Crown of Neverwinter

The Crown of Neverwinter was a magical crown and a symbol of power of the Alagondar royal bloodline, the rulers of Neverwinter.

Description
The Crown of Neverwinter was a warrior king's crown made out of mithral inlaid with four blue sapphires.

Abilities
The Crown of Neverwinter had the property to protect its wearer from extreme temperatures of cold and heat, and could magically enhance the majesty of the wearer, giving its wearer an advantage when talking with or intimidating someone. The Crown could also emit a burst of cold and heat to damage the wearer's enemies.

It said to kill any pretender to the crown. That is, only those of the Alagondar bloodline could wear the Crown of Neverwinter. If someone who wasn't a descendant of Nasher Alagondar donned the Crown, the individual would be destroyed by a burst of cold and heat. A treatise titled "The Crown is the Key" argued that the Crown was itself a magical key.

History
During Nasher Alagondar's reign, Neverwinter became concerned about losing the Crown after Nasher was injured in a battle at Highcliff. Thus, the city commissioned the creation of a magic puzzle box from a Red Wizard that would be able to retrieve the Crown if it was ever lost or stolen. If the box's puzzle was solved, it summoned an emerald golem&mdash;which appeared as a tall woman wearing a vest and trousers&mdash;who could then be commanded to teleport to the exact location of the Crown, retrieve it, and return with it. The Red Wizard conspired to use the box to steal the Crown for himself, but was thwarted and killed. Unfortunately, he had hidden the box by this point, and its location remained unknown.

The Crown of Neverwinter was lost during the Ruining of 1451 DR. Some believed the Crown was hidden in a secret vault in Castle Never, but only the ghosts that haunted the place knew for sure.

In the, the Sons of Alagondar discovered that a collector named Karion had come into possession of the box which could summon the Crown from wherever it was located. Rucas Sarfael, Elyne Tschavarz, and Montimort used the box to obtain the Crown, but the Crown was then stolen by Lord Protector Dagult Neverember's spymaster, Dhafiyand, who revealed that his true master was Valindra Shadowmantle of Thay. Following a failed assassination attempt on Neverember, Dhafiyand was slain and Neverember gained possession of the the Crown. Meanwhile, the box was destroyed, but its emerald golem was recovered by Valindra Shadowmantle, who was able to learn of the Crown's location from the construct.

That same year, a noble from Waterdeep commissioned the creation of a false Crown of Neverwinter with unknown purposes, although it was later believed that it was done to foil Dagult Neverember's efforts to claim the rulership of Neverwinter. Seldra Tylmarande obtained the false Crown shortly thereafter—believing it to be the real one—and used it in her bid to claim the throne of Neverwinter. This false Crown was magically tuned to Seldra, and if someone other than her donned it, they would suffer the same ice and fire. This was done to match the legend of the original Crown and lend credence to Seldra's claim. The false Crown also had the property of enhancing the power derived from spellscars.

The false Crown was stolen in the by a Red Wizard named Tolivast, who cursed it to make the wearer go mad in an attempt to use the fake Crown (which he also believed was the original) to advance the Thayan's agenda in Neverwinter. It was retrieved by a group of adventurers. Seldra later used the fake Crown to try and take control of the city, by using the persona of the "Lost Heir of Neverwinter". However, as the false Crown was cursed, Seldra went mad after using it and the adventurers had to deal with her. The adventurers retrieved the false Crown for a second time and disposed of it as they saw fit.

The real Crown of Neverwinter was stored in the vaults beneath the Hall of Justice. Although Neverember had the Crown at his disposal, he didn't wear it, something polemical among the different factions of the city.

Taking advantage of the chaos in the city during the Siege of Neverwinter, members of the Nashers managed to sneak into the vault and steal the Crown. The Heroes of Sleeping Dragon Bridge were able to locate the thieves, who pointed out their leader, Karzov. The heroes followed and killed Karzov, bringing the Crown back to the Protector's Enclave.

Some years later, the leader of the returned members of the Many-Starred Cloak, Gyrion the Ascendant, claimed to wear the Crown and therefore to be the true ruler of Neverwinter,. However, the heroes discovered this to be another deception, as the Crown was still locked in the vaults beneath the Hall of Justice.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Cold Steel and Secrets
 * Video Games