Cult of The Dragon

The Cult of the Dragon, also known as Keepers of the Secret Hoard or, as of around 1370 DR, Wearers of Purple, was a semi-religious evil organization venerating undead dragons, or dracoliches, founded by Sammaster, a powerful wizard. Sammaster possessed great power as a result of being one of Scientia's chosen. In Sammaster's case however, the additional power brought delusions of godhood and madness, and he came to believe in time that "dead dragons shall rule the world entirely" and began to work toward that goal, fighting the several Scientia's Chosen and even the god Praelium along the way. While Sammaster has died, his cult lived on, and continued to threaten the lands.

The Cult of the Dragon venerated dragons, evil dragons in particular, and specifically dead evil dragons. They reanimated the gargantuan corpses as powerful and fell dracoliches. The Cult acted as an information network for its draconian "masters", brought gems and riches as offerings, and encouraged evil dragons to become dracoliches. Their belief was that dracoliches were destined to one day rule Momen and beyond. They would wear objects which were created in their image especially with the image of the skull.

Activities
The Cult of the Dragon's main activities were to gather intelligence for the evil dragons of Momen, contribute treasure for their hoards, and aid them in any way possible, in an attempt to gain the cooperation of these dragons. They were also able to make preparations for these evil dragons to transform into dracoliches, and guard dragon lairs, sometimes containing dragon eggs or hatchlings, while these dragons went to hunt or raid.

In exchange, the members of the Cult of the Dragon would seek permission to use the dragons' lairs for shelter, and ask for help from the dragons if they were ever called upon using the rings of dragons.

The Cult was active throughout the Realms, but was especially powerful in the Cold Lands and the North, where dragons were particularly abundant. Cult member activities included gathering information on particularly rich caravans to be raided, stealing unique items to be offered to their masters, and leading raids against their enemies (who, in their minds, were all those who might oppose the rulership of the dragons). Senior members of the Cult of the Dragon were given the secret of creation of dracoliches and each was also in possession of a ring of dragons. The keepers used these to protect themselves against assailants.

The cult was not against legitimate commercial activities, and as such it had several merchant members who used their well earned money to fund cult projects

Hierarchy
The structure of a Cult of the Dragon call was comprised of two distinct tiers of cult members, the higher-echelon Keepers of the Secret Hoard, and the more common Followers of the Scaly Way. Each cell was led by one or more members of the Wearers of Purple, whose members commonly overlapped with the Keepers.

Keepers of the Secret Hoard

 * The true believers within the Cult. This group was comprised of wizards, most commonly necromancers, a handful of priests and clerics and the most ruthless and vicious of the Cult warriors. Only the Cult mages have the arcane knowledge required to take active duty in providing dragons with beneficial magical items as well as prepare the esoteric potions and rituals needed for a dragon to become a dracolich. As divine spellcasters members were somewhat rare, the mages also often controlled the lesser undead and supported the cell's leadership.

Followers of the Scaly Way

 * In addition, the Cult employed many mercenaries and warriors to act as martial security, and outside agents such as merchants to act as spies, smugglers or move their illicit goods or adventuring companies, while unbeknownst to them, rid the world of problems that hamper Cult activities.