Norvos

Norvos is one of the nine Free Cities of western Essos, nestled amongst the Hills of Norvos upon the banks of the river Noyne before it reaches the Rhoyne to the south.

It is called Great Norvos by its residents.

Since 278AA, it has been a member of the Alliance of the Narrow Sea.

## Layout

The city of Norvos is split into two distinct regions, the smaller High City, placed upon the taller hills houses the noble houses of the city, as well as the Fortress-Temple of the Bearded Priests of Norvos, whereas the Low City is home to the commonfolk and most of the visitors to the city. The two are connected by the Sinner's Steps.

#### The High City

* The Stone Walls - unlike the Low City, the High City is surrounded by two layers of pale-grey stone walls, upon, populated by half a dozen guard-towers shorter than only the Bell Tower at the centre of the city. From these towers, archers capable of launching shafts hundreds of feet.
* The Fortress-Temple of the Bearded Priests - guarded by a holy guard of slave soldiers branded with the symbol of an axe upon their chests, the Fortress-Temple is a monolith of blue-grey rock, lifted from the hills around the city. Within, the Bearded Priests hold their conclave with the High Priest in the Hall of Voices.
* The Manses of the Nobility - positioned around the centrally placed Fortress-Temple of the Bearded Priests, but with a view to be as far from the Sinner's Steps as possible, the manses and palaces of the ancient families of Norvos can be found, including the families Ahrohr, Essoran, Golathis and Maegen. While most are built from the same pale-grey stone that abundant within the territory of the Free City, some families have sought to set themselves apart by using materials such as marble, basalt and granite in contrast to their neighbours.
* The Bell Tower - within the Bell Tower, the feature that brings many curious visitors to the Free City can be found. The three bells of Norvos, named Noom, Narrah and Nyel play in unison or individually to signal the start and end of the day, times for work and rest, preparing for war or making love.
	+ Noom has a deep, resonating tone.
	+ Narrah has a lingering strong sound.
	+ Nyel is the highest pitched of the three.

#### The Sinner's Steps

The Sinner's Steps is a great stair of wide steps carved directly through the side of one of the tallest peaks within the Hills of Norvos, and connects the High City with the Low City. The incline is somewhat variable, with an increasing gradient closer to the High City. On a normal day, it takes around half an hour to make the ascension from the bottom to the top, but at times of festival, when the stairs are covered in dancing bears and merchants, it can take hours.

#### The Low City

* The Wooden Walls - unlike the High City, the Low City is protected only by a wooden palisade surrounded by ditches and a wide but shallow moat. Historically, there was an organisation tasked with its maintenance, but in recent years the walls have started to become covered in moss and vines.
* The Dockfront - the city of Norvos is situated upon the Noyne, and utilises the fast-flowing waters for transportation and trade with Qohor and, further to the south, Volantis. The city has a small navy of river galleys, which when not in use remain moored within the Dockfront.

