Helldoor's Gate
Baldur's Gate was never a delightful place to visit. Helldoor's Gate isn't an improvement.
Formerly known as Baldur's Gate
What was once the infamous city of Baldur’s Gate is now a hellscape. The rebuilt remains of the city circle the edges of an unfathomably huge crater in which the city of Baldur’s Gate once sat. Easily a mile wide, the pit appears far deeper because the bottom is perpetually stained in demon ichor. In truth, Helldoor’s Gate is less of a city and more of a siege line where the legions of Zariel’s army lie in wait to descend into the basin and clash with the demons inside.
The inner rim of the basin is fortified with dark iron walls adorned in infernal spikes and countless impaled demon corpses. Further away from the crater, fiendish takes on mortal structures appear: barracks, feeding pits, temples, and forges. The mortals here get little sleep now that the Blood War has spilled out into the Realms.
Ward Names
Sections of the city are named after and assigned to the oversight of a single legion, in which a devil known as a Legate enforces Zariel’s commands. Some wards are visually distinct from one another, depending on the more eccentric desires of the ruling Legate, however, many serve purely as utilitarian garrisons between excursions to the warfront. There are easily twenty unique wards circling Helldoor’s Gate, with names such as:
• Asmodeus’s Chosen
• Ichor Imbibers
• Avernus’s Rejects
• Indebtors of Zariel
• Hell’s Justice
More notable than the once-great city itself is what lies above it. Hovering over the vacant ichor-filled crater is Zariel’s flying fortress, cutting an imposing silhouette for miles around. This 450-foot-tall structure forged of basalt shaped like a sword blade cuts through the red clouds, staining them with a neverending flow of blood. It is from here that Zariel commands the defense of the realm from demons.
Helldoor’s Gate serves as a grim example of what happens when Avernus arrives in the Sword Coast, with its constant sounding of thrums and clangs as legions of devils descend into the crater to drive back the swaths of demons. Few mortals dare to venture close to Helldoor’s Gate out of fear of being dragged into the Blood War. Still, those who understand the stakes appreciate the city for what it is: one of the last lines of defense against utter demonic chaos.
Citizenry
If you’re neither a devil nor one of Zariel’s cultists, Helldoor’s Gate isn’t the place for you. Each devil sits within a natural hierarchy, usually determined by its martial prowess or number of mortal souls swayed to corruption. Cultists are fortunate enough to sit just above the lowest rung of devils, provided they serve Zariel’s commands. Occasionally wayward souls meander toward the pit, perhaps out of an obligation to witness the Blood War or because they’ve abandoned all hope. Some devils who encounter lost souls bind them with cleverly worded bargains or slay them for practice. Any mortal not in Zariel’s Legions stands out in the city like a tanarukk at a tea party.
Religion
Only two idols are worthy of the worship of those in Helldoor’s Gate: Asmodeus and Zariel. The former happily accepts offerings of gold, gems, or souls, whereas Zariel only wants her followers to prove themselves in battle. What better way to show your devotion than to prove yourself as a fierce warrior?
A section of the city is dedicated to cultist rituals for devil summoning. This is how Zariel’s Legion replenishes its numbers, and the path from the cultists’ district cuts straight into the maw of the Underdark. Some of the cultists are victims of Zariel’s manipulation, still believing her to be an angel of Mount Celestia instead of the vengeful soul she truly is.
Noteworthy Information
The fiends of Zariel’s Legion all understand they aren’t fighting a war just to pass the eternity. They’re doing what the Seven Heavens were too cowardly to do: bearing the brunt of the demons’ chaotic carnage to save this world and every world. It’s fiendish work, but who else can do it better than devils themselves?
Machines of War
Infernal war machines have been imported from Avernus to aid in the war effort. These mountains of spiked metal, blades, and brimstone leave a path of devastation in their wake, powered purely by the annihilation of living souls. This heavy cost means devils reserve them for select situations, such as pushing back a sudden demonic surge, quickly patrolling the outskirts of Helldoor’s Gate, and venturing to collect more souls to fuel those machines. If you’re ever uncertain whether an infernal war machine is nearby, just listen for the agonized screams of souls being used to ignite a furnace.
