The
lands along the Sea of Swords south of Waterdeep and north of the mouth
of the River Chionthar at Baldur's Gate are known as the Sword Coast.
The name comes from the white cliffs that rise like a flashing blade from
the shore to heights of up to half a mile, cutting off the sea and the
land along hundreds of miles of coastline from Buldur's Gate in the south
to the River Dessarin just below Waterdeep. It is no accident that
the two greatest cities of the Sword Coast bracket either side of the great
cliffs, because these are the only sites for hundreds of miles in which
ships can safely moor.
Baldur's Gate is one of the two great cities of the Sword Coast, it sits on the north bank of the River Chionthar, twenty miles from where the river flows into the Trackless Sea. Situated halfway between Amn and Waterdeep, the city thrives on trade.
Beregost's forty or so stone and wood buildings cater to the trade between Amn and Baldur's Gate. The town has no official government, instead being run by the high priest and its major temple to Lathander. Yellow-garbed acolytes of the temple bear arms and keep peace. Curiously, the town's founder was also a spell caster rather than a politician - a wizard named Ulcaster established a mage school here that attracted a farming village to support it. Jealous Calishite wizards burned down Ulcaster's school three hundred years ago. The ruins still dominate the eastern side of the road, where Morninglord's clerics graze their sheep to keep an eye on the ruins and prevent unsavory characters from going in (or coming out).
Candlekeep is a citadel of learning that stands on a volcanic crag overlooking the sea at the end of the Way of the Lion, a road joining it to the coast road. Candlekeep is a many-towered fortress, once the home of the famous seer, Alaundo, and it preserves the seer's predictions among its huge library of the writings of Faerun.
