[WoIaF Spoilers] Oily Stone: Yeen, Asshai, The Wall, 5 Forts, Hinges of the World

[House Cambodia]

1 hour ago, Falcon2908 said:

In the season 6 episode 6 tomorrow, we're finally going to see Oldtown! I can't wait to see the Hightower, and its Geo-Dawnian foundation!

Would be fantastic, but I'm not anticipating a guided tour of the city myself.

[Falcon2908]

10 minutes ago, House Cambodia said:

Would be fantastic, but I'm not anticipating a guided tour of the city myself.

I'd be satisfied if they just give us a shot of the Hightower itself

[LordImp]

On 3. november 2014 at 11:22 PM, Waters Gate said:

I think i get it. I think its shale oil indeed. My theory is that it's build by a civilization of fire beings, more pure fire than the fire made flesh that exists today.Similar to how the others are beings made of ice. Bear with me for a moment, it's going to be a bit:

 

 

 

 

These 2 species used to determine the seasons besides the normal ones. that is any inbalance, having more otehrs than fire beings or vice versa, might bring about an exceptional summer or winter. thats why the others are making other baby's, for it creates winter.

 

 

 

 

 

These constructions of oily stone, they used to be set ablaze, and they can still be set on fire, thats the purpose of using that oily material. it might be an advanced or magic form of oil shale wall so to speak, inexchaustable maybe. The fire creature's used to love constructions that would be aflame all the time. Made them feel good i guess, and add heat to the planet. Now the fire people are gone there, because the fire has been exstinguished, possibly by men, or sea people even.

 

 

 

 

 

- the hightower: it's handy to have a giant block of flaming stone surrounded by water. Although you can possibly extinguish that fire with water, then again the flame race might have reason to build it there, to prevent it to spread to forests for ex, or prevent other fire spirits to cross the water maybe?

 

 

For the hightowers the flaming stone might be excelent as fuel for the beaconfire. Also great as a defensive measurement if they know how to set it on fire withought dammaging the rest of the construction, the more so versus others.

 

 

 

 

 

-Asshai: Was meant to be a giant flaming city for flame people. Flame capital. No wonder why you'd get all the ash. Would have illuminated the area of the shadows aswell i guess. One enourmous fire pile. Also extinguished apparently. And now i think i know why Dany has to go there: she has to set the city on fire, make the fire people return, so they might outbalance the others.

 

 

 

 

 

- Seastone chair: once a nice fiery seat for a flame king, washed away?

 

 

 

 

 

--------------------------

 

 

 

 

 

Alternativly: When taking shale oil in mind, these constructs might actually be giant heaters, build explicitly for changing the climate or even terraforming.

 

Love this ! I want fire people .

[Falcon2908]

On 5/29/2016 at 7:53 PM, Falcon2908 said:

I'd be satisfied if they just give us a shot of the Hightower itself

Ok I was kinda satisfied

[Little Scribe of Naath]

I'm really late to the party, but I love this thread and all the amazing ideas put forth by everyone here! Major kudos people 

[ChristopherNolan]

On 1/28/2016 at 11:48 PM, LmL said:

Of course, since we don't know of any type of humanoid that can go down to the--

Oh my god. The squishers were the first freemasons. 

This made my day

[No one is here]

On 10/30/2014 at 8:16 AM, Ibbison from Ibben said:

On reread, I got this -

 

 

 

 

Isle of Toads - The 40' toad statue is greasy black stone, crudely carved. (not shaped free form)

 

 

 

 

 

Yeen - made of oily black stone blocks. (not unitary, like Tyrosh or Volantis) Jungle growth won't go near it.

 

 

 

 

 

Asshai - built of black stone, has a greasy feel. Drinks in light.

 

 

 

 

 

I would speculate that the Hightower and Seastone Chair stuff may be from an older race that the Valyrians leaned from. We can't tell whether they had dragons or not. (Of course, Barristan told Dany that Valyrian dragons were bred for battle. Perhaps some earlier race bred construction dragons, passenger dragons, sport racing dragons, cargo dragons, dwarf flameless pest control dragons, etc... )

 

 

 

 

 

The greasy/oily stuff may have been developed separately by another group.

 

Could "bred for battle" mean taught to breath fire?  I ask this because we have been told of other wyverns in Sothoryos that are flying dragon-like beasts that do not breath fire (IIRC there are similar mentions like this in other parts of the world as well).  We have the fyreworms of Old Valyria  I have also wondered if the Harpy of Old Ghis was some sort of dragon-like being that did not breath fire...or maybe a part of the dragon evolution.

[DreadedNorwegian]

On 20.1.2017 at 4:53 PM, No one is here said:

Could "bred for battle" mean taught to breath fire?  I ask this because we have been told of other wyverns in Sothoryos that are flying dragon-like beasts that do not breath fire (IIRC there are similar mentions like this in other parts of the world as well).  We have the fyreworms of Old Valyria  I have also wondered if the Harpy of Old Ghis was some sort of dragon-like being that did not breath fire...or maybe a part of the dragon evolution.

