Editing Century of Blood (section)

==The Century of Blood==
What followed the [[Doom of Valyria]] was struggle that lasted a century. The destruction of Valyria left a power vacuum in [[Essos]]. According to history, [[Aurion]], a dragonlord who had been visiting [[Qohor]], proclaimed himself the first [[Emperor of Valyria]] and raised forces from the Qohorik. With his dragon and an army of thirty thousand men he marched to claim Valyria's remains, but none were ever seen again.{{ref|TWOIAF| Ancient History: The Doom of Valyria}}

Volantis, then the mightiest of the nine Free Cities, laid claim to Valyria's empire.{{Ref|TWOIAF| Ancient History: The Doom of Valyria}} Meanwhile, the [[Dothraki]] rode out of the east, sacking and burning towns and cities in their way,{{Ref|ASOS|8}} leading to the destruction of several realms.{{Ref|TWOIAF| Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands}}

===War amongst Valyria's Children===
[[File:Aegon Balerion Century of Blood by Sam Keiser (The Rise of the Dragon).jpg|thumb|400px|right|Lord [[Aegon I Targaryen|Aegon Targaryen]] burns the [[Volantene fleet]] on with [[Balerion]] by Sam Keiser for ''[[The Rise of the Dragon]]'']]
As Valyria's "First Daughter", the [[Volantis|Volantenes]] regarded themselves as the rightful successors of the [[dragonlord]]s.{{Ref|twoiaf| The Free Cities: Volantis}} The so-called [[tigers (Volantis)|tigers]], aggressive Volantene nobles descended of Valyrian blood, called for war upon the other cities. Taking control of [[Lys]] and [[Myr]] and commanded the southern reaches of the [[Rhoyne]],{{Ref|TWOIAF| Ancient History: The Doom of Valyria}}{{Ref|ADWD|14}} Volantis ruled their two sister-cities for two generations.{{ref|ADWD|14}}

Resistance began when Volantis attempted to take control of [[Tyrosh]], however,{{ref|twoiaf| Ancient History: The Doom of Valyria}} and in the end, all of the Free Cities, save for [[Lorath]],{{Ref|TWOIAF| The Free Cities: Lorath}} either rebelled against Volantis or joined the alliance against the Volantenes. [[Pentos]] gave Tyrosh aid in their resistance while Myr and Lys rebelled.{{Ref|twoiaf| Ancient History: The Doom of Valyria}} [[Qohor]] and [[Norvos]] made an alliance against Volantis{{Ref|TWOIAF| The Free Cities: Qohor}} and destroyed much of the Volantene fleet controlling the [[Rhoyne]] at [[Dagger Lake]].{{Ref|TWOIAF| Ancient History: The Doom of Valyria}} The [[Titan of Braavos|Titan's]] wrath was provoked in [[Braavos]],{{Ref|TWOIAF| The Free Cities: Braavos}} and the [[Sealord of Braavos]] sent a hundred ships to Lys for further aid.{{ref|twoiaf| Ancient History: The Doom of Valyria}} [[Argilac Durrandon]], the [[Storm King]] from [[Westeros]], led a host into the [[Disputed Lands]], where he defeated an army from Volantis attempting to retake Myr.{{Ref|twoiaf| Ancient History: The Doom of Valyria}}{{Ref|TWOIAF| The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest}}{{Ref|ADWD|14}} Pentos and Tyrosh also approached the last remaining dragonlords, [[House Targaryen]] on [[Dragonstone (island)|Dragonstone]], and a young [[Aegon I Targaryen|Aegon Targaryen]] agreed to join the alliance against Volantis. Mounted on his dragon, [[Balerion]], he flew to [[Lys]], where a Volantene fleet was preparing an invasion, and set the fleet ablaze.{{Ref|TWOIAF| Ancient History: The Doom of Valyria}}{{Ref|ADWD|14}} When Volantis sent a fleet to reclaim Valyria, the fleet disappeared in the [[Smoking Sea]].{{Ref|ADWD|14}} The [[Dothraki]] also attacked weakened Volantis's eastern territory.{{Ref|TWOIAF| Ancient History: The Doom of Valyria}}

