The Ivory War

The Ivory War is a series of loosely-related conflicts and wars that affected Essos and beyond between the years 362AC and 366AC, although the first steps towards it begin in 359AC, and the aftermath continues to be felt today.

The following recount of the war is taken from *Blood-Stained Sand: An Account of the Ivory King Cregas*, as written by Archmaester Jaime.

## Prelude

### The Mahout Riots

The setting for the Ivory War would take place nearly a half a decade prior to the first event that the smallfolk of Essos would truly say was a war, but it proved no less important to consider when pondering upon the occurrences that lead to such a widespread and costly conflict.

It would come from Volantis, in the year of 359AC, and although the residents of the city from noble Triarchs to lowly sailors would have a part to play in the coming conflicts, it was a slave that would start the first steps towards the conflict that would ravage many of the Free Cities, the Bay of Dragons, Qarth and the nations of the Jade Sea.

Central to this first step on a path to a destination we know only now with hindsight, was a slave known as Cahlos. Whether this was the true name of said bondsman or simply the name given to him by his master is not known to our records, but we do know that he was said to be of Qohorik stock, and that the tusk tattoos extending from the corner of his lips denoted him as the property of the noble Naraelor family, one of the Old Blood of Old Volantis, rich from the trade of elephants. It was as a mahout that Cahlos had been raised, and thus it was within the Mahout’s Courtyard in the Western City in which something was said to have snapped within the man.

Reports from the slaves and Tiger Cloaks involved in the ensuing events do not agree on the specific stimulus for his actions (citing everything from the deliberate trampling of a friend for disobedience, a lost game of dice or growing dissatisfaction at being responsible for cleaning of the droppings from the yard) but in one thing they are in agreement. Taking a chisel used to mark the base of each tusk with the insignia “LN” (for Lazaro Naraelor, who first purchased a pair of the great grey beasts from Qartheen merchants whilst the Black Walls were still being moulded with dragonflame), he drove it instead into the head of one of the guardsmen patrolling the yard, stealing his spear and sword and using the steel to cut down three more. Freeing his brothers and sisters with the keys wrenched from the hand relieved of the captain of the courtyard guard, he stoked them into a fury - against the Naraelor family, against slavers of Volantis and beyond, and indirectly against the grey beasts to which they had been bound in servitude. Although I have not seen an elephant such as those used by the Triarchs and Old Blood of Volantis myself, beyond the great skeleton within the Citadel, it goes without saying that slaying such a beast proves no minor task, but as they were liberated, the slaves in turn liberated more and indiscriminately so. Soon harbour-hands, courtesans, fools and stable-workers alike joined the mahouts of the Naraelor family in their uprising, and the horde soon enacted a terrible vengeance on all those who stood in their way. Nobles, elevated by matter of blood and by coin alike were torn from their lumbering mounts, their riches stolen, their elephants butchered. For every ring retrieved, a dozen remained missing and for every maiden spared from the lusts of man by patrols of Tiger Cloaks, another five had baseborn babes by the end of the year. To their credit, the black-scaled guardsmen that patrolled the Black Walls defended the residents within as they had pledged, although two-and-fifty were torn asunder by the ever-growing mob - killed with crude weapons, their own steel or simply dashed against the cobblestones.

Hunted by the hand of the Tiger Cloaks, who had stronger bonds to their strips than the pleas of their fellow bondsmen, Cahlos and a great number of the perceived leaders and inciters of the revolt were isolated and slain, quelling the further growth of the mob, although such a task took the best part of a moon to accomplish, and it would not be for another three more that the true end of the Mahout Riots could be counted. Thousands of slaves fled the city, and although many were simply recaptured by patrolling khalasars roaming around the Rhoyne, many still disappeared from the city upon the waves. With them they took the riches they had claimed - and no riches more so abundant than ivory tusks, for it was estimated that nine in every ten elephants within the city of Volantis perished in the weeks of riots.

This would have a profound effect on the cost of the beasts within the city, and for the Old Blood were stubborn and proud, it was a price they paid, lest they be forced to travel through the city by horse or palanquin like the common rabble. To the city of Zabhad upon the Isle of Elephants in the Jade Sea they travelled, to treat with the Shan in her palace. Though she demanded a high price for the creatures, not even that could dissuade them, for a time.

