FAR ESSOS HEADCANONS ( ASOIAF )
Here is a breakdown of headcanons and worldbuilding analysis exploring this historical inspiration.
đ Nomadic Lifestyle and Warfare
⢠The Zebra Steppe: Instead of the Mongol horse, the Jogos Nhai ride zorses (a zebra-horse hybrid). They are uniquely adapted to thrive on the harsh, dry plains of Essos. [1, 2]
⢠Constant Migration: Like the ancient Mongol tribes, the Jogos Nhai do not build permanent cities. They live in yurts (called yul) and move constantly to find fresh pasture. [1]
⢠Scorched Earth Defense: When the Golden Empire of Yi Ti attempts to conquer them, the Jogos Nhai retreat, poison wells, and harass supply lines. This directly mirrors how early steppe nomads defeated larger imperial armies. [1, 2]
đš Tribal Culture and Gender Roles
⢠The Jhat and the Moonsinger: Jogos Nhai society splits power between a military leader (the jhat) and a spiritual leader (the moonsinger). This reflects the historical balance between a Mongol Khan and a Shaman. [1]
⢠Gender Fluidity in Warfare: If a Jogos Nhai woman wishes to fight as a warrior, she must adopt the dress and role of a man. This parallels historical accounts of nomadic women like Khutulun, who fought alongside men and defied traditional gender expectations. [1]
⢠The No-Blood Taboo: The Jogos Nhai strictly forbid shedding the blood of their own people. When tribes fight, they use blunt weapons like clubs and saps. This mirrors the Mongol taboo against spilling noble or royal blood onto the earth. [1]
đď¸ The Great Unifier (The Genghis Khan Parallel)
⢠Lharys the Swift: In ASOIAF history, a legendary jhattar (jhat of jhats) named Lharys united all the squabbling clans
⢠.Imperial Terror: Once unified, Lharys's massive host nearly toppled the Golden Empire of Yi Ti, burning dozens of cities. This directly mirrors Genghis Khan uniting the Mongol tribes to conquer Northern China. [1, 2]
In the plains of Jogos Nhai, the Jogos Nhai worship equine and ram headed deities
They have an interesting allocation of different types of equine ( not just zorses ) and ram - those for eating, those for sports competitions, those for war, those for being symbols of worship ( without directly sacrificing them to the Gods ), etc
If the Westeros and Dothraki think their horses are mighty, they are sorely mistaken
The Jogos Nhai boast to have amongst the largest, strongest horses in the ASOIAF world, with black horses being symbols of royalty and majesty.
Every Jogos Nhai child has a 1st birthday ritual where they allow a pony to come to the child upon its own choice, and it will be the child's first horse
In fact, the Jogos Nhai learn horse riding before they can walk
đ Divine Hierarchy: The Sacred & The Utility
The Jogos Nhai categorize every animal not by its species, but by its spiritual purpose and bloodline. A single herd is a complex hierarchy of gods, weapons, and sustenance.
⢠The Great Rams: Massive, thick-horned beasts bred exclusively for mountain transport and food. Their wool is used for the outer layers of the yul (tents). Because the ram represents the Earth and grounding, they are never used in war, as war belongs to the sky
⢠.The Living Idols: The pure-white zorses and rams are never ridden, milked, or sheared. They are treated as living vessels for the Equine and Ram-headed deities. They roam freely through the camp, and wherever a Living Idol sleeps for the night is considered holy ground where the jhat must hold council
⢠.The Swift-Bones: Distinct from the massive warhorses, these are lean, long-legged equines bred strictly for racing and endurance sports during clan gatherings. To use a Swift-Bone for labor or war is considered a sin of degradation.
đ The Great Black Stallions (The Royal Blood)
While the world thinks the Jogos Nhai only ride striped zorses, their deepest secret is the Kahal-Kahrâthe Great Black Horses.
⢠Size and Might: These horses stand a full hand taller than the heaviest Westerosi destructive destriers. However, unlike the slow, lumbering warhorses of the Knights, the Kahal-Kahr possess the explosive, terrifying stamina of the steppe
⢠.Imperial Stature: Westerners believe the Dothraki have the monopoly on horse culture, but Dothraki horses are built for light cavalry raids. A Kahal-Kahr can smash directly through a shield wall by sheer muscle mass.
⢠Royal Monopoly: Only a jhat or a jhattar (unifier) may ride a pure black horse. To the Jogos Nhai, a black horse represents the night sky before the moon risesâpure potential and absolute dominance.
đś The Choosing (1st Birthday Ritual)
A Jogos Nhai child's life truly begins when they are recognized by the herd.
⢠The Horizon Circle: On a child's first birthday, they are placed on a sacred felt blanket in the center of a wide ring. A group of yearling ponies is released outside the ring.The Silent Bond: No one is allowed to call, bait, or guide the animals. The child must sit silently. The pony that walks over, sniffs the child's shaved head, and nudges them becomes their Nihari (Soul-Bound).Growing Together: This pony is never broken using harsh methods. It grows alongside the child, learning their specific scent, voice cues, and weight shifts. By the time the child is ready to ride, the horse already moves as an extension of their body.
đš Riding Before Walking
Because migration never stops, a Jogos Nhai child adapts to the rhythm of a horse before their legs can even support their own weight.
⢠The Cradle-Saddle: Infants are strapped securely into specialized, heavily padded basket-saddles attached to the gentlest mares. The rhythmic swaying of the trot is the primary motion they experience, mimicking the womb
⢠.Steppe Balance: Before they learn to balance on two feet on flat ground, they learn to grip a horseâs flanks with their thighs and balance their core against shifting terrain
⢠.The First Steps: It is common for a Jogos Nhai child to slide off a horse, crawl across the grass, and then pull themselves up to a standing position by holding onto a horse's leg. They view the ground as a temporary stopping point; the horse is their true home.
