Dagult Neverember

Dagult Neverember was a noble member of the Neverember family, and the Open Lord of Waterdeep and the Lord Protector of Neverwinter around 1479 DR. In 1489 DR, he focused entirely in his role as Lord Protector of Neverwinter. 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.

Personality
Neverember had a quick temper. He held a dislike of demihumans and abused them in private. Publicly, however, he was quite a diplomat and appeared to have Waterdeep's, and later Neverwinter's, best interests at heart.

History
Neverember married a member of the Brandarth family, adding her broad property holdings and wealth to his own. She bore him a son, Renaer Neverember, before dying when Renaer was still in his youth. She left everything to Renaer rather than Dagult, which contributed to Dagult's rocky relationship with his son.

Years after the destruction of Neverwinter in 1462 DR, Neverember hired Mintarn mercenaries to help 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, Dagult invested a great deal of his own personal fortune to rebuild the city infrastructure, buy the interest of merchants to sent their caravans again to Neverwinter, and even ensuring Neverwintan refugees had enough food and gold in hand. Dagult's true intentions were to increase the prosperity of the city in order to gain the favor and love of the Neverwintan 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.

Neverember left the day-to-day running of the city to General Sabine and Mayor Soman Galt. While in Neverwinter, Dagult operated out of the Hall of Justice and lived in the Lord's Residence. The Sons of Alagondar, an underground movement associated with the Harpers, resisted Neverember's reign, fearing that his aims were imperialistic and would not aid the city in the long run.

In 1479 DR, Dagult 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.

In 1486 DR, Dagult, 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.

In 1489 DR, Neverember was exiled from Waterdeep and replaced as Open Lord by Laeral Silverhand. After being ousted of his city and former position, Dagult 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. He levied heavy taxes to noble families living in Neverwinter, preventing them from gaining more power in the city. He also enacted harsh laws that prohibited the formation of new guilds and limited the power of existing ones. Likewise, its 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 Dagult 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 somepoint 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 Neverwintan.

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 Waterdeep home of Neverwinter Manor. 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).

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.

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

Dagult 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 Masked Lords of Waterdeep, who Dagult 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.

Appearances

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


 * Comics:
 * Tyranny of Dragons


 * Sourcebooks:
 * Neverwinter Campaign Setting
 * Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide


 * Computer games:
 * Neverwinter