Sammaster (Dracolich Form)

Sammaster: Lich Founder of a Dracolich Cult

Sammaster founded and led the Cult of the Dragon, a secret, evil organization dedicated to transforming living dragons into undead inheritors of a world blasted of life. Sammaster was slain centuries ago but now exists as a lich with his essence tied to a powerful dracolich form.

History: Sammaster was a keenly intelligent wizard born centuries ago. A quick study throughout his itinerant apprenticeship, Sammaster primarily studied magic relating to dragons. After learning all he could from other archmages, including Elminster and Alustriel Silverhand, Sammaster delved into new frontiers of necromancy and enchantment. He created the process to transform dragons into dracoliches, magically bound dragons to his service, and learned how to drive dragons across Faerün into a berserk rage. He considered his intellect beyond morality and became paranoid, resentful, and megalomaniacal. Sammaster's travels brought him into contact with people who revered dragons as icons of primeval might. Masquerading his desire to dominate dragonkind as devotion, Sammaster established himself as leader of these disparate zealots, whom he named the Cult of the Dragon. He perverted their fascination with his necromantic lore, revealing that dracoliches were destined to rule Faerin. His Cult of the Dragon devotes itself to helping evil dragons become dracoliches to bring this evil new age to fruition. Sammaster was killed in battle, but had prepared contingencies for his demise. He drew on the warped resurrection of dracoliches to become a lich himself. He continues to lead the Cult of the Dragon from the shadows, developing new ways to control and corrupt dragonkind.

Personality: Sammaster presents a charming and handsome facade, but he can't conceal his morbid fascination with undead dragonkind for long. His only true allies are the inner circle of the Cult of the Dragon, from whom he commands obedience. Sammaster rarely remains in one place for long, as he thinks no one can oversee the Cult of the Dragon activities across the Realms as efficiently as he can. Sammaster personally checks in on the cult's most important plots, often surprising his minions with his presence. Rather than keep a soul jar as liches do, Sammaster keeps a magical soul gem in the same fashion as dracoliches. When destroyed in his lich form, Sammaster revives in the form of a dracolich with his soul gem as its heart. He can be permanently destroyed only by vanquishing this dracolich form and then destroying the soul gem before it reconstitutes him as a lich once again. Would-be heroes have believed themselves victorious against Sammaster in the past, but the clever wizard returns each time to steer the Cult of the Dragon into more desperate and sinister plots.

Description: Sammaster was an immensely powerful human mage and a former Chosen of Mystra. Sammaster was known for founding the Cult of the Dragon and discovering the process that turns a dragon into a dracolich. After being killed in a great battle, he returned several hundred years later as a lich, but was destroyed once more.

Sammaster was a tall handsome man with dark brown hair. His hair was usually long and straight. Mnethos recorded him, around 817 DR, as tall and thin to the point of being gaunt, with a nervous, excitable disposition, and a pale complexion. He had large, "somber" brown eyes.

Personality: Mnethos noted, around 817 DR, that Sammaster had a nervous, excitable disposition, with acute senses that often led to his agitation. He had an "uneasy stomach" and was ill often, from coughing, sneezing, and difficulty breathing, for which he received herbal treatments. He described Sammaster as a quick study, having a fierce intellect, and Sammaster would often miss meals or sleep in order to fulfil his driving ambition to learn and master the art of magic.

Abilities: In the course of his final battle, despite being caught largely unprepared, Sammaster proved to have a tarnished silver ring, which he could use to call on a host of planar dragons, including hellfire wyrms, howling dragons, pyroclastic dragons, and chaos dragons as well as abyssal drakes. He could call those dragons with his spells, and he also had a number of other, more specific spells, including fleshshiver, flesh to stone and backblast. He also knew flensing, acid rain, and black blade of disaster. He also knew a spell to create dozens of shadow jaws to attack a target. Another spell, Power word, kill, was almost certainly in his repertoire. He also knew a shapeshifting spell, almost certainly shapechange. Finally, he knew at least one spell that teleported him a short distance. Another of his spells, likely Ghorus Toth's metal melt, could destroy magic items, splashing their metal parts around. One of his spells granted him invisibility, and many were wards concentrated on a spot rather than on himself. One of those wards created concentric spheres that attacked anyone intersected with them; at least one of these spheres blocked breath weapons. The spheres could also be willed to expand, so as to attack those who stood within their possible range. These wards also generated a variety of effects, blocking people in gaseous form, passing through the ethereal plane, and even teleportation, going so far as to harm those who attempted as much. He could also create glyphs for use as traps. Those who penetrated the concentric spheres were subject to ever greater torments and damage. He could create traps that caused tumors to grow inside people, which resonated with external energies to afflict even the most warded person, in a manner akin to the necrotic cyst spell. He had also extensive knowledge of construct crafting, allowing him to build dragonbone golems, drakestone golems, and ironwyrm golems. Finally, he was adept enough at magic to alter even an ancient elven mythal.

