Cult Of The Dragon Timeline

Cult of the Dragon Timeline c. 800 DR

Sammaster First-Speaker, founder of the Cult of the Dragon, is born, though the location and exact date of his birth are lost to time.

817 DR

The Year of the Deadly Torch - The traveling mage Mnethos takes the

young Sammaster as an apprentice, noting the boy's fierce intelligence and fascination with magic. 818 DR

The Year of Broken Locks - Mnethos the mage introduces Sammaster to

c. 825 DR

Sammaster leaves the service of his magely tutor, Mnethos, having learned all he can from the itinerant wizard.

c. 835 DR

Sammaster achieves the status of an archmage at an age almost unheard of at that time. Sammaster wanders Faerûn extensively.

c. 840 DR

Sammaster's researches into the field of metamagic result in many new enchantments.

851 DR

The Year of the Jasmal Blade - Our Lady of Mysteries appears to

the glory of Our Lady of Mysteries, the worship of whom Sammaster soon adopts.

Sammaster, they dally, and the Goddess of Magic offers to make the archmage one of her Chosen. It seems that Mystra has foreseen the death of a Chosen and Sammaster is to be her replacement. c. 851-852 DR

Sammaster meets with the Sage of Shadowdale, Elminster, and learns how to use and control his Chosen powers, including silver fire.

855 DR

The Year of Cornerstones - In the spring, Sammaster first meets Zhent

c. 855-861 DR

Sammaster enters an extended period of exhaustive research into the processes of life, death, and undeath, creating several original necromantic enchantments before again taking to traveling Faerûn.

861 DR

The Year of the Exploding Orl - Sammaster meets and begins a

864 DR

The Year of the Broken Brunch – Sammaster's relationship with Alustriel

slavers. Many die, including innocent prisoners.

relationship with Elué/Alustriel, Chosen of Mystra.

ends with disastrous results for Sammaster's emotional and mental wellbeing. 865 DR

The Year of Flamedance - Sammaster meets and is befriended by Algashon

866-874 DR

Sammaster and Algashon travel widely, with the duplicitous priest's words turning Sammaster toward bitterness, resentment, and evil.

Nathaire, a mage and priest of Mystra's enemy, Bane, near or in Baldur's Gate.

875 DR

The Year of the Stricken Star - Algashon coerces Sammaster into attacking

887 DR

The Year of Fell Pearls - The first .translations. of ancient prophecies by

his former lover, Alustriel of Silverymoon. Alustriel is wounded in Sammaster's initial assault and calls for aid from Khelben Arunsun and Laeral Silverhand, two more Chosen of Mystra. Sammaster is stripped of his Chosen powers. Algashon saves Sammaster from death. Sammaster, insane, embraces evil from this point onward. the mad Sammaster are distributed, including his specious work on Maglas'

Chronicle of Years to Come. 902 DR

The Year of the Queen's Tears - Sammaster's researches into necromancy

905 DR

The Year of the Rotting Word - Sammaster finishes his principal work on

result in the first successful Cult dracolich, Shargrailar.

the Tome of the Dragon, and copies begin to appear across Faerûn as the Cult's philosophy spreads. 916 DR

The Year of the Sinhala - The Harpers and priests of Lathander ambush

c. 916-940 DR

After Sammaster's downfall, Algashon leads the Cult underground for the first time since its creation in the prior century. Algashon's Cult adopts many of the revenue-generating schemes required to finance much of the Cult's operations.

c. 950 DR

Cult of the Dragon cells number near 100 at this time, the height of Cult power across Faerûn since the organization's inception.

c. 962 DR

The Cult reaches farther south than ever before with the creation of the cell in, around, and beneath the city of Hlondeth in the Vilhon Reach.

971 DR

The Year of the Children - The Cult's further expansion in the south is halted by the church of Tiamat when an underground Cult cell "trespasses"

Sammaster and his entourage as they travel to visit two green wyrms in southern Cormanthor. Sammaster and an avatar of the Morninglord do battle. Sammaster's actions wound the avatar slightly before he obliterates Sammaster.

on a similar group worshiping the Dragon Queen in the city of Surkh. 972 DR

The Year of the Cairngorm Crown - After the recent defeat in Surkh,

dissidents within the Cult begin to openly question Algashon's leadership and the weighty influence the church of Bane has had in Cult operations in the preceding years, with the mage Drakewings becoming a particularly outspoken opponent of the god of tyranny's place in the Cult of the Dragon. c. 972-995 DR

The Cult refocuses its efforts to expand in the North, creating at least 10 new cells in this time period. The only known failure of the Cult to infiltrate an area during this era is in Silverymoon.

c. 995-1000 DR

Factionalism within the Cult increases with most members joining either Algashon's reformational Bane-influenced camp or Drakewings' Pragmatic faction.

