D&D General Any Realms-Heads Know About The Politics of The Sword Coast?

[Alzrius]

If you'd prefer to look through some sourcebooks on these topics, I recommend City of Splendors: Waterdeep and Power of Faerûn. Both are for D&D 3.5, and are excellent products.

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Oh yeah!

I'd pay good bucks to play a character in a Gangs of New York/Les Misérables version of Waterdeep!

Hell yeah.

It's a interesting concept, but Waterdeepas written is probably balanced enough that they would be dismissed as a nuisance by most residents: there's food and money to go around, and diffused powers that are working in a balance. The DM could tip the town into a more Baldur's Gate-y direction on their own? Disempowrting the working class Guilds, or getting rid of the Druid supermarket that makes food abundant?

Taxes. Stifled middle class growth. Consolidation of power by an immortal demigod in a world where such figures attract chaos and crisis.
There is stuff to work with, for sure. Without making it more like Baldur’s Gate.
Recall, not all revolutions require the sort of desperation and strife you see in such places. The American colonies were very wealthy when they rebelled. There was plenty of money, land, food, and opportunity, to go around. But you couldn’t ever go to the top. You couldn’t ever become someone who makes the rules. And meanwhile, the people collecting your taxes were using it to fight wars that had nothing to do with you and throw parties for the king.

Prosperity doesn’t preclude revolution.

Well, Neverember was Open Lord for a time, in addition to be Lord-Regent of Neverwinter, so he was pretty much THE aristocracy of two big cities for a time, not a great example of an aristocrat-less world.

Sure, but people moved up more easily under his rule. And then the old status quo returned, in the name of stability.

Thing is, the politic world of the Realms are pretty much a weird status quo where there's no open war, barely no kingdoms or attempts to create some, all cities are pretty much self enclosed, stand-alone, stable city-states.

Yeah I think the DM is very willing to let the status quo change in the campaign, luckily. We are starting in a fairly “canonical” state, and going from there.

That's why I once had a plan to create a Faerun Year 1508 setting where there would be more large kingdoms, burgeoning republic and conflicts/war, like:

- The Deep Waters League, merging the Waterdeep, Baldur's Gate and other small sea-side cities as one kingdom, with the addition of the Rhuatym islands.

- Free Holds of the North, a rebel alliance of the Silver Marches' cities against the Hartsvale's Empire made of the conquered lands of the hold dwarven holds, ruled by the proclaimed half-dragon son of Klauth.

- Twilight Parliament of the Moonsheas, forming a democratic monarchy covering the Moonsheas Islands and their Feywild-only cities.

etc
-

Those sound pretty fun. I’d play that.

 

[Parmandur]

Taxes. Stifled middle class growth. Consolidation of power by an immortal demigod in a world where such figures attract chaos and crisis.
There is stuff to work with, for sure. Without making it more like Baldur’s Gate.
Recall, not all revolutions require the sort of desperation and strife you see in such places. The American colonies were very wealthy when they rebelled. There was plenty of money, land, food, and opportunity, to go around. But you couldn’t ever go to the top. You couldn’t ever become someone who makes the rules. And meanwhile, the people collecting your taxes were using it to fight wars that had nothing to do with you and throw parties for the king.

Prosperity doesn’t preclude revolution.

Just going by canon as-written in Dragon Heist...it's not just that there is prosperity, it's that the city's main challenge for Adventurers with a capital A is that the society is functional and actually responsible, with fair and just laws and social mobility and representation, unlike the usual Wild West or hive of scum and villainy D&D defaults to. If I were your DM, I would bend canon to fit the character concept, but going strictly by-the-book a revolutionary firebrand in Waterdeep is going to find that the wood is waterlogged and unlikely to catch flame.

I do think the "Lord's Alliance is an amoral and corrupt institution" is a pretty good option, and gives the DM a strong potential hook into at least two, maybe three, of the potential villains. And (not saying who) the fourth villain that wouldn't work for is actually a Masked Lord IIRC, so I could see the character working as a foil to whichever NPC "main boss" the DM is angling for, even if Waterdeep itself is not a tinderbox waiting to go off.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Just going by canon as-written in Dragon Heist...it's not just that there is prosperity, it's that the city's main challenge for Adventurers with a capital A is that the society is functional and actually responsible, with fair and just laws and social mobility and representation, unlike the usual Wild West or hive of scum and villainy D&D defaults to.

