Using the Myrish Lens

[Knight and Dayne]

When Maester Luwin delivers Lysa's message to Catelyn at the beginning of AGoT, it is concealed in a box containing a Myrish lens. Cat's response seems to be a double entendre:

Quote

“Inside was a fine new lens for the observatory, from Myr by the look of it. The lenscrafters of Myr are without equal.”
Ned frowned. He had little patience for this sort of thing, Catelyn knew. “A lens,” he said. “What has that to do with me?”
“I asked the same question,” Maester Luwin said. “Clearly there was more to this than the seeming.”
Under the heavy weight of her furs, Catelyn shivered. “A lens is an instrument to help us see.”

AGOT Catelyn II

I suggest we take Catelyn seriously and look at Westeros with our own "Myrish Lens." There are a wide range of characters with ties to Myr, yet George tells us very little about the city and its politics. This OP provides a comprehensive look at the Myrish threads woven throughout the narrative. My hope is that we can tie some of these threads together. I will focus on characters with strong ties to Myr, with some historical analysis and meta-textual speculation for flavor.

Let's start with history. Myr (and her sister cities) have some interesting parallels to Westeros. 

• The origins of Myr mirror those of Westeros (no pun intended). Andals built a walled town on the site of the ruins of earlier people, which was later conquered and ruled by Valyrians. I find this point is more interesting than suggestive, but worth noting.
• The history of Myr is bound to that of Tyrosh and Lys. Each of the "Three Daughters" is a coastal mercantile city with lots of slaves. They're rich, and they hire a lot of sellswords. They ally with each other, war with each other, make peace, and do it all again. It's dizzying, and I get the feeling that Essosi watchers feel the same way about Westerosi politics. It also feels like rope-a-dope. We're so used to treating their conflicts as background noise that it'll be a hell of a punch when they add up to something important.
• The Kingdom of the Three Daughters is a Lesson. When Myr, Tyrosh, and Lys united, they lost no time in showing their combined strength. They ran the pirates out of the stepstones, but quickly became expansionist. The kingdom became a threat to every other political entity astride the narrow sea by extorting tolls in the Stepstones. We know a bit about a certain Rogue Prince and Corlys Velaryon's role in the conflict, but slave-hating Braavos, slave-loving Pentos, and isolationist Lorath were sufficiently threatened by the alliance to put aside their epithets and make common cause against the Triarchy. Even then, it seems that infighting, more than armed opposition, broke the kingdom. Unity is dangerous.
• Here's the Punchline: Three united cities seriously undermined regional security, and piecemeal opposition was insufficient to stop them. Imagine what havoc seven truly united kingdoms could cause. The free cities have a clear interest in fostering disunity in Westeros. 

Now, let's put Myr a bit more in the spotlight. As similar as they are, Myr is distinct from Tyrosh and Lys. Lys is known for beautiful people and alchemy; Tyrosh for dyes and warriors. Myr's forte is finished goods. This seems boring at first, but, in terms of real-world history, it puts Myr centuries ahead of the rest of Planetos. More on that momentarily, but for now note that there's nothing fantastic about Myr that isn't true of the setting as a whole. So about those finished goods:

