Surrounded by the waters of the Summer Sea, north west of the continent of Sothoryos,
was the island of Naath, also known as the Isle of Butterflies, populated by the Naathi
who have been described as beautiful and gentle, with flat faces, golden eyes and dusky skin.
Rejecting violence in all forms, the people have committed to pacifism, refusing to do
harm even in self defense.
Unwilling even to harm animals for food, they were said to eat fruit not flesh and make
music, not war.
As their culture developed over thousands of years, they came to revere the butterflies
of the island as messengers of the Lord of Harmony, the god they believed created the
universe and everything within.
Working on behalf of their maker, the butterflies also act as protectors, preventing outsiders
from conquering the island.
Known to be clever and docile in nature, the Naathi were considered excellent slaves, highly
valued all over the world, including the pleasure houses of Lys, famed for their Naathi women,
wearing butterfly wings.
However every attempt to settle the island, establish a colony or even a trading post
has ended in disaster, as outsiders would soon develop an illness called butterfly fever,
if they stayed on the island for a prolonged period of time.
This terrible disease, started with a fever, before causing its victims to flail around
like their dancing, then sweating blood and feeling the flesh fall from their bones.
Due to this malady, the Naathi claim no strangers have lasted longer than a year on the island.
However, many were originally unaware of the danger, and so a number of attempts were made
to conquer the island, each ending in death and retreat.
It is believed the Ghiscari were the first foreign power to discover the island of Naath,
and so the Old empire made three separate attempts at conquest, each ending in failure.
When the Dragonlords of the Valyrian Freehold rose to prominence, they too attempted to
maintain a presence on the island, building a fort of fused dragonstone.
But again they were forced to abandon their mission.
Next came adventurers from Volantis, who managed to build a small trade town with timber palisades
and slave pens, before having to leave it all behind.
Roughly 700 years before the targaryen conquest of westeros, the Rhoynar people were invaded
and conquered by the ever expanding Valyrian Freehold, forcing the survivors to flee their
homeland and find a new place to settle, following their leader Princess Nymeria aboard 10,000
ships.
After departing from Essos, the Rhoynar initially travelled to the Basilisk Isles, and then
Sothoryos, but were unable to create a permanent settlement due to the many dangers from natives,
wildlife, disease and pirates.
This then led them to journey to the island of Naath, where the native population welcomed
them with open arms.
However the Rhoynar soon began to lose their people to the butterfly fever, and so were
forced to once again board their ships and continue seeking a new home, eventually settling
in the Dorne.
Over the years many pirates also made a number of failed attempts to settle the island, however
they soon realized that it was safer and more profitable to simply raid them in the middle
of the night, capturing as many Naathi slaves as possible and sailing back out to sea before
the sun rose.
Despite the occasional raid or attempt at conquest, before the Doom of Valyria, many
of the Naathi lived on the coastlines of their island, trading silk and spiced wine to foreign
traders.
However with the fall of the freehold, and the outbreak of war across essos during the
century of blood, slavers drastically escalated their attack, forcing the Naathi to retreat
from their shores, moving inland to seek refuge in the hills and forests.