, killing anything in its path.
Heh, as cool as this is I can't help but think that it seems like exactly what happened to sorcery before the arrival of High Sorcery. Sorcerers casting a great spell that unleashes a terrible force and surges across Ansalon killing thousands. It's like history repeating itself, but with divine energy instead of arcane. ;) But I like it and may add something like this into my campaign, I was looking for something for when they get higher in level.
Right now, Wizards distrust sorcerers because of the out of control, chain reaction spell they cast to defeat the dragons. They almost destroyed a large part of Eastern Ansalon (and it could have been worse).
As it stands right now...the clerics and the mystics seem to be getting along, because there is no "rift" like this separating them like the wizards and sorcerers. This would be really bad for Ansalon. Can you imagine it...a war between the weilders of magic. A devestating war with the wizards and clerics on one side and the mystics and sorcerers on the other. And when it's over...and most of Ansalon lay in ruin...the people who have survived this war will turn on the mages, sorcerers, clerics, and mystics alike and slay them all.
It would most definately be an Apocalypse.
Hmmm.....
Perfect, right?
Cheers,
Cam