I grew up a relatively normal Elven child. The first half century of life went as you might imagine. I did what was expected of me, the normal mischief included. At age 50, the town elders finally began to notice that I was more intelligent than my peers. I, of course, had known this for quite a while, but the crotchety old buggers did not pay any attention. This was because unlike the rabble, when I caused mischief, I was smart enough not to get caught. The unfortunate reality was that this eventually backfired when the rest of the town started realizing that my latest pranks were too intelligently designed to be blamed on any of the less intelligent creatures that inhabited the town.
Alas, I soon after found myself shuffled off to study at the University of Waterdeep. Unbeknownst to the village elders, this had been my plan all along and they had played their part perfectly. I had done that which was expected of me in the village. I had tended the crops and animals as well as the other usual labors one does in a rural area, but I secretly loathed it. Such menial tasks were beneath one of my intellect. However, one does not simply walk into one of the great universities of Faerûn without an invitation. Desperate to be rid of me, the elders began corresponding with those in Waterdeep and I was soon invited to study.
I was told arrival in Waterdeep would be awe inspiring. I, of course, noticed the difference of the urban environment from my home, but it far from awed me. Being in awe of something runs completely contrary to logic. I had known the city existed, and I had known roughly how many people it contained. Most think that a million is a large number. When compared only to the number of people in the world, one million people is not all that many. Counted against grains of sand on a beach or stars in the sky, it is almost minuscule.
I made my way to a moderate inn, determined to learn about the city on my own before being subjected to the University's skewed and political viewpoint. The first thing I learned was that my estimate of the world's proportion of intelligent and imbecilic people in the world were off by a fairly significant amount. Based on my hometown, I had estimated that one out of five hundred people was reasonably intelligent. Since I was the only intelligent person in the town, I should have realized that I didn't have enough information to estimate this accurately. After a few days in Waterdeep, I determined it was closer to about one of out fifty thousand. I also learned quite a bit about social classes in those first few days. In the backwoods of home, one might hear passing references regarding merchants and noblemen. In the city, things were very different. Instead of being on relatively equal social footing with everyone around me, the arrogant bastards in the "upper classes" thought they could look down on me as though I were an animal. I suspect this was due to being secretly in awe of my superior intelligence. Naturally, I did not take very kindly to their presumptions and was quick to advise them of such without mincing my words. Granted, they might not have understood some of the words I used, unintelligent as the louts were, but I believe even they could understand the meaning.
After I had been in the city for a week, I ignored one particular nobleman walking through one of the city's squares flanked by his retinue. The man was obviously in a hurry to get reach his destination and believed it was my responsibility to move out of his way rather than moving five feet to the side to pass me. As I happened to be engaged in a conversation with the local food vendor about the proper price for that night's meal I ignored the nobleman. Instead of simply walking around he decided to stop and began to yell at me.
Should you choose to insult someone, please do them a favor and use proper grammar and pronunciation. It took me forever to realize what this man was saying. Not because used unfamiliar words, but because of the nonsensical order and phrasing he chose. He did not take kindly to my pointing this out. It was either that or it was my rather eloquent recitation of his mother's choice of copulation partners that might have given birth to him. Either way, I soon found myself surrounded by his guards. I do have to give the guards credit. What they lacked in intelligence and imagination, they made up for in sheer physical power. I was soon beaten and bloody and found myself being assisted out of the fountain at the middle of the square by the city guard.
As usually happens when noblemen are involved, the city guard decided the whole thing must have been my fault. Gods forbid that a nobleman having his nose too far up his nether regions be at fault. I was summarily hauled to the local jail and once a physician had determined I would live, was questioned about my identity and purpose in Waterdeep. Fortunately, the University held some political power in the city. After confirming that I was expected, I was released into the care of one of the senior students to be escorted directly to the University where they hoped I would no longer be the city's problem.
