Why is Waterdeep known as the City of Splendors?
[RPG] Why is Waterdeep known as the City of Splendors
dungeons-and-dragonsforgotten-realmslore
Related Solutions
It is explained by in-universe etymology
Candlekeep.com's Forgotten Realms FAQ quotes Ed Greenwood, creator of the Forgotten Realms, as saying:
"ahaeva" in Auld Common (early human trade tongue) meant 'I am from' or 'I make my home at' or even 'I make my home here/this is my home'...thus, a person from Waterdeep (an early trademoot of the North, remember), is a "Waterdhavian." Clumsy, but better than "Waterdeepian." (4.23. "What's a Waterdhavian?")
Thus, it is clear that the in-universe reason is because, in Auld common, the suffix "-ahaeva" meant "I am from" and thus made a lot of sense to append to a demonym1. And the in-universe (and likely out-of-universe) reason that they choose this particular suffix is because "Waterdeepian" sounded bad.
Interestingly, as pointed out by @ZwiQ's answer, the 2e sourcebook Forgotten Realms Adventures lists another city as having the same demonym suffix.
Westgate: Westhavian or Westar (either is correct). (FRA 73)
1 - Thanks @SevenSidedDie for teaching me a new word today!
Yes, the 3.5e book City of Splendors: Waterdeep has extensive detail on this effect on page 20. In general this resource is an excellent companion item to the adventure Waterdeep: Dragon Heist for a whole host of other detail in the book.
In particular if a dragons permission is revoked they are subject to the effect which is:
an antipathy effect created by a mythal centered under Aghairon's Tower. The saving throw required under 3.5e was a Will Save of 41. Translating that into 5e is something I don't have enough experience of, but I would suspect that the minimum DC would be 30 for this under 5e.
The
Antipathy/Sympathy
spell from 5e, states that an affected creature feels
an intense urge to leave the area and avoid the target, and that the creature must succeed on a Wisdom Saving Throw or become frightened. [...] While frightened by the target, the creature must use its movement to move to the nearest safe spot from which it can't see the target [or is 60ft from it]
If the creature is successful in their save:
they become immune to the effect for 1 minute, after which time it can be affected again. (see Ending the Effect in the 5e spell)
Best Answer
Ed Greenwood thought it was a catchy nickname.
Beyond that, it was the appellation chosen for the 2e campaign setting material published for the forgotten realms. Ed Greenwood is the original creator of the Forgotten Realms setting, and thus he can call it whatever he likes.
My copy of the 1987 Forgotten Realms Cyclopedia names Waterdeep as "the City of Splendors." It's the largest population center, a mercantile capital, and at 100,000 holds more people than all of the cities of Cormyr. (p. 87, Cyclopedia, Forgotten Realms, TSR, 1987, AD&D 1e).
As to cities branding themselves to attract attention or to brag on themselves, see Chicago being called "the City of Big Shoulders" and "The Windy City," New York City being called "The Big Apple1" or "Capital of the World" and Paris calling itself "City of Light." Also worth noting that Imperial Rome referred to itself, as caput mundi, meaning "Capital of the World." (Thanks @KRyan). To this day it is often called "the eternal city." (Thanks @Rad80).
1 As @KRyan helpfully points out ... New York City has also been named with other aliases, to include The City That Never Sleeps, Empire City, and Gotham among other things. Given that New York (the state) is called "The Empire State" ...