Ivar Devorast

Ivor Devorast was a Cormyrean engineer who was active in the city of Innarlith, on the Lake of Steam in the mid–14 century DR. He was the principal planner behind the city's attempt to build a canal that connected the Sea of Fallen Stars to the Lake of Steam.

Personality
Ivor Devorast was single-mindedly focused on his work and made every effort to ensure that every detail was correctly done, but he had great difficulty in social interactions with other people. He often only talked about issues relating to work and ignored questions or barely answered them when other people asked him about personal issues.

Abilities
He was a very skilled and brilliant engineer who was known to never make mistakes in his calculations. His specialty was in naval engineering and his drawings for naval weapons attracted attention even before he had left Cormyr. However, his lack of social skills made it difficult for him to turn this into profit for himself, as other people would take credit for the projects he successfully completed.

Relationships
Phyrea, the daughter of the city's master-builder, developed a strong attraction to Ivor after she first met him running a project near her father's country estate to the north of Innarlith. The two of them had an affair with each other during this project.

Willem Korvan was a former classmate of Ivor, but not as talented as an engineer as him. Willem required Ivor's help on different occasions, but Willem resented him and thought Ivor was very arrogant. Willem typically took credit for Ivor's successes, allowing Willem to move up in Innarlith society, while Ivor remained impoverished.

History
Ivor was born in Cormyr and attended a school to learn engineering there, along with his fellow student Willem Korvan. Ivor stayed as a boarder with Willem and his mother in their home in Marsember during his studies.

Upon their graduation, when people from different nations came to the school to recruit graduates for joining particular projects, Willem and Ivor were both recruited to go to Innarlith on two separate projects. Ivor was recruited to help build a massive ship for the king of Cormyr and Willem was recruited to help with a project for the city wall.

Both of them went to Innarlith, but Willem was unable to do the work he was hired for and he eventually got Ivor to do his work for him. Ivor made the correct calculations and Willem then presented them to the city's master-builder, while taking credit for Ivor's work.

Ivor worked on the project to build the ship, named the Everwind, for a wealthy man named Fharaud. The plan was to build the ship in Innarlith and then use a magical portal to transport it to the Sea of Fallen Stars. Ivor was deeply distrustful of the portal, however, and didn't like the idea of trusting his work to magic. After the ship was completed, Fharaud and a crew sailed it into the magical portal. However, the portal had been secretly sabotaged by the Red Wizard Marek Rymüt and the ship broke into pieces and fell from a height onto the place it was supposed to go near Arrabar in the Vilhon Reach. The crew were killed and Fharaud was maimed and left bedridden for the rest of his life. Ivor continued to visit Fharaud in his house in Innarlith's first quarter after the accident.

Ivor was left in poverty and continued to live in Innarlith.

Later, Willem again required Ivor's help with another project to build a keep for the city next to the Nagaflow to the north of the city and Ivor again agreed to give his help. Ivor made the correct calculations and assisted the project as a foreman, while Willem again took credit for the project's success in order to advance his career.

The experience of the Everwind and his time working in the countryside north of the city convinced him of the idea of building a canal between Innarlith and the Nagaflow, which would thus connect the Lake of Steam to the Sea of Fallen Stars, and effectively change the map of Faerun. He drew up plans for how this could be done and presented them to the city's Ransar. The Ransar admired the idea, gave his approval for the project and put Ivor in charge of it.

Appearances

 * Whisper of Waves