History of Waterdeep

Pre-Waterdeep History

=-8500 DR

• Aelinthaldaar, which becomes the capital city of Illefarn, is founded on the future site of Waterdeep.

-1288 DR

• A shield dwarf named Melair discovers a vein of precious mithral beneath Mount Waterdeep. King Melair I, as he comes to be known, sends word to his kindred, and those who answer his call become Clan Melairkyn. The Melairkyn are traders, artisans, and explorers, strongly protective of their home, which they name the Underhalls of Melairbode [–750].

-1100 DR

• Aelinthaldaar, the capital city of Illefarn, is razed by elven High Magic on the order of Illefarn’s coronal. Virtually nothing is left to indicate that an elf city had stood on the site for seven millennia.

-1088 DR

• Scarcely a dozen years after the razing of Aelinthaldaar, annual trade begins between southern merchants and barbaric local tribes on the future site of Waterdeep.

-750 DR

• An order of powerful Netherese wizards takes up residence amid an unexcavated section of Melairbode [–1288, –677], in what is now known as the third level of Undermountain. The name of the outpost is lost to time, though some scholars refer to it as the Sargauth Enclave.

Year of Fervent Glances (-677 DR)

• Drow from the city of Karsoluthiyl (located beneath the Trackless Sea, west of the mouth of the River Chionthar) begin their first incursions against the Stout Folk of Melairbode.

Year of Sundered Webs (-339 DR)

• The Sargauth Enclave in present-day Undermountain is partially destroyed as a result of Karsus’s Folly, and the Netherese arcanists that survive are twisted into magically potent undead that will become known as the Skulls of Skullport.

Year of Purloined Power (34 DR)

• Drow overwhelm the Melairkyn dwarves of Undermountain, and King Melair IV is slain. The dwarves retreat to lower, less important levels of the Underhalls.

Year of Scattered Stars (168 DR)

• A wizard of unknown ancestry calling himself Halaster Blackcloak, later identified as the Raurinese wizard Hilather, builds a tower and fortified ramparts in the middle of the Deepwater Plateau, to the north and west of the burgeoning farms along the harbor shore in Waterdeep. He begins exploration of the Underhalls of the Melairkyn and claims the delvings for himself.

Year of Spoiled Splendors (211 DR)

• Clan Melairkyn, forced to retreat to successively lower and less important levels of the Underhalls by the drow, finally vanishes. The drow name their new holdings Kyorlamshin and claim most of fallen Melairbode as their demesne.

Year of the Half Moon (390 DR)

• Followers of Selûne begin worshiping the Moonmaiden on the slopes of Mount Waterdeep.

Year of the Ecstatic Priest (493 DR)

• The drow, forced into the lowest levels of the Underhalls, finally abandon the former dwarf home of Melairbode entirely.

Year of the Dangerous Game (658 DR)

• A portal is secretly established between the Hall of the Naturalists in Myth Drannor and the Underhalls of Mount Melairbode(Undermountain).

Waterdeep's Early History

Year of the Sky Raiders (936 DR)

• Town of Waterdeep: In the aftermath of the Orcfastings War, Nimoar died of old age, and the mantle of “War Lord” passes to Gharl, his most accomplished general. Nimoar’s Hold grows and prospers, and the fledgling community becomes known among ship captains as the town of Waterdeep.

Year of the Cold Claws (940 DR)

• Second Trollwar: Beginning with Amphail the Just, who reigned for a year, six warriors claim the mantle of War Lord of Waterdeep during the next twelve years, only to fall in never-ending battle as the defenders of Waterdeep battle gangs of trolls throughout the Dessarin River valley.

Year of the Rings Royal (952 DR)

• End of the Second Trollwar: This year marks the end of the Second Trollwar as the Everlasting Ones are

pushed back from the walls of Waterdeep. The human realms and holdings of the North unite under the leadership of Aeroth, War Captain and champion of Silverymoon; Ahghairon of Waterdeep; and Samular Caradoon of Tyr and clear the Evermoors of trolls. The wizard Renwick Caradoon, brother of Samular, dies in the final battles and is transformed into an archlich.

Year of the Deadly Duo (963 DR)

• Construction of Castle Waterdeep begins.

Year of the Haunting Harpy (974 DR)

• Castle Waterdeep is completed. Laroun, Waterdeep’s first female War Lord, takes up residence therein.

Waterdeep in the Present Age

Year of the Bold Barbarian (1007 DR)

• Waterdeep’s city walls expand, absorbing the ruins of Halaster’s Hold. Ahghairon builds his tower out beyond the city’s walls and places magical barriers around the ruins of Halaster’s tower, preventing many dangers from escaping into the city.

Year of Lathander's Light (1024 DR)

• Uruth Ukrypt unleashes the Broken Bone orc horde, which emerges from the Sword Mountains bent on destroying Waterdeep. The attacks of the dragon Lhammaruntosz, also known as the Claws of the Coast, substantially weaken the horde, allowing the armies of Waterdeep to prevail.

Year of Crimson Magics (1026 DR)

• Laroun, War Lord of Waterdeep, dies when orcs besiege the city. After the siege is broken, her successor Raurlor destroys the Black Claw orc horde at Stump Bog, shattering the strength of Uruth Ukrypt and sending it into its final decline.

Year of Warlords (1030 DR)

• Raurlor begins to increase Waterdeep’s standing army and navy to a size not seen since the fall of Phalorm. Over the next two years, he turns the city into a garrison and military encampment, brooking no dissent from the populace.

Year of the Nightmaidens (1032 DR)

• Raurlor proclaims the Empire of the North, but Ahghairon defies him, transforming his Warlord’s Blade into a viper that poisons its wielder. Raurlor dies at the mage’s feet, and Ahghairon becomes the first “Lord” of Waterdeep. Ahghairon determines that henceforth wisdom and not armed might will rule in the city, and the Lords of Waterdeep are formed.

Year of the Angry Sea (1148 DR)

• The necromancer Shradin Mulophor takes up residence in the ruins of Sargauth Enclave, establishing a small trading settlement that will soon become known as Skullport, Port of Shadows. The Lord of Bones, as Shradin comes to be known, encourages trade with other Underdark powers by linking the River Sargauth with subterranean waterways and creating portals leading to distant seas.

Terms to search

• Waterdeep
• Nimoar
• Halaster Blackcloak
• Shradin Mulophor
• Skullport
• Aghairon
• Laroun