Astapor, dubbed the Red City, is the southernmost of the cities on the Bay of Dragons. It lies near the mouth of the Worm, north of Old Ghis and one hundred leagues south of Yunkai by a coastal road. Astapor is an old city, but not as populous as Lys, Pentos, or Qarth. It is renowned for the special slaves it produces, the Unsullied. The city takes a tenth of the price whenever a slave changes hands.
The traditional Astapori emblem is a harpy: a woman's torso, wings of a bat instead of arms, legs of an eagle and a scorpion's tail. In its talons hangs a chain with open manacles at either end. An old crumbling statue portraying the harpy of Ghis is located atop Astapor's harbour gate.
The current state of Astapor is much like it has been in the past. Enormous ancient pyramids overlook crumbling red walls that date back to the days of the Old Ghiscari Empire.
Principal among the Masters of the Red City is the Westerosi House of Lannister, descended from Tyrion Lannisters. With the other Masters of the city, the Lannisters sit upon a council that governs the city in the name of the Targaryen Monarchy.
City Layout[]
The City of Astapor is separated into seven main sections. The Plaza of Punishment, the Plaza of Pride, the Plaza of Pain, the Plaza of Prayer, the Plaza of Paragons, the Plaza of Profit, and the Harbour.
The Plaza of Punishment[]
Located just inside the main gate of Astapor in the southern portion of the City, the Plaza of Punishment is where new slaves enter the city, and walk past rebellious slaves who have been punished or executed, often crucified in the square.
The Plaza of Pride[]
Located in the southwestern portion of the city, the Plaza of Pride is an enormous open slave-market where slavers great and small peddle their wares. In the centre of the plaza stands a red brick fountain with the a hammered bronze version of the Astapori harpy standing in its centre.
The Plaza of Pain[]
Located in the southeastern portion of the city, the Plaza of Pain contains the numerous fighting pits that the city has to offer, where man, woman, and beast alike fight for their lives in brutal fights to the death.
The Plaza of Prayer[]
Located in the western portion of the city, the Plaza of Prayer contains the old Temple of the Graces, a mighty pyramid-temple once dedicated to the Gods of Ghis where the Green Grace resided.
The Plaza of Paragons[]
Located in the very centre of the city, the Plaza of Paragons contains the Royal Pyramid in the centre where the city is ruled from, surrounded by the enormous pyramids of the most powerful, wealthy, and noble Houses of Astapor.
The Plaza of Profit[]
Located in the eastern portion of the city, the Plaza of Profit contains an enormous market where everything except slaves are sold.
The Harbour[]
Located in the northern portion of the city along Slaver’s Bay, the Harbour is where slaves, wine, olives, and a great variety of other goods are shipped in and out of the city.
Timeline of Events[]
- 300AC - After being driven from Meereen, the Yunkai'i forces march for Astapor, taking the city.
- 301AC - After rallying a sellsword army, Astapor, along with Yunkai, is defeated by Daenerys Targaryen atop Drogon. The city falls shortly afterwards and rule is given to Tyrion Lannister.
- 302AC - Daenerys outlaws slavery of all kinds in the Bay of Dragons, provoking a new order known as the Talons of the Harpy, who prove to be even more violent than the Sons before them. Calling a council, it is revealed that the Harpy is in fact the collective efforts of the Order of the Graces, headed by the three Green Graces Galazza Galare, Sishala Qaqqaz and Zamozna Raaq. They reveal they have butchered Viserion and attempt to end Dany's rule once and for all in a coup. Rhaegal flies to assist his mother, incinerating the Green Graces, their soldiers, but Missandei, Grey Worm, Larraq the Lash and Red Lamb are also slain. Jorah Mormont suffers burns to his body.
- 308AC - Tyrion Lannister councils Daenerys Targaryen that even with three dragons, she will require allies if she wishes to reclaim the Iron Throne. Knowing of the piety of the Old Blood of Volantis, he suggests that she seek their support but cautions of what they may ask in return - after all, they too claim the Blood of the Dragon.
- 309AC - At the behest of the Dragon Queen, Tyrion Lannister travels for Qarth to try and curry favour with the Qartheen to further bolster her strength.
- 310AC - Marshalling her full strength, Daenerys Targaryen invades Westeros, bringing with her an army of Unsullied Warriors, slave soldiers from across the Bay of Dragons, dozens of sellsword companies and fleets from Qarth, Pentos and Volantis.
- 311AC - Shortly after the Dragon Queen leaves the city, the Masters of Astapor rise up against the officials left in her place, taking back the city with blood. Supporters of the Dragon and the Harpy would struggle against each other until Daenerys' return, and long after.
- 312AC - Broken and defeated, Daenerys Targaryen returns to Westeros. Her army is gone, Jorah Mormont and Barristan the Bold were gone, and even Drogon was among the slain. She finds the Bay of Dragons is not as she left it, for in Meereen and Astapor, the Masters have once again claimed back their city, and Yunkai is in open rebellion. So would start four years of reclaiming what had once been hers.
