VEIL OF FIRE
GAME OF THRONES INSPIRED ROLEPLAY
THE SURVIVING CITIES OF THE GHISCAR EMPIRE:
slaver's bay
ASTAPOR, THE RED CITY:
TL;DR:
Founded by:
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The Empire of Ghis as a military colony.
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Emblem: A variation of the harpy of Old Ghis: a woman’s torso, a bat’s wings instead of arms, an eagle’s legs, and a scorpion’s tail. In its talons hangs a chain with open manacles at either end.
Conquered by:
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Fall of the Ghiscari Empire: Meereen survived the destruction of the Ghiscari Empire at the hands of the Valyrian Freehold, but it was conquered by the Valyrians during the Ghiscari Wars.
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Occupied Territory Governance: Reorganized as a military colony under direct Valyrian oversight, via martial garrisons and command posts. [Canon-aligned]
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Pre-Doom Colonial Governance: Semi-independent trade satrapy paying tribute to Valyria, with governors acting as tax-enforcers and intermediaries.
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Aftermath, The Doom and Century of Blood:
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Declared independence after the collapse of Valyria and joined its sister cities of Slaver’s Bay in controlling the slave trade.
Trade and Economy:
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Renowned for slave trading, especially the Unsullied eunuch soldiers, sold to the Free Cities, nobles of Essos, and beyond.
ASTAPORI, GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY:
Astapor is a port city situated at the mouth of a sluggish, winding stream known to its people as the Worm, which flows westward into Slaver’s Bay. To the south rise the Ghiscari hills, beyond which lie the ruins of Old Ghis, while to the west the Isle of Cedars marks the Gulf of Grief, bearing the shattered remains of Ghozai and Velos. Astapor is the southernmost of the great Ghiscari cities along Slaver’s Bay, linked by the old Ghiscari coastal road to Yunkai, a hundred leagues to the north, and to Meereen fifty leagues beyond. Well-mounted travelers riding hard can reach Yunkai in six days. An ancient city, Astapor is no longer as populous as it once was, and many Free Cities now surpass it in size and vitality. Its streets, plazas, pyramids, fighting pits, sulfurous fountains, wine caves, and city walls are all constructed from the same red brick. An old Astapori rhyme declares, “Bricks and blood built Astapor, and bricks and blood her people,” a saying said to reflect both the color of the clay and the suffering of the slaves whose labor raised the city. Age and neglect have left the brickwork crumbling, coating the streets in red dust, while many of the city’s watchtowers now stand unmanned. ASTAPOR, DISTRICTS AND NOTABLE QUARTERS: A weathered statue of the Astapori harpy stands above the harbor gate, its form eroded but its presence still commanding. Along the shore rise immense stepped pyramids, the largest reaching four hundred feet in height. Trees, vines, and flowering plants grow thick upon their terraces, softening the brutal geometry of their design. Among the most notable are the pyramids of Nakloz and Ullhor, as well as the city’s Temple of the Graces, where ritual observance continues amid decline. West of the main gate lies the Plaza of Punishment, an open market where newly arrived slaves are paraded past the mutilated and executed. Whippings, maimings, and public deaths serve as warnings, reinforcing the city’s order through spectacle and fear. To the east stands the Plaza of Pride, where slavers present their wares to prospective buyers. At its center rises a red-brick fountain crowned with a hammered bronze image of the harpy. Beneath the city lie Astapor’s fighting pits, dug deep into the earth and encircled by descending rings of stone seats. Here, all manner of brutal entertainments are held, including contests that pit children against beasts such as bulls and bears. The pits are named for their owners, binding cruelty to prestige and reinforcing the city’s economy of violence.
THE FALL OF THE GHISCARI EMPIRE:
Astapor was once a colonial possession of the Empire of Ghis and survived the destruction of Old Ghis by the Valyrian Freehold, though survival did not mean independence. In the wake of defeat, the city was conquered and absorbed into the Valyrian imperial system, its institutions reshaped rather than erased. It was from the Ghiscari themselves that the Valyrians learned the machinery of slavery, adopting and refining it to fuel their own expansion across Essos. In time, the gods of Ghis fell silent, and the Ghiscari tongue faded from common use, supplanted by High Valyrian and its local dialects.