### The Corsair-Queen and the Rise of the Ivory King

We knew little of Cahlos the Mahout, but of the Corsair-Queen Kalia we know even less - beyond the fact that it was through cold callous that she had risen to power and dominion over much of the Basilisk Isles. Above the settlements of Demon Reef, Deadman’s Cray and Old Salt Bay on the island of Howling Mountain, Whore’s Gash and Plunder Port on Ax Isle and even that of Barter Beach on Talon her banner flew proudly - a set of blackened teeth on a field of red. Her supporters scoured the Summer Seas for slaves to be bartered and sold and thus naturally they found a great number of ships wandering the waves with a lack of direction. Thus a great number of the escaped slaves, fleeing upon stolen vessels, fell once again into chains and their stolen riches were in turn taken from them, and laid before Kalia herself. It is said that one of the men sworn to Kalia at that time proposed, seeing the vast quantity of ivory that had been collected, that the Corsair-Queen make herself first a crown, then a palace from the substance, styled in the form of the Shan’s Palace to the far east. “After all, a Queen needed a throne so that all may know she is their ruler”, he is reported to have said.

Kalia was said not to be contented with simply having a palace in the style of the Shan of the east, but instead wanted her seat to be greater and more glorious - a new centre to her ever growing Queendom in the Summer Sea. Her raiders grew bolder, pillaging more and more merchant ships to finance her ever-growing hunger for ivory. Such actions drew the attention of the Bay of Dragons, Volantis and Lys alike, although the lattermost found itself equally distracted by the presence of Ironborn raiders and representatives of the Kingdom of the Iron Throne alike within the Stepstones. Volantis still licked its wounds from the Mahout Riots the year before leaving but the Bay of Dragons to respond. From Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen a great fleet was dispatched, but after some small victories in the Summer Sea against ships flying her banner, they arrived at the Basilisk Isles to find them abandoned.

But their search was not in vain, for upon Talon they found Kalia, or what had been left by the flies and worms. Impaled upon a tusk, with her riches gone (including all else of her ivory) she had struggled for a days before finally succumbing to her wounds it was claimed (although for the state of decomposition in a place as humid as the Basilisk Isles how this was ever established remains to be explained). Perceiving the threat resolved, the vessels bound from the Bay of Dragons returned to whence they came and thus the corsairs of the isles appeared once more, as if they had sprung from the very ground as the warships disappeared into the horizon. It was the first-mate of the Corsair-Queen, a stout man called Cregas that boasted proudly it had been him that had slain Kalia, not wishing to condone such a wasted opportunity. Instead of a tower or fortress, he proposed instead the ivory be sold - but not simply as tusks. Rather he talked of a far more lucrative scheme, one given to him by a discussion he had overheard between two whores while stalking along Barter Beach, seeking a slave-smith to sharpen his blade.

While rarely discussed, for reasons of embarrassment and prevention of the dangers of candour, there are those within society that, despite their duty to the heritage of their family and house, struggle with certain aspects of the necessary processes associated with creating heirs, or simply providing carnal pleasure. Few would proclaim such shortcomings openly, and as such would oft seek out solutions to their deficiencies quickly and without caution. So it has come to be that throughout Essos and Westeros alike a great black market for philtres, aphrodisiacs and all other manner of stimulants has formed. From black bile to fermented crab, many agents are peddled across the Known World, but few would demand a price as high as powdered ivory, Cregas reckoned, and with the mountain of ivory at his disposal, every man that bowed before him as King of the Basilisk Isles would be as rich as a Magister.

And for a time Cregas was indeed perhaps truly richer than the Magisters of Pentos or Lys or Myr, for a mountain of ivory produced vast quantities of dust, especially when all manner of stones and sand were added to further stretch the mixture. Cregas’ men collected exotic hardwoods from the continent of Sothoryos to the south, using slaves to shape small lock-boxes to contain the powdered ivory, allowing them to demand even greater a price from the wealthier patrons of the substance. Whereas it had been sold to slavers and smugglers and Syndicate members alike at Talon when they came to barter in slaves, now the vagabonds sailed for the Basilisk Isles specifically to source Cregas’ cure-all. By now, the claims made of the potency and power of the powdered ivory had been warped and exaggerated so greatly that many seemed to herald it as an elixir like no other - capable of solving all ailments. Aches could be cured with a cream containing the powder, stitches and stomach aches with a mixture of it, cloves and honey. One merchant arrived at the Basilisk Isles, seeking to purchase enough of the powder to bathe in it, seeking to prevent the further spread of the greyscale that had already claimed his left arm. Cregas, now known as the Ivory King was quick to oblige him his wish, and take the vast amount of gold, silver and gemstones offered in return.

