Rainoga

Citadel Gate stands as the formal threshold between Baldur’s Gate’s Upper City and its martial heart—the Watch Citadel. Embedded into the landward wall, this fortified gateway is less a point of passage and more a symbol of order and hierarchy. The Gate is manned at all hours by elite Watch officers who regulate all movement into the Citadel, where the city’s law enforcement and ceremonial forces are headquartered. Though the Watch’s cavalry rarely rides out in true battle, its presence lends an air of solemnity and grandeur to festivals, funerals, and official state visits. The Citadel’s sole stable, housed within the fortress itself, is the only one permitted inside the Upper City’s walls, underscoring the Gate’s role as both martial checkpoint and stately reminder of noble governance.

Carved into the dusky gray stone of the Upper City’s landward wall, Citadel Gate looms with austere dignity. Its twin portcullises—one iron, one oak reinforced with steel bands—gleam with polish and age. Above the archway, sculpted reliefs depict the founding of the Watch and the oaths sworn to Balduran’s legacy. Banner-poles rise from its battlements, flying the crimson pennants of the Watch, fluttering stiffly in the salt-tinged breeze. A pair of ceremonial guards in dark green tabards stand sentry, their halberds glinting in the sun. Beyond the gate, a narrow courtyard gives way to a fortified keep, its crenellations sharp against the skyline. The faint scent of well-kept horseflesh and saddle oil hints at the hidden stables, while the air hums with the Watch’s quiet, watchful discipline.