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Transcript

94: Get the Bal Rolling · Dungeonpedia

0:00
SPEAKER_00: You the adventurer?
0:02
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you.
0:03
SPEAKER_00: Do you desire knowledge of immense worlds and arcane power?
0:07
SPEAKER_00: A codex of untold stories and lore?
0:10
SPEAKER_00: Or perhaps simply easy listening for your daily commute?
0:13
SPEAKER_00: Then feast your eyes, or more accurately, yes, upon Dungeon Pedia.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: Shit's about to get nerdy in here.
0:47
SPEAKER_02: And I'm Travis Peasley, and we've got some exciting news.
0:50
SPEAKER_03: I don't like it when you use that voice.
0:53
SPEAKER_02: And that little finger whip.
0:54
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you do that all the time when you're DMing.
0:57
SPEAKER_03: It scares me.
0:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, when the the boss is about to pull something out of his ass that just monologue from a villain who's about to pull something out of his ass.
1:10
SPEAKER_02: Or her.
1:11
SPEAKER_02: Or her.
1:12
SPEAKER_02: True.
1:12
SPEAKER_02: Or, you know, other places that not not just either way.
1:18
SPEAKER_02: Regardless.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: So I kind of exciting news right now.
1:21
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
1:22
SPEAKER_02: No, that's even worse.
1:24
SPEAKER_02: No.
1:25
SPEAKER_02: Take it, take it back.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: Okay, taking it back.
1:27
SPEAKER_01: Exciting news.
1:27
SPEAKER_01: We have a Discord server now.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: Yay! Yes, we have created a Discord server, hopefully, to be able to interact and engage with you all a whole lot more.
1:38
SPEAKER_01: It is currently pinned to our Twitter account.
1:41
SPEAKER_01: It'll probably stay pinned for a good while, honestly.
1:44
SPEAKER_01: So just go click it, join it.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, we do have it set up to where you have to have a valid email and you have to agree to the rules before you actually join it.
1:55
SPEAKER_01: Rules are all fairly simple.
1:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's it's straightforward and pretty, I think, self-explanatory.
2:01
SPEAKER_03: If like especially if you're in any other Discord servers, like I I would say that we're even more like more relaxed than a lot of Discord servers because, like, I mean, you sailor out here with the T.
2:13
SPEAKER_03: Well, okay, you listen to our podcasts at this point.
2:16
SPEAKER_03: You you know we cuss like sailors.
2:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so you know.
2:20
SPEAKER_01: This this is true.
2:22
SPEAKER_01: We do, and there's no way we're gonna be one of those servers that is like, no, you can't cuss.
2:27
SPEAKER_03: Because you can't listen to our content where we're cussing.
2:31
SPEAKER_02: Not in my Christian Discord server.
2:35
SPEAKER_02: That was okay, that was supposed to be a reference to Christian Minecraft server.
2:39
SPEAKER_02: I but then I realized you lose half the joke if you replace the word Minecraft with Discord.
2:44
SPEAKER_02: So not in my Christian Minecraft Discord server.
2:47
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
2:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
2:49
SPEAKER_02: I'm sure there are jokes.
2:51
SPEAKER_03: I'm sure there are meme lords out there.
2:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was gonna say, I'm sure there are plenty of of Christian Discord servers that are cool and have lots of casting in them.
2:59
SPEAKER_02: Anyway.
2:59
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm sure.
3:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, also, on top of the new Discord server, we added uh new benefits to our two tiers on Patreon, albeit minor, but they're there.
3:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
3:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh for the$1 per month, you get the exclusive title of Dungeoneer in our Discord server.
3:23
SPEAKER_01: And for the$5 per month, you get the adventurer title.
3:28
SPEAKER_03: It is very similar to the ones on our Patreon.
3:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
3:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
3:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
3:32
SPEAKER_03: It's the same.
3:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
3:33
SPEAKER_03: Pretty much.
3:33
SPEAKER_03: I mean, then that's that's you know, that that that would be the reasoning.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: And that's what we went with.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: So if you're interested, come join our Discord server.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: We would enjoy that.
3:43
SPEAKER_01: We would very much love to interact with you guys more.
3:47
SPEAKER_01: Just a whole lot more.
3:48
SPEAKER_01: It makes it just so much easier.
3:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and then and it feels like there's something um like it feels not okay.
3:56
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying this is like it that our Twitter and stuff is like a stark contrast and that it's bad, but for some reason, just like Discord feels a lot more chill.
4:06
SPEAKER_03: Uh okay, yes, it does.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: And I actually have you can pretty much make your own rules for Discord.
4:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, so what I was gonna say is, and this is a long convoluted conversation that belongs on another podcast, but I'm gonna say it anyways.
4:19
SPEAKER_03: Oh boy.
4:20
SPEAKER_03: Um, because Twitter's been so business-fied because there's there are businesses doing business on Twitter.
4:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
4:28
SPEAKER_03: That it feels more like a professional setting versus.
4:31
SPEAKER_02: That is that is very true.
4:33
SPEAKER_02: And also, like, you know, I feel like it's it's easier for me to just like go and be myself and drop a really cursed image in like a Discord without like being on our Twitter and dropping a cursed image and feeling like I am representing Taylor and Travis, also.
4:51
SPEAKER_02: Right?
4:51
SPEAKER_02: We can uh like I can just go drop a cursed image and be like, hello yes, it is me, Lou and Dragon Daddy.
4:58
SPEAKER_02: Which is also a part of her Which is my yeah, which is my nickname and name on there the in the Discord.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that's uh that's the exciting news for the beginning of this.
5:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
5:08
SPEAKER_01: Now we'll see what we're gonna talk about this week.
5:12
SPEAKER_03: Which is also exciting, I assume.
5:14
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully.
5:15
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be talking about the city of Baldur's Gate.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: Ooh.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: I love that game.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: I have never actually played a Baldur's Gate game.
5:24
SPEAKER_02: I'm upset at you.
5:26
SPEAKER_02: A Baldur's game, if you will.
5:28
SPEAKER_02: Jesus Christ.
5:29
SPEAKER_02: That's stupid.
5:30
SPEAKER_02: I couldn't.
5:30
SPEAKER_02: I'm also upset at you.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: That too bad.
5:34
SPEAKER_01: Get in line.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
5:36
SPEAKER_01: That's fine.
5:37
SPEAKER_01: I I I accept that because honestly, I should have played at least one at this point, and I just haven't.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I haven't either, so.
5:44
SPEAKER_02: He dens all of you.
5:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
5:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
5:47
SPEAKER_02: Taylor's the only the only cultured one of us here.
5:49
SPEAKER_02: The only true gamer.
5:51
SPEAKER_02: Okay, now you don't have to that that was below the belt.
5:55
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: Hmm.
5:56
SPEAKER_02: Anyways.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: So, um, for any that might not know, Baldur's Gate is the largest metropolis and largest city-state on the Sword Coast in the Western Heartlands of Feyrun.
6:11
SPEAKER_02: So, when you segueed into going and talking about the actual city itself, I got confused for a second because in my brain, this was gonna be like an expansion on one of the games from like the history of DD video games thing, and we were gonna actually talk about like the Baldur's Gate games.
6:27
SPEAKER_02: And I was really confused for a moment.
6:29
SPEAKER_01: I got caught up in the butt since you mentioned that, I should also uh preemptively say that I did not get any of the lore from the games into the notes, mostly because that's kind of hard to research and verify since it's a lot of like wiki pages that I'm not sure if everything is accurate.
6:52
SPEAKER_03: That's fair.
6:53
SPEAKER_03: So basically, in order to research the game, you're gonna have to play the game.
6:57
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna have to play the game, correct?
6:58
SPEAKER_02: Which, you know, is time consuming.
7:03
SPEAKER_03: I'm not saying that he shouldn't do it.
7:05
SPEAKER_02: It's I mean at some point, but like for for for leisure, not for work.
7:09
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I thought we were gonna be just deadass talking about the video games.
7:12
SPEAKER_02: I got I got lost in the gamersauce, and I was like, wait.
7:16
SPEAKER_02: Anyway.
7:17
SPEAKER_01: Anyway.
7:18
SPEAKER_01: So the first mention that I could find of pretty much anything having to do with Baldur's Gate was then the Forgotten Realms Adventures from uh second edition back in 1990.
7:29
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
7:30
SPEAKER_01: Um, so the city was actually named for a legendary seafaring explorer called Balderin.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: Hence Baldur's Baldur's Gate.
7:40
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: So um he was legendary in the sense that he decided that one day he was going to sail past Evermeet, which I believe was an elf island.
7:51
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's um the island where the elves met.
7:55
SPEAKER_03: Well, it's the island where they all lived kind of in harmony.
7:59
SPEAKER_02: Well, they were all um at a certain point that may have been at the end of a certain episode about elves that doesn't actually exist.
8:07
SPEAKER_02: Um Evermeat is kind of like their um chosen their homeland.
8:13
SPEAKER_02: Like yeah, if you will.
8:15
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of like their okay, yeah, all this other crazy shit has been happening.
8:19
SPEAKER_02: We're just gonna go to the Isle of Evermeat and just be elves and do elf shit.
8:25
SPEAKER_02: And ignore everyone else.
8:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because fuck everyone else.
8:29
SPEAKER_03: It's their promised land, yeah, so to speak.
8:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
8:32
SPEAKER_01: So he went in search of a fabled um island or just isle, I guess, in general, called Ankarome.
8:42
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
8:42
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
8:43
SPEAKER_01: I don't know much about um Ankarome.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: That I got nothing.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
8:50
SPEAKER_01: Are we aren't dig too far into that particular name.
8:55
SPEAKER_02: Are we sure that he was doing that?
8:57
SPEAKER_02: Not just trying to find a quicker trade route for for them spices, and please tell me he didn't terrorize a bunch of local populations on the way.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: Not that we are aware of.
9:07
SPEAKER_02: Okay, cool.
9:08
SPEAKER_02: Because I want to be able to respect this guy.
9:10
SPEAKER_02: So far, so good.
9:11
SPEAKER_02: So far we're good.
9:12
SPEAKER_02: Just checking.
9:12
SPEAKER_02: You never know with these people who want to sail around the world.
9:15
SPEAKER_02: You never know.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: He is a respectable person, though.
9:18
SPEAKER_01: Thank God.
9:18
SPEAKER_01: Uh he did end up returning with tales of this strange vast land that was across the sea, as well as bringing back just a shit ton of wealth.
9:29
SPEAKER_02: Right.
9:30
SPEAKER_02: Was was this that this place that he was talking about, was that like the place that he was trying to find?
9:38
SPEAKER_01: That's what it made it seem like.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: It never said that it was from something else because it kind of just left it as a mystery, like he You assume that it's from this place he was looking for, but he never specifically mentioned it.
9:51
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so I think that's kinda yeah, it's not specifically it definitely was, but it also like it feels that it was.
9:58
SPEAKER_02: Right, gotcha.