1001 DR

The Year of the Awakening - Tuelhalva Drakewings encounters Gargauth

1018 DR

The Year of the Dracorage - Drakewings frees Gargauth. A horde of

trapped in a pit in Peleveran. Gargauth's words inspire him to plot a break from the Sembian Cult cell.

abishai baatezu summoned by Gargauth allow Drakewings to take over the country of Peleveran. Drakewings' Faction breaks from the Cult in Sembia and relocates to Peleveran. Less than one month later, Algashon musters and incites a Rage of Dragons and destroys the entire nation of Peleveran. Both Drakewings and Algashon perish. In a related event, a great Flight of Dragons assaults Zhentil Keep in this year. The old Keep is destroyed, but the city is saved by its wizards and priests of Bane. The Cult is widely blamed for the devastation in Zhentil Keep, and the inhabitants of the Keep first take note of the Cult as a recognized enemy (as opposed to a dimly perceived nuisance). 1065

The Year of the Watching Wood - Harpers in the North find the lair of the

dracolich Alglaudyx and manage to destroy the undead creature, seizing its rich hoard for Harper coffers. With this newfound wealth, the Harpers invest in valuable properties and businesses in cities up and down the Sword Coast.

1222 DR

The Year of the Horn - The Cult of the Dragon attacks the Harpers, who

1225 DR

The Year of the Winged Worm - A Cult of the Dragon cell forms in and

have fallen under the sway of the self-styled Harper King, the lich Thavverdasz. The subsequent arrivals of first Szass Tam and then Elminster result in a significant defeat for the Cult.

around the city of Elversult. Initially led by human Cultists, the cell is later taken over and run by the first dracolich the cell creates, Cypress the black.

1279 DR

The Year of the Snarling Dragon - A Cult of the Dragon cell near Luskan

1282 DR

The Year of Many Mists - A lich calling itself Sammaster appears in the

destroys itself when the dragons and dracolich involved with the cell do battle over treasure hoards.

Desertsmouth Mountains and begins gathering humanoids, undead, and dragons into an army. 1285 DR

The Year of the Blacksnake - An adventuring company of paladins, the Company of Twelve, attack Sammaster's stronghold. Nine are killed, but the lich's physical form is destroyed. Survivors confirm that this indeed was Sammaster First-Speaker.

1340 DR

The Year of the Lion - Forces of the Sembian Cult cell battle elements of

1356 DR

The Year of the Worm - The most recent flight of dragons occurs, causing

the Sembian military near Featherdale.

much havoc across Faerûn. Though the Cult of the Dragon claims responsibility, the true cause of such events remains a mystery.

1357 DR

The Year of the Prince - The Sembian Cult of the Dragon cell becomes

1361 DR

The Year of Maidens - Four Cult of the Dragon archmages arrive outside of

c. 1364 DR

The Sembian Cult cell steps up its activities against the Zhentarim, attacking caravans and attempting to usurp control of various trade routes.

1365 DR

The Year of the Sword - The Sembian Cult cell convinces Malygris, a blue

embroiled in a quest to obtain the spellfire power of a young Daleswoman. This young woman costs the cell three dracoliches, including Shargrailar, Rauglothgor, and Aghazstamn, and two Wearers of the Purple.

the Silverymoon and unleash spells to draw Alustriel out. She and Taern "Thunderspell" dispatch two of them easily, but Taern and other Spellguard members are soon kept busy with a dracolich unleashed on the southern walls. Alustriel defeats another Cult mage, but only the timely arrival of Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun and Laeral Silverhand saved Alustriel's life against the final archmage.

dragon of Anauroch, to become a dracolich. This dracolich then attacks, kills, and replaces the ruler of the Great Desert's loose society of blue dragons.

1369 DR

The Year of the Gauntlet - Piergeiron destroys the dracolich Kistarianth the Red on the slopes of Mount Waterdeep during Halaster's Harvestide. The transformed red dragon was slain in life by Piergeiron's father, Athar the Shining Knight.

Active Cult Cells Daerlun (Sembia), Elversult (Giant's Plain), Hlondeth (Vilhon Reach), Saerloon (Sembia), Urmlaspyr (Sembia), Yartar (The North)