Difference between revisions of "Siege of Astapor"

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| place = [[Astapor]]
 
| place = [[Astapor]]
 
| result = Astapor sacked and burned<br>Migration of survivors
 
| result = Astapor sacked and burned<br>Migration of survivors
| combatant1 = Astapori freedmen
+
| combatant1 = '''Astapor'''
| combatant2 = [[File:YunkaiHarpie.png|30px]] [[Yunkai]]<br>[[File:GhisHarpie.png|30px]] [[New Ghis]]
+
| combatant2 = [[File:YunkaiHarpie.png|30px]] '''[[Yunkai]]''':
| commander1 = [[Cleon|Cleon the Butcher King]]<br>King [[Cleon the Second]]<br>[[King Cutthroat]]<br>[[Queen Whore]]
+
*[[File:Windblown.svg|20px]] [[Windblown]]
| commander2 = [[File:YunkaiHarpie.png|20px]] [[Yunkai]] [[Wise Masters]]<br>[[File:Windblown.svg|20px]] [[Tattered Prince]]<br>[[Bloodbeard]]
+
*[[Company of the Cat]]
 +
[[File:GhisHarpie.png|30px]] '''[[New Ghis]]'''
 +
| commander1 = [[Cleon|Cleon the Butcher King]]<br>King [[Cleon the Second]]<br>[[King Cutthroat]]<br>[[Queen Whore]]
 +
| commander2 = [[File:YunkaiHarpie.png|20px]] [[Wise Masters]]<br>[[File:Windblown.svg|20px]] [[Tattered Prince]]<br>[[Bloodbeard]]
 
| strength1 = [[Unsullied]] defenders
 
| strength1 = [[Unsullied]] defenders
| strength2 = Yunkish slave soldiers<br>[[Windblown]]<br>[[Company of the Cat]]<br>Legions from [[New Ghis]]
+
| strength2 = Yunkish slave soldiers<br>2,000 Windblown (foot and horse)<br>3,000 [[Company of the Cat]]<br>Iron legions from [[New Ghis]]
 
| casualties1 =  
 
| casualties1 =  
 
| casualties2 =  
 
| casualties2 =  
 
}}
 
}}
  
The '''siege of Astapor''' takes place prior to the Yunkish march to [[Yunkai]] for provisions and fresh horses and thence to lay siege to [[Meereen]], the city ruled by Queen [[Daenerys Targaryen]].
+
The '''siege of Astapor'''{{ref|ADWD|23}} or '''fight beneath the walls of Astapor'''{{ref|ADWD|25}} takes place after the [[fall of Astapor]] to [[Daenerys Targaryen]] and before the [[siege of Meereen]] by [[Yunkai]].
  
 
==Prelude==
 
==Prelude==
The [[Yunkai]], in their fight against [[Daenerys Targaryen]], contract the [[Windblown]] [[mercenary]] company from [[Volantis]]; their first task is to travel east to [[Slaver's Bay]] and take over [[Astapor]] from the freed former slaves.{{Ref|ADWD|6}}{{Ref|ADWD|25}}
+
After the [[fall of Astapor]], [[Daenerys Targaryen]] free the city's [[slaves]] and names a council to rule the city. [[Cleon]] slays the council after Daenerys departs, however, and proclaims himself king.{{ref|ASOS|71}}
  
By the time the Windblown scramble from the ships that have brought them from Old [[Volantis]] they hear the news that King [[Cleon]] the Butcher King is dead, King [[Cleon the Second]] is also dead, and the Astapori are now ruled by [[King Cutthroat]] and [[Queen Whore]].
+
[[Yunkai]], one of the remaining [[Slaver Cities]], declares war on Astapor, and the Yunkai'i hire several [[sellsword]] companies, including the [[Long Lances]], the [[Company of the Cat]], and the [[Windblown]].{{ref|ADWD|6}} The Yunkish are also joined by two [[iron legions]] from [[New Ghis]], and Cleon is defeated in a [[battle at the Horns of Hazzat]].{{ref|ADWD|16}}
  