Government
The only governmental system in place for Helldoor’s Gate is Zariel’s law: devils exist in castes and earn higher degrees of authority, just as in the Nine Hells. Unique to Helldoor’s Gate, however, is the inherent militarization of all the fiends. Unlike the many layers where devils are left to idly torment souls or aimlessly scour the lands, every devil in Helldoor’s Gate exists solely to confront the demons at every turn.
Each of the twenty-plus wards that Helldoor’s Gate is divided into is ruled by a Legate who ensures the maintenance of their troops. Zariel’s law is paramount throughout Helldoor’s Gate, but how some devils choose to apply those laws falls to the interpretation or motives of each Legate. Some prioritize military might, drilling each devil until they’re a killing machine, whereas others try to skulk away from responsibility while claiming the glory of their lessers.
The Bloodless Three
Within the Nine Hells, a coven of pit fiends called the Dark Eight strategize all the military might of Hell’s Armies. On the Sword Coast, there exists a similar group called the Bloodless Three. They coordinate efforts with Zariel but have free jurisdiction to carry out their own orders or task forces. This allows Zariel to focus on the more pressing matters and gives Asmodeus a direct line to the Blood War through his appointed Bloodless Three.
The Bloodless Three have a citadel within Helldoor’s Gate for their operations and routinely travel between Faerûn and the Nine Hells. All military decisions proposed by any of the pit fiend generals are put to a vote. Anything that disrupts the Bloodless Three’s operation has devastating rippling effects on the entire Blood War effort. To combat this, they’re always strategizing three steps ahead of not just their demon rivals, but any who might interfere.
Defences
The city itself is an infernal warfront filled to the brim with regiments prepared to march against the demons below or any threat from beyond the city’s walls. Bands of winged devils routinely patrol the skies, prepared to harass or capture any who wander too close.
Industry & Trade
Helldoor’s Gate forges weapons and armor to serve its own purpose. Unfortunately, Archduke Bel has bottlenecked production of infernal armaments for Zariel’s Legion, forcing the fallen angel to turn to the Forgotten Realms. Vecna’s Alliance sees the value in providing ingots for two reasons: one, it keeps the demons busy, and two, it keeps the attention of an invading force of devils equally busy.
In exchange, Helldoor’s Gate exports a significant amount of demon ichor that countless liches revel in using for study, torture, or studies in torture. Lastly, as expected in a settlement so accustomed to the laws of Avernus, the city still deals in soul coins as a form of currency. It finances bets between devils, fuels their war machines, and in significant amounts, it can pave a devil’s way to promotion.
Guilds and Factions
Helldoor’s Gate is the fortress and base of operation for Zariel’s Legion, focused on its singular purpose of quashing all demons.
History
Baldur’s Gate was always a place where greed and bloodshed thrived. Following the fall of Elturel, the city sauntered its way deeper into sin and treachery. Some say it was an archdevil bound into the Shield of the Hidden Lord that corrupted the souls of the city, but regardless, the city plunged overnight into the ground, out of the Material Plane and into the Nine Hells.
The crater it left behind exposed smugglers’ tunnels, evil wizards’ secret escape routes, and even the uppermost layers of the Underdark. The demons recently summoned into that land flocked like moths toward the light. When word reached Zariel, the Archduke knew her years of tireless warring in Avernus would mean nothing if the demons claimed the Material Plane.
Asmodeus granted Zariel’s request to take legions of devils, equipment, and her flying fortress into the Material Plane to monitor events and stop the demons from utterly consuming the multiverse. Over the years following Zariel’s arrival, the city of Helldoor’s Gate formed out of necessity rather than design, as the influx of fiendish legions required arming, training, and locations to garrison.
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