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The work contained on this page is the property and copyright of Jamey Martin and is used with permission. It has been formatted for viewing on the web by the Scribes of Candlekeep. Contact the author with any comments you may have regarding his work. See also the And Dragons Shall Rule campaign journals.
The Cult of Tiamat timeline
By Jamey Martin
797 DR - Kingu receives his vision from Tiamat.
800 DR - Sammaster, spawn of Tiamat, is born to Kingu and the western slave-girl Assammathra. He is carried west into Sembia by agents of Mystra, and grows up in small hamlet just outside of Chauncelgaunt (Selgaunt).
817 DR - first mention of Sammaster in the travelling logs of the merchant-mage Mnethos.
851 DR - Mystra appears before Sammaster and attempts to purge him of Tiamat's influence by taking him as one of her Chosen. Feeling a sense of singularity and destiny in the prescence of the Divine, and clearly as a result of his origins, Sammaster mistakes Mystra's actions for the love and pride of place Tiamat was destined to bestow upon him.
875 DR - Algashon of Bane instigates a battle between Sammaster and Alustriel; Sammaster is stripped of his Chosen status by Mystra, who abandones his potential as firmly in the grasp of the Chaos-Queen.
887 DR - Sammaster discovers Maglas' prophecy and, under the guileful misdirection of Algashon, misinterprets it; the Cult of the Dragon is born.
916 DR - Sammaster is slain by Lathander; Algashon takes control of the Cult of the Dragon, and begins to guide it further and further away from Sammaster's sincere adoration and worship of wyrmkind to the base and guileful manipulation of it.
971 DR - a chance encounter with the Church of Tiamat in Surhk ultimately leads to a growing rift between the religionist (Drakewings) and secularist (Algashon) factions within the CotD.
1018 DR - Algashon instigates a rage of dragons and destroys Drakewings and many of his religionists.
1282 DR - Sammaster arises as a lich in the Desertmouth Mtns.
1285 DR - Sammaster is slain by the Company of the Twelve and a large group of Harpers; Krellthyss flees with his masters phylactery and hides it somewhere in Tilverton before fleeing even further still. The fallen Harpers and paladins are entombed with Sammaster's remains, and powerful magics cast, such that they could eternally guard against his resurrection.
1348 DR - the young mage Elzun Dracandros enters into the service of the Sembian cell of the CotD, and begins to quickly rise through its ranks.
1357 DR - the High Priestess Isellishtra of Tiamat arrives in Sembia, and soon begins a cordial relationship with Elzun, whose progress up through the cult hierarchy had recently slowed to a stand due to a lack of openings in recent years.
1359 DR - as the Untherite priestess' tales of Sammaster, his true origins as the chosen offspring of Tiamat -- born to herald the coming of a new Time of Dragons -- began to spread and her popularity began to grow, the Wearers of the Purple took action against her. An internal conflict begins between the small, but monolithic Tiamatists and the more numerous, but scattered secularists.
1360 DR - the faithful of Tiamat and Sammaster are rooted out of southern Sembia, a conflict in which a young Bry'th's cousin is slain, and the few survivors are forced to fall back into Ordulin, finally to disperse and lay new roots eastward along the trade road.
1361 DR - CoT firmly establishes itself in Arabel under the aegis of it's agent the merchant-mage Drexle Hlanstad, head of 1000 Shield Trading's Arabellan operation.
1363 DR - the CoT necromancer, Zargoth, begins his quest to find the phylactery and remains of Sammaster.
1364 DR - Zargoth betrays the CoT, taking his research and fleeing with it into hiding.
1365 DR
- Bry'th leads a band of unsuspecting adventurers in search of information on the location of Sammaster's phylactery and are successful
-the Crown of Cormyr revokes 1000 Shields Trading's licence in Cormyr due to suspicions surrounding Drexle and his associations; raid many homes and force the CoT to abandon its stations throughout Cormyr
-Drexle and Damanzle meet with CotD cultists in Elversult and the Sunset Vale in hopes of increasing the ranks of the CoT. While they are not successful, a cordial relationship is nevertheless formed with cultists in both regions.
