Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate Spotlight #3
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Even on the Dragon Coast, where unsavory deals are commonplace, Westgate has the reputation of being the place to buy and sell items that cannot - often by dictate of law - be bartered elsewhere. In a city where "anything goes and everything has a price," the only limits are the heft of your coin purse and the strength of your stomach.
Unrestricted trade is a longstanding tradition in Westgate, though in historical terms it is only recently that the city adopted a system of government that fully embraces its freewheeling economy. After the death of the unpopular King Verovan in 1248 DR, the noble merchant families of Westgate formed a council to govern the city in accordance with their profit-chasing mentality. The result is a city in which taxes are low, profits are high, and gold changes hands like never before (not always willingly... but that is another story).
Not surprisingly, the noble merchant families dominate trade in Westgate. They own or finance most of the ships that keep the Harbor Loop district humming, and maintain sprawling warehouses that dot the cityscape. But the true heart of commerce in Westgate is quite clearly the Tower, an impressive structure at the center of the city's Market Triangle district. All the noble merchant families maintain offices inside the Tower, allowing them to broker major deals and backstab each other in one convenient location. Smaller merchants conduct their business in stands outside the Tower, offering their sundries to customers looking for magic items, weapons, and just about everything else one might desire.
Of course, wherever money circulates, so does corruption. In Westgate, members of the City Watch are bribed to look the other way, city officials are blackmailed for favors, and every day backroom deals are struck to seal one dark alliance after another. In Westgate, it's all just business.