In the end, a second political party, the [[elephants (Volantis)|elephants]] seized control of Volantis. Where the tigers had favored conquest, the elephants favored trade and peace. After having held power for almost a century following Valyria's Doom, the tigers were displaced by the rising elephants, and ever since, at least two of the three [[triarchs of Volantis]] have been elephants each year.{{Ref|ADWD|14}}

While Volantis had been the most powerful of the Free Cities shortly after the Doom, the Century of Blood left the city broken, bankrupt, and depopulated.{{Ref|ADWD|14}} Fighting devastated the previously-fertile Disputed Lands,{{Ref|TWOIAF| The Free Cities: The Quarrelsome Daughters: Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh}} where the [[free companies]] were born in the struggle for power.{{Ref|TWOIAF| Ancient History: The Doom of Valyria}} They continue to battle in the [[Disputed Lands]] even in the present day, when [[Tyrosh]], [[Myr]], and [[Lys]] go to war over their borders.{{Ref|TWOIAF| The Free Cities: The Quarrelsome Daughters: Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh}}

Following the power struggles during the Century of Blood, Volantis has mostly been ruled by the elephants instead of the tigers.

===Rise of the Dothraki===
Because of the power vacuum left by the [[Doom of Valyria|Doom]], the [[Dothraki]] came from the east and the grasslands of central [[Essos]] exploded into war. Acting on the advice given by his mother [[Doshi]], [[Khal]] [[Mengo]] united the sixty ''[[khalasar]]s'' and focused on the west. The [[Tall Men]] of the [[Kingdom of Sarnor]] ignored the threat the Dothraki posed, instead attempting to use them in their own wars. Mengo accepted all the Tall Men offered in return for his help, but took the lands they had conquered as well. The fields, farms and towns were burned, and so these lands returned to the wild state they had once had.{{Ref|TWOIAF| Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands}}

The ''khalasar'' of Khal [[Moro]], Mengo's son, destroyed [[Sathar]], slew its men, and took its women and children to be sold as [[slavery|slaves]]. [[Kasath]] and [[Gornath]] both claimed Sathar's ruins, which resulted in conflict between the two Sarnori cities.{{Ref|TWOIAF| Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands}} Six years following Sathar's destruction, Kasath was destroyed as well, and Gornath followed a dozen years later. By then, Khal Moro had been slain and replaced by Khal [[Horro]]. Following Horro's death three years later, his large ''khalasar'' splintered into twelve smaller bands, who continued the conquests. [[Sallosh]], [[Kyth]], and [[Hornoth]] fell. [[Mardosh]] held on for six years, though the city's inhabitants were eventually forced to eat their own dead in order to survive. When the city could endure no more, the men killed their wives and children to keep them from falling into the hands of the Dothraki, after which they made one last charge.{{Ref|TWOIAF| Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands}}

[[File:Field of Crows.jpg|thumb|400px|right|The [[Field of Crows]] and the destruction of [[Sathar]], art by  Paolo Puggioni.]]

Following the fall of Mordosh, the Sarnori united against their enemy, and faced the Dothraki in the tall grasses halfway [[Sarnath]] and the ruins of Kasath. The so-called [[Field of Crows]] ended in Dothraki victory, and a fortnight later, Sarnath was taken and put to the torch. With the Century of Blood drawing to a close, the remaining Sarnori cities fell to the Dothraki. The last to fall was [[Sarys]], though it had been mostly abandoned by the time Khal [[Zeggo]] and his ''khalasar'' arrived.{{Ref|TWOIAF| Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands}} [[Saath]] is the only Sarnori city still standing today, but it has been greatly diminished.{{Ref|TWOIAF| Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands}}

