Salcliff is a nondescript fishing village tucked away on the southern coast of the nation of Baldur's Gate. For several generations, Baldur's Gate was a formidable military power. Its superior cavalry and bold knights pushed the kingdom's borders outward to the north, west, and east. Each successful campaign increased both the crown's wealth and power, and each one in turn drew the kingdom's attention even farther north. The southern coastal regions of Baldur's Gate remained a backwater.
The crown's benign neglect allowed piracy and banditry to flourish. Saltcliff and similar towns kept to fishing, content to maintain a low profile and avoid governmental entanglements. Decades ago, the pirates who prowled the waters off Saltcliff grew strong enough to create their own realm, a loose confederacy known as the Hold of the Sea Princes. With the rise of that nation came increased raids on Salt Cliff and its neighbors. The Sea Princes' raiding ships pillaged the coast for more slaves to support their growing realm, and Saltmarsh suffered heavily. The memories of those times loom heavily over the area, and the locals' hatred of the Sea Princes runs deep.
In time, Baldur's Gate's victories in the north gave way to a string of defeats in which its neighbors pushed the kingdom back to its original boundaries. With the world closing in, Ravenguard looked to the south and saw unchecked banditry and a rising pirate nation. The crown struck peace treaties with its former foes to the north, raised a navy, and dealt a sharp check to the ambitions of the Sea Princes—but the conflict is by no means over.
Ravenguard has decreed that the pirates must be put down, the sea lanes secured, and trade cultivated. If Baldur's Gate cannot prosper as a military force, it must grow mightier as a center of trade.
Saltcliff, remote though it might be from the center of power in Baldur's Gate, is entering a new phase of its life as it reacts to the king's plans. The crown's agents want to expand the village's port and make it a prime location for trade with the world beyond. In another recent development, a band of dwarves—bearing a decree from the king himself—have arrived and begun to excavate the hills and seaside cliffs near town, looking for precious metals. If their work bears fruit as expected, the mine stands to become a major factor in the village's—and, indeed, the entire region's—prosperity.
Naturally, not all of Saltcliff's residents feel the same way about the recent developments in and around their community, which is the key issue that affects their lives and livelihood. Although the recent changes stand to bring new prosperity to the area, many locals don't want to see their home changed. At the same time, as an undercurrent through all the goings-on, agents of the secretive and mysterious Scarlet Brotherhood work to thwart Baldur's Gate ambitions while advancing their own.