THE LORDS OF WATERDEEP (IN 1499 DR) (Patreon)

As of the First of Hammer in the Year of The Sea’s Secrets Revealed (1500 Dalereckoning)

There are 20 Masked Lords, fronted by a twenty-first Lord: Laeral Silverhand, Open Lord of Waterdeep. Those interested in Waterdhavian politics will notice that Lords loyal to the deceased Lord Braethan Cazondur (who assassinated several fellow Lords and eventually made an unsuccessful attempt to seize control of Waterdeep) have been purged. Durnan of the Yawning Portal resigned as a Masked Lord decades ago, and the vampire Artor Morlin resigned recently.

In order of seniority of service (longest-serving first), the current Masked Lords are:

• Mirt the Moneylender
  (CG Tethyrian human male Rogue 24)

  A not-so-secret agent and envoy of Open Lord Laeral. Mirt is an independent-minded friend who works for her out of friendship, whim, and civic duty, not an employee she can discipline. (Usually a lone wolf, Mirt also works with Elminster on occasion; Elminster serves as Laeral’s head of city security on a similar basis.) A wheezing, aging gruff and cynical veteran who makes full use of his many years of experience—and increasingly relies on poisoned needles he carries to deal with foes. Dwells in Mirt’s Mansion, but separately from Laeral (who these days increasingly lives in the Palace).

• Sarathlue Serendragon 
  (CG half-elf female Draconic Sorcerer 9 [blue dragon heritage]) 

  A spirited, wry, energetic and independent-minded entrepreneur, investor, and sometime adventurer, who makes her coin these days primarily as a “factor” (trade agent for merchants, investors, and shippers) and spellcaster for hire. Outgoing, charming when she wants to be, alert and quick-minded, and beautiful, Sarathlue has a wide and ever-widening circle of friends. She was publicly unmasked in 1491 DR, but like Mirt, continues to function as a “known to the city” Masked Lord; this status has increasingly forced her to be an envoy, advisor, and problem-solver for the populace.

• Berithro Tharlivar
  (NE Illuskan human male Rogue 12 [Thief])

  A jovial, burly middle-aged warehouse owner, shipper, and many-concerns investor. Likes good clothes, lots of good food, and more than lots of strong drink, which he can consume in great quantities without becoming inebriated, thanks to a periapt that protects his mind and body from toxins and influences (though he’s not above feigning drunkenness on occasion). Has shady morals, and is a pragmatic, practical man who will work with anyone—the Xanathar included—if it profits him. Always calm, and keenly foresees consequences, so is good at steering the city in the long term.

• Santar Belrune
  (CN Tethyrian albino human male Fighter 4) 

  A long-retired adventurer who became an extremely rich and successful investor and shipper of Tharsult and relocated to Waterdeep in the 1460s DR to Waterdeep, where he continued to invest in cargoes but added to his activities the role of importer of goods (from Tharsult). Over his time in Waterdeep, he’s become a city landlord with substantial holdings in Trades Ward, North Ward, and Southern Ward, and scattered holdings all over the city—and is loved by both tenants and guilds because he’s constantly maintaining and improving the buildings he owns (reroofing regularly, replacing railings and balconies and doors, improving plumbing). Increasingly, he’s clashed with the Xanathar’s gang, and reached a series of “understandings” with the eye tyrant that have made him useful to the Masked Lords, as he always keeps lines of communication open between himself and the beholder crime lord.

• Omin Dran 
  (Ominifis Hereward) (LN half-elf male war priest Cleric of Tymora [level unknown]

  Dran has a close personal relationship with the goddess): founder and head of Acquisitions Incorporated adventuring company and co-owner of the Dran and Courtier inn (with wife Audra Courtier, bard). Omin is increasingly disinterested in his duties as a Masked Lord. He’s a ruthless businessman, but inept at friendships and games of chance. (Omin has a handful of surviving clones, and one of them initially held this Lordship but was assassinated by the original Omin—who was subsequently ordered by Tymora to take the clone’s place as a Lord, and grudgingly did so.)

• Daranthra Xathnout 
  (LG Damaran human female Fighter 11)

  A breeder, drover, tender (veterinarian), and trader of oxen whose long service with these beasts has earned her the nickname “Lady of the Hoof.” Calm, patient, and much stronger than her tall but lean build suggests, she knows the terrain of southern Dessarin Vale well, is familiar with buyers and sellers of oxen across the Sword Coast North, and has recently added a sideline in “meat herds” of rothé kept across the region, intended to feed Waterdeep (and serve as a lure for foraging bugbear, goblin, and hobgoblin bands, so these scourges can be eliminated by hired-by-her bands of herd-guardian archer-adventurers). Daranthra says little and acts rather simple—but is a shrewd judge of people who misses no small details.