- Bry'th and his band of dupes are sent to Unther with news of the western mission and that Sammaster's soul has been located
- Hector and Hrek join the CoT, Yolandra quits.
1366 DR
- Hector is ordered to find the Necronomicon and goes missing
- a schism erupts between the western CoT and the Untheric Church of Tiamat over tampering with the Necronomicon; Bry'th and company are forced to flee Unther
- Hector reestablishes contact with the CoT via contacts in Ordulin, and returns to the Ruins of the Lost to win the Necronomicon.
- the CoT and the Sembia CotD clash in Myth Drannor, Bry'th is slain, but HEctor returns the priests head to Drexle.
- Hector breaks with the CoT
- the leaders of the CoT found a base in the Battle of the Bones.
1367 DR
- High-Priestess Isellishtra of Tiamat leads Bry'th and numerous Cultists to the Moonshaes in search of the Heart of Kazgoroth.
- Drexle involves Elzun and the CoT in the Alliance of the Azure Bonds. Drexle is possessed by Tyranthraxus and later slain.
1368 DR
- Isellishtra becomes known as the Dark Druidess, establishing contact with, and winning much acclaim amongst local island cells of the CotD. The Heart of Kazgoroth is taken from the Great Moonwell, and carried out of the isles.
1369 DR
- early in the year Elzun leads a horde of undead enhanced by such spells as Enlarge Skeleton, Transmute Bone to Steel, Resist Turning, Undead Lieutenancy, and Empower Skeleton (Haste, Lightning Bolt, Magic Missles, etc.), and complimented by a small force of cult agents, dragonkin, and a great blue wyrm, to Harrowsmouth. In a brutal and costly battle, the Morninglord Apollonius and the forces of goodness stationed at the ruiin are destroyed. Thence, Elzun, the surviving cultists, and their remaining forces entered the tomb holding Sammasters remains. They face it's tomb guardians, including 8 watchghosts, and over 30 zombies and wights, and they ucceed in defeating them and collecting the remains.
- in the fall of this year numerous Harpers, along with a number of famous Cormyreans, storm the CoT's Fortress of Bone in the Battle of the Bones. Many die on both sides. Elzun is slain. Dammanzle is slain. Isellishtra, Bry'th, Glistra and a handful of others flee to the depths of the fortress with the Necronomicon, as well as Sammaster's phylactery and remains. As the Fortress crumbles down on top of them, Bry'th uses his ring of spell-storing to teleport himelf, the ladies and the artefacts to the safety of their fallback base in Cormyr's High Moor.
1370 DR
Falling back to their base in Cormyr's High Moor late in the winter, it was not long before Isellishtra used the power of the Necronomicon to resurrect Sammaster. After a short time with Isellishtra, during which she informed him of his true origins and destiny, the First Speaker took control of the Necronomicon. Soon after, he used it's eldritch might to gate the full glory of Tiamat into the realms, following which the CoT began to gather and augment a great undead horde.
With the beginning of the harvest-tide this horde was released out of the Battle of the Bones and sent shambling into the Sunset and Tunland Vales.
Using powerful magic to cloak the approach of the horde, Hills Edge was taken by surprise. The Church of Cyric attempted to rally the folk through a confident demonstration of their gods might only to find the undead resistent to their attempts, and quite capable of highly destructive retaliation. Hills Edge was quickly over-run. A relatively small force of undead was left within the "ruin", while the bulk pushed on to Corm Orp.
Taken by surprise, the residents of Corm Orp were massacred. Less than 200 halflings were able to struggle free, thence to make for the safety of Hluthvar; only to be turned away by Lord Fyrnoth.
