Neverwinter

Neverwinter Neverwinter, also known as the city of Skilled Hands and the Jewel of the North was a multi-racial city-state sitting on the Northwestern Sword Coast of Faerun. Neverwinter was regarded by Volo as the most cosmopolitan and the most civilized city in all of Faerun. They city was a member of the Lords’ Alliance. The city was originally named “Eigersstor” which was a Illuskan word. The name “Neverwinter” was the Chondathan translation. A Number of legends Purported to explain where the city’s name came from, but they contradict each other. Some believed that the city was founded by a sun elf named Halueth Never, who led the elves of Iliyanbruen against an Illuskan invasion in -10 DR. Surrounded by his enemies, he chose a site where the river met the sea to make his last stand, naming the place “Never’s Winter,” believing he would die in the ensuing battle. However human allies arrived just in time to come to his aid, and together they defeated the Illuskans. Never founded the city, keeping the name. Over the years the name was shortened to “NeverWinter” Others such as volo and Elminster, considered that the name came from its gardens. This was also the source of the city’s moniker, “The City of Skilled Hands,”for the Neverwinter’s gardeners were acclaimed throughout the realms for their ability to keep their gardens growing even through winter. The Locals, however, believed that the name came from the city's unusually warm climate, and how its docks were always ice-free in all but the coldest winters. It was believed this was because of the Neverwinter River that flowed through the city, as well as heated by fire elementals living under the nearby Mount Hotenow in the Neverwinter Wood. The Heat given off from the river created a permanent warm climate in the immediate area. History The first settlement in the Savage frontier was an elven city Known as Illefarn. Illefarn became a bustling nation after the time of the Crown Wars. Eventually, Illefarn was divided into three nations, of which Liiyanbruen was the most prominent. Iliyanbruen was weakened by orc invasions, which paved the way for Eigersstor, the first multi-racial settlement in the area, which would later be called Neverwinter. Neverwinter became a center of civilization, peace, and culture and was widely viewed as a marvel by visitors. This tred lasted, seemingly unbroken since its founding until 1372 DR when a disease known as the Wailing Death laid low most of the city’s inhabitants. Then in 1385 DR, the Spellplague struck. The century that followed saw the rise in power of Netheril. Netherese loyalists infiltrated the power structure of the weakened Neverwinter, but their efforts were sidetracked by the eruption of Mount Hotenow in 1451 DR, so powerful that laid the city to waste and killed the ruling royal family. In 1467 DR, Lord Dagult Neverember, Open lord of Waterdeep, seeing an opportunity to add to his financial empire, hired workers to help rebuild the city and Mintarn Mercenaries to protect it from monsters and bandits; claiming himself to be a descendent of Neverwinter’s former rulers and thus the rightful “Lord Protector” of the city, Started the New Neverwinter movement. Lord Neverember invested a great deal of his own personal fortune to rebuild the city's infrastructure, buy the interest of the merchants to send their caravans again to Neverwinter, and ensuring Neverwintan Refugees had enough food and gold in hand. By 1491 DR, Neverember’s efforts to rebuild the city proved successful, and Neverwinter had slowly being restored as a center of civilization in the Sword Coast North. Government As of 1370 DR, the city was ruled fairly and justly by Lord Nasher Alagondar, an aging, veteran adventurer and devout worshiper of Tyr. As such, the Neverwintans followed the Tyrran faith that promoted justice and fairness, with greed being frowned upon Lord Nasher ensured that the city was well defended before his death, both physically and magically, against attacks or infiltration from Luskan, Neverwinter’s warlike rival. Maps of the city were not allowed to be made as a part of an effort to thwart Luskan spies. While Lord Nasher was a nominal leader of Neverwinter, the real power in the city was held by the Many-Starred Cloak, and order of good-aligned wizards that supported the rule of Lord Nasher. Lord Nasher Rejected the position of King of Neverwinter for much of his life, accepting the title only in old age, by public acclamation. After his death, he was succeeded by his son Bann Alagondar, who founded the Algondar royal family. The Algondar line of kings and queens ruled justly and kept Neverwinter stable and prosperous even in the dark period the followed the Spellplague, until the destruction of Neverwinter after the eruption of the Mount Hotenow, when all members of the royal family died in the disaster. As part of his bid to create a mercantile empire in Neverwinter, Dagult Neverember created the title of “Lord Protector of Neverwinter” held by Neverember himself, in 1462 DR. However it was questioned whether Dagult was the rightful ruler, as many factions vied for Neverwinter and the citizens were divided in loyalties. As he had to fulfill his obligations as Open Lord of Waterdeep, Lord neverember left the day-to-day running of the city to General Sabine and Mayor Soman Galt. In 1489 DR, Lord Neverember was Exiled from Waterdeep and replaced as Open Lord by Laeral Silverhand. After being ousted of