Rogue's Gallery - Villains of Faerun

House Orogoth [High Moor & Serpent Hills]

      "Orogoth: Founded in –2482 DR, the ruined villa of House Orogoth dates back to the Silver Age of Netheril and has long been a beacon for treasure seekers.  The Netherese wizards of this family sought to acquire draconic powers as well as the ability to assume dragon form. The elder wizards disappeared to live elsewhere as dragons (or so rumor holds), leaving their gigantic, sprawling abode to their decadent descendants.  [...]  Almost inevitably, the cruel scions of House Orogoth destroyed one another in –2211 DR in a great battle that involved pitting dragons against their kin.  The great villa’s towers toppled, and the survivors fled for their lives.  Exactly what the Orogoths battled over is unknown, but in the Year of Moor Birds (90 DR), the yuan-ti of Ss’thar’tiss’ssun recovered a host of artifacts...  Today, the ruins of Orogoth are home to “the Old One,” a black dracolich great wyrm, and the offspring of its great-grandson, Wastirek (wyrm). Wastirek’s mate is Vilholin (wyrm), and their children include Awsidorg & Woklef (adults), and Cheleen & Kasidikal (young adults)...  Efforts by adventurers and the Cult of the Dragon to plunder Orogoth’s treasures have come to naught—those who dare try are slain, transformed into beast shape, or sent fleeing across the High Moor.  The serpentfolk of Najara have linked the depths of Orogoth with the Serpent Tunnels beneath the Serpent Hills, and yuan-ti explorers continue to haunt the ruins despite the dragons’ efforts to drive them away. - Serpent Kingdoms, p.109
     While the yuan-ti found the ruins of House Orogoth deserted in 90 DR, soon thereafter the dragon now known as 'the Old One' took up residence, gathered a horde of Ophidian servitors, and began restoration of the core defenses of the 'villa' (more accurately described as a small kingdom).  He took advantage of the mini-diaspora following the fall of Anauria in 111 DR, recruiting several wizards with promises of ancient Netherese secrets and thus restoring House Orogoth as a viable 'academy' of Netherese arcanistry.  Although the Old One underwent the transformation into a dracolich in 1037 DR (following a fratricidal civil war in the Year of the Dracorage), House Orogoth's relationship with the Cult of the Dragon has been generally hostile - especially as they are rivals competing to uncover the Anaurian Portal Network.  [Most of this paragraph is drawn from Dragons of Faerun pp.94-96.]

Iron Throne [widespread trading company]

     "On the surface, the Iron Throne appears to be just another merchants’ guild. The group is ostensibly dedicated to pursuing a monopoly on the weapons trade in certain parts of Faerûn...  The public faces of the Iron Throne are merely mouthpieces for the true leaders of the organization, ruthless killers...  The Iron Throne is a relatively recent development in the economic history of Faerûn. It was originally the brainchild of a unique individual: Sfena, the [half-fiend] daughter of a powerful devil.  A strange accident befell Sfena during one of her missions to kill an enemy in Faerûn, in 1347 DR. Her entire body hardened into a material of crystalline appearance and hardness. The accident that changed her thus also freed her from Baator, allowing her to remain in Faerûn. Sfena conceived the Iron Throne as a means of restoring herself.  Sfena disappeared ... in 1371 DR, under circumstances that suggest diabolical involvement...  Sfena’s second in command, Krakosh, eventually seized control of the group by allying himself with several other lieutenants."
 - Lords of Darkness, pp.141-142

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Kraken Society [Sword Coast North]

     "The Kraken Society is a group of information brokers who use their knowledge to influence events in coastal countries along the Trackless Sea. Its agents, known as the Krakenar, are not above using kidnapping, murder, and torture to get their way. Their monstrous leader’s goal is the control of a great undersea and shore kingdom ranging for thousands of miles. Led by a very old kraken wizard called Slarkrethel, the society has ties to the church of Umberlee and controls armies of undersea monsters, which it uses to conquer hostile aquatic settlements and raid shore-based ones."
     Some of the better-informed denizens of Skullport are aware of the identity of the local leader of the Kraken Society; a terrible Aboleth called 'the Skum Lord', which is said to dwell in dark sewers beneath the enclave.  It is believed that the Skum Lord is the landlord of 40% of the 'properties' of Skullport; it's 'skum' agents crawl from the river and collect the rents on a regular basis.
 - Lords of Darkness, p.154

Necropolis of Orbedal (better known as Warlock's Crypt)  [Sword Coast]