Most of the Jogos Nhai warriors are men, yet they also have their own fleets of formidable all female armies too
The Jogos Nhai are mostly known for being a formidable nomadic warrior race, but they are also known for weaving beautiful clothes and tapestries from wool
In the Plains of Jogos Nhai, there are more livestock than vegetables, so they often have an extensive yet often tense trade of vegetables and fruit between Yi Ti.
In the era of Game of Thrones, the ties between the Yi Ti and the Jogos Nhai are mostly peaceful, mainly because they are united with a pact to protect their lands from the meglomaniacal conquests of Daenerys Targaryen
However, the Jogos Nhai and Yi Ti folks are not intimidated by Daenerys. Yi Ti has its own dragons, yet folks there never tried to tame a dragon. To them, the dragon like God Emperors are reverred celestial guardians of nature cycles, and Yi Ti regularly hosts festivals in honor of their dragon gods
The Jogos Nhai have a complicated and messy history with the Dothraki.
Viserys III once tried to marry a Jogos Nhai princess ( a formidable horse rider ) to expand his so called ' lineage '
Not only the Jogos Nhai declined, but they sent in a horse shoe made of straw, an ultimate symbol of rejection in the culture of Jogos Nhai
đĄď¸ The Alliance of East Essos (The Anti-Targaryen Pact)
In the era of Game of Thrones, the ancient enmity between the Golden Empire of Yi Ti and the Plains of Jogos Nhai has frozen into a strategic alliance. Daenerys Targaryenâs conquest of Slaver's Bay and her positioning as a global conqueror forced both cultures to secure their borders.
⢠The Border Market Pacts: The regular, tense skirmishes over trade have been replaced by heavily guarded border markets. Yi Ti guarantees a steady supply of rice, citrus fruits, and root vegetables to the plains. In return, the Jogos Nhai provide millions of tons of elite livestock wool, leather, and war-trained mounts to the imperial armies.
⢠Joint Scout Parties: Jogos Nhai scout bands and Yi Ti imperial border guards now share watchtowers along the Bleeding Sea. They share intelligence on Daenerysâs movements, unbothered by the western rumors of her invincibility.
⢠The Shared Strategic Philosophy: Neither culture views Daenerys as a goddess. To them, she is simply another Western warlord who mistakenly thinks three young beasts make her master of the world.
đ The Dragon Debate: Celestial Guardians vs. Flying Beasts
The core reason the Jogos Nhai and Yi Ti do not fear Daenerys is their profound, ancient understanding of dragons, which vastly differs from Valyrian lore.
⢠Yi Ti's Wild Dragons: The mountains and deep jungles of Yi Ti are home to native, ancient dragons. However, the Yi Ti people consider the idea of "taming" or riding a dragon to be an act of supreme, blasphemous hubris.
⢠The Celestial festivals: To Yi Ti, dragons are living embodiments of the weather, tides, and the God-Emperors themselves. During the annual Festival of the Azure Wing, the empire leaves massive offerings of livestock at the base of the mountains to honor the dragons, celebrating them as guardians of natureâs balance rather than tools for human warfare.
⢠The Jogos Nhai Perspective: The Jogos Nhai look at Daenerys riding Drogon and see a petulant child riding a wild god. Their Moonsingers preach that locking a dragon in chains or forcing it to burn human cities corrupts the natural order. They believe their massive Kahal-Kahr horses and scattered, nomadic tactics can easily outmaneuver a conqueror who relies entirely on three easily targeted flying targets.
𧾠The Velvet & Wool Diplomatic Trade
While the alliance is political, the cultural exchange between the two societies manifests most beautifully through textiles.
⢠The Shifting Loom: The nomadic all-female armies of the Jogos Nhai double as the supreme masters of the loom. While the men manage the herds, these formidable women weave breathtaking, wind-resistant tapestries and thick garments from the finest ram and zorse wool.
⢠The Wealth Exchange: These tapestries depict the history of the plains, the constellations, and the Ram-headed gods. In the markets of Yin and Tiqui, wealthy Yi Ti nobles pay astronomical prices in jade and silk for Jogos Nhai wool coats to survive the cold northern winds.
⢠The Soldier-Weavers: A Jogos Nhai womanâs loom-weights are often made from the melted-down armor of enemies they have slain in battle. When Yi Ti ambassadors meet with the female generals, they are frequently intimidated by women who can discuss high-level trade economics while effortlessly handling giant, heavy hand-looms.
đž The Straw Horseshoe: The Rejection of Viserys III
The legendary pride of the Jogos Nhai was permanently etched into history when the "Beggar King," Viserys Targaryen, attempted to court them before his death.
⢠The Imperial Proposal: Desperate for an army before he turned to the Dothraki, Viserys sent a formal marriage proposal to a prominent jhat, demanding the hand of his daughterâa legendary warrior-princess who had mastered riding a Kahal-Kahr stallion before she could speak. Viserys boasted of his "pure Valyrian bloodline" and promised her a seat in Westeros
⢠.The Symbol of Deception: The Jogos Nhai responded by sending back a single horseshoe woven tightly from dried prairie straw. In their culture, a straw horseshoe is the ultimate, deeply insulting rejection. It signifies: "Your lineage is a brittle, dried weed that will snap under the weight of a real rider. You have no horse, no land, and your words are nothing but wind in the grass."
⢠The Dothraki Reaction: When Viserys foolishly showed the gift to the Dothraki, they mocked him ruthlessly. The Dothraki have a messy, bloody history of stalemates with the Jogos Nhai and fully understood the insultâknowing that a Jogos Nhai princess would have decapitated Viserys before ever letting him touch her reins.
WEAVING PRACTICES OF JOGOS NHAI
đž The Loom of War: The Yul-Kahr (The Iron Loom)
For a Jogos Nhai woman, the loom is not a peaceful domestic tool; it is a sacred structure of bone and metal, designed to be completely mobile.
⢠The Bone Frames: Because lumber is scarce on the rocky, wind-swept plains, the massive loom frames are constructed from the rib bones of ancient Kahal-Kahr warhorses or the giant horns of sacrificial rams.