THE DOOM OF OLD VALYRIA AND THE FALL OF THE FREEHOLD:
After the Doom of Valyria and the fall of the Freehold, the Ghiscari of Slaver's Bay took control of the slave trade. During the centuries that followed, Yunkai and her sister cities Meereen and Astapor were the linchpins of the slave trade. The reputation of Astapor's Unsullied was solidified when the Three Thousand of Qohor fended off a Dothraki khalasar during the Century of Blood.. The Unsullied tactics are considered a remnant of Old Ghis. They are trained to fight in the same disciplined lock-step manner and are considered the legions of Old Ghis come again, but are slaves instead of free men.
ASTOPORI, TRADE AND ECONOMY:
The city’s economy is inseparable from the lash; Astapor has over a hundred slave traders. Stories told about the flesh markets of the slave cities are dire and frightening; they sell bed slaves, fieldhands, scribes, craftsmen, tutors, and soldiers. Only when dealing with the latter do they function as allies. Merchants and nobles alike depend on slaves for every function of life, from fieldwork to scholarship. The city takes a tenth of the price whenever a slave changes hands.
The greatest of the slave traders are those who sell Unsullied, the eunuch slave-soldiers renowned for their obedience, discipline, and fighting skill. From the Three Thousand of Qohor to the armies of the Free Cities, Astapor’s Unsullied are feared and respected across Essos. The Astapori claim that the Unsullied are the lockstep legions of the Old Empire, come again, but unlike these ancient legions, the Unsullied are not free men.
Beyond slavery, Astapor trades in textiles, dyed linens, and perfumes, as well as fishing along the Worm river, supplying its markets. Statues, bronzework, and monumental architecture are remnants of its Ghiscari past, but even these often serve as gilded stages for the display of power and cruelty. Coinage is stamped with the harpy, chains clutched in its talons, a reminder that Astapor’s wealth comes from bondage.
MEEREEN:
TL;DR:
Founded by:
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The Empire of Ghis an administrative slave colony.
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Emblem: A variation of the harpy of Old Ghis: a woman’s torso, a bat’s wings instead of arms, an eagle’s legs, and a scorpion’s tail. In its talons hangs a chain with a scale.
Conquered by:
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Meereen survived the destruction of the Ghiscari Empire at the hands of the Valyrian Freehold, but it was conquered by the Valyrians during the Ghiscari Wars.
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Occupied Territory Governance: Reorganized as a military colony under direct Valyrian oversight, governed by garrisoned military Archons.
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Pre-Doom Colonial Governance: Semi-independent trade satrapy paying tribute to Valyria, with governors acting as tax-enforcers and intermediaries.
-
Aftermath, The Doom and Century of Blood:
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Declared independence after the collapse of Valyria and joined its sister cities of Slaver’s Bay in controlling the slave trade.
Trade and Economy:
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Meereen is deeply involved in the slave trade. Warriors are bred and trained in the fighting pits, and young boys and girls are trained in the brothels.
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In Meereen, as in Yunkai, eunuchs are often made by removing only the testicles, leaving the penis.
MEEREENESE, GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY:
Meereen, the northernmost of the Slaver Cities along Slaver’s Bay, stands on the northeastern coast at the mouth of the Skahazadhan. Beyond the river to the north stretch the grasslands of the Dothraki sea. The city’s hinterlands extend west of Lhazar and southward to the Yunkish hills, encompassing rolling uplands and rounded sandstone mountains. Olives grow along the shores of the bay, while the coastal lands once supported tall cedars, long since felled by the Old Empire of Ghis or burned during the Ghiscari Wars against the Valyrian Freehold. The countryside surrounding Meereen is marked by cultivated fields and wells, and the old coastal road from Yunkai is lined with waspwillow, dusky roses, wild mint, lady’s lace, daggerleaf, broom, prickly ben, and harpy’s gold. The largest and most formidable of the Slaver Cities, Meereen is said to rival Astapor and Yunkai combined in size. Like its sister cities, it is built of brick, though Meereen’s masonry displays a wide range of colors rather than a single hue. Its walls are higher and better maintained than those of Yunkai, and thicker than Astapor’s, strengthened by bastions and anchored by great defensive towers. The northern wall follows the bank of the Skahazadhan, while the western wall runs along the bay, the river wall standing slightly higher than the rest. Along the parapets, rows of bronze harpy heads gape outward, designed to pour