Ice Drag Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 Something I wonder after reading TWoIaF: Why is westeros more settled overall then essos? To be more clear it seem there are many more "suburbs"/smaller castles spread throughout westeros than in the free cities. The free cities we know had civilization much earlier. Maybe they just don't mention them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaak Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 How about, two waves of devastation?1) Valyrians, sacked and created deserts, e. g. enslaved the Rhoynar and hauled them off somewhere, rather than permit them to bend their knees and remain or return to villages living as subjects of Valyria... and they themselves founded only a small number of fortresses/trade cities,2) Dothraki, destroyed villages and small towns, so only big cities were able to fight or buy them off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsay's Penguins Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 The thing called the Century of Blood. Dothraki and all out Free City war. And corsairs and slavers and all that.On the east of the bones it seems more populated (Yi Ti). The Free Cities aren't the only ones, they're just hubs. The Dothraki destroyed heaps of castles and cities.The Valyrians ruined the Red Waste and Ghiscari Empire. The Free Cities are huge though, some Volantene towns are bigger then Kings Landing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maester Mando Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Volon Therys, Selhorys and Valysar are bigger than any westerosi city! And keep in mind that Twoiaf is written from westerosi perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glamourweaver Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Something I wonder after reading TWoIaF: Why is westeros more settled overall then essos? To be more clear it seem there are many more "suburbs"/smaller castles spread throughout westeros than in the free cities. The free cities we know had civilization much earlier. Maybe they just don't mention them.Dothraki mainly. Settlements without strong defenses and a home resource base (I.e. walled city-states) get dragged off for slavers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaak Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Volon Therys, Selhorys and Valysar are bigger than any westerosi city! And keep in mind that Twoiaf is written from westerosi perspective. Tyrion travels through Flatlands and does not see towns like Selhorys there. And notes lack of towns even by Westerosi standards. One factor is the social structure. Most lords of Westeros are scattered through the countryside in their castles almost all time. They occasionally leave, with castellan in castle, but then mostly to ride to war, and then they and their retinues camp in tents. They also attend tournaments and royal courts, but remarkably rarely. At Red Keep, Hand has Hand´s Tower, but where are the retinues of Renly, Stannis and Loras accommodated? The other lords attested as present, like Royce or lady Stokeworth? Red Keep is supposedly smaller than Winterfell... King´s Landing is a big city, but a city of commoners. We don´t hear of lords owning manses in King´s Landing and spending time there with their retinues. Contrast Essos. Magister Illyrio owns estates in Flatlands, but never goes there in person, staying in his mansion inside walls of Pentos full time. In Meereen, we do hear of a family who wants to spend time in their estates outside the city (Daenerys requires that they leave their gold and food behind), but importantly they owned a pyramid inside the walls and lived there to begin with. If all people of any importance build palaces inside city walls, and only hovels of tillers bound to soil are found outside, then it is logical that there are few small towns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Blue Eyes Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 The Valyrians being genocidal assholes with the power to pull it off was the first strike. Cleared most of the Rhoyne. The Doom was the second strike. Cleared the Lands of always Summer. The Dothraki were the third strike. Cleared Sarnor and the Axe. The Century of Blood didn't help either. And the constant Dothraki raids prevents everybody from resettling. All the population growth ends up dead or slaves. In central Essos, the population is actually shrinking instead. Volon Therys, Selhorys and Valysar are bigger than any westerosi city! And keep in mind that Twoiaf is written from westerosi perspective.A couple big cities don't matter. The bulk of the population lives in small villages and towns. Or should, but they don't actually exist in Essos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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