⢠The Armor Weights: To keep the warp threads tense, the weavers do not use rocks. They use the melted-down iron rings, buckles, and breastplates of defeated enemies. A highly decorated female warrior's loom clacks with a distinct, heavy metallic chime that tells the story of her victories
⢠.The Saddle Assembly: The entire loom is engineered to fold down into a compact, leather-bound bundle within three minutes. It is strapped directly onto the back of a pack-zorse, ensuring that the weaving of a historical tapestry is never interrupted for long by an emergency tribal migration.
đ¨ The Sacred Alchemy of Dyeing
The colors of Jogos Nhai textiles are deeply spiritual, derived entirely from the natural elements of the steppe and the strict laws of their dual-headed deities.
⢠The Moon-White (The Untouched): The most valuable wool comes from the underbelly of pure white rams. This wool is never dyed. It is spun raw and reserved exclusively for the inner linings of a Moonsingerâs ceremonial robes. To stain this wool with dye is believed to invite blindness
⢠.The Blood-Tea Crimson: Using rare lichens found only on the rocky borders near the Bleeding Sea, the weavers produce a dark, dried-blood crimson. This dye is boiled in horse-milk whey to fix the color, making it entirely waterproof. It is the signature color worn by the all-female scout fleets
⢠.The Shadow-Black: The wool of the imperial Kahal-Kahr horses is naturally a deep, midnight black. The weavers treat it with a secret mixture of river silt and crushed iron ore from the mountains, creating a fabric so dark it completely absorbs light. This cloth is reserved strictly for jhats and royalty, symbolizing the void before creation.
𧾠The Three Strands of Fate (Fabric Types)
Jogos Nhai weavers produce three distinct types of textiles, each serving a critical role in their survival and their tense trade relations with the Golden Empire of Yi Ti.
⢠The Zhi-Nhai (The Wind-Shield): A incredibly dense, heavily oiled wool cloth. It is woven so tightly that a steel dagger cannot easily pierce it, and it completely repels the freezing northern gales. This is the primary material used for the outer shells of their yurt-tents (yul) and their heavy winter battle-cloaks
⢠.The Moonsung Tapestries: These are the historical archives of the nomadic clans. Because the Jogos Nhai do not write books, their entire historyâgenealogies, epic battles, and star chartsâis woven into giant, intricate tapestries. A single tapestry can take three generations of women to complete, passed down from grandmother to granddaughter on the march.
⢠The Jade-Bait Velvet: Recognizing the Yi Ti nobility's obsession with luxury, the weavers developed a specialized technique of combing ram-wool until it achieves a silk-like sheen. This ultra-soft, breathable fabric is decorated with intricate geometric patterns that represent the plains. It is used exclusively as a diplomatic weapon to trade for the essential fruits and vegetables of the Yi Ti lowlands.
âď¸ The Rite of the First Thread
The transition from a young girl to a recognized member of the all-female armies or the clan's weavers is marked by a rigorous physical and spiritual ritual.
⢠The Shearing Trial: At her fourteenth winter, a girl must single-handedly wrestle and shear a wild, unbroken steppe ram without drawing a single drop of its blood. If the ram bleeds, she must wait another year.
⢠The First Spindle: She must then spin that wool using a heavy stone drop-spindle while riding a galloping zorse across the plains. This tests her core balance, hand-eye coordination, and horsemanship simultaneously.
⢠The Warrior-Weaverâs Mark: Once she successfully weaves her first war-scarf, she is permitted to wear her hair in the braided style of the warrior fleets. The scarf is worn around her waist in battle; if she falls, her sisters use that exact piece of cloth to wrap her body for her final sky-burial.
đď¸ Lhazar: The Sacred Highlands of the Lamb Men (Ancient Tibet Inspiration)
In mainstream Westerosi eyes, the Lhazareen are dismissed as helpless shepherds. In reality, their culture mirrors the spiritual depth, harsh isolation, and profound mountain mysticism of Ancient Tibet.
The Terraced Monasteries: Lhazar is not just flat pastures; its northern borders climb into the rugged, wind-scoured peaks of the Painted Mountains. Here, the Lhazareen have built massive, whitewashed stone monasteries built directly into the cliff faces. These centers serve as repositories of medicine, astronomy, and ancient history, heavily guarded by monk-warriors who fight with iron-headed staves
.The Great Great-Lamb (The Yak Parallel): The "lambs" of Lhazar are not all small, fragile creatures. The highlands are home to the Bhut-Khariâmassive, long-haired, heavy-horned mountain sheep. These beasts act exactly like Tibetan yaks, carrying immense burdens up treacherous mountain tracks, providing thick, buttery milk for brick-tea, and producing a coarse wool that can withstand freezing high-altitude blizzards
.The Great Shepherd as the Cosmic Order: The Lhazareen religion is not primitive animism; it is a highly evolved, deeply philosophical faith focused on the interconnectedness of all living things. Their supreme religious leaders, the God-Healers, undergo a process of spiritual reincarnation. When a High Healer passes, the elders search the valleys for a newborn child who recognizes the personal spiritual artifacts of the deceased leader
.The Sky Burials: Due to the rocky, frozen nature of the mountain soil and a scarcity of firewood, the Lhazareen do not bury or cremate their dead. Instead, they practice sky burials. The deceased are brought to high, sacred stone platforms where the body is prepared and offered to the mountain condors, returning the physical vessel directly to the Great Shepherdâs sky.
đŽ The Golden Empire of Yi Ti: The Celestial Bureaucracy (Imperial China Inspiration)
While Westeros is trapped in a messy, decentralized feudal system, Yi Ti is a hyper-organized, deeply sophisticated empire governed by divine mandate, extensive bureaucracy, and unmatched engineering.
⢠The Mandate of the Azure Sky: The God-Emperors rule from Yin under the belief that they are the literal lineage of the sun and moon. If an emperor becomes corrupt, natural disastersâlike the flooding of the Hidden Sea or earthquakes in the Jade Compassesâare viewed as the Sky withdrawing its mandate, justifying a bloodless overthrow by the next dynastic line.
