Cult of the Dragon
Adherents of the Cult of the Dragon can be found in every city in Yore. Pockets of the Cult also exist in the small villages and hamlets of the Dragon Coast, where the preserved remains of these ancient monsters can still be found protruding from the cliffs and sands. Many of the cultists are Human or Dragonborn, but the Cult is widespread and members of nearly every ancestry in the land can be found amongst its number.
Various offshoots and splinter sects of the Cult exist, convening for clandestine meetings in abandoned barns and remote caves. The most infamous of these is the Brotherhood of the Red Claw, which reputedly conducts strange esoteric rites that include human sacrifice.
The Cult's history stretches back thousands of years to the Khorian Era and the time of the Immortal Pharoah, and many of its prophetic tomes and histories are written in the hieroglyphic script of Old Khoria, whose crumbling ruins can be found dotted throughout modern-day Nuria Natal.
The Cult venerates Tiamat, Queen of Dragons, and believes that She will return one day to Yore with a host of Dragons to burn corruption from the heart of the world, restoring Dragons to their rightful place at the top of the food chain. Cultists believe that Tiamat was forced to retreat to an alternate plane by Demons, and for five thousand years She has been amassing Her power and plotting to vanquish Demonkind forever. Some say the High Priests of the Cult have found a way to transform themselves into Dragons in a painful process of magical undeath, but no such Dragon Sorcerers have made themselves known in the world thus far.
Whilst smaller Dragonkin such as Wyverns and Drakes can be found today in the wilder regions of Yore, rumours persist that Dragons still inhabit the frozen North and the Far East beyond the Gasping Ocean. Whether or not these tales are true, Dragons certainly do not rule the lands with a cruel reign of fire as once they did; rather, they have become reclusive and no longer interfere with the affairs of mortals.
Members of the Cult of the Dragon pray for this reign of fire to return, and many believe the time is nigh when Tiamat will emerge from her exile and fulfil the prophecies that their Dragon Priests foretell. With the recent explosion in Demon Cults throughout the land, the peoples of Yore could soon be faced with a dire choice between subservience to terrible Dragons or thralldom under warring Demon Princes... unless, that is, heroes can be found to halt the rise of these powerful beings!
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