Early Life: Sammaster was born in 800 DR, and not much has been discovered about his early life. He might have been born in Sembia, the Dalelands, or the North. It is believed that his parents were killed, circumstances unknown, when Sammaster was still very young. His father is said to have been a nobleman, a necromancer, or a pirate. His mother is said to have been a fiend from another plane, an escaped slave, a wood nymph, a priestess from Mulhorand, or an incarnation of Sharess. It is believed that after his parents' deaths, Sammaster was raised by relatives or friends, but that his life was not pleasant, contributing to his behaviours later in life.

Apprenticeship: At age 17, Sammaster was taken on as an apprentice by a traveling mage named Mnethos. During this period, Mnethos visited Baldur's Gate, Berdusk, Iriaebor, Marsember, Nimoar's Hold, Saerloon, Scornubel, Silverymoon and Yartar. Not long into his training, Sammaster was introduced to the goddess Mystra, whom he soon began worshiping. After just 8 years under the guidance of Mnethos, Sammaster had learnt all he could and began a path of his own.

Journeyman: Sammaster traveled a lot during this period following his apprenticeship, and his own eccentricities led to chaotic behaviour. He is believed to have had many relationships and possibly borne children, but there is no record of who these individuals are. Prior to the age of 40 (prior to 840 DR), Sammaster had discovered, rediscovered, or improved a number of spells, including lower resistance and squaring the circle, and had advanced knowledge of metamagic. He began to refer to Mystra as the "Mother of All Magic".

Chosen of Mystra: Not long after, he began traveling Faerûn in search of knowledge and wisdom. During this time he made numerous advancements in metamagic through detailed research. In 851 DR the goddess Mystra appeared to Sammaster in the Dalelands, not far from Myth Drannor, and offered to make him one of her Chosen. Sammaster fell to his knees and wept upon Mystra's feet. They ended up spending ten days together. This made him the first Chosen of Mystra since the Seven Sisters. When he asked for the reason that Mystra had chosen him, she replied that she had foreseen that one of her Chosen would be killed in battle, and he would be the replacement. He left this encounter feeling as though he and Mystra were in love.

Elminster: Sammaster began meeting regularly with Elminster, in order to understand his new powers. Although both archmages worked together and Sammaster learnt from Elminster, the two did not get along well, as their personalities grated on each other, and Elminster repeatedly pointed out that Mystra's true love was Azuth, not Sammaster. During one lesson with Elminster, Sammaster had to defeat an army of undead without destroying a single monster. He was instructed to force them to return to where they had come from. Although he struggled at first, he ultimately succeeded. Mystra appeared to Elminster shortly after this, and Elminster expressed his distaste at having to "forge" Sammaster, but Mystra reassured him that it was something that must be done.

Turning point: A few years later, Sammaster began researching the processes of life, death and undeath. This research lasted several years and resulted in the creation of several original necromantic enchantments. Sammaster encountered a Zhent caravan between Cormyr and the Dalelands, and saw that they were keeping slaves in cages. He engaged the Zhent forces, but when they began killing prisoners, he flew into a rage. He killed many of the Zhent, but his magic also killed many of the prisoners, and his psyche could not cope with having committed this act. He continued until he had killed all of the Zhent forces, but the prisoners were in a state of panic, many still confined, causing them further injury, and many would not leave their cages for fear of Sammaster. Sammaster was rendered unconscious from the exertion, but a Harper was present at this event, and carried him away to safety, giving him a place to camp, as well as food and water. The news of this event reached the Master Harpers, as well as Storm Silverhand and Elminster, who chose to do nothing about it. This single event is widely attributed as turning Sammaster mad, and turning him towards evil.

The "Dark Path": Sammaster went on to learn to command and reanimate the innocent dead, forming relationships with vampires and liches. Mystra was only concerned with his furthering of the theories of magic, and did not prevent him from deeds perceived as evil. This is within Mystra's character as a much more neutral deity of the time, unlike the form she assumed later. In 861 DR, after ending his research, Sammaster once again began traveling Faerûn. On his travels he met and began a relationship with another Chosen of Mystra, Alustriel Silverhand, who had been leader of Silverymoon since 857 DR. Sammaster's interest in Alustriel was to dominate and master her, and to unravel her secrets. The relationship lasted for a few years, but it came to an end, Alustriel particularly disturbed by Sammaster's interest in necromancy, and Sammaster's emotional and mental well-being were permanently damaged.

Later life: Sammaster soon met and befriended Algashon Nathaire, in or around the city of Baldur's Gate. Algashon was a mage and dedicated priest of Bane (Mystra's enemy). For the next few years the two mages traveled far and wide together, Sammaster converting to worship Bane, and Algashon, seeing an opportunity to create a powerful tyrant, slowly turned Sammaster more bitter, resentful and evil. Algashon began to instil in Sammaster the idea that all of his recent failings had been the fault of others, including the battle with the Zhents, and his relationship with Alustriel. He also began to encourage Sammaster to use his silver fire as much as possible, so that he could study it, for the benefit of Bane. Sammaster began to believe that all of his problems had began when he accepted his role as Chosen of Mystra. By 875 DR Algashon had convinced Sammaster to attack his former lover, Alustriel, in the Evermoors. Algashon aimed to steal Alustriel's silver fire rather than kill Sammaster to gain his. Although wounded by Sammaster's initial assault, Alustriel survived and summoned two more Chosen, Khelben Arunsun and Laeral Silverhand, to help her. In the ensuing battle, Sammaster was stripped of his Chosen powers by Mystra and would have been killed if not for Algashon. The battle destroyed what was left of Sammaster's sanity and from that point on, he fully embraced evil. He was also still in possession of limited powers of the Chosen of Mystra: the ability to heal very rapidly, and to avoid aging. He soon began translating ancient prophecies and distributing his findings, most notably his translations from the ancient text, Maglas's Chronicle of Years to Come, in 887 DR. The validity of these translations is highly speculated, and it is suspected that they were just a means for him to promote his new ideals. From his research he quickly became convinced that 'dead dragons' would one day rule over Toril. This belief became known as the Scaly Way.

