Meereen

Meereen is the northernmost and the largest of the three great cities of the Bay of Dragons. It is ruled by House Targaryen.

Their traditional emblem is a harpy: a woman's torso, wings of a bat instead of arms, legs of an eagle and a scorpion's tail. Unlike Astapor and Yunkai, the Meereenese harpy does not carry anything in her claws.

City Layout[]

Meereen is as large as Astapor and Yunkai combined. Like them it is made of brick, except here the bricks are of many colors. It has wide brick streets and narrow alleys, and the fighting pits are also made of red brick.

Meereen's multi-colored walls are higher and better maintained than those of Yunkai, studded with bastions and anchored by great defensive towers at every angle. The north wall of the city runs along the river bank of the Skahazadhan, the river that flows through the city. Its west wall runs along the shore of Slaver's Bay. Bronze harpy heads with open mouths top its gates, from which the Meereenese can pour boiling oil to deter attackers. Meereen draws its water from deep wells instead of the Skahazadhan, into which the brick sewers of the city empty out.

The monstrous Great Pyramid, located at Meereen's central plaza, is huge; eight hundred feet tall and topped with a towering bronze harpy. There are a score of lesser pyramids in the city, but none stand even half as high.

The fighting pits of Meereen are huge circular arenas. The largest and most extravagant is the multi-colored Daznak's Pit. The zo Pahl family is the wealthiest family in the city.

The wealthy grow figs, dates, and olives in pyramid terraces. There are also olive groves along the shores of nearby Slaver's Bay, and cedars once grew in the region.

The Master’s Plaza[]

The Master’s Plaza is the central area of the city, home to both the Great Pyramid and the old site of the Temple of the Graces. The pyramids that once housed the Great Masters are located along the outer edges of this district. Scattered among these buildings are dozens of gardens, fountains, and bathhouses.

Temple of the Graces[]

The Temple of the Graces was a huge structure with numerous golden domes that houses the Graces, priestesses of the Harpy. It was destroyed with aid of Drogon's dragonflame by Daenerys Targaryen in 303AC, and the remainder of the melted stone stands testament to her anger.

The Harbour[]

The harbour of Meereen is the southernmost district. It is always bustling with activity as sailors from all over Essos trade goods and slaves. The harbour area is dominated by the Harpy’s Light, a huge lighthouse dwarfed only by the Great Pyramid itself, which helps guide ships into the harbour.

The Plaza of Service[]

To the east of the Master’s Plaza is the Plaza of Service. This is the area with the greatest concentration of slaves, holding the slave markets, the pillowhouses, and most notably, the fighting pits. The largest and most celebrated fighting pit, Daznak’s Pit, is located along the western border of the district, closest to the Master’s Plaza.

Mazdhan’s Maze[]

Mazdhan’s Maze is the informal name given to the western district of the city. It is called so because this district is a labyrinthine maze of shops, homes, brothels, storehouses, and all other kinds of buildings. It is said that anything that one may need to buy can be found in Mazdhan’s Maze. The selling of slaves, however, is forbidden in the Maze, and must be done in the Plaza of Service.

Timeline of Events[]

