Men of the Basilisk

The Men of the Basilisk was a society of wealthy merchants and nobles with a thirst for adventure.

Organization
The Men of the Basilisk was a rigorously all-male group, organized into cells whose jurisdiction was over the cities in which they were based. These cities were Daerlun, Iriaebor, Marsember, Saerloon, Selgaunt, Suzail, Urmlaspyr, and Westgate. Members were free to transfer from one cell to another at an annual meeting for all members held every winter in Teziir.

The society were headed by a group of eight overseers known as the Octad. Each member of the Octad was appointed by the cell in each city in which the Men had influence over, and democratically confirmed by the entire membership. They had set terms of office of no longer than two years and were not allowed to serve consecutive terms. Terms were staggered so as to select four Octad members at the same time. The Octad's duties were to determine the organization's overall goals and arrange the annual all-member winter meeting. There were responsible for coordinating communication between cells and, individually, to run their respective cells, but their highest priority was to ensure the society's secrecy.

Admission to the Men of the Basilisk was by secret invitation only, after a thorough background check. Prospective members must be wealthy, powerful, unattached to other organizations, and of course, male. (Those who refuse the invitation are eliminated to ensure secrecy. ) On paper, once a member is fully inducted and declared a "Brother", they are all equal in power and status, however, in practice, the deeds and clout of certain individual Brothers placed them above their peers.

Activities
The first thing potential new members were expected to do was go to the ruins of Battlegate Keep, where they were directed to enter the hideaway known as the Auantiver Labyrinth, inside which lived the Purple Basilisk. Their chances of defeating such a terrible creature were incredibly slim so they would have to use their wits to evade it and find the exit, which would deposit them in Teziir.

Once inducted, the Men of the Basilisk undercut their competitors outside of the group, using bribery, intimidation, murder, torture, and colluding with their fellow brothers to influence local economics and business in their favor. They preferred to stay within the bounds of the law but would resort to illegal acts whenever they deemed them necessary, or even just more convenient.

Every year, the group held a winter feast in Teziir for all of their members, celebrating the new recruits who escaped the Auantiver Labyrinth, electing the new members of the Octad, and discussing the year's business.

Of most import though, was keeping the brotherhood's involvement in such activities a secret. To that end, they usually acted through proxies, for example, the Westgate cell frequently employed the Night Masks for assassinations (at least until the two groups started a feud). They also paid special attention to anybody who betrayed the group, sparing little in the way of time, effort, and resources until the turncoat was eliminated, as an example to others.

Base of Operations
The Men of the Basilisk's headquarters was located in Teziir, but it was lightly staffed and activities there were kept under an even greater blanket of secrecy so that they would not lose access to the city for their annual feast. An unassuming warehouse in Teziir's port district housed the heavily-warded secret cellar which served the group as their base. As well as magical wards against divination and teleportation, the cellar was also protected by magical and nonmagical traps as well as stone golems. Several influential members of Teziir's government were also heavily bribed to keep authorities away from the warehouse above it.

Possessions
The resources of the Men of the Basilisk were almost entirely predicated on the wealth of it's constituent members. This was a vast amount however since almost every member was a very wealthy individual. The only things claimed to be owned by the group as a whole was the Auantiver Labyrinth and their headquarters in Teziir.

Relationships
The Westgate chapter, though once commonly utilizing the Night Masks for assassinations, eventually entered into a longstanding feud with those thieves and assassins, possibly due to their control over certain of the city's nobility.

The activities of the Sembian cell of the Cult of the Dragon had bankrupted several members of the Men of the Basilisk, leading the Cult to be seen as enemies of all basiliskans even though the Cult was largely unaware of their existence. Clandestine efforts to undermine and damage the Cult were well underway in.

A faction within the Selgaunt chapter of the Men of the Basilisk considered the Red Wizards an enemy, but opinion was divided as to whether to take action against the Thayan spies in the city.

The Iriaebor chapter was engaged in turf wars with the Iriaeben Knights of the Shield, fueled by reports that the Knights were responsible for many of their recent setbacks, including the Harper pogrom against them. Unbeknownst to the basilikans, an unknown third party was funneling information (albeit true information) both to them and the Knights to pit the two groups against each other. Elsewhere in the Caravan Cities, conflicts between proxies of the Knights and the basiliskans had been going on for decades. The Octad had agreed that strategic assassinations of the Knights was the way forward.

The Iron Throne were under investigation by the Men of the Basilisk to discover the identities of their leaders and what their true goals actually were. Interactions between the two groups were cautious affairs.

History
The Men of the Basilisk were founded in, when the twenty young noblemen who consisted of the adventuring Company of Jade stumbled into the Auantiver Labyrinth while exploring Battlegate Keep. The Company were the first visitors to the hideaway since when the heirs to no less than four noble houses of Cormyr died there. The lordlings encountered the Purple Basilisk inside, which resulted in the loss of twelve of their number before the survivors managed to escape through the Labyrinth's exit to Teziir. Those surviving eight men retired from adventuring, and went on to come into their nobility as particularly powerful examples of their breed in the lands surrounding the western Sea of Fallen Stars, but every winter, they would meet, reminisce about their shared pasts, and foment plots regarding their collective fortunes.

Almost three decades later, in, the members of the Men of the Basilisk, approaching old age, decided to open up their ranks to new members - testing them as they were once tested in the Auantiver Labyrinth. Initially, they only recruited from among the socialites of Cormyr and Sembia, but later expanded their efforts to the Caravan Cities and the rest of the Dragon Coast.

In, Lord Bron and the Harpers led an effort to remove the basiliskans from Iriaebor. The chapter took an entire decade to recover from this, tripling their membership from a low of five people. In, several deaths among the nobility of the city of Westgate elevated many of the Westgate chapter's members to positions of greater power and influence. The death of Victor Dhostar in the same year also caused a lull in the activities of the Night Masks, who had been acting as a check on the influence of the chapter. This lull allowed the Men of the Basilisk to increase their membership in the city. In 1370 DR, the Cormyrian chapter was deeply affected by investigations from the War Wizards of Cormyr, forcing members to go into hiding. On the other hand, the Sembian chapter grew greatly, thanks to their new local leader Harlyn Grimmerhand. In bandits and slavers working for the Men of the Basilisk could be found plying their trade in and around Ilipur.

Members
Many members of the Men of the Basilisk were once adventurers, and so often could hold their own if they ever had to defend themselves, and had access to magic items. Otherwise, they were typically noblemen and/or merchants. Fighters and rogues were preferred as mages were not seen as team players and clerics loyalties to their deity or church was seen as a conflict of interest.

Notable Men of the Basilisk

 * Rhiindaerth Emmarask: Octad member representing Marsember in 1370 DR
 * Harlyn Grimmerhand: Octad member representing Daerlun in 1370 DR
 * Tenshorn Hawklin: Younger brother of Barandos Hawklin
 * Tandarsyn Mhorhune: A wizard dwelling in the Vast Swamp
 * Breldar Syndlorn: Merchant of Selgaunt; former pirate and Octad member
 * Thessar: Octad member representing Westgate in 1370 DR
 * Denlarych Wainwalker: Octad member representing Iriaebor in 1370 DR