• Crossbows: Crossbows are ubiquitous, but Myrish crossbows are the most sophisticated. In ACoK (Tyrion VI), Tyrion gives Joff a Myrish crossbow that fires three quarrels at once. Unfortunately, we'll probably never know if he managed to kill three cats at once. Myrish crossbowmen are specifically noted when they appear (More than you'd think...). In real history, sophistication made all the difference. Strategically speaking, a crossbow is just a very slow bow that anyone can use. Trained archers are more accurate and faster. However, mechanical winches, reinforcement, and other innovations to the basic design helped end the era of armored knights, because any conscript with a crossbow could punch through heavy plate armor at a safe distance. (~16th century)
• Lenses: Glass working is a classical trade, but sophisticated lenses and telescopes directly anticipate modern science. I'm not talking about the scholastic traditions of monks that parallel Maesters either. This is how Galileo got his start. The "Myrish eye" Victarion steals from the captain of the Shrike is incredibly advanced technology for the setting (ADwD Victarion). (~17th century)
• Textiles (Lace and Carpets): Per the World Book, these are worth their weight in gold and spice. They're also all over the world; both Dany and Sansa wear Myrish lace; every nice room on the planet seems to have a Myrish carpet, worn or otherwise. Tyrion even loses himself in the beauty of one before puking on it (ADwD Tyrion VI). The spread and reputation of these trade goods compares to the economic conditions of mercantile Britain which led to the industrial revolution. If Myr really is producing such quantities of fine textiles, something close to mechanical production is almost certain. (~18th century)
• In sum: Myrish finished goods aren't simply anachronistic, they are symbolic of paradigm shifts in military, economic, and scientific thought. Anachronism by itself isn't a big deal. Planetos, after all, is not chained to our world's history. But the implications of one city being known for these particular innovations suggests Myr is technologically advanced in ways that are not immediately obvious to the reader. To be clear, I'm not predicting that Myr is about to become 18th century Britain or anything, just pointing out that the city has a lot more going on than you might think.

So what about those characters? We know quite a few, actually, and while they're a diverse bunch, all of them (with one possible exception) actively work to oppose the crown.

• Serala of Myr was married to Lord Denys Darklyn. She seems to get the lion's share of the blame for the Defiance of Duskendale, though opinions seem to differ as to whether she deserves the blame. Maester Yandel builds a partial case: "Most agree that his Myrish wife, the Lady Serala, played some part (TWoIaF Aerys II)."  Aerys himself singled her out for a cruel death, and, many years later, the people of Duskendale still think she "filled her husband's ear with Myrish poison (AFfC Brienne II). My second essay on the Mad King (shout out to anyone who remembers it!) prompted some discussion about the justice of these accusations which I won't rehash here. Instead, let's look at possible motives with a Myrish lens.

Long before Duskendale, Tywin advised Aerys to stay neutral in a trade dispute between Volantis and Myr (and Tyrosh). Aerys backed Volantis, probably just to spite Tywin, and the episode is rarely mentioned again except as evidence of the growing rift between hand and king. I think this gives us a solid motive for Serala to instigate the defiance. She almost certainly had Myrish friends, family, and other contacts that were hurt by Aerys' trade policy. The aforementioned "Myrish poison" that got Denys Darklyn on board may have simply been a connection between the declining fortunes of Duskendale at the hands of Aerys' economic policies and the free trade seen in Essos. Serala "most certainly had told him" the new charter Lord Denys wanted "were common across the narrow sea (TWoIaF, Aerys II)."

One more (slightly tinfoil-y) angle to consider is religion and magic. Again, per the World Book, "Her defenders insist that the folly lay with Lord Denys himself; his wife is hated simply because she was a woman of foreign birth who prayed to gods alien to Westeros." Myr has a Valyrian attitude toward religions - tolerance and diversity. All we know specifically is that there are Red Priests there. We also know that Varys was cut in Myr, and that's where he heard the voice in the flames that turned him off to magic (ACoK Tyrion X). An educated guess could place Serala in Myr around that time, and the rumors of sorcery that surround her could suggest a connection to those darker powers. Even jucier, Serala, like Varys, had her genitals removed.

There's way too much unknown to come to a real conclusion, but I hope I've shown that Serala has motives for masterminding Duskendale clearly linked to her Myrish identity.

• Varys was born in Lys (according to Pycelle, at least (AGoT, Eddard V)), not Myr, but his time in Myr was formative. He was cut there, he learned how to survive there, and there he gained some notoriety as a "prince of thieves (ADwD Tyrion II)." After fleeing to Pentos, his Myrish accent marked him. We know Varys is a mummer; a master of disguise. Changing accents shouldn't have been a problem. Conclusion? Myrish-ness is (or was) important to Varys.

