![[Pasted image 20251125221842.png]] **Type:** Metropolis **Location in Faerûn:** Northwestern Faerûn **Land Region in Faerûn:** [[The Sword Coast]] **Kingdom or Country (if any):** Free City **Ruler (if any):** Open Lord [[Laeral Silverhand]] **Wards of the City:** - **Castle Ward** – The seat of governance, courts, and ancient authority - **Sea Ward** – Villas, embassies, and old money - **North Ward** – Affluent residences and quiet power - **Trades Ward** – Markets, guildhalls, and commerce - **Dock Ward** – Taverns, warehouses, crime, and the transient - **Southern Ward** – Dense housing and working-class districts **Notes:** Waterdeep, _the City of Splendors_, is a metropolis where power hides behind scale and legend dissolves into routine. Order is maintained by the [[City Guard & Watch]], whose presence keeps the streets from collapsing into chaos, while the [[Griffon Cavalry]] patrols the skies as both shield and warning. True authority, however, rests with the masked Lords of Waterdeep, who govern in secrecy alongside the Open Lord. At the city’s Castle Ward rises Castle Waterdeep, an ancient fortress whose looming presence alone reminds all who enter that Waterdeep endures through intention, discipline, and force. Beneath [[Mount Waterdeep]] sprawls [[Undermountain]], a vast and ever-shifting labyrinth shaped by the will of the mad archmage [[Halaster Blackcloak]]. Its depths defy permanence; levels rearrange, passages fold in on themselves, and no map remains reliable for long. Beholders, drow enclaves, lost vaults of [[The Netherese]], and wandering constructs born of Halaster’s fractured genius all have their place below. Deep within lies [[Skullport]], a lawless shadow-city of slavers, pirates, and forbidden trade. Undermountain is not merely a dungeon, but a constant presence beneath the city: a proving ground, a graveyard, and a legend that feeds endlessly on those who descend in search of fortune. For [[Dio Eldwynair]], Waterdeep became both refuge and reckoning across the years. Living under a false name: [[Ronan Blackfen]], he took a small room above [[The Yawning Portal]], a tavern perched directly over the yawning entrance to Undermountain. In a city accustomed to haunted men, unspoken histories, and travelers who came and went without explanation, anonymity was effortless and questions were rare. Waterdeep offered knowledge without absolution. Some time ago, Dio even sought arcane and divine means to sever his curse, eventually gaining an audience with [[Laeral Silverhand]], who recognized [[Beshaba]]’s mark upon him and spoke with rare honesty: no mortal rite could undo what a goddess had claimed. However, In later cycles, even that moment faded... Laeral herself passing him in 1493 DR while disguised as [[Ronan Blackfen]] without recognition, as if the city had quietly reclaimed the memory and denied it permanence...