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The Dracorage Mythal:

Created during the Time of Dragons by High mages of the Fair Folk, this High Magic effect tied a Faerûn-wide mythal to the King-Killer Star.

The Dracorage mythal encompasses roughly a 250,000 square mile area where the King-Killer Star is visible over Faerûn and causes all dragon and dragon-blooded creatures to slowly become more agitated and reckless, eventually becoming little more than raging beasts. This effect lasts for ten days.

Why would the wise elven high mages do such a terrible thing as setting all dragons on a rampage?

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Paraphrased from the Dragons of Faerun sourcebook:

Long before the Crown Wars, there was the Age of Dragons. Dragons ruled over all other races (their foodstock) with impunity. The elven high mages, working in secret in the northern glacier, weaved a giant mythal over all of Faerûn: The Dracorage Mythal.

This mythal would induce insanity and rage upon the dragons, causing them to attack and destroy anything in their path. This included their lairs, offspring, followers, anything.

Reduced to mere rampaging beasts, the dragons could no longer rule absolute over all other races; they had won a fighting edge over the dragons.

The dracorage mythal is linked to the appearance of the King-Killer Star. Depending on the position of the comet in the sky, the rage can be localized or global.

In 1373 DR, the link between mythal and comet was broken:

Hammer 1: Sammaster successfully ties his phylactery to the Dracorage mythal, separating the Rage of Dragons from the King-Killer Star and effectively causing all dragons to go mad. Sammaster is later destroyed (on Nightal 6), ending the Rage of Dragons.

The dracorage mythal still exists, but now the only way to trigger a rage is by using the extremely rare 4th level spell Aggravate Dracorage. This spell only exists in 3.5e though.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Its interesting to me to note that, even in 5E, certain canonical things exist. Carry over. In the Tyranny of Dragons hard cover, one of the ways you can gain favor with a certain group of dragons is to demand an apology from a high seated Elf for the Mythal. The dragons today still remember what that did to them all, Chromatic and Metallic alike. \$\endgroup\$
    – Airatome
    Commented Aug 10, 2017 at 0:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Airatome this contrasts with the notion that dragons are just beasts that sit on their treasures and raid nearby villlages. When they actually have a very complex society and ancient rituals. There are dragon lorekeepers and sages, more knowledgeable than most humans. Even the chaotic evil dragons pay homage to society. Truly they spend most of the time on their lairs, but still. One thing I really loathe in 5e is the removal of spellcasting ability from most dragons. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mindwin Remember Monica
    Commented Aug 10, 2017 at 12:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ I am not sure what Monster Manual you are looking at, but ALL dragons of Young (Maybe Adult) or older can be given the Innate Spellcasting Feature as a Variant (one I use thoroughly) on top of what makes them already powerful enough magical creatures to not need it. This trumps the normal Spellcasting feature in that they need no components and can cast these spells at will every day up to a maximum limit. \$\endgroup\$
    – Airatome
    Commented Aug 10, 2017 at 14:54
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Airatome contrast "can be given" versus "all of them have" from previous editions. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mindwin Remember Monica
    Commented Aug 10, 2017 at 14:57
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Mindwin In re previous editions: originally dragons (to be spell casters), had to roll (percentile dice) for chance to speak, and then roll for chance to cast spells. (OD&D & 1e, I don't have my Moldvay/Cook handy to confirm). In 2e it was random; my read of the Monstrous Manual is that all dragons were eligible for spell casting, with color/type limiting how high a level of spell casting was available to a given dragon. FR and 2e seem to overlap a bit, but the default "a dragon is a magical beast" moving toward "a dragon can {by default} cast spells" seem not too far of a reach. \$\endgroup\$
    – KorvinStarmast
    Commented Aug 10, 2017 at 16:53

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