Eminence of Araunt

The Eminence of Araunt was a relatively new power in Toril, although it was an ancient organization in Abeir. Brought to the world on the planeshifted continent of Laerakond, The Eminence viewed itself as the de facto ruler of all undead across Toril.

Organization
The organization's headquarters were located in the catacombs of Nornglast in Eskorn. The region had a reputation for being haunted, and the Eminence used those stories to cover its activities. The Eminence believed that all its members were equals, but a few ones had higher positions than others.

While the organization was primarily made up by undead, it also employed a limited number of living allies, which it used as spies and traders to procure the exotic components required for the Eminence's rituals. Most of Araunt's "citizens" were specters and ghosts, called up by the Eminence's rituals. Both direhelms and doomsepts were undead formed of several spirits, created to defend the Eminence's "principalities".

Araunt was hostile to all other cults and kingdoms of the undead, including Thay. Skirmishes were fought between the two major undead powers in the last decades of the 15th century DR, with a full war brewing in the catacombs of the world. Vampires, liches and other strong-willed undead sometimes allied with Araunt, but rarely stayed with the organizations for any length of time.

Activities
Through a series of rituals The Eminence connected undead-only portals known as the deathways to the catacombs and crypts of the world, raised the interred and declared them "principalities" of Araunt.

History
Founded some 500 years before 1479 DR, in the world of Abeir, the Eminence of Araunt got its start in an Eskornar dragon's tomb where the bone naga, Lod, scribed the Codex of Araunt onto stone tablets. The Codex predicted the slow expansion of the "kingdom" over the centuries.

The Eminence of Araunt was brought to Toril on the continent of Laerakond during the Spellplague. The Eminence began to expand its operations on Faerûn in the decade of the 1470s DR, and went into conflict with other undead-only organizations and kingdoms.

In 1479 DR, the conflict between Thay and the Eminence escalated into a full war, and both factions used Rashemen as their battlefield. Although Lod was destroyed by the Brotherhood of the Griffon during a major battle, the Eminence endured thanks to the leadership of the undead lamia Meremoth.

Notable members

 * Lod, the bone naga and founder of the Eminence.
 * Meremoth, an undead lamia and leader after Lod's destruction.