Ebou Dar

Ebou Dar comes fully into view in A Crown of Swords. The capital of Altara, it is a great port at the mouth of the River Eldar on the Sea of Storms, a city of white plaster and pale stone threaded with canals and crossed by countless bridges. Its people are courteous, hot tempered, and quick with a blade; duels are a settled custom with rules everyone knows, and an Ebou Dari woman's marriage knife, worn on a ribbon at the throat, is both ornament and working weapon. The Tarasin Palace houses the throne of Altara, while across the river the crowded quarter called the Rahad has a reputation for knife work that even hardened sailors respect. The city stands on old ground. Barashta, one of the great cities of the Ten Nations, stood here before the Trolloc Wars leveled it nearly three thousand years ago.