9:59
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
10:00
SPEAKER_01: So uh when he came back with all this wealth, he actually took it and kind of scattered it about uh this very sparsely settled harbor.
10:08
SPEAKER_01: I'll get more into what this harbor was prior to him a little bit later, but for now it's just considered like a sparsely settled harbor.
10:18
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
10:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh he commanded that some of it be used to build a wall to protect the harbor from the orc and barbarian raids.
10:26
SPEAKER_01: This was way back when, when those were a very constant threat.
10:31
SPEAKER_02: Right, yeah.
10:32
SPEAKER_02: As, you know, barbarian raids are threatening.
10:36
SPEAKER_01: So uh after he shared the wealth, basically, and said, hey, let's start building a wall, he set sail again for uh Anchorome to go back and I guess see what else he could find.
10:51
SPEAKER_01: Right.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: Um this time, however, he never actually returned.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: Oh really.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: It's not quite clear exactly what happened to him.
11:00
SPEAKER_01: Um some of the rumors that go around is that he just kind of sailed off the world and now sails among the stars.
11:09
SPEAKER_02: Wait, that no.
11:11
SPEAKER_02: You know what?
11:12
SPEAKER_02: Actually, let's not touch that one, eh?
11:14
SPEAKER_01: How about I don't wanna Umthers are basically that you know he wound up perishing on the way there or when he got there, or he wound up getting there and basically just retired and fucking stayed there.
11:25
SPEAKER_02: You know what he just fucking like like Tarzan'd it, you know?
11:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he was like big mood.
11:32
SPEAKER_02: Or like um, oh, what was that one place called from um up?
11:37
SPEAKER_02: Paradise Falls?
11:38
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
11:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
11:40
SPEAKER_02: I I remember what it was based on.
11:42
SPEAKER_02: He's like, yeah, I just live here now.
11:44
SPEAKER_02: Like he's in like this lush, beautiful, lush jungle, like tree house, and he's like, I just live here now.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: Honestly, goals.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean that's that's what I choose to believe as far as what happened with uh with him not ever returning.
11:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, same.
11:58
SPEAKER_02: That feels like the happiest.
12:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:01
SPEAKER_01: So the money he left was used to build this huge wall, and then it was used to continue building like within the wall.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: The wall itself was built by the local farmers and merchants who built it around like their own lands and excluded the harbor.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: This way they could tax everything that was coming up from the docks.
12:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh I see.
12:27
SPEAKER_01: So they kind of became very greedy.
12:30
SPEAKER_02: I see.
12:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: Uh-oh.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: So uh Balderon's friends that he had, uh, his friends and his colleagues that I guess didn't go with him, were very angry at this and insisted that the gate that all the southern trade and the harbor traffic was coming through was to be called Baldur's Gate, and refused to pay any tax or anything for entering through it.
12:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
12:58
SPEAKER_01: So, um, eventually, they decided that, yep, it's time to just overthrow these motherfuckers.
13:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, beach! Fuck yeah! So all of these sea captains went in and overthrew all of these enriched farmers and took control of the city, which they then named Baldur's Gate.
13:18
SPEAKER_02: Nice.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: So it got its name from Baldur.
13:23
SPEAKER_01: Bald Baldurin.
13:24
SPEAKER_01: And his colleagues naming it after him after they took it back from spoiled rich ass merchants.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
13:31
SPEAKER_02: Well, they weren't spoiled prior, but they had they had become spoiled.
13:35
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
13:36
SPEAKER_01: So, um Baldur's Gate is ruled by the Council of Four.
13:40
SPEAKER_02: This is a council of I have a I have a guess for how many of them there are.
13:45
SPEAKER_01: How many?
13:45
SPEAKER_01: Four.
13:46
SPEAKER_01: No.
13:48
SPEAKER_02: Ooh shit! I'm just kidding, there are four.
13:51
SPEAKER_02: Oh, damn it!
13:52
SPEAKER_03: I thought it was gonna be like a there there's always one seven pieces of eight, kind of you know there's always one position that's per Baldura.
14:00
SPEAKER_02: Right.
14:00
SPEAKER_02: Aww.
14:01
SPEAKER_02: No.
14:01
SPEAKER_02: Oh they have a table and they leave a setting out for him all the time.
14:05
SPEAKER_02: No.
14:05
SPEAKER_02: Because they think he's dead, but really he's fucked off to some beautiful jungle tree house and he's still in there laughing.
14:10
SPEAKER_02: He's just sipping out of a fucking coconut with a curly straw, you know?
14:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
14:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
14:16
SPEAKER_02: Not my dream, because I hate coconuts, but still pretty lit.
14:19
SPEAKER_03: But coconut juice and water.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: It's pretty good.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: I like it.
14:25
SPEAKER_02: I I've told Taylor a story about about coconut water that I don't want to repeat on this podcast.
14:31
SPEAKER_02: But anyway, fair.
14:33
SPEAKER_01: So um the Council of Four is ruled or is ruled is consisted of grand dukes or duchesses, obviously depending.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: Right, yeah.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh, that are elected either for life or until resignation by the populace.
14:51
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: So basically, you really have to fuck up in order to get kicked off the council, more or less.
15:01
SPEAKER_03: I I I enjoyed the phrase resignation by the populace.
15:06
SPEAKER_02: Okay, you want to know what's bad?
15:08
SPEAKER_02: Is you said for life, and then or by resignation of the populace, and my brain immediately interpreted resignation of the populace as everyone is so sick of your shit that they fucking murder you, and I was like, isn't that the same thing?
15:23
SPEAKER_02: I mean no other way to resolve that.
15:26
SPEAKER_02: They're just sick of you, so they fucking murder you.
15:29
SPEAKER_02: Not like you get kicked, just you get kicked over and over until you die.
15:35
SPEAKER_02: Jesus on Caesar shit.
15:38
SPEAKER_01: So the Council of Four was created kind of by accident in a way.
15:45
SPEAKER_01: So the four oldest captains.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: I accidentally created a government.
15:49
SPEAKER_02: Oh you know?
15:51
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh the four oldest captains from the original group that overthrew the merchants were getting to the point to where they realized that them actually sailing and being captains was pretty much done because they were just getting too old.
16:05
SPEAKER_01: Right.
16:05
SPEAKER_01: So they wound up turning over their ships to younger sailors, who in turn supported their installation as rulers.
16:13
SPEAKER_01: Ah, yes.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: So it was basically like a trade like, I will give you my ship, you will give me your vote, you support me, and it became four captains ruling Baldur's Gate.
16:25
unknown: Okay.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: Which they then called themselves Dukes as a joke.
16:31
SPEAKER_02: But the titles wound up proving useful when they were dealing with like other rulers, because it's a like more official title than captain or which I mean, you know, i i in certain contexts, but you know, when you're dealing with stuffy nobles, they're probably gonna be more impressed by Duke than like pirate captain.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
16:51
SPEAKER_02: I say pirate, you know what I mean.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: And then they wound up putting grand in front of it just basically for shits and giggles.
16:58
SPEAKER_03: Because at that point they're like, oh man, people are are listening to us because we put Duke on our name.
17:03
SPEAKER_03: Imagine if we put grand in front of it.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: So might as well commit to the straight up went, yep, we're grand now.
17:09
SPEAKER_01: We are grand dukes.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: So uh the current council members, as of, you know, second edition at this point in time were Entar Silver Shield, Leah Janet, an adventurer that was known simply as Belt.
17:27
SPEAKER_01: And then Elton the Flaming Fist.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: Okay, those are those are still Belt.
17:34
unknown: Belt.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: Oh my god.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: I was honestly expecting Louan to do that, but I have a question.
17:43
SPEAKER_02: Cramp up front.
17:44
SPEAKER_02: How do you uh how do you keep the council floor afloat?
17:48
SPEAKER_02: It feels like you guys would always be arguing with each other.
17:50
SPEAKER_02: How do you how do you hold it together?
17:52
SPEAKER_01: Bell.
17:55
SPEAKER_01: No, seriously, this dude.
17:58
SPEAKER_03: Seriously, this guy.
17:58
SPEAKER_03: His name's Bell.
17:59
SPEAKER_03: And and he he really does a great job of keeping keeping us all on the same page.
18:04
SPEAKER_02: He's he uh he really uh holds us up, you know?
18:08
SPEAKER_02: Stupid.
18:09
SPEAKER_01: I'm done with you.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm done with all the I'm done with myself.
18:14
SPEAKER_01: So um Elton specifically.
18:17
SPEAKER_02: Flaming fist.
18:18
SPEAKER_02: There's a joke there too.
18:19
unknown: Okay.
18:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh Elton specifically was the commander of the mercenary company that was called the Flaming Fist.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: It was the Flaming Fist Mercenary Company.
18:30
SPEAKER_02: That's what I call that.
18:31
SPEAKER_02: Never mind.
18:32
SPEAKER_02: Oh.
18:35
SPEAKER_02: I'm so blue and you're grounded.
18:38
SPEAKER_02: I'm losing it.
18:39
SPEAKER_02: I'm losing it over belt.
18:40
SPEAKER_02: I swear, I'm dying.
18:42
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: So the flaming fist backs the council and also serve as an unofficial secret police.
18:50
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that always goes well.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: As well as enforcers.
18:53
SPEAKER_01: Actually, in this scenario, it does.
18:55
SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
18:56
SPEAKER_02: Usually whenever you use the word secret pol secret police, it turns out by yeah.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: In this case, it actually works out great.
19:03
SPEAKER_03: My brain was immediately like, first of all, Gestapo.
19:07
SPEAKER_03: Second of all, um uh Daily.
19:10
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah.
19:11
SPEAKER_02: Oh so you said Dile, I said KGP.
19:14
SPEAKER_02: I mean, porque no los those, right?
19:17
SPEAKER_02: Holy shit.
19:18
SPEAKER_02: Bell, bell, bell, bell.
19:23
SPEAKER_03: Lewin's dead.
19:25
SPEAKER_02: Okay, alright.
19:26
SPEAKER_02: Oh.
19:28
SPEAKER_02: Okay, carry on.
19:30
SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry.
19:30
SPEAKER_02: I'm just dying from free here.
19:31
SPEAKER_02: I'll be fine.
19:33
SPEAKER_01: So the Dukes eventually became a part of what is known as the Lord's Alliance.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: And this is along with leaders that are from Waterdeep, Silvery Moon, various other like countries and uh city-states, what have you.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not sure exactly what the Lord's Alliance does, but they do something.
19:53
SPEAKER_01: They do sh somet they're big enough that apparently there's a shitload of people on it, so I mean that doesn't always mean anything.
20:03
SPEAKER_03: Hey, I mean sure.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: So the population of Baldur's Gate varies from around 86,000 in the slow season to around 115,000 at like the height of summer.
20:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because I would imagine that they have a lot of like people coming and going.
20:20
SPEAKER_02: All the time.
20:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Port Town.
20:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Port Town.
