Baldur's Gate

Baldur's Gate is a metropolis and city-state on the Sword Coast and Western Heartlands blend, on the north bank of the river Chionthar about twenty miles east from its mouth on the Sea of Swords. It is to the south of the great city-state of Waterdeep and to the north of the country of Amn, and is located along the well-travelled Coast Way road. A person from Baldur’s Gate is known as a Baldurian.

This wealthy port metropolis, and according to many's accounts it's population has supersceded that of Waterdeeps, is an important merchant city on the Sword Coast. Its strong Watch and the presence of the powerful Flaming Fist mercenary company keep the city generally peaceful and safe.

Geography
Baldur's Gate has grown immensely over the past century. During the times of Abdel Adrian and the Dark Alliance, Baldur's Gate was a gigantic city confined inside of a Gate built by the traveler Balduran. This gate is known throughout the Western Heartlands and the Sword Coast as the Black Dragon Gate. However, after the Spellplague, not only did Baldur's Gate's population triple, but its area quadrupled. Inside the Black Dragon Gate, Baldur's Gate was divided into three districts: Bloomridge, the Twin Songs and the Wide. The Outskirts, which extend for miles North, South, East and West of Baldur's Gate, are divided into two districts: the Slums and the Wide. The Wide, which is a market extends into both the Outskirts and inside the Black Dragon Gate.

Bloomridge
The old "city core," Bloomridge is the center of Baldur’s Gate’s prominent aristocracy. Bloomridge is located inside the Black Dragon Gate and is inhabited by aristocracy. It takes up most of the area inside the Black Dragon Gate. It homes all the Taverns, Inns and Manors inside of Baldur's Gate that are well known.

Taverns and Inns

 * Blade and Stars|The Blade and Stars
 * A quiet inn known for its high qualities foodstuffs.


 * The Blushing Mermaid
 * Located in the northeastern section of Baldur's Gate, the Blushing Mermaid is an establishment known for its status as a hub of illicit business.


 * Elfsong Tavern
 * A tavern in the southeast known best for its strange haunting, a ghostly elven voice of unidentified origin that can be heard singing quietly at night.


 * The Helm and Cloak
 * An expensive but well-rated feasting hall popular with both locals and travelers alike. Its upper floor is also rented out to the vast majority of the Knights of the Unicorn.


 * Purple Wyrm Inn and Tavern
 * A Tavern much compared to the Elfsong, but it is more commonly used by merchants and those seeking adventure.


 * The Splurging Sturgeon
 * Located a bit south from the Blushing Mermaid, the Splurging Sturgeon is a small but well-known establishment


 * Three Old Kegs
 * Highly comfortable but only slightly expensive, the Three Old Kegs is perhaps the most highly rated establishment in Baldur's Gate.

Manors

 * Bloodmire Manor
 * A spacious, gothic mansion that was overrun by monstrous experiments in the 1370s.


 * Firewind Manor (formerly House Felldane)
 * Mandorcai’s Mansion
 * A beautiful manor located in Bloomridge and owned by the tiefling Mandorcai.


 * Omduil’s Manor
 * A stately manor owned by the aged Harper Sage Omduil.

Twin Songs
Located inside the Black Dragon Gate it is the Temple District of Baldur's Gate, the Twin Songs hosts temples to virtually any god, even evil gods like Bhaal and Bane. Baldur’s Gate has many places of worship. In 1369 DR there were 3 major temples, (devoted to Gond, Umberlee and Tymora ) and many shrines. The Twin Songs is the only place inside the Black Dragon Gate that unifies the cultures of all of Faerun. These are all found in the Twin Songs District.

Outskirts
The Outskirts are often referred to as the Slums. The Slums extend much further than the Middle Class Area does. The Slums home peasants and poor people alike. They extend past the Winding Water to the Troll Hills, down the Coast Way a little around the Cloak Wood and all the way to the Fields of the Dead, south of the Troll Claws. The portion of the Outskirts around the Black Dragon Gate is a market called the Wide. The slums are home to many beggars and has a horrible smell. The cultures of all of Baldur's Gate and the rest of Faerun is brought out in the Slums.

The Wide
The Wide is a marketplace inside the Black Dragon Gate and in the Outskirts. It is called the Wide because its stretches around Baldur's Gate and inside the Black Dragon Gate so widely. It is home to many beggars. Like the Slums, the Wide (on the Outskirts) brings together cultures from all around Faerun.

Related locations
Though Baldur’s Gate is a self-contained city-state it holds a limited influence over neighboring regions and settlements due to its wealth and power.


 * Candlekeep
 * This fortress of scholars and books is the single greatest center of knowledge in all of Faerûn and was also the home of the fabled hero Abdel Adrian.


