Tarsakh 22nd :: Year 153 :: 1375 DR DRAFT History of the Everard male line An insight into one of the lesser known founding families of Sanctuary James Everard II The Lord's Life The founder, (Lord) James Everard II was a man who would play a pivotal role in the founding and survival of Sanctuary in its early years. By reading his old records and logs, it becomes apparent that on the surface he was a reasonably influential lord, residing in the city state Mulmaster of the Moonsea. None of the records he made that can be found touch on how he entered Drow slavery and came into the Underdark, although there are several theories suggested by his descendants, ranging from the fanciful to the somber. Annah Everard Willsworth (deceased since year 71) gave a secondhand account of her father’s enslavement in her later years. She holds that James and his men whilst on a hunting trip for the fabled white hart, stumbled upon an old lair, where they found two red dragons busily fornicating. Enraged that humans had seen secret dragon love techniques, the pair of wyrms began to slaughter Everard’s men.

Shocked at seeing his closest companions, loyal retainers and friends melt before his eyes to the wyrms’ fiery breath, James escaped their wrath through a small, winding passageway, unfit for the dragon form, with the dragons hissing curses at him in the distance, eventually making it to the Underdark where he was captured by a Drow patrol. It is reputed that this curse has passed on to James’ descendants, but there is no consensus in the family of what the curse is exactly, or if it even exists at all. Generally, it could be described as a curse of “misfortune”.

William Everard dismisses Annah’s account of James’ surface life as nothing more than an old crone’s fable, worthy of the more insane “historians” of the late Ubel School, dreamed and imagined by a mind ravaged by grief and the passage of time. He theorizes James’ enslavement was much grimmer, with all of the Everard’s of Mulmaster being sold into chains after a series of scandals that culminated in the High Blade of Mulmaster’s death, the destruction of a rival house, and a great fire that ravaged a third of the city’s slums, using James’ accounts of the past, and reasonably expanding on it from there. But it is not for his life on the surface that this young man should be remembered.

From Shackles to Seeking James met the Bresleys and the other future founders of Sanctuary whilst in Drow captivity. Along with the others, he participated in the rebellion, at one point saving Charles’ life in the fierce conflict (Confirmed by his personal accounts, and the accounts of the founder John Muckleberry). When they founded Sanctuary, James was hopeful, but still desperately longed for the surface. In time however, he grew to love his home. Wary of the darkness and the horrors contained within, James still was one of the first to join the Watchers and Warders, where he showed a surprising aptitude for intelligence gathering and reconnaissance.

If his personal, at the time secret, journals are to be believed, James was firmly opposed to the Civil Defense Act of year 6, which divided the functions of the Watchers and Warders into three separate institutions. The divisions served to nurture and strengthen the different ideologies, which had caused some conflict in initial defense operations. James theorized that by creating the Seekers, the Watch and the Spellguard, the divides that were present in the Watchers and Warders would only grow worse, which could lead to civil war, duplication, and generally weaken the social fabric of Sanctuary’s forming society. Yet the act was passed and he joined the Seekers, knowing where his talents lay.

James was a member of the Seekers for forty years, and during that time he obtained a large estate, and a great deal of wealth. In his early years James was a well-respected and able scout, his experience hunting on the surface serving him well down below and arguably saving Sanctuary from destruction many times. In one instance, he was able to kill the scouts of a roaming group of orogs, so that they passed by the region without noticing Sanctuary. As the years passed, he was focused more upon discovering threats and corruption located within Sanctuary's walls, rather than scouting the Underdark.

James was still a Seeker when he disappeared on one of his few trips out into the Underdark. During his disappearance, it is assumed he was enthralled by the Sublime Visionary, Thool’oon, and died along with all his other worshipers in a joint operation between the Seekers and the Spellguard in year 46. His children, Leopold and Annah were found to be unenthralled, and they were allowed to keep the family estate, but because of James "crimes" the wealth he had accumulated was confiscated by the Watch. James never made mention of the aberrant in any of his journals, it is believed he was unwillingly enthralled and enslaved by the dread beholder. Leopold Everard Rise and fall of the Cliff's End Leopold was a man who grew deeply embittered with the Watch after his father's death; the majority of his inheritance was confiscated and used in the Sanctuary budget against his will. All that was left to him and his sister, Annah, was the Everard estate, a large, lavish building located on the side of a cliff in what is now the Residential District. Lacking for coin, Leopold, his wife Mara, and his sister transformed the estate into a large, successful inn, the Cliff's End.

This began a period of 18 years of stable wealth and prosperity for the Everards. Leopold had four children during this time, Michael, named after Michael Bresley, Julian, Abigail, and Francis. At seventeen years of age, Michael Everard joined the Watch, to the protests of his father, effectively making him a pariah of the family. In year 65, Cliff's End was destroyed, along with Leopold, Abigail, Francis, and Mara, to the Great Quake, where the looming cliff collapsed and buried the estate underneath. Julian, Annah and Michael survived. They were not in Cliff's End at the time.

Julian Everard Lost Dreams Julian had a great disdain for his brother Michael after he joined the Watch. He disliked him not because he joined, but because he went against their father's wishes, and through that besmirched his memory. An altruistic man at heart, he was greatly troubled after seeing the suffering brought about by the Great Quake, and began a political campaign to bring wealth and lodging to the most impoverished survivors. Julian's campaign seemed to hold a promising future for him, and he enrolled as a candidate for Council. Unfortunately, he disappeared mysteriously several days before the results were announced. There are as of yet, no certifiable theories as to what happened to him.

Michael Everard Helm's Hand Michael Everard lead a life of service in the ranks of the Watch, fighting and protecting Sanctuary from the grim, surrounding darkness. Despite the falling out he had with him, Michael fell into a deep melancholy at his father's death that lasted several years thereafter. Michael served for 36 years before retiring in year 101, displeased with Sheriff Dhogur's leadership. He died peacefully in year 144 with one son, William, and the grieving widow Clarisse. He was a good-natured, jocular and boisterous old man for the time James William Everard (III) knew him.

William Everard The Quiet Life Born in year 98, William Everard was a quiet, introspective child, and he grew to be a quiet, introspective man. After a chance encounter with a priest of Oghma at a young age, he thereafter was taken to a life of scholastic pursuits. Because of this, there was a divide between Michael and William, where Michael saw the necessity of violence and strength of arms, William was a pacifist and preferred to live out his life in the unrelenting pursuit of knowledge, content to fight his duels with word and wit, rather than steel and blade.

The gold Michael had made during his time of service in the Watch, was slowly depleted to taxes and living expenses, which were not replenished by William, who disliked material pursuits. At thirty two years of age, and having no son or wife, the aged Michael despaired at his son's path, which was leading to the male line's extinction. At the urgings of his father, William relented, and took the young woman, Gabrielle of Tethyr, who had only recently escaped from slavery, as his wife. This union did not last long, for Gabrielle died giving birth to their first child, James William Everard (III). ___________________________ Send queries, opinions and suggestions to me at the Last Stand ~James William Everard III