Meanwhile, the forces of Yunkai and its allies and other [[sellsword]] companies have besieged Astapor. They devour the Astapori crops and slaughter their herds. Inside, the Astapori starve; and resort to eating cats and rats and leather, with a horsehide considered a feast. King Cutthroat and Queen Whore accuse each other of feasting on the flesh of the slain. Men and women gather in secret to draw lots and gorge upon the flesh of those who draw the black stone.
+
The armies of the Yunkai'i descend on Astapor.{{ref|ADWD|16}} When Cleon commands the Astapori to march out against the Yunkai'i, the Butcher King is slain by his own soldiers. Another man declares himself [[Cleon the Second]], but his throat is cut eight days later. That man's killer claims the crown, as does the first Cleon's concubine. The supporters of the rival monarchs fight within Astapor.{{ref|ADWD|23}}
  
The [[pyramid of Nakloz]] is despoiled and set aflame by those who claim that [[Kraznys mo Nakloz]] is to blame for all their woes. Others blame Daenerys but many still love her. There are rumors that King [[Cleon]] sent for Daenerys and she is coming. Every day the citizens tell each other that Daenerys is on her way, at the head of a great host, with food for all. There are other rumors that she has been seen mounted on a [[dragon]] flying high above the camps of the Yunkai'i. Every day the citizens look for her.
+
Meanwhile, the forces of Yunkai and its allies besiege Astapor, devour the Astapori crops, and slaughter their herds. Inside, the Astapori starve; [[King Cutthroat]] and [[Queen Whore]] accuse each other of feasting on the flesh of the slain. Men and women gather in secret to draw lots and gorge upon the flesh of those who draw a black stone. The [[pyramid of Nakloz]] is despoiled and set aflame by those who claim that [[Kraznys mo Nakloz]] is to blame for all their woes. Others blame Daenerys but many still love her. There are rumors that King Cleon sent for Daenerys and she is coming at the head of a great host, with food for all. There are other rumors that she has been seen mounted on a [[dragon]] flying high above the camps of the Yunkai'i.{{ref|ADWD|30}}
  
Inside the desperate city the [[Green Grace (Astapor)|Green Grace]] has a vision that dead King Cleon will deliver Astapor from the Yunkai. The despairing Astapori heed this vision and attempt to break the siege, making the disastrous decision to have Cleon's corpse disinterred and strapped onto the back of a starving horse to lead Astapor's new and vastly inferior [[Unsullied]] on a sortie outside the city's gates.{{Ref|ADWD|30|pages 398-402}}  
+
Inside the desperate city the [[Green Grace (Astapor)|Green Grace]] has a vision that dead King Cleon will deliver Astapor from the Yunkai. The despairing Astapori heed this vision and attempt to break the siege, making the decision to have Cleon's corpse disinterred and strapped onto the back of a starving horse to lead Astapor's new and inferior [[Unsullied]] on a sortie outside the city's gates.{{Ref|ADWD|30}}  
  
 
==Battle==
 
==Battle==
 +
The fight beneath the walls of [[Astapor]] begins at dawn when the new [[Unsullied]] march out of the gates in a sortie against the forces of [[Yunkai]] and its allies and [[sellsword]]s. Some of the [[Windblown]] are asleep when the battle commences so they must quickly don their armor. Three hundred yards away Astapor's Unsullied pour through the gates and form up in ranks beneath Astapor's crumbling red brick walls. Having joined the mercenaries in disguise, Prince [[Quentyn Martell]], Ser [[Archibald Yronwood]], and Ser [[Gerris Drinkwater]] join the Windblown horse line as drums beat in the distance. Gerris points out to Quentyn the Butcher King, sitting tall upon an armored horse in a suit of [[copper]] scale that flashes brilliantly in the [[sun]].{{ref|ADWD|25}}
  
