Lys

Lys, known as Lys the Lovely, is one of the nine Free Cities of Essos. It is a small city clinging to rocks surrounded by stormy seas. The city lies off the coast of the Disputed Lands, southeast of Tyrosh and west of Volantis. Since 422, the role of the governing Conclave of Magisters has declined into little more than ceremonial, and it became the person of the First Magister, who reigns supreme over city, and represents its interest in the High Council of the Triarchy.

Location and Layout
A mercantile city, Lys was built on a fertile island considered a paradise by Valyrian Dragonlords. The sunny island is fertile with palm and fruit trees, and the surrounding blue-green waters are filled with fish. A city dominated by wealth rather than by birth, Lys is where trade is considered a profession more honorable than arms. Lys is ruled by a conclave of magisters, chosen from amongst the wealthiest and noblest men of the city. Slaves in Lys outnumber free men three to one.

Lys, like all cities, is a mosaic painted in the shades of its people - an island clawing desperately for the sun from a wine-colored sea, conquered and subjugated by the effortless elegance of Valyrian civilization: silver spires pointing towards the heavens in a declaration of both the luscious locks and aspirations of their architects; pale walls and walkways bricked in as smooth a manner as the skin on the soles of those pacing them; and steel gates besieged by bushes blooming with purple-petaled “dragoneyes” and light blue “skyflowers” in the color of the irises of their admirers. If Old Valyria still bleeds with life, it is here.

Notable Places

 * The Castle - a series of Hot Springs laid into a mountainside two hours south of Lys.
 * The Grand Plaza - At the centre of Lys, the Grand Plaza is a home to trade and commerce within the city.
 * The Fishmonger's Way - A series of markets along the shoreline.
 * The Courtesan's Way - A street dedicated to nobility and finery, where the finest brothels in all of Lys are housed.
 * The Pristine Gardens - A home for nobles to relax within the city. Dedicated to heightening the senses and providing relief. Currently owned by House Rogare.
 * The Temple of the Sacred Lady - Where the Conclave meets.
 * The Lady's Sigh - The most celebrated pillow house in all of Lys, once entertained by the likes of Saera Targaryen.

People
Because of this, beauties both famous and infamous have blossomed under its care. Nobles across the Narrow, Sunset, and Smoking seas have looked to it for spouses, appraised it for paramours, and ogled it for prostitutes known for their curled, perfumed hair and training in what is referred to as the way of the seven sighs. Slaves both male and female are mated for the aesthetic pleasure of their Valyriophile masters, who then sell them as courtesans amongst Lys’s nobles and merchants, muses to its poets and painters, and actors in its theatres and opera houses - all of whom are known to prefer beauty, style, and flamboyance above all (including lessons of morality).

Economy
There are two primary schools of thought when it comes to the businessmen of Lys. The traditionalists, known as the Biare, make up the bulk of the slave markets, as well as breeders and trainers. These ways stem from the earliest days of Lys in its colonization by Valyria, when the isle’s primary purpose was as a pleasure resort for the dragonlords.

The diversificationists, known as the Drēje, emerged as a movement following the fall of Valyria. Realizing that the largest customer in the slave trade had vanished overnight, the diversificationists began to push for more variety in Lysene trade goods. It is under the hand of diversificationist Magisters that fruit farms, silk plantations, and experiments in bird breeding and unusual crops have spread across Lys.

Lyseni coins are oval in shape, and have a naked woman stamped on them, dancing.

History (300 AC - 407 AC)
Starting in the year 320 AC, Baelon Targaryen was dispatched to Lys on a diplomatic mission to maintain good relations with the city, and decrease the Crown's dependency on the Iron Bank. It was there that he met Eireni of Lys, and the two quickly fell in love, marrying four years later in the Great Sept of Baelor.

After having his hopes dashed of being placed on his brother's Small Council, Baelon and Eireni returned to Lys. Two years later, in 328, Saera Targaryen was born. Baelon gifted her with the Leviathan's first-laid egg.

Eireni, being an influential figure in Lyseni society, grasped for power with her husband in the upper stratosphere of Ly's heirarchy. Given their status, influence, and charisma, the couple found incredible success, and by the end of the decade, Baelon had come to refer to himself as the Prince of Lys - a power which rivaled even the magisters of the city.

Spurred by the war-mongering Magisters who wished for Baelon to ensure the continued fortune of Lys, Baelon gathered his forces from without the city. Though the goal was to conquer Volantis, Baelon besieged Tyrosh by land and sea. The city fell and was sacked, and the Magisters were pardoned and declared loyalty to the Leviathans of Lys.

In the year 332, Baelon, Leviathan, and his armies arrived at Myr where they were bid welcome. Here, the Triarchy was reconstituted precariously, and Baelon continued his path of conquest towards Volantis. Volantis began mustering their power, all the while Essosi trade routes began to falter.

King Rhaegar I, in an attempt to mediate the war, invited Baelon to a parlay, a gesture met without response. Baelon made his way to Tyrosh, then to Estermont. Without warning, Baelon attacked Estermont, and the seat was unable to defend itself. The Maw raised their banner, and the Prince of Lys considered the foray to be a success, but his name was all but tarnished to the Lysene people. He began to distrust his advisors, eventually refusing to see his wife and daughter.