Varys and Illyrio's partnership is interesting to consider here. Illyrio doesn't know why Varys chose him as a protector and partner. Varys was already master thief when they met, so we can infer that the "thieve from the thieves" scheme was likely his notion; Illyrio also gives Varys credit for the little birds/mice. The point here is to elucidate their respective roles. Illyrio is the brawn, Varys the brains. Or to put it another way, Illyrio the braavo was protection, Illyrio the merchant was a public face, and Illyrio the magister was the political influence, while Varys was always the power in the shadows. And the birthplace of this power (or at least the skills that led to it) was Myr.

Interesting, then, that the Mad King turned to Varys after Duskendale. Maybe Varys concealed his Myrish roots. Maybe Aerys never made the connection, or was willing to put aside his Myrish connections to take advantage of Varys' considerable skills. Varys seemed loyal, giving good council up to the bitter end when he advised the king against opening the gates to Tywin's army (from the wiki, but I can't find the original source; anyone want to help out?). Even more interesting, Varys survived the sack of King's Landing and the transition to the Baratheon monarchy. We know from the Aegon plot that Varys was working to overthrow the Baratheons from the start, and that his method of doing so was to foment controlled chaos by playing members of court off against one another. This should remind us of the lesson of the Triarchy - don't oppose a united power with force; instead, create disunity.

To speculate a bit, Varys could not have been blind to Aerys' madness and cruelty. Varys certainly has a Machiavellian streak, but he's no sadist, and it does seem out of character for him to support such a ruler, especially without any clear bonds of loyalty beyond employment. His loyalty to the Mad King may have been a means to ensure a weak Westeros, either by indulging the king's madness or manipulating him with whispers. Indeed, per Stannis, "Ser Barristan once told me that the rot in King Aerys's reign began with Varys (ACoK Davos IV)." The Aegon VI plot would not have been possible before Robert's rebellion, but the logic behind it is similar. It's interesting to ask what (if any) pre-Aegon force Varys had in mind. In any case, Varys has an ongoing interest in weakening 

• Thoros of Myr arrived in Kings Landing during Aerys' reign as an emissary of the red god because the Temple of R'hllor thought a fire-obsessed king might be open to conversion (ASoS Arya VIII). He stayed on after Robert's Rebellion, and made a name for himself as a drinker, fighter, and terrible priest. Ultimately, of course, he wound up finding his faith fighting with the Brotherhood without Banners against the Lannisters. 

If you're keeping score, that makes two Myrish characters who [1] joined Aerys' court after the Mad King went mad, [2] hoped to influence him by appealing to that madness (Varys preyed on the king's paranoia; Thoros on his pyrophilia), [3] survived the Lannister sack of King's Landing, [4] remained influential in Robert's court, and [5] currently lead major rebellions against the crown. This series of parallels is what got me thinking about Myr in the first place, and seems highly suggestive of Myr as a nexus point for anti-Westerosi conspiracies, though a comprehensive theory continues to elude me.

It should be noted that, unlike Varys, Thoros has never been all that conspiratorial. And pre-BwB Thoros wasn't exactly brimming with conviction, religious or otherwise. I don't doubt his story that he was dispatched to Westeros for being a nuisance to the Red Temple as much as to convert Aerys. But even the troublesome young Myrish Thoros was known to have powers - he did have true visions when he gazed into the flames as a novice. This may have made him the perfect sleeper agent: affable, clueless, foreign but unthreatening, but capable of advancing the agenda of the Red Temple when the time comes. Someone in Myr very well could have anticipated his BwB role years before Thoros himself was willing or able to fill it.

