Year 1249 - The Rise of Neverwinter

General information about the history and current situation of the area
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K.Kragh
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Year 1249 - The Rise of Neverwinter

Post by K.Kragh »

The server starts in the year of 1249 during the Age of Humanity. Neverwinter has long been the most prominent and powerful city on the far northern coastline but decades of orc raids and bad economic decisions by those in power has sent the city into decline. Where earlier the stores of the city were booming with advanced goods, most of them now only sell basic necessities. Hate towards half-orcs and tieflings has grown strong to the point where they entirely lack any legal rights, and even the other non-human races experience mistrust and discrimination. Neverwinter in 1249 consists almost entirely of humans and a very small minority of elves, half-elves and dwarves.

In the north, Luskan is still licking its wounds and trying to recover after the devastating sacking of the city in 1244 by the feared orc tribe called Bloody Tusks.

In the south beyond the Mere of Dead Men lies Waterdeep, the City of Splendors. Once a major trade partner of Neverwinter, the number of trading caravans have dwindled over the last couple of years after Kerrigan’s bloody rebellion against the Lords of Waterdeep in 1246. While the learned people of the Waterdeep warn of increased activity by the dreaded mind flayers in the Underdark close to the city, the Lords seem more busy with creating alliances and counter alliances between the guilds. The more negative merchants of the city are warning against further economic investments as they fear bloody and violent feuds in the near future.

To the east beyond Neverwinter Wood and the hills lies the growing merchant city of Yartar. Once a smaller player in the north-western part of Faerun, their influence is growing steadily. Since the King of Neverwinter withdrew funding to the protection of the crucial trade oasis at Old Owl’s Well, the ruler of Yartar styled The Water Baron, has been alone in securing that the trade routes can stay open.

In Neverwinter itself there is growing unrest and instability. The aging King Henry of Neverwinter spends less and less time in public as he is apparently consumed by his prestige project, the development of a new city district at the Blacklake which he hopes will become his legacy. Conflict is breeding between the city’s noble families. The Knights of Holy Judgment has to prioritise their limited resources and as a result, they have been forced to stop patrolling the now lawless Slum district.

In the year 1249 the Lord Alliance is still 76 years into the future and the cities of the Sword Coast have no strong and stable alliances. Helm’s Hold is not even an idea yet, The Flaming Fist is not there to protect Baldur’s Gate. The Sword coast is in a peculiar power vacuum and its future is up for grabs. The future of the region from here on out will be written entirely by the player’s actions or lack thereof. To quote another great fantasy world: “Let the Game of Thrones begin”.
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K.Kragh
Server Leader