⢠The Ministry of Scholars: Unlike Westeros, where lords rule simply by birthright, Yi Ti is governed by a massive civil service. To hold office, citizens from any social class must pass the grueling Three-Day Imperial Examinations in Yin, testing their mastery of poetry, mathematics, statecraft, and the ancient histories of the Dragon Kings
⢠.The Jade Highway: Spanning thousands of miles, the empire is connected by a perfectly paved road system wide enough for three imperial chariots to ride abreast. Every ten miles features a guarded courier station with fresh horses, allowing imperial edicts from the capital to reach the furthest borders within days.
⢠The Five-Color Armies: The standing military of Yi Ti is organized by elemental colors, moving with terrifying, machine-like precision. The Black Torches handle siege engineering, the Verdant Bows command the jungle guerrilla units, and the Crimson Shields form the unbreakable heavy infantry that guard the Golden Wall against the Shrykes.
đ¤ The High-Pass Trade and Spiritual Friction
The relationship between the isolated Lhazareen highlands and the sprawling lowlands of Yi Ti is defined by ancient, mutual dependency and a sharp contrast in lifestyles.
⢠The Salt-for-Silk Route: Lhazarâs mountain flats contain vast, ancient salt lakes. Salt is a vital imperial commodity in Yi Ti for food preservation and spiritual purification rituals. In exchange for massive caravans of salt and high-altitude medicinal herbs, Yi Ti sends brick-tea, iron tools, and fine silks up the treacherous mountain passes
⢠.The Great Walls of Control: Yi Ti deeply respects the spiritual neutrality of Lhazar but heavily fortifies the mountain gates leading into the empire. They view the Lhazareen as peaceful but strangely magical, keeping a wary eye on the Great Shepherdâs prophets, who are rumored to be able to command the mountain winds and calm wild mountain dragons with a single chant.
In the era of the Golden Age of Valyrian Freehold ( centuries before Aegon's Conquest of Westeros ), Yi Ti went from the Great Empire of Dawn ( which has some nods to the Seven Warring Kingdoms and Qin Dynasty ) to the First Golden Dragon Dynasty ( which has some nods to Han Dynasty )
In the doom of Old Valyria, Yi Ti is in an equivalent to the Tang Dynasty
In the era of Aegon's Conquest, Yi Ti evolved into a parody of the Song Dynasty
In around the era of Dance of the Dragons, Yi Ti evolved into having some nods to the Yuan Dynasty
By the time the GOT era came around, Yi Ti evolved into a parody of the Ming Dynasty
đ The Great Empire of the Dawn: The Age of Jade and Iron (Qin Dynasty Nods)
During the height of the Valyrian Freehold, Yi Ti was a land of brutal discipline, martial legalism, and architectural obsession. Fashion reflected absolute state control and the raw power of the first emperors.
The Monolithic Silhouette: Clothing was structured, geometric, and fiercely uniform [1]. Wrapped robes (shenyi) were folded strictly left-over-right, pinned with heavy iron buckles to symbolize the absolute law of the state. Loose or flowing garments were viewed as a sign of a chaotic mind and were legally banned for civil servants.
The Colors of State: The color palette was deeply restricted. The court wore deep, obsidian blacks and dark charcoal grays, contrasted only by blood-red trims [1]. To wear unauthorized bright colors was considered a treasonous act of individuality.
The Jade Armor: Jewelry was purely functional or defensive. Nobles wore heavy, thick jade rings and protective breastplates made of interlocking jade scales [1]. These pieces were designed to ward off both assassins' blades and the dark sorceries rumored to come from early Valyria.
đ The First Golden Dragon Dynasty: The Flowing Sky (Han Dynasty Nods)
As Valyria expanded, Yi Ti entered a golden age of philosophy, trade expansion along the early Silk Roads, and a softening of its rigid social structures. Fashion became a celebration of grace, movement, and celestial harmony.
⢠The Great Sleeves (Changshu): The stiff, restrictive lines of the past gave way to impossibly wide, flowing sleeves. Scholars and nobles wore robes with sleeves so long and deep they could easily conceal scrolls, inkstones, or small defense daggers. The way a man or woman gathered and swung their sleeves during a bow became the ultimate test of high breeding
⢠.The Emergence of Imperial Yellow: For the first time, a specific hue of brilliant, sun-bright yellow was reserved exclusively for the God-Emperor and his immediate bloodline, representing the earth at the center of the cosmos. The rest of the court adopted muted earth tones, soft sages, and sky blues
⢠.The Cicada Crown: Womenâs hair was piled into towering, elaborate structures held together by gold wire and carved bone pins shaped like cicadasâthe symbol of rebirth and eternal life. Men wore formal leather caps (guan) pinned securely to their topknots, as showing an uncovered head in public was deemed uncultured and animalistic.
đ The Doom of Valyria Era: The Radiant Exuberance (Tang Dynasty Nods)
When the Fourteen Flames consumed Valyria, Yi Ti was at the absolute peak of its cosmopolitan wealth, poetic arts, and cultural confidence. While the western world fell into a dark age, Yi Ti fashion exploded into a riot of color, international influence, and body positivity.
⢠The High-Waisted Elegance: Womenâs fashion shifted dramatically to the ruqunâa cropped, long-sleeved top paired with a skirt tied exceptionally high, right below the bust line. This silhouette emphasized a full, healthy, and voluptuous figure, which was celebrated as a sign of imperial prosperity
⢠.The Foreign Fad: As refugees and merchants fled the collapse of the west, the Yi Ti elite began obsessively copying "barbarian" styles. Court ladies wore tight-sleeved nomadic coats inspired by the Jogos Nhai, and young nobles wore tall, pointed felt hats imported from the high passes of Lhazar.
⢠The Face-Blossom Makeup: Cosmetics reached a level of artistic theatricality. Court women painted their faces pale white with rice powder, cropped their eyebrows into short "moth-wing" shapes, and pasted intricate, tiny floral designs (huadian) made of gold leaf or colorful silk between their brows.