• Belmark Chelvurr
  (LN Chondathan human male Fighter 7)

  An impassive, taciturn, balding man of tall, burly, muscled build and a drooping moustache. Always goes armed, but with small, non-showy weapons. He keeps the foremost hiring registry for caravan outriders and guards for costers using the city, and is widely trusted among caravan folk for his fairness and honesty. Dwells in Castle Ward, but spends much of his time in Trades Ward or just outside the walls, watching caravan wagons disperse or assemble. Belmark is always up to date on who’s shipping what into or out of the city, and the news and rumours circulating among caravan folk.

• Emmura Flanthyn
  (NG Tethyrian human female Cleric of Waukeen 8)

  A talkative, outgoing, pleasant friend-to-all who seemingly “knows everyone.” A former adventurer, now retired to a mercantile life: she owns and runs Flanthyn's Fastwares, a fast-growing firm that races fresh fruits and vegetables (and increasingly, small specifically-requested necessities such as tools, nails, and hand-coffers) to shops all over the city. A resident of South Ward, she is middle-aged and buxom, with curly red hair, bright emerald eyes, a loud laugh, and seemingly endless bustling energy. She owns a vast wardrobe of flamboyant gowns and hats.

• Ildunstran Wurth
  (LN Illuskan human male Fighter [Battle Master] 6)

  A gravel-voiced cynic who likes gossip and bad jokes, “Dun” is a strong, rough-and-ready man of middling height and burly build, festooned with scars and usually spattered with dirt and bearing the stinks of what he works with. He dwells in Dock Ward, and ships fishmeal, night soil, and other fertilizers from Waterdeep to the Sword Coast North countryside, and in bulk root vegetables from Secomber and the Dessarin to market stalls in the City of Splendors. He oversees a trusted staff of two dozen hardy, independent-minded drovers with carts, but never hesitates to pitch in himself with a shovel and his thews.

• Tamranna Minstrelwish
  (CG lightfoot halfling female Rogue [Arcane Trickster] 14)

  A bouncy, ash-blonde “merry soul” of boundless energy, who naps often and briefly rather than sleeping soundly at night, and who has endless projects on the go (all of which she seems to keep organized and “in mind”). An outgoing, friendly diplomat and “factor” (trade agent) for her large, widespread, and prominent halfling family, Tamranna is happiest in Dock Ward and Field Ward, but comfortable among wealthy and haughty folk. Her personal sideline is designing logos, looks, and styles for new city nightclubs, to capture the interest of folk and make the establishments instantly popular. Tamranna has dark eyebrows, snapping brown eyes, and a memory that forgets nothing at all.

• Darvra Handstone
  (LN shield dwarf female Fighter [Champion] 12)

  A quiet, deep-voiced, calm and patient stonemason of skill who keeps a level head in any situation, Darvra is buxom and has long russet hair (ankle-length, but woven into a braid) and matching sidewhiskers, large emerald-green eyes, and scarred, calloused hands that have dressed many blocks of stone and laid many roof-slates and -tiles in the city. A former adventurer who retired after her third adventuring band was slaughtered by a dragon, Darvra is an expert in drainage (through gradients of cobblestones and gutters, not just piping) who often solves localized flooding and pooling problems for city residents. Her clan was long ago reduced to a handful of families (she has kin in Secomber and Scornubel), but she prefers to live alone and take human and tiefling lovers, sometimes female as well as male; she has a knack for remaining friends lifelong with former partners.

• Bezlazzra Haungolphyn
  (LN rock gnome female Wizard [Illusionist] 16)

  A motherly, large-nosed, gnarled and wrinkled “old crone” with sky-blue eyes and long silver-white hair that she usually gathers into a ponytail when out and about, and wears unbound when indoors, at home. She lives in a narrow but five-floors-tall old house in Sea Ward, filled with statuettes and paintings, and is a limner (portrait painter) of skill, who can capture a lifelike essence of a sitter, so her paintings are sought-after. Once she’s painted someone, she’ll remember them, so she can reproduce a destroyed or damaged painting from memory. That same memory enables her to know her foes; she doesn’t hold grudges, but she does remember “what you tried last time” (and prepares accordingly). Friends call her “Lazzee,” and the gnomes of Waterdeep all respect her (elders call her “the Lady Rememberer”).

