The Friends of Kragnux (init. FoK) is a megachurch of Kragnux followers who can trace their roots all the way back to a chapter of The Heritage that was opened in Zobeck in 698 PR.
History
Humble Beginnings
The faction grew to prominence in 705 PR after a group of followers recovered the remains of Kragnux the mortal, revealing to the realm for the first time that Kragnux had left powerful artifacts in the form of his former body parts.
Soon the chapter expanded to a larger building to house the relics in proper reliquaries, and bought out several neighboring buildings to expand the church to roughly the size of a Zobeck city block. Soon, followers of Kragnux from all over the realm were visiting Zobeck and see all of the Artifacts together.
Under Pope Xoniface
When the former head of the religion Thwack was defeated by Xoniface in the early 700s PR, Xoniface took the mantle of leadership, giving himself the title of "Pope". Thwack's still imprisoned body was stored in a secret chamber in the Zobeck citadel, where it would stay for over 70 years. Pope Xoniface then commissioned a group of warriors called the Fingers of Kragnux trained to protect and defend the church's ideals in 707 PR. After establishing the paladins, Xoniface doubled down on the currently ongoing crusades and spread word through the realm that the Dragonborn race was as guilty as the Dragons.
This rash and false equivocation rippled through the various factions of Kragnux spread around the realm. Churches in the west, especially in Pteris, had a heavy dragonborn population, and many of them could not agree to the blasphemy that was disowning members of their own church. These factions united into another church known now as The Draconic Redeemers.
The other large church faction to arise out of these new commandments was The Heritage, which was founded by Thwack and still housed many original documents and relics related to Kragnux's life at the Fang Fu Monastery.
As a gesture of good will, and in the face of dissenting factions, Pope Xoniface lent out the Feet of Kragnux to The Draconic Redeemers and the Spine of Kragnux to The Heritage, splitting the artifacts in hopes to bring unity among the three major factions of the church.
Under Pope Felix
Pope Felix sent out a group of missionaries in 785 PR to recover to rebuild and sanctify the original colony on Cof where Thwack had intended to build the first church to Kragnux. The remnants of the colony still remained, although the name "Thwackville" had since been changed by The Brak Foundation to Brakville, commemorating a man who apparently died on the same set of fatal voyages that included Thwack's original missionaries.
Out of spite, Pope Felix provided ample resources and funding to build a monument on the site of the original church, and housed a group of defenders to protect the site at all times---but given the command to never defend the other colonists and members of the Brak Foundation.
To celebrate 100 years since Kragnux's original demise, Pope Felix commissioned a statue of the founder Thwack and had it shipped out to Cof.
The Battle of Chad marked the end of Felix's rule, when friends of Kragnux the mortal arrived on site to reveal the truth to the public, as well as take down those who lied about his race. In the ensuing battle, one crusader died, trying to protect Pope Felix. However, Felix also still murdered by Stumblebum, who wore his laurel and called himself the new pope...until the authorities arrived.
In the ensuing confusion, Zarachiel, who had also joined the invaders, took his position as the new leader of the church, while Stumblebum, now unconcious, was added to the pile of bodies, relics, and documents to be stored securely in Wyvern Mountain.
Under Pope Zarachiel
Before Zarachiel made any official commandments, the Church was still under strict orders to take all historical relics and documents and secure them in a quarantine in Wyvern Mountain. Unknown to the church officials, these items, included the still-imprisoned body of Thwack were being taken to the dragon Sorventh for destruction.
Pope Zarachiel's first commandment was to gather and promote all of Kragnux's friends in life. To do so, the church got a hold of a list called "Trusted Friends and Allies of Kragnux" from The Heritage, rescued from the ashes after it had been burned down. The list included many individuals including Torna, Gorin, Areesi, Lavinia, Verik, and Callum, who would be scryed by the scrying team and then brought forward to join the church officially as a part of Zarachiel's reformation.
In 794 PR, Zarachiel established a connection to a mercenary group called The Gathering Shadow, having learned of their existence through Reaper, a formal acquaintance of Kragnux. Reaper was able to reconnect with his past guild, but paid the ultimate price in doing so. After the group's leader, a man named Azazel, had spoke with Zarachiel, the assassins were unofficially brought on board to carry out a variety of violent missions that were never meant to see public light.