But although the number of elephants slain in Volantis in 359AC cannot be understated, it was not an exhaustive and infinite amount of tusks that had been claimed, and soon even the attempts to further bulk the powder ivory with a great manner of other substances could no longer meet the demand. As the Old Blood of Volantis had turned to the Jade Sea for their new mounts (and, it should be noted, enough breeding pairs to start to build a stock to replace that lost), Cregas’ gaze too turned east, to the Shan and her city of Zabhad, upon the isle named for the very thing he needed - elephants. It was said that it took six moons for an agreement to be reached between the pair, different as they were, but eventually an accord was indeed met, the terms of which we have learned, quite by chance, due to the writings of Merrell Serry, called the Dauntless Rose for his proclivity for adventure, who was present upon the Isle of Elephants at the time. In exchange for three dozen tusks each passing of the moon, the Ivory King of the Basilisk Isles would offer his protection to vessels from the Isle against the ships of Great Moraq and Qarth, who had long harried the island’s inhabitants in a manner the Shan perceived to be no better than common pirates.

As news of this arrangement spread, it was met with little concern by most, for since King Cregas’ ascension to the title of Ivory King, piracy out of the Basilisk Isles had dropped dramatically - no doubt due to the vast and easy profits that he and his men were generating from the namesake of his moniker. However, in Volantis, the tales of the Alliance between the Basilisk Isles and the Isle of Elephants was met with naught but suspicion, among none more so than the Old Blood who resided within the Black Walls. The stock of elephants within the city remained greatly diminished despite the two and a half years that had passed since the events spurned by Cahlos the Mahout, and thus the Volantenes still relied primarily on the Shan and her isle for their mounts. Not only had many of the Old Blood suspected that the new Ivory King was behind the riots of 359AC in the first place, for he had gained so much from their passing, but now the Shan seemed to have enough to slaughter hundreds each year as part of the deal, despite claims that the isle’s grey herds grew smaller and smaller with each passing moon (something that naturally had been used to justify ever-increasing prices for elephants by the representatives of the Shan in their dealings with the Volantenes). As the beginning of 362AC came to be, it seemed that the storm clouds of war had began to form on the horizon, although it would not be another year and a half before they arrived, and when they did so it would not the Volantenes to cast down the first bolt.

There were a number of minor confrontations throughout 362AC between the ships of the Ivory King Cregas and the island nations of Great Moraq, Lesser Moraq and Vahar as they patrolled by the Cinnamon Straits, but they were so frequent and petty that they bear not discussing here. Instead, we turn to the third moon of 363AC at Port Yhos for the first true conflict of what would be known as the Ivory War. Cregas was a clever man, or perhaps simply surrounded himself with clever men, for in the past year and a half he had expanded his empire to that of the trade of spices, exotic hardwoods and gemstones too, but he still peddled the substance that had given him his title all the same. From the Halls of Silk in Yunkai to the home of the Black Pearl and the Nightingale in Braavos, the Ivory King’s powdered ivory could be found.

One of Cregas’ generals, a man remembered as the Canid, urged his King to claim a seat and construct a fortress-keep upon the Essosi mainland, declaring it was time for further expansion. Port Yhos, he proposed, positioned between the trade juggernauts of the Bay of Dragons and Qarth, would place them in an ideal position to exploit pre-existing trade routes, as well as position them closer to Zabhad, and the riches of the cities in the Jade Sea. Hearing an echo of the very words he had whispered in the ear of the Corsair-Queen Kalia half a decade earlier, Cregas worried for what the Canid truly had planned, and sought to banish the man.

## The Ivory War

### The Golden Manticore's Fleet

But he had not counted upon two occurrences. Firstly the scale of the popularity of the Canid, for when he left (which he did with the promise of never bringing harm to his King, although this is most likely a singer’s fancy, for the concept of honour and true loyalty is quite lost to a man once he has resided in the Basilisk Isles) he did so with near half of Cregas’ fleet, which has grown ever larger throughout his prosperous rule. Nearly seventy ships sailed with the Canid, calling themselves the Dogs of Basilisk Point, although it was west to the Summer Isles they sailed, not northeast to Port Yhos as they had once proposed.

