Waterdeep

Waterdeep is seperated into 8 wards each with a unique feel. The Field ward on the North side of the city, is still fighting to be considered an official ward of the city to receive many benefits the rest of the city enjoys, like running water and a sewer system, filled with outcasts, has-beens, and homeless, many here struggle to make ends meet, vastly ignored by the rest of Waterdeep. The Sea Ward stands proud on the high ground above Mount Waterdeep’s sunset shadow. The rich and the powerful (or those who wish you to think such of them, and can afford the rent) reside or run their businesses here. Nobles aplenty live in the North Ward, but the character of this ward is more peaceful than that of the Sea Ward. Though it has taverns and shops to suit a variety of tastes, the tenor of the area tends toward reserved and polite. The Castle Ward is the heart and mind of Waterdeep, if not its soul. It houses the city’s military forces, courts, government, and the Market — the largest market square of any city in the North. It encompasses the City Navy’s docks in the Great Harbor and all of Mount Waterdeep, and it is home to six walking statues, numerous temples, and many other landmarks. The Trades Ward provides shopping, shopping, shopping galore! Or eating, eating, eating! Or drinking, drinking, drinking! Or lavish accommodations, or fine art, or legendary parties! The Market in the Castle Ward is the largest market square in the city, but the Trades Ward is like a market town in itself — and is easily thrice the Market’s size. Next is called the Southern Ward, not the South Ward. Waterdavians are peculiar about this, and if you insist on referring to it as the South Ward, expect to be corrected or thought a fool. The name derives not merely from its southerly location in the city, but from the southerners who settled in this district as the city grew. Today, the ward still hosts most of the traveling merchants who visit the city, and is made up of many enclaves, blocks, and streets primarily occupied by citizens who trace their ancestry to other realms. The Dock Ward was long considered the most dangerous district in the city, but the Field Ward has since taken that title. I don’t doubt the residents of the Dock Ward are glad of it, for in some respects this area has never truly deserved its bad reputation. The City of the Dead is no drab cemetery. It is a great park of grassy hills, tended flower beds, artfully placed clusters of trees and bushes, beautiful sculptures, astounding architecture, and gravel paths that wend intriguingly through it all.