- 314AC - The siege of Astapor begins, and would not end for another two and a half years.
- 316AC - After three years of siege, Astapor finally breaks, the Good Masters bowing before the Dragon Queen. The Heads of many of the noble families are executed, and hostages taken as wards to serve within the Royal Pyramid. The Lannisters are instated as among the ruling nobles of the city, taking the title Master of Astapor.
- 324AC - Tyrion Lannister, seeing that the city of Astapor is struggling financially as result of the dissolution of the slave trade makes a controversial announcement. The Unsullied Warriors that had made Astapor rich would be once again shaped by the Masters of the city, although with a few distinctions. The Unsullied would no longer be slaves, by instead free-men that sought to be trained as the slave warriors before them - acknowledging the brutality of the methods used. Many die of exhaustion, injuries and accidents, but Astapor once again produces Unsullied warriors again, although instead of being bought and sold they are rented, effectively having become a sellsword army owned by the Astapori.
- 353AC - Less than half a decade since the death of Daenerys, breaker of chains, the Master of Astapor announces that the Red City will once again buy and sell slaves, starting with the Unsullied warriors that had made the city rich. In the past years, it had been widely proclaimed that the freedmen that had been trained by the city were an inferior 'product' and thus the cost of the very few remaining Unsullied warriors was reaching excessively high values - although many were of an age that all they served as were generals for sellswords and other slave soldiers. With dwindling interest and thus a dropping income for the city, and with riots on the horizon, the ways of the Good Masters return in full to the city - this time overseen by Lannisters however.
- 364AC - The Triarch Laerys Vaelaros, one of the most popular men to hold the office in recent memory dies in mysterious circumstances. The surviving Triarchs - the Elephant Taeros Qoheros and the Tiger Vaelar Aerteris - found themselves in agreement on something. It had been the Lyseni that were responsible, for the city was after all famous for the Spire of the Alchemists, the acolytes and masters within creators of such poisonous substances. It was the Lyseni that had offered him food and wine and it was in this opportunity that they had enacted their ploy to weaken the city of Volantis, knowing it to be greater than their own city. The Lyseni instead accused the Myrish of the treachery, naming Magister Jaerano Naerin himself as being guilty of poisoning the Triarch, claiming he was fearful that the city of Lys would be granted the same boons afforded to him by the trade deal between Myr and Volantis agreed upon a year prior. Not wishing to see the Perfumed Sister prosper, and knowing his own deal to be secure, he had sought to end the negotiations before a final agreement could be reached. Further to the east, 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. Others too whispered along the Rhoyne that surely the Braavosi had been involved in the Triarch’s death. They opposed slavery after all, but the Bay of Dragons was too far away for even the fleets and lackeys of the Sealord to reach and thus the gaze of Bessaro Nestoris had turned to Volantis - or so the Governor of Valysar Rhaemar Agnalor claimed. A combined Tolosi and Elyrian fleet captures the Isle of Cedars following the Battle of Needle Hill where they defeat an Astapori army with the help of the Three Sails, the Lost Legion and Hidak's Circle. Following Graghdir's Folly, the cities of the Bay of Dragons rally against them, breaking the blockade imposed through their efforts at the Battle of the Baywater and Second Battle of Needle Hill. The city of Tolos is sacked at the Battle of Iron and Lead when their sellsword allies turn cloak following dealings with Master Lannister of Astapor.
- 366AC - Widespread hiring of sellswords and sellsails alike occurs in the Bay of Dragons as the Dragon King and the Masters Lannister and Martell begin to bolster their strength in anticipation of plans to come. In 368AC, they would attack the Vale, inflicting many casualties before being finally forced back east - although not before taking hold of the last Arryn heir.
- 372AC - A mummer trope calling themselves the Midnight Dance arrive in the city of Astapor and prove to be a draw throughout the city to residents and visitors alike, operating out of a vast tent set up within the Plaza of Profit. They are invited to the Plaza of Paragons to perform in the celebrations of the nameday of the Master Lannister, where their deadly plot is dismantled mere moments before it is sprung. The assassination attempt is foiled, but as mummers are want to do, each sings another tale as they are forced to confess, and thus the name of their employer cannot be confirmed.
- 374AC - The Targaryens have ruled in the Bay of Dragons since Daenerys Targaryen first claimed the city of Meereen for herself at the turn of the century. Since then, they have consolidated their Kingdom in the Slaver's Cities, although not without losses. Viserion was slain by the Talons of the Harpy, revealed to be commanded by the Order of the Graces. Missandei and Grey Worm also fall victim to the flames that put an end to the treachery of the Green Graces. A decade later, Drogon was killed during the War of the Exiles, a conflict that also took the lives of Jorah Mormont and Barristan the Bold. Tensions regarding slavery, religion and conquest remain between the cities of the Bay of Dragons, creating a potential rift between the Targaryen Monarchy and the Masters Lannister and Martell of Astapor and Yunkai respectively. First of all is what to do with the hostage in their possession following the War for the Vale - the last heir of House Arryn.