1)
[Last family!]
The Yeldred family of North Ward is perhaps the most interesting of the three “wannabe noble” families. They became fabulously wealthy over the past century by controlling quarries where flagstones, cobbles, and roof-slates…2)
…were produced that much of Waterdeep is now (after rebuilding and renovations and the ongoing maintenance of the last six decades) built of, and by owning a shipping fleet and three caravan companies active in the Heartlands…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2020
3)
…(mainly on short, fast, lucrative Amn/Baldur’s Gate/Waterdeep/Silverymoon runs), and by shrewd investments in various guilds, shops, and forges.
So the Yeldreds alive today have always known more coin than they know how to… 4)
…spend. What it won’t buy them is a noble title, and some of them very much want it. They tried “nobility on the cheap,” which meant settling their own wilderlands north of the eastern Amnian mountain barony of Hawkhill, …#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2020
5)
…calling it the “realm” of Vaeranth (Vaeranth Yeldred was the founder of this scheme), and styling themselves Lords and Ladies of Vaeranth, complete with elaborate blazons, but no one in Waterdeep would recognize or use the…6)
…titles, no matter how many ornate maps of Vaeranth the Yeldreds hired cartographers to produce and distribute throughout the city. Vaeranth remains a wilderness today, albeit with three small stone keeps the Yeldreds built; …#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2020
6)
…titles, no matter how many ornate maps of Vaeranth the Yeldreds hired cartographers to produce and distribute throughout the city. Vaeranth remains a wilderness today, albeit with three small stone keeps the Yeldreds built; …7)
…they retain one by paying a garrison to dwell there that they must supply with food and chapbooks and strong drink and paid companions, and the other two were seized by brigands who from time to time are wiped out by monsters…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2020
8)
…deciding to lair therein, until the next brigands come along and slay the beasts.
So now, the Yeldreds are trying to marry into nobility.
As of the 1490s DR, the Yeldreds consist of one boy (Paerand, who’s 9 years old), and… 9)
…six women: Paerand’s mother Esmarheldra, the matriarch (there is no family patriarch, as her husband Boldrael died 8 years ago), and her five daughters, who in descending order of age are Astrauva (21 years old), Vauntra…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2020
10)
…(20), Jaerezra (19), Palone (18), and Sapraenra (17). All are good-looking, graceful, and polite, and Esmarheldra, Astrauva, Vauntra, and Palone are stunningly beautiful and superb natural actors (in complete control of…11)
…their voices, facial expressions, and mannerisms, and able to weep at will). For the last four summers, they have deliberately set about getting invited to nobles’ revels, at first as arm candy for other non-noble guests, …#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2020
12)
…but they have slowly and deftly cultivated friendships with nobles of higher and higher rank, trying to build networks of eligible batchelor nobles they fancy, with an eye to marrying into the ranks of the nobility. 13)
They don’t want to be saddled with dullards or brutes or insane/headstrong narcissists, and so are seeking to learn all they can about their quarries without being obvious about their prying or seeming to be pursuing mates, …#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2020
14)
…but nobles aren’t unperceptive when it comes to suitors, and have caught on. The fact that these oh-so-charming females are all from one family hasn’t gone unnoticed, and various covert tricks and hired spellcastings have… 15)
…been employed to try to make sure the Yeldred women are indeed human, and not doppelgangers or other shapeshifters, and self-willed rather than the thralls of illithids or anyone/anything else. Various nobles privately (but…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2020
16)
…erroneously) suspect the Yeldreds of being sorceresses, members of a cult, and agents of various cabals and sinister organizations.
Thus far, the dance of flirtation and slow, subtle courtship hasn’t resulted in any Yeldred… 17)
…getting hitched, or even serious interest, but the daughters are all firm friends—and, gossip insists, sometime lovers—of a dozen nobles (of both genders, and a variety of families) each.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2020
18)
Paerand is a quiet, happy-with-his-own-company boy who reads voraciously, plays board games against any handy opponent, and although he's far from feminine, loves women's clothing and prefers to wear his elder sisters' castoffs. His hobby? Sponsoring adventurers.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2020