• Taena Merryweather is the odd one out on this list. I almost missed her Myrish heritage entirely when researching this essay, but the ties run deep. Her grandfather-in-law was Owen Merryweather, Aerys' post-Tywin hand, who was exiled for incompetence after he failed to contain Robert's Rebellion in its infancy (AFfC Jaimie II). House Merryweather took a hit after the Robert's ascension to the throne, but he welcomed them back into the king's peace and the line continues with Lord Orton (SSM). The Merryweathers conceivably have an axe to grind with both the Targaryans and the Baratheons, and, given what we've discussed so far, it makes sense that they'd have friends in Myr. I'd suggest that, during his exile, Owen took his house to Myr, because Orton Merryweather, the current Lord of the house, married the Myrish Lady Taena. 

Taena is a much more interesting character than her husband or her grandfather-in-law. She arrives with the Tyrells, but quickly endears herself to Cersi by testifying that she saw Tyrion drop something in Joffrey's chalice, (ASoS Tyrion IX), ratting out Tyrell informants in Cersi's service (AFfC Cersi III), and so on. When Cersi points out that the Merryweathers are sworn to Highgarden, Taena gives a very interesting response: "“Longtable may be sworn to Highgarden,” the woman replied, with a toss of her black hair, “but I am of Myr, and my loyalty is to my husband and my son. I want all that is best for them (AFfC Cersi III).” 

Why would Cersi be reassured by the fact that Taena is from Myr? Answering this question gives us another parallel to Varys. Much as Aerys trusted Varys because he was useful and an outsider without ties to Westerosi houses, Cersi trusts Taena because she's useful and claims loyalties with Myr rather than the Reach. Taena gives Cersi the intel on the outdated coins that connect Rugen (Varys) to the Tyrells, which makes Cersi think that the Tyrells are somehow responsible for Tyrion's escape. She also slowly leaks most of the names that end up embroiled in Cersi's plot to put Margary at the mercy of the faith. It's easy to conclude that she's an agent of chaos in the same vein as Varys.

The one thing we hear most often of Taena is how seductive she is. When she dances at Sansa's wedding, the whole party stares. Jaime admires her beauty without comparing her to Cersi. Cersi herself has an erotic relationship with Taena, and this is the only time we even get a hint of homosexual attraction from her. That kind of seduction is an art, and it may be the same art Serala of Myr practiced on Lord Denys. The use of vulnerability and submission to manipulate; to give others what they want in order to get what you want; this kind of intrigue has a complicated politics, and the line between sex and power gets blurred fast. 

Honestly, we could go on for a lot longer on Taena of Myr's intrigues, but I think the point is clear. The Myrish view reveals that she's working towards Westerosi disunity, and may even be in league with Varys.

One quick meta-textual point: Myr is ubiquitous but absent; Myrish carpets, firewine, and lace are everywhere. Myrish soldiers and merchants seem to be in every port, tavern, and inn throughout the world. George reminds us of Myr constantly, but never connects the dots. Given the conceit of the world book as an education for King Robert Joffrey Tommen, one would expect a long, thoughtful, and instructive entry on Myr. Instead, it gets lumped together with Lys and Tyrosh, and the three cities combined get about as many words as each of the other cities get individually. It's as if Martin is pulling his punches, withholding details that might spoil what he has waiting for us. I'm excited to see what those details might be.

So where does this leave us? Honestly, I don't have a major conclusion. I think I've shown that Myr is technologically advanced in ways that suggest paradigm shifts in the way the inhabitants of Planetos live. The history of Myr and our Myrish characters teach a lesson about unity and betrayal that the highborn of Westeros stubbornly refuse to learn. It may be that there's a Myrish conspiracy we can't quite piece together yet. It may be that the culture of Myr produces characters with similar goals and methods for achieving them. At the very least, I hope I've given you sufficient reason to try out the Myrish lens. Using it, you can see quite a lot.

 

 

[Florina Laufeyson]

Ive been thinking about Myr and its impact on the rest of this world because all the goods seem to be coming from there. But this is a lot more eloquent than my ponderings. Neat!  

[Knight and Dayne]

6 hours ago, Florina Laufeyson said:

Ive been thinking about Myr and its impact on the rest of this world because all the goods seem to be coming from there. But this is a lot more eloquent than my ponderings. Neat!  

