Kel'thuzad always wanted to start his own religion... so he did!


Transcript:
#1:
The Cult of the Damned was founded after the mage-turned-necromancer Kel'thuzad returned from Northrend and began executing the Lich King's plan. He preached for three years throughout Lordaeron, gathering many supporters from the disenfranchised masses, while also using his personal wealth to corrupt men in positions of power, to the point where most of Lordaeron's northern parts were completely under the control of the Cult. Afterwards, the Cult began spreading the plague throughout the land, first through infected grain, and then by using plague cauldrons. Kel'thuzad then named the growing undead army as the Scourge, as an homage to its intent to scour humanity from the world.


#2:
The Cult of the Damned's first and curent base of operations is the Scholomance complex beneath Caer Darrow. Originally property of the Barov family, who also incidentally owned Brill, Southshore and Tarren Mill, they willingly gave the island to Kel'thuzad in return for immortality. The Cult then renovated the ancient Arathorian fortress beneath the island, turning it into the largest school of necromancy in the Eastern Kingdoms.


#3:
The greatest aspiration for a cultist is to become undead, and thus immortal, themselves, which is considered a major honor among them. They remain alive, however, so that they may more easily infiltrate the mortal societies of Azeroth, and as motivation, since undeath is seen as an honor one must earn.


#4:
One of the more important members of the cult and former overseer of Scholomance was Ras Frostwhisper, a former rogue wizard of Stromgarde. Ras turned himself over to the Lich King in exchange for immortality early on, killing himself and being brought back to life as a lich in Stratholme. Unlike most liches, however, he did not bind his soul to a phylactery, making it cling instead to a keepsake from his previous life. As a result, the keepsake was used against him, turning him back into a human in the process, allowing him to be slain by adventurers.


#5:
During vanilla, the Cult atempted to create its own corrupted dragonflight, under the supervision of the skeletal mage Vectus. Vectus employed the goblin Tinkee Steamboil to gather black dragon eggs from the Burning Steppes and bring them to Scholomance, where they would then be plagued and grown to maturity. This plot was eventually foiled by the Argent Dawn, however, the Scourge did eventually employ, albeit in small numbers, plagued proto-dragons throughout Northrend.


#6:
The Cult of the Damned is presumably still alive today, even after the deaths of its previous leaders and the repeated sacking of Scholomance, as seen when they negotiated with the Shadow Council the matter of the Book of Medivh. Their relationship with Bolvar, the curent Lich King is unknown. On the one hand, they seem to be the only active part of the Scourge in the world and seem to act independently of Bolvar, but, on the other hand, the Cult did receive reinforcements in the form of Instructor Chillheart from Northrend. The Cult also seems to be at least somewhat involved in the affairs of the world, as it infiltrated the Twilight's Hammer's operations in Mount Hyjal.


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