đŚ
Aegonâs Conquest Era: The Scholarâs Understatement (Song Dynasty Nods)
By the time Aegon Targaryen unified Westeros, Yi Ti had turned inward. Shaken by internal rebellions and a wariness of foreign conquerors, the empire embraced a deeply conservative, intellectual, and minimalist aesthetic.
⢠The Pure Silhouette: The loud colors and exposed skin of the previous era were rejected as vulgar and decadent. Robes became straight-cut, narrow-sleeved, and fastidiously layered. Fastenings moved to subtle side-buttons, creating a clean, unadorned front profile.
⢠The Scholar's Cap (Putou): The defining fashion piece for men was the black gauze cap featuring long, rigid, wing-like extensions protruding horizontally from the back. These wings were designed with a practical civic purpose: they forced bureaucrats to stand apart from one another in court, preventing whispered conspiracies and political plotting.
⢠The Aesthetic of Restraint: Bright silks were replaced by raw, exquisite damasks with subtle, woven-in patterns of bamboo and orchids that could only be seen when the light hit the fabric at a specific angle. True luxury was no longer about shouting wealth, but about the flawless quality of a single, pale jade hairpin.
đ´ The Dance of the Dragons Era: The Steppe Synthesis (Yuan Dynasty Nods)
During the devastating Targaryen civil war in the west, Yi Ti fell under the temporary dominance of a northern horse-lord dynasty closely related to the Jogos Nhai. The result was a fascinating, aggressive hybrid of nomadic utility and imperial luxury.
⢠The Terlig (The War Robe): The traditional long, flowing scholar robes were completely replaced by the terligâa knee-length, heavily pleated coat that was tight around the chest but flared widely at the waist, allowing the wearer to comfortably mount a horse or zorse at a moment's notice
⢠.The Braided Topknot: The elite abandoned the traditional caps of the bureaucracy. Instead, both men and women shaved the crowns of their heads, leaving long side-locks that were braided tightly behind the ears to prevent the wind from blowing hair into their eyes during a mounted archery charge.
⢠The Square Hat (Boli): The court adopted distinctive, high-crowned hats woven from split bamboo or stiff felt, featuring wide, circular brims to shield the eyes from the harsh sun of the eastern plains. Even the high-born ladies of Yin traded their delicate silk slippers for heavy, iron-toed riding boots.
đŻ The Game of Thrones Era: The Revivalist Grandeur (Ming Dynasty Nods)
In the current era, the native Yi Ti dynasties have restored their throne, resulting in a hyper-nationalistic fashion revival. It is a deliberate, highly stylized parody of their historical greatness, designed to project absolute power to a world threatened by Daenerys Targaryen.
The Dragon Badges (Buzi): The bureaucratic hierarchy is strictly enforced through visual propaganda. Every civil and military official wears a massive, square patch embroidered directly onto the chest of their robe. These patches feature intricate depictions of celestial beastsâdragons for the highest princes, Qilins for top ministers, and panthers for generals. One glance at a person's chest determines their exact legal standing.
The Winged-Chaos Cap: High-ranking ministers wear the Wushamaoâa tall, rounded hat made of stiff, black-lacquered silk with wide, oval-shaped wings extending from the sides. It projects an image of absolute structural permanence and intellectual superiority over the "barbarians" of the west.
The Cloud Shoulders: Women's formal wear is dominated by the Yunjianâa detached, highly complex collar piece that drapes over the shoulders like a four-lobed cloud. It is heavily embroidered with thousands of tiny seed pearls and gold threads depicting the natural cycles of the earth, framing the wearer's head as if they are a living deity descending from the heavens.
đ´ The Emerald Spine: Stilt Cities and Rainforest Citadels (Southeastern Aesthetics)
The Island of Leng, sitting south of the Golden Empire of Yi Ti, is a land of dense, primeval jungles, jade-colored waters, and sheer limestone cliffs. Its architecture and landscape mirror the breathtaking topographies of Vietnam and Thailand.
The Floating Markets of Turrani: The coastal cities of Leng do not rely on stone streets. Instead, towns like Turrani are built entirely on massive teakwood stilts over emerald lagoons, interconnected by bamboo footbridges and thousands of long-tail wooden canoes. Merchants navigate the waterways selling exotic spices, lotus roots, and fresh saltwater fish right from their boats.
The Limestone Spire Monasteries: Deep inland, towering limestone karsts rise vertically out of the jungle canopy like giant green teeth. The native Lengii have carved breathtaking, open-air temples directly into the faces of these cliffs. These sacred spaces are accessible only by thousands of precarious stone steps or intricate rope-pulley systems, mirroring the secluded cave temples of the Southeast Asian highlands.
The Teakwood Palaces: While Yi Ti builds with heavy, lacquered brick, Lengâs royal architecture embraces the natural world. Palaces are constructed from polished, water-resistant teak and ironwood. They feature multi-tiered, steeply sloping roofs with sweeping, golden horn-like finials (Chofas) designed to channel the torrential monsoon rains away from the open-air living quarters.
đ¨ The Silk Revolution: The Ao-Leng and Saffron Pleats
The fashion of Leng is a distinct departure from the heavy, layered styles of the Yi Ti mainland, optimized instead for intense tropical heat, high humidity, and the island's unique matriarchal culture.
⢠The Ao-Leng (The Vietnam Silhouette): The standard attire for Lengii noblewomen is the Ao-Leng, a direct nod to the Vietnamese Ăo dĂ i. It consists of a long, form-fitting silk tunic with split sides that extend all the way to the waist, worn over loose, flowing silk trousers. This design allows for complete freedom of movement through the humid jungle paths while maintaining an incredibly elegant, lengthening silhouette.
⢠The Saffron Wrap-Arounds (Sabai): For the priestly classes and men of the court, attire mimics the fluid wrapping techniques of traditional Thai dress. A single, long strip of vibrant saffron, ochre, or deep indigo silk is pleated and draped elegantly across the chest, leaving one shoulder bare.