Thanks! Glad I'm not the only one who thinks Myr might be hiding in plain sight.

[Lykos]

The double entendre is, that a lens helps you to focus on a detail by enlarging it, but it blocks out everything else. You loose sight of the big picture and how things are connected, Littlefinger exploits this narrow view.

I'm interested in Myr as well. We know some details, such as the technically advanced products it exports, yet it is not known for scholars.

There are definitely important pieces missing regarding Myr and it's hard to place the ones we have, though I yet have to ponder the information from The World of Ice and Fire about the quarrelsome daughters.

[Lord Asher Forrester]

Nice topic, i've made the same connections especially Taeana, Thoros and possibly Varys, there coulld be a real Myr plot going on, it may even include other free cities like Pentos with Illiryo.

About what is going to happen next with Myr, i think that all the free cities are going to have rebellions after Volantis slaves rebellion so that could impact in a negative way towards the free cities advances and pollitical objectives (toward Westros). But maybe it will went another way: First the free cities ally each other for some reason (making war to somoene else, probabbly either Braavos, Westros or Dany), or they start making war to each other (again), and then the rebellions starts, making use of the pollitical instability or of a military left out of the FC forces. Anyways i'ts just a blind shot of mine.

[leonardof]

The plot of A Song of Ice and Fire is already complex enough, thank you. The story is centered in Westeros, and Myr is a device plot to remember us how primitive Westeros is.

[House Cambodia]

Fascinating. I enjoyed the OP very much - cheers.

[Walda]

Thanks for a really thought provoking post.

Now you mention it, and link Myr to 18th c Birmingham and Bristol (or at least, Britain) - the revolution in spy-glasses went with a revolution in cannon and guns. And a triangular slave trade.

[YOVMO]

Really awesome stuff here and very well presented.

[Harry Baratheon]

Thanks for the post!  I've noticed that Myr seems to be more technologically advanced than the rest of Planetos, but I never put together all the connections.  You have me believing that Myr is a very big player in the Game of Thrones.

[Knight and Dayne]

9 hours ago, leonardof said:

The plot of A Song of Ice and Fire is already complex enough, thank you. The story is centered in Westeros, and Myr is a device plot to remember us how primitive Westeros is.

Thanks for the insight. You've really added to the discussion.

[Knight and Dayne]

13 hours ago, Lykos said:

The double entendre is, that a lens helps you to focus on a detail by enlarging it, but it blocks out everything else. You loose sight of the big picture and how things are connected, Littlefinger exploits this narrow view.

I'm interested in Myr as well. We know some details, such as the technically advanced products it exports, yet it is not known for scholars.

There are definitely important pieces missing regarding Myr and it's hard to place the ones we have, though I yet have to ponder the information from The World of Ice and Fire about the quarrelsome daughters.

I encourage you to take a second look. Myr is by no means the key to the narrative, but it's a bigger piece than we yet know.

[Lost Melnibonean]

Terrific OP @Knight and Dayne. Even though you don't seem to reach any hard conclusions, you present a thorough analysis of all things Myr. 

I disagree with as to the basic nature of Varys’s relationship to Illyrio. The conversation between the two overheard by Illyrio cleary shows that Varys is Illyrio's agent. And while Illyrio has some muscle, I don't think he is portrayed as "the brawn." 

I would be really interested in your feedback here. (It goes on and on an on, but I think Varys is one of the most important players, and I think Illyrio is is the big bad of ASOIAF's second act.) 

What are your opinions regarding The Blackfyre theories? 

@LordToo-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse found  some foreshadowing here that you might like. 

As the saga developed we learned of a trade war between Lys and Tyrosh. Myr was about to join Tyrosh, but curiously, the Archon of Tyrosh, the brother of the man who had been noted at the betrothal of Daenerys to Drogo, which had been brokered by Illyrio, offered terms to Lys to end the war. This appeared to be because the Golden Company, shockingly, had just broken its contract to fight for Myr. 

