"As Istar rose during the Age of Might to greater and greater glories, the Kingpriest of Istar and his clerics became increasingly jealous of the magic-users' power. The clerics no longer saw the need for magic in the world, fearing it as something they could not control.
"Magic-users themselves, although respected, were never widely trusted, even those wearing the White Robes. It was a simple matter for the priests to stir the people against the wizards. As times grew more and more evil, the priests placed the blame upon the magic-users. The Towers of High Sorcery, where the magicians must pass their final, grueling tests, were where the power of the mages rested. Urged on by the Kingpriest, the people laid siege to the Towers, and for only the second time in their history, all three Orders - the Black, the White, and the Red - came together to try to save magic in the world.
"There became known as the Lost Battles, for the wizards themselves knew they could not hope to win. They themselves destroyed two of the Towers, rather than let the uninitiated tamper with the dread pwoer within. Only three remained - the Tower of Istar, the Tower of Palanthas, and the Tower of Wayreth. Shocked by the destruction of the other two Towers, the Kingpriest granted the wizards in the Towers of Istar and Palanthas safe passage from these citiesif they left the Towers undamaged, for the wizards could have destroyed the two, as the Kingpriest well knew.
"And so the mages travelled to the one Tower that was never threatened - the Tower of Wayreth in the Kharolis Mountains. To Wayreth they came to nurse their wounds and to nurture the small spark of magic still left in the world. Those spellbooks they could not take with them - for the number of books was vast and many were bound with spells of protection - were given given to the great library at Palanthas, and there they still remain.
"The Tower of Istar was abandoned. The Kingpriest moved into it and used it for his own purposes. The mages left the Tower of Palanthas as well. The Kingpriest thought to take it over, too. The Regent of Palanthas, a disciple of the Kingpriest, arrived at the Tower to seal the gates shut - so he said. But all could see his gaze lingering greedily on the beautiful Tower, for legends of the wonders within - both fair and evil - had spread throughout the land.
"The Wizard of the White closed the Tower's slender gates of gold and locked them with a silver key. The Regent stretched out his hand, eager for the key, when one of the Black Robes appeared in a window in one of the upper stories.
"In a terrible voice he cried out, 'The gates will remain closed and the halls empty until the day when the Master of both the Past and the Present returns with power.' Then the evil mage leaped out of the window, hurling himself down at the gates. As the barbs pierced the black robes, he cast a curse upon the Tower with his dying breath. His blood poured down on the ground, and silver and golden gates withered and twisted and turned to black. The shimmering Tower of white and red faded to ice-gray stone, its black minarets crumbling to dust.
"The Regent and people fled in terror. The mages of all the robes who were witness to this final, mad act wept in grief and fear. And, for every tear shed that day, so it was said, a tree sprung up from the ground around the Tower. And so the dread Shoikan Grove was born.
"From that day until Raistlin, Master of Past and Present, came to claim the Tower as was foretold, no one dared even come near the Tower of High Sorcery at Palanthas."
Note: I copied this word for word from Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home, pages 138-9. If you think the info's wrong (which it isn't), you can email me.
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