House of Knowledge (Neverwinter)

The House of Knowledge, also known as the Hall of Knowledge, was a library and temple to Oghma, the Binder of What is Known, in the city of Neverwinter of the Sword Coast North in the mid-to-late 14 through to late 15 centuries DR.

Location
It was located near the southern side of the Dolphin Bridge, within the Protector's Enclave district. at the northeastern end of the The Wall in the late 1400s DR. A winding street running southeast of the House of Knowledge was home to many booksellers, bookbinders, and scribes in the 1300s DR; one of these was Maskado's Maps & Legends.

Structure
The House of Knowledge was considered one of the most impressive buildings in Neverwinter, a city whose fame spread throughout the Sword Coast. It was an impressively tall building with many windows and an arched roof.

After the eruption of Mount Hotenow in 1451 DR, the House of Knowledge was badly damaged, and as of the late 1470s DR, it still stood in ruins, its glass windows broken and with an aroma of dusty tomes and medicinal herbs, owing to its repurposing. Efforts to repair it began around 1489 DR and were still ongoing through the mid-1490s DR, by which time the exterior walls and floors had been fully restored. Work continued on interior walls and décor.

Interior
The main shrine to Oghma was located on the ground floor, and was open to the public. Off-limits to most visitors were the temple staff's living areas and offices and workshops upstairs, as well as the basement, which contained storage and additional shrines for private worship.

The House of Knowledge was also a great library, containing everything from maps and histories to poetry and literature. Common books and scrolls, including public government records, were housed on the first floor, while the undercroft held a more secure library known as the Vault of Tomes where some of rarest and most valuable books not in Candlekeep were kept. The Vault was well guarded and had a complex three-stage lock, making it one of the most secure locations in Neverwinter.

Activities
In the 1300s DR, the temple offered education for free, with teaching sessions doubling as services to the Binder. It was a great library including histories, maps, poetry, and chapbooks written over centuries.

Following the eruption of Mount Hotenow, however, in the late 1400s DR, the temple served as a refugee camp and a makeshift hospital providing care to injured Neverwinter Guardsmen and folk affected by the Chasm, and room and board for travelers who helped out.

By the 1490s DR, it had returned to being a place of learning and a repository of information, as well as a meeting place.

History
As of 1357 DR, the temple was run by Chief Priest Watger Brighthair, but due to his youth, Elder Reader Salyndra Shaern was later installed to guide him. A half-elf priestess of both Oghma and Corellon Larethian, her role was also to promote good relations between humans and elves in Neverwinter and to study human wisdom for the elves. In all three areas, she had done well. They continued to lead the temple through the 1360s DR to at least 1370 DR. At the time, it was a flourishing temple and a center of lore of the Sword Coast.

During the eruption of Mount Hotenow in the, the priests sealed the temple's inner sanctum to protect the books, maps, and other treasures, and fled, leaving trapped there a young loremaster, Atlavast. While some parts of the temple were damaged, other parts escaped, including the underground sections, and Altavast survived the cataclysm but became a little bit insane after the experience. He chose to never abandon the temple, instead biding his time cataloging and organizing the libraries and other repositories of knowledge.

In the aftermath, the intact parts of the temple were used almost as a refugee camp, but it did not serve well for this purpose. The monk Brother Anthus was in charge of the House of Knowledge, but he struggled in the role and responsibilities, instead retreating to his cottage across town whenever he got the chance. In the, however, he had a secret nighttime meeting about city affairs with Arunika in the temple itself. His research on the Chasm and its plaguechanged creatures led to the temple being used as a sanctuary for the spellscarred, something Lord Protector Dagult Neverember didn't approve of.

In the, a convoluted plot between rival cults—the Ashmadai followers of Asmodeus, the Sixth Layer cult of Glasya, and the Abolethic Sovereignty—led the Ashmadai to attempt to attack and raze the House of Knowledge, though this was foiled by Farideh, Havilar, and Mehen, who alerted the Neverwinter Guard to intervene. Soon after, Brother Anthus died in mysterious circumstances and a young woman known as the Prophet, Rohini, formerly a healer at the temple, relocated the hospital to Helm's Hold and took all the patients and remaining priests with her, claiming catastrophe would befall Neverwinter again if she did not. Only one priest remained in the temple's lower vaults, Atlavast, who kept to the lower vaults. Left almost empty and still badly damaged, the temple seemed abandoned when a group of Ashmadai cultists took up residence in the House of Knowledge. Posing as refugees from the River District squatting in the temple, the Ashmadai used their cover to try to corrupt and possess the Mintarn mercenaries Neverember had hired to protect the Wall. The Ashmadai also helped the mercenaries, by ringing the temple bells every time they spotted aberrations coming up from the Chasm and approaching the Wall. In thanks, the mercenaries brought them food and drink and Lord Dagult Neverember was impressed with the so-called refugees' efforts.

In the, Oghma sent dreams to some of his faithful, bidding them to go to Neverwinter to aid in the restoration of the House of Knowledge and of the City of Skilled Hands as a whole, and to recover lost lore from both its archives and the ruins.

With the Chasm sealed in the late years of the 1480s DR, more Oghmanyte priests from other lands went to Neverwinter in the hopes of restoring the temple for their faith. The House of Knowledge became a center of education in the 1490s DR, and was used as a repository for Neverwintan government records while Castle Never was still under reconstruction. In the mid-1490s DR, the temple was under the purview of Grand Scribe Spivey Liethennson, who reigned over the temple like a petty tyrant.

In the, Oppal DeScart of Acquisitions Incorporated concealed black diamonds inside a false book titled A Layperson's Guide to Common Knowledge and hid it inside the Vault of Tomes, and later recruited adventurers to retrieve it.

Appearances

 * Adventures:
 * Orrery of the Wanderer
 * Novels:
 * Brimstone Angels • Charon's Claw
 * Video Games:
 * Gateway to the Savage Frontier • Treasures of the Savage Frontier