[Jon Fossoway]

I'm currently reading your post and it looks great.

Just wanted to point out that Rodrik Harlaw may be the only guy in the books who is bound to use glasses. He tells Asha in a chapter of whatever book that he ordered myrish lenses 'to read'.

[Knight and Dayne]

17 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

Terrific OP @Knight and Dayne. Even though you don't seem to reach any hard conclusions, you present a thorough analysis of all things Myr. 

I disagree with as to the basic nature of Varys’s relationship to Illyrio. The conversation between the two overheard by Illyrio cleary shows that Varys is Illyrio's agent. And while Illyrio has some muscle, I don't think he is portrayed as "the brawn." 

I would be really interested in your feedback here. (It goes on and on an on, but I think Varys is one of the most important players, and I think Illyrio is is the big bad of ASOIAF's second act.) 

What are your opinions regarding The Blackfyre theories? 

@LordToo-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse found  some foreshadowing here that you might like. 

As the saga developed we learned of a trade war between Lys and Tyrosh. Myr was about to join Tyrosh, but curiously, the Archon of Tyrosh, the brother of the man who had been noted at the betrothal of Daenerys to Drogo, which had been brokered by Illyrio, offered terms to Lys to end the war. This appeared to be because the Golden Company, shockingly, had just broken its contract to fight for Myr. 

Thanks for the references, both really good reads. 

I think I've got some support for your idea that Varys and Illyrio were looking to recruit Ned, not kill him. I noticed an interesting inconsistency way back in GoT. When Ned is looking to secure passage for Sansa and Arya out of King's Landing, he hires "the Wind Witch, out of Braavos" (GoT Eddard XII), but when Arya goes looking after Ned's arrest, she finds "the Wind Witch, out of Myr" (GoT Arya V). If I'm right about Myr being a hotbed of conspiracy, and you're right about Varys and Illyrio wanting to bring Ned into their machinations, that's some tasty food for thought.

I think we substantially agree about Varys and Illyrio. "Brains and brawn" was a bit of an oversimplification. All I really wanted to establish was that the skills that make Varys who he is predate his association with Illyrio, or, at the very least, have roots in his time in Myr. I see them as more or less equal partners, but the roles they play definitely place Illyrio as the public face and Varys as the agent in the shadows.

Blackfyre is a good angle, especially given that the Golden Company breaks their contract with Myr to back Aegon's invasion. If we go with any of the Varys/Illyrio=Blackfyres theories, that at least partially fills in the blanks for my speculation about who would have backed Varys if his loyalty to Aerys was really a ploy to weaken the realm, akin to his actual plot to rip apart the Baratheon regime from within. I've read up, but I don't have firm conclusions, but I do find the various flavors of the theory compelling enough that I'd be surprised if one of them wasn't true.

[Knight and Dayne]

18 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

Terrific OP @Knight and Dayne. Even though you don't seem to reach any hard conclusions, you present a thorough analysis of all things Myr. 

I disagree with as to the basic nature of Varys’s relationship to Illyrio. The conversation between the two overheard by Illyrio cleary shows that Varys is Illyrio's agent. And while Illyrio has some muscle, I don't think he is portrayed as "the brawn." 

I would be really interested in your feedback here. (It goes on and on an on, but I think Varys is one of the most important players, and I think Illyrio is is the big bad of ASOIAF's second act.) 

What are your opinions regarding The Blackfyre theories? 

@LordToo-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse found  some foreshadowing here that you might like. 

As the saga developed we learned of a trade war between Lys and Tyrosh. Myr was about to join Tyrosh, but curiously, the Archon of Tyrosh, the brother of the man who had been noted at the betrothal of Daenerys to Drogo, which had been brokered by Illyrio, offered terms to Lys to end the war. This appeared to be because the Golden Company, shockingly, had just broken its contract to fight for Myr. 

