Lorath
Lorath is one of the nine Free Cities of Essos, clinging to the rocks of the largest island in a small archipelago that guards the mouth of its own bay. It is the poorest and most isolated of the Free Cities, rarely seen beyond its own waters.
Its merchants dress richly and trade velvet for steel, and the city still carries the memory of a cult that renounced personal identity and slavery alike, a legacy that still shapes the speech of Lorath's old aristocracy.
Chapter 1
The maze-builders
Books only
Before the city existed, the islands of Lorath belonged to the maze-builders, whose stone structures still cover the archipelago and parts of Essos. After them came a people of hairy men much like the Ibbenese, and later the Andals, who split the islands into small kingdoms, one crown to an island.
The Andal king Qarlon the Great united those crowns under one rule and led his armies onto the mainland, but his kingdom fell when Norvos and the Valyrian Freehold allied against him in the Sack of Lorath. The islands stood empty for years afterward, which is why modern Lorathi trace their roots to none of those earlier peoples.
Chapter 2
The temple of the Blind God
700 BCBooks only
Thirteen hundred and twenty-two years before the Doom of Valyria, a band of Valyrian worshippers of the Blind God built a temple among the maze-ruins and settled there. Three towns of settlers grew up around them — Ibbenese, Andals and Valyrian refugees — and in time merged into a single city.
Boash's priests preached the denial of self: since all were equally humble before their god, they made no distinction between men and women and kept no slaves, and came to speak of themselves only in an indefinite third person. That same rejection of slavery made Lorath a refuge for slaves fleeing the Valyrian Freehold.
In time the priests grew rich and corrupt on the taxes of their subjects, and the settlers rose against them; only a few acolytes who fled to the maze-temple of Lorassyon survived. The cult died out entirely around 700 BC, though the city's old aristocracy still keeps its way of speaking as a mark of refined manners.
Chapter 3
The three princes and the city today
Books only
Jorah MormontAfter the cult's fall, Lorath organized itself as a nation ruled by three princes: the harvest prince, chosen by landowners; the fisher prince, chosen by shipowners; and the prince of the streets, acclaimed by the free men of the city. All three offices were held for life and still exist today, though only in name, since real power now rests with a council of magisters drawn from nobles, priests and merchants.
The islands' isolation kept Lorath mostly out of the Bloody Hundred Years, save for the Lorathi who hired themselves out as mercenaries to Braavos and Norvos. By Ser Jorah Mormont's account it remains an economically insignificant city: it fishes heavily but builds few warships, and prefers trading with its nearer neighbours — Norvos, Braavos and Ibben — to venturing as far as Westeros.
The physical world
Lorath es una pequeña ciudad aferrada a las rocas rodeada de mares tormentosos; se encuentra en el lado occidental de la mayor de las tres islas que componen el archipiélago.
Geography · Juego de Tronos, Capítulo 54, Daenerys.
Domina la desembocadura de la Bahía de Lorath.
Geography · Danza de Dragones, Mapa de las Ciudades Libres.
Al este está el Hacha y el oeste Braavos. Al este, en el delta del río Sarne, se encuentra una colonia lorathi, Morosh.
Geography · El Mundo de Hielo y Fuego, Más allá de los Reinos del Ocaso, Las ciudades libres.
Sin embargo, la alta aristocracia de Lorath conservó esta forma de hablar como un signo de modales refinados; sin embargo, no es una regla general que todos utilicen ese lenguaje.
Population · Cuando uno de los Hombres sin Rostro de Braavos fingía ser el lorathi Jaqen H'ghar, él utilizó esta forma de hablar no porque así es como los Hombres sin Rostro hablan sino porque estaba fingiendo ser un lorathi.