Hello! Sorry if this has been answered somewhere already but a player asked during a session once and I couldn’t find an exact number on the # of Waterdeep noble families? (1/2) Here's what I found; I'm assuming the 78 is correct since it lines up closer to SCAG too, but:
Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide p.55: More than 75 noble families
Waterdeep Dragon Heist p 13: Well over a hundred noble families
Waterdeep Dragon Heist p. 172: 78 noble families— Meredith Katz (@MeredithAKatz) April 16, 2020
1)
Sure, happy to help. Throughout most of the 1300s, there were 78 recognized noble families in Waterdeep. (Some additional houses had been previously been exiled and stripped of their nobility, and some had gone extinct.) 2)
Then, as we saw in CITY OF THE DEAD, a great Realms novel by Rosemary Jones, there came a time wherein hard-up noble families sold their titles, there were assassinations and some noble families fled Waterdeep, only to return…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 17, 2020
3)
…(or in some cases, ‘pretenders’ CLAIMING to be missing noble families popped up in the city), various commoners claimed ‘extinct’ noble titles they may or may not have been entitled to, and the Masked Lords made some rulings4)
…about individuals that boiled down to this: Joe Blow here gave us a lot of money, so we’re going to let him call himself a noble Lord of Waterdeep for the rest of his life, but that’s a life title; it DOESN’T extend to his…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 17, 2020
5)
…family or not-yet-born descendants. Except, human nature being what is, in the chaos following the Spellplague but before the Second Sundering, the families of said Joe Blows DID use and claim noble titles, and a few of them 6)
…got away with it. (There are also nobles descended from someone who sold their title, who claim to be Lord and Lady Assumbar—and who reside in their ancestral mansion, only a few streets away from the Lord and Lady Assumbar…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 17, 2020
7)
…who are descended from the buyer of the Assumbar title. In this particular case, this mess is complicated by the existence of a longtime Waterdeep-resident commoner family of shopkeepers who claims to be the “REAL House 8)
…Assumbrar” [note the difference in spelling] and have an ancient document to prove it that may just be an early 1300s DR forgery. And similar difficulties abound.)
Which all boils down to this, as of 1492 DR (the time of…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 17, 2020
9)
…Waterdeep: Dragon Heist): there are officially 78 noble families recognized as rightful nobility in Waterdeep. AND at the same time, there are upwards of 130 families living in Waterdeep who claim to be noble, and are… 10)
…treated as such by all commoners in the city (because if you want to do business with someone, and not earn their enmity, it’s safest to politely treat them as what they claim to be).
Happy social adventuring!#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 17, 2020
This is incredible! Thank you so much for this in-depth look, I genuinely felt actual joy reading it. Excited to weave this in. You're very welcome! :} Always happy to talk Realmslore, and Waterdeep's zany nobles hold a special place in my heart. So many revels, so much hanky-panky, so many idiot schemes that necessitate hiring adventurers to do questionable things…#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 17, 2020