The Valyrian colony [[Essaria]] fell to the Dothraki, as did the [[Ibbenese]] town [[Ibbish]]. As its inhabitants had abandoned the city, the Dothraki renamed the city ''Vaes Aresak'', meaning the "City of Cowards".{{Ref|AWOIAF| Vaes Aresak (Ibbish)}} In the [[red waste]], [[Qaathi]] towns and cities were destroyed as well, including the city [[Qolahn]], now known as Vaes Qosar.{{Ref|AWOIAF| Vaes Qosar (Qolahn)}} The small city now known by the Dothraki name of [[Vaes Orvik]], where a great number of slaves were taken by the Dothraki,{{ref|awoiaf| Vaes Orvik}} and the small Qartheen town now known by the Dothraki name of [[Vaes Shirosi]] also fell to the horselords.{{ref|awoiaf| Vaes Shirosi}} Only Qarth survived, due to the protection of its triple walls.{{Ref|TWOIAF| Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands}}

The [[Ghiscari]] hill city [[Hazdahn Mo]], where Dothraki sold the slaves acquired at the Sarnori city Sathar, was eventually destroyed by the Dothraki as well,{{ref|awoiaf| Vaes Diaf (Hzdahn Mo)}} as were the Ghiscari [[Krazaaj Has|Ghardaq]],{{Ref|awoiaf| Krazaaj Has}} and two towns now only known by their Dothraki names, [[Vaes Efe]]{{ref|awoiaf| Vaes Efe}} and [[Vaes Mejhah]].{{ref|awoiaf| Vaes Mejhah}} Also conquered by the Dothraki were [[Yinishar]], near the [[Bone Mountains]],{{Ref|awoiaf| Vaes Jini (Yinishar)}} and a city now known as [[Vaes Leisi]], a former settlement of the [[Kingdom of the Ifequevron]].{{ref|awoiaf| Vaes Leisi}}

The grasslands of central Essos have since become known as the [[Dothraki sea]], following the expansion of the Dothraki borders.{{ref|twoiaf| Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands}}

====Three Thousand of Qohor====
[[File:HBO QohorKhal TemmoII.png|thumb|400px|right|Khal Temmo awakens to the three thousand [[Unsullied]] at [[Qohor]].]]
:{{Main|Three Thousand of Qohor}}
[[Temmo]], a Dothraki ''khal'', rode west to [[Qohor]], one of the [[Free Cities]]. The Qohorik had prepared for the Dothraki by strengthening their walls and hiring two [[free companies]]. As an afterthought, they sent a man to [[Astapor]] to buy three thousand [[Unsullied]] soldiers, for which that city is famed. The Dothraki reached Qohor before the Unsullied arrived, and defeated Qohor's defenses.

When the Dothraki attempted to sack Qohor the following day, the twenty thousand Dothraki screamers found three thousand Unsullied defending the gates. The Unsullied withstood eighteen charges and killed twenty-four hundred Dothraki, including Temmo. On the fourth day, the new ''khal'' led the survivors through the gates to surrender.{{Ref|twoiaf| Beyond the Free Cities: The Grasslands}}{{Ref|asos|8}}{{Ref|twoiaf| The Free Cities: Qohor}}  As a result of the [[Three Thousand of Qohor]], the city guard of Qohor has since been comprised of Unsullied.{{Ref|asos|8}}{{Ref|twoiaf| The Free Cities: Qohor}}

===Sothoryos===
The [[Doom of Valyria]] and the Century of Blood that followed were also felt in [[Sothoryos]]. Raids on [[Naath]] have since become so frequent that most of the [[Peaceful People]] have moved inland.{{Ref|TWOIAF| Beyond the Free Cities: Naath}} [[Gogossos]] prospered during these years, growing rich and powerful. However, in {{date|-37}}, the city was hit by a terrible plague, the [[Red Death]]. Gogossos was shunned for a century thereafter.{{Ref|TWOIAF| Beyond the Free Cities: The Basilisk Isles}}