Waterdeep	-	-	-	The North
1st Edition AD&D	-	-	-	Forgotten Realms

From its earliest beginnings to its
present sprawling wealth and influence,
Waterdeep has had its successful
merchant families, the mainstays of its
early social and civil stability and later
of its “high society” cultural tone. Some
of these families have died out or been
submerged by marriage, and others
have arisen with each decade, until
now there are seventy-six noble families
of Waterdeep.

Two families, at least, have been
declared outcast (exiled): the family
Gildeggh (now apparently extinct), and
the family Zoar. The reasons for their
casting-out are given in Chapter 2. The
arms of the Gildeggh family were a red
rose clutched in a silver gauntlet, on a
green field; those of the Zoar family
consist of a realistic, severed umber
hulk’s head impaled on a bloody spear,
on a scarlet field. Today, members of
the Zoar family are bitter enemies of
W a t e r d e e p ’ s r u l e r s , a n d d w e l l i n
Luskan, Scornubel, and Amn.

Noble families are granted the right to
bear arms—that is, real arms: small private
armies, of no more than seventy
fully-equipped men-at-arms, within the
City, to guard the security of their goods,
properties, and trade. Nobles are also
granted the right to bear symbolic arms:
heraldic coats-of-arms, to be used as
recognition-badges by such armsmen.
(Non-noble families, businesses, and individuals
in the City are allowed no more
than sixteen fully-armed bodyguards, by
edict of the Lords.)

A hundredth of the annual wealth of
each noble family goes directly, into the
City coffers each Midsummer for the
defense and maintenance of the City.

No “arms of grace” (heraldic arms recognized
in the City) have been granted by
the Lords of Waterdeep in more than
twenty winters; this recognition of nobility
involves the Herald of Waterdeep,
Falconfree, and unanimous agreement of
the Lords, and seldom occurs.

The DM is encouraged to give the
nobles of Waterdeep individual style
and character; most are decadent but
not really evil or depraved, and are
used to getting their own way in most
daily doings. They make formidable
enemies. The younger members of
such families may well fit into the cavralier
class, but it is strongly recommended
that no PC be a noble (at least,
at the start of play) in any campaign set
in Waterdeep—and if one must have PC
cavaliers, that they be from elsewhere
in the Realms, not of these noble families
(unless the relationship is distant).
Most nobles spend their adult lives in an
endless round of parties, intrigue, dabbling
in this or that special interest, and
p a r t y i n g a g a i n . Nasty, unpleasant
adventures are things that (thankfully)
happen to somebody else, and can be
laughed over at a party, half a year later!

DMs are encouraged to invent fiendish
guardians for any noble’s villa that
PCs try to explore uninvited. Remember,
money is no object to most of these
nobles; they are rich enough that they
need not engage in trade if they do not
care to.

Space does not permit full genealogies
and biographies of all of the nobles
of Waterdeep. Given hereafter is a list
of some details of each likely to be useful
in casual play.

Included with each family entry is its
heraldic coat-of-arms (borne by all menat-
arms and low-ranking servants of
each noble family, and thus often seen
in the streets of Waterdeep), and at the
end of this chapter the heraldic arms of
the City and of the Lords of Waterdeep
are included. The heraldry of Waterdeep
may seem crude and simplistic,
but this is largely the result of practical
considerations, such as the need to
readily recognize a distinctive family
device from afar, even in twilight, bad
weather, torchlight, or in a fight; and of
the personal tastes of the nobles and of
the Heralds involved over the years.
Close examination of the coats-of-arms
will reveal many complex elements,
although differencing (by labels) is rare,
as only family members who have had a
deep, long-lasting breach with their kin
r e q u e s t d i f f e r e n t i a t e d a r m s f o r
themselves—and most such individuals
usually leave the City of Splendors for
more hospitable habitations elsewhere
in the Realms.

In the entries which follow, “prominent
members” are those with wide
influence and fame of infamy in the
City (thus, the young Cassalanter who is
secretly a Lord of Waterdeep, Caladorn,
is not listed as prominent—as
only the DM, and Caladorn’s fellow
Lords, know of his importance), and
“trade & interests” refers to activities
engaged in all over the Realms, not just
within the City walls. One note: many
noble families gained great wealth
through slave trade. Many years ago,
they were given the choice of freeing all
s l a v e s a n d c e a s i n g s u c h t r a d e , o r
becoming outcast. All renounced slavetrading
and slavery (although some
rumors to the contrary regularly make
the rounds about former slaving families
with connections in the far South).

Many noble families have been ennobled
for six hundred years or more;
however, there is no established order
of precedence. At Court, nobles may
speak whenever recognized by Piergeiron,
or when silently pointed at by
one of the masked Lords.

Most noble families have fifteen or so
members of direct blood resident in
Waterdeep. One or all of these may also
own extensive holdings elsewhere in
the Realms and other residences in the
City. A n o b l e h o u s e h o l d t y p i c a l l y
houses fifty or so servants, and mounts
for all blood members and about half of
the servants. Many noble families are
also landlords of substantial holdings
within the City. Ownership of buildings
around one’s own villa is the best way
to rid oneself of noisy or undesirable
neighbors and the like.

Precise details of the wealth and current
activities of these families have
deliberately been excluded, so that
each DM can involve such nobility in
adventures as he or she sees fit, tailoring
details to the adventure and to the
political situation in the City in his or
her individual campaign. For similar
reasons, the classes and levels of most
prominent family members have been
left to the DM.

THE NOBLE FAMILIES