12.2. The Nine Free Cities
- The Free Cities name the Seven Kingdoms Westeros and the Sunset Kingdoms (I: 24)
- Magisters, archons, and merchant princes rule the Free Cities (I: 25)
- The Dothraki are always carefully dealt with by the Free Cities, given gifts of all manner and manses to keep them from attacking (I: 28)
- Unsullied are eunuchs used as household guards in many of the Free Cities, and can often lose their discipline and go to fat because of such soft service (I: 29. III: 96)
- Bravos and sellswords are common from the Free Cities (I: 29)
- The bravos of the Free Cities use slender swords, edged and balanced for the thrust (I: 81)
- The Free Cities speak a bastard version of Valyrian, as most have their origins as colonies of Valyria. They are nine dialects, each on their way to becoming their own language (I: 84. V: 17. SSM: 1)
- The Free Cities produce fine velvets and damasks (I: 86)
- Some slavers buy hideous slaves for grotesqueries (I: 103)
- Trading galleys sail the narrow sea and trade in the Seven Kingdoms, as well as elsewhere (I: 141)
- There are men in the Free Cities with marvellous healing skills (I: 146)
- Peoples of the Free Cities speak the Common Tongue of Westeros with a particular lilt, which can further indicate the precise Free City they are from (I: 188)
- Bravos fight from a sideways stance, weapon extended (I: 188)
- Poisoning is common in the Free Cities (I: 213)
- In the Free Cities, towers, manses, hovels, bridges, shops, and halls all crowd in on one another (I: 326)
- Caravan guards of the Nine Cities wear copper helmets and knee-length tunics of quilted cotton, with swordbelts of woven leather (I: 490)
- Pepperwines, fire wines, smokeberry browns, and blackberry wines are made in some Free Cities (I: 492. V: 72, 75, 76)
- The Free Cities raise standing armies of professional soldiers (I: 504)
- Sellswords sometimes fight in the Rhoyne (II: 147)
- In at least some of the Free Cities, concubines are allowed to married men (II: 147)
- The Brave Companions (also known as the Bloody Mummers when they're not around, and the Toes of the Goat) are a mercenary company made up of men from many lands of both Westeros and the eastern continent (II: 337. SSM: 1)
- The banner of the Brave Companions is a black goat with bloody horns, although this may be the standard of their Qohorik leader (II: 337. SSM: 1)
- Dothraki, Jogos Nhai, Summer Islanders, Ibbenese, and men from the other Free Cities (among others) are part of the Brave Companions. Their leader may be of any nationality (II: 337. SSM: 1)
- The Brave Companions uses both horses and zorses (II: 337)
- Some followers of the Red God (who may or may not be R'hllor) believe that he must have his due. If a life that should have ended is saved, a death must happen in return. This belief may or may not be related to the Faceless Men or the Lorathi specifically (II: 340)
- An apprentice's indentures may be sold to someone else in the Free Cities (II: 473)
- Men do not lose their hands for thieving in the Free Cities (III: 5)
- The Brave Companions are also known as the Footmen, for their leader's habit of cutting off the hands and feet of those who displeased him (III: 36)
- Each Free City appears to have its own distinct accent (III: 87)
- The leaders of some Free Cities are named dynasts (III: 96)
- The Bright Banners and the Second Sons are sellsword companies who existed at least 400 years ago. They fled when Khal Temmo led the Dothraki out of the east for the first time, rather than standing to defend Qohor as they had been paid to do (III: 96, 97)
- Eunuchs seem to be commonly used as stewards and record-keepers (III: 111)
- Pentos, Norvos, and Myr are on the continent, rather than islands (III: 272)
- Bath tubs in the Free Cities are very large, able to hold six or seven people (III: 416)
- At least some of the Free Cities fight over the Stepstones and the Disputed Lands, where there's always fighting (III: 433, 756. SSM: 1)
- The Stormcrows are a sellsword company (III: 473)
- The Stormcrows and the Second Sons seem to be entirely mounted, using lancers and mounted bowmen with swords and axes for close work. They are each about five hundred men in strength (III: 473)
- The Stormcrows wear black feathers on their polished helms (III: 476)
- The Second Sons are an old company, and not without valor (III: 479)
- The wildlings have contact with smugglers from the Free Cities and perhaps Westeros as well, trading goods in the little coves on the eastern coast along the Shivering Sea. They take steel weapons and armor in return for furs, ivory, amber, and obsidian (III: 608)
- There is a haunting ballad about two dying lovers amidst the Doom of Valyria, sung in High Valyrian (III: 676)
- The Gallant Men are a sellsword company (III: 756)
- In the Free Cities, well spoken and gently born slaves are prized. They will become tutors, scribes, bed slaves, and even healers and priests (III: 809)
- It is the custom in the Free Cities to keep whipping boys and girls, to take punishment earned by the sons and daughters of the wealthy (III: 909)
- The Golden Company has never broken its contract, boasting that its word is as good as gold since the days of their founder Bittersteel. They were founded approximately 200 AC, and were made up of the hundreds landless knights and lords who followed Bittersteel and the surviving sons of Daemon Blackfyre into exile. Some of these men joined existing sellsword companies, such a the Ragged Standard, the Second sons, or the Maiden's Men, but seeing this Bittersteel formed the Golden Company to bind the majority together. Since then, the Golden Company has spent its career in the Disputed Lands, fighting the wars between the Free Cities and hoping to return to the Seven Kingdoms (IV: 197. V: 78)
- The Golden Company is said to command 10,000 men (V: 78)
- In the Free Cities, offices of government include justiciar, lord treasurer, and grand admiral (IV: 241)
- The motto of the Golden Company is, "Beneath the gold, the bitter steel" (IV: 300)
- It can be inferred that Lys and Volantis seem to be the southernmost of the Free Cities (IV: 440)
- The swiftest way from Pentos to Volantis is by sea (V: 71)
- Volantis is the oldest and proudest of the Nine Free Cities (V: 73)
- The Free Cities are said to prefer to fight with coin rather than with swords (V: 80)
- The Brave Companions go back further than their current leader but are younger than some other companies of sellswords in the eastern continent (SSM: 1)
- There are many sellswords on the eastern continent, especially among the Free Cities who have made heavy use of them for centuries in fighting their endless wars over the Stepstones and the Disputed Lands. There are many sellsword companies, or free companies, such as the Brave Companions, the Second Sons, and the Stormcrows. Some companies are little more than rabbles while others are known for their discipline (SSM: 1, 2)
- The largest and most famous sellsword company is the Golden Company, that was founded by one of Aegon the Unworthy's bastards. They are known for their discipline (SSM: 1, 2)
- Dragonlore has been accumulated in some of the Free Cities (SSM: 1)
- There have been attempts in the past from the Seven Kingdoms to lay claim to the Stepstones, a chain of large islands in the narrow sea east of Dorne and Storm's End (SSM: 1)
- There are descendants of the Valyrians scattered across the world. Many are in the Free Cities, most of which had their origins as Valyrian colonies, although they have become intermarried and mixed with other peoples (SSM: 1)
Last revised February 21, 2016
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