Tomlin Helder was born amid the chaos of Neverwinter’s Spellplague, losing his father, a medic, within days. His mother, Alma, eventually became wetnurse and governess for Edda Everfall, High Oracle of Neverwinter and the Royal Alagondar family, bringing Tomlin into the opulent but somber Everfall Manor. There, he grew quiet, observant, and skilled in alchemy, herbalism, and healing, becoming the steadfast companion and caretaker of Edda’s daughter, Amafrey Silverton (née Everfall), and later mentoring and protecting her daughter, Vala.
As Vala matured, her father, Lander Silverton, sought to marry her off for his own ambitions, disregarding Edda's concerns over her prophetic gift ending up in the wrong hands. Tomlin, working with the women of the household, quietly opposed Lander—delaying negotiations, forging letters, and using subtle interventions—becoming her guardian, mentor, and protector.
That fragile stability was obliterated when, in a single day, Lander announced he had made a match for Vala, and, as Tomlin rode south to collect him, Mount Hotenow erupted, leveling Neverwinter and killing everyone in it. Tomlin escaped The Ruining unscathed, but many were not so lucky. Seeing the devastation all around him, Tomlin got to work improvising remedies, purifying water, and treating injuries with whatever supplies he could salvage, driven by the same sense of duty and compassion that had defined his life in Everfall Manor.
For eight years he lost himself in the work, wandering the shattered Sword Coast and tending to survivors, until he returned to Neverwinter to found "Helder's Hearth," a modest apothecary known for skilled care and aid, even to those who could not pay. Grief remains a constant companion, though, and when he's not working, he finds his tired feet marching him to the ruins of Everfall Manor to sit in silent remembrance, cradling the last piece that remains - a small portrait of Vala on the back of a gold pocketwatch, an antiquated trinket commissioned by Lander for the husband he never collected all those years ago.
Recently, a faint blue light has appeared among the rubble where Vala’s room once stood. Though he dismisses it as old age or imagination, a spark of hope persists and, old fool that he is, Tomlin finds himself quietly nurturing the fragile hope that somehow the family he fought to protect may still be out there, waiting to be found.