The book more or less says that dragons cannot be "trained" or modificed wywerns caused by valyria or ghis, since there are evidences of dragons living in Westeros long befire the rise of those civilisations. THere is however still the mystery of that lost, long forgotten civilization that existed on the jungles of Sothoryos-

[No one is here]

1 hour ago, DreadedNorwegian said:

The book more or less says that dragons cannot be "trained" or modificed wywerns caused by valyria or ghis, since there are evidences of dragons living in Westeros long befire the rise of those civilisations. THere is however still the mystery of that lost, long forgotten civilization that existed on the jungles of Sothoryos-

I am curious, what do you, or anyone, take  Barry saying that Valyrian dragons were bred for battle  to mean?  

I was fascinated when I read the World Book about all of the ancient beasts and animals that were either rumored, or proven to have lived in Planetos.  Specifically, the ones that resemble dragons.  

It made the tinfoil begin to spark.  

I agree that the evidence put forth in aWoIaF that dragons came to the Oldtown / Hightower area prior to the Long Night, thus before the rise of the Freehold, seems pretty straight forward.  I am 100% on board with that.

I imagine that dragons (and other animals, ie wolves/direwolves) have evolved over the "thousands of years" that Planetos has existed.  It has definitely happened in our real world, so why would GRRM's world be different?   I mentioned Harpys and the flying wyverns of Sothoryos in my last post.   I do not believe that dragons were always "WMDs".  They could have been more like K9s to humans in a way - they can hurt us if we mistreat them, but they are mostly loyal and obedient animals.  I even subscribe that humans and dragons began to share DNA somehow at some point (magic? breeding with them?) throughout the millenia (hello Harpys & and still born babies with leathery wings and tails!). This could  have made the dragons more and more aggressive over time, like their human counterparts.  But, before that part of the dragon evolution would have happened - again, this is Pre-LN - the text makes it seem that dragons were used as "builders" and transportation vehicles.  They were possibly used to build the 5 Forts and the Hightower base and other structures that still stand as evidence.

Then, BOOM!  The Long Night hits the world like a Mike Tyson right hook! Humans, dragons and other living things are almost completely wiped out.  When the lights come back on, this knowledge of "dragon-building" is all forgotten and the world basically starts over from scratch.   A thousand years or so later, Valyrians re-discover dragons and "bred them for battle".  Much in the same ways that elephants are sometimes used for war - but were not necessarily created for war.

This is what a spark in the tin foil does.  

[DreadedNorwegian]

11 hours ago, No one is here said:

I am curious, what do you, or anyone, take  Barry saying that Valyrian dragons were bred for battle  to mean?  

I was fascinated when I read the World Book about all of the ancient beasts and animals that were either rumored, or proven to have lived in Planetos.  Specifically, the ones that resemble dragons.  

It made the tinfoil begin to spark.  

I agree that the evidence put forth in aWoIaF that dragons came to the Oldtown / Hightower area prior to the Long Night, thus before the rise of the Freehold, seems pretty straight forward.  I am 100% on board with that.

I imagine that dragons (and other animals, ie wolves/direwolves) have evolved over the "thousands of years" that Planetos has existed.  It has definitely happened in our real world, so why would GRRM's world be different?   I mentioned Harpys and the flying wyverns of Sothoryos in my last post.   I do not believe that dragons were always "WMDs".  They could have been more like K9s to humans in a way - they can hurt us if we mistreat them, but they are mostly loyal and obedient animals.  I even subscribe that humans and dragons began to share DNA somehow at some point (magic? breeding with them?) throughout the millenia (hello Harpys & and still born babies with leathery wings and tails!). This could  have made the dragons more and more aggressive over time, like their human counterparts.  But, before that part of the dragon evolution would have happened - again, this is Pre-LN - the text makes it seem that dragons were used as "builders" and transportation vehicles.  They were possibly used to build the 5 Forts and the Hightower base and other structures that still stand as evidence.

Then, BOOM!  The Long Night hits the world like a Mike Tyson right hook! Humans, dragons and other living things are almost completely wiped out.  When the lights come back on, this knowledge of "dragon-building" is all forgotten and the world basically starts over from scratch.   A thousand years or so later, Valyrians re-discover dragons and "bred them for battle".  Much in the same ways that elephants are sometimes used for war - but were not necessarily created for war.

This is what a spark in the tin foil does.  

I think that the master who wrote the book assumes that "Bred for battle" ment that somone believed that the ancient valyrians tokk wywerns, experiementet upon them with magic and did some selective breeding to create dragons. But as I said, he dismisses this based on dragon skeleton remains that predate valyria.

[Lordsteve666]

Bred for battle could simply mean the same as what we humans did with horses to use them for battle/farming/transport etc. We didn't "create" horses, but we did find a wild animal and train/domesticate it and then selectively breed it for our own purpose.

I suspect that is what the Valyrians did but with a much larger animal. The additional of various magics to help bind a wild animal to your will would probably help out a fair bit and also give any outsider the impression it was all down to mysticism and dark arts. When in reality I suspect it was more about selective breeding and correct training/raising of the young animals.

[shadows and dust]

Yea, horses are a good example. Dogs too. Could be why they died off. Look at the poor English Bulldog today.

Bread to shit, most cannot even have natural birth anymore.

Could be breeding up the aggression/warhorse in dragons bred down their ability to procreate properly.