⢠The Golden Spire Crowns: The Lengii women, famous for being nearly seven feet tall, accentuate their height with breathtaking headdresses. These are tall, conical crowns made of filigreed gold and brass that taper into sharp, elegant spires pointing toward the heavens. They are heavily decorated with fragrant jasmine garlands and protective jade beads.
𪾠The Monsoonal Wealth: Spice, Rubber, and Deep-Sea Pearl Trade
Lengâs economy is entirely shaped by its tropical climate and its dense, resource-rich rainforests, making it one of the wealthiest yet most secretive trading hubs in the Jade Sea.
⢠The Spice Forests: The interior of Leng produces the most potent cloves, cinnamon, and star anise in the known world. The harvesting of these spices is a sacred ritual managed by the native priestesses, who ensure the jungle is never over-logged. The scent of drying spices hangs heavily over the island's ports, masking the scent of the sea.
⢠The Blood-Teak Export: Lengâs deep jungles are home to a rare variant of teakwood that bleeds a dark red sap when cut. This wood is entirely immune to rot, wood-boring insects, and saltwater decay. Yi Ti and the Free Cities pay exorbitant prices for Lengii blood-teak to construct the hulls of their elite flagship warships.
⢠The Great Monsoonal Fleet: During the heavy monsoon season, when the western seas become impassable, the sailors of Leng use specialized, flat-bottomed sailing junks with woven bamboo sails. These vessels are designed to ride out the intense tropical storms and navigate the treacherous, shallow reef systems surrounding the island.
đď¸ The Matriarchal Old Gods and the Deep Ones Friction
The spiritual landscape of Leng is divided between the surface-level beauty of its Southeast Asian-inspired culture and the terrifying cosmic horrors lurking beneath its soil.
⢠The Empressâs Divine Right: Leng is traditionally ruled by an Empress, who is viewed as the living embodiment of the islandâs protective jungle spirit. The succession is strictly matrilineal, passed down to the daughter who displays the strongest spiritual connection to the islandâs native fauna.
⢠The Silent Monks of the Caves: Deep within the limestone caverns beneath the island lie ancient, subterranean ruins said to be built by the Old Gods or the Deep Ones. A specific order of ascetic monks, wearing coarse saffron robes and vows of absolute silence, guard the entrances to these caves. They burn sweet lemongrass and camphor incense at the cavern mouths to mask the foul, briny stench that occasionally wafts up from the deep
⢠.The Tiger Guardians: Rather than using warhorses or hounds, the Empressâs personal elite guard rides into battle or patrols the borders atop massive, armored jungle tigers. These beasts are trained from birth by the priestesses, moving silently through the dense undergrowth to decapitate any foreign invaders or Yi Ti colonizers who attempt to exploit the island's sacred interior.
While the Jogos Nhai and Lhazareen are also known for their meat and dairy, and Yi Ti is known for their greens, Leng is known for their connection with sea life and freshwater life
Leng is largely also built on the backs of economies of naval trade and fishing practices. Kids of Leng usually learn to swim before they can even walk.
The seafood of Leng is meticulously prepared and seasoned in many different varieties
If the Jogos Nhai are masters of horseback, the Lenghi are masters of aquatic sports and sea trade
đ The Cradle of the Tide: Aquatic Infancy
Just as the children of the Jogos Nhai plains find their balance in the cradle-saddle of a galloping horse, the infants of Leng are shaped by the rhythmic sway of the Jade Sea.
⢠The Tide-Grown Newborns: Minutes after a Lengii child is born, the mother dips the infant into the warm, shallow salt waters of the reef. This ritual, overseen by an elder priestess, is believed to wash away the terrestrial dust and claim the child as a creature of the sea
⢠.The Basket Hammocks: Infancy is spent in woven rattan baskets suspended from the undersides of stilt-houses, hovering just inches above the water line. The gentle splash of the high tide against the bottom of the basket is the primary sensation that lulls them to sleep.
⢠Swimming Before Striding: Before their bones are strong enough to support their towering frames on hard land, Lengii children learn to paddle and float. It is a common sight in Turrani to see toddlers who cannot yet stand upright leaping fearlessly off dock platforms, moving through the water with the natural, undulating grace of sea otters.
đŁ The Master Voyagers: Sea Trade and Navigational Intuition
Westerosi sailors rely on iron compasses and paper charts, while the Dothraki fear the "Poison Water." To the Lengii, the ocean is not a barrier; it is a fluid highway that they navigate with unparalleled biological intuition.
The Wave-Hearers: Lengii navigators do not look at the sky to find their way; they strip naked and lie flat on the wooden floorboards of their sailing junks. By feeling the distinct vibration and frequency of the deep ocean swells against the hull, they can determine their exact location in the Jade Sea, even in pitch-black monsoonal storms.
The Aquanaut Fleets: Unlike the heavy, lumbering galleys of the Ironborn or the Free Cities, Lengii ships are built of light, flexible blood-teak with articulating bamboo-ribbed sails. They do not fight against the currents; they bend with them. These vessels can sail closer to the wind than any other ship in the world, allowing Lengii traders to effortlessly outrun pirates and outmaneuver the imperial tax fleets of Yi Ti
.The Grand Regattas: Once every three years, during the slack tide between monsoons, the Empress hosts the Festival of the Silver Wake. Hundreds of clans gather for high-stakes outrigger canoe races that span the entire length of the island's eastern archipelago. Winning a race brings immense political prestige, and the victorious rowers are gifted ceremonial oars carved from ancient whalebone.
đŚ The Culinary Alchemy: Fire, Spice, and Shell
While the mainlanders of Yi Ti obsess over mountain greens and the nomads of the plains survive on horse-milk cheese, the Lengii have elevated the preparation of sea life into a meticulous, spiritual art form.