Larloch – Lich(human) Netherese Arcanist, ruler of the Warlock's Crypt

"In the months following [the Fall of Netheril], Rhaugilath’s archrival Larloch found the ruins of Orbedal and claimed them for his own. He built his crypt (now known as Warlock’s Crypt) from the shattered spires of Orbedal..."
"Rhaugilath [became] but the first of sixty liches who serve the legendary master of Warlock’s Crypt today. Larloch’s favorite captive spends the majority of his time recording the history of Netheril, and his as yet incomplete multivolume opus, titled Of the Fall of Netheril, continues to expand. After Larloch reviews the finished chapters, they are sent to Candlekeep for archiving."
 - Lost Empires of Faerun, p.102

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Night Masks [Westgate / Kingdom of Mynth]
      "The Night Masks is a powerful thieves’ guild that operates out of the metropolis of Westgate on the Dragon Coast.  Engaged in such illicit but lucrative trades such as assassination, extortion, smuggling, blackmail, and kidnapping, the Night Masks control Westgate’s underworld.  [...]  If the general populace of Westgate knew the truth about the city’s power structure, they might find it difficult to believe that an organization composed entirely of criminals—even an organization as well organized and skilled as the Night Masks—could bring such a wealthy and powerful city under its thumb.  [...]  The common thugs, burglars, thieves, and cutthroats who make up the bulk of the Night Masks’ membership believe themselves ruled by an anonymous Guildmaster, called the Faceless.  [...]  The true ruler of the Night Masks is the Court of Night Masters, a coven of powerful, ruthless vampires who harbor ambitions far darker than the mere clandestine rulership of a single city. The leader of this group—the Night King himself, who also holds the title of Faceless—is a vampire who renamed himself Orbakh."
     "The Night Masks do not maintain a guildhall or other central meeting location (that would make the job of the City Watch far too easy). The organization instead maintains dozens of safe houses throughout Westgate, many of which are legitimate businesses during the day. The closest thing the guild has to a “town hall” is the Purple Lady festhall, owned and operated by one of the Night Masks’ upper echelon.  Members are free to meet and leave messages for one another here, provided that they do nothing to alert the patrons to the host’s role in the organization (and that includes not wearing dirty “street clothing” inside the establishment)."
 - Lords of Darkness, pp.38-40
     With the restoration of the Kingdom of Mynth, the Night Masks have extended their organization to other cities of the Dragonsea; most of the local thieves' guilds have proven no match for the superior skills [and undead power] of the Night Masks.  In Teziir, the leadership of the Astorians (the local guild) successfully parleyed for recruitment into the Night Masks.  The Purple Masks and the Tide Flowers (rival guilds operating in both Teziir & Pros) resisted, and were virtually wiped out.  On the other hand, the 'Shou-town' of Elversult is proving an intractable (albeit small) opposition; it is rumored that the powerful Five Swords Tong has sent enforcers from the East to 'push back' against the Night Masks.

Order of the Long Death [widespread; often wanderers]

     "The monks of the Long Death are members of an old order devoted to the concept of death, and they are masters of using natural means to inflict death upon others... At least three monasteries of the Long Death are rumored to exist in Faerûn, each of approximately the same size and population (100 members).  In addition to the monasteries, there are probably dozens of smaller cells of wandering monks and their handfuls of students.  The monks seek to understand death and hope to achieve a perfect death. None are really sure what that means, but they believe that by inflicting pain and death upon others with their bare hands, they gain an understanding of what they need to do to achieve their own perfect deaths.
     The monks wander the land, accosting people in every part of Faerûn with fist and foot. They have found that pretending to be beggars allows them a great deal of anonymity and freedom to move about. Ironically, many folk mistake them for the Broken Ones (monks of Ilmater), which outrages the worshipers of the Crying Deity." - Lords of Darkness, pp.166-167

People of the Black Blood [widespread, outside civilization]

     "The People of the Black Blood consist of several tribes of lycanthropic Malar-worshipers living throughout Faerûn’s forests.  They revel in their animal nature, attack those who invade their territory, and enjoy abusing those who blind themselves to all but the gentler parts of nature.  The People are most feared for their High Hunt, during which they kidnap a sentient being, release it in the forest, then hunt it as they would an animal.  While Malar’s clergy normally only calls for a High Hunt once a season, the People choose victims as frequently as once a month." - Lords of Darkness, p.167

