@TheEdVerse Great Sage, I was wondering if you could provide some insight on on ancient waterdeep, like when the Shoons (Specifically the 3rd and 4th were in power)
— Pastor Plague (@PastorPlague) November 3, 2018
1/6) The best QUICK overview can be found on p7 of the 3e City of Splendors: WATERDEEP tome penned by Eric Boyd. The short answer is: there was no city of Waterdeep at this time.
During the reigns of the third and fourth Shoons, … https://t.co/HFOQpUqLQJ— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 3, 2018
2/6) the plateau above Deepwater Harbor, and the harbor shore, were being farmed by Illuskans who’d spread from the city of Tavaray (at the mouth of the River Delimbiyr). Earlier, they’d come from Ruathym, fleeing civil strife there.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 3, 2018
3/6) Halaster Blackcloak and his apprentices arrived in 168 DR and built a tower, Halaster’s Hold, at the heart of the plateau. It also became known as Blackcloak Hold, and the latter name clung to the settlement that grew up around it, …
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 3, 2018
4/6) …among the farms. Halaster built the hold as his base from which to wrest what’s now known as Undermountain from the drow, and he and the Seven (his apprentices) were busy doing so until well after the end of Shoon IV’s reign…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 3, 2018
5/6) … (the Seven “went below” in 307 DR). So while the Shoons were, ah, “flourishing” (not a word most of their subjects would have agreed with), what would become Waterdeep was an increasingly productive and prosperous farming…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 3, 2018
6/6) … community trading with Tavaray (mainly overland, by mule-train). Orcs and hobgoblins lurked, but the drow and the elves of Ardeepforest kept them largely at bay, and once Halaster was in residence, he kept the drow at bay.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 3, 2018
Afterword: If you want “Waterdeep” to exist as a name (a town), you need to be at 900 DR or later, which is well after the last Shoon achieved lichdom, faked his own murder, and went into hiding.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 3, 2018
You're very welcome. Always happy to talk Realmslore!
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 4, 2018