@TheEdVerse all the Waterdeep sourcebooks briefly detail a warehouse called the "House of Tarmagus," but none of them say anything about who Tarmagus is or what they are doing with the warehouse. Could you please provide some elucidation?
— Sunder|🐜|Pre-debut VTuber (@Sunder93724176) February 27, 2021
1)
Eaerdran Tarmagus (pronounced “AIR-drann TAR-mah-guss”) was a wealthy, rags-to-riches Waterdhavian who as of 1357 DR had seen fifty-eight winters, and enjoyed semi-retirement making the rounds of clubs (he was a fan of tales… 2)
…of adventuring, and good drinkables), the better sort of city eateries, and good taverns. He abhorred “open” gambling, or as he called it, “emptyheaded” games of chance (as opposed to investments), had a small circle of…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 27, 2021
3)
…trusted friends and a smaller circle of lovers among mature widows and independent, never-married women of his age or older (turn-ons for him included retired adventuresses who had interesting tales of derring-do to tell). 4)
He was brown-haired, going white at the temples, clean-shaven, ice-blue-eyed, and quiet and “refined” of speech and manners, without being arrogant or prissy. He dressed in good but conservative clothing, not fashionable garb.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 27, 2021
5)
Tarmagus began his working career as an “errand and message runner” on the streets, moved on up to helping his parents in their shop assistant careers until he could do such work on his own, and settled into working in… 6)
…various small shops (usually selling ironmongery or pottery or furniture or other “household goods,” non-perishable and non-edible) for a variety of owners, for several decades. He was smart and alert, and during this time…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 27, 2021
7)
…learned much about how the flows of goods from places where things were made (as opposed to food) to Waterdeep for sale “worked.”
And then came the Big Change for him: in 1328 DR his mother died of winterchill fever, his… 8)
…father started drinking heavily and followed her to the grave in 1329 DR, and in Marpenoth of that year, a wealthy aunt he’d never met died of old age/natural causes in Silverymoon and left him (her only living relative) her…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 27, 2021
9)
…fortune: a big house in Silverymoon and about ninety thousand gp in investments, all in Silverymoon. A city Tarmagus had heard much about but never seen, and he didn’t want to leave Waterdeep. So he cut a deal with a Harper… 10)
…he’d befriended to sell Aunt Taraera’s house and holdings, take five percent of it all for the Harpers, and covertly bring him the rest as spendable “mixed old coin.”
This was duly done, and Tarmagus began his second career: …#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 27, 2021
11)
…as a rental landlord in Waterdeep, at first with a pair of new-roofs-needed “ground floor shop, rental living space floors above” buildings in Castle Ward and Trades Ward that he fixed up. He continued working as a shop… 12)
…assistant, patiently raking in money from rents, and using Mirt the Moneylender as a bank. He did a few favors for Mirt and the Harpers that won him their favorable regard, and was able to land a few property purchases with…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 27, 2021
13)
…loans he might otherwise not have got, to buy other properties, until he’d quietly assembled a modest empire. Which was when, in 1342 DR, a warehouse fire in Dock Ward enabled him to pursue his dream of “doing things right”… 14)
…for trade shipping and storage, and set him on the road to being really rich. He bought the site of the two older, destroyed warehouses (again, with Mirt’s covert aid) and built a new, large, raised-floor and so, dry…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 27, 2021
15)
…(nothing in this part of Dock Ward has a cellar unless a dirty seawater mold-growing cesspool is desired), four-floor sturdy stone warehouse fronting on Keel Alley that he dubbed “the House of Tarmagus.”
At the time, guilds… 16)
…and merchant costers and cabals controlled all of the Dock Ward warehouse space, which was rundown (drafty and leaky), none too secure (pilferage was common), and insufficient for the demand, so they could overcharge and not…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 27, 2021
17)
…improve things and still “make their shards.”
Tarmagus undercut them with an alternative very attractive to small, independent traders, crafters, and shopkeepers: anyone (any race, Waterdhavian or not) can rent storage space…18)
…in, by the pallet-stack, for “dry, non-living and never-living items only.”
A secure guard was installed (hired adventurers, of course), and Tarmagus found someone he could trust as a “lockkeeper,” to run the place when he…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 27, 2021
19)
…was elsewhere or asleep (admitting goods in and out). There were the usual troubles with competitor-sponsored arson attempts and raids, but he weathered them all and handled the worst threat properly: when certain shady… 20)
…elements (duergar, working through half-orc independent carters and warehouse loaders) visited him in his bedchamber one night to threaten him, he calmly cut a deal with them, and so retained his life and his warehouse—and…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 27, 2021
21)
…the underground tavern known as the Keelhauled Dwarf became possible, with a corner of the House of Tarmagus containing the constantly-running pumps necessary to keep the tavern from becoming a watery grave for patrons (and… 22)
…of course, an access stair for those pumps that continued on, through a secret panel, down to the tavern itself, providing one of its many exits).
Tarmagus grew older, wisely took his adventurer-guards and his lockkeeper into…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 27, 2021
23)
…his confidence and made them part of his succession plans, and when he retired into the arms of his various lovers, they took over the running of (and profits from) the warehouse and all of the other city properties owned… 25)
…Vajra Safahr, have all watched over the House to make sure it doesn’t fall under the control of the Xanathar or any guild or noble family, and so remains a small-merchant alternative available to anyone operating in… 24)
…by Tarmagus.
They and their children and successors are still doing so today, and they are now “the House of Tarmagus” collectively. Mirt and several other Masked Lords, as well as Samark Dhanzscul, and now Laeral and… #Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 27, 2021
26)
…Waterdeep.
The House has had to build several other warehouses (in Trades Ward and South/Southern Ward) to take overflow business, because the main warehouse has been “near-full” almost since the day it opened. It gets… #Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 27, 2021
27)
…re-roofed every twenty years or so (coated metal, duergar-made “shingles”).
Its metal-sheathed doors are emblazoned with the badge of Tarmagus: two disembodied human hands clasping a small closed coffer [miniature hoop-top… 28)
…“treasure chest”], the left hand horizontal underneath, and the right hand horizontal on top.
The House continues to flourish, after the happy and peaceful death of its founder in 1389 DR, because it continues to be useful…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 27, 2021