Page 57 - D&D - Player's Handbook

WATERDEEP amulets to disguise themselves when publicly sitting in
judgment or council, and who make policies for Water-
Rising from the shores of its deep harbor to ring the deep. Every Waterdhavian has suspicions as to whether
great mountain standing tall out of the Sea of Swords
this or that influential citizen is or isn't a lord of the city,
is Waterdeep, the City of Splendors and the Crown
and some are willing to make their beliefs public, but
of the North. To all of Faerftn, this great metropolis few who are confronted in such a way have ever claimed
stands as the pinnacle of what a great city might be, in
to be a lord, and none of those have also produced proof
wealth, influence, and stability. Here, the citizens work,
of that assertion.
the nobles sneer, and the great masked lords plot and Not hidden at all are the other lords of the city- the
scheme, all while merchants dance between them to nobles ofWaterdeep, whose high-nosed behavior and
collect their coins and continue profiting as best they heavy-handed spending establish fashion in the city,
can. Waterdeep's shops and merchants offer goods
which in turn creates trends all across the North for
of every sort from every corner of Tori!, and even the
clothing, weaponry, favored trinkets, music, and any
rarest of items can be procured, given sufficient coin
other preference that can be changed at a whim by
and patience. Adventurers lacking one or the other can
those with enough coin to afford the expense. More than
very easily find all manner of employment, from simple
seventy-five noble families call Waterdeep home, repre-
escorting of caravans, to guarding nobility, to investigat-
senting between them all manner of business interests,
ing a ruin or rumor of monsters anywhere in the North.
rivalries, and internal strife.
Though it has stood for hundreds of years, Waterdeep
Being a noble carries with it a great deal of advantage.
is only now returning to its status of a century and a
Operating from one's place at the head of the economic
half ago. The recent disruptions began when the gods
and social hierarchy, a noble can easily lift a mediocre
walked the Realms and slew each other before the
craftperson out of obscurity, dash the hopes of a wealthy
eyes of mortals, until they walked back to their divine
merchant of ever securing another contract within the
domains through the very streets of Waterdeep itself.
city, or provide the backing an ambitious adventuring
Decades later, more deities began dying off, magic
band needs to find fame and great wealth. The only
failed, and all manner of catastrophes started altering
true competition nobles face is from one another. Such
the very nature of the city. Lord Neverember wasted the
rivalries are the source of much gossip and intrigue as
city's navy and then, instead of rebuilding it, hired sail-
ors out of Mintarn (and profited from the endeavor).
Now, the City of Splendors is on the mend. The harbor
has been cleared of the broken ships that made up the
former district of Mistshore, and Waterdeep again has
its own navy. The city's Guard (its army), Watch (police
force), Navy, and it famous Griffon Cavalry are all being
reformed, but all of that might be a matter of years in
the settling. A plague chased most residents out of the
Warrens and Downshadow, and living or digging below
the city's surface has been deemed illegal except by
those authorized by the lords to do so. Somehow, even
the air seems fresher. In the words of one wise moon elf
matron (whose status as my aunt has positively no bear-
ing on her wisdom), "Waterdeep is back to where it was
when I was a lass."
Perhaps most surprising of the newest developments
is the return of Laeral Silverhand to Waterdeep. Long
thought dead, she reemerged only recently, and swiftly
rallied the masked lords to support her supplanting of
Dagult Neverember as Open Lord ofWaterdeep. Very
few remember Lady Laeral from her previous time in
the city, but those elves who have been living in there
for the last century claim she is more reserved than
she once was. The new Open Lord doesn't speak of her
family- any mention of her children, her late husband
(the fabled Blackstaff, Khelben Arunsun), or any of her
famed sisters is cause for her to cut short whatever
conversation may be in progress at the time. Her rela-
tionship with the current Blackstaff, Vajra Safahr, is
cordial, but the two are seldom seen in one-on-one con-
versation, and most think that Lady Laeral has little to
learn from a mage who isn't nearly her equal.
As always, the Open Lord is selected and supported
by several masked lords, who bear masks, robes, and