Later that night, as the halfings pressed on for Asbravn, the undead horde reached Hluthvar. At first Fyrnoth was confident that with the advantage of Hluthvar's walls he could repulse such a horde. Worst case, he could certianly hold the walls until reinforcements arrived from the Darkhold. And he was quite right, with the walls of Hluthvar proving a formidable obstacle to the horde. Before long however, a black dragon swept out of the northeast, Harondalbar of Yellow Snake Pass, and while quickly driven off by the defenders nevertheless managed to breach the wall.
As the undead began to pour through the breach and the end-battle for Hluthvar began to rage, Tiamat attacked the Darkhold itself. The Chaos-Queen quickly bested the Hold's greatest wizards and priests, destroyed hundreds of warriors, and forced the submissions of approx. 1000 personel.
Meanwhile, the battle for Hluthvar continued to rage and did so all night. however, it came to pass that the following morning another horde of undead was seen approaching from the north, and while Fyrnoth ordered the remaining defenders to redouble their efforts in defense of the town, he went on to gather a small force and abandon the town when no one was looking. By day's end Hluthvar had fallen and its slain were added to the ranks of the undead horde.
Thence, the horde left half of its remaining bulk in and around Hluthvar, while the remainder pressed on southward. However, even as they set out riders arrived in Asbravn to alert it of the threat. And soon enough others were sent out to Iriaebor and Berdusk, even as the Red Cloaks of Asbravn mustered to ride out to harry the approaching horde.
The Red Cloaks were highly successful in cutting back the forces of the small horde, but eventually were forced to fall back into their stockade. The battle continued to rage throughout the night, but by mornings first light the Red Cloaks were forced to either abandon the stockade or fall with it. And so it was that the remaining Red Cloaks threw open the battered gates and charged headlong through their foe. Moving southward, the survivors soon effected a junction with an Iriaebian Shield en route from that city-state. Then, turning back toward Asbravn, they met up with a Berduskan Gauntlet, and together drove the undead from the ruins of Asbravn.
As for the horde that moved into the Tunlands, it went largely unopposed, save for the few Cormyrean outposts that had been established to oversee the pacification of the Tunlar after the war a few years back, along with numerous Tunlar villages, which had themselves been largely disarmed as part of the pacification process. Many, many folk were slaughtered, only to rise again and aid in the destruction of the Purple Dragon outposts.
1371 DR
* with the forces of man still off balance from the flood of undead that poured into the Sunset and Tunland Vales, the CoT struck at Cormyr itself. They set a powerful red wyrm, Nalavara, who had a long standing grudge against the Obarskyr's, over an army of orcii and goblins from the High Moor. Through the use of ancient and powerful magics, the dragon-led army ravaged the northern reaches of Old Cormyr and even sacked Arabel itself. While the dragon was slain and her army scattered in the end, both Azoun IV and his eldest daughter, Tanalastra, were themselves slain.
* numerous Cult of the Dragon cells throughout Faerun sent representatives to the Darkhold, there to verify the existence of the First Speaker and hear his will, which, beyond the obvious, included the declaration of all Algashonites as heretical frauds and traitors. A number of cells immediately swore alliegence to the First Speaker and his Queen, while others carried the news back to their superiors. As for the Sembian envoy, all members were executed as an example of what awaits all those loyal to Algashon's legacy.
1372 DR
* circumanvigating the newly erected Crimson Fortress (standing on the remains of Asbravn), a winged force of dragons and devils raid Iriaebor and the surrounding hamlets. Hundreds are killed, the wall is breached, and a number of towers are toppled.
* Tilverton is destroyed under the attack of numerous draconic hybrids led by Tiamat herself. As a result, Governor Thracian Cormaeril (husband of Silver Morn and father of Randal the Younger) of the Cormyrean Province of Daggerdale, declares Daggerdale's independence and reinstitutes it's seat on the Dales Council. Soonafter, the kingdom of Immeresk declares it's independance even as it assures the Crown of it's continued friendship and offers to aid them with the troubles brewing in the West.