Hello everybody Jorphdan here the PH is silent, and today I’d like to talk about the city
of Neverwinter.
A history of Neverwinter if you will, leading into it’s current state.
Neverwinter, also known as the City of Skilled Hands, and the Jewel of the North is a metropolis
sitting on the northwestern Sword Coast.
Volo in his travels said that it’s the most civilized city in all of Faerun.
Neverwinter was formed from an early elf settlement named Illefarn during the Crown Wars.
Eventually that kingdom was divided into three city states, Iliyanbruen being the most prominent.
Iliyanbruen was an elvan city that often fought with the Human netherese city of Illusk.
In -111 DR the Orc Marches occurred.
Orc hordes streamed from the Spine of the World and lay waste to Illusk and Gauntlgrym.
The Elves of Iliyanbruen banded together with other elf tribes to halt the orcish rampage
into the High Forest.
The humans of Illusk returned and rebuilt their city, and attempted to expand it. In -12 DR the elves of Iliyanbruen
pushed back on Illusk and their expansion into the south.
Eventually the two made peace and in -4 DR set the River Mirar as the boundary between
their kingdoms.
Although the elves of Iliyanbruen were successful are repelling the orcs, and the city of Illus, it came at great cost.
Their kingdom collapsed and Iliyanbruen dissolved as elves left for Evermeet or fled into the
Feywild.
Then human communities began popping up, and a settlement named Eigresstor was founded
in the year 87 DR, the first multi-racial settlement in the area.
Eigresstor would eventually be renamed Neverwinter due to the year-round ice-free harbor.
Neverwinter grew and grew becoming a large city and by 457 DR a School of Wizardry was
founded propelling Neverwinter even further.
The city's nickname “city of Skilled Hands” comes from it’s gardeners, who are skilled
enough to keep flowers blooming in windows year round throughout the city.
Even in the coldest winter months.
This is partially due to the warm waters of the Neverwinter River.
Which we outlined in the Gauntylgrm video, is caused by the giant fire primordial that
lives nearby.
This primordial causes all the volcanic activity at Mount Hotenow and keeps the surrounding
areas unusually warm during the winter months.
In 1372 DR is when the Neverwinter Nights pc games come into play.
I was surprised to learn that the story these games tell is considered canon.
We can’t tell the story of Neverwinter without it’s most well known story, the Wailing
Death.
So spoilers here for the Neverwinter Nights PC game.
So follow me backwards in time, all the way back to the creator race of the sarrukh.
10,000 years to be specific and Morag, queen of the Sarrukh.
Morag and a handful of her subjects entered into an alternate dimension via a magical
device known as the Source Stone to escape the destruction of her race.
The forgotten realms wiki says they escaped due to the ice age that occurred on Faerun,
but I was under the impression that the creator races came about after the ice age.
Perhaps the Sarrukh were around earlier than I previously thought, or fantasy faerun history
is unclear.
Regardless the Sarrukh did leave around that time period.
Anyway flash forward back to 1372 and big surprise to nobody Neverwinter is built over
this Source Stone!
Morag’s goal is to turn Faerun back into the jungle it was during the Age of Thunder.
A magical malady called the wailing death struck Neverwinter’s citizens.
Clerics and healers were dumbfounded at the disease’s resilience to both mundane and
magical healings.
Hundreds were dead within days.
Now the Wailing Death was caused by the source stone upon it’s discovery.
Morag wasn’t counting on this but used it to weaken Neverwinter.
After the wailing death killed many of Neverwinter’s citizens she supported an invasion from Luskin
(formally Illusk) to start a war between the two cities.
The hero of Neverwinter, namely you, finds the magical ingredients to stop the wailing
death and travels to Luskin to find and destroy this evil cult.
Culminating in a confrontation with Morag by entering into the Source Stone.
The Hero of Neverwinter stops Morage and escapes the Source Stone!
Everyone’s happy!
By 1400 the Netheril had infiltrated the power structure of this weakened Neverwinter.
Also the Red Wizards of Thay had created a Dread Ring, a magical ring that pulled power
from death.
Their goal was to kill enough people giving Sass Tam power to overtake Neverwinter and
the surrounding areas.
Flash forward to 1451 DR, and again spoilers for the RA Salvatore novel series, specifically
his last few books.
The city of neverwinter was struck with catastrophe, again.
Minor earth tremors that had plagued the region for months were the precursors of the eruption
of Mount Hotenow.
A portion of that volcano’s peak exploded with such force that lava and superheated
ash poured across the city in an avalanche.
Half of Neverwinter’s population died and a great rift known as the Chasm lies in the
city.
A canyonlike crack in the earth that spawns all manner of twisted and deadly beasts.
It extends down into the Underdark to a subterranean lake that is part of the domain of the aboleths.
At the bottom of this sea churns an active pocket of spellplague, or did by 4th edition
standards.
Currently the chasm was sealed by powerful magic.
This eruption hurt the Netherese motives but greatly empowered the Red Wizard’s Dread
Ring.
Thanks to Drizz’t and his adventuring party the Dread Ring was destroyed and the ancient
primordial was put back to sleep underneath Mount Hotenow.
Neverwinter today is rebuilding.
Lord Neverember a former lord of waterdeep made himself protector over Neverwinter and
invested much into the city.
Hiring a militia to guard and protect it, while rebuilding roads, bridges, and other
structures.
The population has embraced him as Lord Protector and it was his engineering that sealed the
Chasm.
The people of Neverwinter have accepted his leadership.
Gauntlgrym has been restored as well and Neverwinter hopes to have a close ally in moving forward.
There is opposition to Lord Neverember’s authority, but with no unified leadership
or another power in the city which appeals to the citizens.
Most of the resistance turn their attention to helping the city rebuild.
And that’s it for today.
Neverwinter is such an iconic city in Faerun and so much has happened to it I thought you’d
all enjoy this video.
Thanks again for watching, liking, and/or subscribing.
Every bit helps.
You guys rock and I’ll see you next wed.