The battle begins at dawn when the new [[Unsullied]] march out the city's gates on the sortie against the forces of Yunkai and its allies and [[sellsword]]s.
+
As the Yunkishmen run about in ''[[tokar]]s'' trying to arrange their half-trained slave soldiers, Unsullied spears crash through the siege lines. The Windblown and the [[Company of the Cat]] are ahorse in minutes, however, and they thunder down on the Astapori flanks. At the same time, an [[iron legion]] from [[New Ghis]] pushes through the Yunkish camp from the other side and meets the Unsullied spear to spear and shield to shield. The rest of the battle is butchery.  
  
Some of the [[Windblown]] are asleep when the battle commences so they must quickly don their armour. Three hundred yards away Astapor's Unsullied pour through the gates and form up in ranks beneath Astapor's crumbling red brick walls. [[Quentyn Martell]], Ser [[Archibald Yronwood]], and Ser [[Gerris Drinkwater]] join the Windblown horse line as drums beat in the distance. Gerris points out to Quentyn the Butcher King, sitting tall upon an armored horse in a suit of copper scale that flashes brilliantly in the sun.
+
[[Caggo]] cuts the Butcher King down, fighting through the king's protectors on his monstrous warhorse and opening Cleon the Great from shoulder to hip with one blow of his curved [[Valyrian steel]] ''[[arakh]]''. Cleon's fall breaks the Astapori Unsullied; they throw down their spears and shields and run, only to find the gates of Astapor shut behind them. The Windblown ride down and slaughter the frightened eunuchs, slashing right and left through the Unsullied.{{ref|ADWD|25}}
  
As the Astapori advance the Yunkishmen are still running about in fluttering [[tokar]]s trying to get their half-trained slave soldiers into some semblance of order as Unsullied spears oame crashing through the Windblown siege lines.  
+
After the defeat of their Unsullied outside the walls, the Astapori impale the Green Grace upon a stake in the [[Plaza of Punishment]] and leave her until she dies. In the [[pyramid of Ullhor]], survivors hold a great feast with [[poison]]ed wine in the night so they will die by the morning. The [[bloody flux]] then kills three men in every four.{{ref|ADWD|30}}
The Windblown and the [[Company of the Cat]] are ahorse in minutes, however, and come thundering down on the Astapori flanks even as a legion from [[New Ghis]] pushes through the Yunkish camp from the other side and meets the Unsullied spear to spear and shield to shield. The rest of the battle is butchery.  
 
  
It is [[Caggo]] who finally cuts the Butcher King down, fighting through the king's protectors on his monstrous warhorse and opening Cleon the Great from shoulder to hip with one blow of his curved [[Valyrian steel]] ''[[arakh]]''. It is claimed that Cleon's copper armour rent like silk, and from within came an awful stench and a hundred wriggling grave worms. Cleon had been dead after all - the desperate Astapori had pulled him from his tomb, clapped him into armour, and tied him onto a horse in the hopes of giving heart to their Unsullied. The act of cutting the Butcher King down earns Caggo the name ''Corpsekiller''.  
+
A mob of Astapori eventually slay the guards and open the main gate, allowing the legions to come pouring into Astapor, followed by the [[Yunkai]]'i and the [[sellsword]]s on their horses. [[Queen Whore]] is killed in the fighting, and [[King Cutthroat]] is torn apart by dogs in a [[fighting pit]].{{ref|ADWD|30}} The legions seal the doors of the [[Temple of the Graces]], which is full of sick Astapori, and set the building afire. The blaze spreads throughout Astapor, however.{{ref|ADWD|30}} There is no way out, for the Yunkai'i have sealed the broken gates to keep the dead and dying inside the city.{{ref|ADWD|25}}
  
