The Great Grass Sea
South and west of the isle of Moraq lies a land with a name that means only one thing: fear. The southern continent of Sothoryos is a land of burning deserts, thick jungles, boiling plagues, shrieking monsters and unrelenting mystery.
But let us look north instead of south, to the land of fear not much lesser and monsters also known to occasionally shriek.
Imagine, my dear reader, a flat plain that extends to the horizon, broken only by low hills in the distance but completely covered in grass. This grassplain extends east from the forest of Qohor for two and a half thousand miles, almost rivalling the distance from the Wall to the Summer Sea in Westeros, before abruptly ending in the foothills of the towering Bone Mountains, and covers the entire distance from the Painted Mountains to the shores of the Shivering Sea.
This flat plain, when viewed from the mountains or hills, looks like a green sea, which gives it its name.
The term “Dothraki Sea” is a relatively new one, displacing the simple name “The Grasslands” that used to apply to this vast region and was used by the Valyrians, the Ghiscari and the ancient Qaathi for millennia. The term came into use between three and four centuries ago when Khal Mengo united the disparate and scattered tribes of the far eastern Grasslands and swept west in a crusade of blood and fire. In the Century of Blood the Dothraki destroyed no less than twenty-one major cities, tore down the ancient kingdom of Sarnor and destroyed the Valyrian cities of Essaria, Hazdahn Mo and Ghardaq. The region is also known as the Haunted Lands and the Great Desolation after the dozens of ruins of the cities destroyed and nations conquered by the Dothraki. Their advance was turned back at the Battle of Qohor and the expansion of the Red Waste in the south. During the Bleeding Years the Dothraki established an area of control bigger than the Empire of Yi Ti and almost rivalling the Seven Kingdoms in size.
For outsiders, the Dothraki Sea can appear featureless, a monotonous slog of never-ending grass that has to be endured for the weeks it takes to cross to Vaes Dothrak. But the Dothraki have many names for different parts of the sea, and for the ruins that dot its expanse.
Vaes Dothrak, the City of Riders, is the only permanent Dothraki city, a great sprawling mass of buildings that looks more like a temporary caravan stop than the sole habitation of note between the Bones and Sarnath, more than a thousand miles to the west. Vaes Dothrak is a remarkably isolated city: its nearest neighbours are Meereen, 1,250 miles to the south-west; Kosrak in Lhazar, 950 miles to the south; New Ibbish, almost exactly 700 miles to the north; and Kayakayanaya, about 800 miles to the east, through the Bones.
The city is huge, extending for miles along the shore of the Womb of the World, an immense lake sprawling for about a hundred miles. The Womb feeds a series of rivers which cut north through the northern forests before reaching the Shivering Sea. To the east of the lake is the Mother of Mountains, a sheer mass of stone rising out of the flat Dothraki Sea to dominate the surrounding landscape. Both the Womb and the Mother are considered holy by the Dothraki, who punish any trespassers with lethal force.
Vaes Dothrak has one large entrance, the Horse Gate, less of a gate than two immense statues of horses rearing in battle.
From the Horse Gate a huge thoroughfare, the Godsway, extends across the length of the city. It passes the Western and Eastern Markets, both of which are bustling and cosmopolitan, with traders from across the known world meeting and mingling. The Western Market is home to traders from the Free Cities, Slaver’s Bay and the occasional Westerosi or Summer Islander who braves the journey. The Eastern Market is the place of trade for those from Yi Ti, Asshai, the Jogos Nhai and other remote lands of the far east.
Although huge, Vaes Dothraki has relatively few permanent inhabitants. Most of the population is transitory, meeting to trade or feast. Only the crones known as the Dosh Khaleen and their servants and bodyguards permanently live in the city. Several Dothraki khalasars may be present at any one time, but the city is big enough to hold all of them – the entire Dothraki civilization – if required.
How many khalasars there are exactly is hard to estimate, as they merge, break apart and fight one another with bewildering frequency. What is likely is that there are more Dothraki warriors than there are potential soldiers in all the Seven Kingdoms. It is fortunate that the width of the Narrow Sea and the Free Cities divides the Dothraki from Westeros; the Dothraki fear the poison salt water and will not cross it under any circumstances.
