The Guild: Hidden Rulers of Baldur's Gate
[The book's central argument is encapsulated in a chapter devoted to Rilsa Rael, Guild Kingpin of Little Calimshan.] In another time and another place, Rilsa Rael would be celebrated as a revolutionary. In Baldur's Gate, in her own lifetime, she's known as a crime lord – a Kingpin of the Guild, ruling over the city-within-a-city that is the district of Little Calimshan. Rilsa's story began when she was orphaned at a young age. Her father was hanged by the Flaming Fist for sheltering his fugitive brother. Soon after, her mother was denounced by the jealous wife of a patriar, and imprisoned in the Seatower where she perished. Alone in the world, she had learned two valuable lessons: when the law is corrupt, it is a necessity for those without the support of its enforcers to act outside it; and when the law is brutal, it is an ethical duty to act against it. Operating from within the Calim Jewel Emporium, Rilsa knows the value of everything and everyone that moves through Baldur's Gate. She controls a wide network of agents, who observe and track the exchange of goods and information as closely as any merchant or politician. But second-hand knowledge is cheap. Rilsa's real trick is to draw those with secrets to share directly into her orbit. At her Garden of Whispers, information can be shared with the Guild anonymously. Anyone with a grudge to bear or a competitor to bring low (that is to say, anyone of importance) can ensure that the whole city knows their grievance. It is said that if somebody speaks of your weak spot in the Garden at dawn, you can expect to find a knife buried in that exact spot before night falls.