Dead Cleon's fall breaks the Astapori Unsullied; they throw down their spears and shields and run, only to find the gates of Astapor shut behind them. Slaughter follows; the Windblown ride down the frightened eunuchs, slashing right and left through the Unsullied.  
+
==Aftermath==
 +
The [[Tattered Prince]] takes the lion's share of the [[Windblown]]'s Astapori plunder.{{ref|ADWD|25}} [[Caggo]] becomes known as ''Corpsekiller'' for having cut down the already-dead [[Cleon]] in battle, although he does not care for the name. The allied hosts march north to [[Yunkai]] to take provisions before continuing on to [[Meereen]].{{ref|ADWD|25}}
  
When the Windblown burst out the other side, the [[Tattered Prince]] wheels them round and leads them through again. It is only on coming back that Quentyn has a good look at the faces beneath the spiked bronze caps and realises that most are not older than he – green boys screaming for their mothers, but he kills them all the same.  By the time he leaves the field his sword runs red with blood and his arm is so tired he can hardly lift it.
+
Hundreds or thousands of Astapori survivors eventually pour into the countryside, but many have the bloody flux. The Yunkai'i command their sellswords to hunt the survivors and drive them back to Astapor or north to Meereen to prevent the Astapori from going near the Yellow City of Yunkai.{{ref|ADWD|30}}
  
Quentyn later thinks to himself that the fight beneath the walls of Astapor seemed real enough to him but according to [[Denzo D'han]], the veteran of a hundred battles, it was butchery, not battle.
+
In Meereen, [[Daenerys Targaryen]] receives the news of the fall from three escaped Astapori, a brickmaker, a weaver, and a cobbler. From her terrace at the [[Great Pyramid]] she thinks the sky to the southwest in the direction of Astapor is smudged and hazy with smoke.{{Ref|ADWD|30}}
  
== Fall and Aftermath==
+
==Quotes==
After the defeat of the [[Unsullied]] the Green Grace is impaled upon a stake in the [[Plaza of Punishment]] and left until she dies. In the [[pyramid of Ullhor]], the survivors have a great feast that lasts half the night, and they wash the last of their food down with poison wine so none need wake in the morning. 
+
{{quote|The [[Astapor|Red City]] was the closest thing to hell he ever hoped to know.{{ref|ADWD|25}}|thoughts of [[Quentyn Martell]]}}
 
 
Soon after comes the sickness, the [[bloody flux]] that kills three men in every four, until healthy men slay the guards at the main gate.  The guards are torn apart and the gates thrown open.  The legions of [[New Ghis]] come pouring into [[Astapor]], followed by the [[Yunkai]]'i and the [[sellsword]]s on their horses. When the city fall the butchery begins. 
 
 
 
The [[Temple of the Graces]] is full of the sick who have come to ask the gods to heal them.  The legions seal the doors and set the temple ablaze with torches. Within the hour fires begin in every corner of the city, joining one another as they spread.  The streets are full of mobs, running this way and that to escape the flames, but there is no way out, for the Yunkai'i sealed the broken gates to keep the dead and dying inside the city.
 
 
 
Riding through the city [[Quentyn Martell]] sees a river choked with corpses and the Green Grace in her torn robes, impaled upon a stake and attended by a cloud of glistening flies.  Dying men stagger through the streets, bloody and befouled, children fighting over half-cooked puppies.  There are flames and fires everywhere., whirling from brick pyramids larger than any castle Quentyn has ever seen, plums of greasy smoke, coiling upward like great black snakes.
 
