Cult of the Dragon

The Cult of the Dragon, also known as Keepers of the Secret Hoard or, as of around 1370 DR, Wearers of Purple, was a semi-religious organization venerating undead dragons, or dracoliches, founded by Sammaster, a powerful wizard. Sammaster possessed great power, in a manner similar to Elminster and Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun. Sammaster came to believe in time that "dead dragons shall rule the world entirely" and began to work toward that goal, fighting the several Chosen of Mystra and even the god Lathander along the way. While Sammaster has died, risen as a lich, and fallen again, his cult lived on, and continued to threaten the Western Heartlands.
The Cult of the Dragon venerated dragons, evil dragons in particular, and specifically dead evil dragons. Many worshipped Tiamat, The Dragon Queen as their deity. They reanimated the gargantuan corpses as powerful and fell dracoliches. The Cult acted as an information network for its draconian "masters", brought gems and riches as offerings, and encouraged evil dragons to become dracoliches. Their belief was that dracoliches were destined to one day rule Faerûn and beyond. They could become inhabited by objects which were created in their image especially with the image of the skull.

Activities

The Cult of the Dragon's main activities were to gather intelligence for the evil dragons of Faerûn, contribute treasure for their hoards, and aid them in any way possible, in an attempt to gain the cooperation of these dragons. They were also able to make preparations for these evil dragons to transform into dracoliches, and guard dragon lairs, sometimes containing dragon eggs or hatchlings, while these dragons went to hunt or raid.
In exchange, the members of the Cult of the Dragon would seek permission to use the dragons' lairs for shelter, and ask for help from the dragons if they were ever called upon using the rings of dragons.
The cult was not against legitimate commercial activities, and as such it had several merchant members who used their well earned money to fund cult projects.

Hierarchy

The structure of a Cult of the Dragon call was comprised of two distinct tiers of cult members, the higher-echelon Keepers of the Secret Hoard, and the more common Followers of the Scaly Way. Each cell was led by one or more members of the Wearers of Purple, whose members commonly overlapped with the Keepers.
Keepers of the Secret Hoard: The true believers within the Cult. This group was comprised of wizards, most commonly necromancers, a handful of priests and clerics and the most ruthless and vicious of the Cult warriors.
Followers of the Scaly Way: In addition, the Cult employed many mercenaries and warriors to act as martial security, and outside agents such as merchants to act as spies, smugglers or move their illicit goods.
Doomkin: The elite warriors of the Cult of the Dragon, armed with doomkin scarabs allowing them to dominate their targets who answered only to the Wearers of Purple.

Titles

By the 15th century DR the organization and structure of the Cult of the Dragon had changed somewhat. As of this time titles within the cult included, in descending order:
Wyrmspeaker, the cult's highest echelon that held one office for every primary color of chromatic dragon, Dragonsoul, Dragonfang, Dragonwing, Dragonclaw, and Initiate.

Founding Date

910DR

Type

Religious, Cult

Alternative Names

Keepers of the Secret Hoard , Wearers of Purple

Demonym

Wearers of Purple