The Khal of Khals
A gathering of the entire Dothraki horde has happened just once in living memory, when a khal-of-khals, the most powerful warlord, united all the Dothraki.
From an early age Khal Drogo was an extraordinarily gifted warrior even among the fierce Dothraki, and by the age or forty he managed to do what no other Khal had ever done before. The Khal of Khals was never defeated in battle until his very last one that so happened to be against the literal dragon.
Khal Drogo by dalisacg
In one of his earliest exploits the future Khal of Khals had dared the Painted March of Volaena and threatened the great Volantis itself. The Magisters prudently chose to “give gifts” to the Dothraki. One of those “gifts” was marriage with a magister’s daughter, Talisa from a noble Volantene House of Maegyr. If the accounts are to be believed, the pair actually grew quite fond of each other, although their union resulted in only two children. One of them, Lady Rhaenys (a most noble Valyrian name, no doubt given to her by her mother), is the beloved wife of Prince Aegon the Confessor of Essaria. Her older brother Drogo inherited his father’s entire khalasar after the Slaughter of Horses of 330AC. His mother Talisa however refused to join the dosh khaleen in Vaes Dothrak as it was customary for a khaleesi after the death of her khal and tried to flee to Essaria to join her daughter. Unfortunately she was caught and escorted there, and after several more attempts to escape she was brutally killed by her own son.
Despite the genuine affection between the grandiose Khal Drogo and his khaleesi, he entertained himself with other women as well, both free and enslaved. One of his slaves, a Qartheen woman named Xanthe, managed to escape and even found her way back home where she married a fellow Qartheen.
Her only daughter by Khal Drogo, Rakki, was first promised to a son of one of the kos, but the boy suspiciously died at the age of just six years. Rakki then married another ko, Virsallo son of Caggo, who shared her with his brother Moro. Moro later married Rakki himself when Virsallo killed himself out of grief over his tragically deceased firsborn son. Odd rumours circulate among the rival khals that both Virsallo and Moro shared a wife because none of them really wanted her as both preferred the company of other men (or some say that even each other), but the fact that Rakki managed to have five children between two brothers kind of breaks these theories.
Fitti was a free fellow Dothraki taken by Drogo after her husband inexplicably dropped dead at their wedding. When the Khal eventually set her aside, she joined and served the dosh khaleen. She was very close with a man named Cozammo and some whispered that she acted as if they were married, even claiming that she referred to herself by his name. She died relatively young, at the age of just five-and-thirty. Cozammo withered away in sorrow five years later.
Fitti had two children with the Khal, a son named Zono who died from a festered wound at the age of four-and-twenty, and a daughter named Valeqi who joined her cousin and other kin in their efforts to tame (or be tamed by) the Kingdoms of the Ifeqevron (more on that later). Valeqi initially ran away to the forest from the wrath of her more traditional kinsmen when she fell in love with a man captured to be made a slave and snuck him out along with her, but later became converted by her kin.
The Khal of Khals also had a number of children with various enslaved women whose names are unfortunately lost to us.
One of these children, a son named Zhaqo, challenged his oldest brother’s rule and paid for it with his life. Zhago’s wife Qizhanni also paid for her husband’s folly, first with her freedom as she was sold as a slave, and then with her life when she died after her cruel master forced her to live with the dogs.
Another child of a forgotten woman was named Jhogi, for her towering stature known as the Long. She was married to ko Qrakko, son of Rakharo, until her death at the age of four-and-forty. Her husband deeply mourns her death and in her memory remains loyal to his wife’s favourite nephew despite the very obvious tension between the men.
Jhogi’s (half?)sister Temmi was married to Jommo, son of Dhako, until her death at the age of three-and-forty.
Jommo’s brother, Khal Dhogo’s second wife Thirli is the last child of the grandiose Khal and a free Dothraki woman named Vizi, his last known concubine (who was also claimed by the Khal of Khals when her husband suddenly died before they got to consummate their marriage).
The next Great Khal was Khal Drogo’s firstborn, also named Drogo. He was married to khaleesi Yaswitha of the Sarnori ruling House of Dholakia, until her death by his own hand when it was discovered that she was involved in one of her mother-in-law's attempts to escape. The second Drogo then married his long-time concubine Sihi, daughter of Rakharo, sister to Ko Qrakko. He also entertained himself with a freeborn woman named Tezhimi. After Khal’s death Tezhimi got involved with a man named Doggo, but he died just a year later. Curiously enough, she then became involved with another man also named Doggo who kind of resembles her previous one a lot.