his city and former position, Neverember then focused all of his efforts to his role of Lord Protector of Neverwinter and its citizens, then Neverwintans finally accepted Lord Neverember as their rightful Leader. Bitter over being Exiled from Waterdeep, however, Neverember became more despotic than ever and enforced heavy-handed laws. He Levied heavy Taxes to noble families living in Neverwinter, preventing them from getting significant power, while enacting harsh laws that prohibited of new guilds and limited the power of existing ones. Defenses As of 1372 DR Neverwinter had a strong army , the greycloaks, composed of 400 archers and spear men, that doubled as a city guard and patrolled the high Road from Port Llast to Leilom. If the city’s walls were threatened by orcs or Luskan Attackers, the defenders could catapult explosive missiles down on the attackers. Both missiles and the specifically designed catapults were devised by the best “skilled hands” of the city’s namesake. In desperate situations, Lord Nasher could call upon the wizards of the order of the Many-Starred Cloak for help. As of 1479 DR, the army of the city, known as the neverwinter Guard, was composed mostly of Mintarn mercenaries hired by Lore Neverember, and a few independent militia forces assembled by the citizens also helped to protect the city in times of need. Lord Neverember hired adventuring bands to deal with threats to the city at that the Mintarn mercenaries could not handle. With the city rebuilding in the late years of the 1480s DR, many of the Sons of Alagondar volunteered themselves to serve in the Neverwinter Guard, making Lord Neverember to depend less on the services of mercenaries to help protect Neverwinter and train the local troops rather than to accept the help of the armies of the Masked Lords of Waterdeep, who he felt had betrayed him. Society As of 1370 DR, Neverwinter was a cosmopolitan and cultured city, and even merchants from Amn and Calimshan, who had a poor opinion about the cities of the North considered Neverwinter to be a civilized place. The Neverwintans avoided conflict and controversy, and were considered to be quiet, mannered, literate, efficient, and hardworking folk, who had the greatest respect for deadlines, as well as property and happiness of others. Amid all the weird-following tolerance and variety of the city, there was a great respect for peacefulness, law and order. After the foundation of the Alagondar royal family in the late years of the 14th century DR, the Neverwintans became a very patriotic people, proud of their leaders and their city. After the Destruction of the city in 1451 DR, the Neverwintans showed a new facet; stubbornness and determination. May survivors remained in the city, and ever since had demonstrated the resolution to rebuild Neverwinter to its former glory and to defend her from many dangers, both mortal and extraplanar alike. Religion The main faiths in Neverwinter in the 14th century were those of Helm, Oghma and Tyr. The Temples of the Hall of Justice and the House of Knowledge served to cater the faithful of Tyr and Oghma, while the faithful of Helm congregated in nearby Helm’s Hold. While the Deaths of Helm and Tyr in the years before the Spellplague, their faiths were replaced by those of Torm and his subordinate deity Bahamut as well as the faith of Selune, as her followers wanted to bring hope to the peoples of Neverwinter. By 1479 DR, the faith of Asmodeus had become popular as well, and the ashmadai had a great influence in the city’s politics. Kelemvor’s Faithful had also a strong presence in the city since before 1479 DR, and members of his faith were focusing on cleansing Neverdeath of undead and other evil forces. The Neverwintans never Stopped to revere Tyr even after his death, and when the god returned to life after the Second Sundering, his faith was quickly accepted again in Neverwinter, and became as popular as it was before. Trade and Business Around 1370 DR, Neverwinter controlled much of the mining trade from dwarf and gnome outposts from the nearby Underdark, by using hidden ways in various warehouses in the city. It also had a large fishing economy, and did good trade in logging from the Neverwinter Wood. Neverwinter traded mostly with the nearby city of Waterdeep. However, Neverwinter’s true assets were its importance as a center of craftwork learning, and magical innovation. Merchant and crafters usually practiced their works in the buildings dedicated for such task. Street vendors were rarely seen in Neverwinter. With the destruction of Neverwinter in 1451 DR, trade came to a total halt in the region. After 1461 DR as a part of the rebuilding efforts Lord Neverember focused much of his resources to restore trade and to contract crafters to help restore the city’s infrastructure. Merchants from the “New” continent of Laerakond began to trade with Faerunian cities of the Sword Coast some years before 1479 DR. In Neverwinter, a group of traders from Tarmalune, one of the Windrise Ports of Laerakond, approached Lord Neverember in hopes to establish permanent trade routes between the two continents. Around 1491 DR, Neverwinter was a city full of opportunities. As word spread that Neverwinter was restored, merchants from both the North and southerns lands became interested in trading with the city once again. Likewise, Lord Neverember began to work to forge a trading alliance with the restored Gauntlgrym, in the hopes of increasing the