Eastern banners and colors

[dewell]

Hi there,

in the course of my investigation for my Civilization 4 Modification for ASoIaF I'm looking for information and art about the Eastern banners and colors.

I'm aware that some information ain't given right now and I have to improvise sometimes.

Right now I need ideas for following "civilizations"

• 9 Free Cities in general and particular
  
• The Dothraki
  
• Slaver's Bay (Meereen, Astapor, Volantis)
  
• Qarth
  

Right now I need a primary color, a secondary color and a symbol(f.e. House Lannister got dark red as primary, gold as secondary color and the lion as symbol) as well as leaders and especially images for them for each civilization.

As leaders I thought about:

• 9 Free Cities: Magisters, (what else?)
  
• The Dothraki: Khal Drogo, Khal Jogo
  
• Slaver's Bay: Good Masters, Great Masters, Wise Masters, Cleon the Butcher King, Kraznys mo Nakloz
  
• Qarth: The Pureborn, The Merchant Princes
  

As heraldry I tought about:

• 9 Free Cities: ?????
  
• The Dothraki: white horse on brown ground (?)
  
• Slaver's Bay: bronze Harpy with chains and manacles
  
• Qarth: ?????
  

Summary: What are the colors and banners of the Free Cities and eastern civilizations?

[Datepalm]

I think the symbols of Qohor would be their famous black goat, and Braavos would be the Titan. Norvos also seems to have a thing with bears.

[dewell]

Ah great ideas ... Titan in general for the 9 Cities (and later just for Braavos) will work well for now :)

[feardeathbywater]

•9 Free Cities: Magisters, (what else?)

Tyrosh has an Archon, fitting with the idea of their being the "Athens" of the Free Cities. Pentos has a prince who sounds like the doges of Venice.

I wonder if the beard-dyeing is done in the offical colors of the home city?

[Guest Other-in-Law]

I wonder if the beard-dyeing is done in the offical colors of the home city?

If so, then Green would be a Tyrosh colur, since it's frequently mentioned among Tyroshi.

The colour purple seems to be associated with Braavos. The Purple Harbor is for Braavosi ships, the Ragman's Harbor for foreigners. And all the Braavosi ships are painted purple and have purple sails. It seems to me that a broken sword is a symbol of Braavos, too. The Titan holds a broken sword aloft, and the banner of the Second Sons had a broken sword when it was commanded by Mero, the Titan's Bastard (not sure if they have a different banner now under Brown Ben Plumm).

[dewell]

Wonderful .. I knew it would benefit to ask here ;) Broken sword on purple ground will be great for Braavos ... thanks ;)

[feardeathbywater]

The information given about Norvos in AFfC suggests that it is based on Bern (three bell towers, bears, upper and lower city, elite guardsmen using what I assume to be a polearm of some kind -longaxe?) Bern's colors are red and yellow, with a black bear as their symbol. Volantis, which I imagine to be based on Marseilles (old slave-trading port at the mouth of the Rhone) could perhaps borrow the bull and lion of that city's coat of arms.

If Tyrosh really does have an Athens connection, perhaps an owl?

Just a thought.

[Daena the Defiant]

Quarth seems to have a thing for camels, so maybe that could be part of their banner? One of the main gates to the city alsoo displays a pair of twining snakes?

[Spastic Plastic]

The information given about Norvos in AFfC suggests that it is based on Bern (three bell towers, bears, upper and lower city, elite guardsmen using what I assume to be a polearm of some kind -longaxe?) Bern's colors are red and yellow, with a black bear as their symbol. Volantis, which I imagine to be based on Marseilles (old slave-trading port at the mouth of the Rhone) could perhaps borrow the bull and lion of that city's coat of arms.

If Tyrosh really does have an Athens connection, perhaps an owl?

Just a thought.

Norvos seemed like Bern to you? To me, all the Free Cities reminded me of city-states in Italy and Greece. Norvos would be more like a Russian merchant city, what with its eastern location and bearded priests.

Tyrosh also struck me as Greek, so an owl would be cool.

[Yakman]

The Ibbenese are frequently described as whalers. Perhaps a whale's tail for them?

[feardeathbywater]

Norvos seemed like Bern to you? To me, all the Free Cities reminded me of city-states in Italy and Greece. Norvos would be more like a Russian merchant city, what with its eastern location and bearded priests.

