Neverwinter

Neverwinter, the city that never has winter, or so it's name would tell you, even though it's not true. What is true, is that Neverwinter has the easiest winter of all places around. Why this is, well, it's unknown, but it is known that it is a region with a high level of The Winds of Magic of the Flame, which is probably why the winter in Neverwinter is so much calmer. For if you didn't know it yet, this also means that Fire Spells are stronger than normal.
Neverwinter is a decently sised city located in the Sword Coast, bordering the Bay of Barmen. It is one of the biggest city in it's area, and it had grown a lot thanks to it's trade with both Kahr Telohr in the south and Kahr Dehrah in the north, because it is located exactly in the middle of those settlements, and it's the northern most point where the road that leads in between them is boarded by the coast. The last years the trading has become harder and harder, because the Mere of Dead Men, which is a thing that previously only lied beside the road inbetween Kahr Telohr and Neverwinter has been expanding, and it's grown over and through the Road, which has made the old road almost impassible. Yes, it would be possible to push the Mere back, but that would cost a lot of money, and it being the way it currently is, it's not worth it for anyone because the trade between Neverwinter, Kahr Telohr and Kahr Dehrah wouldn't earn an increase from this big enough to cover the costs of doing this. It's as easy as that. Simple Economics.
The city has it's own pretty big keep, but it's defenses are pretty weak compared to other settlements with the same raiding value, because it has never been necessary to defend it, because any big raiding parties have had no reason to travel past it, and since it has become so rich, there has never been a real enemy that the city would need defenses from since it has been big enough to be worth it to be raided. It does have city walls which are pretty stable, but if you get in there, or scale the walls, you are golden. Of course, you'd need a big enough raiding party first, but if you can get that... Well, good job on getting a full Evil character!
There is a river that flows through the city, or maybe better said past the city, but it isn't that deep nor swift. It flows into the sea which lies several kilometers from the city. There is a harbor, and the road between the city and the harbor is often used, but it isn't inside the city, which is because the city was originally built for travelers along the Western Golden Road around the crossing with the Triboar Path, for any travelers wanting to travel between the Western Golden Road and the Central Golden Road. This path being any lower would make it almost impossible to travel allong, because of the Sword Peaks, and any further to the north would make it very dangerous to travel because of the Crohlahr, a mountain range that if famous for it's high quantities of Greenskins. Triboar is a settlement that has been built for exactly the same reason but then on the Central Golden Road. And Neverwinter also got the free advantage of being the highest a settlement which could be on the Western Golden Road where you can get to it easily from the sea, and the advantage of that it lies beside a river, and the advantage that the winters are easiest. As you can probably understand, the ideal location for a growing city.

Demographics

If you look at species: Around a third are Human and a third are Dwarvish. The ruler, a governor named Tarbaw Night-hill, is a Human male of nearly sixty years, who is famous for being awake at all hours.

Government

The government is mostly a government built on a form of democracy. The people who want to chose a leader can go to the city hall and vote on a person each five years, and the top 5 voted people form the so-called council. The top 20 voted people, excluding the top 5, form the side-council, for if the council can't decide on it's own. These twenty five men have a lot of power in each matter, and they can influence everything that happens. It isn't uncommon that one or more of these are corrupt or able to be bought over. Therefore, this council doesn't hold all the power. This power is divided into three groups, each with an equal say in what happens in town. One of these is the herefore mentioned council, one of these is the church, with as main god the church of Alaila, God of Spring, who they thank the easy winters to. This church power is also divided among the main forces that form the religion at that time, but the so called priests have something to say in the matter, and these can be chosen by the rest of the religious folk. The third power is a power that is brought down from Kahr Telohr, and only the leaders of Kahr Telohr have the power to control them or exchange them. These are again 5 men who try to keep the peace in Neverwinter, and they are probably the only reason why Neverwinter hasn't declared themselves independent yet. Still, these five men don't oppose all the rebelious behaviour, because they know that Kahr Telohr is reading for a war against Kahr Zehn, and if Neverwinter also opposes the government, they could be a useful ally.
These 15 men, who form the lead over the city, chose a governor each five years. This governor holds a quarter of the power of the entire city, where each of the here fore mentioned groups also hold a respective quarter each. As you can probably realize, this is a powerful man, and the current leader, Tarbaw Night-hill doesn't abuse it at all. He is a respected and respect worthy man who tries to please everyone in his city. He is such a good leader that Kahr Telohr had asked him to become one of the five High Men, but he refused, and said he would rather stay in the city where he loves it. Because he is such a good governor, he is really beloved, and almost everyone would offer their lives to save his, even if they oppose him in every single other way. Anybody who kills, or even tries to kill, him can expect a lot of wrath coming down on himself. He has been a governor for almost twenty-five years now, which makes him one of the longest ruling governors of Neverwinter ever, only being beaten by Sevelay Crowsblood, a dwarf who controlled the city during one of the big raids, and whose name has gone down into legend. If it is really true that he fought off a thousand Blood Orcs by himself with a small army of around a hundred men is pretty unlikely, but so the legends says.
In the last years, the rebellions within Neverwinter have been getting bigger and stronger, and around two years ago there was a big rebellion. This rebellion was mostly against Kahr Telohr and it's government, so Kahr Telohr noticed that they needed to do something against it. The thing they did against it was raise a small force to act as police officers to keep down the rebellions, even if it might be temporary. This force of around fifty men, who almost all are completely loyal to the Tolahrians, protect the city in time of need, and wear pretty good armor. Their leader is Helia Stormblood, who has taken up a big place in both the defense of the city and in the government. She has promoted herself to being a part of the council, but even though she thinks she does, she doesn't have anything to say in any matter.

