This episode of Forgotten Realms Explained is sponsored by Patron Blades.
Hello everybody Jorphdan here the PH is silent.
Let’s continue with our faction talk and dive into the next one, the Order of the Gauntlet.
I’ll preface this video by saying I couldn’t find a ton of information on the Order.
I believe it was created to flesh out the factions for D&D probably in 4th edition but it wasn’t really
given a rich history.
I’ll do my best though but this may be a shorter video!
The Order of the Gauntlet is a new organization.
Comprised mostly of clerics, paladins, and monks of the lawful good variety.
They have an agenda similar to that of the Harpers.
Wanting to squash evil wherever it can be found, and uphold the just laws of civilization.
Ending oppression and keeping the people free.
Similar to the Harpers in ideals their methods are vastly different.
Unlike the Harpers they don’t hide in the shadows but work out in the open to stop evil.
Frequently seeking aid from law enforcement.
Members of this organization are faithful and vigilant seekers of justice.
They wish to protect others from evildoers and will exact swift retribution against those
who violate the law.
Many people who are in the Order of the Gauntlet worship a set of specific deities.
They are the deities you would expect, Tyr, Helm, Torm, and Hoar.
Gods of justice, law, protection and retribution.
Which I’ve made a deity video on all of those guys, so check it out if you’re curious
for more.
Order of the Gauntlet is full of holy warriors, that tend to be proficient in Religion.
They respect the Harpers but I feel wanted to take a more lawful approach to evil which
is why the organization was formed.
The order will not act until evil has broken the law.
Which makes them different from the Harpers.
The Harpers see evil and will stop it, prevent it if you will.
But the Order of the Gauntlet must wait until you’ve committed an evil act or broken the
law to take action against you.
It’s followers are faithful in their god, their friends, and their self.
Faith is considered their greatest weapon against evil.
Their symbol is a gauntlet grasping a sword by the blade.
It symbolizes the willingness to face danger head on and protect those that evil would
strike at.
It really feels more like the military version of the Harpers in a way.
They don’t have a main headquarters or keep and operate primarily out of temples of Helm,
Torm, and Tyr.
And honesty that’s all the information I could find about the Order.
I don’t know when it was founded other than it was recent, which I’m assuming is in
the last 100 years of Forgotten Realms History.
So that’s it for today, thanks for watching everyone and…..
Well I can’t just end a video like it's just too early…
Let’s talk about another organization, an evil organization if you will.
We can talk about one of the Order of the Gauntlet’s main enemy in Faerun.
The Cult of the Dragon.
The Cult of the dragon, also known as the Keepers of the Secret Hoard, or the Wearers
of Purple is a semi-religious evil organization that sought to create and worship undead dragons
or dracoliches.
The cult was founded by a man named Sammaster, a powerful wizard.
Now Sammaster was a former chosen of mystra and is the one who discovered the process
to turn a dragon into a dracolich.
Born in 800 DR and by 851 DR become a chosen of Mystra.
However by 875 DR Sammaster was convinced to attack his former lover.
Sammaster was striped of his chosen powers and he fully embraced evil this point on.
By 902 DR Sammaster created his first dracolich and documented the process in a book entitled
Tome of the Dragon.
He then created a cult known as the Cult of the Dragon which started to spread across
Faerun acquiring many enemies such as the Harpers.
Sammaster truly believed that dead dragons would rule the world and thus began working
towards that goal.
It was around 1370 DR the cult had spread greatly with different leaders in separate
areas.
These leaders started having their own ideas of which direction the Cult of the Dragon
should go, which ultimately causes more problems for groups like the order of the gauntlet
and the Harpers.
This one cult now had multiple motivations and was acting on each of them.
The cult loves dragons, but more than that evil dragons, but even more than that dracoliches.
They gather intelligence for evil dragons in Faerun and contribute treasure to their
hoards.
Aiding them in any way possible, they do this in hopes the dragon will return the favor
and aid them however it can.
This might be in battle, through magic, or leadership.
Sammaster eventually died, he became a lich but was destroyed battling an avatar of Lathander.
This was an epic fight, and you can read it in the Cult of the Dragon page 19.
But to summarize Lathander used his holy light that became brighter than the sun and destroyed
Sammaster turning him into a few pounds of fine ash.
However being a lich Sammaster’s soul fled to his Phylactery where he returned some 300
years later.
There are active cult cells all over Faerun.
Wherever you find dragons, especially evil dragons you will most likely find some members
of the Cult of the Dragon.
They worship evil dragons, attempt to gain intelligence and magic items for them in hopes
to live with them in their lair.
And eventually convince them to become a Dracolich, which can only be created with the help of
wizards who have the Tome of the Dragon written by Sammaster.
The order of the gauntlet is a sworn enemy of the Cult of the Dragon.
But they have lots of enemies.
The Harpers also, as well as the Zhentarim, the Church of Tiamat, and the Red Wizards
of Thay.
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And that’s it for today, really
I’ll keep going with the faction videos and hopefully find more information than I
did on the Order of the Gauntlet.
It felt like Wizards wanted to have some options for factions but didn’t get a rich backstory
to some of them.
However the Cult of the Dragon has an interesting history and if you want to learn more there’s
a great supplement called the Cult of the Dragon that has loads of information.
Thanks for watching everyone and I’ll see you next week with another video from Forgotten
Realms Explained.