Do we have canon reference to "leftovers" from the Mages' wars, such as towers foundations and similar?

We can find in fantasy literature lots of references to ancient towers of wizards that are destroyed and just a ring of charred stones is left on the ground (plus, maybe, foundations and dungeons under the towers, still with some ancient trinket left behind by the long-dead wizard after he succombed in massive intra-wizard wars).

I think this could be an inspirational setting for new adventures in Blackmoor...

Definitely!

Old ruins and crumbled statues make for fascinating landscape features and may easily mark the entrance of dungeons of old as well.


A few things to keep in mind:

The Mage Wars ocurred before the Egg of Coot flooded the land, meaning that the Black Sea was much smaller back then.

The Duchy of Ten had not been settled yet, and was probably just wilderness.

Similarly, Blackmoor's New Lands (Newgate, Dragonia) and Outlands (Fel and Dukane) had not yet been established. I'm not even sure if Gloomey should be around at that point.


So what you will have is more wilderness back then. OTOH, you could have had other realms that were destroyed during the Mage Wars pretty much anywhere on the map.


Some locations from the Wizards Cabal:

Raddan Goss's Stronghold (The Arcane Dominium): although I don't think it is explicitly stated, my assumption is that Raddan ruled Blackmoor.

Vadaley Family Stronghold: This could be anywhere, though my working theory is that it was in the Duchy of the Peaks.

Archlis: Skelfer came from Archlis. The town was destroyed, but presumably rebuilt after the mage wars.

Skelfer's Secret Lab: My theory is that Skelfer's Lab was in the current location of Cloudtop. It only makes sense that the current most powerful mage in the world, Robert the Bald, would have built his tower in the same site, perhaps continuing Skelfer's research.

Ordo Elementarum Stronghold: Currently the Bloodwoods (my theory)

The two unnamed factions: Erak & Maus?

The "Bystanders": Bramwald, Ramsgate, Archlis?

Quincke's Village: Which village Christoph Quicke came from is not known, but perhaps the current location of Glendower could work?






-Havard

Were the various factions there from the beginning, or they are the result of progressive consolidation?
If there was a progressive consolidation and originally it was one wizard - one tower, we should be able to find some leftovers of that (ruins, foundations, dungeons, etc.) a bit all over the place...

Great list Havard. Have to look at me other computer, but there is an mmrpg adventure set in the ruins of a sorceror's tower from the time of the mage wars.

I'd appreciate if you could please post that link once you find it!

I just came across another reference. In the short story A Night in Maus, included in The Wizards Cabal Sourcebook, there is mentions of Xavier the Gray Mage and the Shattered Tower dating back to the Mage Wars. I am not sure about the exact location of the Shattered Tower, but I believe it is on a cliff somewhere between Maus and Blackmoor. Possibly it was the same as the Old Watchtower, but possibly not.


-Havard

If you have a look at Midgard campaign setting preview (that is available for free here: ), you'll find a scenario pretty similar to this post Mages' Wars with the novelized story of a group of adventurers going to a circle of stones that is all that is left of a tower destroyed long ago, apart from a secret door leading to a dungeon, etc.
Fundamentally, the very same thing...

It is indeed a good one!
The aspect that I appreciate more is the unclarity about who's your enemy and who's not (it's not necessarily a module where you go there, kill the undead and free the hostage... it can well turn out to be exactly the opposite...). That's very realistic and gives an extra dimension to the game, in my opinion.