Rhaegar and his men departed King's Landing to sail across the Narrow Sea shortly after. At the same time, Volantene armies marched upon the disputed lands, and Myr rescinded their promise of support. Deciding that it would be fruitful to halt Rhaegar's advance, Baelon took his remaining forces to meet his brother. A great battle ensued.

Baelon and Leviathan defeated Rhaegar and Urrax, the latter of which died from terrible wounds. Ser Peremore Vance earned his renown when he brought the Leviathan down - and Baelon with her - by means of ballista to plummet into the sea.

Not a year later, the Triarchy collapsed. Eireni and Saera remained behind in Lys, the city offering sanctuary and protection for the women from the reigning House of Targaryen who sought to retrieve them. In order to smooth relations with Westeros, Lys began providing payment to the Crown as recompense for Baelon's failings.

In 339 AC, a new illness, called the Summer Sickness, was blamed for a series of deaths. The illness abates in 350 AC, with Eireni of Lys falling ill. The illness does not kill her, but weakened her significantly, and she eventually died later in the year. Saera marries a son of House Rogare.

Evaeline Targaryen, who would become one of the most influential women in Lys, was born in 353 AC. The first Festival of Lights takes place in the year 354, and became a yearly tradition from there. An era of relative peace came over the city, headed by the Magisters. In 374 AC, Saera Targaryen died.

During the years 392 and 394, Lys saw a greater export of fruit and wine, and years of increased prosperity, due to the Great Famine of Westeros.

In the year 396, The War of Three Thieves begins.

Daarius Ormollen of Lys makes common cause with Bessaro of Norvos and Alequo Silverband to steal a Targaryen egg, and with it exact their rule over the Narrow Sea. Westerosi tales speak of a Nightingale, but Lyseni know it to have been the work of the Violet Daemon who whisked the egg from the Red Keep. The egg is hatched later that year.

Daarius faces and defeats King Aenar and his dragon, Viserion, upon open waters, flying the bolt that fell the beast into the sea. Though the dragon did not perish, the royal fleet was forced to retreat. Later in the year, fleets from all over Westeros arrive, and Daarius finds himself twice narrowly defeated, forced to retreat back. The hunt ensues and regardless of where Daarius and his fleet hide, they are found and harried.

Alequo deceives and murders Bessaro, before bonding himself with the dragon. Arranax grows ever larger, nearly battle ready. Unaware of his comrade’s actions, Daarius metthe Westerosi fleet at sea in a battle known as Ormollen’s Pyre. By some miracle - or misfortune - Daarius survived to escape to Sunstone, only to be fed to Arranax before the dragon’s debut. Though he carved through the Westerosi ranks, he was eventually taken down by Maekar Targaryen.

Shortly following the war, the Scarlet Winter began. Baelor Targaryen died during it's inaugural year, and in 405 AC, as the winter faded, the moon - in an unexplainable fashion - shines red for all to see.

Recent History (407 AC - 417 AC)
Selenya Targaryen, representative and head of House Targaryen of Lys traveled to Westeros, never to return, leaving only retainers to handle her house. When it looked less and less promising that the Leviathan’s Daughter was going to return, the Council of Magisters began deliberating as to the future of House Targaryen of Lys, culminating in a coup in early 408 AC.

The coup was swift and simple, and without much resistance. The Houses of Lys divided the lands previously owned by Selenya Targaryen between themselves as assets became absorbed by businesses and entrepreneurs looking to make themselves wealthy off the crumbling empire of Evaeline Targaryen.

Though support for the Leviathan’s Daughter had all but vanished in Lys, some hoped that she would make a return, but such hopes quickly became dashed after news of her death reached the city. Though commoners throughout Lys wept, it was the nobles that feasted and toasted to her demise. The House of Rogare did not attend such festivities, and would hold the Festival of Lights later in the year in honor of her name.

With any trace of the Leviathans of Lys all but gone from the city, the Magisters soon turned on themselves. The threat of deceit remained very real following the coup and seizure of any of Selenya Targaryen's assets. Old rivalries began appearing between minor and noble houses alike, the Violet Daemon reappearing to sow chaos amongst the city's nobility.

With truth lost to House Rogare, families that were once friends turned enemy. The resentment grew so strong in the year 412 that the year was officially titled, "The Year of Knives," for all the assassinations and deaths that took place that year.

It was the Festival of Lights in 413 that brought the Houses back together in some small part, the resonance of the coup of House Targaryen of Lys all but gone, though resentment still remains between some houses. Rising threats in the east began brewing, however, as rumours of a new dragonrider in the Stepstones instilled some fear into the Lyseni nobility.

It was Tyrosh that sought Lys out during the early months of 415 AC. They proposed a new Triarchy to handle and deter threats coming from both east and west. The Conclave of Magisters took three months to debate the issue, with a resounding no coming at first, but when it was revealed that Aeryn Targaryen was the dragonrider in the Stepstones, the votes swiftly changed, and Lys agreed to become part of the newly forming Kingdom of Three Daughters.

Two years have passed since that vote, that as the Triarchy begins to come into fruition, the general mood amongst Lyseni is melancholy, as some believe they have been forced into it. All the same, the city's power remains well within the hands of the Conclave, and it is they that decide the Lyseni votes within the Triarchy.