Gors Velen

Gors Velen is a wealthy, walled port city on the coast of Temeria, best known in the saga as the last stop before Thanedd Island and the Aretuza school of magic. It belongs to Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels rather than the games.

History

The first settlement here was built by the elves. When human settlers arrived from across the sea, the elves withdrew inland and left the place to them. Once the newcomers came under the Temerian crown, they ringed the town with high walls of stone and brick, and under the Temerian kings Gors Velen grew into one of the most important trading cities in the west. A few years before the Second Northern War, King Foltest tightened his hold on that trade with a staple right that forced merchants through inspection and allowed the city to seize Redanian and Nilfgaardian goods.

The city

A main street runs from the city gate down to the sea gate, and the harbor brings in goods and travelers from across the North. The fish market is known for its smell, and the local cats know it too. Dwarven bankers keep offices in the city, and with Aretuza so close, sorceresses are a common sight: the school’s teachers even come into town to round up students who have slipped away.

Gors Velen in the books

The city’s big moment comes in The Time of Contempt. Yennefer brings Ciri here from Nenneke‘s temple in Ellander, planning to enroll her at Aretuza while the mages gather on Thanedd for their conclave. While Yennefer does business with a dwarven banker, Ciri explores the city with one of the bank’s young clerks and causes a commotion at a traveling menagerie, escaping with the help of an amulet Yennefer gave her. The incident catches the attention of Tissaia de Vries and Margarita Laux-Antille.

Soon after, Ciri slips away to a nearby town where she has heard Geralt is staying. Yennefer follows her, she and Geralt make peace, and the three cross to Thanedd together, on the eve of the coup led by Vilgefortz.