Foundation

The place where Baldur’s Gate now stands used to be a secret meeting place where Sword Coast pirates, scavengers and ghost-lighters could sell their ill-gotten loot to main-land merchants. It was named “Gray Harbor”, a name used to describe Baldur’s Gate harbor to this day.

This changed when the city’s namesake, Balduran, returned from a voyage to the unknown lands west of Evermeet with a grand fortune. He ordered his fortune be used to build a huge, granite wall around his beloved home, but left for another voyage to the west before the wall’s construction was completed.

The local farmers took control of the wall’s construction, and changed it to protect their lands instead of the harbor. They built a large keep – High Hall – to keep their lands safe.
As more and more people from the surrounding area moved into the walled settlement, its size and population swelled. The city got the name “Old Town”, and a new neighborhood began to develop outside the wall – Heapside.

The town began to charge heavy taxes from the captains in Gray Harbor, and they revolted, attacking the colony. The four leaders of the revolt were appointed as leaders of the city, and were jokingly nicknamed “Dukes,” a name that was eventually adopted as official, and four Grand Dukes rule the city to this day.

Following the foundation of the nation of Amn, commerce along the Trade Way increased exponentially. As the city grew further, the wall was expanded to engulf the harbor and Heapside. The Old Town became known as the upper city, and Heapside became known as the lower city, often still used interchangeably.

Following the Time of Trouble

After the Time of Trouble and the death of the god of murder, Bhaal, Baldur’s Gate was thrown into an iron crisis, orchestrated by the Bhaalspawn Sarevok Anchev. He attempted to orchestrate a war with Amn, causing a massive loss of lives and ascending to godhood as the new god of murder.
He was eventually stopped by the hero of Baldur’s Gate, Abdel Adrian, a Bhaalspawn himself. Years later, he returned to Baldur’s Gate and was appointed as one of the Grand Dukes.

The city is a known center for the Cult of the Dead Three – a cult of followers of Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul. The city’s relative tolerance for any faith makes it a breeding ground for such cults.

The Spellplague

Baldur’s Gate was relatively unharmed by the Spellplague. The city’s lack of reliance on magical construction and protection saved it from the Blue Fire that ravaged the rest of Faerun. The large following of Gond within the city allowed its people to use mechanical inventions to overcome the devastating lack of magic, and the collapse of magical transportation made the Trade Way even more busy than before, bringing in a lot of commerce and taxes.

Establishment of the Parliament of Peers

During the mid 1400’s, an attempted coup swept Baldur’s Gate. Though the coup failed, it forced the new Grand Dukes to accept the establishment of the Parliament of Peers, a council of representatives of the Balduran citizens advising the Grand Dukes on decisions of all scales.