boiling oil down upon attackers. Within the walls, Meereen is a dense and varied city. Narrow, twisting alleys wind between broad brick avenues, temples, granaries, hovels, palaces, brothels, baths, gardens, fountains, and fighting pits. The nobility dwell within stepped pyramids, while the poorer districts cluster between them. Waste is carried away through vast brick sewers that empty into the Skahazadhan, many sealed by iron gates, some long rusted through. The Meereenese do not drink from the river, relying instead upon wells for their water. MEEREENESE, DISTRICTS AND NOTABLE QUARTERS: At the center of Meereen rises the Great Pyramid, standing eight hundred feet high above the central plaza and crowned by a massive bronze harpy. Around it stand scores of lesser pyramids, each associated with a noble house and distinguished by its colors: the pink-and-white pyramid of Pahl, the green-and-black pyramid of Naqqan, the yellow-and-green pyramid of Rhazdar, and the more modest pyramid of Kandaq among them. West of the Great Pyramid stands the Temple of the Graces, a vast structure capped with golden domes and home to Meereen’s priestesses. The terraces of the pyramids are planted with night-blooming flowers, lemon trees, and persimmon trees, while the poorer quarters spread between these monumental structures. Meereen also contains numerous fighting pits, including Daznak’s Pit, the Pit of Ghrazz, and the Golden Pit. Daznak’s Pit, the largest, lies west of the Great Pyramid and serves as the foremost arena of spectacle. In the Plaza of Purification stands a great bronze harpy, while markets are scattered throughout the city. Among them is the spice market near the pyramid of Rhazdar, home to the Purple Lotus, and the market within the great western gate. This square contains Meereen’s ancient Slave Exchange, the merchant’s arcade along its southern edge, and the weathered bronze statue of the Chainmaker. Nearby rises the Spire of Skulls, a grim monument maintained by the Great Masters, standing as a warning to slave and free alike.
THE FALL OF THE GHISCARI EMPIRE:
Meereen was once a colonial possession of the Empire of Ghis and, following its conquest, was reorganized under direct Valyrian oversight as a military colony, governed through martial garrisons and command posts. Along the coast, tall cedars once grew in abundance, but these forests were cut down by the Old Empire to fuel expansion or burned away during the Ghiscari wars against Valyria. With the trees gone, the soil baked beneath the sun and was carried off in choking red clouds, a degradation the Meereenese later cited as the beginning of their dependence on slave labor.
Meereen survived the destruction of Old Ghis but did not escape subjugation. After the fall of the empire, the city was conquered by the Valyrian Freehold and absorbed into its expanding dominion. As elsewhere, the Valyrians adopted the institutions of slavery from the Ghiscari they defeated, refining them into tools of imperial growth. In Meereen, this inheritance took root deeply, shaping the city’s economy, landscape, and social order long after both empires had passed into history.
THE DOOM OF OLD VALYRIA AND THE FALL OF THE FREEHOLD:
Following the Doom of Valyria and the collapse of the Freehold, the Ghiscari cities of Slaver’s Bay moved swiftly to reclaim control of the slave trade. In the centuries that followed, Yunkai, Meereen, and Astapor emerged as its principal centers, binding their fortunes to the buying and selling of human lives. With Valyrian power broken and distant, these cities inherited both the markets and the methods of an older imperial system, preserving slavery as the foundation of their wealth and influence.
MEEREENESE, TRADE AND ECONOMY:
The Meereenese coin is known as an honor. Meereen is a wealthy city whose prosperity rests heavily upon slavery and spectacle. As in Yunkai, slave swordsmen are valued less than the blades they wield. Warriors are bred and trained within the fighting pits, while boys and girls are raised for service in the brothels. Eunuchs are common, and in Meereen, as in Yunkai, this condition is often achieved by the removal of the testicles alone, leaving the body otherwise intact.
The fighting pits of Meereen are famed throughout Essos and serve as a powerful engine of trade. Spectators, merchants, and buyers are drawn from distant lands, and the city claims a tenth of all profits from the pits, after expenses, as tax. Through this levy, bloodshed and entertainment are converted directly into revenue, making the pits a central pillar of the civic economy.
Beyond slavery and spectacle, Meereen draws wealth from its surrounding lands. Copper is abundant in the Ghiscari hills and was of particular value in earlier ages, when bronze ruled the world. The region also produces a small, pale yellow grape that yields a notably inferior wine. Noble estates in the hills rely upon enslaved labor to grow wheat and olives, herd sheep and goats, and mine salt and copper, binding the countryside as tightly to bondage as the city itself.