Defences

As is described in the vignette, this city doesn't have the best defences, and it's defences are extremely low for a city with this much wealth. It has walls of stone, around 4 feet thick (1.20 meter for any Europeans like me who don't understand feet), which makes them thick enough to not be busted easily, but they aren't that tall, a mere 12 feet high (4 meters), which makes it possible to scale them. Also, the gates in the wall are really hard to defend, so if a raiding party can't for some or other reason, scale the walls, you could just rush the gates. It would cause a little more injuries, because you'd have a constant fire from above, but it would definitely be possible. Any strong magic or explosives would wreck this wall completely, on the weakest part even a knock would be enough, which hopefully shows enough that these walls are really weak.
As a garrison, Neverwinter has a garrison of around a fifty men, and around a hundred men who have been trained but aren't soldiers full time. These soldiers would be able to grab their weapons and fight in a really dare situation, but they aren't normally defenders, and don't hold weapons and professional armor full time. Most of the soldiers have chain armor, but there isn't enough for all 150 of them. The highest soldiers have full plate armor, and some even with golden decorations. The leader of the garrison, a Dwarven male named Escobart the Red, has a golden decorated sword, and he even has a +2 armor.
The castle has a keep, which is defended by two gates and a deep cavern around it filled with water (Whatever it is called. Please tell me if you know). Each of the two gates has a bridge to cover the cavern, but it can't be pulled up. The Walls of the keep are around 10 feet thick and high enough to not be able to be scaled. This is the only part of the city where the people are able to completely safely store their valuables, even if the governor doesn't actually allow it unless they pay him a part of the sum, which not many find it worth it to do. If the city would be attacked, people would be able to flee into the keep, where they would be able to be kept safe, but if the raiders get into the gates before they are closed, then even the keep wouldn't be a safe spot, because probably everyone would die. Okay, maybe that's a bit excagerated, but the gates are the weak spot of the keep. One of the gates, the main gate is made of sturdy wood, and it's hard to break. Sadly, it's also hard to move, and closing it takes about 30 minutes; enough time for attackers to run through the city and get in. The second gate is a lot smaller, and the bridge to come trough it is only wide enough for two people to pass through at the same time. This gate is respectively also much weaker which does make it a lot easier to break, but it closes a lot easier and it's easier to block. This gate would also be a good and easy way for the party to leave the keep if they feel so inclined. Another way to leave the keep is by a secret tunnel that was built from the keep to the river, but you'd have to swim a bit to get out, and break a iron lock under water.

History

It once was a lot richer than it is now, but that was a long time ago. It existed before the Third Great Fall, but it was just a small town back then, so it didn't really have many problems with the big raids. Still, it has had many problems with the Greenskins, because there were, and are, a lot of them in the Crohlahr, which some times decide to come down to raid. Still, the last one of these was around 5.000 years ago, and even then Neverwinter wasn't much more than a small village. Still, this raid, known as the Great Greenskin Raid, had caused many problems in the vicinity, and it destroyed the great and legendary city of Phandelvin, which allowed Neverwinter to fill the power vacuum that it left.
Since the Great Raid, there haven't been any big raids onto Neverwinter, and it's defenses haven't ever really been necessary, which is the main reason why they are so weak. What has happened the last years is that there have been rising amounts of rebellions, both in Neverwinter and in nearby towns. A cult has been risen to the Golden Dragon, which before was just a local legend, known as the Tale of the Golden Dragon, a group of rebels known as the Redbrands have been gaining ground and a group known as the Foresteers (name will be changed) have gained a lot of followers, thanks to they leader Melia Darkwood,. The amount of people that are loyal to the Kahr Empire are diminishing, and even in the government things are getting chaotic and rebellious. Around three years ago, there was a rebel uprising, but since then a group of around 50 soldiers truly loyal to the Empire have been keeping down the uprisings, which all came down from Kahr Telohr because they were sent to keep down the rebellions. Still, this hasn't been that effective, but it has temporarily stopped the problems. The leader of this squad of guards is a dwarf named Helia Stormblood, and she's taken a big part in the governing of the city.

Natural Resources

The most natural resources are from the nearby vicinity. Wood is hauled from the nearby Neverwinter Forest, grain is often gained from fields around the city, and so are the sheep and cows, a lot of materials like metals are gained from the Sword Mountains, especially from the big mining towns like Phandelvin. These metals are mostly iron, which can be made in steel, but there are also some more valuable resources, and even some Manasteel.
There are also some clay pits to the north-west of the city, which produce some clay, duh, but not much. There are also some

Yes this city is stolen from the normal DnD world. If I wouldn't have done this, then I would've had a pretty big problem because my players are, right now, in this city (because I'm running the starter adventure) and in my world (because I want to do that, because it just makes it a lot better), so well I had to add this city to my world...

Type

City

Population

1000?