@LordToo-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse's post is also great. I'm kicking myself for forgetting to include that bit about those small council reports. In-narrative, they're dismissed as the goings-on of a far off land; hence my comment about George playing rope-a-dope with us with regard to Myr, Tyrosh, and Lys. The resumption of the Triarchy would be a great knock-out punch to conclude all that, and I find it interesting that, after the Golden Company breaks their contract with Myr, Tyrosh and Lys abandon courting Myr in their war with each other to make war against a previously neutral party. It would seem that the Golden Company was a significant element in that balance of power.

[Knight and Dayne]

16 hours ago, King Merrett I Frey said:

I'm currently reading your post and it looks great.

Just wanted to point out that Rodrik Harlaw may be the only guy in the books who is bound to use glasses. He tells Asha in a chapter of whatever book that he ordered myrish lenses 'to read'.

Awesome catch! As someone who wears glasses, I now have even more of a reason to admire Rodrick the reader.

 I did more reading on the real-world history of lenses than I ever thought I would to write this post, and I learned that using lenses to read substantially predated telescopes - orders of magnitude of difference in complexity.

[Knight and Dayne]

On 5/24/2016 at 8:47 PM, Walda said:

Thanks for a really thought provoking post.

Now you mention it, and link Myr to 18th c Birmingham and Bristol (or at least, Britain) - the revolution in spy-glasses went with a revolution in cannon and guns. And a triangular slave trade.

Oh wow, almost missed your post (sorry about that!). The triangular slave trade is a fantastic observation. That ties together Myr's technological advancement and slave economy in a way that furthers the parallel to real-world history. 

[PrinceHenryris]

An interesting and fun read.  Rare these days.

Thank you!

[Waters Gate]

Interresting read. The thought that the free city's have interrest in undermining unity in Westeros seems very rational.

 

I'm not sure how far that relative advancement of Myr stretches. i don't agree with all youre dates however:

Crossbows: Chu ku Nu, an advanced design of repeating crosbow developed by the Koreans in the 15th century.

Cloth: My own home region Flanders was very prominent/renowned in fine cloth and carpets during the 14th century.

Lenses: this really depends on what sort of lenses, natural ones that have been worked or fabricated ones. natual found and worked lenses were used on earth since atleast the 7th century before christ. (nimrud lens) In the 11th-12th century the Vikings seem to have developed Visby lenses which seem of rather very high quality and were made on wood turning lathe's apparently.. And to take it from wikipedia:

" Lenses came into widespread use in Europe with the invention of spectacles, probably in Italy in the 1280s.^[12] This was the start of the optical industry of grinding and polishing lenses for spectacles, first in Venice and Florence in the thirteenth century,^[13] and later in the spectacle-making centres in both the Netherlands and Germany.^[14] Spectacle makers created improved types of lenses for the correction of vision based more on empirical knowledge gained from observing the effects of the lenses (probably without the knowledge of the rudimentary optical theory of the day).^[15][16] The practical development and experimentation with lenses led to the invention of the compound optical microscope around 1595, and the refracting telescope in 1608, both of which appeared in the spectacle-making centres in the Netherlands.^[17][18] "

 

That said, the telescope is a 16th century invention, it is somewhat surprizing that these already exist. So by that token you might argue that the myrish lenses are likely 16th century, and i would agree.

 

Still need to read the rest of the post, i just thought i post this first. As i see it i guess Myr is very similar to how Italy or the Netherlands would have been during this time period with it's trading city's, the productivity of finished goods, and the use of different arms and tactics in warfare.

Here in Flanders i am a member of a old medieval crossbow guild that still exists up today. We parade in festivity's with our bows and otherwise we hold competitions. We use longertype's of crossbows that you must rest on youre shoulder, they are heavy and powerfull and fairly typical to this region where they were developed around the 13-14th century afaik. They work with a push lever so to be able to put more tension on the cord, they were very good weapons to bring down knights when shooting from some fortified position which served the style of fighting in this region.