## Timeline of Events

* 105BA - Volantis, still considering themselves the rightful successor of Valyria, wages war for control of the Rhoyne and the cities upon it. Qohor and Norvos only become truly involved once the Volantenes march and sail north of Dagger Lake, triggering two years of fighting between the cities remembered as the War of the Burning Rhoyne.
* 104BA - At the Battle for Ar Noy, a Qohorik army bolstered by sellswords from numerous companies is defeated by the Volantene general Tychor Galtigar. They are however flanked by a Norvoshi army, and forced into retreat to the wooden fortress constructed by the shore of Dagger Lake.
* 103BA - Having stalled the Volantene advance, a joint Norvoshi-Qohorik navy smashes a Volantene fleet at Dagger Lake, but cannot break the fortress built upon the southern shore. The High Priest of the Conclave of Bearded Priests in Great Norvos has a vision of a man that will guide them to victory against the Volantenes, and thus the search for the individual begins.
* 102BA - The prophesied individual of the High Priest of Norvos' vision turns out to be the Rhoynish pirate Garin Thrice-Drowned, who shows the Qohorik and Norvoshi a secret entrance into the fortress through a cave system unknown to the Volantenes. In payment for his role in pushing the Volantene forces south of the Soorows, he is granted land to the north of Dagger Lake, and a manse in both Norvos and Qohor.
* 96BA - A treaty is signed between the Harvest Prince, Magisters of Lorath, Magisters of Great Norvos and the Bearded Priests that allows the colonisation of the northern edge of the Axe by the Lorathi in exchange for a portion of the fishing hauls. The agreement would stimulate the outbreak of war between Lorath and Ibben the following year.
* 95BA - The Pirate Lord Garin Thrice-Drowned, hero of the conflict half a decade prior between Norvos, Qohor and Volantis tries to claim control over the ruined city of Ar Noy, considering it his birth-right. He and his followers are slaughtered without mercy by the Qohorik when they begin to raid trade vessels from the Free City travelling along the Qhoyne.
* 42BA - The Second War of the Axe begins, marking the restart of conflict between the Ibbense and the Free Cities with colonies along the Shivering Sea. The first attack is directed at the Norvoshi colony of Naros, on the eastern edge of the Axe. Disguised as whalers coming to trade, Ibbenese warships laden with berserkers raid the city, before setting it aflame. When the Norvoshi army finally arrives, the raiders are long gone, and the city is naught but ash. Lorath pledges to aid Norvos in its retribution against Ibben.
* 41BA - Ibbenese raiders strike at Norvoshi, Lorathi and Sarnori fishing colonies along the coastline of the Shivering Sea, declaring the bounties of the waves, and the lands overlooking them, to be theirs by right. In retaliation, a fleet from Sarys, bolstered by converted fishing skiffs and vessels from the Lorathi colony of Morosh begins to patrol the waves west of the Bay of Tusks, sinking ever Ibbenese vessel, military or civilian with impunity.
* 40BA - Following loss of numerous trade cogs in the Shivering Sea to storm winds, ice flows and leviathan attacks, the High Priest of the Conclave declares it a sign that Great Norvos was not meant to claim dominion over the waves, and orders the immediate abandonment of all settlements upon the shores of the Shivering Sea. Those few that outcry against the demand are quickly silenced, and the argument that the losses may instead be the work of the Ibbenese are quickly cast aside.
* 38BA - The High Priest of the Conclave, Belar, dies when he trips down the Sinner's Steps whilst presiding over the annual festivities. Many within the city, including a great number of the Bearded Priests themselves see this as judgment from the Gods and begin to question his previous decisions and teachings. Amongst them is the decision to revoke claims to the coastlines of the Shivering Sea, now colonised by the Ibbenese. Plans start to be drawn up to reclaim control of the Axe and much of the northern coastline of western Essos.
* 37BA - The city of Braavos, in exchange for drastically reduced tariffs and taxation on products exported to Great Norvos, lends use of fifty Braavosi warships to the Fisher Prince Vago Hestir. Built by the famed shipwrights of the Arsenal, the coverted whaler ships of the Ibbenese prove little match for the new found strength commanded by their Norvoshi foes, and the fleet of Ib is shattered as it shelters from a storm in the Bay of Whales. Cut off, Ibbenese colonies on the mainland, including the Axe begin to struggle, before ultimately failing.
* 24BA - Following the Fall of Myr and Lys once again to the Volantenes, Qohor and Norvos sign a treaty of military alliance, agreeing to combine forces to dispel the Tiger fleet stationed at Dagger Lake. Both Free Cities begin stockpiling river galleys and weapons in preparation for the right time.
* 22BA - The Volantene fleet stationed at Dagger Lake on the Rhoyne is shattered by a joint Qohorik-Norvoshi attack. The northern Rhoyne is liberated of Volantene control.
