Ulthos

Ulthos occupies the far edge of Elissa Farman’s imagined geography: a distant shore beyond Westeros, associated with the possibility of undiscovered lands and seas between the known continents. In her vision, it was not simply a destination on a merchant’s route but part of a world far larger and stranger than established maps could show.

Place in the Known World

Ulthos appears among the far-eastern shores of Essos and the lands imagined to lie beyond the Sunset Sea. The scale of that sea was disputed even among the archmaesters of the Citadel: some thought it too vast to cross, while others considered it no wider than the Summer Sea between the Arbor and Great Moraq. If the latter estimate were right, a westward passage might reach the silks and spices of Yi Ti and Leng. Ulthos belonged to this uncertain horizon of possible western routes and distant shores.

Elissa Farman’s Vision

Elissa Farman, living in Oldtown under the name Alys Westhill, rejected the idea that sailing west was merely a way to reach Ulthos and Asshai for trade. She believed that between Westeros and the far-eastern shores of Essos and Ulthos lay other seas and continents: another Essos, another Sothoryos, and another Westeros. Ulthos thus formed one landmark in a much bolder conception of the world, whose undiscovered regions mattered more to her than a direct route to known wealth.

The Voyage and Its Limits

The Sun Chaser had reached port in Oldtown in the last days of autumn, but Alys remained at the docks seeking a crew willing to share her ambition. She planned to sail beyond the sunset, taking a more southerly course through warm blue waters and steady winds rather than following the northern routes associated with Brandon the Shipwright and the ironborn. The account establishes Ulthos as part of the voyage’s imagined geography, not as a place reached: the immediate obstacle was finding a crew she trusted not to lose heart or force her to turn back.