City of the Dead

The City of the Dead

"I could write a book about the City of the Dead. It is such a fascinating place, filled with so much history and so many stories. But alas, there would be few buyers for Volo's Guide to the City of the Dead, since it would be of interest mainly to Waterdavians- and the topic is one about which they are already intimately knowledgeable. The City of the Dead is no drab cemetery. It is a great park of grassy hills, tended flower beds, artfully placed clusters of trees and bushes, beautiful sculptures, astounding architecture, and gravel paths that wend intriguingly through it all. Long ago, Waterdavians largely abandoned the practice of burying their dead, instead entombing them in mausoleums. For centuries, the major mausoleums here have each been connected to an extradimensional space where the dead are taken, mourned, and interred. Those who can afford it memorialize the departed with sculptures, making the City of the Dead an open-air museum that features some of the most stunning, haunting, mournful, and downright eerie statues ever crafted in marble or bronze. Nobles and wealthy merchants have competed to erect the grandest markers for their dead, leading to a wide variety of styles and concepts created by artists at the height of their skills. One of the cemetery's most impressive attractions is the Warriors' Monument This intricate, sixty-foot-high sculpture depicts a circle of women and men striking down trolls, ores. hobgoblins, bugbears, and barbarians, all of which are falling backward and outward around the warriors. Above all of them, a Hying griffon rider spears a skeletal knight whose breastplate bears the symbol of Myrkul, god of the dead. But this statue is also a fountain, and the wounds on these combatants gush water! Don't try to imagine it- just go see it. And see it as Waterdavians do: pack a midday feast, have a picnic, and then take a stroll through the beauty of the place."
-Volo's Waterdeep Enchiridian

Activities

Besides burials and funerals, the City of the Dead is host to a variety of activities among Waterdhavians. These included, but are not limited to: being an exercise run, a dueling ground, a playground, a highsun dining area, a meeting-moot, a place where courting lovers could meet in private, and a performance venue for minstrels (and would-be minstrels).
At night the City of the Dead is off-limits to the public, yet it was still used by many during those hours for more nefarious activities.
At Dusk, hundreds of driftglobes make their way to the inhabited part of the city and congregate in the city of the dead. They spend the night here then disperse, returning to the waking city at dawn. No one knows the reason for this. At night, the city of the dead is closed. 2 city guards are stationed at each entry gate. (DC15 Stealth to slip over the walls unnoticed)

History

The area that would eventually become the site of the City of the Dead was used as a burial site as far back as the days of Nimoar's Hold.
When Waterdeep was much smaller, a cemetery was established on the end of the plateau overlooking the plains east of the city. A low wall was built around the cemetery in 1064 DR first establishing its boundaries north and east of the Trades Ward and south of the North Ward. Since that time, higher walls were built and gates into the City of the Dead were established which were only opened to the public during the daylight hours.
Space soon became hard to come by in the cemetery itself. Many of those who could not afford to be buried there found themselves interred in an area known as Grave Alley (later called Ilisar’s Alley). There coffins were placed vertically below the cobblestones. This led to issues of the undead rising from the streets themselves and the practice was soon abandoned.
In order to alleviate the overcrowding, in 1250 DR, Ahghairon and other mages of Waterdeep began to establish portals from tombs and mausoleums to uninhabited demiplanes of various types where the dead were laid to rest. Most notable among these wizards, except for Ahghairon himself, was the portal and teleportation specialist, Anacaster. Two of his more well known portals led from The House of the Homeless and Merchants’ Rest.
Most noble houses, reportedly less than half, did not keep family tombs in the City of the Dead. They instead had crypts below their villas or were buried in family estates outside of Waterdeep.
The cemetery suffered extensive damage during the Spellplague.

Notable Locations

Gates

Andamarr Gate

One of the public gates.

Coffinsmarch Gate

One of the public gates.

Dead End Gate

The hidden, private gate the Carver family uses to enter in order to conduct burials or perform maintenance on the tombs.

Mhalsyymber Gate

One of the public gates.

Crypts, plots, tombs, vaults

Deepwinter Vault

A tomb near the north end of the City of the Dead. It once housed the noble Deepwinter family, but was also the entry into the Dungeon of the Crypt.

Guildbones

A dedicated burial space for members of the different guilds of Waterdeep. Part of the site was made up of a glade which would be dug up from time-to-time to make up space for new dead, while older, forgotten bones were moved elsewhere. Many guildmasters would buy themselves and their families statue-guarded vaults within the forehalls of Guildbones.

The Hall of Heroes Tomb

A tomb with a trophy hall for fallen warriors. A portal led to an area of rolling grassy fields with row upon row of buried dead.

The Hall of Sages Tomb

A tomb reserved for sages.

The House of the Homeless

A mausoleum with a portal to a seemingly endless crypt.

Lords' Respite

A tomb reserved for those Lords of Waterdeep who chose to be interred here.

Markarl Tomb

A tomb near the north end

Mariner's Rest

A tomb for those who drowned at sea or sea captains. It contained a portal to the shores of a placid lake.

Merchants' Rest Tomb

Also known as "the Coinscoffer", was a tomb with a portal leading to a lightly wooded area with burial plaques set into the ground. One could have gotten interred here by prepaying for the honor.

Narfuth crypt

A crypt near the north end.

Roads' End Vault

A tomb for travelers who died within Waterdeep.

Sultlue Vault Tomb.

Secretly held a slumbering noble yuan-ti sorcerer.

Vesham Tomb

A tomb near the north end.

Brandath Crypt @branda

The burial place for the Brandath family

Other locations

Ahghairon's Statue Tomb

A marble monument to the first Open Lord.

Dead End House

Not technically in the City of the Dead, but not really a part of another Ward. Home of the Carver family - a family of coffin-builders, stone carvers & performers of other tasks related to the funeral & burial process.

Thief's Knot

A hedge maze constructed to honor a long-dead thieves guildmaster.

Warrior's Monument

A sixty-foot tall sculpture and fountain depicting a battle between men and humanoids along with a griffon rider fighting a skeletal ally of Myrkul

Known Burials

Ilyndeira Dyre, buried within Guildbones. Sarel the Trollscourge

Trivia

Saying that someone was "in the City" was a slang phrase used by Waterdhavians to mean that person was dead. The City of the Dead was the only area of Waterdeep where the establishment of places to worship was forbidden. This was decreed by the Lords to ensure that no religion could claim areas as sacred and thus charge large fees to be buried there.

City of the Dead

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City of the Dead Map

Type

Ward