Creed Under the Coming and Eternal Storm
The Creed Under the Coming and Eternal Storm was a Vundkragi cult dedicated to the ideals of Shej which existed from approximately EL 790 to 996. It is notable for being responsible for the War of the Storm, the conflict which ultimately destroyed it.
The Creed was founded around 790 by a small group consisting of the wood elf Luvon Vanitaura, the human Krinnipo the Lawless, and the hill dwarf Artait Granitehand. The cult was largely unknown for a long period, and little is certain about its activities during this time.
In 981, leaders Luvon and Sadi traveled to the lair of the adult blue dragon Galaztromos in the northern Saij Desert to awaken him from his long slumber. They succeeded, but Galaztromos immediately struck down Luvon and severely wounded Sadi before flying from his lair. Later that day, he raided the small desert town of Eydizelm, killing 17 people in the process. This began a reign of terror on his part and a long campaign to slay him, which claimed the lives of several adventurers before he struck a deal with the duke of Hampindrult, beginning a tentative peace.
Meanwhile, other adventurers and researchers investigated the cause of his waking. Sadi escaped alone, but Galaztromos brought Luvon's body to the duke's manor and impaled it on a tree branch, shortly after the incident. The mark tattooed on his chest was the symbol of the Creed, though this was not known at the time, and for some years he remained unidentified, until the Battle of Pawns began the war and the symbol they wore on the occasions they appeared in open battle was connected to the waking of Galaztromos.
The war was mostly fought between large companies or even whole armies and small groups of cult members with their allies and conjured monsters. However, the main conflicts lay not in open warfare, but covert manipulation. Multiple battles were fought between Vundkrag and its allies and hostile groups that had been coerced, deceived, or otherwise manipulated into wading into combat. Accounts of most purported battles varied drastically, resulting in widespread doubts over the legitimacy of the conflict at large, particularly in Vundkrag, and particularly after a few "battles" were conclusively proven via the use of magic to have been small-scale skirmishes with parties who could not be traced to the Creed, such as adventuring parties and wild animals.
Over years, the public came to regard the Creed as a serious threat, as here and there the group's machinations began to become known. It took years for any kind of profile to be gleaned of the Creed and its members from the fractured glimpses Vundkrag achieved, but the Creed was observed to be comprised of an estimated 50 members in total, approximately half of whom were dwarves. Each member was very powerful on an individual basis, whether by magic or physical might. On at least two occasions a member was struck down only to be revivified by an ally moments later. Each member's methods were different and their movements were difficult to impossible to anticipate, with the same person never lingering long in one area. Their only known goal, verbally confirmed by Sadi to Lord End Axfall, was "chaos."
The headquarters were found at last in Giantstride Forest and destroyed in August of 996, leaving no survivors. The corpses of all known remaining members, comprising Sadi and twelve others, were found, and all evidence discovered therein indicated that the Creed had been altogether destroyed. The bodies were later burned and all items recovered from the wreckage transferred to the history guild Ordo Praeterita in Silverkeep.
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