The further story of the Canid are beyond the scope of this tome, it should be noted, but those curious should consider seeking out the texts titled “*A Paradise in the Summer Sea: An Examination of the Actions of Bhalar Dol, and his Legacy upon the Isles*.”

The second occurrence was that of whispers, carried upon the wind and waves by the tongues of slavers and sailors alike. The mustering of a great fleet from the Basilisk Isles, regardless of the direction of its bearing proved to be of great concern to the cities and nations that overlook the Summer Sea, and when the tales named Port Yhos as a proposed destination, it was said that the Pureborn of Qarth grew deeply troubled. While naught compared to their Queen of Cities, Port Yhos remained a useful and valuable trading outpost for the Qartheen, and the thought of it in the hands of a Corsair-King caused their pale skin to grow paler still. Mustering a vast navy of their own made of the vessels of the fortified harbour cities of the isle of Qal (Qarthak on the northwestern coast, Qalred on southeastern), that of Port Yhos and Faros, as well as Qarth itself, they swept the Summer Sea between the Jade Gates and Wyvern Point. Commanded by the decorated general Xatto Qarba Xolottaya, known as the Golden Manticore for his time as the leader of the city watch of Qarth and the gold-scale plate he bore, they decided instead to take the offensive to the Basilisks when the monstrous fleet whispered of failed to appear. Sweeping far to the south, they passed Gorosh, a ruined city on Wyvern Point that had once served as a penal colony for the Ghiscari Empire of old, chasing the Sothoryosi coastline until they fell upon Ax Isle. Two-score settlements burned, among them Plunder Port, Keelhaul Cay and Saltbreeze Bay. Corsairs, pirates and all other manner of smuggler and vagabond were put to the sword and their bodies dumped upon the shores of Sothoryos to be feasted upon by all manner of beasts and insects.

The islands of Talon and Howling Mountain were next to fall, and the Ivory King Cregas ordered his leal followers to flee with him into the ruins of the city of Gogossos, known as Gorgai in the time of the Old Empire of Ghis. The foul reputation of the city was familiar to even the Golden Manticore, and as such, he declared all that fled into the city would be dead in time, if not subject to worse torments. The fleets of Port Yhos, Qarth and Great Moraq turned for home later that day, after pillaging all they could from Cregas’ Kingdom.

And yet despite all the destruction traders still came to Barter Beach to seek out the powdered ivory, which they claimed was the purest and finest to be had in the Known World.

However, Cregas found himself without stock to provide, and thus the trade deals he had promised would last for decades to come started to crumble. Desperate, he turned once again to the isle in the east that he visited years prior - except this time he did so for conquest, bringing fire and steel in place of the words and ink prior. Sacking the city of Zabhad, they tore down the Shan’s Palace, stealing away the ivory construction her line had called home for millennia, before returning to the Basilisk Isles and Gogossos to try and salvage what remained of the Kingdom of the Ivory King.

Now, on the matter of curses and hexes, the research of the Citadel and the Order of Maesters is largely in agreement (beyond a few grievous individuals that bear not mention, should their ideas get hold of young and malleable minds). No such evidence exists, and all attempts to replicate, study or otherwise obtain verification has proven fruitless. It would therefore be easy, and perhaps sensible to dispel what seemed to occur next in the tale of Cregas the Ivory King as mere tattle upon the lips of those more superstitious, but little can deny the widespread and profound effect of the supposed curse.

Cregas had made the ruined city of Gogossos his new seat, and from it his slave workers continued to create and sell the powdered ivory that had given him his name. Archmaester Meryn, who was granted the silver ring, mask and rod after the passing of Archmaester Ebrose maintains his theory that the foul humours in the air and water upon the Isle of Tears had contaminated the powder, whereas others less learned proclaimed it the wrath of the very gods that had smote down the city during the Century of Blood, and the start of a new Red Death to come. These both however are considered with the benefit of hindsight once again. At the time all that was noted was that across the Free Cities a great deal of individuals started to complain of stitches in their side, loss of appetite, lightheadedness and dizziness, and as the sickness progressed further, swelling of the lips, throat and neck, and bloody diarrhoea said to be so vicious that the victims feared that their very bowels had fallen apart within them.

There was no pattern to those inflicted either it seemed, for those slain were noble and lowborn alike, from all walks of life. The severity of the symptoms varied widely, leading to delays in the recognition of a common cause and thus accusations of poison and assassination were soon banded back and forth as freely as a camp follower’s favour. None of said accusations proved more tumultuous than those relating to Triarch Laerys Vaelaros.

