Volantis

Volantis, often called Old Volantis and the First Daughter, is a city in southwestern Essos. Located at the mouth of the Rhoyne on the Summer Sea, it is the oldest and the proudest of the Nine Free Cities. Volantis is one of the greatest, richest, and most powerful of these city-states, and was once the most populous.

## City

### Location

Volantis is the southeastern-most of the Free Cities, located east of the Disputed Lands. Volantis sprawls across one of the four mouths of the Rhoyne, where the river flows into the Summer Sea. To the north is the river Volaena. The cities Volon Therys, Valysar, and Selhorys are located directly northeast of the city, and are ruled by Volantis. Volantis also controls the Rhoyne as far as the tributary river Selhoru, and holds sway over the Orange Shore, west of the city. The ruins of Sar Mell lie northeast as well.

Volantis is the closest Free City to Slaver's Bay, lying approximately five hundred and fifty leagues from Meereen. Between Volantis and Slaver's Bay lies the Demon Road.

### Climate

The climate of Volantis is hot and humid, the air is hot and heavy. Beyond the waterfront and its breezes the streets and alleys of Volantis are enough to drown a man in his own sweat, as least on the eastern side of the river. Heat shimmers off the streets, giving a dreamlike quality to the surroundings. Quentyn Martell finds that the sullen wet heat of the city saps his strength and leaves him feeling dirty. There is also a smell that hangs in the air, rich, rank and pervasive. There is fish in it, flowers and some elephant dung, also something sweet and something earthy and something dead and rotten. According to Tyrion Lannister the city smells like an old whore. In Volantis the nights are almost as hot as the days.

### People

Volantis was once the most populous of the Free Cities. Doran Martell considers the Volantenes to be “strange and subtle”.

   The Volantenes feel that people of quality should not travel afoot, but instead by palanquin or in a hathay. Travelling afoot can taint a person in the eyes of both the native-born Volantenes and the foreign captains in the city. According to semi-canon sources the freeborn citizens tattoo themselves to show prowess in battle and as a record of their exploits.

The Old Blood refers to some of the population in Volantis, noble families who can prove unbroken descent from old Valyria itself. Only those of the Old Blood are allowed to live within the Black Walls of eastern Volantis, and only they can invite slaves, freedmen, or foreigners to enter. Freeborn Volantenes with enough property can vote. There are precious few voters on the western side of Volantis, over the river.

#### Slaves

There are five slaves for each freedman in Volantis. It is custom in Volantis to have the faces of slaves tattooed, to mark their status. This custom is similarly practised in the cities under the control of Volantis, like Selhorys.

Known slave tattoos of Volantis include:

* Squares of motley, from neck to scalp: fools and jesters.
* A wheel tattooed upon one cheek: driver of an *hathay*.
* A mask of blue feathers.
* A lightning bolt that ran from jaw to brow.
* A coin upon the cheek.
* A leopard's spots.
* A skull.
* A jug.
* Flies on the cheeks: slaves collecting elephant and horse dung.
* Flames across the cheeks: members of the Fiery Hand.
* Flames across the cheeks, chin and forehead: priests of the faith of R'hllor.
* A horsehead on the cheek: workers in stables.
* Tiger stripes, green as jade, across the cheeks: slave soldiers.
* A single tear beneath the right eye: prostitutes.
* A cog's figurehead upon one cheek: slaves bound to a ship.

### Triarchy

Volantis is ruled by three triarchs, chosen annually through festive and tumultuous elections. While foreigners might see the elections as chaotic, they are usually peaceful. All freeborn who own land, regardless of gender, are allowed to vote. They are chosen from amongst the noble families who can prove unbroken descent from old Valyria, and will serve until the first day of the new year. The triarchs of Volantis are considered so elevated that they are not allowed to have their feet touch the ground during their year of service. The elections last ten days, with much campaigning and bribery.

The triarchs belong to one of two political parties, the elephants and the tigers. The elephants are the party of the merchants and moneylenders advocating trade, while the tigers are old aristocracy and warriors interested in conquest. At no time has more than one tiger been named triarch. Some of the first elephants were women, one of whom, Trianna, was returned four times. Volantis has not had a female triarch for three hundred years.