NEW GHIS:
TL;DR:
Founded by:
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The Empire of Ghis as a seed colony.
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Emblem: A variation of the harpy of Old Ghis: a woman’s torso, a bat’s wings instead of arms, an eagle’s legs, and a scorpion’s tail. In its talons are held the lockstep legion shield.
Conquered by:
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New Ghis survived the destruction of the Ghiscari Empire at the hands of the Valyrian Freehold, but it was conquered by the Valyrians during the Ghiscari Wars.
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Fall of the Ghiscari Empire: Military Colony, Direct Valyrian oversight via martial garrisons and command posts. [Canon-aligned]
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Pre-Doom Colonial Governance: Trade Satrapy, Semi-independent rule under tribute and Valyrian military protection; governors act as tax-enforcers and trade intermediaries
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Aftermath, The Doom and Century of Blood:
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Declared independence after the collapse of Valyria and joined its sister cities of Slaver’s Bay in controlling the slave trade.
Trade and Economy:
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Its economy is built on the back of slavery, not for spectacle or luxury, but for industrial output and logistical dominance. Slave labor powers the shipyards, forge complexes, and agricultural operations that surround the city. Iron, bronze, and copper tools are smelted and exported across southern Essos, while New Ghis-built warships are leased as mercenary fleets.
NEW GHISCARI, GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY:
New Ghis was founded by the Old Empire of Ghis during its period of decline, likely in the interval between the First and Third Ghiscari Wars, when the growing power of Valyria rendered the mainland increasingly vulnerable. Established on a fortified island in the Gulf of Grief, the city was conceived as both a military outpost and a logistical hub, raised by imperial decree to secure sea lanes and serve as a redoubt should the heartlands fall. From its inception, New Ghis was shaped by contingency rather than expansion. As in the other Slaver Cities, pyramids serve as markers of residence and rank, though in New Ghis they are constructed low and broad, favoring solidity over display. Their squat, bunker-like forms emphasize endurance and defense, reflecting a civic identity shaped by survival rather than ostentation. NEW GHISCARI, DISTRICTS AND NOTABLE QUARTERS: New Ghis is ruled as much by memory as by law. Its civic religion centers upon an austere interpretation of the Harpy, whose statue dominates the central plaza with wings spread but unarmed, symbolizing vigilance rather than conquest. Public ceremonies, military parades, and temple rites reinforce the doctrine that the Ghiscari Empire was not destroyed, only displaced. The High Masters oversee civic life through ritual and martial display, rotating authority within the Council Hall of Chains, where laws are issued and judgments rendered. Priests and magistrates convene within the Temple of Enduring Will, delivering rulings beneath murals depicting the destruction of Old Ghis not as defeat, but as a trial imposed by fate. Valyrian influence is openly scorned, a posture that endured even after the Doom.
THE FALL OF THE GHISCARI EMPIRE:
By the time Old Ghis was utterly destroyed by Valyrian dragonfire during the Fifth Ghiscari War, New Ghis already functioned with a significant degree of autonomy. Its surviving administrators, generals, and temple officials swiftly proclaimed the city the rightful heir of the fallen empire, a claim it has never relinquished. Though eventually conquered by the Valyrians, New Ghis was spared the annihilation inflicted upon Old Ghis, allowing its institutions to persist under constraint rather than eradication.
As elsewhere, Valyrian conquest brought martial oversight through garrisons and command posts. Over time, the Ghiscari tongue faded from common use, replaced by High Valyrian and its local dialects. Yet now, New Ghis claims to have maintained its religious identity, asserting its gods as the true continuance of the Old Empire.
THE DOOM OF OLD VALYRIA AND THE FALL OF THE FREEHOLD:
Unlike Meereen or Astapor, which reshaped themselves in response to Valyria’s collapse, New Ghis presents itself as a line of unbroken continuity rather than reconstruction. During the Century of Blood, the city emerged as a quiet but resilient power. It did not seek to rival Meereen in scale or Yunkai in wealth, but instead preserved its military traditions and national myth.
New Ghis has never relied heavily upon mercenaries or slave-soldiers, and its lockstep legions remain among the few standing armies in the region composed primarily of free men. After the Doom of Valyria and the final dissolution of the Freehold, the Ghiscari cities of Slaver’s Bay reclaimed control of the slave trade. New Ghis participated in this system while continuing to define itself as a successor state and as the Empire enduring in diminished form.
