Simon Banzhaf @BanzhafSimon@TheEdVerse
Hi! I'm running a 1 on 1 campaign in Waterdeep with my partner as my player. We were examining the Code Legal together and they wanted clarification on the definition of Espionage by Waterdeep's standards. I couldn't find anything online.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 4, 2021

1)
The problem is, like many legal matters, is that the definition is really up to the arresting officers of the Watch, and then the Black Robe (magistrate) judging the case—unless the arrested individual is noble or a… 2)
…guildmaster, in which case the Masked Lords will sit in judgment (or can be asked to, on appeal).
In GENERAL, “espionage” is publicly revealing, or revealing to a “foe of the city” or a rival power (for example, the realm of…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 4, 2021

3)
…Amn or Calimshan, or nobles in Sembia), a secret of the city that could weaken the city. Charges in the past suggest that the Waterdhavian authorities consider the following such a sensitive city secret: naval and garrison or… 4)
…patrol strengths and detailed dispositions (where barracked, where on the move and where to, important changes in armament and repairs and improvements, bulk orders of arms and armor, new important orders pertaining to…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 4, 2021

5)
…engagement with foes; details of future defense plans and fortifications); detailed tax takings (and billings to a guild you’re not a member of, and billings to specific nobles or civic officials, if they’re not you); … 6)
…specific population figures; the personal abode addresses of civic officials; future major building project plans and negotiations; Masked Lord deliberations and decisions that haven’t be proclaimed publicly.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 4, 2021

any chance of learning where the borders of the Watereep region are? How far out does the Lord’s rulership extend? Officially, at the city walls.
Unofficially, the city's mounted soldiers have always patrolled multiple times daily out as far as Amphail to the NE, the Rat Hills to the S, and beyond Maiden's Tomb Tor; they enforce the will of the Lords that far.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 18, 2021

2)
This is bolstered by SOME city nobles, who have country estates along roads leading out of the Deep, whose house guards (hired warriors) enforce the Code Legal (because the Lords have in the past made it clear that if they enforce any other code, they'll "get it").#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 18, 2021