Difference between revisions of "Yunkai"

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| image_caption = Yunkai. © Fantasy Flight Games
 
| image_caption = Yunkai. © Fantasy Flight Games
 
| location = [[Slaver's Bay]], [[Essos]]
 
| location = [[Slaver's Bay]], [[Essos]]
| settlement_type = [[Ghiscari]] City
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| settlement_type = [[Ghiscari]] city
 
| seat = [[Wise Masters]]
 
| seat = [[Wise Masters]]
 
| seat_type =  
 
| seat_type =  
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[[File:YunkaiHarpie.png|thumb|300px|Yunkai emblem]]
 
[[File:YunkaiHarpie.png|thumb|300px|Yunkai emblem]]
  
'''Yunkai''', dubbed the '''Yellow City''',{{ref|ADWD|2}} is a city on the eastern coast of [[Slaver's Bay]] in central [[Essos]]. To the west lies the island of [[Yaros]].<ref>''[[A Dance with Dragons]]''', [[Map of Valyria (A Dance with Dragons)|Map of Valyria]]</ref> Yunkai is one hundred leagues north of [[Astapor]] and fifty leagues south of [[Meereen]].{{ref|ADWD|25}} The city's main export is [[slave]]s, specifically bed slaves.{{ref|ASOS|42}}
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'''Yunkai''', dubbed the '''Yellow City''',{{ref|ADWD|2}} is a city on the eastern coast of [[Slaver's Bay]] in central [[Essos]]. To the west lies the island of [[Yaros]].<ref>''[[A Dance with Dragons]]'', [[Map of Valyria (A Dance with Dragons)|Map of Valyria]]</ref> Yunkai is one hundred leagues north of [[Astapor]] and fifty leagues south of [[Meereen]].{{ref|ADWD|25}} The city's main export is [[slave]]s, specifically bed slaves.{{ref|ASOS|42}}
  
 
==The City==
 
==The City==
 
[[File:yunkai.png|thumb|350px|Yunkai as seen in ''[[Game of Thrones]]'']]
 
[[File:yunkai.png|thumb|350px|Yunkai as seen in ''[[Game of Thrones]]'']]
 
:''See also: [[:Category:Images of Yunkai|Images of Yunkai]]''
 
:''See also: [[:Category:Images of Yunkai|Images of Yunkai]]''
Yunkai is made of yellow bricks, with crumbling walls and tall, stepped pyramids. They are ruled by slavers, called the [[Wise Masters]]. Their emblem is a harpy: a woman's torso, wings of a bat instead of arms, legs of an eagle and a scorpion's tail. Its talons grasp a whip and an iron collar.
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Yunkai is made of yellow bricks, with crumbling walls and tall, stepped pyramids, similar to [[Astapor]]. They are ruled by slavers, called the [[Wise Masters]]. Their emblem is a harpy: a woman's torso, wings of a bat instead of arms, legs of an eagle and a scorpion's tail. Its talons grasp a whip and an iron collar.
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 +
The highborn of Yunkai wear linen skirts and tunics dyed a deep yellow and cloaks sewn with copper disks. Because their oiled hair is twisted into towers and shapes, they wear taller helms to preserve the stylings. [[Grazdan mo Eraz]], one of the Wise Masters, wears a ''[[tokar]]'' fringed with [[Myr]]ish lace.{{ref|ASOS|42}} They ride horses and camels.{{ref|ASOS|42}} The walls are defended by crossbowmen and slingers.{{Ref|aSoS|42}}
  
 
==Slavery==
 
==Slavery==
Yunkai can field an army of roughly five thousand men, all slaves. In Yunkai, [[eunuch]]s are made by only cutting the testicles off.{{Ref|aSoS|23}} Yunkai is known for training bed slaves, not warriors. A slave in Yunkai learns the way of the seven sighs and the sixteen seats of pleasure.{{Ref|aSoS|42}}
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Yunkai can field an army of roughly five thousand men, all slaves. In Yunkai, [[eunuch]]s are made by only cutting the testicles off, unlike the [[Unsullied]] of [[Astapor]].{{Ref|aSoS|23}} Yunkai is known for training bed slaves, not warriors. A slave in Yunkai learns the way of the seven sighs and the sixteen seats of pleasure.{{Ref|aSoS|42}}
  