### The Fallen Triarch

Laerys Vaelaros was a popular Triarch, hailing from the noble Old Blood family with long-ties to the Elephant Party of Volantis. Like his father and uncle before him, it was trade that was the centre of Triarch Laerys’ policies. Having recently secured an agreement with the city of Myr in 363AC, and another with Qohor two years prior to that, he had been working towards securing similar contracts with the Free City of Lys, as well as the city of Tolos too before his death.

After celebrating a successful continuation of the negotiations with representatives of the Magisters Pendaerys, Ormellon and Vhassyl, he had enjoyed an evening’s entertainment provided by pillowslaves provided by Magister Ormellon himself, said to the finest in the world for they came from the Goddess’ Touch, the most famed pillowhouse in all of Lys. With fine wines from the Arbor, delicate cheeses made from goats grazed within the Golden Fields and olives cultivated along the Skahazadhan they revelled, but come morning one of his companions found him dead, his mouth and lips crusted with the blood upon which he had choked in his sleep.

While we now know that the Ivory King’s powdered ivory, supposedly cursed by its production within the city of Gogossos, was among the items enjoyed by Triarch Laerys that night, it is to little surprise that the Triarch’s guards concluded their liege had been poisoned, nor should they be condemned for such an assumption for there are a great number of agents known to cause its victim to cough up blood in their death throes.

It is said by many in Westeros that “Words are Wind” and thus of little consequence, but it is the opinion of the author such an aphorism is dangerous in its disregard for the destruction that mere words can bring about.

The surviving Triarchs - the Elephant Taeros Qoheros and the Tiger Vaelar Aerteris -  found themselves in agreement on something. It had been the Lyseni that were responsible, for the city was after all famous for the Spire of the Alchemists, the acolytes and masters within creators of such poisonous substances. It was the Lyseni that had offered him food and wine and it was in this opportunity that they had enacted their ploy to weaken the city of Volantis, knowing it to be greater than their own city.

The Lyseni instead accused the Myrish of the treachery, naming Magister Jaerano Naerin himself as being guilty of poisoning the Triarch, claiming he was fearful that the city of Lys would be granted the same boons afforded to him by the trade deal between Myr and Volantis agreed upon a year prior. Not wishing to see the Perfumed Sister prosper, and knowing his own deal to be secure, he had sought to end the negotiations before a final agreement could be reached.

Further to the east, accusations carried across the Bay of Dragons, raising tensions between the cities of Tolos and Elyria and those of Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen. Tolos, and by indirect measure Elyria, had sought to gain much for the deals proposed by Triarch Laerys, which may have resulted in reduced trade into the Bay of Dragons as a result. The timing of Vaelaros’ death mere moons before he was due to sail for the Gulf of Grief proved too suspicious for the rulers of the City of Slingers, and thus they petitioned the Queen of Elyria, the intrepid Aerea Calgaris to ready a fleet and an army as they send messages forth to captains of a great manner of sellsword and sellsail companies.

Others too whispered along the Rhoyne that surely the Braavosi had been involved in the Triarch’s death. They opposed slavery after all, but the Bay of Dragons was too far away for even the fleets and lackeys of the Sealord to reach and thus the gaze of Bessaro Nestoris had turned to Volantis - or so the Governor of Valysar Rhaemar Agnalor claimed. Had cooler minds prevailed they would have surely noted that the Faceless Men of Braavos (the Sealord’s chosen means of assassination, if Governor Agnalor is to be believed) are famous for their ability to make their killings, or gifts as they prefer to call them, appear natural.

Triarch Laerys Vaelaros’ death was anything but natural.

Despite it, Laerys had been well-loved among the vassal states of Volantis, and soon the cities of Valysar, Selhorys and Volon Therys cried for Braavosi blood in return.

And thus, seemingly overnight half the Free Cities and the cities of the Bay of Dragons found themselves on the verge of war, and all had reason to cast the first stone.

In the end it would prove to be the Tolosi who, along with their Elyrian allies, sought to blockade the Bay of Dragons and cut all trade to the cities of Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen to make up for what was lost to them in Triarch Laerys Vaelaros’ passing.

