As mentioned before, Lord Dagult Neverember of Waterdeep has recently arrived in Neverwinter at the head of a mercenary force with the intent of rebuilding the city and re-establishing order and trade. He claims descent from one of Nasher Alagondar’s bastard sons, saying this gives him the right to take over the city. Alagondar was the ruler of Neverwinter at the time depicted in the computer games.

“New Neverwinter” is a concept Neverember’s propaganda machine came up with to stir nationalistic sentiment among the populace and get them on-side. This, and the practical results of his rebuilding efforts, have worked on the majority of the city’s residents, but some of them consider the idea of a “new Neverwinter” to be an insult to the city’s memory. Chief among these dissenters are the Sons of Alagondar, militant rebels who oppose Neverember and have been clashing often with his forces.

Most of what we’ve seen so far points to Neverember being a villainous character, whose claim is fake and whose rule would be selfish and oppressive. But there’s a text box here that reminds us that not even this is set in stone. Lord Neverember’s role in a specific campaign is entirely up to the GM. His claim might be true or false, his intentions might be altruistic or selfish, and his rule could end up being good or bad for the region, and all of these “switches” are independent from each other. Also independent from all of this is the attitude of the PCs towards him - you still have a meaty campaign whether they want to support or topple the lord, and there are plenty of other things to occupy them if they’re indifferent.

Goals

Neverember’s main goal is of course to Claim the Throne. He is effectively in charge of that portion of the city his faction controls, but running the city and wearing its crown are very different things. Neverember’s current plan is to make the people love him. He’s going to improve their lives so much that they’ll beg him to become their lord, claim or no claim. Mwa-ha-ha!

Of course, Dagult will still have a much easier time of it if he can Prove his Disputed Heritage. He knows his word is not enough to prove his claim, so he’s been hiring scholars and explorers to look for documents that support it among the city’s ruined archives and libraries. He’s also not above hiring those same scholars to fabricate such documents, and has burned more than one book that had a less-than-helpful stance on his ancestry.

While seeking the crown, Neverember still has to actually Run the City, to Maintain His Position as the Open Lord of Waterdeep, and he also never loses sight of the whole reason he’s doing all of this, which is to Make Hard Coin. In order to juggle all of this, he delegates heavily. General Sabine, who commands the mercenary army, is in charge of policing and defending the territory he controls in the city. He appointed a dwarf named Soman Galt to act as mayor and oversee tax collection, grants of property, and other paperwork.

For the same reason, he loves to Hire Sellswords to care care of problems that require more discreet solutions. This includes looking for proof of his claims and spying on the opposition as mentioned above, but it also includes Finding Gauntlgrym because having that as a feather on his cap would increase his chances of being declared king by popular acclaim.

Player Character Tie-Ins

A PC with the Neverwinter Noble background is Dagult’s greatest nightmare: someone with a stronger claim to the throne of the city. He will either try to deal with the obstacle by sending mercenaries to spy on or assassinate the character, or by trying to publicly discredit them once the discreet approach becomes impossible.

The Harper Agent was also sent here to oppose Neverember, but as the campaign starts they’ve just realized nothing is as it seems. Are they proceeding with their original mission, or deviating from it now that the Harpers’ original intel proved to be woefully incomplete?

PCs with the Oghma’s Faithful theme would be eager to take part in any genuine fact-finding expedition about Dagult’s lineage (or that of his rivals!). However, their devotion is to the truth rather than to any mortal lord, and the truth they find can end up drawing the ire of either Dagult himself or his enemies, depending on whether it contradicts or supports his claim.

Depending on his exact moral disposition in the campaign, Neverember could be either a potential sponsor or a rival to the Heir of Delzoun in the search for Gauntlgrym.

PCs without direct connections to this storyline might still find New Neverwinter a ready source of miscellaneous mercenary jobs when they need some extra cash and XP. In addition to being the hired swords for the above plots, they could also bolster the faction’s efforts to evict the orcish army that has taken part of the city ruins, or get hired to investigate the numerous mysterious events in town that point to the other major factions, like spellplagued monster attacks or mysterious disappearances.

Faction Relationships

New Neverwinter has no idea the Abolethic Sovereignity is behind those monster attacks. They’re causing these to keep the surfacers distracted while they carry on their experiments.

The Ashmadai managed to secure a tenuous alliance of sorts with New Neverwinter. Dagult doesn’t know who they are beyond “a shady but influential cult”. He uses them as an occasional source of deniable muscle, and they’re hard at work subverting and corrupting his underlings with the goal of eventually inducting the man himself among their ranks. Their leader, Mordai Veil, is currently attempting to seduce General Sabine.

He was received a few reports of Thayans in the region, and has tasked General Sabine with finding out more. She has yet to deliver her first report.

Dagult is completely ignorant of Netherese operations in the region and has unwittingly hired Shadovar agents as assassins before.

Impressions

Even if you decide to make the lord himself something other than a villainous asshole, there are a lot of events in motion that could lead him and his faction in that direction. They’re heavily infiltrated by both diabolists and abolethic agents! PCs seeking to support or co-opt New Neverwinter are going to have a harder job ahead of them than those who try to destroy it. They’re also in the dark about the Thayans and Netherese as the campaign starts, and might be blindsided by either of them.

I still think Dagult and friends work better as villains, either by themselves or as an eventual tool of someone worse. Making them neutral or sympathetic would however be a good way to take New Neverwinter out of consideration if the party is not interested in tangling with it, making it a part of the background noise.