• Chantathra Moonsilver
  (CG moon elf female Bard [College of Lore] 17)

  A stunningly beautiful, lithe and graceful elf with large blue-black eyes, ankle-length hair dyed royal blue, and a habit of going statue-still to watch and listen; she has eavesdropped on shady gang meetings by literally tossing a tapestry over herself and remaining utterly silent and motionless so she was taken for a statue under a dust-cover, left amid discarded furniture. Quiet rather than an extrovert, she’s an expert harpist and singer, can use ankle-bells as percussion, and has a prodigious memory for song lyrics. Likes to wear disguises, magical and mundane, and when in disguise often visits city clubs to watch and listen to what’s afoot socially in Waterdeep. A good friend to Laeral, Mirt, and Sarathlue Serendragon, getting to know (and like, and work with) Elminster, and mistrustful of Omin Dran.

• Karvaerra Voktrel
  (CG tiefling female Ranger [Fey Wanderer] 12)

  Looks like a tall, fine-boned human with long black hair and black eyes. She has pointed canine teeth, dark copper skin that reddens when she’s excited, angry, or embarrassed, and two small horns that jut straight out of her brow and turn abruptly upwards, like cloak-hanging hooks in a Waterdhavian front hall. Her slender purple-gray tail is five feet long, and she’s trained it lifelong to be prehensile enough to carry (but not wield) keys and small tools and weapons. A planar traveller and adventurer who’s been sorely wounded enough (and made enemies enough) to decide to retire and settle down on Toril, where she chose the bustling crossroads city of Waterdeep as a place of sufficient excitement and opportunities for profit. A Masked Lordship is a great way to network, win acceptance, and learn how Waterdhavians do things (and the Palace taxes and regards those same things), to set her up for a long and successful local career. Which she’s carefully and quietly embarking upon—aided by Elminster, Mirt, and certain veterans of several guilds, who’ve all taken a shine to her. They are the first true friends Karvaerra’s ever had, and she’s determined never to let them down.

• Harlvrront Tarraskla
  (NG Dragonborn female Ranger [Hunter] 10)

  A quiet, gentle member of an almost-extinct clan (the Harlvrront clan, of the mountains east and south of Semphar), Tarraskla has fine scales of orange-gold, brassy hue, stands six-and-a-half feet tall and is burly, with wide shoulders and large clawed hands. She likes to wear ankle-length tabard-gowns (side-slit, with front and back “falls” of unbroken material), and moves like a graceful cat, stalking sleekly. She can move with astonishing silence for someone of her bulk and weight, when she wants to.

  When very young, she fled her unhappy home life by stowing away in a metal-ingots caravan that reached Westgate, and from there followed the caravan roads on her own west to the Sword Coast, where she hunted and wandered until reaching Scornubel, where she became entangled in local feuds and worked as a warehouse guard and cargo guard. One such assignment eventually took her to Waterdeep, which she found a fascinating place of all sorts of beings dwelling together—and the place she felt she belonged in, and wanted to call home. She mustered outcasts and misfits, including some doppelgangers and fellow dragonborn, into a bodyguards-for-hire organization, Tarra’s Hands, and came to the notice of Laeral as a local speaker for her kind—which led to her Masked Lordship. She’s new to her status and still feeling her way, but is finding it a great way to learn about the city’s guilds and nobles. Shouting and bluster amuse her, and threats intrigue her; thus far, nothing and no one in Waterdeep has frightened her—not even an unintended (by both parties) and nearly fatal face-to-face meeting with the Xanathar.

• Tintar Darrbuckle Fastfingers
  (LN rock gnome male Paladin of Chauntea [Oath of the Ancients] 9)

  A thoughtful, plain-spoken merchant of the Darrbuckle clan who has tan skin, a small pointed auburn beard, large bright brown eyes, and a pointed, hooked nose like an eagle’s beak. He’s a manythings trader who sells ploughs and scythes and sickles, but daily deals most in small household items, from belt pouches, vials, and hand-coffers to cutlery, tools, and hinges, hasps, and hook-catches, but is personally skilled as an engraver, polisher, and gemcutter. Increasingly, he's been drawn to protecting farmlands and natural wilderlands from refuse dumping and clearances, to prevent Waterdeep expanding without planning or thought for the natural ways of life. Among the Masked Lords, he’s a strong advocate for rebuilding for greater density and cleanliness within the walls, and making space for trees and plants, from window-boxes to civic gardens. The City of the Dead should not be the only public greenery within the city walls!

