Hi. Hanging in there.
Guilds have no influence or purview over property sales or transfers in the Deep. Several of them have tried to gain it, down the centuries, but the Lords always firmly block them. And no Waterdhavian would stand for another attempt now.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 9, 2019
To all my D&D players and Dungeon Masters, what do you think:
Is entering someone's house illegal? I can't find the concept of Home Invasion in the Code Legal of Waterdeep, but in my opinion it is illegal. What do you think? If it is, what crime would it be?
Thanks!#dnd #ttrpg pic.twitter.com/skKdKiS9Cp— 🎀❄️ Walkyrja ❄️🎀 (@TheTryxie) December 8, 2019
1)
The Code Legal is a rather simple document, that over the centuries has been extensively bolstered by case law (decisions of magisters or the Lords that add to it by precedent, without formally adding new laws) 2)
In this manner, home invasions have come to be handled in this way: if no forcible entry is made (i.e. someone slips through an unsecured door or window), nothing is taken or damaged, and no one is physically disturbed… #Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 12, 2019
3)
…(i.e. no one gets slapped awake or intimidated, no chamberpots or ewers of wash-water emptied over any sleepers, etc.), a charge of disturbing the peace is made, and the sentence of that crime is applied (“edict” includes… 4)
…public posting of offender[s] identity/identities, and the Watch puts them on local patrol ‘watch lists,’ which can include the Watch wakening offenders in the wee hours to check on what they’re up to. Note: the Watch and…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 12, 2019
5)
…Guard, or the Open Lord and Palace officials (inspectors, tax collectors, etc.) CANNOT be charged over a home invasion if on official duty; i.e. they can enter premises and it’s not a crime.
If, however, forcible entry is 6)
…made, or property within the domicile is damaged by an intruder, then to the charge of disturbing the peace is added a charge of damaging property or livestock (yes, under the Code Legal, charges can ‘stack;’ whether they…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 12, 2019
7)
…will or not in any particular case is up to the Lords, because if the Watch ‘hurls the Code’ at an undercover Lords’ agent or someone in favour, the Lords will reduce or eliminate charges ere a magister does any sentencing— 8)
…whereas if it’s someone in disfavour, an accused will face all charges made). On a guilty finding, the usual sentence for damaging property or livestock applies.
If property is stolen, a charge of burglary is added, and the…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 12, 2019
9)
…usual sentence applies. If persons in the residence are assaulted, a charge of assaulting a citizen is added for each person (if they are citizens of Waterdeep; outlanders are afforded no protection under the Code Legal, but… 10)
…note that if you rent or own real estate property in the city, belong to a city guild, or have paid any recorded levy or tax, you’re a “citizen”). If persons residing on the invaded premises are awakened or threatened and…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 12, 2019
11)
…“feel fear,” this same charge is leveled for each person affected, but the sentence/punishment is nominal (and often used by magisters to cobble together a sentence that “fits the crime,” so drunks or ‘madwits’ or 12)
…‘wandering-witted’ (dementia) offenders may get a gentle slap on the wrist, but gangs who intimidate, of families building into a feud, get the Code hurled at them). If anyone can be proven to have hired home invaders, they can…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 12, 2019
13)
…face the same charges (proof can be hard to get, though, in the case of wily nobles or guildmasters or wealthy ‘wannabe nobles.’ However, the Xanathar, the Unseen, rival nobles, and even some unscrupulous Masked Lords have 14)
…been known to fabricate proof in the past, so everything gets closely looked at, and mere verbal claims will only result in an accused getting put on a Watch ‘watch list’ and the attention of undercover agents of the Lords).#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 12, 2019
15)
Hope all of this is of some help!#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 12, 2019
Uh damaging property and robbery would both cover burglary. Quite true, but I'm describing how things have come to be applied in the Deep, by precedent. As in our real world, quite often logic doesn't come into it. ;}
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 12, 2019
Thank you so much for your complete answer!You included all possibilities and I can apply your answers to my case.
I can’t believe you answered my tweet! It’s an honor! My pleasure. This is my life work, answering Realms questions. ;}— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 12, 2019
Newest issue of the Waterdeep Sentinel from my home #dnd campaigns featuring investigation into the accusations against Open Lord Silverhand. I wonder what @TheEdVerse would think about the Xanathat using alternative facts against the Open Lord? pic.twitter.com/5mJPyCj3nP
— Eric Jordan (@ericremyjordan) December 7, 2019
1)
LOVE those broadsheets!
