Sword Coast

The Outer City sprawls chaotically beyond Baldur’s Gate’s imposing walls, a patchwork of settlements built from necessity rather than design. Ramshackle homes lean against each other, their wood and stone frames weathered by time and the elements. Dirt roads wind irregularly between clusters of buildings, churned to mud by the relentless passage of carts, livestock, and feet. The air is thick with the mingled scents of sweat, smoke, and the occasional burst of something tantalizing from a roadside cookfire. Merchants hawk their wares loudly, offering everything from finely crafted trinkets to questionable remedies. Travelers and locals jostle through the crowds, their faces reflecting stories of hardship, ambition, and determination. The Outer City hums with life—a place of raw energy and ingenuity where survival is both a challenge and an art form. Here, opportunity beckons, but it is as unpredictable as the haphazard streets themselves.

Messy and unorganized, the buildings of the Outer City arose without any forethought of form or function. Many of its structures, including livestock pens, huts and stockyards, were built from wood or even thin branches that were wound together around mere stakes driven into the ground. The roads that weave between the "buildings" twisted and turned in a chaotic sprawl. It is noisy, filthy and full of so many desperate folks that proved overwhelming to many who merely travel through to visit Baldur's Gate. Due to the high standards of cleanliness of the Baldurians, the city maintains a strict law that prohibits anything larger than a peacock from entering the city's gates. All the stables, livestock pens and abattoirs are consigned to a location within the Outer City. As such, flocks of sheep, goats, cattle and all manner of fowl are kept in enclosures or left to roam around unchecked.