Demarch's Alliance

Demarch's Alliance was a spellcasting organization based in the Halls of Demarch in the city of Tantras in the Vast in north Faerûn. It comprised a number of beguilers devoted to Leira and Mask.

Activities
The beguilers of Demarch's Alliance were used by the high priests of both Leira and Mask to maintain their deceptions and so conceal and protect the knowledge of their faiths.

Base
The members of Demarch's Alliance were based in the Halls of Demarch, a hidden guildhall beneath the city of Tantras.

History
Like other churches devoted to keeping secrets, the churches of Leira and Mask selected young children with sorcerous magical potential and raised them within the priesthood. They were trained to focus on illusion and enchantment magic, and became specialized mages known as beguilers. They also learned their deepest secrets of the church.

The beguilers of Leira and Mask allied in a single organization, known as Demarch's Alliance. The identity of "Demarch", whether a person or a thing, remained unknown to outsiders, and members refused to explain.

But shortly after the Time of Troubles of the Year of Shadows, 1358 DR, Mask betrayed Leira, helping Cyric murder her while he took the form of the sword Godsbane that Cyric wielded. Demarch's Alliance was broken and the two factions fought the vicious Battle of Demarch's Fall in the Halls of Demarch, leaving many dead and their former base infested with undead, shrouded in mist and the site of a rift to the Plane of Shadow.

The survivors fled across Faerûn, living in fear of revenge attacks and church agents seeking to learn or maintain their secrets, most never coming back. A few friendly ex-members, however, returned to the Halls of Demarch, believing the safest place to hide was the last place they were expected. Seeking a more solid form of magic for their protection, they discovered shadow magic and reformed into the Demarch's Folly organization.