20:24
SPEAKER_01: This town is like it's just a big trade city, basically.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: One of the biggest that actually exists in Feyurun, or at least on the western heartlands of it.
20:37
SPEAKER_01: Right.
20:37
SPEAKER_01: Um, so just kind of fun little tidbit.
20:40
SPEAKER_01: Some of the major products that actually come from Baldur's Gate are fish, obviously.
20:44
SPEAKER_01: Lamp oil that is rendered from fish and whales, yeah.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: And dyes that they make from mollusks.
20:51
SPEAKER_03: Nice.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: So as far as like their armed forces go, they have a patrol that I believe is just called the Watch.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: And this is a patrol of around like 60 warriors, and then they have a navy of seven ships in the harbor.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
21:09
SPEAKER_01: But in place of that, this standing official army is the Flaming Fist Mercenary Company.
21:18
SPEAKER_01: And they are one of the largest and most effective mercenary organizations of the Heartlands.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: It has around 1,700 soldiers in it.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: And it says that at least half of their soldiers are always found in Baldur's Gate.
21:36
SPEAKER_01: Dang.
21:37
SPEAKER_01: Others can be off on random missions or adventuring or whatever, but at least half of them are always in this town.
21:43
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's what, like 80 or um 850 per like a population of what did you say, 86 to 115,000?
21:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
21:53
SPEAKER_02: I mean, given that I mean that that that seems reasonable given that these are like Know not equipped like you know, modern day yeah, um like analogs would be.
22:07
SPEAKER_02: You know, they got swords and shit.
22:09
SPEAKER_02: That sounds that sounds acceptable, I think.
22:12
SPEAKER_01: So it it had a list of several of the notable churches that are within Baldur's Gate, consisting of the High House of Wonders, which is a temple to Gond.
22:22
SPEAKER_01: Are you sure that's not a weed shop?
22:24
SPEAKER_02: It definitely sounds like a weird one.
22:26
SPEAKER_02: The High House of Wonders, come on.
22:29
SPEAKER_01: The Ladies Hall, which is a temple of Tamora.
22:33
SPEAKER_01: That sounds like a brothel.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: Same thought, same thought.
22:37
SPEAKER_01: Wait for it.
22:38
SPEAKER_01: The Water Queen's house.
22:40
SPEAKER_01: That's also a brothel.
22:42
SPEAKER_02: Or like a it could be a bar.
22:44
SPEAKER_03: Because, you know.
22:45
SPEAKER_03: Either way, you're picking up prostitutes there.
22:47
SPEAKER_02: Right, yeah.
22:48
SPEAKER_02: And well, it's just that the fo the latter is for people of special proclivities, if you will.
22:53
SPEAKER_02: The former is kind of just your average Joe sex workers.
22:58
SPEAKER_02: People who are yeah, and their clients are into average Joe shit.
23:00
SPEAKER_02: Or average John shit, as it were.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, there are various shrines that are dedicated to various different gods, like uh Helm, Ilmatur, Lithander, Ogma, or Ogma.
23:15
SPEAKER_01: I forgot how to pronounce that.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: And Joaquin, or what looks like Joaquin.
23:20
SPEAKER_03: Joaquin Phoenix?
23:22
SPEAKER_01: Joaquin Phoenix.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: He is a god in DD.
23:26
SPEAKER_03: I'm so proud of him, sure.
23:29
SPEAKER_02: So none to our are uh the Lord of the Northwind uh Draco Paladin, Platinum Dragon Bahamut, but whatever.
23:37
SPEAKER_01: But you know, whatever.
23:39
SPEAKER_01: So there is a Rogues and Thieves Guild that, and I got confirmation of this later, but as far as I could tell within this like book was just called the Guild.
23:52
SPEAKER_01: And that is in fact what it is called.
23:54
SPEAKER_01: It is just the guild.
23:56
SPEAKER_02: Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
23:58
SPEAKER_02: So, is that a guild for rogues and thieves?
24:03
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
24:03
SPEAKER_02: Or is it a rogue's guild and a thieves guild?
24:05
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
24:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's all one guild.
24:07
SPEAKER_01: All in one.
24:08
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
24:08
SPEAKER_02: I thought okay.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: Because a lot of the time when you have a rogue, you also have a thief.
24:13
SPEAKER_03: That's stereotyping.
24:14
SPEAKER_03: Wherever you find a rogue.
24:15
SPEAKER_02: That is a that is stereotyping.
24:19
SPEAKER_02: When you where you find a rogue, you can also find an assassin or an arcane trickster.
24:24
SPEAKER_02: So jot that down.
24:26
SPEAKER_02: Okay, but also, but something about the way you said it, I interpreted it as you have a rogue's guild and you have a thief's guild, and I was like, well, now I'm stereotyping.
24:35
SPEAKER_02: I was about to be like, isn't that the same thing?
24:37
SPEAKER_01: See?
24:38
SPEAKER_01: So stereotypes are there for a reason.
24:41
SPEAKER_02: In DD, I guess.
24:45
SPEAKER_01: So this is an unofficial guild in Baldur's Gate.
24:49
SPEAKER_01: It runs completely separate of the council's approval.
24:53
SPEAKER_01: I would imagine, yeah.
24:54
SPEAKER_01: And doesn't really have anything to do with like protecting the city.
24:59
SPEAKER_01: Except for they like to ruthlessly crush rivals that seek to do business in the city, and then they also possess a very large collection of magical items.
25:12
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so you say people who seek to do business in the city.
25:16
SPEAKER_01: Does that mean that they're like rival um thieves guild?
25:21
SPEAKER_03: Oh, so I thought you meant they're like stopping legitimate business.
25:26
SPEAKER_02: Well, no, no, no, no.
25:28
SPEAKER_02: I thought you meant they're like hashtag shop local and they're like squash in Walmarts that try to move into that try to move into a brother's game, which would be super valid.
25:38
SPEAKER_01: Okay, but no.
25:41
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
25:41
SPEAKER_01: They just pretty much take care of any of their rivals that go into the city, or if a rival like thieves guild tries to move in and take over, they get rid of them too.
25:51
SPEAKER_03: So what you're saying is they accidentally protect the city from thieves.
25:55
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
25:55
SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: So also while acting as thieves.
25:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so hey, listen, to get a thief, you gotta be a thief.
26:02
SPEAKER_02: Um also the my the the vibe I'm getting is kind of like Skyrim's Thieves Guild, but actually effective and without the weird religious overtones that felt really random.
26:14
SPEAKER_02: Anyway, yeah.
26:15
SPEAKER_02: So I think my brain is just scrambled from belt.
26:19
SPEAKER_02: Belt.
26:19
SPEAKER_02: I'm just misinterpreting and misunderstanding everything.
26:23
SPEAKER_01: So there were a bunch of like random little bits of information that I typed down, but we are not gonna have time to go through all of them.
26:31
SPEAKER_01: Because of belt.
26:33
SPEAKER_01: Because mostly belt.
26:34
SPEAKER_02: Because we spent too long losing our minds over belt.
26:39
SPEAKER_01: So uh there is Kramic Arkstaff, who is the local expert on basilisks.
26:47
unknown: Okay.
26:49
SPEAKER_02: No.
26:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, but no one but no one wants to listen to him because he's a real stoner.
27:00
SPEAKER_02: Okay, all right, all right.
27:02
SPEAKER_02: I'm leaving.
27:03
SPEAKER_02: I'm leaping.
27:05
SPEAKER_03: That was so good.
27:07
SPEAKER_03: I guess it was Travis admit it.
27:11
SPEAKER_01: Hang on, hang on.
27:15
unknown: Okay.
27:17
SPEAKER_03: So so um I'm afraid now.
27:21
SPEAKER_03: Um Travis texted our um attentionpedia group chat, which features uh the three of us, plus our wonderful social media manager CJ, um, and said Lou and is fired.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: So there is also the Merchants League, which is a brotherhood of merchants that are dedicated to exploration, mutual aid, and honest dealing.
27:50
SPEAKER_01: I don't believe that.
27:51
SPEAKER_01: Roll insight check.
27:53
SPEAKER_01: I mean, apparently that's that's what they do.
27:55
SPEAKER_02: I love how I'm ready to believe that the thieves guild are actually like local heroes who like squash Walmarts and Amazon and shit.
28:03
SPEAKER_02: But the actual like local heroes, but the merchants of but the merchants league, I'm like, hmm.
28:09
SPEAKER_02: I smell like that.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: I smell capitalism.
28:12
SPEAKER_01: If it helps, there is another secret group that is called the Knights of the Shield.
28:17
SPEAKER_01: I don't trust them.
28:19
SPEAKER_01: It is made of nobility and merchants.
28:23
SPEAKER_01: Nope.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: And it says that their aims are unknown.
28:28
SPEAKER_02: That's some paladin shit right there.
28:30
SPEAKER_02: I don't like that.
28:31
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and here's the best part, which I feel like this could spiral, but I have to I have to say it.
28:38
SPEAKER_01: There is a romantic, whimsical group of highborn adventurers who worship Laru the Unicorn.
28:46
SPEAKER_01: What?
28:46
SPEAKER_01: What?
28:46
SPEAKER_01: Called the Knights of the Unicorn.
28:49
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
28:50
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
28:51
SPEAKER_01: Alright.
28:52
SPEAKER_01: I'm into it.
28:53
SPEAKER_01: Alright, alright, alright, alright, alright.
28:55
SPEAKER_01: So I guess Laru is a beast cult deity of like they are the deity of talking beasts and intelligent creatures.
29:04
SPEAKER_02: Fuck yeah.
29:05
SPEAKER_02: Um I like it.
29:06
SPEAKER_02: And they're a unicorn, fuck yeah.
29:08
SPEAKER_01: And they're a unicorn.
29:09
SPEAKER_01: Her followers are dedicated to helping the needy, the underdogs, and um dreams of rescuing all who need aid.
29:18
SPEAKER_02: Okay, I like that.
29:20
SPEAKER_02: Alright, I like that.
29:21
SPEAKER_02: That that I just I had a feeling that the particular name might spiral, but in quite a time.
29:26
SPEAKER_02: Okay, that can stay.
29:27
SPEAKER_02: Also, um, just if you know you know, just insert like 10 Final Fantasy XIV references right here.
29:33
SPEAKER_02: Y'all know.
29:34
SPEAKER_02: If you know you know.
29:35
SPEAKER_01: Right.
29:37
SPEAKER_01: So y'all don't, but some of the Temple of Gond, and this pretty much persists throughout any and all things written about Baldur's Gate, is other than just like the highest church figure in Baldur's Gate, also apparently likes to buy the rights to several inventions and also makes inventions themselves.
30:01
SPEAKER_03: I don't like that.
30:01
SPEAKER_03: I don't know how to feel about that.
30:03
SPEAKER_01: So much to the point that they have what is called the Hall of Wonders, which is basically just a museum that displays several of the inventions that they have bought the rights to.
30:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh, these can include a mechanical scribe, which is basically like a handset type printing press.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
30:22
SPEAKER_01: A steam dragon.
30:23
SPEAKER_02: Excuse me?
30:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, gonna need a context.
30:26
SPEAKER_01: It's a steam engine that basically looks like a dragon.
30:29
SPEAKER_02: Okay, sick.
30:30
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm sure that there's probably a dragon somewhere in some fucking Dragon Magazine ecology article that's called a steam dragon.
30:37
SPEAKER_02: Probably.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: But a system of self-filling oil lamps.
30:42
SPEAKER_01: Ooh.
30:45
SPEAKER_03: My brain just like uploaded the schematics for that in my head, like as we were sitting here t talking about it.
30:51
SPEAKER_03: Like, I just imagined it, and I'm like, I like that.
30:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
30:55
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's it's pretty interesting.
30:57
SPEAKER_02: I don't know how I feel about a religious body buying the rights to a bunch of different inventions.
31:01
SPEAKER_02: Don't know how I feel about that, but it's a very strange thing.
31:05
SPEAKER_02: Hall of Wonders sounds pretty cool.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: Like to take a jaunt through there.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: Oh, uh well, see, here's the part that'll probably get you to not like them.
31:13
SPEAKER_01: And I know that this looks at CJ to not like them.
31:15
SPEAKER_01: Oh, they don't they don't have a gift shop?
31:17
SPEAKER_01: No.
31:17
SPEAKER_01: Well, actually, yes, technically.
31:20
SPEAKER_01: They actually do sell the inventions that they display.
31:24
SPEAKER_01: Like they make them and sell them for high prices.
31:30
SPEAKER_02: So I can buy okay, well, I was gonna say I can buy a dinosaur, but not quite.
31:35
SPEAKER_02: If they have if they have if they had if they had a steam dinosaur.
31:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
31:39
SPEAKER_02: I'm sure they're I just went to I just went to real um museums.
31:44
SPEAKER_01: So the harbor itself has various cranes, scoops, and cargo carts that run along the docks on rails of steel.
31:53
SPEAKER_01: Which makes everything really quick and easy to unload, all the freight and everything.
31:58
SPEAKER_02: Right, efficient, like it.
32:00
SPEAKER_01: However, these rails were devised by the priests of Gond, and they get a one copper fee for every usage of a cart or a crane, or a scoop, or pretty much anything that is attached to it, they make profit off of because they invented it and they basically tax it in a way.
32:22
SPEAKER_02: Huh.
32:23
SPEAKER_02: Okay, alright.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
32:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, okay.
32:26
SPEAKER_02: And they're a religious organization.
32:28
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
32:29
SPEAKER_02: Really, okay, alright.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: Really religious of them.
32:31
SPEAKER_01: Now, our good old friend Elminster comes in here and it actually says that Elminster mutters that divine inspiration in this case came from merely looking at a harbor or two on a certain other world.
32:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh oh.
32:50
SPEAKER_01: So Elminster doesn't like them.
32:52
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
32:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh okay, also like he's calling bullshit on them having divine inspiration.
32:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
33:01
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's he is scalding, Elminster.
33:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
33:04
SPEAKER_02: I fucking love that guy.
33:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
33:07
SPEAKER_01: So going to the Volo's guide to the Sword Coast, there's a bit more information uh stretched through here.
33:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh one of the bigger parts that it said was it actually describes what the watch wears uh in Baldur's Gate.
33:25
SPEAKER_02: And that was the very small like patrol group.
33:28
SPEAKER_02: Like kind of like militia.
33:30
SPEAKER_02: Well, not because I know that the um um flaming whatever flaming fist, thank you.
33:37
SPEAKER_02: I don't know how I forgot that name, were um like mercenaries, but this is kind of like the local militia sort of spec, right?
33:44
SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah, it uh describes their clothing.
33:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh they wear distinctive black helms with a vertical red stripe on either side.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so spot if you need help, which is just like a very random bit of information, but kind of cool.
33:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, despite all the various um shady types that end up in Baldur's Gate, because it's also like a port for a lot of pirates and shady underdealings.
34:12
SPEAKER_02: You have a lot of people coming and going.
34:14
SPEAKER_02: You probably get all types of people there.
34:16
SPEAKER_01: It's actually considered one of the safest settlements in Western Feigrune because of the fact that the Watch and the Flaming Fist group police it so well that crime doesn't usually happen unless you're in like the outer wall.
34:32
SPEAKER_03: Right.
34:33
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
34:34
SPEAKER_01: And there's a reason for that why crime is more abundant out there, but I'll get to that later.
34:40
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
34:42
SPEAKER_01: So it says that every tenth person is a member of the Flaming Fist mercenary company or a watch agent of the Fist.
34:50
SPEAKER_03: Okay, so I know that means like, oh, there are a lot of people in the organ in the company, blah blah blah.
34:57
SPEAKER_03: But the way my brain interpreted that was like, alright, one, two, three, four.
35:02
SPEAKER_03: It's you! Alright, sir, would you like to join the Flaming Fist?
35:07
SPEAKER_03: You're our tenth customer.
35:10
SPEAKER_03: Kind of uh sign-on bonus.
35:15
unknown: Yeah.
35:16
SPEAKER_01: That's the vibe.
35:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's kind of the vibe I got too.
35:19
SPEAKER_01: So it specifically says that because you know it's a big shopping trading port.
35:25
SPEAKER_01: Specifically, if you can't carry all that you buy, or you need help to find your way, because the streets are basically kind of constructed in like a maze-like design.
35:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh, there are guides and porters that you can hire at most street corners.
35:41
SPEAKER_01: These porters are usually like youths and are known as lamp boys or lamplasses because they carry a lamp at night.
35:49
SPEAKER_03: I love them so much.
35:52
SPEAKER_02: Okay, uh for some reason I'm just imagining the um the one kid from Bioshock Infinite.
35:57
SPEAKER_02: I don't know why.
35:58
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
35:59
SPEAKER_02: I don't know why.
36:00
SPEAKER_02: That was my immediate thought.
36:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
36:02
SPEAKER_02: Lamp lasts.
36:04
SPEAKER_02: Okay, they should have called the the uh little boy children uh lamp lads, though, instead of lamp boys.
36:11
SPEAKER_02: They should have.
36:13
SPEAKER_02: They missed that.
36:13
SPEAKER_02: I I'm missed opportunity, but still good execution.
36:16
SPEAKER_02: I mean, yes, like still like nine out of ten, but lamp lad.
36:20
SPEAKER_02: Come on.
36:20
SPEAKER_02: It was right bucking there.
36:22
SPEAKER_02: Right there.
36:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
36:23
SPEAKER_01: So uh the layout of the city itself is best described as a hand or a crescent moon.
36:31
SPEAKER_01: The hand is kind of like more accurate.
36:34
SPEAKER_01: And if you look at a Okay, you know, if you look at a map of like just all of Baldur's Gate, it kind of makes sense.
36:42
SPEAKER_01: Because the fingers of the hand are the docks and all the wharves that like jut out into the harbor.
36:47
SPEAKER_01: The rest of the hand is marked by the black dragon gate.
36:51
SPEAKER_02: Also, you're legally required to tweet at us and tell us if you two like raised your hand and like looked at it to try to figure out how you get to try to figure out how to do it.
37:00
SPEAKER_01: I did it while I was researching, so yeah, it's kind of like a hand that's kind of like yeah, grasping.
37:06
SPEAKER_03: It's yeah, it's kind of like yeah.
37:08
SPEAKER_03: Okay, and I just looked at the picture and I see it.
37:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like I can see both.
37:14
SPEAKER_02: It's like one of those vision tests.
37:16
SPEAKER_02: Huh.
37:17
SPEAKER_02: Is this a lamp or two people kissing?
37:19
SPEAKER_01: Is this sand or a crescent moon?
37:22
SPEAKER_01: It's both.
37:23
SPEAKER_01: So the entire city is built out of stone.
37:27
SPEAKER_01: Like it's all built out of stone because of where it was built, more or less that stone was like overabundant in the area.
37:36
SPEAKER_01: And because of where they're at, it's usually wet with rain, uh sleet, or fog, depending on like the time of day and the season and what to like the almost constant muggy moist climate, a lot of the Baldurians, Baldurians are Baldur's Gateans.
37:56
SPEAKER_01: Yes, are the Baldur's Gate citizens, residents.
38:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, a lot of them grow mushrooms in their cellars.
38:03
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
38:04
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
38:05
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: I'm wait.
38:08
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say not that kind of mushroom, but also probably that kind of mushroom.
38:13
SPEAKER_02: That kind of mushroom.
38:14
SPEAKER_02: Some of them.
38:15
SPEAKER_02: Even if not.
38:16
SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, those mushrooms are also you're you're fired for saying the M word.
38:24
SPEAKER_01: Hmm?
38:25
SPEAKER_02: The the moist.
38:27
SPEAKER_02: Oh.
38:28
SPEAKER_01: So uh here here's like one of the best parts of this.
38:33
SPEAKER_01: Apparently, because of the moist climate, the mildew and mold has become such a problem that there's a wizard by the name of Halbazar Drin, who is on Halbazar.
38:49
SPEAKER_01: Stormshore street that has made his fortune with a spell that he created that banishes mildew.
38:58
SPEAKER_01: It costs 12 gold pieces per casting.
39:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
39:01
SPEAKER_01: He also created another spell that drives all the moisture out of something without harming the object.
39:09
SPEAKER_01: This is considered a glamour spell and costs 10 gold pieces per cast.
39:13
SPEAKER_01: So uh then you have the high hall, which is a grand palace.
39:19
SPEAKER_01: We do.
39:20
SPEAKER_01: And uh this is where the grand dukes conduct all of their official business, as well as they actually do allow any citizens to use any of the like various meeting rooms within the hall freely.
39:33
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's nice.
39:34
SPEAKER_01: And in order to stop people from trying to make it like a permanent business place, there is a rule that forbids anyone who entered one of the rooms one day from entering it the next.
39:44
SPEAKER_02: Okay, yeah.
39:46
SPEAKER_01: Whether that rule is backed up by ledgers or by some sort of like warning spell, I'm not sure, but I like to imagine the warning spell just kind of like bumps them out.
39:55
SPEAKER_03: I like to imagine both.
39:58
SPEAKER_03: So there's a ledger, and then there's also a warding spell.
40:01
SPEAKER_02: So like you you don't if you don't mind the ledger, then it's like you get the warding spell.
40:06
SPEAKER_03: And then there's a guy there that just shakes his head disapprovingly.
40:10
SPEAKER_03: Don't make me tap the ledger.
40:13
SPEAKER_03: Like, I know, and so do the wolves.
40:15
SPEAKER_01: Don't make me tap the ledger.
40:18
SPEAKER_01: So, um other than the like permanent shops that are in Baldur's Gate, the main market area is called the wide.
