Sisterhood of Essembra

The Sisterhood of Essembra was a small and isolated female-only organization who lived in the forest of Battledale. Most of its members were song half-dragons descendants of the notorious song dragon Essembramaerytha.

History
The Sisterhood was said to have been founded by the children of Essembramaerytha, known to non-dragons as the legendary adventuress Essembra. She had several half-song dragon daughters with humans who caught her fancy, and after her dramatic departure her daughters, many of them skilled sorcerers capable of assuming human form, dwelt quietly in the forest of Battledale. Some wed humans or elves, while others mated with passing song dragons. Over time, female half-dragons from other lands, mostly of silver and song lineages, joined them in quiet fellowship. They helped travelers who ventured on their forest, and over time locals began to call them the Sisterhood of Essembra.

The Sisterhood did not coalesced into a formal organization until 1371 DR, when drow from the Auzkovyn clan tried to invade Battledale. Essembra's half-dragon heirs organized an army of druids, clerics of Tempus, Battledarran militiamen, elves, and fey to drive the drow out of Battledale.

In 1373 DR, the last Rage of Dragons swept over Faerûn and the Sisterhood sought out metallic dragons living in the Dalelands and offered to watch over them while they slept in an effort to protect them from the effects of the Dracorage. Exaggerated rumors of their activities spread among the chromatic dragons of the Heartlands, and soon evil dragons began seeking individual sisters demanding their help as well. A few chromatics, such as the red dragon Thraxata, reacted poorly when the sisters explained that they had no cure and could only guard them while they slept. Since them, the Sisterhood earned the enmity of those dragons. The sisters also helped dragonborn who were injured on their battles against mad wyrms.

Several months later, a song dragon from the Cold Lands taught them the spell abate dracorage, and the Sisterhood was instrumental in disseminating this knowledge across the Dalelands in order to help dragons of all species to combat the effects of the Dracorage. After the end of the Rage, many non-dragon devotees of Bahamut began to felt a strong urge to become dragonborn. The sisters helped those who were interested in taking the rituals, as well as those who had problems to adapt to their new lifestyle. They also gave their support to those dragonborn who couldn't cope the rejection of their former families.

After the last Rage of Dragons, the Sisterhood transformed itself into a formal organization and began to recruit new members. They also began to actively help metallic dragons and dragonborn who suffered the worst during the Dracorage, as well as those who were traumatized by the actions they had committed while they went mad. They extended their help to the non-dragon inhabitants of the Dalelands and Damara as well, for many humanoid communities suffered greatly under the attacks of maddened dragons, while explaining the truth about the dragon's rampage in hopes to mend the relationship between wyrms and non-dragons.

The Sisterhood also helped the followers of Bahamut to find out the dragon eggs that fell from they sky in the Dalelands in 1374 DR. In doing so the Sisterhood earned the enmity of the Church of Tiamat. Followers of the Dragon Queen attacked the sisters and their dragonborn allies occasionally ever since.

Membership
The Sisterhood always welcomed new members, but the fact that only a few individuals knew the exact location of their whereabouts and that the Sisters only accepted female creatures, made the organization rather small in numbers (they had around 550 members as of 1374 DR). Other than being female, potential members had to demonstrate their will to aid other people. The Sisterhood's leader in 1374 DR was the song half-dragon Anwae Mavin, the granddaughter of Essembramaerytha. Another prominent member of the order was the silver half-dragon Melinda Essem.

New members of the Sisterhood were given training to improve their magical techniques and performance skills, and were granted access to the Sisterhood's spells and healing magic. In return, they were expected to undertake special quests of behalf of the Sisters and generally help those in need. Finding musical and magical knowledge was also important for members of the Sisterhood.

Although the Sisterhood didn't accepted male members in their ranks, they counted among their allies many male adventurers. The most prominent ones were the song half-dragon Nylan Brost, the gold dragonborn Valdenar Octi, and the vaasan rogue Dreese Halgin.

They also had a few metallic dragons as allies, among them Otaaryliakkarnos, Sunsettalithanz, and Xanscilathampos. Olothontor, the music-loving blue dragon from Waterdeep, was also interested in the Sisterhood's activities and offered to exchange musical knowledge with them on an occasion, although nobody knew if the sisters accepted his offer.

Activities
The Sisters of Essembra looked upon Essembra's example, and usually went on journeys to have unplanned adventures, exploring new magic, creating new spellsongs, and making new friends. They were fiercely loyal to the people of Battledale, however, and spent most of their time helping its inhabitants, whether humans or fey, whenever was needed.

While Anwae didn't wanted the Sisterhood to become involved in the Dragonfall War, she knew they were likely to become involved by giving their aid to Bahamut's dragonborn.