### Economy

While Volantis was, at the time of the Doom of Valyria, the mightiest of the Free Cities, in the centuries that followed Braavos cought up and rivals Volantis for power now.

Volantis is key to the slave market, trading heavily with the cities of Slaver's Bay to the east. It is said there are five slaves to every free man in the city.

Volantis use coins, called "honors", with a crown on one face and death's head on the other as part of their currency. The honors are no bigger than a penny.

Volantenes are fond of sweet beets, which they grow in profusion and serve in most major culinary dishes in the city. They make a cold soup of the beets which is as thick and rich as purple honey. The Volantenes are known for their sweet red wine.

Few ships from Westeros come as far as Volantis, and those who do fill their holds with silk and spice from the Jade Sea, then bend their oars for home.

The board game *cyvasse* originates from Volantis, and its pieces are sold in the city.

## History

### Foundation

Volantis is the oldest of the Free Cities, founded at some point after the destruction of the Old Empire of Ghis. It was the first colony of the Valyrian Freehold, her "first daughter". Established to protect the borders of the Freehold, Volantis was little more than a garrison protected by the Black Walls for a hundred years. Wealthy Valyrians used this military outpost to take advantage of trade along the Rhoyne, however, and settlements quickly grew on both sides of the river. Construction of the Long Bridge to cross the Rhoyne began under Triarch Vhalaso the Munificent.

### Rhoynish Wars

Volantis grew powerful trading with Valyria and the Rhoynar, although the nearby Rhoynish city Sarhoy declined. This led to the lengthy Rhoynish Wars.

In the Second Spice War, the last of these wars, Volantis and three Valyrian Dragonlords destroyed Sarhoy and sowed the ruins with salt to prevent the Rhoynish city from rising again. Prince Garin of Chroyane declared war and marched at the head of the biggest army Essos had seen. He won victories at Selhorys, Valysar, and Volon Therys, where he faced a hundred thousand enemies, a hundred elephants, and three dragonlords. After Volon Therys, the Volantenes behind the Black Walls asked the Freehold for help. The alliance between Volantis and the Freehold shattered Garin's host, and it is said the blood of the Rhoynar turned the great harbor of Volantis red as far as one could see.

### Century of Blood

After the Doom of Valyria, the Volantenes considered themselves the heirs to the Freehold and rightful rulers of the world. They sent a fleet to claim the Valyrian peninsula, but it vanished in the Smoking Sea.

Tommen II Lannister, King of the Rock, stayed at Volantis on his way to Old Valyria during the Century of Blood. Tommen promised half of what he would find to the triarchs of Volantis in return for their generosity and potential aid from their fleet. Triarch Marqelo Tagaros sent ships after Tommen the following year, but no sign of the king was found.

Those in Volantis were divided on how to achieve conquest against the other Free Cities. Those of the Old Blood favored war, whilst the moneylenders and merchants favored trade. These two factions became known as the tigers and the elephants, respectively. The tigers held sway for almost a century, and Volantis called for war upon the other cities, with the tigers leading the city into a great conflict with the other daughters. They were successful at first, taking control of Lys and Myr. When they tried to take Tyrosh, however, Pentos joined the Tyroshi, and Lys and Myr rebelled. The Sealord of Braavos provided ships to aid Lys, and Argilac Durrandon, the Westerosi Storm King, joined the conflict and led a host into the Disputed Lands. It was Argilac's host who defeated a Volantene host which had been attempting to retake Myr.

Aegon Targaryen, Lord of Dragonstone, accepted an alliance with Pentos and Tyrosh against Volantis, flew to Lys, and set ablaze a Volantene fleet preparing to invade the city. Volantis was further defeated at Dagger Lake, where galleys from Qohor and Norvos destroyed much of the Volantene fleet which had been on the Rhoyne. Even Dothraki entered the conflict, falling upon the weakened Volantis.

In the end, the Volantene faction favoring peace, the elephants, took power from the tigers, and the fighting was at an end.