History of Westgate

Westgate was an ancient and powerful city on the Dragon Coast with a storied history.

History of Kings
This area of the Dragon Coast was first settled by humans from the Vilhon Reach roughly 1,000 years before the Standing Stone was erected in Cormanthor. The largest settlment was the human town of Westgate, ruled cruelly by the great topaz dragon Kisonraathiisar.

In the, Saldrinar destroyed Kisonraathiisar and became Westgate's first human king.

In the, the vampire Orlak and a small army of mercenaries captured the city in a single night. Orlak proclaimed himself the Night King and rules for over a hundred years. Sometime between the rise of Dharien the emperor of nearby Jhaamdath in the and Jhaamdath's destruction in the, Westgate and Jhaamdath fight the Battle of Prespur and the majority of the Westhavian fleet is sunk.

Orlak was defeated and overthrown by a group of Lathander-worshiping paladins in the.

In the, pirates from the Pirate Isles invaded Westgate and began the 200-year-long reign of the Pirate Kings.

In the the Chondathan mercenary captain Mulsantir Illistine attacked Westgate and overthrew the pirate kings.

History of the Croamarkhs
Following the conclusion of the Twelfth Serôs War in the, which raged beneath the inner sea, merchants all around the inner sea begin trading more with their undersea neighbors. Relative to Starmantle, however, Westgate is unable to profit from these new trading opportunities due to proximity of koalinth tribes nearby their city. Starmantle's advantage would prove short-lived, however, as the city would be annihilated by the Spellplague in the, while Westgate would remain relatively unscathed.

Recent History
The affected Westgate primarily in two ways. First, the shrinking level of the Sea of Fallen Stars caused Westgate's docks to no longer abut the sea, and new construction was required. The second was that the affects on magic weakened the magic of Orbakh and his vampire allies, allowing a coalition of the Fire Knives, foreign adventurers, noble families, and the Eye of Justice to drive the Night Court from Westgate in the.

Throughout the 1390s, waves of Shou immigrants settle along the Dragon Coast and in Westgate in particular. In the they form the neighborhood of Tidetown in the new construction built near the lower level of the inner sea.

The Shou are brutally oppressed in Westgate for decades until, at long last, in the a group of nine Shou heroes stands up against injustice. They are dubbed the Nine Golden Swords and they defend the Shou neighborhoods on the eastern end of Westgate. Their success draws the attention of the Shadowmasters of Telflamm who begin funding the group, hoping to gain a foothold on the Dragon Coast. Over time the heroic origins of the Nine Golden Swords gives way to corruption, with the group becoming yet another criminal gang of Westgate.

In the tensions between the Fire Knives and the Nine Golden Swords reach a breaking point and gang warfare erupts across Westgate. The Fire Knives patron and Croamarkh Jaundamicar Bleth loses considerable power and influence during this conflict, including having many family members assassinated.

In the, the young and aggressive vampire Kirenkirsalai restores the Night Masks underneath the city and becomes a force to be reckoned with.

As of the Westgate remains a seedy metropolis, and a haven for the Fire Knives and other enemies of Cormyr. However, Queen Raedra of Cormyr has declined to permanently add the cities annexed during the expansion of Cormyr's Empire in their war with Netheril. This may reduce tensions between Cormyr and Westgate, as Westgate's greatest fear was an expansionist Cormyr, in particular Westgate bristled at Cormyr's acquisition of cities on the Dragon Reach such as the city of Proskur.