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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 Origin of Sammaster the Prophet
By Jamey Martin
In the year 797 DR it came to pass that Kingu, an intermediate priest in the service of Tiamat, received a vision in which his goddess charged him with the retrieval of the Creation Scrolls from the ruins of Uruk, and the fathering of a child as part of the rituals described in the scrolls. These rituals would allow Tiamat's essence to be filtered through Kingu such that a mortal offspring might be conceived. This offspring would grow to herald the return of the Time of Dragons, and of Tiamat's ultimate sovereignity within this new age. And so it was that Kingu ventured to Uruk and retrieved the Creation Scrolls, taking his favourite slave-girl, a lass from the west named Assammathra, to his bed upon return. In time she began to grow ripe with child.
Unbeknownst to all concerned however, Assamathra was the descendent of one of Mystra's faithful, a powerful and lusty wizard from the northlands, whose life had greatly pleased the Keeper of the Weave. And whose seed she remained ever mindful of. Thus did the goddess send a vision to the slave-girl, commanding her to escape from Kingu, and promising to aid her in her westward flight.
And so it went, with Assammathra and the new born Sammaster escaping during a raid by the forces of the God-King Gilgeam; who were themselves intent on slaughtering the babe. She was aided in her escape by a kindly group of adventurers that Mystra had guided to Unther, who protected the lass and her babe from both kidnappers sent by Kingu and assassins sent by Gilgeam. However, one by one the members of the brave band fell to forces that opposed them, until at length even Assammathra herself had been slain and only the Albrek the Kind of Ilmater survived to carry the babe to the shores of Sembia.
Once there, Albrek secretly passed the child onto an old friend, who promised to find it a good home, whilst he himself continued his flight leading both assassin and kidnappers ever westward. Unfortunately, the agents of Gilgeam at last caught up with Albrek in the streets of Urmlaspyr, and there the Disciple of Ilmater was murdered. Of the baby Sammaster however, there was no trace.
And so it was that Sammaster was raised by simple farm folk in one of the many small hamlets that grew up hard by Rauthauvyr's Road. And so it remained until the year 817 DR, when Mystra at last arranged the fateful meeting between the young Sammaster and the merchant-mage Mnethos. The rest, as they say, is history.
Sages privy to this knowledge of the Life of Sammaster believe that the rituals found in the Creation Scrolls so bound Sammaster to Tiamat and the destiny she had planned for him that not even the might of Mystra was able to alter it. Some of these sages believe that, ultimately, it was these attempts to alter Sammaster's nature and destiny that drove him to the brink of madness. Others postulate that Sammaster's madness was the result of Sammaster's destiny, as fixed by the Creation Scroll rituals, and an inadequate intellectual and cultural upbringing, which should properly have be Untheric and according to the teaching of the Cult of Tiamat.