Well, those are the most well-known city states of history. On the other hand, there were the Imperial free cities of the Holy Roman Empire, the republic of Geneva and the Swiss cantons (independent, with Zurich and Bern very powerful), and east slavic states like Novgorod and Kiev that controlled a vast amount of territory but were centered on and ruled from trading centers from which the polities took their names.

As for Norvos...It doesn't work as well as Novgorod (bears on the coat of arms, but a fairly flat location) or Pskov or Kiev, and those are the ones worth mentioning. I believe that at one point most priests had beards, not merely in the Orthodox tradition. Bears, a divided city on an elevation, three bell towers, famous mercenaries....Bern is best.

Novgorod would work for Qohor, though I always thought of it as being middle-european or Balkan. The defeat of the Dothraki by the Unsullied sounds like Ain Jalut; but the area doesn't really fit, and neither do the surrounding cities. Maybe Baltic or Russia? On the other hand, a city founded by the Romans would make more sense.

I imagine Pentos to be Genoa. A wide, curving bay and a restrictive treaty with the Venice equivalent, Braavos.

Lys screams France, perhaps Brittany, but the description of the city (though not its southerly location) could fit as Stockholm. Maybe Volantis fits better as Kaffa/Theodosia, but that's a bit obscure and thier sigil, an anchor, is just plain boring.

The similarity between Yunkai, Astapor and Meereen and the cities of the Barbary Coast is profound, but their architecture suggests Mesopotamia. But of course we already have the harpy to represent them.

The Ibbenese are frequently described as whalers. Perhaps a whale's tail for them?

Maybe a narwhal?

[Yakman]

Maybe a narwhal?

i'm thinking more like a black whale's back spouting water.

or maybe a harpoonist? or harpoons and rope?

[feardeathbywater]

Narwhal horn crossed with a harpoon? Sealskins maybe, or a berg.

[Datepalm]

Myr seems by a long shot the most advanced and rennaisanceish place in the area - lace, telescopes, crossbows, vivid painting styles. Where did the renaissance start? Florence?

Baraavos obviously draws from Venice, (armoury, masked and aliased 'courtesans') but in style it seems more like some northern european port city with canals - Amsterdam or Hamburg: the climate, fog, pines, dark clothing and ethos of displaying wealth via affected modesty. Theres something protestant about it.

[feardeathbywater]

Myr seems by a long shot the most advanced and rennaisanceish place in the area - lace, telescopes, crossbows, vivid painting styles. Where did the renaissance start? Florence?

Baraavos obviously draws from Venice, (armoury, masked and aliased 'courtesans') but in style it seems more like some northern european port city with canals - Amsterdam or Hamburg: the climate, fog, pines, dark clothing and ethos of displaying wealth via affected modesty. Theres something protestant about it.

Talk about loaded questions. If I had to guess, and could not be subjected to follow-up questions, I'd say it started with the Crusades and was exacerbated by the Black Plague.

Good call on Braavos. I thought it was London weather myself, but in terms of defying an empire Amsterdam works much better.

I've always thought of Myr as Spanish. Barcelona, maybe; but definitely Catalonian.

Didn't you use to have an esset?

[Yakman]

To me, the Titan of Braavos would seem to be the defining symbol of the city, and would likely be featured on any heraldic device that the city would use.

Perhaps a Black Titan on a field of purple?

[feardeathbywater]

Sounds cool. The Mallisters already took silver and purple, right? I don't recall just what the book says the color of the Titan was, but I'd guess it was some very sturdy stone.

Looking in AFfC, it seems that the Tyroshi colors are blue and green.

[Maegor Targaryen]

• 9 Free Cities in general and particular
  
• The Dothraki
  
• Slaver's Bay (Meereen, Astapor, Volantis)
  
• Qarth
  

isn't Volantis a free city?

[The Pale Griffin]

Yunkai is the third city on Slaver's Bay. All the cities on Slaver's Bay have harpies...since they are all descendant cities of the Ghis empire. Check the wiki for info on what the harpies look like.

[Spastic Plastic]

The Meereen symbol is never described, I think. We know the Astapor harpy holds a chain in its claws, and the Yunkai harpy holds a thunderbolt and a whip. Astapor could have a red background and Yunkai yellow, since that's the color of the cities.