The second Drogo’s two oldest daughters were taken captive after the rise of the Skahazadhan (their stories were covered in the previous appropriate Chapter).
His third daughter, named Tezhimi after her mother, is married to her cousin, ko Dono son of Zono.
Ko Lanno was the second Khal Drogo’s middle son. After his excursions to the forest to the north he began seeing visions in his dreams, and after one of those visions he challenged his father to a duel and died by his own father’s hand.
Lanno’s only child, a young daughter Tezhimi, recently fled the khalasar and found herself among The Maiden’s Men, a group of sellswords with an unsavoury reputation. Fortunately for her the man to claim her first possesses a kind heart and the pair seems to genuinely have fallen in love.
Two of the second Drogo’s sons, Khaqo from his Dothraki concubine-turned second wife and Jhogo by his Sarnori first one, had just recently revolted against their oldest brother.
Another brother, Rahkaro, pledged his support to the defenders.
Peculiarly enough, he and the firstborn are also half-brothers as Rakharo is the full brother to Khaqo, being the son of the Dothraki wife, and the third Khal of Khals is the fill brother to Jhogo through their Sarnori mother.
The Sphinx of Ifeqevron
Before we talk about the third Khal Drogo and the reasons for the revolt however, we must first take a look at this particular stretch of northern Essos.
A vast region of woodland extends along the coast of the Shivering Sea, sprawling for 1,300 miles from the Bay of Tusks to the Bone Mountains. At its thickest, the forest extends 350 miles inland. This utterly vast forest, dwarfing any in Westeros, is known as the Kingdom of the Ifequevron, the latter meaning “woods-walkers”. According to both Dothraki and Sarnori legend, the woods-walkers were a strange, peaceful race living in the deepest forest. Even the Dothraki seem to fear and respect them. Maesters and scholars have drawn comparisons between the woods-walkers and the Children of the Forest of Westerosi legend, but any similarity between these stories is theoretical at best. The forest coastline is habitable and Corlys Velaryon, the Sea Snake, put in along the coast to conduct a survey during his great northern voyage. He reported that the woods were silent and strange, with odd carvings in the trees.
(Found randomly on the internet, if anyone knows the author please contact me)
Strangest of all is the ruined settlement on the coast. Located eleven hundred miles east of Morosh, the city does not appear to have been built by humans. The Dothraki theorise it was a city of the woods-walkers, abandoned thousands of years ago. If this is true it may cast doubt on the idea that the woods-walkers were an eastern colony of the Children of the Forest, who did not build cities as we know them. The ruins are called Vaes Leisi, the “City of Ghosts”, and are shunned by most of the Dothraki.
The third Khal Drogo is not one of them. Known to take pride in his bravery, his first excursion into the forest was on a dare when he was just a boy. What he found there exactly is not known, but after that he became obsessed with the woods, disappearing for months at a time. When he became strong enough, he left the khalasar and served with the Windblown for a couple of years (even managed to meet a westerosi hedgeknight there and become knighted himself). When he got back, he brought with him a warrior woman Kaarina from Samyriana, a grey stone city located on the Stone Road in the eastern Bone Mountains and carved into the rock of the mountains it defends. He also took a Dothraki woman named Ovahi to his bed and lived with both women as his wives. In an eerie similarity to his father, he later got into a heated argument with his samyrianan wife that escalated to a full-blown fight that tragically ended with Kaarina’s death. He never took an enslaved woman and on behest of Ovahi even freed his captives on numerous occasions, despite the disgruntlement of his fellow Dothraki (it is also one of the primary reasons for the current eruption of violence within the khalasar).
The third Drogo also did not forget his fascination with the northern forest. At some point he gathered a group of like-minded peers and took them to the woods. They were lost for almost two years and there were talks among the remaining khalasar that they were definitely lost for good.
