Upper City

The Upper City, home to the patriar aristocracy of Baldur’s Gate, is a place of beauty and splendor, where magnificent public sculptures stand alongside historic manors, upscale theaters and boutiques, and tiny stone-walled gardens tucked among the streets like hidden jewels. Flowers bloom along the tree-lined streets, ushering away any stray miasma that escapes from the less fortunate quarters below. Silks and velvets, gold braid and mink, water-clear diamonds and luminous pearls: these are common sights in the Upper City, and hardly glimpsed elsewhere except as cheap imitations. Everything in the Upper City speaks of privilege and wealth. Magical lights illuminate the clean-swept streets, some bearing enchantments that hold back the river fog. Most of the city’s major temples are located in this district, flagrant evidence of how the faiths value the city’s wealthy elite over congregants with shallower pockets. The finest wine shops, ateliers, and jewelers are all in the Upper City, where the Watch’s nightly ritual of expelling all non-residents reinforces their air of luxurious exclusivity. Those without either Watch-issued tokens or a patriars’ vouchsafe must leave at nightfall, without exception.
Residents of the Upper City feel great pressure to maintain outward appearances, and will keep their estate’s facade finely maintained even at the cost of pawning everything within. Admitting to poverty in this district is admitting to shameful failure.
The patriars’ unabashed snobbery fosters deep resentment among denizens of the Lower City and Outer City, who can see the good life enjoyed before their eyes but are excluded from all but the smallest tastes. The Watch is merciless about turning beggars and malcontents away from the gates, where an erratically enforced entry toll for non-residents and those without Watch tokens or escorts effectively bars the poor from setting foot within this district. A patriar caught outside the Upper City after dark, therefore, is at high risk of robbery, beating, or worse.

Type

District

Location under

Baldur's Gate

Included Locations

• Citadel Streets
• Manorborn
• Temples
• The Wide