  
Soon there is nothing left in Astapor but corpses. What Astapori that still survive creep out of their hidey-holes and pour out into the countryside, hundreds of them, maybe thousands, all starved and sick – many have the bloody flux.  The Yunkai'i command the sellswords to hunt them down and turn them, driving them back to Astapor or north to [[Meereen]] to prevent the Astapori from going near the Yellow City. 
+
{{Quote|We were dancing with cripples at [[Astapor]].{{ref|ADWD|25}}|[[Beans]] to [[Books]]}}
  
[[Daenerys Targaryen]] receives the news of the fall from three escaped Astapori: a brickmaker, a weaver and a cobbler.{{Ref|ADWD|30|pages 398-402}} Afterwards she goes out to her terrace and it seems to her that the sky is darker to the southwest, smudged and hazy with the smoke of the Red City's passing.
+
{{quote|That was butchery, not battle.{{ref|ADWD|25}}|[[Denzo D'han]] to the [[Windblown]]}}
  
The [[Tattered Prince]] takes the lion's share of the [[Windblown]]'s Astapori plunder.
+
{{quote|By the time he'd left the field, his sword was running red with blood and his arm was so tired he could hardly lift it.{{ref|ADWD|25}}|thoughts of [[Quentyn Martell]]}}
  
Quentyn reflects to himself that the sights he saw riding down the red brick streets of Astapor will haunt him forever and that the Red City was the closest thing to hell he ever hopes to know.
+
{{quote|Ash and bone is Astapor, and ash and bone its people.{{ref|ADWD|30}}|thoughts of [[Daenerys Targaryen]]}}
 
 
==Quotes==
 
{{Quote|We were dancing with cripples at Astapor.{{ref|ADWD|25}}|[[Beans]], on the siege of Astapor}}
 
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
Line 71: Line 66:
  
  
{{Template:Targaryen campaign in Slavers Bay}}
+
{{Targaryen campaign in Slavers Bay}}
  
 
[[Category:Astapor]]
 
[[Category:Astapor]]

Revision as of 22:00, 17 May 2020

Siege of Astapor
Conflict Targaryen campaign in Slaver's Bay
Date 300 AC
Place Astapor
Result Astapor sacked and burned
Migration of survivors
Combatants
Astapor YunkaiHarpie.png Yunkai: GhisHarpie.png New Ghis
Commanders
Cleon the Butcher King
King Cleon the Second
King Cutthroat
Queen Whore
YunkaiHarpie.png Wise Masters
Windblown.svg Tattered Prince
Bloodbeard
Strength
Unsullied defenders Yunkish slave soldiers
2,000 Windblown (foot and horse)
3,000 Company of the Cat
Iron legions from New Ghis

The siege of Astapor[1] or fight beneath the walls of Astapor[2] takes place after the fall of Astapor to Daenerys Targaryen and before the siege of Meereen by Yunkai.

Prelude

After the fall of Astapor, Daenerys Targaryen free the city's slaves and names a council to rule the city. Cleon slays the council after Daenerys departs, however, and proclaims himself king.[3]

Yunkai, one of the remaining Slaver Cities, declares war on Astapor, and the Yunkai'i hire several sellsword companies, including the Long Lances, the Company of the Cat, and the Windblown.[4] The Yunkish are also joined by two iron legions from New Ghis, and Cleon is defeated in a battle at the Horns of Hazzat.[5]

The armies of the Yunkai'i descend on Astapor.[5] When Cleon commands the Astapori to march out against the Yunkai'i, the Butcher King is slain by his own soldiers. Another man declares himself Cleon the Second, but his throat is cut eight days later. That man's killer claims the crown, as does the first Cleon's concubine. The supporters of the rival monarchs fight within Astapor.[1]

Meanwhile, the forces of Yunkai and its allies besiege Astapor, devour the Astapori crops, and slaughter their herds. Inside, the Astapori starve; King Cutthroat and Queen Whore accuse each other of feasting on the flesh of the slain. Men and women gather in secret to draw lots and gorge upon the flesh of those who draw a black stone. The pyramid of Nakloz is despoiled and set aflame by those who claim that Kraznys mo Nakloz is to blame for all their woes. Others blame Daenerys but many still love her. There are rumors that King Cleon sent for Daenerys and she is coming at the head of a great host, with food for all. There are other rumors that she has been seen mounted on a dragon flying high above the camps of the Yunkai'i.[6]

