He was inadvertently a key to the Queen of Darkness’ success in entering Krynn. Let’s learn more about Berem Everman. Buy the War of the Lance sourcebook: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/3164/war-of-the-lance-3-5?affiliate_id=50797
Transcript
Cold Open
His immortality is a curse from the Dark Queen herself.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about Berem Everman. I would like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga members, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate links. I am referencing the Annotated Chronicles, and the War of the Lance sourcebook for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!
Discussion
The tale of Berem Everman changes depending on if you just read the novels, or if you play the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragon modules. The backstory is the same, but at what points the heroes first meet him is certainly different. In the Chronicles, the innfellows first meet Berem Everman in Pax Tharkas, but in the modules it isn’t until they are within Thorbardin’s prison cells in DL4 Dragons of Desolation. He then doesn’t reappear until DL10 Dragons of Dreams, not entirely unlike the Chronicles. Even what he has to do with the conclusion of the modules differs from the Chronicles version, as there are multiple endings that may involve him more or less. Even reaching the foundation stone isn’t necessary to the conclusion of his tale. This is all to say, that your experience with this intriguing character may differ from others, and his story may end quite differently. But let’s not start at the end, let’s start at the beginning.
Berem’s physical appearance changes rapidly depending on when you encounter him. He is perpetually a fifth level Ranger, also known as a hunter. He is a middle aged human man who appears to be mute and terrified of the Dragonarmies, which let’s be honest, makes him just as regular as every other citizen on Ansalon. He is known to have long dirty hair, and at times a large beard which covers his chest. And this is where Berem becomes someone of significance. Embedded in his chest is a mysterious dull gray stone the size of a fist. It cannot be removed, period. And when Berem is wounded, or dies, the gem begins to glow green before he regenerates back to full health, and continues his attempt to escape and evade anyone who would ever want to capture him.
Berem Everman is, in truth, nearly four hundred years old, but he spent the last fifty years prior to the Innfellows meeting him in Thorbardin under the imprisonment of the Daergar. While Berem may wish to be part of a group for safety or companionship, he is in fact hunted, and chooses anonymity and isolation whenever possible, trying to blend into the background of any society. This is because he is guarding two secrets. The first, is that he is in fact immortal. He cannot be killed, though he has died many times. Imagine what that will do to a person. You have spent nearly four hundred years running, hiding, being tortured and dying, only to have it happen all over again if you are once more captured. How could a human mind process that torment? The effects seem to be apparent in his mannerisms and behavior.
The second secret Berem carries is the green gemstone embedded in his breast. The gem itself seems to be less interesting than the story behind it, even in all its wondrous power, which let’s be honest, is more a curse than anything. Berem Everman is the only mortal on Krynn that Takhisis, the Queen of Darkness fears, and it has everything to do with how the gem was embedded into his chest and what it portends. Takhisis and her minions have been scouring Krynn for hundreds of years for this man since the end of Istar with the Cataclysm and Takhisis plan to enter and rule Krynn from the Abyss. This is the true genesis of the War of the Lance.
Berem and his sister, some stories have her as a twin, were out hunting. They lived near Neraka and their parents succumbed to the illness of the day. These days right after the Cataclysm were some of the darkest Krynn has ever known, even more so than the Fifth Age in my opinion. Famine and disease were rampant. Neighbor was turning against neighbor, and warlords raged across Ansalon fighting for scraps of land. As there was no healing, a common cold, let alone the diseases of the day could kill you. So the burden of taking care of their family fell on their collective shoulders. Berem saw the effect that this hard labor had on his beloved sister Jasla and when an opportunity to change the course of their lives was presented, Berem jumped at it.
They came across a gem-encrusted stone while on another hunting expedition in Neraka. The promise of a better life, any life but the one they were suffering through was presented, so Berem began trying to pry a green gem out of the column. Jasla had a bad feeling about the gems, perhaps the aura of evil they radiated for in truth, when the mountain crashed into Istar during the Cataclysm, Takhisis removed the Kingpriest’s Temple to the Abyss and transplanted the keystone into the mountains of Neraka, the very gem encrusted columns that Berem was actively trying to remove. This keystone was growing into what would become the Temple of Darkness, the very source of Takhisis’ reentry into Krynn from the Abyss. As Jasla fervently tried to stop Berem, Berem became angry and shoved her away from him. She tripped and fell backward, striking her head on the stone and died almost instantly. Now whether the push from Berem was in reaction to his success in prying the stone out of the column or intentional is irrelevant, for his sister was now dead, and the gem he freed from the column fused itself into his chest.
Jasla’s spirit became trapped in the keystone, taking the place of the gem her brother removed. Jasla’s spirit would become the only thing that prevents Takhisis from passing through the portal. Takhisis fears that if Berem ever rejoins his sister, the gate may slam shut, and she will be forever barred from the world. The only way to prevent this outcome and allow her entry, is to find the gemstone Man, destroy him and reunite the gem into the column. This is why there are so many spies and agents of Takhisis scouring Ansalon. Some actually believe the War of the Lance itself is just an elaborate way of finding the Everman.
In one single act of desperation and hope, only those who have never known poverty would call it greed, Berem saw an opportunity to elevate the lives of his loved ones, help his parents and sister, and as the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished. For now, Berem relives the accidental murder of his sister before his eyes. Each time he dies and is reborn, it is a brutal reminder of his failed attempt at rescuing his family and instead condemning them. There is no man in Krynn more deserving of your sympathy in my honest opinion than Berem Everman.
The true beauty of Dragonlance is the balance factor, for Berem does eventually find peace through death. Thanks to the aid of the Companions in the Chronicles and the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons modules, he is either reunited with Jasla at the keystone itself, or the gem is destroyed. There is even an ending where Paladine in the avatar of Fizban, poses as Berem to enter the gate retrieving Jasla’s soul, and turns evil, attacking the party! Yes, if you have never played through the DL modules, you are missing some truly interesting story beats.
The companions will discover Berem after having seen him absconded multiple times by Eben Shatterstone, Kitiara Uth Matar, and even drowned by his own hands steering the Pereshon into the eye of the Blood Sea of Istar. He would travel with the companions to Neraka where he tries to escape through Godshome and Flint has a heart attack after chasing him down. There are so many impactful moments surrounding Berem Everman that it’s a wonder why he isn’t discussed more often.
Outro
And that is all the time I have to talk about Berem Everman. What do you think of his character? Were he and his sister destined to their fate or was it all a circumstantial accident? And finally would the heroes have escaped Kitiara if Berem didn’t sail into the maelstrom? Leave a comment below.
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Is that your nose or a disease?
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