And, leverages those in ways that can bring empires to their knees. It definitely does do financial power, trade, merchants and bankers, though. Normally, purple means "royalty" not "ships", but Braavos doesn't do kings or emperors. It's almost turned purple boring: you won't catch cheap fashion patterns using it very much, not because of the price, but because they're generally not aiming to be sober, stodgy or the colour of sailcloth you see too much of while at work. With a degree of corporate patriotism thrown in for good measure. Heck, purple is seen the way navy blue is seen in our modern offices is - a professionally neutral colour of decent taste. Except that shade (and other derived purples) isn't all that rare or expensive at home, to the point that ships and sails feature it prominently. Braavos has a rareish (therefore lucrative) dark purple dye made from snails that it exports and profits from. The famous Sealord Uthero finally went public after paying off the descendants of their slave masters (formally for the ships the slaves that founded Braavos took rather than the slaves themselves, so as to avoid implicitly accepting the legitimacy of slavery) and bribing several Valyrian politicians with its new found bank. The fog cover of Braavos protected it from the Dragons flying overhead. ![]() Guile Hero: The early founders of Braavos established the "Secret City" by giving sailors false flags and charts so as to escape their Valyrian masters.Though it's not perfect or ideal in any sense, since much of its power comes from the very ruthless and amoral Mega-Corp- The Iron Bank of Braavos- and its band of assassins- the Faceless Men. It also goes to wars with other nations to curb slavery. Good Republic, Evil Empire: Braavos is an abolitionist, ethnically diverse republic that has social mobility and national feeling that cuts across class lines.Littlefinger, a figure directly inspired by Niccholo Macchiavelli, has Braavosi ancestry. The theatre scene of Braavos is suggestive of the Renaissance era Florence (famous for comedies by Pietro Aretino and later, Machiavelli, who achieved popular success as a playwright rather than as a political theorist) and Elizabethan England. Bravo is an Italian word meaning "brave one" and originally referred to mercenary swordsmen who served as bodyguards, security and/or street gangs. The culture of Braavos, with its assassins and sword-fighting culture further associate it with Florence.The breaking with a major empire also associates them with the League of Lombardy, Northern Italian cities that successfully battled against the Holy Roman Empire and included Florence. It also has several echoes of America, with the early founders being led to a promised land via a vision and arriving on boat (echoing the Mayflower) the city is also similar to the idealized New York with its Melting Pot, multiple religions and languages, with the Titan serving as a medieval male Lady Liberty (herself a subversion of the Colossus of Rhodes). ![]() ![]() Culture Chop Suey: It's an idealized republican state - with the general layout and topography of Venice, the banking organizations of Medici-Era Florence and the Dutch and the Fleet of the British Empire (whose Navy went on a crusade to end slavery in the early 19th Century) with its wall of ships protecting it from invasion.Indeed, George RR Martin enjoyed writing Arya's chapters in the city so much he half-jokingly suggested that he considered a separate YA novel set entirely there, noting that it's a section in his book that comes closest to the classic adventure novel of "orphan alone in a large city". City of Canals: Braavos is a melting-pot, filled with strange and mysterious people an island of strange Gods, canals studded with statues and an active theatre scene.The Kindly Man: The Nine Free Cities are the daughters of Valyria that was, but Braavos is the bastard child who ran away from home.
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