The Mage Wars were terrible battles between the most powerful mages during the Third Age that ultimately triggered the Great Cataclysm, a wave of destruction so powerful that it threatened to destroy all life on Adnati.
These great wizards could create entire cities without the use of modern tools. It is believed that many of the chimeric hybrid creatures like the owlbears, perytons, and griffons – maybe even demi-hominids like centaurs, harengons, and satyrs – were created through arcane experimentation during this time. They built immense Towers that climbed hundreds, thousands of feet into the sky.
These mages grew so powerful that when they went to war, the earth itself trembled. They had the power to cleave mountains, to flatten cities thousands of miles away, to make the very rivers and oceans burn like oil. The last of these battles became known as the Great Cataclysm. As much as ninety percent of all hominid life was destroyed during this last terrible war known as the Mage Wars.
At the end of the Great Cataclysm, most of the powerful mages were destroyed and those who survived were driven from the earth. An invisible barrier of disputed origin encircled Adnati, though whether it was created or emerged through natural forces remains a matter of speculation. It kept most of the Dream Force in the heavens, with modern mages only able to tap into tiny quantities of it to weave their spells.
Less-powerful survivors were forced to hide deep in the forests or beneath the surface of the land. Every civilization on Adnati was destroyed and had to be rebuilt in the Sixth Epoch.