Low City Settlement in D&D Forgotten Realms | World Anvil

Low City

The beating heart of the Rock lies in the warren of streets and crowded markets of the Low City. It buzzes with activity at all hours, its streets choked with boisterous peddlers, clamorous beggars, and sneaky thieves. The Low City has a preponderance of taverns, inns, alehouses, shops, and crafting establishments and an equally staggering number of vacant buildings.

The vital, beating heart of the Rock is in the warren of streets and crowded markets of the maze known as the Low City. Alive with activity at all hours, the Low City never sleeps. Entire communities breed and grow in the byzantine squares and alleyways, pressing against each other in an endless struggle for light and space. The streets are choked with shouting, pushing peddlers, beggars, and thieves. You can turn a corner and find yourself in the middle of someone's home, standing amid the huts and lean-tos of the wretched leaseless of Bral. Or you can stumble onto a battlefield of rival guilds or gangs, where dozens of rogues brawl for the rights to a few more alleys or tenements.

The Low City may be dirtier and poorer than the rest of the Rock, but to most people it captures the rugged soul of the city. It is a crowded waterfront of Wildspace, a melting pot of incredible diversity. It may be one of the few places in any world where one's race or creed makes no difference at all. There is room for everyone in the Low City.

Lacking the powerful financial institutions and orderly shops and stores of the Middle City, the Low City makes up for its shortcomings with thousands of small merchants and peddlers. The treasures and goods of a hundred worlds trickle through the Lesser Market and the hands of the city's thieves. The well-ordered neighborhoods of the Middle City are replaced here by crowded barrios, neighborhoods of people with common origins or professions.

In the endless swirl of crowds and crime, the unwritten rules of the Rock are the only thing that lies between livable chaos and a squalid pit of eternal warfare and slavery. Don't ask questions. Don't go back on your word. Don't get involved. Never trust someone you don't know. They are hard rules, but if you stay within the guidelines, you will survive and possibly even flourish in the Low City.

The Low City is far more raw and violent than the Middle City. The Magistrate's Watch has no gentlemen or disciplined soldiers here, but brutal thugs, whose only concern is preventing a brawl from becoming a riot. Pickpockets and mountebanks might plague the Middle City, but in the alleys of the Low City lurk muggers, cutpurses, and murderers. Unless you wish to end in the Jettison, stay on the major streets and never go anywhere alone.

Articles under Low City

Docks of Bral
Building / Landmark | Dec 24, 2022

Most ships approach Bral at the asteroid’s leading edge, where a set of wooden docks extends into Wildspace to provide berths for new arrivals.

Lesser Market
Building / Landmark | Dec 20, 2022

The Low City’s marketplace is much smaller and shabbier than the Great Market of the Middle City.

Maya
Character | Dec 20, 2022

Maya is a sleek, agile wererat with dark fur and piercing yellow eyes. She is fiercely independent and fiercely protective of those she considers family, which includes the staff at her restaurant, The Rockrat

Mercane Agency
Building / Landmark | Dec 20, 2022

The place is occupied by a small staff of agents who act as an intermediary between the mercanes and those who want to do business with them. Such business typically involves the purchase of spelljamming helms and other magic items.

The Drydock
Building / Landmark | Dec 20, 2022

Referred to as the drydock, the shipyards, or simply the yards, this large, flat area along the leading edge is where ships are built and repaired.

The Happy Beholder
Building / Landmark | Jan 15, 2023

This prosperous tavern is owned and run by Large Luigi, a locally famous, lawful neutral beholder.

The Rockrat
Building / Landmark | Dec 20, 2022

Of all the taverns on Bral, the Rockrat has the reputation of being the most dilapidated and filthy.

Xenotermination, Ltd. Headquarters
Building / Landmark | Dec 20, 2022

This is the headquarters of Xenotermination Ltd.. This small group of highly capable combat specialists and spellcasters makes a living by hiring themselves out to capture or kill formidable Wildspace

Yakuza
Organization | Dec 21, 2022

The Yakuza were a thieves' guild operating in the city of Bral on The Rock of Bral.