Dagult Neverember

Dagult Neverember was a noble member of the Neverember family, and the Lord Protector of Neverwinter around 1491 DR. He also was a member of the Lords' Alliance.

Description
Neverember had "pumpkin-brown" hair, deep-set dark eyes, and broad shoulders. He was often called a "lion of a man" for both his appearance and bearing.

In the late years of the 1480s DR decade, Neverember decided to sport a thick beard.

Personality
Neverember had a quick temper. He was ambitious and manipulative, and he considered himself to be superior to everyone else, something that made him overconfident. He was also charismatic and proud, and people considered he was easy to like.

Neverember held a dislike of demihumans and abused them in private. Publicly, however, he was quite a diplomat and he genuinely had Waterdeep's, and later Neverwinter's, best interests at heart. He enjoyed to partake with successful male adventurers and to flirt with successful female adventurers.

Laeral Silverhand once described him as a no-nonsense, energetic practical person.

Relationships
Neverember claimed to be the descendant of Vers Never, supposedly the bastard son of Nasher Alagondar and brother to Bann Alagondar, who served as Neverwinter's king earlier in its history. In order to cement his relations to the royal line, Neverember paid scribes to find or create books that gave legitimacy to this claim; any books that cast doubts on it were burned.

The relationship with his son, Renaer was said to be rocky and complicated.

Neverember flirted with Talana Taenfeather and often sent her valuable gifts, although she apparently was not his lover.

Neverember deeply resented Laeral for taking his position as the Open Lord of Waterdeep, and preferred to hire adventurers and mercenaries to help to protect Neverwinter and train the local troops rather than accept the help of the armies of the Lords of Waterdeep, who Neverember felt had betrayed him. However, he tried to avoid letting his feelings cloud his judgment whenever he had to fulfill his duties as a member of the Lords' Alliance.

The sentiment was not mutual, however, as Laeral really appreciated Neverember's efforts to restore Waterdeep during his time as Open Lord.

History
Dagult Neverember grew in Neverwinter, were he began to dream about creating a mercantile empire. At some point he moved to Waterdeep and married a member of the Brandarth family, adding her broad property holdings and wealth to his own. She bore him a son, Renaer, before dying when Renaer was still in his youth. She left everything to Renaer rather than to Dagult, which contributed to Dagult's rocky relationship with his son.

Years after the destruction of Neverwinter, in 1467 DR, Neverember started the New Neverwinter movement to rebuild the city, claiming himself to be a descendant of Neverwinter's former rulers and thus the rightful "Lord Protector" of Neverwinter. To make 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, and even ensuring Neverwintan refugees had enough food and gold in hand. Neverembers' true intentions were to increase the prosperity of the city in order to gain the favor and love of the Neverwintans, so that they would welcome him as their king in the future; and eventually, to use Neverwinter as the center of a powerful mercantile empire under his command. The Sons of Alagondar, an underground movement associated with the Harpers, resisted Neverember's reign in Neverwinter, fearing that his aims were imperialistic and would not aid the city in the long run.

In 1479 DR, Neverember became the Open Lord of Waterdeep. Thanks to his political acumen and resources, Waterdeep began to thrive after years of neglect, and he sold many noble titles to potential allies he could rely in the future while profitting in the process. As 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. While in Neverwinter, Dagult operated out of the Hall of Justice.

That same year, Neverember conspired with Khondar "Ten-Rings" Naomal to find the Overlord's Helm in order to find out the secrets of his fellow Lords of Waterdeep; it was unlikely, however, that he was aware of the full extent of Khondar's plans to establish wizards as the rulers of Waterdeep.

When a "Lost Heir" of the Alagondar bloodline made public his claim to the throne of Neverwinter, Neverember instructed General Sabine to hire a group of adventurers to track down the so-called heir and discover his true intentions.

In 1486 DR, Neverember, along with General Sabine and Jelvus Grinch, met with Bruenor Battlehammer and Emerus Warcrown in Neverwinter to discuss the reclamation of Gauntlgrym from the drow.

At some point before 1489 DR, Neverember embezzled half a million dragons and made an arrangement with the gold dragon Aurinax: in exchange for the Dragonstaff of Ahghairon, Aurinax would guard the gold until Neverember wanted it back. He then removed the information from his mind, and stored it in an artifact known as the Stone of Golorr.

In 1489 DR, Neverember and other members of the Lords' Alliance meet with some metallic dragons to deal with the growing threat of the Cult of the Dragon. During this meeting, 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 in his role of Lord Protector of Neverwinter, which had slowly began being restored as a center of civilization in the Sword Coast. However, bitter over this event, Neverember became even more despotic and began to enforce more heavy-handed laws in Neverwinter. Likewise, it was rumored that he had killed any person who claimed to be a descendant of the Alagondar family.

Due to this commitment and his past accomplishments helping Neverwinter and its citizens, the people of Neverwinter finally accepted Neverember as the rightful leader of their city, despite the fact that people from other lands saw him as a tyrant. Even his staunch opposition, the Sons of Alagondar, eventually began to serve under his command at some point before 1491 DR. When followers of Tyr went to Neverwinter to restore the temple of their god, Dagult gave them the Hall of Justice for that purpose and moved into a private villa. This action made him even more worthy of a leader in the eyes of the Neverwintians.

In 1491 DR, Neverember was unjustly accused of the murder of some Lords of Waterdeep, as people believed he wanted to take revenge on them over his exile. When Laeral asked him about this, using a spell to read his mind, she learned that Neverember was innocent.

In 1492 DR, Neverember send his spies, among them the rock gnome Dalakhar, to Waterdeep to retrieve the Stone of Golorr. None of them succeeded.

Possessions
Neverember carried a longsword and wore chain mail armor.

Neverember kept a number of valuable (even priceless) artifacts in his office at Castle Waterdeep and at his office in the Hall of Justice of Neverwinter. Among those were Ahghairon's Key (until it was taken by Khondar Naomal in 1479 DR), which found and opened any locked door within range, and one of the eleven fragments of the Staff of Waterdeep (a fake in his office and the real piece at the manor).

Sourcebooks

 * Neverwinter Campaign Setting
 * Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide (mentioned)

Adventures

 * Lost Crown of Neverwinter

Novels

 * Cold Steel and Secrets (part 4)
 * Blackstaff Tower
 * Downshadow
 * The God Catcher
 * Circle of Skulls (mentioned)
 * Archmage
 * Death Masks

Comics

 * Tyranny of Dragons

Computer games

 * Neverwinter