 
==History==
 
==History==
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==Recent Events==
 
==Recent Events==
 
===''A Storm of Swords''===
 
===''A Storm of Swords''===
When [[Daenerys Targaryen]] marches on Yunkai, they supplement their defense with sellswords.{{Ref|aSoS|42}} Daenerys defeats the city in the [[Battle of Yunkai]], turning the [[Second Sons]] and the [[Stormcrows]] in their service to her side.{{Ref|aSoS|42}} After Yunkai's surrender and the liberation of all slaves on the city, Daenerys marches on [[Meereen]].{{Ref|aSoS|57}}
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When [[Daenerys Targaryen]] marches on Yunkai after the [[fall of Astapor]], the [[Wise Masters]] supplement their defense with sellswords.{{Ref|aSoS|42}} Daenerys rejects the offer from [[Grazdan mo Eraz]] for fifty thousand golden marks to leave [[Slaver's Bay]] and head to [[Westeros]].{{ref|ASOS|42}}
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 +
Daenerys defeats the city in a [[battle near Yunkai]], turning the [[Second Sons]] and the [[Stormcrows]] in their service to her side.{{Ref|aSoS|42}} After Yunkai's surrender and the liberation of all [[slaves]] in the city, Daenerys marches on [[Meereen]].{{Ref|aSoS|57}} [[Ghael]] informs Daenerys that [[Cleon]], the new king in [[Astapor]], desires an alliance between Meereen and Astapor against Yunkai.{{ref|ASOS|71}}
  
 
===''A Dance with Dragons''===
 
===''A Dance with Dragons''===

Revision as of 16:57, 18 July 2016

Yunkai
Ghiscari city
Tom Garden Yunkai II.png
Yunkai. © Fantasy Flight Games
Location Slaver's Bay, Essos
Government Wise Masters
Religion Gods of Ghis
Founded Thousands of years ago
Organizations Wise Masters, Graces
Yunkai is located in Slaver's Bay
Yunkai
Slaver's Bay and the location of Yunkai
Yunkai emblem

Yunkai, dubbed the Yellow City,[1] is a city on the eastern coast of Slaver's Bay in central Essos. To the west lies the island of Yaros.[2] Yunkai is one hundred leagues north of Astapor and fifty leagues south of Meereen.[3] The city's main export is slaves, specifically bed slaves.[4]

The City

Yunkai as seen in Game of Thrones
See also: Images of Yunkai

Yunkai is made of yellow bricks, with crumbling walls and tall, stepped pyramids, similar to Astapor. They are ruled by slavers, called the Wise Masters. Their emblem is a harpy: a woman's torso, wings of a bat instead of arms, legs of an eagle and a scorpion's tail. Its talons grasp a whip and an iron collar.

The highborn of Yunkai wear linen skirts and tunics dyed a deep yellow and cloaks sewn with copper disks. Because their oiled hair is twisted into towers and shapes, they wear taller helms to preserve the stylings. Grazdan mo Eraz, one of the Wise Masters, wears a tokar fringed with Myrish lace.[4] They ride horses and camels.[4] The walls are defended by crossbowmen and slingers.[4]

Slavery

Yunkai can field an army of roughly five thousand men, all slaves. In Yunkai, eunuchs are made by only cutting the testicles off, unlike the Unsullied of Astapor.[5] Yunkai is known for training bed slaves, not warriors. A slave in Yunkai learns the way of the seven sighs and the sixteen seats of pleasure.[4]

History

Yunkai was a colony of the Old Empire of Ghis. Although Yunkai survived the destruction of Old Ghis at the hands of the Valyrian Freehold, it was conquered by the Valyrians, who made it a center for the slave trade. The Ghiscari tongue is largely forgotten now,[5] and the Yunkai'i now speak a dialect of Valyrian similar to that of Astapor.[4]

