Underbridge

Seedy taverns, poorly run brothels, and rat-infested gambling dens compete with salt-blasted tenement buildings and cheap f lophouses in Magnimar’s most dangerous district, Underbridge. While the Magnimarian government champions cleaning up Underbridge as one of its most important long-term goals, many council members realize that the vices of the slum attract a certain amount of business to the city and that truly clearing away the “bridge trash” could significantly impact the local economy. While several of the city’s religions have attempted in the past to reform and redeem the lost of this district, it seems that the denizens of Underbridge prefer to live amid squalor and danger, if only as a way to escape the demands of faith and society. It’s not uncommon to hear talk amid the citizens of Underbridge of how their district is the only one that maintains Magnimar’s purpose—that they, and they alone, uphold the values of freedom and liberty that Magnimar’s original founders held so dear. Of course, such values are crowed primarily by the bullies and slumlords of Underbridge—those who build their success on Underbridge’s desperate common folk, who have no public voice at all, and whom Magnimar sees as little more than filth to be swept under the metaphorical rug that is the Irespan.
Although the submerged rubble and jagged, ruined pylons of the Irespan make sailing beneath the Giant’s Bridge a treacherous prospect, a few docks line the trash-strewn Underbridge shore, serving as the entry point for all manner of contraband. The vast majority of Magnimar’s smuggling operations take place here as a result, despite regular raids and restrictions imposed on trade by the city guard. The people of Underbridge have traditionally displayed an almost uncanny knack for one-upping the law, to the extent that rumors persist that the government secretly endorses the crime and cruelties that take place under the Irespan’s shadow.

Gazetteer

While the majority of Underbridge’s roads are little more than muddy gaps between slumping shanties and decaying shacks, evidence of the Magnimarian founders’ attempt to bring civilization even here are evident in short stretches of broken cobblestones. The larger paving stones that once lined the major streets (placed during the city’s foundation when visions of Underbridge as a slum had yet to manifest) have all long since been dug up and sold off.