Bordered by the Summer and Jade Seas, Sothoryos was a continent little understood but greatly
feared by the people of Westeros, as the information available named it a land of viscious wildlife,
savage natives and deadly diseases, with stories sometimes seeming to stray from credulity
into mythology. Although a number of civilizations attempted to explore the heavily jungled continent,
only its Northern coast was properly mapped, meaning the lands full size and shape remained
unknown, along with any possible civilizations or wildlife populating those unexplored regions.
Masterful sailors living west of Sothoryos, rumours say Summer Islanders may have mapped
the southern half of the continent, but refuse to share this information with outsiders.
A vast land of bountiful resources, stories claim many different species once inhabited
the continent, such as walking Lizard Men and eyeless Cave Dwellers, who were either
driven to extinction or migration, forced further south, leaving the Sothoryi of Brindled
men as the dominant native population of the North. A large, well muscled people, said
to have thick dark skin brindled with white patterns as well as broad, flat noses, sloped
foreheads, huge square teeth, heavy jaws and coarse black hair. Though some considered
them intellectually inferior, they were prized for their strength and skill as warriors,
making excellent pit fighters. In order to interact and trade with passing vessels, the
Sothoryi living along the northern coast learned trade talk, a gutteral mix of words from many
different languages, which over time became a common form of communication between disparate
travellers around the world. Yet while these northern settlers were often relatively easy
to exploit and capture as slaves, travelling further south meant encountering natives far
more fearsome and territorial, with rumors claiming they practiced cannibalism and horrific
religious rituals in worship of dark gods. Yet the native Sothoryi represented only a
minor danger to foreign visitors, when compared to the far deadlier threat of diseases running
rampant throughout the continent, like Blood Boils, Bronze Pate, Brown Leg, The Dancing
Plague, Greyscale, Green Fever, Pus Eye, Red Death, Sailor’s bane, Sweetrot, Wormbone,
and Yellowgum. The Westerosi scholar Archmaester Ebrose, who studied centuries worth of accounts
by travellers to the east, determined that on average, 9 of every 10 Westerosi travellers
to Sothoryos would contract an illness, and of those half would die.
If that were not enough, the continent was also home to a wide array of dangerous wildlife,
including giant apes, large enough to knock out an elephant with a single blow, basilisks,
crocodiles, carnivorous fish, stinging flies, huge deadly snakes, wasps, worms, white vampire
bats from a region called the Green Hell, tattooed lizards and viscous Wyverns, aggressive
winged beasts possibly kin to dragons, similar in appearance, though without the ability
to breath fire. Yet despite these dangers, Sothoryos continued to attract visitors and
eventually invaders, as it was a resource rich land of untold possibilities.
While little was known about the continent’s precolonial history, explorers discovered
a number of intriguing clues over the years, including the ruins of Yeen, an old abandoned
city made of oily black stone, the same material seemingly used to create a giant toad statue
on the nearby isle of toads and many other ancient constructs throughout the world, like
the seastone chair of the iron islands, and the buildings in Asshai. Further, the stone
blocks used to build yeen were enormous, requiring a dozen elephants to move. Though nothing
was known of those who built this city or its original inhabitants, Yeen was believed
cursed, as every other attempt to settle the area had ended in catastrophe.
When the ancient Qaathi people first discovered Sothoryos, they depicted it as an island twice
the size of great moraq, but as time went on they realized their error, when no explorer
could find the southern most edge. The first known power to colonize Sothoryos, the Ghiscari
Empire established the walled city of Zamettar at the mouth of Zamoyos river, the penal colony
of Gorosh at Wyvern Point and the city of Gorgai on the Isle of Tears just north of
the continent, in the Basilisk Isles. When the Dragon Lords of the Valyrian Freehold
rose to rival the Ghiscari Empire, they too settled Sothoryos, establishing 3 colonies
on Basilisk Point, losing the first to a raid by the Brindled Men and second to disease.
Yet their fortunes turned when Valyria captured the city of Gorgai in the Third Ghiscari War,
converting it into the penal colony Gogossos. They then abandoned their Third Basilisk Point
colony after Valyria’s victory in the Fourth Ghiscari war, moving their people into the
newly acquired city of Zamettar. During the Age of Valyria, the dragonrider Jaenara Belaerys flew
her dragon Terrax as far south as possible, hoping to find the southern most edge of Sothoryos,
but after three years returned home, claiming to have found only jungle, deserts, and mountains,
calling it a "land without end." Holding Zamettar for a time, the harsh conditions
of the continent eventually led the Valyrians to abandon the city, allowing for Princess
Nymeria and her Rhoynar refugees to settle the region around 700 BC. Legends say Nymeria
led 10 000 ships from their homeland along the river Rhoyne to escape conquest by the
Valyrians, establishing settlements along Basilisk point as well as repopulating the
city of Zammetar and ruins of Yeen. Yet over the course of their first year, they suffered
so many raids and plagues it was clear they could not remain. The final calamity occurred
after two newly found towns were sacked by raiders, when a ship journeyed south from
Zemattar along the river Zamoyos, only to discover the entire population of Yeen vanished
overnight. Believing the city cursed, Nymeria remarked how even after thousands of years
the black stone buildings were never reclaimed by nature, calling it "a city so evil that
even the jungle will not enter." Convinced they must depart these lands, Nymeria gathered
as many remaining Rhoynar as possible and sailed west in search of a new home, eventually
settling in Dorne. With so many failed attempts to colonize the
continent, Zamettar was the only major settlement to sustain a significant population for an
extended period of time. But eventually it to fell and was replaced as the greatest city
of the region by Gogossos, the former penal colony which thrived after the Doom of Valyria,
becoming a major slave port on par with the city states of Slaver’s bay. Known as the
Tenth free city during the century of blood, Gogossos was poised to become a major power
in the region until the city was ravaged by the Red Death in 25BC, a horrifying plague
which killed 9 of every 10 residents, destroying the city and it’s trade empire. In the wake
of this power vacuum, the Basilisk Isles became a refuge for criminals, pirates, exiles, and
prostitutes. Though Sothoryos remained a mysterious continent
to many in Westeros, at least some information about these lands was collected over the years,
which could not be said for the lands of Ulthos at the very eastern edges of the known world,
a far away continent of which almost nothing was known. Maps of the region suggest Ulthos
might be heavily jungled with a river on its western coast and ruined city on the nearby
island of Ulos. Given it’s distance to Westeros, and proximity to other, near mythical locations
like Asshai and the Shadow Mountains, little reliable information about the region existed,
with Maesters uncertain whether it was even an independent continent or just a large island,
with some even suggesting it might be connected to Sothoryos or Essos.