NEW GHISCARI, TRADE AND ECONOMY:
The economy of New Ghis reflects its origins as a military colony and its self-image as the enduring heir of the Ghiscari Empire. Unlike the opulence of Meereen or the indulgent commerce of Yunkai, New Ghis treats trade as an extension of civic authority. Slavery underpins the system, not for spectacle or luxury, but for industrial output and logistical control. Enslaved labor powers shipyards, forge complexes, and agricultural estates, while iron, bronze, and copper goods are smelted and exported across southern Essos. Warships and transport vessels constructed in New Ghiscari yards are quietly leased to coastal powers unable or unwilling to maintain their own fleets.
The merchant class operates under strict oversight. Independent enterprise is viewed with suspicion, and all foreign traders must secure sponsorship from a registered house or approval from the Office of External Diligence, a bureaucratic body known for prolonged delays and abrupt revocations. Despite these constraints, New Ghis maintains steady trade with parts of Sothoryos, the Summer Islands, and smaller Ghiscari-descended cities and islands. Mercenary legions trained in traditional lockstep formations are occasionally contracted abroad, though always under tightly regulated terms. In all matters, the economy of New Ghis prioritizes stability, efficiency, and control, favoring endurance over profit and order over expansion.
YUNKAI, THE YELLOW CITY:
TL;DR:
Founded by:
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The Empire of Ghis as a military colony.
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Emblem: The Yunkish emblem is a variation on the harpy of Old Ghis: a woman's torso, wings of a bat instead of arms, legs of an eagle, and a scorpion's tail. Its talons grasp a whip and an iron collar.
Conquered by:
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Yunkai survived the destruction of the Ghiscari Empire at the hands of the Valyrian Freehold, but it was conquered by the Valyrians during the Ghiscari Wars.
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Fall of the Ghiscari Empire: Military Colony, Direct Valyrian oversight via martial garrisons and command posts. [Canon-aligned].
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Pre-Doom Colonial Governance: Trade Satrapy, Semi-independent rule under tribute and Valyrian military protection; governors act as tax-enforcers and trade intermediaries.
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Aftermath, The Doom and Century of Blood:
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After the Doom of Valyria and the fall of the Freehold, the Ghiscari of Slaver's Bay took control of the slave trade and declared their independence.
Trade and Economy:
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Yunkai is known for training bed slaves who are taught the way of the seven sighs and the sixteen seats of pleasure.
YUNKISH, GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY:
Yunkai stands on the eastern edge of Slaver’s Bay, positioned between its sister cities and the inland routes of southern Essos. Astapor lies roughly one hundred leagues to the south, while Meereen stands some fifty leagues to the north. To the southwest lies the island of Yaros. Well-mounted travelers riding hard can reach Yunkai from Astapor in six days, a fact that has long reinforced the city’s role as an intermediary between land and sea. South of the city stretches a birchwood forest along a slanting ridge of sandstone that provides both timber and stone for construction and defense. The ridge offers commanding sightlines for watchtowers, while nearby quarries and shallow mines yield salt for local use. Though less agriculturally productive than Meereen, the surrounding lands support modest cultivation of wheat and olives, along with limited animal husbandry sufficient to sustain the city’s needs. Yunkai is built of yellow brick, lending it a bright, sunlit appearance despite its age and decay. Crumbling walls and towers ring the city, while tall stepped pyramids dominate the skyline, most notably the golden pyramid of Qaggaz. Above each of the city’s four main gates stands a great harpy, marking Yunkai as unmistakably Ghiscari in heritage. The city is widely regarded as disreputable, though it is sometimes styled the Queen of Cities, a title also claimed by Qarth. YUNKISH, DISTRICTS AND NOTABLE QUARTERS: The city of Yunkai is divided into four distinct districts, separated by broad roads and the remnants of older walls that cut through the circular city. The Clay District: Within Yunkai’s thick outer walls lie the slave markets and harbor, where bedslaves begin their descent from captured flesh to perfumed commodity. The pyramids of House Requeq and House Auhl loom over the pens and auction blocks, casting long shadows of ownership. At the district’s center stands the Court of the Gilded Lash, a place of control where defiance is broken through