40:28
SPEAKER_01: And it's called that because it's literally just this giant open area that there are no like permanent buildings or anything, and a whole bunch of like temporary stalls, bins, tables, crates, etc.
40:43
SPEAKER_01: etc.
40:43
SPEAKER_01: etc.
40:44
SPEAKER_01: is littered about.
40:47
SPEAKER_01: And this is where all of the shopping mostly takes place for like visitors and stuff.
40:53
SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
40:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, kind of like a very like open-air market, kind of.
40:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, gotcha.
40:58
SPEAKER_01: So uh before I go to this next part, it is important to note that it does describe this area, the wide, as being like very packed and a lot of people are kind of like shoulder to shoulder a lot of the time.
41:14
SPEAKER_01: So uh deliveries that are made to this area are made by strong quote folk.
41:20
SPEAKER_01: It uses the word folk that stride through the crowds with tall poles that are strapped to either their chests or their back, and on top of the poles are like the cribs and crates that are full of all the goods.
41:36
SPEAKER_01: So you have these giant, like tall people that walk through the crowd with a larger pole attached to them with crates attached to it.
41:45
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
41:46
SPEAKER_02: That feels like not the way to do that, but okay.
41:50
SPEAKER_01: Hey, apparently it works.
41:52
SPEAKER_02: I like it.
41:53
SPEAKER_02: I mean, if it works.
41:54
SPEAKER_01: And this is also where the what I immediately thought of like the typical like fair, like our kind of like state fair or renaissance fair stalls already.
42:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
42:09
SPEAKER_01: Because uh they have like masters of tattooing and disguises.
42:13
SPEAKER_01: Sick! There are minor wizards who specialize in spells that can temporarily arrange a client's hair into intricate patterns.
42:21
SPEAKER_01: Oh fuck yeah! Cause areas of the body to glow or adhere to certain like scraps of garments or jewelry, alter skin and hair color.
42:29
SPEAKER_03: A lot of the It It feels like a fucking fair.
42:33
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like hey, I'm gonna hey, when we go to the medieval fair today, I'm gonna get my hair fucking magic blue.
42:39
SPEAKER_02: Fuck yeah.
42:41
SPEAKER_02: I want that to be real.
42:43
SPEAKER_02: Meh.
42:44
SPEAKER_02: I wanna go to the fair.
42:47
SPEAKER_02: Meh.
42:48
SPEAKER_02: It'll be okay.
42:50
SPEAKER_01: So um there aren't a whole lot of festivals that actually go on in Baldur's Gate, which also has the name just the gate.
42:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh one of the largest ones is called The Breaking, which sounds bad, but it's kind of boring.
43:06
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
43:06
SPEAKER_01: It just commemorates the last passage of ice from the harbor as like spring and summer approach.
43:13
SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
43:14
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
43:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it kind of like marks the reopening of their busy season, more or less.
43:22
unknown: Okay.
43:22
SPEAKER_01: There are, however, like little parties that are held in like very particular spots that are called uh cobble parties.
43:32
SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
43:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
43:34
SPEAKER_01: Because everything is cobblestone, so they're cobble parties.
43:38
unknown: God.
43:40
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, it's also kind of fairly innocuous, like it's just a bunch of like storytelling.
43:48
SPEAKER_01: Because apparently Baldurians uh frown on the drunken and the debauched.
43:56
SPEAKER_01: So it's yeah.
43:58
SPEAKER_01: And uh for uh Lewin, who I knew would have some sort of comment about that.
44:04
SPEAKER_01: There is something called the Underseller, which is a dark warren of linked cellars where one can partake in drinking and the company of the opposite, or the same, in your case, sex.
44:16
SPEAKER_02: Company.
44:17
SPEAKER_02: Company, you say.
44:19
SPEAKER_02: Also, cellars.
44:21
SPEAKER_03: So it's it's literal a fucking oh, what are they called?
44:26
SPEAKER_03: From the um uh from uh uh temperance move in Oh, speakeasies! Speakeasies, yes, it's literally speakeasies, except also brothel speakeasies.
44:42
SPEAKER_02: I mean, to be fair, this probably was going on in speakeasies too, you know what I'm saying.
44:46
SPEAKER_02: My I mean okay, my immediate thought was like that, but also just like in the fucking rat way in Skyrim because it's it's like cellars.
44:55
SPEAKER_02: And so my thought was just like that.
44:57
SPEAKER_02: It's just like it's just like an underground like sex and drinking club in a sewer.
45:04
SPEAKER_01: Or, if you prefer, you could go to the Low Lantern, which is basically just a giant party ship.
45:12
SPEAKER_01: Party boat, party boat, party boat, party! Holy shit! So the Low Lantern is a ship that cruises the harbor at night.
45:20
SPEAKER_01: Um, it is said to be noisy, fun, and expensive.
45:25
SPEAKER_01: Fuck yeah! Um a lot of the um more daring citizens like to celebrate their marriage nights on this boat.
45:34
SPEAKER_03: Oh heck yeah.
45:36
SPEAKER_01: Either in the rigging of the ship or hanging over the waves from various ropes and sailbooms.
45:43
SPEAKER_01: Oh no! Shabari Extreme.
45:48
SPEAKER_01: Also, dogs don't exist in Baldur's Gate.
45:50
SPEAKER_01: They do, but they're very few and far between.
45:52
SPEAKER_01: It's mostly cats.
45:54
SPEAKER_03: Oh.
45:55
SPEAKER_01: No dogs and no dogs on the gate.
45:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh, then this is mostly because they're used to control all the vermin that come off the ships.
46:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
46:04
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, that's always fun.
46:06
SPEAKER_02: Jesus Christ.
46:08
SPEAKER_02: Also, I'm just imagining just I'm I'm imagining that the Low Lantern is all is basically just like a riverboat casino.
46:15
SPEAKER_02: That is the vibe.
46:16
SPEAKER_02: That's similar the vibe in my onion.
46:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
46:19
SPEAKER_01: Oh god.
46:21
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna jump forward a little bit to just a very small part from the book Power of Pharun.
46:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh, just a little fun tidbit that sounded like fun to share.
46:31
SPEAKER_01: In 1368 DR, Agents of the Iron Throne, which was basically like a secret mercantile organization that pretty much controlled the weapons trade of like the Western Heartlands, tried to incite a war between Baldur's Gate and the city of Aum.
46:48
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
46:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh the plan ultimately failed, but during the entire like fiasco, Duke Elton and his lieutenant Scar were killed and had to be resurrected.
47:00
SPEAKER_01: God.
47:01
SPEAKER_01: They fucking resurrected them.
47:03
SPEAKER_01: They were like, yeah, they're dead, but hold on.
47:05
SPEAKER_02: They were like, listen, we really, we really need him.
47:08
SPEAKER_02: We really fucked up, y'all.
47:10
SPEAKER_01: Just just just hold on a second.
47:12
SPEAKER_01: Well, we got this.
47:13
SPEAKER_02: He just like wakes up and he's like, oh god, why didn't you let me die?
47:18
SPEAKER_02: I'm so sick of doing government shit.
47:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
47:21
SPEAKER_01: Mood.
47:22
SPEAKER_01: So, um, there is one very small bit from fourth edition.
47:29
SPEAKER_01: Uh, from the Forgotten Realms campaign guide.
47:32
SPEAKER_01: Campaign guide.
47:34
SPEAKER_01: Campaign guy?
47:35
SPEAKER_01: Campaign guy, apparently.
47:37
SPEAKER_02: Campaign guide.
47:39
SPEAKER_02: Well, if it's Forgotten Realms, then the campaign guy would be Ed Greenwood.
47:42
SPEAKER_02: So that's our campaign guy.
47:45
SPEAKER_01: So thankfully, we're not dealing with like the creature stat blocks or anything like that in this scenario, so I don't think there's really anything that Fourth Edition can really screw up as bad as they usually do.
47:55
SPEAKER_02: Well, I have a prediction.
47:57
SPEAKER_02: They do screw it up though.
47:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh, they actually they did pretty good.
48:01
SPEAKER_01: They didn't really screw a whole lot of things.
48:03
SPEAKER_04: Alright, alright, alright, alright.
48:04
SPEAKER_04: Good job, Fourth Edition.
48:05
SPEAKER_01: I actually did add this little bit that hadn't been mentioned anywhere before, that apparently Baldur's Gate was untouched by the spell plague.
48:13
SPEAKER_01: Somehow.
48:14
SPEAKER_01: Really?
48:14
SPEAKER_01: Somehow.
48:15
SPEAKER_01: Somehow.
48:15
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how.
48:16
SPEAKER_01: It obviously didn't explain because why the fuck would it be?
48:19
SPEAKER_02: That would be its fourth edition.
48:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
48:22
SPEAKER_01: And then following the months and the years after the disaster, its population fucking exploded from refugees.
48:30
SPEAKER_02: Because it was untouched by the spell plague.
48:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
48:34
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
48:35
SPEAKER_01: Baldur's Gate refuses to be drawn into like any political conflicts and remains neutral in any of them for them.
48:44
SPEAKER_01: Valid.
48:45
SPEAKER_01: And uh the reason that the streets are so like confusing and maze-like to visitors is because of the refugees.
48:54
SPEAKER_01: So when the refugees showed up, it actually caused the population to just explode faster than the city could really expand.
49:05
SPEAKER_01: The refugees were kind of just building roads as the city grew so rapidly, and it just wound up creating this weird chaos because it was like there was this little bit here, and then there was this bit over here.
49:18
SPEAKER_02: And instead of it being like, alright, well, we're gonna add on this section and we're gonna plan it, you know.
49:22
SPEAKER_02: There was no planning process, it was just kind of happened.
49:25
SPEAKER_01: It was just it was gone.
49:27
SPEAKER_01: So the next bit is from uh Murder in Boulder's Gate, which is actually a fifth edition adventure that came out in 2013.
49:36
SPEAKER_01: There's been a murder.
49:37
SPEAKER_01: And this is where like a bit more of the actual lore kind of like was introduced, minus anything from the games, which I said earlier I didn't research and I didn't play, so I don't know much about.
49:51
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I feel like there's been a lot of lore thus far, I gotta be honest.
49:55
SPEAKER_01: I guess it more just expands on it a bit deeper.
50:00
SPEAKER_01: But before we do that, we have to take a break.
50:02
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I need to um well, you said that the party party boat was expensive.
50:10
SPEAKER_02: Do you think it's within my price range?
50:13
SPEAKER_01: Because if so.
50:14
SPEAKER_01: Probably.
50:15
SPEAKER_01: I think they were comparing the price to like the underseller, so.
50:19
SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay, got you.
50:20
SPEAKER_02: Alright, so I'm gonna go.
50:21
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna go jaunt off to the low lantern then.
50:24
SPEAKER_02: Well, have you?
50:24
SPEAKER_02: Bye.
50:27
SPEAKER_01: Hey everyone, thank you so much for listening to the episode on Baldur's Gate.
50:32
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
50:32
SPEAKER_02: The bouncer wouldn't let me in.
50:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
50:36
SPEAKER_01: They're kind of dicks like that.
50:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm too broke for the pleasure boat.
50:42
SPEAKER_01: Jesus.
50:43
SPEAKER_01: You know what you're not too broke for, though?
50:45
SPEAKER_01: What?
50:45
SPEAKER_01: Some uh dice and dice accessories from Metallic Dice Games.
50:49
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, actually, that might be why you're broke.
50:51
SPEAKER_03: That is why I'm broke.
50:52
SPEAKER_01: That might be why you're broke.
50:54
SPEAKER_03: But you know it'll help with that.
50:55
SPEAKER_03: What?
50:56
SPEAKER_01: Our uh discount code from our affiliate partnership with Metallic Dice Games.
51:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh the discount code gives you 10% off of your entire order.
51:04
SPEAKER_01: What is it?
51:04
SPEAKER_01: The code is Dungeon Pedia.
51:06
SPEAKER_01: I say that like I don't fucking know.
51:09
SPEAKER_01: So, yes, we do still have the affiliate partnership going with Metallic Dice Games.
51:13
SPEAKER_01: Somehow, somehow.
51:15
SPEAKER_01: So if you're looking for new dice or dice trays, shiny dice, pointy dice, exclusive dice, exclusive dice, bass accessories, and dice accessories.
51:26
SPEAKER_01: Well.
51:36
SPEAKER_03: We, of course, still have our Patreon.
51:38
SPEAKER_03: Uh, if you'd like to support us more directly there.
51:41
SPEAKER_03: And as we mentioned at the top of the episode, we have some adjustments to our tiers.
51:48
SPEAKER_03: Um, that we now have, which we mentioned.
51:53
SPEAKER_03: Which again, if you want to join that, the uh link is pinned on our Twitter, which is at Dungeonpedia, where you can also find lots of updates and fun facts and art and general DD stuff.
52:06
SPEAKER_03: Hooray for making things simple.
52:08
SPEAKER_03: You can also find those things on our Instagram, which is also at Dungeonpedia.
52:12
SPEAKER_03: If you'd like to mess suggest something more long form or something a bit more formal than on our Discord conversations, you can email us at dungeonpedia.podcast at gmail.com.
52:24
SPEAKER_03: We also take episode requests there.
52:27
SPEAKER_02: Uh, you can subscribe on whatever platform that you use to listen to get notifications as soon as we post new episodes.
52:34
SPEAKER_02: Also, if those platforms allow, we would really appreciate it if you left us a rating or a review.
52:40
SPEAKER_02: Those are very helpful, especially on whatever iTunes call us their podcast thingy.
52:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh we're we're still unsure.
52:49
SPEAKER_02: We're I think iTunes are still unsure.
52:52
SPEAKER_02: Gee.
52:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
52:53
SPEAKER_02: You know what we are sure about though is that we appreciate you guys spreading the word.
52:58
SPEAKER_02: Telling your friends who like venture boats.
53:01
SPEAKER_03: Telling your friends who have played Baldur's Gate and had no clue that it had anything to do with Dungeons and Dragons.
53:06
SPEAKER_03: I know some people who had no clue that Baldur's Gate had anything to do with Dungeons and Dragons.
53:12
SPEAKER_03: Your friends who wear belts.
53:14
SPEAKER_03: God fucking damn it.
53:15
SPEAKER_01: Damn it, belt.
53:17
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry.
53:18
SPEAKER_01: You know, I briefly debated leaving that out and I was like, no, it'll be fine.
53:22
SPEAKER_01: Belt.
53:23
SPEAKER_03: Anyway.
53:24
SPEAKER_03: You should have left it out.
53:25
SPEAKER_02: You should have left it out.
53:26
SPEAKER_03: You know what we will never leave out?
53:28
SPEAKER_03: What?
53:29
SPEAKER_03: Our love for Alexander Nakarada and his wonderful song that we use as our theme song, Blacksmith.
53:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
53:35
SPEAKER_01: Can't leave that out.
53:36
SPEAKER_01: It's too good.
53:38
SPEAKER_02: Okay, um, with that, I think I'm I'm gonna make another go with the low lantern.
53:43
SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm gonna put a a Groucho disguise on, see if they let me in this time.
53:49
SPEAKER_03: Oh well, when you get we when you come back sooner or later, uh we'll be ready for you at the podcast.
53:55
SPEAKER_03: Alright, awesome.
53:58
SPEAKER_01: They recognized me immediately.
54:01
SPEAKER_01: So you failed your disguise check rip.
54:04
SPEAKER_01: Because okay, because uh we're just gonna head back into some more of the lore from Baldur's Gate.
54:09
SPEAKER_01: And this is gonna be like a big chunk of this last bit.
54:15
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's actually like 99% of it.
54:18
SPEAKER_01: So, uh, here we go.
54:20
SPEAKER_01: Murder! Murder! So, murder in Baldur's Gate.
54:23
SPEAKER_01: Like I said, it is a 5th edition adventure.
54:26
SPEAKER_01: So reading through it was kind of interesting.
54:28
SPEAKER_01: It had a lot of information about Baldur's Gate at the beginning of it, and then it gets to like the adventure part of it.
54:35
SPEAKER_01: So, uh Baldur's Gate itself began as a hidden harbor where traders would meet up with pirates and what were called ghost lighters.
54:44
SPEAKER_01: Basically, they were they were people along like the whole sword coast who would use lights to lure ships that were stuck in like the fog near like the harbor and would run them aground.
54:58
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
54:59
SPEAKER_01: And then pilfer the ships.
55:02
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
55:03
SPEAKER_01: After they get their targets and they plunder all of their lovely, lovely goods, they would then journey a few leagues up the river to what is the future site of Baldur's Gate and sell their booty.
55:17
SPEAKER_01: It's set it in the I mean, I'm sure some of them did.
55:20
SPEAKER_02: Wink wink.
55:20
SPEAKER_01: Probably.
55:21
SPEAKER_01: It's set it in the book, and who am I to take away from that wording?
55:25
SPEAKER_02: Right.
55:25
SPEAKER_02: No, I mean it would have been criminal for you to change it.
55:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
55:28
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
55:28
SPEAKER_01: So they sell their booty to traders without fear of meeting the original owner of the goods.
55:33
SPEAKER_01: Because I guess they didn't always kill the people in the ships, they just kind of and then just left.
55:41
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's kind of nice of them.
55:42
SPEAKER_01: So, like, if you can get off the ship on your own, you can survive.
55:46
SPEAKER_01: Good luck.
55:47
SPEAKER_01: Okay, bye.
55:48
SPEAKER_03: And up accidentally selling the ship back to the original owner.
55:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
55:54
SPEAKER_01: So due to the frequent mists and, you know, the reputations of all the early residents of this area, yeah.
56:02
SPEAKER_01: It became known as Grey Harbor, which the Baldarians actually still use that name for like the bay part itself.
56:09
SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
56:09
SPEAKER_02: I guess it just kind of still.
56:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, those sound like the kind of people that would have devolved into Sahouagan, or evolved as it were.
56:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
56:17
SPEAKER_01: But you know, whatever.
56:18
SPEAKER_01: So uh they decided to actually name the timeline in which the captains took control of the city and overthrew the merchants, and they called it the Tex Revolt.
56:30
SPEAKER_01: I wish they would have just thrown T in the harbor.
56:32
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that um that that plot point was already taken.
56:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
56:37
SPEAKER_02: They didn't want to seem like they were ripping off um somebody else.
56:42
SPEAKER_02: Um somebody else.
56:44
SPEAKER_03: Somebody else, yeah.
56:44
SPEAKER_03: We don't know who, but no idea who it could be.
56:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh Baldur's Gate has its own coat of arms, like as a city itself.
56:52
SPEAKER_01: So it depicts a ship in the like the shield part of the coat of arms arms.
56:58
SPEAKER_01: Right.
56:58
SPEAKER_01: I can't ever remember what that part is actually called.
57:01
SPEAKER_01: The shield bit.
57:03
SPEAKER_01: It's the shield bit.
57:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh the ship is depicted floating on a calm sea with a clear blue sky.
57:10
SPEAKER_01: Nice.
57:11
SPEAKER_01: The top of the coat of arms depicts a gate with two stone towers on either side of it.
57:17
SPEAKER_01: This is the original gate that was built and what is called Baldur's Gate.
57:23
SPEAKER_01: Right.
57:23
SPEAKER_01: They called it Baldur's Gate at the time, and then they just named the city Baldur's Gate.
57:27
SPEAKER_01: Right.
57:28
SPEAKER_01: So, of course, they had to add that up there.
57:30
SPEAKER_01: And then it has uh red and blue like silk kind of like flowing down each side.
57:35
SPEAKER_01: That's nice.
57:37
SPEAKER_01: So the ship represents uh Balduran and the city's role as a hub for river and ocean trade.
57:45
SPEAKER_01: The calm sea symbolizes the gate's intent to be a peaceful power, and then the clear blue sky denotes the optimism about its future.
57:55
SPEAKER_02: Huh.
57:55
SPEAKER_02: They put a lot of thought into that.
57:57
SPEAKER_01: They put a lot of thought in it.
57:58
SPEAKER_02: Unlike when they changed um the coat of arms of uh Bahamut, for example, from, you know, like the North Star to just like, oh, let's just put his face in profile on a shield, because uh platinum dragon, because he's a platinum dragon.
58:14
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
58:15
SPEAKER_01: Original.
58:15
SPEAKER_01: Anyway.
58:17
SPEAKER_01: So there were several sayings that were made as like jokes about the coat of arms, because like, you know, it depicts uh calm sea when the sea around Baldur's Gate is not usually calm calm.
58:29
SPEAKER_01: But eventually, these jokes actually became ways to describe like certain scenarios, such as the phrase, don't forget your coat, which apparently means the weather is clear and sunny.
58:43
SPEAKER_01: Shaky.
58:43
SPEAKER_01: I like that.
58:44
SPEAKER_01: I like that.
58:45
SPEAKER_01: And then the seas do roll and the ship is tipping are both references to present danger or trouble that is on the way to Baldur's Gate.
58:55
SPEAKER_02: Man, people say that the seas don't roll, but the seas do roll.
59:00
SPEAKER_01: The seas do roll.
59:03
SPEAKER_01: So as the city grew, it basically wound up becoming separated into three different communities.
59:09
SPEAKER_02: You have the upper city, which is the home to the privileged, the nobility, all the kind of people that would live in a place where they call their portion of it the upper city.
59:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
59:21
SPEAKER_01: Then you have the lower city where the harbor is, and this is where most of the like hardworking classes.
59:27
SPEAKER_01: Right, naturally.
59:28
SPEAKER_01: Right, yeah.
59:29
SPEAKER_01: And then you have the outer city, which is just a sprawl of paddocks, dirt streets, shanties, semi-permanent buildings that all exist outside the walls.
