Raiders of the Lost City is an A Song of Ice and Fire Fan Fiction written by CaekDaemon, of The Many Sons of Winter fame.
It is well-known in Westeros that, centuries before Aegon's Conquest, House Lannister lost its ancestral Valyrian sword, Brightroar, when King Tommen II Lannister lost it on a fatal expedition to the Doom of Valyria. Over the years, countless Lannisters have gone and disappeared looking for Brightroar, including Gerion Lannister, little brother of current patriarch Tywin Lannister. And his story would have ended there, same as the others before him...until rumors of a shipwreck with crimson sails reach Westeros. The ship of the lost Lannister being sighted in a place other than Valyria means he was on his way back from the expedition, and most likely had the sword in his possession.
And so, a year before the events of A Game of Thrones start, Tywin, having gotten wind of the rumors, charges his dwarf son Tyrion to go find the shipwreck of his long lost brother, and to return with Brightroar or not return at all. For that mission, he has assembled a good ship with a solid crew for Tyrion to do so. And he will need them, for their destination, where Gerion's ship was sighted, is the fabled "Tenth Free City": the cursed ruins of Gogossos...
It can be read on Archive of Our Own here
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Raiders of the Lost City contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Esgred, naturally, as the only woman onboard. Especially since she's Asha Greyjoy.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: The expedition is the closest thing to this trope in a world where the profession doesn't exist.
- Badass Crew: This is a crew made up of canonical badasses such as Sandor "the Hound" Clegane, Bronn, Anguy, and Asha Greyjoy, and Original Character Artos Norrey, an axe-wielding Barbarian Hero. It was always gonna be a Foregone Conclusion.
- Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": On the isle, the crew finds a pineapple, a coconut, and a manchineel, all of which the Westerosi are unfamiliar with and so find very strange. Qyburn calls the manchineel "Sothoryi apple".
- Darkest Africa: Sothoryos is a deliberate Fantasy Counterpart Culture of this.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: When Artos Norrey meets Tyrion, it is noted he is shocked to see him because the Northern Mountain Clans usually kill children affected with dwarfism.
- Disc-One Final Boss: The crew defeating Euron essentially serves as the end of the first arc about the journey to Gogossos. Once they get to Gogossos, the Volantenes and Master Daerion Aurentys become the antagonists.
- Hungry Jungle: The jungles on the Isle of Tears and Sothoryos proper are full of danger, and in fact are noted to periodically resonate with the sounds of terrifying howls.
- Jungle Opera: The entire premise once they get to Gogossos, complete with hostile natives, creatures, and rivals.
- MacGuffin: Brightroar, the lost Valyrian sword of House Lannister.
- Master Archer: Anguy, as in the books.
- Raiders of the Lost Parody: The title is a clear reference to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Otherwise, the fic is more of a homage to Indiana Jones than a straight parody.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: A dwarf son of a powerful great House, a former smuggler turned sailor and noble, a man-at-arms with half his face horribly scarred, a mercenary Only in It for the Money, a Mad Scientist of an ex-maester, a Master Archer from the Reach, a man from the northern mountain clan, and an experienced Ironborn Pirate Girl who is in reality the only daughter of the ruling House of the Iron Islands.
- The Savage South: Sothoryos again.
- Secret Identity: Esgred is actually Asha Greyjoy.
- Team Pet: The cat Balerion and a wyvern the ship picks up serve as this for the expedition.
- Tropical Island Adventure: The central premise, but only starts in earnest once they get to the Isle of Tears and Gogossos in Chapter 4.
- Two-Fisted Tales: The story wears its pulp influence on its sleeve.