 * Cloak Wood
 * Located south of Baldur’s Gate this aged forest is home to many terrible monsters though it’s calm waters make it a tempting mooring spot for sailors in spite of this.


 * The Cimarine Isles
 * The isles lie between the southern Sword Coast and the Moonshae Isles, and they are settled by genasi and Amn trade colonies.


 * Trollbark Forest
 * A large forest just North of Baldur's Gate that is inhabited by all sorts of monsters, it is also home to many bandits and thieves.

Early Years


The city takes its name from the great seafaring hero Balduran. Long ago, Balduran sailed to the fabled Anchorome and returned with great wealth which was used to build the wall around what became Baldur’s Gate. He left the city again, presumably to return to Anchorome, but never returned.

It is now (as of about 1368 DR) an insult to misuse Balduran’s name. This can be done easily when attempting to describe a person who inhabits Baldur’s Gate (the correct term is "Baldurian").

At the time, the growing town was controlled by local farmers who mercilessly taxed incoming shipments. This infuriated ship captains, who believed that since the harbor wasn't walled in, its traffic should not be taxed, and they eventually overthrew the farmers. The four eldest captains ruled the city together, and jokingly called themselves "dukes," which stuck.

When the city joined the Lord's Alliance, its main military force was the Company of the Crescent Blade. Eldrith the Betrayer, the leader of the Company, later tried to usurp the Grand Dukes, because they refused to meet her demands for battle, although a coup never actually happened, Eldrith was still put to death.

Bhaalspawn Crisis (1368 - 1372 DR)
Due to an Iron Crisis caused by a Bhaalspawn named Sarevok, in 1368 DR, Baldur's Gate was almost sent to war with it's long time rival, Amn and caused many problems in the High Moor. Abdel Adrian, a Bhaalspawn who Sarevok attempted to kill, so that he (Sarevok) would be the last Bhaalspawn, attacked and stopped Sarevok by killing him and taking the essence of Bhaal out of him. The Wizard Jon Irenicus and his Vampire partner Bodhi kidnapped Abdel Adrian and his Bhaalspawn sister Imoen to revive Bhaal and destroy Baldur's Gate. Transforming into an avatar of Bhaal, Abdel kills Bodhi and transforms back into himself. In Hell, they kill Jon Irenicus and stop the Elven Mage from destryoing Baldur's Gate. Five more Bhaalspawn then attempted to destroy Baldur's Gate again and wreaked havoc all throughout Tethyr, the region below Amn. Mellisan, a woman who wanted to save all the Bhaalspawn and stop Abdel from killing the five, was then revealed to be Amelyssan the Blackhearted. She had planned out Abdel killing the Bhaalspawn so that she could replace Bhaal and destroy Baldur's Gate as the Goddess of Murder. Abdel then killed Amelyssan and was presented with the choice of destroying Bhaal's essence, becoming a god of rightousness by clearing out Bhaal's essence from the Throne of Bhaal or becoming the new God of Murder, or stay mortal and have the essence of Bhaal destroyed. Abdel, seeing that becoming a god would buy him no joy and that if he became a god then somebody would try and kill him and take his essence for cruelty, decided to destroy the essence of Bhaal so that it no longer troubled anybody in Baldur's Gate.

The Dark Alliance (1374 - 1376 DR)
Eldrith's hatred for Baldur's Gate kept her alive and she created a Dark Alliance, the theives guild she helped create plagued Baldur's Gate in 1374 DR. Eldrith tortured two regions in the Western Heartlands and the Sword Coast: Baldur's Gate and the Sunset Mountains. She was the Queen of the Marsh of Chelimber, being based in the Onyx Tower. After the thieves guild, dubbed Xantam's Guild (in name of the Beholder that led it), destroyed the Old Guild, they immediately began to terrorize adventurer's. Karne, a Zhentarim Agent working for the guild, attacked three adventurer's who then destroyed the guild. They then travelled into the Onyx Tower and killed Eldrith before she could destroy Baldur's Gate, but this plan was immediately picked up by one of Eldrith's disciples: the Vampire King, Mordoc SeLanmere.

Karne then had Baldur's Gate and its surrounding area's plagued by the Hands of Glory and Luvia Bloodmire, all working for the Red Fang Marauders. He did this to try and raise the Onyx Tower, however, Mordoc raised the Onyx Tower in Baldur's Gate but was then killed by a band of five adventurers and the three who he had previously kidnapped, these five adventurer's had been trying to stop Mordoc from 1375 DR to 1376 DR. Mordoc, however, was never actually working for Eldrith, but instead an unknown Pharoah King-God of Mulhorand, who for some reason was angered at the city, calling it his sacred mission to destroy Baldur's Gate. It is possible, though, that the Pharoah never even left Mulhorand due to the strike of the Spellplague happening a little while after Mordoc's attack, half a year. If the Pharoah King-God did strike Baldur's Gate, the city easily recovered due to the Spellplague. The Pharoah King-God is or was likely part of the Mulhorandi pantheon or an enemy of the pantheon, as he was going to attack Baldur's Gate with his Tomb Soldiers and his Sun-Barge.

