Volantis

Volantis was for generations the largest and richest of the Free Cities, the first seed Valyria planted beyond its own borders. War and the centuries have emptied it out, and whole districts are now slowly sinking into the mud they were built on. The fountains that once lined its streets are dry or choked with stagnant water, vines climb the cracked walls, and trees have taken root in temples that lost their roofs long ago. The air smells of fish, flowers, and elephant dung, all at once.

Even so, the monuments of Valyria's high age still stand. The Black Wall rings the heart of the city with two hundred feet of blackened stone; only those descended from Valyria's Old Blood may live inside it, and every year six chariots race along its top to mark the city's founding. The Long Bridge crosses the Rhoyne on pillars carved with sphinxes and dragons, wide enough for two wagons to pass side by side between shops that sell almost anything; the severed hands of thieves and murderers hang at its centre. Near the harbour stands the temple of R'hllor, three times the size of the Great Sept of Baelor, and the Merchant's House, the city's finest inn, whose common room dwarfs the great halls of most Westerosi castles.

The city spreads along both banks of the Rhoyne around a harbour so vast that, by the Volantenes' own boast, a hundred islands of Braavos could vanish inside it. It is the southernmost of the Free Cities and the closest to Slaver's Bay, some five hundred and fifty leagues from Meereen, and its climate stays hot and humid year round.

Before it was anything else, Volantis was the first seed Valyria sowed beyond its own shores, and from that comes its stubborn attachment to old Freehold customs. When the Doom fell on Valyria and the chaos of the Century of Blood followed, the Volantenes convinced themselves they were owed the empire's inheritance and the right to rule in its name. They disagreed on how: one faction, the Tigers, trusted the sword; the other, the Elephants, trusted money and trade. For a hundred years the Tigers held sway, and their ships and soldiers left Lys and Myr under their heel.

Hoping to win back more territory, they sought Aegon Targaryen's help; failing that, they went after Tyrosh on their own. Nearly all of Essos turned against them: Pentos allied with the Storm King to defend Tyrosh, Braavos armed an exiled Lyseni with a hundred galleys, Lys and Myr rose against them, and Aegon himself crossed the sea on Balerion's back. The war left the Disputed Lands a wasteland and freed both occupied cities.

The disaster didn't end there: a fleet sent to reclaim Valyria vanished whole into the Smoking Sea, Qohor and Norvos tore control of the Rhoyne from their hands, and the Dothraki rode in from the east leaving ruin behind them. Out of that wreckage the Elephant party rose stronger than ever, seized power, and never let go of it again: for three hundred years, nearly always two of every three Triarchs have been their own.

Volantis has no king or prince: three Triarchs govern it, each elected for a single year by the city's freeholders. Only those who can trace their line back to old Valyria may stand for the office, and candidates split along the same two parties as ever, Elephant merchants and Tiger aristocrats. Elections last ten days of torchlit marches, speeches, puppeteers, and duels fought by champions for their candidates' honour; some hopefuls even offer slave children to voters to win their favour.

According to Jorah Mormont, Volantis has never had a child Triarch, and if one had ever gone as mad as Aerys II Targaryen did, the other two would have curbed his power until his year ran out. Only women of proven lineage may vote, though three hundred years ago one of them, Trianna, held the office of Triarch herself.

In 115 AC Volantis welcomed Prince Daemon Targaryen and Lady Laena Velaryon, touring Essos to mark their recent marriage and arriving on dragonback aboard Caraxes and Vhagar. The Volantenes, who like the people of Pentos feared the Triarchy's growing reach, gave them a warm welcome: a prince with a dragon might be just the ally they needed against it.

Years later, shortly before 274 AC, Prince Doran Martell passed through Volantis and there met Mellario, a noblewoman of Norvos who would become his wife.

After the Battle of the Blackwater left Stannis Baratheon's fleet burning before Dragonstone, and Melisandre burned Guncer Sunglass alive, his younger brother fled all the way to Volantis to put the sea between them.

Months later the city filled with people passing through on their way to Slaver's Bay. The Golden Company broke its contract with Myr and settled there; Quentyn Martell and his two remaining companions searched in vain for a ship to Meereen and ended up enlisting with a sellsword company just to reach it. The red priest Benerro preached that Daenerys Targaryen was R'hllor's promised hero reborn, and urged the city to stand behind her.

Around the same time, Jorah Mormont brought his prisoner Tyrion Lannister to the Merchant's House to seek the Widow of the Waterfront's help finding passage to Meereen; there Penny, a dwarf woman, attacked Tyrion out of nowhere. On the Widow's advice, Jorah found the three of them a place aboard the ship the red priest Moqorro was also taking to Slaver's Bay.

In the television series, Queen Talisa Maegyr comes from Volantis.