Qohor was the only inland city among the Nine Free Cities, renowned throughout the world for its excellent forging and textile techniques.
Of the nine Free Cities, all except Braavos had once been colonies of the Valyrian Freehold, and Qohor was one of them.
One hundred years before Aegon's Conquest, the Doom of Valyria struck and the empire of the Valyrian Freehold collapsed. Only then did Qohor become an independent city-state.
Qohor had been built along the Qhoyne River, a tributary of the Rhoyne, and stood on the eastern edge of the vast Qohor Forest. Farther east lay the immense Dothraki Sea.
Thus, Qohor was the Dothraki's only route into the Free Cities. If that passage was blocked, they could only make a detour through Slaver's Bay and approach along the Demon Road.
Taking Qohor therefore meant gaining complete control over the eastern gateway to the former Free Cities.
The Kingdom of the Rhoynar had a Dragonstone Avenue connecting Qohor and Annoi. Under Ishys's management, the ruins of that ancient Rhoynar city had long since come back to life.
Over the past two years in particular, Annoi had taken in large numbers of refugees from Norvos and Qohor, as well as river bandits absorbed by the First Legion. Its population had already reached several tens of thousands.
Although winter had arrived there as well, a steady supply of grain from the Kingdom of Reclea kept life tolerable. Each day was spent either on extensive infrastructure projects or learning the continent's Common Tongue.
Qohor's artisans were famous throughout the world. Its smiths possessed a technique for infusing metal with color, and some even claimed to know how to reforge Valyrian steel.
However, ever since Holy Flame Island mastered more advanced techniques for producing Valyrian steel and fine steel, the forging industry