Nadul DaRoni

Nadul DaRoni is a gnomish artist and inventor who lives as a hermit near High Horn. He is undoubtedly a genius, but also quite possibly a madman (which may be one of the factors involved in his natural ingenuity).

Some of these inventions are not always foolproof and some are quite risky to use. His furnace wagon for instance, has a one-in-ten chance of spontaneously combusting per hour of constant use. However, his telescope much like the farseer held in the Hall of Wonders is completely reliable (it is cheaper and more efficient than the farseer replicas available in the hall to boot).

He sketches portraits on commission and has drawn Elminster, Azoun IV and Aurora (a copy of whose portrait now appears on the cover of her catalogue). If you send him your name and location, he'll eventually come to find you.

Background
Born in Hills Edge, DaRoni was a solitary child who spent most of his time tinkering with blocks and then gears and even his peoples' natural affinity for illusions. He dedicated himself, albeit quietly, to the gnome god of invention and luck, Nebelun (an aspect of Gond). As a young man he traveled Faerûn far and wide, learning all he could about any tool or machine, whether a device of peace or war. He soon found himself on the island nation of Lantan, where his natural curiosity and technical ability endeared him to one master artificer after another. Soon bored of the company, DaRoni took his adventurer's earnings and set up shop not far from home in the wilds of the Storm Horns mountains. There he lived quietly, inventing and cobbling together machinery with the aid of just a touch of magic. At first he lived off his treasure, but over time he began to sell his devices to nearby mountain settlements and the soldiers of High Horn, sometimes venturing so far as Cormyr's capital city of Suzail to peddle his mechanisms.

Business
One day, while in Suzail, DaRoni noticed a flyer for a new shop called Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue. A wizard who had mastered teleportation magics, Aurora, had formed trade connections across Faerûn and beyond, promising to bring goods from anywhere to her discerning clientele. Though always a bit of a loner, DaRoni saw an opportunity for recognition. He tracked down the wizard at an affair Elminster was hosting in Shadowdale, almost demanding to have his work showcased in Aurora's catalogue. At first the wizard refused, but DaRoni's long days of inventing had taught him two things well -- curtness and persistence. While his artistic skills are well above par, his real talent lies in the invention of machines, several of which are available through Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue after Aurora was impressed by some manuscripts he pestered her to look at.

Leadership
At first, DaRoni was thrilled with the recognition he received and the demand for his amazing mechanisms. What he had not expected were the annoying admirers, would-be students, and (despite his own faith) religious zealots. In less than a year, his hermitage and workshop had become a small village dedicated to Nebelun, of which he was the default leader. The recent war in Cormyr with the red dragon Nalavara's goblin hordes also spilled into the mountains and DaRoni's village. Fortunately, the community successfully and quite ingeniously repelled several strikes by the dragon's forces. More recently and in the wake of Tilverton's disappearance, DaRoni's folk have taken in a few worshipers of Gond that escaped the lost city. Now more involved with the outside world than ever, DaRoni chafes under his new responsibilities to his own community and the Steel Regent of Cormyr, Princess Alusair Obarskyr -- responsibilities he fulfills admirably, all the while complaining bitterly.