ritual humiliation, restraint, and slow submission rather than overt violence. Rebellion is rare. Incense hangs heavy to mask sweat and fear, while scribes record each transaction with meticulous precision. The Saffron District: At the city’s heart lies the Perfumed Plaza, shaded by awnings of bright silk. Pearls from the Summer Isles, amber from the Rhoyne, glass from Lys, and lacquer from Yi Ti are traded here, though no slave may be sold beneath its silks. Threaded among the bazaars rise the Halls of Silk, brothels where bedslaves are trained in the Seven Sighs and Sixteen Seats of Pleasure, their submission refined into ritualized art. Overlooking the district stand the pyramids of House Zhesna, House Hisnahl, and House Ishuzn, while taverns and wine sinks below draw traders and sailors into the night. Where the Clay District is the machinery of Yunkai, the Saffron District is its mask. The Ochre District forms the most populous quarter of the city and its loudest. Dust from the fighting pits hangs thick in the air, mingling with the cries of crowds and the clatter of wagers. At least two pits are active at any hour, hosting contests between men, slaves, and beasts, along with executions staged as public spectacle. Chariots thunder along improvised tracks, and blood is spilled to placate both the crowd and the Wise Masters who preside over it. Surrounding the arenas are tenements, workshops, and taverns clustered beneath the pyramids of House Rhushe, House Andake, and House Pugq. Where the Saffron District conceals its chains with silk, the Ochre District grinds them into dust. The Aureate Quarter is the seat of Yunkai’s wealth and command. Here rise the pyramids of the Wise Masters, gilded and imposing above broad avenues lined with palms, fountains, and lacquered gates. Within perfumed halls, the city’s rulers conduct their affairs, slave-servants trailing behind as visible measures of status. Councils convene where fortunes are made in flesh, alliances sealed with feasts of rare spices and wines, and decrees issued that bind thousands. While the Ochre District roars with noise and blood, the Aureate Quarter governs in whispers of gold, forming the true heart of Yunkai’s power.
THE FALL OF THE GHISCARI EMPIRE:
Yunkai was once a colonial possession of the Empire of Ghis. It survived the destruction of Old Ghis at the hands of the Valyrian Freehold, but did not escape conquest. The city was subdued and reorganized under Valyrian authority, and from the defeated Ghiscari, the Valyrians adopted the institutions of slavery that would later underpin their own empire. Over time, the gods of Ghis faded from public worship in Yunkai, and the Ghiscari tongue fell largely out of use, replaced by High Valyrian and its local forms.
Before its fall, and again after conquest, Yunkai functioned as a military colony under direct Valyrian oversight, administered through martial garrisons and command posts. This arrangement ensured the steady extraction of tribute and the maintenance of order while preserving the city’s role as a productive and profitable outpost within the Freehold’s dominion.
THE DOOM OF OLD VALYRIA AND THE FALL OF THE FREEHOLD:
After the Doom of Valyria and the collapse of the Freehold, the Ghiscari cities of Slaver’s Bay reclaimed control of the slave trade. In the centuries that followed, Yunkai and its sister cities, Meereen and Astapor, became the principal centers of this commerce, binding their survival and influence to the continued buying and selling of human lives.
In the late Freehold period before the Doom, Yunkai operated as a trade satrapy, enjoying semi-independent rule under tribute and Valyrian military protection. Its governors functioned primarily as tax enforcers and intermediaries, a system that allowed Yunkai to refine its mercantile identity while remaining firmly embedded within Valyrian imperial structures.
YUNKISH, TRADE AND ECONOMY:
Yunkish coinage includes the golden marks, bright coins stamped with a stepped pyramid on one face and the harpy of Ghis on the other. The city is renowned for the training of bedslaves, who are instructed in the Seven Sighs and the Sixteen Seats of Pleasure. Dancers are trained from early childhood, becoming accomplished in erotic performance, while scribes, singers, and attendants are schooled in etiquette and presentation. As in Meereen, eunuchs are often created through the removal of the testicles alone, and slave swordsmen are valued less than the weapons they carry.
Yunkai’s slave trade reflects its civic character, refined in appearance yet relentlessly transactional. Unlike Astapor’s martial breeding or Meereen’s pyramid-bound household economies, Yunkai specializes in what it terms skilled flesh: bedslaves, tutors, scribes, cupbearers, and performers shaped to enhance their owners’ prestige without posing a political threat. The Yellow City markets its slaves as accessories to power, emphasizing beauty, obedience, and polish over endurance or force.