• Fulkrar Cleavehammer
  (LN shield dwarf male Fighter [Champion] 8)

  A gray-haired, deep-brown-skinned dwarf who dyes his long hair and beard platinum blonde. He has brown eyes and a customarily dour expression, but in truth is whimsical and often highly amused by Waterdhavian life unfolding around him. He tends to be lenient and understanding of human nature and the foibles of all mortals, and to be a philosopher who looks ahead to consequences, and takes note of trends. He dwells in North Ward where he trades as a metals merchant, and in his own homes works as a founder (caster in alloys) making jewelry, bracers, bracelets, bangles, ankle-chains, and other personal adornments. Like many dwarves of his small clan, he wears a adamantine half-mask into battle, covering the right side of his face (what foes see as the left side), commemorating the helm of an orc foe that an early Cleavehammer clan chief (the matriarch Delrauthtra Cleavehammer) split in two with her hammer, killing its wearer. Fulkrar is by nature calm and placid, always ready for violence but giving in to it as a last resort.

• Elroskar Hintlegate
  (CG lightfoot halfling male Monk [Warrior of Mercy] 11)

  Tall for a halfling (four feet in height) slender, tan-skinned and hazel-eyed, with dark brown wavy hair (long sideburns but beardless and no moustache, has shoulder-length hair). “Rosko” is a cloaked and hooded loner who lives a quiet and rather mysterious life (he owns buildings in North, Sea, Trades, Castle, and Southern Wards, all rented out room by room as ground-floor shops, second-floor offices, and upper floor dwelling suites, and keeps hidden rooms for himself in all of them, so on any given night he may sleep in this building or that, as needs or mood takes him). Elroskar is a Waterdhavian merchant who invests in cargoes shipped everywhere, and as a sideline makes and sells travel maps of western Toril. Practical and capable, he likes to understand the ways of the world (“how things work”), and this extends to the rules and procedures of city guilds and the Xanathar’s gangs.

• Mormurra Kontulrah
  (NG Chondathan human female Wizard [Evoker] 7)

  Is green-eyed, has shoulder-length straight brown hair, tawny skin, a petite build, and rather plain looks. She dresses in breeches, boots, and tunics, wearing dresses, skirts, and gowns only on very rare occasions (or as disguises). She makes her coin as a maker and seller of potions and lotions, only a few of them magical, specializing in skin care, pain quenching, and “tummy troubles.” Mormurra lives alone by choice, has no hunger for physical intimacy of any sort, and is perfectly content with her own company. She likes books, learning magical lore, and mastering new spells on the sly; nothing delights her more than gaining a new spell without paying for it. She never speaks publicly of her Gift or casts spells when there are witnesses (save in dire emergencies), and is not a member of the Watchful Order of Magists & Protectors. As a Masked Lord, she serves as the closest thing to an expert on what arcane practioners are “up to” in Waterdeep, right now. She’s continually astonished by how much arcane mastery (or slapdash lack of mastery) exists among the nobles of Waterdeep.

• Khalrikhauntra Helmfast
  (CG human female Fighter [Eldritch Knight] 4)

  A rebellious young member of the Helmfast Waterdhavian noble family of North Ward (known for their shipbuilding businesses), “Hauntra” is a mercurial, swift-tempered free spirit who clashes often with staid older courtiers and merchants who cleave to old ways “because that’s how it’s always done.” She sees change as both inevitable and desirable, as it’s the road to improvement, and she loves new things of all sorts. She’s also affectionate and easily makes new friends and takes new lovers, of all races, genders, walks of life in the city, and backgrounds, so she knows a lot of people in Waterdeep. Outspoken, she detests deceit, and dislikes delay. The “antics” she employs for pushing business along and forcing hesitant fellow Lords to vote or make decisions “right now” is a source of constant amusement for Open Lord Laeral. Hauntra often undertakes little adventures just for the new experiences.

Thank you so much and (if you aren't already) I hope you consider becoming a Protector of the Realms!

**This is the online version of a handout from the Candlekeep Seminar at Gen Con Indy 2024 (.PDF attached)