You could replace Waterdeep with the colonies, and it wouldn’t be any less true.

If I were your DM, I would bend canon to fit the character concept, but going strictly by-the-book a revolutionary firebrand in Waterdeep is going to find that the wood is waterlogged and unlikely to catch flame.

That’s one interpretation, not a fact.

I do think the "Lord's Alliance is an amoral and corrupt institution" is a pretty good option, and gives the DM a strong potential hook into at least two, maybe three, of the potential villains. And (not saying who) the fourth villain that wouldn't work for is actually a Masked Lord IIRC, so I could see the character working as a foil to whichever NPC "main boss" the DM is angling for, even if Waterdeep itself is not a tinderbox waiting to go off.

The aristocracy itself is a reason to call for revolution. The fact that the ruler of the most wealthy and arguably most powerful city on the sword coast, and the head of the Lords Alliance, is an immortal demigod, is reason enough. The fact that the government is a bunch of unelected people who identities aren’t even known is enough.

Combine it all with the whole “there are both very rich and desperate destitute people here” thing, almost certainly increased taxes due to a string of crisis disasters in recent years and all you need is a recent proclamation that the Lords Alliance is forming a standing army, and, to quote Hamilton again, “there will be revolution in this century.”

 

[Eltab]

Waterdeep is not created to be a fertile field for a social-change adventure. Rather, it is the refuge Adventurers go to when they need to replenish supplies and research / purchase a McGuffin to defeat their upcoming BBEG.

However, nothing prevents the campaign from being set in the nearby towns and villages where "the city folk" (mostly nobles and agents thereof) are seen as outsiders, snobs, exploiters, and generally non-contributors to society. Those folks might be ready to tell a few Lord Full OfThemselves'es to take a hike.

 

[LordEntrails]

As said, Waterdeep is not (normally) ripe for social change. But, it doesn't mean their are not tensions or issues. Besides the Masked Lords, you can look into;

• The Code Legal; nobles and commoners are not treated equally.
• The Guilds; are ominous and a bureaucracy to themselves, it would be easy to see injustice and issues (even for those pro-union).

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

is an immortal demigod

add to that the since Faerun's Sundering #547, Gods arent welcomed to show their face to say ''you are my Chosen'' so her whole ''I'm a Chosen of Mystra'' mystic cannot really be proved. She could be only a powerful mage.

And there's her proximity to the new version of the Blackstaff crew, the Harpers and Force Grey, where it could look from the point of view of a lowly commoner that the aristocracy has its own personal enforcers. Where commoners are supposed to follows the edits and bills of law, the Nobles can avoid any dealing with the Watch or Guard by going directly to armed forces that are only imputable to them.

 

[Myrdin Potter]

Waterdeep is an oppressive society run by secret rulers that does not even allow self defense if you are attacked. Lots of moralizing up topside, but many families have business connections in Skullport down below. Quite possible that The Xanathar actually runs the place.

The secret ambitions and avarice of the Masked Lords needs to be exposed and the entire structure needs to be torn down.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

As said, Waterdeep is not (normally) ripe for social change. But, it doesn't mean their are not tensions or issues. Besides the Masked Lords, you can look into;

• The Code Legal; nobles and commoners are not treated equally.
• The Guilds; are ominous and a bureaucracy to themselves, it would be easy to see injustice and issues (even for those pro-union).

There's also the drow enclaves that have been created for ''redeemed'' dark elves could be little less than ghettos (see Dragon Age alienage).

And waves of refugees fleeing Neverwinter and the open civil war within its wall.

The City of the Dead (WD's walled cemetery) is also becoming pretty big and deep, so you have (IIRC) lower class neighborhoods almost engulfed by the tombs of those rich enough to built fancy mausoleums.

 

[Parmandur]

Combine it all with the whole “there are both very rich and desperate destitute people here”

Well, that's the rub, there really aren't destitute people, as the Druids & Clerics have made Waterdeep's direct area into a post-scarcity society, by the book. Nobody is "destitute", even if some have more stuff. The aristocracy isn't really in charge, either, the Guilds are, and pretty much everyone in the city is a Guild member and so has representation and a real stake in the status quo. The 13 colonies aren't a strong comparison, Waterdeep is more like modern Scandinavia: sure, there's an absolute authorityfigure and rich & powerful people, but the social welfare is strong and people are invested in societies common good. I'm sure there is unrest in Copenhagen to be found, but it is not on the cusp of Revolution.