⢠The Raw Harvest (Pla-Leng): The Lengii believe that the purest essence of a sea creature is lost if it touches fire. They slice pristine, white-fleshed reef fish into paper-thin ribbons, flash-curing them in a bracing mixture of wild lime juice, crushed lemongrass, and fiery red jungle chilis. The acid cooks the fish instantly, preserving its oceanic sweetness
⢠.The Fire-Clay Roasts: Massive spiny lobsters and deep-sea mud crabs are packed in thick, aromatic river clay mixed with crushed star anise and ginger leaves. These mud-balls are buried under the embers of driftwood fires on the beach. When the clay cracks open, the meat inside is perfectly steamed, intensely juicy, and infused with the smoky fragrance of the coast.
⢠The Velvet Roe Paste: The most sought-after luxury export in the markets of Yin is Kapi-Lengâa rich, deep purple paste made from fermented krill and salted flying-fish roe. It is aged in porous ceramic jars beneath the stilt-houses for two full winters. A single spoonful added to a broth provides an explosion of savory flavor that Yi Ti nobles pay for in pure jade.
đŚ The Sacred Alliances: The Sentinels of the Reef
The connection between the Lengii and aquatic life goes far beyond exploitation; it is a deeply rooted system of mutual respect and spiritual symbiosis.
⢠The Whale-Fall Temples: When a great blue whale dies and washes into the shallow reefs, the Lengii do not simply butcher it. The skeleton is left intact to form an underwater sanctuary. Over decades, as coral grows over the massive ribs, it becomes a literal living temple. Priestesses dive down with heavy stone weights to pray within the ribcage, seeking visions from the deep water deities.
⢠The Dolphin Outriders: Lengii fishermen have a functional partnership with the local pods of iridescent pink river-dolphins. By drumming a rhythmic pattern on the side of their canoes, the fishermen signal the dolphins to drive massive schools of mackerel directly into the shallow netting areas. In return, the first third of every catch is thrown back into the water as an absolute, non-negotiable tribute to their mammalian partners.
⢠The Deep Wardens: The elite royal guard of the Empress consists of the tallest Lengii women who double as breath-hold divers. Capable of staying underwater for up to five minutes on a single lungful of air, these warriors patrol the treacherous coral reefs armed with heavy, weighted tridents. They are tasked with protecting the island's secret pearl beds from foreign scavengers, striking silently from the dark water below like human sharks.
đĽ The Nectar of the Steppe: Jogos Nhai Fermented Dairy
For the Jogos Nhai, dairy is not a side dish; it is a life-sustaining, climate-adapted marvel of nomadic biochemistry. Because they are constantly on the move, they have perfected techniques to preserve milk for months without refrigeration.
The Airag-Kahr (The Zorse Wine): The primary sustenance of the warrior fleets is fermented zorse milk. Raw zorse milk is incredibly high in sugars. The Jogos Nhai pour it into smoked leather skins sewn from ram-hides, which are hung from the sides of their saddles. The constant, rhythmic pounding of the zorseâs gallop agitates the milk, fermenting it into a fizzy, alcoholic, sour beverage. It provides intense hydration and vitamin C, meaning a warrior can ride for weeks without needing solid food or fresh water sources.
The Aruul-Rock Cheese: To prevent milk from spoiling during the scorching summer months, weavers pour the curdled milk of steppe mares over woven reed mats to drain. The thick curd is cut into geometric shapes with horsehair threads and laid across the flat roofs of their yul tents to sun-dry until it becomes as hard as granite. A Jogos Nhai warrior keeps a pouch of these chalk-white rocks in their pouch. They suck on a piece for hours while scouting; the saliva slowly rehydrates the cheese, releasing a rich, nutty, and highly caloric cream
.The Kumis Distillation: The all-female armies are masters of distilling fermented dairy into a clear, fiery spirit known as The White Gale. Using copper pots traded from Yi Ti, they boil fermented mare's milk, capturing the vapor. The resulting liquor is completely clear, smells faintly of toasted almonds, and burns like wildfire. They use it to sterilize battle wounds, toast their ancestors, and completely out-drink any foreign traders who think "milk beer" is for children.
đ§ The Alchemical Creameries: Lhazareen Highland Dairy
While the Jogos Nhai dairy is aggressive, sour, and built for war, the Lhazareen dairy is a testament to culinary luxury, medical science, and deep-mountain isolation.
⢠The Bhut-Khari Brick Butter: The heavy, long-haired mountain sheep (Bhut-Khari) produce milk with a fat content nearly triple that of a Westerosi cow. Lhazareen monks churn this milk in towering wooden cylinders until it forms a dense, golden butter that smells of mountain clover and wild thyme. This butter is packed tightly into bricks wrapped in broad leaves and buried in the cold river mud to age. It is the core ingredient of their famous, invigorating brick-tea, which can keep a shepherd energized in sub-zero temperatures.
⢠The Chhurpi (The Indestructible Cheese): In the high-altitude terraced monasteries, the Lhazareen boil sheep buttermilk, wrap the solids in jute cloth, and press them under massive mountain boulders. The resulting blocks are hung over the smoke lines of their hearth fires for months until they turn a deep amber color. This cheese is so dense and durable that it cannot be chewed; it must be held in the mouth for up to an hour to soften. It is heavily traded to Yi Ti scholars, who use it as a concentration aid during their grueling multi-day imperial exams.
⢠The Herbal Curds (Mila-Khari): Lhazareen God-Healers view dairy as medicine. They infuse soft, fresh sheep curds with wild mountain sage, mint, and a subterranean fungus found only in the Painted Mountains. This bright green cheese is incredibly soothing to the digestive tract and is used to cure the bloody flux that frequently decimates Western armies. When Westerosi knights contract camp sickness, a single block of this "barbaric" green curd can save their lives.
đ¤ The Great Dairy-for-Grain Exchange
The sophisticated nature of Eastern dairy completely upends the Westerosi perception of food scarcity in the lands beyond the Bone Mountains.
⢠The Whey Silk-Wash: One of the most secret and lucrative trades between Leng, Yi Ti, and the Steppe folk involves the leftover acidic whey from Jogos Nhai cheese production. Yi Ti silk weavers pay massive premiums for barrels of this fermented whey, using it as a specialized chemical wash to soften raw silk before dyeing.
