Vangerdahast Aeiulvana

Vangerdahast Aeiulvana was the former Royal Court Wizard of Cormyr who was responsible for the awakening of Nalavarauthatoryl and the returning of the goblins of Grodd.

Vangerdahast was perhaps the greatest mage to have ever taken up the mantle of Mage Royal. For decades he controlled the Kingdom of Cormyr, in fact if not in title. While the king would fight the wars and sit on the throne, Vangerdahast would keep the court in order and keep control of the various factions who wished to dethrone the King. He was the overall leader of the defenses of Cormyr and only the king could command him. His title of Mage Royal allowed him control over the two main military factions of Cormyr, the knights known as the Purple Dragons and the mages and wizards of the War Wizards. He could also to a large extent control the Harpers who resided in the kingdom. He was trained by Elminster and therefore knew spells and magics far beyond the average wizard.

He was called "Vangey" for short by some.

Description
Vangerdahast usually wore reddish brown robes. He was average height and slightly overweight, with dark brown eyes that became red when he was angry. His hair and beard were white with a few remaining reddish brown streaks, although he had also been described as bald-headed. He had a slightly protruding belly. He normally looked about fifty years old, though it's well known that was not his true age. )

Relationships
Vangerdahast was descended from Baerauble Etharr.

Possessions
Vangerdahast possessed the staff of the High Wizard of Cormyr and the blade Symylazarr, both of which he was able to summon into his hand at will. He also carried a small silver whistle in his belt pouch, that made a loud shrill noise for gaining attention. There were several glowstones in Vangerdahast's belt which he could use as sources of light. There was also a hollow metal sphere that, upon spoken command, could transform into a key to unlock a secret vault in the depths of the royal palace. It was one of only five, the others possessed by the king, queen and princesses.

Personality
Vangerdahast was a shrewd, yet paranoid man: he simply had to know everything that was going on in the realm, all the time - and influence it, often using the War Wizards as a servant force in that regard. He influenced them too, removing the hierarchy that may have promoted internal competition and instead assigned them all to various task forces, all of which reported directly to him. His legacy lived on, even though he had retired, with many of the War Wizards remaining capable spies.

It was common knowledge in Cormyr that Vangerdahast had a long standing grudge against Elminster, though the origin of the feud was unknown.

Vangerdahast's favourite chair was in his private library in Castle Obarskyr in Suzail. It was upholstered in the flesh of a sahuagin. He sometimes attended The Laughing Lass, a tavern and festhall in Suzail, although he was careful to disguise himself.

History
Vangerdahast was born in 1012 DR according to Cormyr Royale: The Royal Court of the Forest Kingdom from Dragon magazine 198, but note that After the Dragon: The Kingdom of Cormyr Today from Dragon Annual 2000 gives his date of birth as 1224 DR.

Vangerdahast was hired by king Rhigaerd II to tutor Azoun IV in heraldry and ethics.

In 1336 DR, when Azoun IV took the throne, Vangerdahast was appointed the Royal Magician of Cormyr and Master of the Council of Mages.

By 1372 DR, Vangerdahast had decided to retire from public life and appointed the battle-sorcereress, Caladnei, his successor for the position of Royal Magician.

As of 1479 DR Vangerdahast's spirit lived in the royal palace in a wraith-like form.

Elminster's Daughter
In the book Elminster's Daughter, Vangerdahast had retired from being Mage Royal and retreated into a hidden Sanctum so that he could devise a new ultimate defense for the kingdom (the demise of the previous ultimate defense took place during the events of the novel Beyond the High Road), for he wanted the kingdom to be truly safe long after he had passed away. The only practical solution was to insure that the protection would not be a purely magical defense, (which might draw arcanists eager to learn the Mage Royal's secrets) by the binding of willing dragons, who would slumber in stasis until they were needed, at which point they could be summoned using key words/phrases and certain gestures using certain objects that only the reigning monarchs and Elminster would know.

When a song dragon named Ammaratha Cyndusk found out about the dragon-binding spell being made, she considered it too risky to allow anyone to develop the spell on the off chance that it be stolen and used to enslave the whole of the dragon race. She confronted Vangerdahast, who swiftly defeated her, but spared her life since he felt he had done too much killing in his life already. When a rogue War Wizard blasted Vangerdahast with a powerful spell it momentarily shook Vangerdahast, allowing the dragon to break free. Ammaratha proceeded to ask why the wizard had not slain her, and when he explained, her heart softened. But, weighing the risk to dragonkind, she chose to flee and gather fully a dozen other dragons to kill the wizard.

At the same time, word had leaked of his experimentation, and a Master Red Wizard of Thay named Harnrim Starangh gathered a small army of other Red Wizards and launched an attack on the kingdom in hopes of distracting the War Wizards and Purple Dragons while he stole the spells of binding. Hearing about Vangerdahast's plan, a group of revolutionaries launched an assault on the Castle Cormyr and the Royal family in the hopes of slaying them, further adding to the confusion.

When the dragon host arrived and saw the Red Wizards, they realized that those Wizards might be able to figure out the spells and proceeded to eat, burn and crush the Red Wizards who, after losing most of their force, proceeded to run screaming from the battlefield that was Cormyr.

The dragons then went to Vangerdahast's Sanctum and confronted him. Vangerdahast informed them that he had realized the risk involved in the binding spell, and had chained the spells to himself so that, when he died, the spells and all his notes would be instantly destroyed. Seeing this, Ammaratha told the other dragons to go off and divide her hoard amongst themselves and that she would take care of the problem. She revealed that she had talked to Vangerdahast's old mentor Elminster and had a solution: that Vangerdahast become a dragon himself to help defend the realm. Ammaratha then said that she would be his Consort and that they would wait in stasis together. Through Elminster's magic (with the aid of Mystra) Vangerdahast was turned into a dragon (unknown type) and the two dragons were bound to the kingdom, awaiting in stasis to be called back to defend the Kingdom of Cormyr.