59:42
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
59:43
SPEAKER_01: It's for the shadier people and for people that for one reason or another can't actually like get into the city to like establish a place there.
59:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
59:55
SPEAKER_02: So like, you know, refugees, for example.
59:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's basically like everything else that is not in the other two.
1:00:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, gotcha.
1:00:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, the Council of Four decided, like, long ago that they were not gonna pay the flaming fist to police this particular area.
1:00:11
SPEAKER_01: So it's basically the whole lawless area, and that's where the guild resides and all the that does not.
1:00:21
SPEAKER_01: Great idea, guys.
1:00:22
SPEAKER_01: But they're outside the wall, so they don't really care.
1:00:26
SPEAKER_01: Care that much.
1:00:27
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:00:28
SPEAKER_01: Like all leaders are not without their faults, unfortunately.
1:00:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, it just doesn't I mean, even regardless, like I know it's outside the wall and everything, but that doesn't necessarily even feel like the smartest play.
1:00:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's like saying especially when they have they have a which I mean, granted, the numbers could be different from its inception to fifth edition, but given that they have like what 1700 of these flaming fists just like hanging about, like you could send a few of them out there, you know?
1:00:57
SPEAKER_03: And I I would say it feels a little bit like a um like a city saying, you know, I know that we frequently have bandit attacks, but we're not gonna patrol the roads leading to our our t our city.
1:01:09
SPEAKER_02: Right, yeah, like I don't know.
1:01:11
SPEAKER_02: Like we're never mind like humanitarian or whatever.
1:01:15
SPEAKER_02: It just doesn't seem like the smartest decision, in my opinion.
1:01:18
SPEAKER_02: But who am I to question the wisdom of uh belt?
1:01:23
SPEAKER_01: Sorry for the the quick turn on belt.
1:01:27
SPEAKER_01: Jesus.
1:01:28
SPEAKER_01: So also to note, while it was originally taken over because of all the taxes, they do still like tax people and cargo and everything going into the city.
1:01:39
SPEAKER_01: However, it's very like minimal amounts, such as like a couple copper.
1:01:44
SPEAKER_02: Like reasonable amounts.
1:01:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's like a couple copper, but because of how busy it is and how many people go in and out, it pays for pretty much the entire city.
1:01:55
SPEAKER_01: Sick.
1:01:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:01:57
SPEAKER_01: So by law, all buying and selling in the city is either required to have a license.
1:02:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh this is for permanent establishments within the city, or they are allowed without a license to operate and sell in the wide.
1:02:14
SPEAKER_01: And those are the non-permanent setups.
1:02:18
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:02:18
SPEAKER_01: Basically.
1:02:20
SPEAKER_01: The fare stalls.
1:02:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:02:22
SPEAKER_01: And basically the merchants get their own like plots every day.
1:02:27
SPEAKER_01: They're assigned a certain area.
1:02:29
SPEAKER_01: They're allowed to start setting up at dawn, and then at dusk the watch comes in, clears out all of the visitors and all the vendors, and closes the wide down.
1:02:37
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
1:02:38
SPEAKER_01: More or less, it just kind of functions like clockwork in that scenario.
1:02:43
SPEAKER_01: Uh, street music and noisy activities are prohibited in the wide.
1:02:50
SPEAKER_01: Except for when the Dukes declare that the wide be used for civic purposes and traditional market holidays, such as high harvest tide.
1:03:01
SPEAKER_02: Ah, also known as 420.
1:03:04
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
1:03:05
SPEAKER_01: During these uh particular special events, the merchants are set up on like the fringes of the wide, and then the central expanse is used for dances, contests, games, all the fun stuff that comes with having a special event.
1:03:19
SPEAKER_01: Right, right, right.
1:03:20
SPEAKER_01: Um, there is actually one permanent fixture within the wide, and this is the depiction of a warrior in plate armor with a hamster cradled in his hands.
1:03:35
SPEAKER_01: It's uh ginger.
1:03:37
SPEAKER_01: It's a giant statue that is a warrior in plate armor with a hamster cradled in his hands.
1:03:45
SPEAKER_02: I love it.
1:03:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh Is there context?
1:03:48
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
1:03:49
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
1:03:50
SPEAKER_01: So uh the warrior statue was erected by a textile merchant about 70 years prior to this, in honor of a warrior whose name was Minsk, who apparently saved the merchant's life from some forgotten danger.
1:04:06
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
1:04:06
SPEAKER_02: The uh hamster.
1:04:08
SPEAKER_02: Okay, good.
1:04:09
SPEAKER_02: I wasn't worried about the warrior, I gotta be honest.
1:04:11
SPEAKER_01: The hamster's name is Boo.
1:04:13
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm so glad he has a name.
1:04:15
SPEAKER_01: Which was, I assume, Minx's little like furry friend.
1:04:20
SPEAKER_04: Mm-hmm.
1:04:21
SPEAKER_01: Uh and Minx referred to Boo as a quote, giant pygmy space hamster.
1:04:30
SPEAKER_01: I just bumped my mic, I'm sorry.
1:04:34
SPEAKER_02: Okay, I feel like uh that's a okay.
1:04:39
SPEAKER_02: I feel like it's going to be a sounded familiar to me, too.
1:04:41
SPEAKER_02: No, I feel like it's gonna be a reference to something else, and I'm gonna look like a fool, but my brain immediately was like, isn't that a mass effect reference?
1:04:50
SPEAKER_01: Giant pygmy space hammer.
1:04:51
SPEAKER_02: I mean, okay, to be fair, the mass fact reference would only be for two of those words, which is space hamster.
1:04:56
SPEAKER_01: But see, I thought that it was related to something too, but I didn't Yes, okay.
1:05:01
SPEAKER_03: I knew it.
1:05:02
SPEAKER_03: He was in the game.
1:05:03
SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
1:05:03
SPEAKER_03: He was in the and boo.
1:05:05
SPEAKER_03: And boo.
1:05:06
SPEAKER_02: Okay, awesome, great, love it.
1:05:08
SPEAKER_01: Hell yeah.
1:05:09
SPEAKER_02: Also, aren't isn't giant and pygmy um aren't those like antithetical?
1:05:15
SPEAKER_01: I mean, maybe it was technically a pygmy, but for a pygmy it was giant.
1:05:20
SPEAKER_03: Like this whole time you're talking about it, and I'm like, this sounds familiar.
1:05:23
SPEAKER_03: This sounds very familiar.
1:05:25
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
1:05:26
SPEAKER_01: So my brain was immediately like, mass effect?
1:05:28
SPEAKER_01: For those that played the game, that is a fun little Easter egg.
1:05:32
SPEAKER_01: A fun little Easter that they threw in there.
1:05:34
SPEAKER_01: So remember earlier that little bit about the Iron Throne trying to start a war between Waldersgate and AM?
1:05:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then it turns out that um the leader of the Iron Throne at the time, Saravak, was actually a bail spawn who sought to assassinate the Dukes.
1:05:55
SPEAKER_01: Well, he got one of them.
1:05:56
SPEAKER_01: Technically.
1:05:57
SPEAKER_01: Technically got one of them.
1:05:58
SPEAKER_01: He got, I think.
1:06:00
SPEAKER_01: Two of them.
1:06:01
SPEAKER_02: Well, because the other person who had to get um revivified was what's his nuts' um like general or whatever, wasn't he?
1:06:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:06:09
SPEAKER_02: So it was I mean, even then, still two very high-profile people in Baldur's Gate.
1:06:14
SPEAKER_01: And funny enough, um Abdel Adrian and his handful of comrades, basically, uh, that averted the war.
1:06:27
SPEAKER_01: Like they were the ones that kind of like went in and settled everything between Baldur's Gate and Um.
1:06:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, they averted it.
1:06:37
SPEAKER_01: They were also Bale Spawn.
1:06:40
SPEAKER_01: Those fucking devils.
1:06:41
SPEAKER_01: So apparently Bale Spawn just like to try to kill each other constantly.
1:06:46
SPEAKER_02: Well, they're they're like yeah, they're like conspiring against each other even.
1:06:51
SPEAKER_01: Um after years of uh adventuring and exploring and whatnot, Adrian actually retired to Baldur's Gate and became the flaming fist marshal and a duke.
1:07:03
SPEAKER_02: Sick.
1:07:04
SPEAKER_01: And uh he is actually the city's most beloved citizen.
1:07:08
SPEAKER_02: You know, I mean, he proved himself adventuring before he went back and tried to do the whole politics and military leader thing.
1:07:15
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, that's good for him.
1:07:17
SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, you have the one time where one of the dukes decided that they deserved everything.
1:07:24
SPEAKER_01: No.
1:07:25
SPEAKER_01: Grand Duke Velarkin.
1:07:27
SPEAKER_02: He's sound if that name sounds he sounds evil.
1:07:29
SPEAKER_01: He does even, along with his band of the Red Moon Lycanthrope supporters.
1:07:36
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:07:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh led a coup to establish Velarkin as the city's sole leader.
1:07:43
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:07:44
SPEAKER_01: Um They succeeded in killing two out of the three remaining dukes.
1:07:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh the one that didn't get killed, he was a he was the youngest duke named Dillard Porter.
1:07:58
SPEAKER_01: Portier?
1:07:59
SPEAKER_01: However you want to pronounce it.
1:08:00
SPEAKER_02: His first name's Dillard, like he's Dillard.
1:08:03
SPEAKER_03: How do you spell it?
1:08:04
SPEAKER_03: Sorry, didn't you get it?
1:08:05
SPEAKER_01: It's P-O-R-T-Y-R.
1:08:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I guess it would just be Porter.
1:08:10
SPEAKER_01: Porter, Portier, either way.
1:08:12
SPEAKER_01: But before they could actually succeed in killing him, the watch and the flaming fist actually wound up getting their shit together and banded together and drove them out of the city.
1:08:24
SPEAKER_01: And then they wound up fleeing to the Wood of Sharp Teeth, which is this weird, creepy, haunting ass forest that's close to hence the name, I would imagine.
1:08:35
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:08:35
SPEAKER_02: Man, you know, there's fucking 1,700 of those guys.
1:08:38
SPEAKER_02: Like, how could they let even two out of the three remaining dukes like die?
1:08:43
SPEAKER_01: There's seven what are they I mean, I guess what are they doing?
1:08:46
SPEAKER_01: In fairness, it was a coup, so I can only imagine it was like a surprise that no one That's fair.
1:08:52
SPEAKER_01: That's fair.
1:08:54
SPEAKER_01: So after this whole attempted coup, and knowing that many of like Velarkin's supporters were still in the city, the it called them uh patriars, which Okay.
1:09:05
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure exactly what patriars is supposed to mean.
1:09:08
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it was supposed to be like patriarchs.
1:09:11
SPEAKER_02: My my thought was that it is it probably is meant to be like a stand-in for kind of like the the conglomerate of like influential like nobles and merchants and stuff, would be my best guess.
1:09:24
SPEAKER_01: Uh they actually pressed Duke Porter to form a parliament of trusted people to pick the next rulers.
