Waterdeep, City of Splendors, lies on the western coast of Faerun, a continent on the world of Abeir-Toril better known as the Forgotten Realms. The city lies on a great plateau that slopes down to Waterdeep Harbor in the shadow of Mount Waterdeep. To the south lie the lands and settlements of the Sword Coast, Ardeep Forest, once held by elves, and the mouths of the River Dessarin and the River Delimbiyr, the great waterways of the North. Along the coast to the north lie the Sword Mountains, the Mere of Dead Men, the Twilit Lands, and the Frozenfar all linked by the High Road. Inland lie the farms of Goldenfields, the towns of the Dessarin river valley, and the endless reaches of the High Forest, all linked by the Long Road.

Waterdeep is divided into seven wards: Dock Ward, Southern Ward, Trades Ward, Castle Ward, North Ward, and Sea Ward. Dock Ward subsumes the entire dock and harbor area, making it the "roughest" district of the city. Southern Ward is dominated by the caravan trade, and is home to poor, but honest tradesmen. Trades Ward is home to many moderately wealthy merchants and their businesses. Castle Ward contains Mount Waterdeep, Castle Waterdeep, and Piergeron's Palace as well as many of the city's temples, schools, and wealthiest non-noble citizens. North Ward is home to many very respectable and prosperous families, and contains many noble villas and grand houses as well as not a few inns and rooming houses. Sea Ward contains most of the large temple complexes and the large private villas of many noble families and the very rich non-nobles.

The Gateway to the North, as Waterdeep is sometimes known, has long served as port for merchants engaged in the rich trade in goods and raw materials passing to and from the lands of the Savage Frontier. The city's population rarely falls below 122,000 individuals, the vast majority of them human, but the city's total population soars to as many as five times that number during the times of busiest trading. (One such time is "full spring," a few weeks hence, when winter is fully gone without threat to the reasonable-minded of its return and the transportation routes over land and sea are fully open.) Although slavery is outlawed, almost all types of trade goods pass through Waterdeep's warehouses at some time or another. Likewise, almost anything imaginable is for sale somewhere in the City of Splendors at any given time, if only one knows where to look.

Although the City of Splendors is actually ruled by the secretive Lords of Waterdeep and Piergeron Paladinson, the Open Lord of Waterdeep, much of the city's social, cultural, and mercantile activity is controlled by the noble families of Waterdeep. At present there are some 76 noble houses, most of which include a dozen or more family members and numerous servants and retainers. Each noble house possesses a great villa and numerous other properties in the city, owns additional holdings outside of the city, and maintains a strong (if not controlling) interest in numerous mercantile endeavors.

As befits the strong merchant nobility of a powerful city-state, the cream of Waterdhavian society live in their own privileged world, preoccupied with the growth of their holdings and ongoing intrigues with rival houses. The life of a typical Waterdhavian noble is aswirl with an endless series of parties, balls, and smaller gatherings hosted by the various noble families. To not receive an invitation to such an event, even from one's bitterest rival, is almost unheard of, for it is at such gatherings that the ongoing intrigues between rival houses unfold. Only rarely are blades drawn or spells unleashed, for most nobles prefer the cut-and-thrust of insults, intrigues, and subtle humiliations. Gossip is the currency of the Waterdhavian elite, and fashions change with the shifting of the wind. Various individuals who are not members of the nobility are sometimes invited to such gatherings as well, but most are simply living adornments employed as weapons in the ongoing social intrigues. More than one ten-day-wonder has been prominently displayed like a favored gewgaw while fashionable and then promptly discarded and forgotten thereafter.

During the winter months, much of the Waterdhavian nobility retreats to southern holdings in more temperate climes. With the coming of spring, trade picks up once again and the merchant nobility returns to the City of Splendors to commence another year of the social calendar, beginning with Fleetswake and the Fair Seas Festival. The annual Shipwrights' Ball is held on the first night of Fleetswake, the 21st day of Ches, at the Shipwrights' House to celebrate the craft of the Order of Master Shipwrights. Traditionally, this gala is the first important social event of spring. As many nobles have only just returned to Waterdeep after several months abroad, this particular gathering often serves as the seed of much of the gossip that then preoccupies the nobility for the rest of the year. Most nobles depart the Shipwrights' Ball soon after being seen by their friends and foes, for the post-gala private parties that follow are not to be missed.

This year's Shipwrights' Ball promises to be particularly ostentatious, as the various noble families seek to demonstrate to visiting merchants from other lands that Waterdeep has fully recovered from the devastation inflicted on the city's Dock Ward last summer during an invasion of creatures from the sea. In preparation for the beginning of this year's social season, for the past several days there has been a great deal of interaction between the myriad noble families of North Ward and Sea Ward and the tailors, jewelers, perfumers, and other tradespeople of the Trades Ward. Servants and courtiers are coming and going constantly, the whole city is abuzz with excitement, and rumors are growing wilder by the hour.

Of the post-ball parties, Lady Hyara Talmost's celebratory gala promises to be the most exciting, due in large part to the social controversies that inevitably spring up following the event. The feud between Lady Talmost and Lady Hlanta Melshimber grows stronger every year, there is a great deal of speculation rampant in the city that Lady Melshimber has plans to upstage her hated rival in a spectacular fashion.

Welcome to the City of Splendors!