prosperity of both cities, while ensuring his advantage over the nobles and merchants from Waterdeep and Baldur’s Gate. Without guilds to restrict trade to construction, those who wanted to start a business in Neverwinter could simply do so, and those traders who dealt with basic products, such as foodstuff, became wealthy just by selling their goods in the city. Likewise, there was demand for many jobs, and those who wanted to offer their services either as workers or as apprentices had plenty of options despite the high competition. Layout Before the eruption of Mount Hotenow, Neverwinter was a picturesque city and boasted such sights and edifices that would be noteworthy in other cities, but were fairly common features in the Jewel of the North. Neverwinter was usually described as being a “laid out roughly in the shape of an eye” with the Neverwinter River marking a long axis roughly east and west. One end of the city was the harbor, and the other end was the Upland Rise, and Beyond that the Neverwinter Wood. Four gates were located in its walls, two in the northwestern and the northeastern corners, and two in the southwestern and southeastern corners. Among it most prominent vistas were its three spectacular, intricately carved bridges: the Dolphin , the Winged Wyvern, and the Sleeping Dragon, considered the city’s emblems by its inhabitants. Under these, the waters of the Neverwinter River cascaded over small gentle waterfalls as they coursed into the cities bustling harbor. Its lamps of multi-colored glass, its precision water clocks and exquisite jewelry , and its magnificent gardens( The phase “The City of Skilled Hands” referred to Neverwinter’s accomplished gardners) ensured the warm winters are colorful and the summers were rich with fresh fruit. The city was full of beautiful and ingeniously designed buildings, many of which were famous in their own right, such as the House of Knowledge, Neverwinter’s tall and many-windowed temple of Oghma; the Hall of Justice, the temple of Tyr and public office for the rulers of the city; and Castle Never, the castle of the ruler of Neverwinter. In addition, the reputations of such unique taverns as the Moonstone Mask, the Shining Serpent Inn, and the Fallen Tower reached far beyond the city’s walls and further added to the city’s distinction. After the Ruining, the city was almost entirely destroyed. Of the three bridges, only the Winged Wyverns remained functional. Much of southeastern quadrant of the city collapsed into a yawning pit, known as the Chasm, that continually spawned plague changed horrors. Many former edifices and homes became martial garrisons to maintain the monsters at bay. Although Neverwinter remained in ruins for almost two decades, thanks to Lord Neverember’s efforts the city began to be repaired to its former glory in the late years of the 1480s DR. Inns like the Driftwood Tavern and the Beached Leviathan became pretty popular across the Sword Coast. The Chasm was magically sealed around 1484 DR, although at such as cost to the city’s coffers, that some of its outer walls still lay in ruins and several of its neighborhoods remained abandoned and invaded by monsters and brigands by 1491 DR. Inhabitants As of 1370 DR, Neverwinter was inhabited mostly by humans, half elves, and a minority of dwarves. As of 1479 DR, the city became more cosmopolitan, with members of many races living alongside members of the common human and half-elven families. The rare eladrin, and even tieflings were common sights among the citizens. A sizeable delegation of dragonborn mercenaries had been hired by Lord Neverember alongside the Mintarn ones. The river District was invaded by a tribe of orcs from Many-Arrows, and although most of them left Neverwinter when they were recalled by their compatriots in the north, around 1484 DR, a few orcs and half orcs were still living in Neverwinter as of 1491 DR. Organizations The many of the organizations that operated in Neverwinter took on a more prominent role in 1479 DR and the following years. As of 1491 DR Many of these factions still vied for control of the city. Among the most important were: The Covenant, an order of wizards that operated out of Neverwinter during its earlier years. the Many-Starred Cloak, an order of wizards that supported the rule of Lord Nasher Alagondar in the 1370s DR. The Graycloaks militia that protected Neverwinter during the rule of Lord Nasher Alagondar. A cell of the Harpers that has operated in Neverwinter since before 1370 DR. The New Neverwinter movement started by Lord Neverember in 1461 DR. The Neverwinter Guard, the army of Neverwinter in the late years of the 15th century. The dreaded Abolethic Sovereignty, that was pulling the strings from behind the shadows in Neverwinter since the eruption of Mount Hotenow. The Ashmadai, who had gained great renown in Neverwinter in the late years of the 15th century. A Thayan cell under Valindra Shadowmantle, operating in Neverwinter in the late years of the 15th century to advance Szass Tam's agenda in the region. The Dead Rats of Luskan, who had gained a foothold in Neverwinter in the late years of the 15th century. The Sons of Alagondar insurgent movement that opposed Neverember's rule, but was mostly disbanded by 1491 DR. A cell of Bregan D'aerthe, under the direct leadership of Jarlaxle Baenre himself. A cell of the Order of the Gauntlet, that became prominent in Neverwinter around 1491 DR.

Type

Large city

Included Locations