Everyone in the Deep (nobles, guilds, Masked Lords, crime bosses of all species) have long used alternative facts against each other, so it’s spot-on. (Laeral will just ignore until forced to do otherwise, thanks to who she is) 2)
She will, however, privately point out the suspicious nature of the published accusations. Certain bribed journalists will likely receive menacing private visits from agents sent by various Masked Lords…with priests of Tyr and Watchful Order spellcasters using…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 7, 2019
3)
…magic on the journalists during said visits, to try to find out what’s really going on. Once they find out, agents of the Xanathar may meet sticky ends in a quick collective purge (as a warning), as stories from OTHER bribed journalists appear about various.. 4)
…nobles, trusted guild members/craftworkers, popular tavern dancers and minstrels, etc. being rescued by drow in the city from various threats. Just how things are daily done in the Deep.
BTW, the danger of using alternative facts is that it makes many…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 7, 2019
5)
…convervative nobles (and some conservative guildmasters) seethe, and they are extremely unlikely to ever work with or support the purveyors of untruth. They consider this tactic "too dirty for civilized society" (a threat to law and order in itself).#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 7, 2019
I’ve put a Shoppe in Waterdeep that specialises in Kerbabs, Drow Sausage Rolls and Meat Pies, Cormyrian Pasties and slushies(blue bubblegum being the most popular flavour) the owner is a burly chap with a fine moustache and bristling beard, named Heimlich Mecklenburg Don't tell Elminster! Blue bubblegum slushies may enrage him into "accidentally" razing the place to the ground with an inadvertent spell. Laeral will merely shudder–and Volo will be eagerly at the counter in a trice. As for Mirt…Twitter is a family platform, yes?#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 8, 2019
@TheEdVerse since the events that lead to shade enclaves return to the realms, has anything been done with the karse stone? Or is it still sitting in the high forest (I havent gotten to read the return Of the archwizards books yet but I don't mind any spoilers).
— VengefulJarl (@vengeful_jarl) December 6, 2019
The Karsestone is in the possession of the goddess, Shar. And she’s shown no inclination whatsoever to return it to the Realms for mortals to access. Likely because the lich Wulgreth of Ascalhorn is far more useful to her as a ghostly slave/servitor (The Karsestone is its phylactery.) Warning: there are TWO liches named Wulgreth, the other being from Netheril. Confusing them is likely to be horribly fatal.#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 7, 2019
Have there ever been instances of a living phylactery? And by that I mean… an egg that hatches unexpectedly, or a body that later became a mummy, or perhaps a tree/treant that wasn’t quite dead? Yes, BUT…life and unlife housed together destroy ("eat") each other. Usually lichdom is so powerful that it's the living phylactery that dies, VERY quickly (days or hours)…and is withered/ruined, partially or wholly. The lich is weakened until this demise occurs.#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 8, 2019
Most liches-to-be wouldn't even consider a living host, as all the "how to achieve lichdom" lore they can find rules out living hosts for phylacteries. We know what happens only because of the paranoid experimenters who wanted to REALLY hide their phylacteries.#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 8, 2019
@TheEdVerse Hi Ed! I was wondering if you could tell me where exactly is Mistshore on a map of Waterdeep please!
— cro (@_cromac) December 6, 2019
1)
Sure. While it flourished, Mistshore occupied the northern shore (Dock Ward) of the Great Harbor, from the breakwater separating it from the Naval Harbor on the west, to just shy of the foot-of-Odd Street docks on the east…so draw a line due west from that. 2)
…wharf to the naval breakwater, and that entire part of the harbor was filled with lashed-together ships: Mistshore. Its southern edge wasn't neatly horizontal; in the middle, it bulged south about half a ship (cog)-length. The Lords then prevented expansion.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 6, 2019
Mediterranean but a tad cooler.#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 9, 2019
@TheEdVerse I hope you are healing well and feeling better. Thank you for answering questions. I happen to have a question about Volo. I noticed there is a city in Calimshan called 'Volothamp' and I was wondering if he is named after the city or if he gave himself a pen name?
— Vanessa Pederson (@nessus88) December 5, 2019
1)
Oooh! You’ve stumbled on a hidden secret of the Realms! Volo is indeed named after the city, as he was conceived there, and his mother had a secret sideline business in having babies for nobility and royalty (and keeping very quiet about it, so they could pass. 2)
…off her babes as legitimate fullblood heirs), and wanted to keep track of where she 'made' her own child. (Eventually, someone decided to guarantee the silence of Volo's parents by murdering them. Via deft hired killers who offed them separately in "accidents.")#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 6, 2019