1:09:31
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
1:09:32
SPEAKER_01: The Parliament became known as the Parliament of Peers, and also helped carry the burden of decision-making, maintaining the rule of law, and pretty much kind of like running the city with Duke Porter until the new rulers were elected.
1:09:50
SPEAKER_02: But so basically, they just kind of made a new government.
1:09:53
SPEAKER_01: Kind of, yeah.
1:09:54
SPEAKER_01: After the new Dirks Dirks Jesus Christ.
1:09:59
SPEAKER_01: After the new Dirks were elected, the apartment of Peers.
1:10:04
SPEAKER_01: Still exists.
1:10:06
SPEAKER_02: I just wanted to let you know you said Dirks again.
1:10:09
SPEAKER_02: I'm not surprised.
1:10:09
SPEAKER_02: I gave up.
1:10:10
SPEAKER_02: Okay, you just I give up.
1:10:12
SPEAKER_02: I just wanted to let you know.
1:10:12
SPEAKER_02: Alright, Travis.
1:10:13
SPEAKER_01: Dukes is apparently very hard for me to say.
1:10:15
SPEAKER_02: I have been fired and Travis is giving up.
1:10:18
SPEAKER_02: So this is gonna be a Taylor cast from now on.
1:10:20
SPEAKER_01: Woo! Yeah.
1:10:22
SPEAKER_01: Oh no.
1:10:23
SPEAKER_01: The uh Parliament appears still exists.
1:10:27
SPEAKER_01: Simply because they refuse to relinquish their powers.
1:10:30
SPEAKER_02: Wow! Who'd have thought?
1:10:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:10:34
SPEAKER_01: So other than the Council of Four, the city is also overlooked by uh deputies that are appointed by the council to oversee some of the more important city functions because they can't oversee everything.
1:10:51
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:10:51
SPEAKER_02: And you know, at a certain point it's just a better move to hire people who have more expertise in a particular field.
1:10:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:10:58
SPEAKER_01: So you have the Harbor Master, uh, his name is Earl Namorin, High Constable and Master of Walls, Osmarl Havanock.
1:11:08
SPEAKER_04: Mm-hmm.
1:11:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, his job is to make certain that the Flaming Fist upholds its contract, uh, make sure that pay from the Purse Master is distributed correctly, and that the Citadel Citadel and Old Wall.
1:11:24
SPEAKER_01: The old wall is what they call like the original wall that was built.
1:11:28
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:11:29
SPEAKER_01: Uh maintenance needs are assigned and completed.
1:11:33
SPEAKER_01: Then you have Master of Drains and Underways, the Lymra Vanthumper.
1:11:40
SPEAKER_01: I mean, drains and underways, that they're basically in charge of the sewers.
1:11:44
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:11:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:11:45
SPEAKER_01: Master of Cobbles as girl Narthamus.
1:11:48
SPEAKER_01: He attends to the roads and the bridges and the maintenance of like all of the public stonework.
1:11:53
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:11:54
SPEAKER_01: And then the purse master Hexilion Trude.
1:11:57
SPEAKER_01: He manages all of the tax collection and the records, investments of the city funds, the distribution, distribution of pay to all the city officers and officials.
1:12:10
SPEAKER_01: Basically, he controls all the money.
1:12:12
SPEAKER_02: Those are um those are some names, I gotta say.
1:12:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh it did note that uh Hexillion Trude has like the best basically photographic memory to ever exist, more or less.
1:12:25
SPEAKER_01: He never forgets a face, never forgets a name.
1:12:29
SPEAKER_01: Once he sees you and knows who you are, he will never forget you.
1:12:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's uh which is why he was chosen to be the purse master.
1:12:35
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
1:12:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was gonna say that's a trait to have in your taxes.
1:12:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:12:40
SPEAKER_01: No shit.
1:12:41
SPEAKER_01: Other than the few guilds that I've mentioned already, there are actually like 90 professional guilds that exist in Baldur's Gate.
1:12:50
SPEAKER_02: Oh.
1:12:51
SPEAKER_02: So like I'm imagining a whole bunch of different like trade disciplines, probably.
1:12:56
SPEAKER_01: Pretty much.
1:12:57
SPEAKER_01: That's cool.
1:12:58
SPEAKER_01: Um that consists of like traders, guilds, seafarers, healers, clerks, handlers, metalworkers, brewmasters, leather workers, stoneworkers, pretty much anything.
1:13:09
SPEAKER_02: Anything I would imagine.
1:13:11
SPEAKER_01: Basically.
1:13:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, all the guilds are required to acquire and maintain official charters, and the charters are renewed every year, so they keep track of all of the guilds and all their goings-on, basically, except for the guild, which operates under their nose.
1:13:30
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:13:30
SPEAKER_02: Very professional though.
1:13:32
SPEAKER_01: So going from here, there's actually some really cool like lore and story that actually happens during the adventure itself.
1:13:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
1:13:41
SPEAKER_01: But honestly, as I was reading it, I wound up loving it so much that I might end up trying to like run a one-shot or something with everybody, and I refuse to talk about it any further because of spoilers.
1:13:54
SPEAKER_01: Fuck you.
1:13:55
SPEAKER_01: Oh, come on! So I'm sorry to all of our listeners.
1:14:00
SPEAKER_01: This is where the DM in me has to draw the line because of spoilers.
1:14:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you want, by all means, look up the book, read through it.
1:14:11
SPEAKER_01: It's really interesting, it's exciting, but I kinda wanna run just like a one-shot or something of it, because we also have a few people we work with that have mentioned wanting to try to play it and never have or never had a really good chance to.
1:14:26
SPEAKER_01: And this is kind of cool, and it's for 5th edition, so it's not like I have to do any conversions or anything like that.
1:14:31
SPEAKER_01: So uh right.
1:14:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna stop that in its tracks.
1:14:37
SPEAKER_01: And then just a little tiny bit from other various sources, all livestock, such as like horses, cows, goats, etc., are actually prohibited from entering the city proper.
1:14:48
SPEAKER_01: Mostly to keep the city clean.
1:14:51
SPEAKER_01: Right, yeah, because you know.
1:14:52
SPEAKER_01: They're all instead kept in like stables and pens in the outer city.
1:14:57
SPEAKER_01: And then there are laws that forbid any animals larger than a peacock to gain entrance into the city.
1:15:03
SPEAKER_02: Why why peacock?
1:15:05
SPEAKER_02: That is an interesting place to draw the line.
1:15:08
SPEAKER_01: It is an interesting place.
1:15:13
SPEAKER_02: I'm betting it was Belt.
1:15:16
SPEAKER_02: Belt than his peacocks.
1:15:19
SPEAKER_02: Or, you know, the the flaming fist guy, you know.
1:15:23
SPEAKER_02: Okay, wait, so would they allow chickens?
1:15:26
SPEAKER_02: Is it more than a peacock?
1:15:27
SPEAKER_02: Because, yeah, well, chickens are smaller than peacocks, but they're also livestock, technically.
1:15:32
SPEAKER_02: So what's the truth?
1:15:35
SPEAKER_02: Where's the line here?
1:15:36
SPEAKER_02: They're also birds if that factors in at all.
1:15:39
SPEAKER_02: Well, the bird part I don't think factors in.
1:15:42
SPEAKER_03: I have the line, are you ready?
1:15:43
SPEAKER_03: All right, alright, alright, alright, alright.
1:15:44
SPEAKER_03: Do you intend to eat the chicken?
1:15:48
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I don't.
1:15:49
SPEAKER_03: Well, not y okay.
1:15:51
SPEAKER_03: Does the person attempting to bring the chicken in intend to eat it?
1:15:55
SPEAKER_01: I I don't know.
1:15:57
SPEAKER_01: Because if it is a pet.
1:15:59
SPEAKER_03: Then you can bring it.
1:16:00
SPEAKER_03: If you're going to eat it, then no.
1:16:02
SPEAKER_03: I assume if you have like chicken.
1:16:04
SPEAKER_02: You're not gonna eat your horse.
1:16:06
SPEAKER_02: Well, horses are horses are horses are bigger than peacocks.
1:16:10
SPEAKER_02: Excuse me.
1:16:10
SPEAKER_01: If there's a peacock as big as a horse, I am very frightened.
1:16:14
SPEAKER_03: You know, there probably wasn't once.
1:16:16
SPEAKER_03: Thanks to evolution.
1:16:17
SPEAKER_03: It's okay.
1:16:18
SPEAKER_03: That that fucks though.
1:16:20
SPEAKER_03: I like that actually.
1:16:22
SPEAKER_03: Okay, I gotta go look uh BRB looking up peacock ancestry.
1:16:26
SPEAKER_03: Well, well I mean that's essentially just dinosaurs, eh?
1:16:30
SPEAKER_01: While you do that, um I will go ahead and say that's actually all that I have.
1:16:34
SPEAKER_02: So well, no, you have more, you just won't give us more.
1:16:37
SPEAKER_01: Okay, more accurate.
1:16:39
SPEAKER_01: I refuse to go any further with the uh murder in Baldur's Gate because it's just too fun.
1:16:44
SPEAKER_01: It's it's too good thing.
1:16:46
SPEAKER_01: So um unfortunately for those who want more about that, I'm sorry, but that's all the information I have and am willing to give for this week.
1:16:56
SPEAKER_01: Rude.
1:16:56
SPEAKER_01: I know.
1:16:57
SPEAKER_03: Well, even though it's rude, thank you guys for listening.
1:17:01
SPEAKER_01: And you can yell at me on Twitter and in our new Discord for being rude and not sharing further lore from this.
1:17:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, go tag Travis in cursed images.
1:17:12
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to to um to communicate your displeasure with him.
1:17:17
SPEAKER_02: Because that's what I'm gonna do.
1:17:19
SPEAKER_03: But again, thank you guys so much for listening.
1:17:21
SPEAKER_03: Uh don't forget to follow us on our various social media and including our Discord spread the word.
1:17:29
SPEAKER_03: Uh, tell your friends, tell your family.
1:17:31
SPEAKER_03: Tell them about the Discord.
1:17:32
SPEAKER_03: Yes, tell them about the Discord, especially if they like cursed images.
1:17:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:17:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, if there's anything that you would like to suggest as a topic for us to cover, you can email us as always at dungeonpedia.podcast at gmail.com.
1:17:48
SPEAKER_01: There is also a specific channel within our Discord server for topic suggestions.
1:17:53
SPEAKER_01: You can go there too.
1:17:54
SPEAKER_01: You can do it on Twitter.
1:17:55
SPEAKER_01: Really, any way to contact us, just go for it.
1:17:58
SPEAKER_03: And with that, we're gonna catch you next week on Dungeonpedia.
1:18:05
SPEAKER_01: No, it's on Steam.
1:18:06
SPEAKER_01: I might have to look into that.
1:18:08
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna go try to get back on the pleasure boat.
1:18:11
SPEAKER_01: I believe in you.