Red Wizards of Thay
      What was once a single, unified Cabal of wizards bent on conquest has divided into two, rival organizations; the Red Wizards (sometimes (confusingly) described as 'the Red Zhentarim' for their mercantile approach) and the Red Wizards of Thay (the rulers of the land of Thay).  Each Cabal is headed by a Council of Zulkirs (supreme specialist wizards; one for each School of the Arcane Arts).  Considerable confusion about the two organizations is inevitable, as both Councils still consider themselves to be the legitimate leaders of all Red Wizards.
 - The Red Wizards:  "Long considered a threat to peace in eastern Faerûn, the Red Wizards...  In recent years, they have also become the principal purveyors of magical goods to the powerful, wealthy, and the desperate throughout much of Faerûn.  Ensconced in secretive walled enclaves in dozens of cities, the Red Wizards command fear and respect far outside the borders of their native Thay.  These mercantile enclaves have become so successful that many Red Wizards have abandoned their dreams of military conquest for a more insidious and pervasive form of power—the power of gold."
     "The Red Wizards’ efforts to export their magical goods abroad have resulted in [...] benefits for the Thayans.  First, people of distant lands are beginning to view the Red Wizards as mysterious, perhaps intimidating, merchants, rather than as would-be conquerors.  Second, the sale of magic items, even at a discount, is a phenomenal source of revenue for the Red Wizards."
 - Lords of Darkness, p.55
      In the early months of 1400, the Red Wizards began to 'call-in' debts owed by a number of political figures in some of the cities where enclaves had been established.  Their footprint is particularly noticeable in several cities of the Dragon Reach - Scardale, Calaunt, Raven's Bluff & Procampur have formed a maritime alliance (under the guise of 'suppressing piracy'), for instance.  Under normal circumstances, Sembia would oppose the formation of such a rival power, but many powerful figures in Yhaunn & Saerloon favor joining such an alliance...

 - Red Wizards of Thay:  This is the 'old-school', Thay-supremacist rump-cabal that followed Szass Tam (the dreaded Zulkir of Necromancy) when the Zulkirs' War broke out.  They remain committed to conquest of their neighbors through arcane supremacy.  While nowhere near as flexible as their rival Cabal, they have the resources of an entire nation and most of the arcane resources of the old organization.  They also tend to be more focused than 'the outcasts', with much higher standards for entry and gaining rank.

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Theocracy of Dambrath (Loviatar) [Shining South]

   Hundreds of years ago, a cabal of priestesses of Lolth (and their followers) conquered Dambrath, overthrowing the kingdom of the Arkaiun and establishing a Matriarchy in its place.  Since then, Dambrath has come to be ruled by a caste of half-drow called the Crinti, who favored both Lolth and Loviatar.  With the War of the Spider Queen and its aftermath, Dambrath has fallen entirely under the sway of Loviatar's cult, and interactions with the Drow city of T'lindhet have reduced to a trickle.  [Very few if any of the Crinti were affected by Eilistraee's Blessing; the Drow of T'lindhet were (and remain) quite wicked; they are descendants of the Illythiri.]

Theocracy of Unther (Tiamat) [Old Empires]

     For the last 15 years, Unther has been under the rule of the church of Tiamat.  This began with her final defeat of Gilgeam, the hated immortal God-King of Unther during the Time of Troubles.  After this, Mulhorand invaded and occupied about 2/3 of Unther; there was little hope of independence for the people, who turned their cries again to the self-styled 'Nemesis of the Gods'.  Tiamat returned again, but this time she took the form of a winged mermaid and reformed her church into a militaristic force and commanded the ouster of the 'infidels'.  Supported by Fiends and Dragons, the battalions of Tiamat pushed the invaders from the cities and reinvigorated Unther's cultural identity.
     Since then, most of Unther's energy has been directed at building the New Society dictated by their divine mistress.  This 'New Society' is caste-based, but the most ambitious mortals are drawn to the Church, where 'high risk, high reward' opportunities exist.  The top Caste are Infernal Dragons (and the Abishai), followed by pureblooded dragons.  Below the dragons are those with draconic heritage (it can get very complicated in the mid-ranges).  At the bottom are the pure-human castes, which range from veterans of the War of Liberation down to non-Mulan (the local racial group) slaves.  Below even human slaves are non-humans, who usually have to have a human or draconic 'sponsor' (Unther has a long history of human-supremacy; there are no native demihuman populations).
     In the aftermath of the Longest Winter (which had little direct effect on the Old Empires region), Unther took-part in the lightning-quick conquest of its ancient rival, Mulhorand.  The Army of Unther had little to do with this invasion, other than to protect the prelates of Tiamat as they opened Gates to other worlds, unleashing strange dragonkin on their enemies.