Seldra Tylmarande

Seldra Tylmarande was a half-elf woman who attempted to claim the throne of Neverwinter in 1478 DR using some clever ruses.

Appearance
Seldra was described as an attractive brunette half-elf of about thirty years. She commonly wore leather armor with a brown cloak and wielded a longsword that she kept at her hip. She also had a spellscar on her arm. She rarely activated her spellscar, but when she did, it wreathed her arms and face in blue fire.

As the "Lost Heir", Seldra wore plate armor with a full helm that obscured her face. Atop the helm was the Crown of Neverwinter. She also wore a purple cloak. The Lost Heir activated his spellscar far more frequently, persuading onlookers that it was an ability imbued by the Crown.

Biography
Seldra was born with a spellscar that allowed her to create and exert limited control over plaguechanged creatures. She claimed to have inherited it from her father.

Seldra was a spy in service to Dagult Neverember in Waterdeep but only took the job so that she could keep tabs on the Open Lord of Waterdeep. The Open Lord came to trust her implicitly however, owing to her skills and effectiveness in carrying out his orders—he considered her one of his top agents and granted her a great deal of autonomy. While in the City of Splendors, Seldra used her resources and autonomy granted to her by her employer to have a wizard create a replica of the Crown of Neverwinter—worn by the House of Alagondar—that was lost in the volcanic eruption in Neverwinter. She hoped to use it to rally the people of Neverwinter around herself. In 1478 DR, Seldra hired some adventurers in Waterdeep to escort her and a coffer to her home city of Neverwinter. The fake Crown was in the coffer.

A Red Wizard named Tolivast, in service to Valindra Shadowmantle, had learned that she was transporting the supposed Crown and stole it as soon as Seldra's ship arrived in Neverwinter. The adventurers Seldra hired to escort her tracked Tolivast to Neverdeath Graveyard and retrieved the Crown.

With her Crown in hand, Seldra continued with her plan. She invented a male persona and used her skills as a spy to convince people that he was a lost heir of House Alagondar, becoming an honorary member of the Sons of Alagondar, who supported his claim to the throne. Unknown to all, however, Tolivast had managed to place a curse on the Crown before it was taken back and the more that Seldra wore it, the more it drove her insane. She became increasingly paranoid as her grip on reality slipped from her fingers.

Seldra's plan was to use her spellscar to orchestrate attacks on Neverwinter by plaguechanged creatures under her command then to swoop in as the Lost Heir and save the day. She succeeded in this, earning her alter-ego a grand reputation quite quickly while also working to foil Dagult Neverember's investigations into who this "lost heir" was. Within a week, Neverwinter was on the brink of civil war as regular folk claiming loyalty to the lost heir came into increasing friction with Lord Neverember's Mintarn Mercenaries.

Neverember hired adventurers to perform an investigation while Seldra was busy repelling an attack on the city walls and when she found out, her newfound paranoia caused her to divert resources to assassinate them. As Seldra, she pointed the adventurers to the Dead Rats gang, hoping the wererats would kill them while she planned an attack on the Protector's Enclave. However, the adventurers won out against the deadly gang and serendipity delivered them to the lair of Arlon Bladeshaper, the leader of the Sons of Alagondar. Arlon asked them to talk to the lost heir on his behalf about the foolishness of a direct attack on the Protector's Enclave but Seldra appeared, as the Lost Heir, and her paranoia drove her to attack her allies when she saw them with her enemies.

A running battle ensued and the adventurers discovered Seldra's identity but Seldra released a white dragon that she had previously petrified, hoping to assassinate Lord Neverember with it but the plucky adventurers managed to take it down before it could do any real damage.

It was unclear whether Seldra survived or not. If she did then she would have been sent to Helm's Hold. It was also unclear as to whether the fake Crown was destroyed or not.

Family
The Tylmarande family was one of the few who refused to leave the ruins of Neverwinter after the eruption of Mount Hotenow in 1451 DR. Seldra's parents (both of whom were half-elves) were adventurers. Aribeth de Tylmarande was Seldra's great-great-aunt.

Motivations
Seldra felt that her aunt Aribeth's legacy was one she had to live down. She chose to restore the good name of her family by removing the tyranny of Dagult Neverember from her home city.

Personality
Often quiet and introspective, when she did speak she was assertive but also diplomatic. She appeared open-minded but was in truth highly manipulative.