⢠The Westerosi Disgust turned to Astonishment: When Westerosi travelers first arrive in the East, they are disgusted by the thought of drinking "rotten horse milk" or eating "stone cheese." However, after a few weeks of traveling through the harsh terrain, they realize that these dairy products provide unmatched stamina, prevent scurvy, and never spoil on the roadâforcing them to admit that their own heavy, mold-prone Westerosi wheels of cheddar are vastly inferior.
The Westerosi scribes call the Lhazareen and Jogos Nhai as ' primitive barbarians ', but that's only because many of them only heard those filtered stories of the ' Wild Folks of the Steppes ' growing up
Upon hearing those claims about them, the Lhazareen and Jogos Nhai only just laughed uproariously, completely dismissing false claims while pitying those Westerosi high lords for being so xenophobic and small minded
The Yi Ti and Lenghi also laugh along. They may have complex relationships with the Steppe folk over the centuries, but they knew too well that thw Lhazareen and Jogos Nhai are anything but Barbaric
đˇ The Irony of the "Civilized" Sunset Kingdoms
When merchants from the Jade Sea bring translated copies of Westerosi Maestersâ scrolls to the eastern markets, they are treated not as historical accounts, but as comedic entertainment. To the Jogos Nhai, Lhazareen, Yi Ti, and Lengii, the concept of Westeros being "advanced" is the greatest joke in Essos [1].
The Incontinent Lords: The Jogos Nhai find it hilarious that Westerosi lords live in permanent, damp stone castles that smell of overflowing cesspools. To a nomad who packs their entire pristine, sun-bleached camp every few weeks and lives under the fresh wind of the sky, locking oneself inside a stationary pile of rocks surrounded by sewage is the definition of primitive living.
The Great Bathing Mockery: In Lhazareen monasteries, monks laugh at tales of Westerosi knights who sew themselves into heavy wool and leather for months without washing. Lhazareen shepherds bathe daily in mountain streams and use aromatic herbal oils to protect their skin, viewing the average Westerosi king as a walking biohazard.
The Literacy Gap: Westerosi scribes look down on the Jogos Nhai for not having books. However, a Jogos Nhai child can read a 300-year clan genealogy woven into a tapestry, decode horse tracks in the dark, and navigate by star charts [1]. To them, a Westerosi lord who cannot read his own scrolls without a Maester whispering in his ear is functionally disabled.
đž The Lhazareen: Masters of Medicine vs. Leech-Mongers
The Lhazareen God-Healers find the medical practices of Westeros to be downright medieval, wondering how a continent with so much coin can be so drastically ignorant of basic biology.
⢠The Leech Comedy: When Lhazareen healers hear that Westerosi Maesters treat fevers by sticking blood-sucking worms onto a patient until they swoon, they weep with laughter. Lhazareen medicine relies on advanced pharmacologyâusing sterile mountain moss to pack wounds, willow-bark distillations for pain, and complex quarantine procedures to stop the spread of flux.
⢠The Butcher Knights: To the Lhazareen, the Westerosi system of fixing broken limbs by hacking them off with a bone-saw is barbaric. Lhazareen healers are masters of bone-setting, using traction splints and specialized river-clay casts that allow shattered bones to knit perfectly, returning injured shepherds back to their flocks fully intact
⢠.The Poisoning of the Soil: Lhazareen agriculturalists are horrified that Westeros suffers from massive famines whenever a multi-year winter hits. The Lhazareen practice sophisticated crop-rotation, terrace-farming, and soil-enrichment, laughing at a continent that starves because its rulers never learned how to properly store grain or tend to the earth.
đ The Jogos Nhai: Tactical Genius vs. The Lumbering Iron Men
The warrior fleets of the Jogos Nhai view Westerosi warfare as a clumsy, unimaginative sport played by men with more steel than sense.
⢠The Heavy Metal Joke: A jhat looks at a picture of a Westerosi knight encased in eighty pounds of plate armor and laughs until his lungs burn. To the Jogos Nhai, a warrior who cannot remount his own horse without assistance, dies of heatstroke before the battle begins, and drowns if he falls into a shallow river is not a threatâhe is a slow-moving target
⢠.The Logistics Disaster: The Jogos Nhai completely dismantled the massive, million-man armies of Yi Ti for centuries using scorched-earth retreats and psychological asymmetric warfare [1]. When they read about Westerosi kings marching their entire peasant armies down a single narrow mud road (like the Kingsroad) with no scout formations, they view it as mass suicide masquerading as chivalry
⢠.The Straw Horseshoe Philosophy: The story of Viserys Targaryen's rejected proposal is told at every campfire. The Jogos Nhai laugh at the western obsession with "bloodlines" and "rightful thrones." To them, power belongs to the person who can guide a horse with their thighs and hit a target from a mile away, not a petulant boy whose only claim to glory is a dead ancestor's dragon.
đŽ The Imperial Chorus: Yi Ti and Leng Join the Laughter
While Yi Ti and Leng have spent centuries fighting the Steppe folk, they fiercely defend their neighbors' intellectual and cultural sophistication against western ignorance [1].
⢠The Jade Sea Assessment: Yi Ti scholar-bureaucrats, who govern an empire of tens of millions through meritocratic civil service exams, look at Westeros and see a chaotic, fractured tribal wasteland. When a Westerosi scribe calls a Jogos Nhai jhattar a "barbarian," the Yi Ti ministers point out that the jhattar successfully negotiated complex international trade treaties while Westeros was still burning witches
⢠.The Aquatic Verdict: The towering Lenghi, who master deep-sea navigation and intricate spice preservation, find the Westerosi fear of the unknown eastern waters pathetic. To Leng, the Lhazareen and Jogos Nhai are highly evolved cultures perfectly adapted to their biomes. They view Westeros as a small, violent island of xenophobic children who scream at the dark because they are too terrified to sail out and see the world.