300AC - Daenerys Targaryen disappears with Drogon at the incident at Daznak's pit. Strong Belwas dies of poison ingested at the Pit, prompting Skahaz mo Kandaq and the Brazen Beasts to kill a number of Ghiscari nobles. Barristan the Bold drives away the Yunkai'i forces sieging the city.
301AC - Daenerys returns to Meereen with a Khalasar of fourteen thousand. Tyrion and Tommen Lannister arrive at Meereen, and pledge alliegence to the Dragon Queen. When the city is attacked once more, Dany and Drogon ravage the attackers and eventually take control of both Yunkai and Astapor. Daenerys manages to retrieve Rhaegal, but cannot find Viserion.
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.
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. Shortly after the Dragon Queen leaves the city, the Masters of Meereen 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 - Meereen eventually falls before Dany's forces once more, and she is instated as Queen again - although it is a hollow celebration. She had lost much since she first paced through the Royal Pyramid, and Astapor had yet been brought to heel. It would not be until 316AC that the Good Masters finally bowed before her again.
348AC - As the fiftieth anniversary of the death of her beloved Drogo, and the birth of her three dragons approaches, Daenerys, mournful for what she had lost proclaims she is bound for Valyria, to find more eggs to secure her dynasty. Her council guards against it, but the Queen steals away in the night atop Rhaegal.
349AC - Daenerys returns, bringing with her a clutch of three eggs that she had supposedly found within a Molten Pantheon at the heart of the city of Valyria. Grasping the clutch tight, she passed them into the hands of her firstborn and heir before slumping to the stone floor. Emaciated and weak, she passed later that night, the healers struggling to counter the 'burning fire' within her that caused her flesh to blacken as the breath passed from her at last. At the age of five-and-sixty, Daenerys Targaryen died of an unknown cause. Her body was cremated on a pyre lit by the orange-yellow flames of Rhaegal.
351AC - In the two years since Daenerys' death, Rhaegal had added to the clutch of three in the form of another two eggs, forcing further discussion about the gender of dragons between the residents of the Bay. The first to hatch is one of Rhaegal's spawn, placed within the cradle of the newborn child of the heir of the Targaryen Monarchy, a babe who is the first of Daenerys' great-grandchildren. While the babe survives, the sage-green hatchling does not, surviving mere weaks before passing. It would not be for nearly another decade before any of the rest of the brood would hatch.
361AC - A topaz-blue hatchling with silver horns and wing tips is born from a similarly coloured egg, the other egg laid by Rhaegal upon Daenerys' return for Valyria. It is named Nightstar by the Targaryens, who are naturally thrilled at the birth of a new dragon, one much hardier than the green-grey beast Seastorm which had died after but a few weeks. Attention now turned to the three remaining eggs - those retrieved from Valyrian by Daenerys Targaryen herself. The first among them glimmered like bronze, the brown-gold base streaked through with silver-grey that seemed to dance like a lightning-storm upon a night’s sky. The second was said to be shaped from marble, pale in its beauty, each of the scales rimmed with blotches of carmine and crimson. The third drew the most attention, for it was a midnight sable - black as the night's sky, not disimilar from Drogon's own, or Balerion the Dread of centuries prior.
362AC - As if envigorated by the presence of the hatchling Nightstar, Rhaegal births another clutch within the Royal Pyramid of Meereen, this time four in number. Along with the three remaining unhatched eggs, each are given to a different member of House Targaryen in hope that some among them may hatch. Two do, but neither survive longer than a few moons.
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.
368AC - King Targaryen and Rhaegal return from Westeros to Meereen, the latter wounded greviously. While Rhaegal still lives to date, the injuries have left a sustained effect on the beast leaving the dragon too weak to be ridden.
369AC - Thieves steal into the Royal Pyramid of Meereen and make off with four of the five remaining dragon eggs belonging to the Targaryen Monarchy, butchering the dragon Nightstar who had grown too slowly to be seen of use in the Westerosi invasion, along with its lack of acceptance of a rider. Master Martell is quick to blame the Arryns of Westeros, believing it be retaliation for the capture of their heir. Proposing to send the Valeman back to the Eyrie quartered into four pieces for the four eggs stolen, the idea is quickly dismissed - after all, there was no proof that any Westerosi were involved, let along the folk of the Vale. Nonetheless, scouts are sent to scour the Known World for the precious items lost.
371AC - The Targaryens hear of Vaegon Qhaedar and his dragon egg and upon hearing the description grow deeply suspicious that he may have found himself in possession of one of those stolen from them two years prior. When Vaegon and the egg disappears in a great fire within the Black Walls, threats of war are cast betwen the cities as the Targaryens believe the Old Blood may be sheltering a dragon of their own, the Volantenes supposedly jealous of Rhaegal. However, the Bay of Dragons is still licking its wounds after their second attempted invasion of Westeros and thus no armies or fleets are raised, although tensions still remain.
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.