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
the glory of Our Lady of Mysteries, the worship of whom Sammaster soon
adopts.
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
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
slavers. Many die, including innocent prisoners.
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
relationship with Elué/Alustriel, Chosen of Mystra.
864 DR The Year of the Broken Brunch – Sammaster's relationship with Alustriel
ends with disastrous results for Sammaster's emotional and mental
wellbeing.
865 DR The Year of Flamedance - Sammaster meets and is befriended by Algashon
Nathaire, a mage and priest of Mystra's enemy, Bane, near or in Baldur's
Gate.
866-874 DR Sammaster and Algashon travel widely, with the duplicitous priest's words
turning Sammaster toward bitterness, resentment, and evil.
875 DR The Year of the Stricken Star - Algashon coerces Sammaster into attacking
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.
887 DR The Year of Fell Pearls - The first .translations. of ancient prophecies by
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
result in the first successful Cult dracolich, Shargrailar.
905 DR The Year of the Rotting Word - Sammaster finishes his principal work on
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
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.
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"
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
trapped in a pit in Peleveran. Gargauth's words inspire him to plot a break
from the Sembian Cult cell.
1018 DR The Year of the Dracorage - Drakewings frees Gargauth. A horde of
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
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.
1225 DR The Year of the Winged Worm - A Cult of the Dragon cell forms in and
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
destroys itself when the dragons and dracolich involved with the cell do
battle over treasure hoards.
1282 DR The Year of Many Mists - A lich calling itself Sammaster appears in the
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
the Sembian military near Featherdale.
1356 DR The Year of the Worm - The most recent flight of dragons occurs, causing
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
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.
1361 DR The Year of Maidens - Four Cult of the Dragon archmages arrive outside of
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.
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
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)