### The Battles of the Gulf of Grief

Through the Three Sails and the sellsword companies the Lost Legion and Hidak’s Circle, they seized the Isle of Cedars, beating back a token Astapori force upon the isle at the First Battle of Needle Hill, sometimes also recalled as Graghdir’s Folly for the losses of the general placed in charge of the island’s defence. The isle was effectively turned into a tollgate by the Tolosi who patrolled the straits either side with slender warships crewed by the slingers for which the city is so famed. Those bound for Tolos and Elyria were allowed to pass, but all those bound for the cities on the eastern shore of the Bay were sent away by the more generous captains, and captured and pillaged by those less scrupulous and more greedy.

While Meereen, Yunkai and Astapor do have connections to Volantis in the west and Qarth to the southeast by road, the journeys are long and dangerous, demanding merchants travel the cursed Demon Road or brave the Red Waste and the ruins of cities long reduced to ash by the roaming hordes of Dothraki. It is therefore not unwise to assume that the blockade had a profound effect on the three cities, even in the mere two moons it would be before they seized control of the trade routes once more. It was said that the rulers of the city learned a valuable lesson the day the Isle of Cedars fell, and that the stores of the cities have since always been maintained with a greatly increased studious intent.

Unlike the formation of the blockade, which had necessitating but one battle, its dissolution at the hands of the Targaryen Monarchy required three. At the Battle of the Baywater the Astapori navy engaged with the Three Sails, only to be forced into retreat by the arrival of the Elyrian fleet. Three days later, they would return, reinforced by ships from Yunkai and Meereen, and deliver a stunning victory. The Three Sails broke contract and fled, leaving the Elyrian fleet grossly outnumbered. Stranded as the remaining ships of Elyria hurried back home to the west, the Elyrian soldiers made a valiant final stand upon the Isle of Cedars at the Second Battle of Needle Hill, but soon they succumbed to the onslaught brought by the troops of Master Martell of Yunkai, not a quarter of a year after they had first taken the isle. With Elyria broken, it was the turn of the Tolosi to face the wrath of the dragon.

The Tolosi had abandoned their allies it seemed, retreating back to outposts along the Black Cliffs as the ships of their enemies left port to hunt them down. But now it was their turn to face betrayal. Paid off by Master Lannister of Astapor, both the Lost Legion and Hidak’s Circle turned cloak on the Tolosi brigands, marching west to meet with a Meereenese army, where they would successfully sack the City of Slingers, pillaging it for the wealth lost in the blockade. While its defenders rallied within the streets during the reavings, they were quickly put down in a bloody series of skirmishes throughout the city known as the Battle of Iron and Lead, the third and final battle that would restore trade to relative normality in the Bay of Dragons.

### A Mind of Madness

The Ivory King Cregas had taken ill, growing increasingly paranoid of his subjects and servants, fearing they would betray him as he felt the Canid had done, whose actions had indirectly brought the wrath of Qarth upon his Kingdom. It is said that he had started to consort with bloodmages and shadowbinders and that this only served to warp the Ivory King’s mind further. On a day in the fifth moon of 364AC we are told that he announced he was going to seek out the beasts of the forests of Sothoryos, having heard from one of the warlocks that the claw of the tattooed lizards mixed with wine vinegar was the only thing potent enough to calm his fractured mind. Going alone into the Green Hell, Cregas, the Ivory King, was never seen again.

In his wake, his Kingdom tore itself to shreds as captain rose against captain, seeking to claim what remained. While a few bold Ibbenese whalers offer powdered mammoth tusk to those still foolish enough to buy into the reported claims of efficacy, the demand for the substance has diminished to naught, although there are those that claim to have in their possession samples of the supposedly cursed powders, recovered from the ruins of Gogossos by adventurers.

The Ivory King was no more, and elsewhere in the Known World the Ivory War had only truly just begin in earnest.

### The Governor of Valysar

But it was not to be that just the Bay of Dragons would experience bloodshed in the year of 364AC, for battles considered also among those of the Ivory War raged further west. Rallying an army of nearly fifteen thousand to his command, the Governor of Valysar, Rhaemar Agnalor, had sailed up the Rhoyne and the Noyne, marching for the Braavosi foothills and the City of a Hundred Isles itself, whereas in the further west still, Lys and Myr vied for supremacy over the Disputed Lands between them as Tyrosh sought to claim dominion over the Stepstones (the latter campaign being a series of events detailed in the text “*An Account of the Isles of the Narrow Sea: The Events and Occurrences between the Years of 300AC and 370AC*”).

