Waterdeep - Reign of Baeron (1273 to 1308 DR)
The revival of the Lords’ Rule saw a gradual return to peace and prosperity in the City of Splendours, although many worked in secret to oppose Baeron Silmaeril and the masked Shilarn Silmaeril as they re-established their authority.
Among their first acts, Shilarn declared Houses Gildeggh and Zoar to be outcast, while Baeron established the black-robed Magisters to maintain justice and outlawed the Shadow Thieves from the city.
Within three years of their installation, the wedded Lords Silmaeril had chosen fourteen additional individuals to serve as hidden Lords of Waterdeep, although only five to seven were ever seen at once.
In the Year of the Crumbling Keep (1276 DR), the Lords expanded the city’s borders to include North Ward and Sea Ward, and Shilarn gave birth to a daughter named Lhestyn.
In the guise of the “Masked Lady,” Lhestyn infiltrated the outlawed Shadow Thieves in the Year of the Pointed Bone (1298 DR) and exposed their continuing activities. This act precipitated a bloody ten-day of fighting between the guild and the City Watch that culminated in the death or flight of the guild’s members.
Two years later, Lhestyn wed Zelphar Arunsun, a Neverwintan wizard and youngest son of Khelben the Elder, and two years after that (1302 DR) she gave birth to Khelben “Ravenscloak” Arunsun the Younger, a near twin of his grandfather and namesake.
In the same year that saw the birth of Lhestyn’s only child, two noted adventurers, Durnan and Mirt the Merciless, emerged from Undermountain bearing great wealth, precipitating a renewal of interest in the vast dungeon beneath the City of Splendors.
The practice of exiling criminals to the depths of Undermountain dates back to this year, although some have begun to question its effectiveness, as it seems to ensure that only the most dangerous predators of the city survive, often strengthened by the crucible of Halaster’s Halls.
Baeron died of fever in the Year of the Catacombs (1308 DR), and Shilarn, his wife, immolated herself on his funeral pyre.
Their daughter, Lhestyn, a hidden Lord of Waterdeep herself, became the city’s Open Lord.