The Baldurian Parliament (Pre-Spellplague)
The city suffered a major crisis during the final years of the Hundred Years of Chaos and just before the Spellplague, when the treacherous Grand Duke Valarken used a band of lycanthropes known as the Band of the Red Moon to try and seize complete control of the city. He was defeated by the current Grand Duke Portyr who subsequently dissolved the Council of Four and replaced it with the Baldurian Parliament. Some time in this period the Flaming Fists, formerly a mercenary force, became the official militia of the city-state.

Post-Spellplague
Baldur’s Gate was mysteriously untouched, at least directly, by the Spellplague and, in fact, has prospered in its wake. Baldur’s Gate was not completely unaffected, however, and in fact many changes to Baldur’s Gate were a result of the events that followed the disaster. The city, due to its undamaged infrastructure, became a major target for refugees from less fortunate lands, swelling the population and area more than three times. How Baldur’s Gate survived this population boom is something of a mystery and is known as the "Baldur’s Gate Miracle."

Ikhal, a villain intent on gaining control of Baldur's Gate, kidnpped Scepter Lord Mazak al'Azeem's daughter, Ameerah. After the Flaming Fists were unable to get her back, they hired a group of adventurer's to get her back. Ikhal had kidnapped Ameerah for a ritual for Lycantrophes. This was to show that Duke Valarken, now known as Lord Valarken, is stronger than Duke Portyr and is going to conquer Baldur's Gate. However, with the death of Ikhal, Valarken's threat was thwarted.

As of 1479 DR, Baldur's Gate is a prosperous city that is no more bothered by Valarken and Amn. The Pirates of Luskan and the merchants of Waterdeep are a growing threat to the city but pose no need for serious action, currently. Even if they do, the citizens say that the Flaming Fists can handle it.

Economy


In 1368 DR stone is usually imported from Mirabar via Luskan for use in construction, having been magically transported. This is an expensive process. . By 1479 DR, with Luskan in disarray and with no functional port, along with the destruction caused by the Spellplague across the lands, it is unclear if this trade still occurs. Baldur’s Gate has, however, become the greatest center of trade along the entire Sword Coast, outcompeting both Waterdeep and Amn.

Baldur’s Gate contains a very effective thieves' guild, as well as a powerful and honest mercantile guild, the Merchant’s League. Additionally, the Knights of the Shield and the Knights of the Unicorn are both active in the city. Various thieves guilds have risen and fallen in Baldur’s Gate including Xantam’s Guild and the Hands of Glory. Since the fall of both, the new Thieves Guild has arisen.

Government
Baldur’s Gate was once ruled by four grand dukes, the Council of Four. Shortly before the Spellplague, the rulers included Duke Eltan, the then leader of the Flaming Fists, Belt, a powerful warrior and divine spellcaster, Liia Jannath, a mage and Entar Silvershield, the richest man in Baldur’s Gate at the time, but also a strong warrior in his own right. The Council is also part of the Lords' Alliance, which includes Waterdeep and Silverymoon, among others..

Since the attempted coup by Valarken, however, the government underwent a major revision and the only grand duke today is Portyr, who rules at the behest of the Baldurian Parliament.

Foreign relations
At present, Grand Duke Portyr and the Baldurian Parliament are uninterested in involving Baldur's Gate in the affairs of others. For the most part, the city is respected as a neutral power in relation to the other states of the Sword Coast and the Western Heartlands, a reputation it earned in part through its open door policy towards refugees during the fallout of the Spellplague. Perhaps more importantly, Baldur's Gate, while undoubtedly a rich prize, is so well-defended by its massive walls and well-trained Flaming Fists protectors that few would ever seriously consider invading and occupying the city.

Historically, Baldur's Gate has had a long enmity with its southern neighbor, Amn, which nearly resulted in war during the Iron crisis of 1368 DR. Recently, however, the only major threats to Baldur's Gate are the pirates operating out of the ruins of Luskan or the merchants of Waterdeep, who resent the city's growing wealth and power.

Appearances

 * Baldur's Gate
 * ''Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
 * Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal
 * Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
 * Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II

Non-canon
 Because the Baldur's Gate'' series of computer games are superseded by the higher-ranking novels in continuity, the games, where they contradict the novels, are considered non-canon. ''


 * Baldur's Gate computer game
 * Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn computer game
 * Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal computer game