1467 DR - Neverwinter Rebuilding Begins
Sixteen years after the Ruining, the first organized efforts to reclaim the corpse of Neverwinter began. This was not a spontaneous return of the people, but a calculated, controversial campaign led by an ambitious outsider: Lord Dagult Neverember, the Open Lord of Waterdeep.
The Proclamation: A Spark in the Ashes
In the Year of the Marching Moon (1467 DR), Lord Neverember issued the Neverwinter Resettlement Charter. The proclamation offered land, tax incentives, and protection to anyone willing to journey north and help rebuild the lost city.
To the scattered survivors and a new generation of opportunists, it was a call to action. To the old noble families of Neverwinter living in exile, it was an outrage—a power grab by a Waterdhavian politician on their ancestral soil.
The Man with the Plan: Dagult Neverember
Neverember was a pragmatist, not a sentimentalist. He saw Neverwinter not as a lost jewel, but as a strategic and economic asset.
- The Waterdeep Connection: Rebuilding Neverwinter would secure the northern trade routes, create a buffer against threats from the wilderness, and extend Waterdeep’s influence.
- Financing the Dream: Neverember used his personal wealth, diverted loans from Waterdeep’s coffers (a controversial move), and promised future trade revenues to fund the operation.
- The Mercenary Approach: He hired The Mintarn Mercenary Company to secure the ruins and protect the new settlers. This immediately created tension—the city was being reclaimed under the guard of foreign swords.
The First Wave: Grit and Rubble
The first settlers to answer the call were a hardy, desperate, or ambitious lot.
- Refugees Returning Home: Some were original Neverwintans, coming back to see if anything could be salvaged from their old lives. They often found their former neighborhoods gone, replaced by ash and shattered stone.
- Opportunists and Land-Seekers: Others came from Waterdeep, Luskan, and even further south, drawn by promises of cheap land and future wealth. They had no emotional ties to the old city—to them, it was a blank slate.
- Laborers and Mercenaries: The bulk of the early population were those paid to be there: carpenters, stonemasons, soldiers, and scouts. They lived in rough camps inside the ruined walls, their pay contingent on progress.
The work was brutal. Clearing toxic ash, demolishing unstable ruins, and fighting off scavengers—both animal and monstrous—was a daily struggle. The first buildings raised were not palaces, but warehouses, barracks, and palisades.
The Tensions: Old vs. New
Two distinct factions emerged almost immediately, creating a social rift that persists to this day.
The “Old Neverwinter” Faction:
- Descendants of the original citizens, often living in exile in Waterdeep or other cities.
- Claim moral and historical right to rule the city.
- Distrust Neverember as an outsider and view the new settlers as squatters.
- Want to restore the city to its exact former glory—an increasingly impossible dream.
The “New Neverwinter” Faction:
- The settlers who answered Neverember’s call.
- See themselves as the ones doing the work, breathing life back into a corpse.
- View the old families as ghostly relics, clinging to a past that is ash.
- Are building a new city, shaped by present needs, not past glory.
This conflict simmered in every tavern debate and council meeting. Would Neverwinter be a restoration or a reinvention?
The First Decade: Foundations of the New City
Progress was slow but tangible. By the late 1470s DR:
- The Harbor was cleared and functional, allowing supply ships from Waterdeep to dock.
- The Wall was patched in critical sections, defining a smaller, defensible perimeter.
- The River District along the Neverwinter River became the new commercial heart, with sturdy, practical buildings replacing the lost artistic wonders.
- A rough government was established under Neverember’s appointed governor, though its authority was often questioned.
It was not the Jewel of the North. It was a frontier outpost built on legendary ruins. But it was alive.
Legacy and the Road to 1491 DR
The beginning of rebuilding set the stage for the Neverwinter of today.
- It Established the Pattern: Neverwinter’s recovery has always been a public-private venture, fueled by external money and internal grit. This makes it a city of deals and debt as much as stone and mortar.
- It Created the Current Divide: The tension between “old blood” and “new blood” is a fundamental part of the city’s politics and social life.
- It Made Neverwinter a City of Adventurers: With ruins still to clear, monsters to purge, and ancient secrets to uncover, the new government has always been willing to hire freelance problem-solvers. The city’s very survival has often depended on them.
When your characters look at Neverwinter, they see a city still under construction. The scaffolds, the mix of glorious old stone and raw new timber, the persistent smell of ash under the rain—all of it stems from the pivotal year 1467 DR, when a lord from the south decided the North’s crown jewel was worth the dust.
Next: Read about the resettlement of the wider frontier in 1480s DR - Frontier Resettlement, or return to the main Timeline.