Founder is a historical character in the Mask of the Betrayer campaign story. Her actual name is never stated.
Red Woman[]
The Founder was a Red Wizard of Thay, a transmuter of prodigious power. Her lover was Akachi, the Chosen high priest of Myrkul, god of the dead. However, The Founder was Faithless.
The Founder died due to accidental spell backfire. Akachi petitioned Myrkul to spare her from the Wall of the Faithless, but Myrkul refused him. In his anger, Akachi turned against his faith and god. He rallied an army to the Fugue Plane where he launched the Betrayer's Crusade and rescued The Founder's soul before being captured by Myrkul.
In punishment, Myrkul turned Akachi into a spirit eater, an embodiment of the hunger of the Wall. The Founder escaped, and Myrkul set a geas upon Akachi's brother Araman to destroy her.
Mask of the Betrayer[]
The Founder sought to remove the curse from Akachi. She founded the Academy of Shapers and Binders in Thaymount, hence her title. She was unaware of Araman's devotion to Myrkul's last tasks, and had allowed him to join the academy because she remembered him as Akachi's shy younger brother.
The Founder created Nefris, Lienna, and Safiya from fragments of her own soul. She was behind all the events that led the player to Rashemen - and to the spirit eater.
Eventually the player finds the way through to The Founder's Sanctum. Upon rescuing The Founder from Araman, she admits to being guilty of all her crimes she had committed against the PC. She presents the player with a fully restored Silver Sword of Gith, stating that the only way the player can restore himself/herself, and Akachi, is to enter the Betrayer's Gate and launch a third crusade to assault the Wall of the Faithless.
The player can choose to spare The Founder's life or kill her.