Cult of the Crushing Wave

The Cult of the Crushing Wave was a cult devoted to Olhydra and one of the four cults responsible for the Elemental Evil crisis.

Activities
The water cultists were fascinated by the crushing force of the sea and the raging torrents of rivers in flood and the rock-crushing power of ice and glaciers. They believed that all living creatures were only water imprisoned involuntarily and that their duty was to break those prisons in order to permit the seas and deep waters to reclaim those parts of themselves, usually by drowning them or shedding their blood.

Recruitment
The Crushing Wave cult usually recruited from those who lived in or near bodies of water, as well as those who appreciated subtlety and inevitability. Wicked sea creatures such as aquatic ghouls and merrows usually followed water cultists's commands and even non-sentient predators such as sharks or octopuses protected and served them.

Tactics and Philosophy
Water cultists' main personality traits were patience and stoicism, like earth cultists. They knew the value of outlasting formidable foes and slowly eroding their defenses. Unlike earth cultists, however, they were more adaptable and opportunistic. The water cultists always searched for a weak point or an opening and concentrated their efforts on starting at that point to gradually enlarge it. This attitude for pragmatism and opportunism attracted to the water cult the greatest number of mercenaries out of the four elemental cults. Water cultists were always in search of treasure and loot to finance their schemes.

History
The start of the modern water cult was when Gar Shatterkeel recovered one of the four elemental weapons crafted centuries before by the drow archmage and Elder Elemental Eye cultist Vizeran DeVir.

All their work culminated in 1491 DR at in the Fane of the Eye, under the ruined dwarven city of Tyar-Besil. Working simultaneously with the other three elemental cults, the water cultists tried to summon Olhydra to Toril using members of a missing diplomatic delegation from Mirabar and other captives as sacrifices.

Appearances

 * Princes of the Apocalypse