Cult of the Dragon: In 902 DR, having set up in Chondathan (later to be renamed Saerloon) with Algashon and their followers, Sammaster successfully created the first Cult dracolich named Shargrailar with the aid of the deity Kalzareinad. Although Shargrailar was not the first to undergo the transformation, he was the first known to have survived it. Sammaster compiled accounts of the rituals and components necessary to create a dracolich in a book entitled Tome of the Dragon. This holy relic is still used by the many members of the Cult of the Dragon to raise their own dracolich allies. By 905 DR Sammaster finished his principal work on the Tome of the Dragon, and copies started appearing all over Faerûn. His philosophy and beliefs of the Cult of the Dragon also began spreading across Faerûn, and it was at this time that the name "Cult of the Dragon" became widely adopted. The Cult began to spread from Chondathan and soon attracted enemies such as the Harpers. When they demanded protection money for Zhent caravans, they made enemies of Zhentil Keep, and the dracolich Shargrailar began to raid Zhent caravans between Shadow Gap and the River Tesh. This led to an influx of wealth for the Cult, and Sammaster went on to create more dracoliches in the following years.

Death: In the Year of the Sinhala, 916 DR, Sammaster and a group of his followers were traveling to visit two green dragons in southern Cormanthyr, in order to convince them to become dracoliches. However they were ambushed by the Harpers and clergy of Lathander near Hap. Algashon had prior knowledge of this ambush but, instead of letting Sammaster know, he made plans to be far from the scene. A battle broke out and Sammaster was forced to fight an avatar of the god Lathander himself. During the chaos Sammaster was killed and seemingly obliterated. It also generated a holy relic of Lathander known as the Blood of Lathander.

Adenthia: Is this the disparity between mortals and deities? They seize the supreme authority, whilst I'm merely an insect squashed under foot? Are you content with this, Elminster? I am not! My fate shall be my own! — Sammaster to Elminster Elminster finally confronting Sammaster in spell-battle on the far-off world of Adenthia. At some point after his death, Sammaster somehow resurrected himself on the far-off world of Adenthia, where he hoped to use necromancy and chaos power, a local form of magic, to achieve a chaotic state between life and death without the need for a phylactery for himself and his newly created dracoliches. After seeing his early experiments, a local cult called Penultima found Sammaster and proclaimed him to be their long-dead Child of Chaos, who'd also raised undead dragons and was involved in a Dragon Rage, and Sammaster came to believe it himself. They venerated him and shared with him the Child of Chaos's magical techniques and he turned them into a kind of Cult of the Dragon cell, sharing with copies of the Tome of the Dragon and Cult of the Dragon rituals. However, the new dracoliches were unstable, prone to madness, rage, and spontaneous disintegration, likely due to the chaos power and the use of long-dead dragon bones originating in the Dragon Rage. They continued creating dracoliches whilst they tried to stabilize the process and sought to conquer Adenthia. Mystra sent Elminster to Adenthia to investigate the "diminished" dracoliches terrorizing its southern lands; Elminster suspected that world's chaos power was infecting her own magic. Elminster enlisted the aid of a local adventurer, Gerana, and they tracked the dracoliches to the cult, before Sammaster summoned them to their fortress. Elminster confronted Sammaster, who railed against Mystra withdrawing his powers and Lathander obliterating, and against gods in general for holding authority and power over him. He desired to control his own fate and wield the powers of a god himself. Ultimately, they fought and Elminster and Gerana once again destroyed Sammaster in a lengthy battle, though Elminster feared he would eventually return through his magic.

Resurrection and Destruction: 336 years later in 1282 DR, a lich calling itself Sammaster was found in the Desertsmouth Mountains. The creature began forming an army from humanoids, undead, and dragons. In 1285 DR an adventuring group of paladins known as the Company of Twelve attacked Sammaster's stronghold. Of the twelve, nine were killed, but the lich's physical form was destroyed. The survivors confirmed that this creature was in fact Sammaster. Almost another one-hundred years later in 1373 DR Sammaster completed his transformation of the Dracorage mythal binding his phylactery within. This precipitated a Rage of Dragons independent of the King-Killer Star. Under the alias of the Witch-King reborn, Sammaster then raised an army of orcs and giants in Vaasa. The army took the Bloodstone gates and flooded into Damara. Within the year, despite his immense power, Sammaster was destroyed along with his phylactery, and the Rage came to an end.