The Trade District's origins are lost to time, but it has always been an integral part of Ironhold, a fortress city built as a bulwark against the horrors of Coia. During a bygone era, it truly was the gleaming jewel of the city. This was when the Bukhara Spire Gateways facilitated expansive global commerce.

Here, the powerful Merchant Princes erected opulent auction houses. These grand establishments facilitated the darker side of the Civil War's economy, specifically the lucrative and brutal inter-dimensional slave trade. Beneath the largest marketplace, The Auction Block, lay ancient holding cells, not for people, but lead-lined and silver-runed chambers designed to contain small extra-planar entities smuggled through the Gateways. Some of these entities may still be trapped within their stasis today.

However, this era of prosperity met a swift and violent end. The Dragonbone Vanguard launched a decisive strike, destroying the corrupted gateways and thereby ending the extra-planar threat that had fueled the district's wealth. The economic backbone of the Trade District shattered instantly.

Stripped of their inter-dimensional supply lines and the immense profits they generated, the Merchant Princes turned viciously on one another. The once-grand district descended rapidly into a localized civil war, a brutal internal conflict within the very walls of Ironhold.

Roughly ten years ago, the Ironhold City Guard attempted to restore order to the chaotic district. However, they were met with a unified and fierce resistance. A combined front of desperate locals and hardened mercenaries successfully repelled the city guard.

Following this repulse, massive barricades were erected at every entrance, effectively sealing off the district from the rest of Ironhold. Since that pivotal moment, the Trade District has operated as a semi-autonomous zone, a labyrinth of anarchy within the city's defenses.

Today, the district is a maze of rude commerce and unchecked greed. It exists under a brutal, uneasy peace enforced by three rival criminal syndicates: The Iron Coin, The Black Ledger, and The Sallow Hands. This volatile stalemate defines its current lawless and thriving status.

Beneath the streets, a new menace proliferates. The Sallow Hands syndicate secretly manufactures "Shimmer," a potent new narcotic. This drug is made from pulverized crystal shards scavenged from a dormant Bukhara Spire tip buried deep within the district's sewers.

Using Shimmer slowly connects the user's mind to the malevolent force alluded to in Coia's history. Furthermore, while publicly denouncing the district's lawlessness, the High Governor of Ironhold secretly funds The Iron Coin. He exploits the district as a chaotic buffer zone, using it to dispose of political rivals and to hoard illegal magical artifacts banned elsewhere in the city.