Tolos

Tolos was a coastal city in central Essos, found on the northwest coast of the Bay of Dragons, west of Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen.

It served primarily as a stopping point for travellers from the Free Cities seeking the sail to the Far East nations of Qarth and Yi Ti.

## Layout

* The Harbour - Although not as grand, spectacular or large as the harbours of Volantis or Meereen, it would not be amiss of a visitor to acknowledge that Tolos is a city built around its port-city heritage, and the well organised and maintained nature of Tolos' harbour reflects this. Lined by garden boxes filled with odd yellow and orange shrubs that seem to thrive in the unpleasantly humid heat that sits upon the city, the wharves and quays of the city are capable of mooring nearly five hundred merchant cogs at any given time.
* Slinger's Hall - In the eastern portion of the city is the Slinger's Hall, a mass of barracks, towers and courtyards dedicated to the training of the Slingers that Tolos is famed across the Known World for. The soft lead balls so capable of shredding human flesh and bone are forged close by in a series of forges that exist specifically for the task.
* Black Cliff Tower - On the northern aspect of the city, the city walls blend into the cliff face directly, so the Tolosi instead built a tower of granite and limestone to fortify the potential area of weakness in their defences. Exactly two hundred narrow slits exist between the brick work of the tower, through which slingers can harry any force that tries to approach via the cliff path.

 Recent History

In 313AC, Daenerys Targaryen created an alliance with the Valyrian successor-state of Elyria, using their forces to help her reclaim Meereen.

Following the death of Triarch Laerys Vaelaros in 364AC, 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.

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.

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.