Inside the desperate city the Green Grace has a vision that dead King Cleon will deliver Astapor from the Yunkai. The despairing Astapori heed this vision and attempt to break the siege, making the decision to have Cleon's corpse disinterred and strapped onto the back of a starving horse to lead Astapor's new and inferior Unsullied on a sortie outside the city's gates.[6]

Battle

The fight beneath the walls of Astapor begins at dawn when the new Unsullied march out of the gates in a sortie against the forces of Yunkai and its allies and sellswords. Some of the Windblown are asleep when the battle commences so they must quickly don their armor. Three hundred yards away Astapor's Unsullied pour through the gates and form up in ranks beneath Astapor's crumbling red brick walls. Having joined the mercenaries in disguise, Prince Quentyn Martell, Ser Archibald Yronwood, and Ser Gerris Drinkwater join the Windblown horse line as drums beat in the distance. Gerris points out to Quentyn the Butcher King, sitting tall upon an armored horse in a suit of copper scale that flashes brilliantly in the sun.[2]

As the Yunkishmen run about in tokars trying to arrange their half-trained slave soldiers, Unsullied spears crash through the siege lines. The Windblown and the Company of the Cat are ahorse in minutes, however, and they thunder down on the Astapori flanks. At the same time, an iron legion from New Ghis pushes through the Yunkish camp from the other side and meets the Unsullied spear to spear and shield to shield. The rest of the battle is butchery.

Caggo cuts the Butcher King down, fighting through the king's protectors on his monstrous warhorse and opening Cleon the Great from shoulder to hip with one blow of his curved Valyrian steel arakh. Cleon's fall breaks the Astapori Unsullied; they throw down their spears and shields and run, only to find the gates of Astapor shut behind them. The Windblown ride down and slaughter the frightened eunuchs, slashing right and left through the Unsullied.[2]

After the defeat of their Unsullied outside the walls, the Astapori impale the Green Grace upon a stake in the Plaza of Punishment and leave her until she dies. In the pyramid of Ullhor, survivors hold a great feast with poisoned wine in the night so they will die by the morning. The bloody flux then kills three men in every four.[6]

A mob of Astapori eventually slay the guards and open the main gate, allowing the legions to come pouring into Astapor, followed by the Yunkai'i and the sellswords on their horses. Queen Whore is killed in the fighting, and King Cutthroat is torn apart by dogs in a fighting pit.[6] The legions seal the doors of the Temple of the Graces, which is full of sick Astapori, and set the building afire. The blaze spreads throughout Astapor, however.[6] There is no way out, for the Yunkai'i have sealed the broken gates to keep the dead and dying inside the city.[2]

Aftermath

The Tattered Prince takes the lion's share of the Windblown's Astapori plunder.[2] Caggo becomes known as Corpsekiller for having cut down the already-dead Cleon in battle, although he does not care for the name. The allied hosts march north to Yunkai to take provisions before continuing on to Meereen.[2]

Hundreds or thousands of Astapori survivors eventually pour into the countryside, but many have the bloody flux. The Yunkai'i command their sellswords to hunt the survivors and drive them back to Astapor or north to Meereen to prevent the Astapori from going near the Yellow City of Yunkai.[6]

In Meereen, Daenerys Targaryen receives the news of the fall from three escaped Astapori, a brickmaker, a weaver, and a cobbler. From her terrace at the Great Pyramid she thinks the sky to the southwest in the direction of Astapor is smudged and hazy with smoke.[6]

Quotes

The Red City was the closest thing to hell he ever hoped to know.[2]

—thoughts of Quentyn Martell

We were dancing with cripples at Astapor.[2]

Beans to Books

That was butchery, not battle.[2]

By the time he'd left the field, his sword was running red with blood and his arm was so tired he could hardly lift it.[2]

—thoughts of Quentyn Martell

Ash and bone is Astapor, and ash and bone its people.[6]

—thoughts of Daenerys Targaryen

References