It was not so, and in the last month of the year 345AC then yet a Khalakki Drogo emerged from the trees with a long deep scar on his face and in his hand a fine Valyrian Steel sword. It has a distinctive green marble pommel in the shape of a sphinx, one side of the hilt shows a whirlwind symbol and the other side has “Mēre”, or "one", written in High Valyrian. Drogo claims that this blade is truly ancient and was held by the mysterious and secretive Ifequevron, or wood-walkers of Essos, for millennia. According to him, they traded with the ancient Valyrians for it not long after the Valyrians had first created Valyrian Steel, although what they traded for it or precisely how long they have had it not even they know.
While the third Drogo was a khalakka and not yet a khal, most of the Dothraki merely ignored his unfamiliar ideas, but as he stepped into his father’s place after the latter’s death in the year 352AC, new factions began to form. By the end of the year 358AC the tensions reached the boiling point and now the whole Dothraki Sea steadily turns into a sea of blood.
Unfortunately the Sphinx’s older daughters will probably feel the first blows since they are married to the relatives of the leaders of the rebelling khalasars.
Fortunately one daughter is married to her cousin in the friendly brother’s camp and does not have to fear immediate resentment from the surrounding peers.
And the last daughter was sent to Sarnor to even out the representation of the two warring factions and hopefully discourage the Tall Men from interfering on behalf of the rebels.
The third Khal Drogo prudently hid his remaining children and other vulnerable relatives in the forest to shield them from the oncoming slaughter.
His oldest son, also a Drogo, was supposed to be sheltered along with the Valyrian sword at the Vaes Leisi, the “City of Ghosts”, but being a proud man who makes everything about himself, he joined his father’s side as he is paranoid about being replaced as his khalakka. There are also rather concerning reports about an apparent marriage pact between the young khalakka and the granddaughter of the current ruler of Qarth, but with Qarth being preoccupied with its embargo war with Yi Ti it is doubtful that the Qartheen would be of any use anyway.
The second son, ko Dhoqo, was supposed to be hidden in the eastern part of the forest, but he was taken to the City of Ghosts to fill in his older brother's position as the representative of their father. It is interesting to note that Dhoqo’s young and apparently very gifted wife Mavi is supposedly being taught by a maester, but who the man might be and how he ended up in the Ifeqevron forest is unfortunately unknown. There is hope that one day the man would come back to the Citadel as his raw knowledge on this new kind of woodland Dothraki would be absolutely invaluable and highly appreciated.
To add to the peculiarity to this whole situation, Mavi’s mother, also named Mavi, is a khaleesi of a khalasar in her own right, and rumoured to also be a maegi. Her oldest daughter Oqetti is her khalakki. Unfortunately despite her indisputably high intellect the older Mavi seems to be a bit naive if she actually believes that were the third Drogo’s rule to dissolve the other khals would tolerate a female ruler.
550 miles to the north-east from the City of Ghosts lies the town of New Ibbish. A small port located at the northern end of a peninsula, partially sealed off from the rest of Essos by geography and the rest by a lengthy wall, this was a colony of Ibben, which lies just off the coast to the north across the Bay of Whales (and we will explore further at another time). If reports are true, the third Khal Drogo drove the Ibbenese away and conquered the city.
New Ibbish was founded after the Century of Blood, when the Dothraki destroyed the city of Ibbish. Located 250 miles to the south-east, Ibbish was built around a very impressive harbour and was heavily fortified. It survived for centuries before the Dothraki destroyed the city and its impressive Whalebone Gates. The city repulsed several Dothraki attacks before it was evacuated in secret, to the fury of the Dothraki who named it Vaes Aresak, the “City of Cowards”. In the recent years multiple attempts were made to reclaim the land for the Ib, but right now the land and the structures left behind after those new attempts are both conquered by the third Khal Drogo. Contrary to the usual Dothraki fashion he did not raze to the ground any of the places but actually heavily fortified them both even more and now uses this corner of the forest to hide his most vulnerable relatives.
His daughter and the children of Drogo’s aunt Valeqi (and herself with her unusual husband) reside there as well as two of his youngest sons who are being fostered in the relative safety behind the New Ibbish wall.
There are also rumours that the third Khal Drogo had built, or more probably captured an Ibbenese ship and actually sailed upon it into the Shivering Sea. If that particular rumour is true, it might have the most dire consequences to the New Ibbish former masters on Ib and to the more broader world, Westeros included.