The Triarchs of Volantis Taeros Qoheros, Vaelar Aerteris and Maelys Maegyr (the former two re-elected following promises of justice for Laerys, the lattermost signifying the first time a second Tiger Triarch had been elected in the city for over four hundred years) readied an army of their own, but instead found themselves engaged in battles to claw back control of their vassal states of Valysar, Selhorys and Volon Therys, for they did not share the sentiment that the Sealord and the Faceless Men were behind Vaelaros’ death.

In an effort to stay the growing risk of conflict with Braavos as they continued preparation for war with Lys, the Triarchs of Volantis sent a message to the Sealord of Braavos Bessaro Nestoris to denounce the actions of Rhaemar Agnalor of Valysar and declare him a rogue and vagabond. Heeding the Triarchs’ words, Nestoris dispatched an army to meet with Agnalor in the Braavosi foothills. At the Battle of Sweetwater Source, Valysarian infantry met with the forces led by Marro Antaryon, wielder of the Valyrian steel longsword Titan’s Roar. Reports state that the blade cut through two-score men that day, among them two of Rhaemar Agnalor’s sons, Aurion and Maevon. Governor Rhaemar himself was not among the slain however, and instead retreated with the two thousand remaining troops to the ruined city of Ny Sar, where Marro Antaryon finally caught up with him, seeking to put an end to the Governor. As his men were butchered by the larger host, Rhaemar turned once again to flee, seizing a passing trade cog and butchering the passengers with his own Valyrian steel blade when they refused to assist him in his flight. It would prove to only further turmoil when it would be made known that one of the passengers was Grogeo Maegan, heir of the noble Maegan family of Norvos. Blaming both Braavos and Volantis for the death, Magister Lyglo Maegan called for war with both. In time, this would be something resolved by trades mediated through the High Priest of the Conclave, who managed to claim territory from both cities in the peace accords of late 365AC.

Following on from their message to the Sealord, the Volantenes had sent a force north to assist in the subjugation of the Governor of Valysar, by found themselves set upon by the khalasar of Khal Mosko as they cross the river Selhoru. Those not slain were marched east, where a number would die in the fighting pits of Astapor, Tolos and New Ghis over the coming years. Such a blow pushed back preparations for the promised war with Lys that both Tiger Triarchs Aerteris and Maegyr spoke of proudly during their election campaigns.

But the loss of the Volantene army did not prove to be the stroke of luck that Rhaemar Agnalor sought. The ship that he had stolen, the Dancing Bear, was found by a Qohorik merchant several moons later, scuttled against an embankment on the northern edge of the Sorrows. Of Rhaemar and his Valyrian steel there was no sign, although sailors since have claimed to see him marching the Bridge of Dream, although his pale skin has since turned to scale - black and grey and like that of stone.

### The Disputed Lands

By the middle of 365AC, Lys and Myr had been engaged in open warfare within the Disputed Lands for over a year, and the conflicts showed no signs of either resolution or recuperation. At the Battle of the Silvertongue and the Bloodying of the Navari, General Tylor Drahar, Captain of the Guild of the Blue and brother to First Magister of Myr, Aerarro Drahar had won two scathing victories against the Lyseni, before losing both his army and his head at the Battle of Achissa - the first of five battles that would be fought around the walled town. On the shores of the Violet Lake at the Battle of the Red Night, Myrish crossbowmen shredded through Lyseni infantry, only to be run down by the sellswords of the Sunbreakers under the command of Captain Valo the Tempest. At the Stand of Autumn Bridge, Myrish spearmen successfully held back ten-fold their number, painting the river Murana with so much blood that it could be seen within the Sea of Myrth as it poured from the estuary. Myrish victories at the Battle of Last Rites and the Skirmish at Yellow Slopes were followed by Lyseni successes at the Duel of Wits and the Battle of Burning Plains, and the conflict raged only only more so. As the year of 365AC drew to a close, the Lyseni held all of the Disputed Lands south of where the Violet Lake feeds into the Murana, controlling near nine-tenths of the territory, and yet envoys arrived at Myr all the same, offering peace deals.

News had reached the Conclave of Magisters of Lys that finally, after nearly a year and a half since the death of Laerys Vaelaros, that Volantis had finally set sail, bound for those they saw as responsible for his demise - the Lyseni. Hastily-made peace treaties were drafted and agreed upon with the Myrish, and the Lyseni presence in the Disputed Lands dwindled to that of the walled settlement of Achissa and the port-town of Liy.