Recent Events

A Storm of Swords

When Daenerys Targaryen marches on Yunkai after the fall of Astapor, the Wise Masters supplement their defense with sellswords.[4] Daenerys rejects the offer from Grazdan mo Eraz for fifty thousand golden marks to leave Slaver's Bay and head to Westeros.[4]

Daenerys defeats the city in a battle near Yunkai, turning the Second Sons and the Stormcrows in their service to her side.[4] After Yunkai's surrender and the liberation of all slaves in the city, Daenerys marches on Meereen.[6] Ghael informs Daenerys that Cleon, the new king in Astapor, desires an alliance between Meereen and Astapor against Yunkai.[7]

A Dance with Dragons

After Daenerys's departure, Yunkai begins preparing for the next conflict by hiring other sellswords, such as the Long Lances, the Windblown and the Company of the Cat. Their envoys travel to Qarth and other free cities spreading false tales about Daenerys in order to gain support to cast her down. Grazdan mo Eraz travels to Volantis to persuade the Triarchs to send their fleet against Daenerys. Yunkai besieges Astapor in an effort to topple the regime that had come into power after Daenerys had sacked that city.[8] A force of a hundred soldiers is commanded by the Girl General.[9]

The Yunkai'i do not lack for commanders. After the Siege of Astapor, on the march to Yunkai to re-supply, the Windblown observe the Yunkish lordlings scuttling everywhere. Yurkhaz zo Yunzak has the supreme command; he comes and goes in a palanquin so huge it requires forty slaves to carry it. Half of the generals have similar sounding names and telling one Ghiscari name from the other is an art few of the Windblown have mastered, so the Windblown give them mocking styles of their own devising: [3]

Every one of the generals is wealthy and arrogant, and everyone is a captain and commander, answerable to no one but Yurkhaz zo Yunzak. They are disdainful of mere sellswords and prone to squabbles over precedence that are as endless as they are incomprehensible. In the time it takes the Windblown to ride three miles, the Yunkai’i have fallen two and a half miles behind. According to Beans they are:

A pack of sinking yellow fools [who] still ain't managed to puzzle out why the Stormcrows and the Second Sons went over to the dragon queen. [3]

Once encamped outside of Meereen Yezzan zo Qaggaz stands foremost amongst the Yunkish lords who favour honouring the peace with Meereen. Most of the other lords are only biding their time, waiting for the armies of Volantis to arrive. A few want to assault the city immediately, lest the Volantenes rob them of their glory and the best part of the plunder. Yezzan would have no part of that, nor would he consent to returning Meereen’s hostages by way of trebuchet – as the sellsword Bloodbeard had proposed.

Later, after the sudden death of Yurkhaz zo Yunzak, Yezzan zo Qaggaz has the most support for supreme command but he then dies of the pale mare. The council of masters have been unable to agree who their new commander should be so presently the Wise Masters are rotating the supreme command amongst themselves with the generals taking a turn each day.[10] They provide the Windblown, and presumably their other sellsword companies, with a chart for the rotation.[11]

Quotes

Ancient and glorious is Yunkai, the queen of cities. Our walls are strong, our nobles proud and fierce, our common folk without fear. Ours is the blood of ancient Ghis, whose empire was old when Valyria was yet a squalling child.[4]

Grazdan mo Eraz, to Daenerys Targaryen


Astapor was complacent and vulnerable. Yunkai is forewarned.[4]

– "Arstan Whitebeard", to Daenerys Targaryen


I spared Yunkai before, but I will not make that mistake again. If they should dare attack me, this time I shall raze their Yellow City to the ground.[12]

Daenerys Targaryen, to Xaro Xhoan Daxos


With their generals, it's a wonder they don't march into the sea.[3]

Beans to the Windblown


Of Yunkai, the yellow city, little needs be said, for it is a most disreputable place. The men who rule it, calling themselves the Wise Masters, are steeped in corruption, selling bed slaves and boy-whores and worse.[13]

- writings of Yandel

Chapters which take place at Yunkai

References and Notes