* 21BA - Raids on Lorathi colonies by the Ibbenese continue to occur, as well as attacks on Norvoshi fishing villages found along the coastlines north of the Hills of Norvos. With its main fleet stationed upon the Rhoyne, Norvos cannot defend them, and neither can the minor fleet of Lorath.
* 12BA - The Fourth War of the Axe, remembered as the Short War, and sometimes Igg's Folly. Ibbenese raiders led by the fearsome reaver-hunter Igg Tobo land upon the Axe, raiding the Lorathi fishing town of Lorosy. Unfortunately for them, a Norvoshi navy lingered a few leagues to the south, an escort in preparation for the pilgrimage of the High Priest of Great Norvos, Gavus to Braavos. The raiders hold the fishing village for no longer than a few weeks, but in spite of the minimal duration of the conflict, it is considered a war nonetheless.
* 12AA - The Fifth War of the Axe is started by the nephew of Igg Tobo, the disgraced raider slain during the Fourth War. With a fleet of over thirty warships, Roda Tobo ravages Lorathi and Norvoshi fishing villages across the peninsula, forcing a response. Once the Norvoshi can finally muster a force, the Ibbenese have vanished, leaving ash and smoke in their wake. The Fifth War of the Axe persisted for nearly a decade, before Roda Tobo finally returned to Ibben, his prolific pillaging having brought surprising wealth to the bleak isle.
* 20AA - Roda Tobo finally returns to Ibben, having pillaged the shoreline from the hills of Norvos to the Forest of Qohor. Norvos and Lorath move to reclaim the fishing villages left devastated on the Axe in his wake.
* 153AA - The Seventh War of the Axe occurs when the High Priest of Norvos declares the people to be blaspemous in their culture and rallies the righteous of the city to expel them from the shores of the peninsula. After three years of conflict, raids upon Norvoshi and Ibbenese colonies alike, it comes to light that the reason for their supposed impious ways was the neglect of two Ibbenese merchants to shave their beards before they entered the High City, an action perceived as an affront to the Bearded Priests of the city.
* 156AA - End of the Seventh War of the Axe, marked by the expulsion of Ibbenese colonists from the fertile lands of the peninsula by a Norvoshi army reinforced by Qohorik cavalry.
* 158AA - Less than a year and a half after the resolution of the last conflict between Ibben and Norvos, conflict once again sparks across the Axe when Ibbenese warships start attacking fishing vessels utilising the rich waters around the peninsula. For four moons, all ships not marked with Ibbenese symbols are sunk, before intervention not by the Norvoshi, but the Braavosi. The Sealord Martio Antaryon, led a series of naval battles over the course of 158AA, undeniably the most notable amongst them occurred in the tenth moon of the year, a short but brutal clash remembered as the Battle of Ash Bay. Amongst those slain were the First Sword and the Sealord himself, when a Ibbenese whaler collided with the Braavosi flagship upon which they resided.
* 159AA - Having defeated the major threats in the area, the Ibbenese send out colony vessels. They first rebuild Ib Skag, then constructing two more settlements from the ruins of the Norvoshi towns of Nyssos and Lesser Rasvos, renaming them Ib Alo and Ib Nes respectively.
* 169AA - The Eighth War of the Axe erupts when a Lorathi fleet attacks the peninsula in unison with the arrival of a Norvoshi army. At the Battle of Crab Cove, the Lorathi fleet is defeated handily by a flotilla of Sarnori vessels, captained by the noble family of Elros. Seeking to protect the Golden Current, the Sarnori also send an army by ship to the Axe, however they are hindered by storms. When they arrive, Ib Nes is in flames, and a number of the precious metal mines taken by the Norvoshi. The Mopaan family of Essaria councils Sarnori, Ibbenese and Norvoshi generals alike, and a compromise is reached. The northern tip of the peninsula, belongs to the Ibbenese, whereas that further south than the ruins of Ib Nes belongs to the Norvoshi, thus forming an uneasy relationship. Sarnor continues to profit from the agreement.
* 278AA - Shortly after the fall of Myr to Braavosi control, emissaries from the city of Great Norvos are sent to Braavos, seeking an agreement of non-aggression and ongoing trade deals. The Norvoshi join the Alliance of the Narrow Sea peacefully upon the signing of a series of documents referred to as the Pact in the eighth moon of 278AA, and have enjoyed membership ever since.
* 298AA - The only of the members of the Alliance of the Narrow Sea to join fully voluntarily, Norvos continues to enjoy the perks of such an arrangement. Never before have Norvoshi tapestries sold in such numbers, and now thanks to Braavosi and Pentoshi trade networks demand a high price on both sides of the Narrow Sea. Trade continues with the nations further to the east, although border skirmishes upon the Rhoyne between Norvos and Qohor have led to tensions between the often aligned Free Cities. They are currently in a rare and fragile peace with the Ibbenese and Lorathi on the ownership of the Axe, an occurrence that last occurred in the aftermath of the Eighth War of the Axe over one hundred five-and-twenty years ago. How long such peace lasts is a matter of deep contention.