The Beginning of the End
One such violent mission included the search and destruction of The Draconic Redeemers, once a loyal group of Kragnux followers, but now nothing more than another branch of Tiamat's Cult of the Dragon. This mission was questioned by others, including the commander of the Levinkan's armies, who would hire Esimal as a mole in the operation, sabotaging it at the last minute, and bringing the leader Neronvain under arrest, instead of outright killing him.
Neronvain's arrest and interrogation (by Princess Meow Meow) lead to the church to learn about Tiamat's imminent return to the realm. As an act of proactive defense, Pope Zarachiel took the church's various factions and began assembling crusading teams, much like they did a century ago. These teams were composed of members of the crusaders, the adventurers, and the assassins.
Meanwhile, the Church also began to build a plan that would kill the dragon Ith and destroy his soul completely, they underwent a series of trials to recover powerful artifacts from around Osugbo. One such mission involved infiltrating Tawarakami and stealing a Draconic Soul Cell from a museum there. This mission upset the LaCroix Kingdom, who were rulers of the town at the time.
Thus began yet another violent mission, this time involving the infiltration of LaCroix, home to the LaCroix vampyre family. After rightly believing that Mathias Edgar had been spying on the church and attempting to undermine their political connections (in revenge for the mentioned heist), a small but powerful army, (composed of The Best Around members and various church clerics) was sent to his citadel in the capital city. Willow, who had contracted lycanthropy, was sent as bait to allowing entrance into the LaCroix capital building. It was there that Sir Morswyn, Bart, and others joined in fighting the LaCroix king, ultimately killing him with Pelorian sunlight.
Destruction
See The Sundown
The Friends of Kragnux formally disbanded in 796 PR, one year after the destruction of their megachurch. By that time, almost all followers of Kragnux had moved on to supporting Bahamut, who had made himself present at the church following the destruction of Ith.
Organization
The true leader of the church is the Pope. Under the pope are 4 columns, each in charge of one aspect of the Friends of Kragnux.
The School of Lore
A team of sages and scholars worked under the Pope in the school of lore. These sages were led for a time by Merkel Fackler.
The School of Power
The school of power houses a group of very strong mages and anti-mages, dedicated to breaking old magical holds and locks, as well as contain magical threats and imprison enemies of the church. This school was led by Galen Medici.
The Fingers of Kragnux
A group of 10 high ranking paladins, the Fingers were separated into groups of two and provided mages and automatons to assist them in their quest for realm wide peace.
Service Partners
A variety of contracted services were also key to the church's success. Gothorm Stormwick was the church's official contraction mediator, and he organized the deals with various third parties. This included the purchase of Automs from Pendergras Innovations and divination services (prophecies, scrying) from the Truthsought Scrying School of Zobeck. The church also operated it's own adventuring team, know as The Best Around. One of the last servicing partners before the Church's collapse was the assassins guild known as The Gathering Shadow, who undertook violent off-the-record missions against dragon worshipers.
Properties
Being well funded and spread out over the eastern half of Quelmar, the Friends of Kragnux owned several notable properties.
The Zobeck Church of Kragnux
The Crossed Hilt
The Crossed Hilt was an old watch tower that had been abandoned on one of the coastal points of southeast Osugbo. Just a day north of Zobeck, the Church rennovated the tower, weakened its foundations in the event it needed to be quickly demolished, and stuffed it full of its greatest enemies and prisoners.
Two notable enemies of the church who were kept in the crossed hilt included Reesec (a friend of Kragnux when he was alive) and Umbrex, a mentor and colleague of Kragnux's when he was still at Fang Fu.
Xoniface Points
Xoniface Points were small prisons that opened up under the ruling of Pope Xoniface between the years 707 and 730 PR. These were either purchased from towns in Osugbo and Levinkan or were rented out as parts of laarger penetentaries. Xoniface Points were private prisons used exclusively to house anyone who was arrested by the Fingers of Kragnux or affiliated forces. One such Xoniface Point was located in Vanaleigh.
