Dagult Neverember
Dagult Neverember is the wealthy Lord Protector of Neverwinter and formerly the Open Lord of Waterdeep as of the late 15th century DR. He is a member of the Lords' Alliance.
Neverember is tall, broad-shouldered, and strikingly good-looking, with angular features, a mane of silver-flecked "pumpkin-brown" hair, and deep-set but shining dark eyes. He was often called a "lion of a man" for both his appearance and bearing, and was said to have the look of a strong ruler.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Early Life
Dagult Neverember was born into the noble Neverember family in the Year of Ten Terrors, 1429 DR. He grew up in Neverwinter, and even from a young age, he began to dream about creating a mercantile empire for himself. At some point he moved to Waterdeep and firmly established himself there, so much so that the people of Neverwinter did not see him as one of their own when he eventually returned.
From Waterdeep, he achieved his goal of building a mercantile empire, and became obscenely rich and thus influential. At some point, Neverember began to invest heavily in the island of Mintarn, where he founded a ship-building company as well as facilities to train mercenaries. He also bankrolled the White Sails company, which grew to become the biggest Tarnian provider of soldiers and ships for hire.
In Waterdeep, he married into the noble Brandarth family, adding his wife's broad property holdings and wealth to his own. She bore him a son, Renaer, before dying when the boy was still in his youth and leaving everything to him instead of to Dagult.
Neverember became the Open Lord of Waterdeep circa the Year of the First Circle, 1468 DR. By this time, he had become one of the richest men in the city, and thanks to both his resources and his political acumen, Waterdeep began to thrive after years of neglect. Not all went smoothly, however. In an unpopular move among the nobility, he instituted a law that allowed for a limited number of Waterdhavian titles to be bought and sold. He personally organized the sale of many noble titles to potential allies in exchange for the promise that he could rely on their support in the future, while also profiting in the present. He also immediately implemented a tax on all residents of the city, requiring them to pay one shard each month when the City Guard came knocking. Furthermore, within a year he had lost most of the City Navy after sending them to hunt Northlander pirates, and so hired a fleet of Tarnian mercenary ships to replace them (and proceeded to profit from spending Waterdeep's funds to hire companies in which he was an investor).
Lord Protector of Neverwinter
In the Year of Splendors Burning, 1469 DR, Neverember turned his attention to the ruined city of Neverwinter, which had been destroyed when Mount Hotenow erupted 18 years earlier. He started the "New Neverwinter" movement to rebuild the city, claiming himself to be the "Lord Protector of Neverwinter". This role was commonly understood to be one of stewardship, with the recognition that he would legally step down if an heir to the Alagondar line of Neverwintian kings came forward to claim their throne. However, Neverember aimed to prove that he himself was a descendant of Neverwinter's former kings and thus a rightful king of Neverwinter. To lend credence to his claims, Neverember invested a great deal of his own personal fortune to rebuild the city's infrastructure, buy the interest of merchants, keep the city safe by employing an army of Tarnian mercenaries, and even ensure that Neveren refugees had enough food and gold in hand. Within a decade, a steady flow of refugees were returning to the city and Neverember had turned himself into the linchpin of Neverwinter's stability by providing Neverens with ever-improving security, work, and access to goods.
Neverember's true intentions were popularly understood to be imperialistic, and his efforts to increase the prosperity of the city were in order to gain the favor and love of the Neverens so that they would welcome him as their king in the future, thus transforming Neverwinter into the center of his powerful mercantile empire. While he was quite popular with refugees who returned to the city under his watch, Neverember's army of Tarnian "peacekeepers" soon aggravated many locals, notably among those who hadn't fled the city following the Ruining. In addition to his army of mercenaries, Neverember also paid for an army of carpenters, stonemasons, and artisans to rebuild Neverwinter. To spur economic growth, he implemented a policy of few regulations on trade and low taxes on imported goods, hoping to attract back former residents as well as merchants from across Faerûn. This largely succeeded, and as the city grew, he took a keen mercantile interest in the trade and visitors coming and going via the docks. By the end of the 1470s DR, the docks had been rebuilt fully (at the cost of every tree on the Upland Rise north of the city) and a steep tariff had been imposed on incoming merchant ships.
Shortly after his arrival in the city, Neverember began prioritizing a fortification known as the Wall to keep his New Neverwinter operation safe and to protect his base of operations at the Hall of Justice, a former temple to Tyr that he had selected largely because of its emotional significance to the people of Neverwinter. In the Year of the Fourth Circle, 1474 DR, Neverember announced the completion of his "Protector's Enclave", a section in the southwest of Neverwinter that he declared to be (mostly) rebuilt and as safe as any other city. While it was more secure than the rest of the ruins—it was protected by the Wall and was centered on the Hall of Justice—it was also a veritable police state under the strict control of Neverember and his mercenaries who patrolled the streets, his spies who kept the residents in line, and his tax collectors who kept the operation funded. Any defiance or opposition against Neverember's rule was swiftly, and often violently, repressed within the Protector's Enclave. This ultimately led to the rise of the Sons of Alagondar, an underground movement associated with the Harpers, who were dedicated to resisting Neverember's reign in Neverwinter, fearing that his imperialistic goals would not aid the people of the city in the long run.
Neverember increasingly began to spend most of his time in Neverwinter, and left much of the day-to-day running of Waterdeep to his trusted lieutenants, including clerks and bureaucrats loyal to him personally and allies among the Lords of Waterdeep. He traveled to Waterdeep only irregularly, meaning his visits were hectic affairs in which he dealt with long-delayed legal and governance decisions as well as a flurry of meetings and events, including speeches, conferences with nobles and merchants, and summary court rulings. He was known to handle matters important to the city without communicating with the other Lords of Waterdeep, often using stalling tactics to keep them out of his way. Amidst all of this, he still found time for womanizing in Waterdeep, including a year-long torrid romance with Kalain, an artist whom he met when she painted his portrait in the Year of the Final Stand, 1475 DR. When he was busy with his new duties in Waterdeep, he left the day-to-day running of Neverwinter to General Sabine and Mayor Soman Galt.
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