But the long-anticipated battle was not to be. A vicious storm thundering west from the Smoking Sea forced the Volantene navy to turn back before they had even passed the Orange Shore, and the Magisters of Lys found themselves dealing with an open revolt of their armies, led by the Captain of the City Watch, Revas the Brazen. There are still those within the Perfumed Sister that agree to the concerns of Revas, despite his execution by dismemberment in the harbour during the sixth moon of 366AC. Chief among his concerns were the losses taken within the Disputed Lands that due to the brash decisions of the Magisters to act in preparation of a threat that never came served little purpose. Among the remaining supporters of Revas there are two factions - those that believe as a result Lys should seek to avoid conflicts in the Disputed Lands in the future, and others still that hold a widely contrasting view in that they should set out to seek out what they had paid for in blood.

## Aftermath

The aftermath of the Ivory War extends beyond that of just Myr and Lys however. Likewise, there is continued unrest within the city of Volantis as many low and nobleborn alike believe the death of Laerys Vaelaros was never truly avenged, and despite later production of evidence that it was the Ivory King Cregas’ powdered ivory that was most likely the cause of his demise, many still maintain that it was poison that felled the beloved Triarch.

Wards from the Governors of the cities of Valysar, Volon Therys and Selhorys are now housed within the Black Walls, lest they grow unwise once again and go against the orders of the Triarchs. While the family of Agnalor persists within Valysar, they no longer do so as Governors, for that honour has since been bestowed to the Golryens. Another loss caused by the actions of Rhaemar Agnalor was that of the family’s Valyrian steel greatsword *Last Tide* - although whether it was stolen by a river pirate, lost in the Sorrows or at the base of the Rhoyne cannot be said.

The city of Tolos is yet to fully recover from the damage dealt in its sacking and the Battle of Iron and Lead, although is still visited by sailors looking to refill their water stores before continuing on for more distant, wealthy ports. (Elyria, despite being spared the Doom, is considered by many ignorant of its pleasant architecture and fertile soils to be just as cursed as Mantarys and thus is rarely visited by those without true cause to do so.)

Norvos is the only one among the Free Cities to benefit from the events of the Ivory War, garnering it much distrust from the others. Spared from the worst of the deaths from the ‘cursed’ powdered ivory (a matter the Bearded Priests maintain is due to the protection of their God, but is more likely due to the infrequency of carnal relations within the city, owing to the residents’ reliance of the signalling from the Three Bells *Noom*, *Narrah* and *Nyel* before proceeding with such matters), it took few true casualties, beyond that of Grogeo Maegan, the first born son of Magister Lyglo Maegan, although even that is matter of debate. While undeniably not a naval power, the axemen of Norvos are said to be unparalleled in both their skill and devotion to the city of the Bearded Priests, and thus neither the Sealord or the Triarchs wished to engage the city in what would no doubt prove another costly war. Thus, they agreed to the peace terms demanded by Hrotar, the High Priest of the Conclave, and with it the territory of Norvos grew to include the source of the Upper Rhoyne and the northern third of Golden Fields (arguably one of the most fertile stretches of land in the entirety of the Known World, supposedly even more so than the Reach of Westeros).

**Much further south, in the Basilisk Isles, the usual tyranny that one must expect from such a wretched place came to settle once more. Since that day a decade past when the Ivory King Cregas marched forlorn into the jungle of Sothoryos, some dozen Pirate-Kings and Corsair-Queens have sought to build a Kingdom as prosperous as his, all without success. Smuggler dens and cove towns alike spring up upon beaches and in bays, only to burn a moon later. As is the way with the Basilisk Isles, as will like always be the way.**

When Corlys Velaryon (named for the Sea Snake of two hundred and fifty years prior) returned to Westeros after his Third Grand Expedition he spoke of the Isle of Elephants, and the great sorrow of the Shan and her people following the destruction of the Ivory Palace. The Shan had taken the life of her children, before her own shortly after stating that without the heritage of her ancestors, there was no future for her family. A thousand had followed her into the next life by manner of self-inflicted wounds or poison. In a twist of bittersweet irony, it is said that the great grey beasts that roam the isle have recovered so drastically in number over the last decade that they now roam as numerous as deer within the Kingswood.