the nobles of Waterdeep always try to maintain at least a
veneer of civility in their squabbles.
Although they seldom agree on much, one matter
that all the noble houses see the same way is that their
status should not be tainted by newcomers, and cer-
tainly not by anyone so brightcoin as to purchase one's
way to a noble title. When during Lord Neverember's
tenure it became legal for impoverished houses to sell
their titles, and thus allow others to become noble,
many leaders of the old-blood houses were apoplectic,
particularly after some purchasers lost all their coin and
sold their titles again within a season or two. Open Lord
Laeral Silverhand has, to the relief of those leaders,
seen the folly of this decision, and gathered enough sup-
port among the Lords of Waterdeep to not only reverse
it, but to restore titles and lands to noble families who
lost them through folly. The change has won her much
support among the nobles. Now Zhents and Thayans
and Baldurian merchants have coin enough to buy prop-
erty within the city, if they choose, but that is no reason
to award them noble titles and legal rights, instead of
merely a mansion, for doing so.
YARTAR
Situated in the fork where the Rivers Surbrin and Des-
sarin join near the Evermoor Way, Yartar is a fortified
town that, were it not for its own petty, internal squab-
bles, might wield more influence among its fellows
in the North. Currently, it is most remarkable for its
barge-building operation (and that industry's impor-
tance to the commerce of other settlements) and its
annual fairs.
Each summer, except in years when Shieldmeet
occurs, a vast Hiring Fair is held in Yartar, during which
all sorts of undesirable folk gather north of the town
looking for work as guards, miners, farmhands, guides,
or other unskilled laborers. For the most part, those who
attend this fair are brutes, bandits, freeholders whose
lands can no longer sustain them, or Uthgardt who wish
to be among "civilized" folk for a short time-but occa-
sionally, a strong hand or a skilled warrior can be culled
from the bunch. While this event is going on, Yartar is
overrun with visitors it would rather not welcome, who
steal goods, sell wares in the street (sometimes those
they have just stolen), meet unscrupulous contacts to
hand off coin, information, or purloined items, and
engage in the occasional spell duel. It's quite common
for a new adventuring company to come into being at
one of these fairs, when those who stand out from the
crowd because they have legitimate skills to sell gravitate
toward one another and decide to form a group.
In those years when Shieldmeet falls, the town is
instead treated to a great festival on that day, sponsored
mainly by the local temple to Tymora, the Happy Hall of
Fortuitous Happenstance. The Shieldmeet festival fea-
tures a number of games of chance, skill, and bravery,
from dice and darts, to drunken running, to wrestling
and other physical contests. Occasionally, the Tymoran
priests use this festival to identify adventurers whom
the goddess has called to a particular task, selected
for a blessing, or otherwise marked for some undeter-
mined destiny.Whether during the Hiring Fair or the Shieldmeet fes-
tival, each summer at least one adventuring band seems
to get its start in Yartar. Most fall into obscurity, but the
Smiling Company-the still-active portion of a larger
band of warriors who gathered in Yartar nearly a decade
ago-still enjoys moderate success, and makes annual
contributions to the Happy Hall.
Yartar is ruled by a Waterbaron who is elected for life.
The current Waterbaron is Nestra Ruthiol, a hot-tem-
pered woman who is wickedly calculating; though she
is free with her words and her insults, she seldom takes
action against rivals unless she is sure such can be done
to the most efficiently painful effect. During my last visit
to Yartar, accusations arose against the Waterbaron that
she had murdered a man, Kaidrod Palyr, who was later
revealed to have been her lover. His body was found in
the river, with the soaked remnant of what appeared to
be Nestra Ruthiol's favorite cloak. That she loudly and
publicly argued with Palyr's wife, Tiarshe, shortly before
the accusations came to light did little to help her rep-
utation, or the impression of her innocence. When she
was finally cleared of the charges, Waterbaron Ruthiol
made it clear that she didn't wish to speak of the matter
again, and she would ensure that anyone who brought it
up in official dealings would be quite unhappy with the
results. Though there are whispers, it has not been men-
tioned in her presence since. Some blame the murder
on the Hand of Yartar, the local thieves' guild, but I
believe that Kaidrod was killed, and the Waterbaron
was implicated, in order to free up the post for one of
her rivals within the city.
It is conflicts and schemes such as this that keep
Yartar from gaining prominence in the North. If the
town can overcome its internal problems, take advan-
tage of what its fellows in the Lords' Alliance can offer,
and find a way to reap greater profit from its position
along major trade routes-where it stands as the gate-
way to all the settlements of the northeast-Yartar
might soon grow in size, wealth, and influence. Physical
growth would require clearing terrain for further set-
tlement and building another encircling wall to protect
settlers-and additional guards hired to protect those
who do the work.
With its location near two great rivers and its prox-
imity to a third (the Laughingflow, forming a trio the____ CHAPTER 2 I THE SWORD COAST AND THE NORTH