Dorne

Dorne is the large peninsula which makes up the southernmost part of Westeros, and the only region independent from the Seven Kingdoms. The lords of the ruling House Nymeros Martell style themselves "Prince" and "Princess" in the Rhoynish fashion.

The Martells rule from their capital, Sunspear, outside of which sprawls the shadow city. Notable houses include Allyrion, Blackmont, Dayne, Fowler, Jordayne, Qorgyle, Santagar, Toland, Uller, Vaith, Wyl, and Yronwood.

## Geography

Dorne is the hottest region of Westeros. The region is rocky, mountainous, arid and dry, and features the only desert on the continent. Dorne is bordered by the Sea of Dorne to the north, the islands known as the Stepstones to the east, and the Summer Sea to the south. Stretched between them is the mountain range known as the Red Mountains, which separates Dorne from the Stormlands to the north and the Reach to the north-west and west. There are two major passes, the Boneway and the Prince's Pass, which go through the Red Mountains to the Dornish Marches of the Stormlands. The Prince's Pass leads to Nightsong, while the Boneway leads to Summerhall. Sunspear and the Water Gardens, both controlled by the ruling House Martell, are located in south-eastern Dorne.

Most of Dorne south of the Red Mountains is an arid wasteland. Eastern Dorne largely consists of dry, stony soil ill-suited for agriculture, while western Dorne contains deserts of red and white sand. The lords of House Vaith, for instance, are known as the Lords of the Red Dunes, while nobles of old who settled desert oases called themselves the Lords of the Wells. Sand dogs live in the desert.
Dorne's rivers provide some fertile lands and even during a long summer there is enough rain and other supplies of water to keep Dorne habitable. Inland water is almost as valuable as gold, and wells are jealously guarded. The major Dornish river is the Greenblood in southeastern Dorne, which is formed by the Vaith and the Scourge near Godsgrace. The trading port called Planky Town is located at the mouth of the Greenblood along the Summer Sea. The Brimstone in southern Dorne flows past the Hellholt to the Summer Sea. The Torentine has its source in the Red Mountains of western Dorne and ends at Starfall along the Summer Sea. The Wyl flows across the Boneway in northern Dorne to the Sea of Dorne. There is another river in northern Dorne which flows near Yronwood to the Sea of Dorne, but its name is as yet unknown.
The southern coast is some four hundred leagues long. It is ridden with cliffs, whirlpools, and hidden shoals, with few safe landings.

## People

Dorne is the least populous of Westeros. Dornishmen differ both culturally and ethnically from other Westerosi due to the historical mass immigration of Rhoynish people and their relative isolation. Dornishmen have adopted many Rhoynish customs on top of their First Men and Andal origins. Dornishmen have a reputation for hot-bloodedness and sexual licentiousness, and are still viewed with some mistrust and rivalry by the people of the neighboring Dornish Marches and the Reach. Dornish bastards of noble origin are given the surname Sand. Dornish paint their silks instead of sewing coats of arms.
Dorne contains septs for the Faith of the Seven and red temples for followers of R'hllor, though roughly half of Dorne still follows worships the Mother Rhoyne, the historical religion of the Rhoynar.

## Economy

Dorne provides many exotic products which are uncommon in the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. These products include olives, lemons, pomegranates, plums, cloth, spices, and blood oranges. Lemon orchards, and presumably other plants as well, are watered by a spider's web of canals. Because of the hot climate, in the deserts of Dorne water is most valuable, and every well is zealously guarded. Famous is also the use of spicy dragon peppers.
The Dornish produce their own wines, often called "Dornish reds". These wines are generally sour, though they occasionally can be more rich of taste. Strongwines from Dorne are as dark as blood, with a sweet taste.

Fabled are the sand steeds bred by the Dornish. These horses are slim and swift, with elegant heads, long necks, and flowing manes. They are considered to be the most beautiful horses in the Seven Kingdoms. Though they are smaller than regular warhorses and light-boned, unable to bear the weight of armour, they can run for near two days and a night before tiring, needing only a few drinks of water over the course of a day and a night.

Dornish yew is used to make bows.

In Sunspear's shadow city, numerous bazaars can be found. Before crossing the deep sands of the Dornish desert for the Prince's Pass, caravans take on supplies at Sunspear. Ships from across the narrow sea find the Planky Town a convenient harbor and come there to trade. As the port is located at the mouth of the Greenblood, often the orphans of the Greenblood come to trade, spreading the goods up and down the river.

## Military strength

The Martells are believed to be able to raise fifty thousand soldiers, both by Dornishmen and people from other provinces of the Seven Kingdoms. However, when, following his conquest of Dorne, King Daeron I Targaryen wrote his book called *The Conquest of Dorne*, he exaggerated the quantity of his opponents to enhance his victory. House Martell has never corrected this claim, in order to make Dorne appear stronger. Dorne's true military numbers have not yet been revealed, though Dorne is roughly equal in military strength to the North and Vale.

In the time before the Andals, King Ferris Fowler led ten thousand men against King Garth VII Gardener, during the Golden Reign. At the time, House Fowler ruled one of the three most powerful kingdoms in Dorne, the other two being House Dayne of Starfall and House Yronwood of Yronwood. In 37 A.C., a rebel known as the Vulture King gathered a following of thirty thousand.

Dorne has had no strength at sea since Princess Nymeria of the Rhoynar burned her ten thousand ships a thousand years ago.

## History

### Dawn Age

During the Dawn Age, the children of the forest referred to desolate Dorne as the Empty Land.

### First Men

The First Men settled Westeros by crossing the land bridge across the narrow sea called the Arm of Dorne. During their great war with the First Men, the children of the forest allegedly broke the Arm with the hammer of the waters in an attempt to stop them coming.

First Men houses who established themselves as prominent kings included House Dayne, the Kings of the Torrentine; House Fowler, the Kings of Stone and Sky; and House Yronwood, the Bloodroyals who styled themselves High King of Dorne. A rival High King of Dorne was also chosen from a dozen houses along the Greenblood.

Dorne has had a violent history, particularly with the houses of the Red Mountains, who lived by raiding across the borders into the Dornish Marches, feuding with each other endlessly. The various Dornish kings, the Kings of the Reach, and the Storm Kings fought border wars beyond count and made countless raids across mountains and marches even when at peace, leading to their great enmity.

### Andal Adventurers

During the Andal invasion of Westeros, most Andals avoided Dorne, aside from adventurers such as the Ullers, Qorgyles, and Vaiths. The Allyrions, Jordaynes, and Santagars also established their own realms. The Martells defeated two First Men houses, the Wades and Shells, claiming territory near the mouth of the Greenblood.

### House Nymeros Martell

Centuries ago, Dorne was a coalition of First Men and Andal petty kings and lords, with no ruler strong enough to seize control of the entire region. Seven hundred years ago, or alternatively a thousand years ago, the Rhoynish Wars forced the people of the Rhoynar to flee their homeland along the Rhoyne in Essos. Led by their legendary warrior-queen, Nymeria, they left in a fleet of ten thousand ships, eventually making landfall at the mouth of the Greenblood in Dorne. Nymeria allied with Lord Mors Martell of the Sandship, and with his support conquered the entire peninsula in Nymeria's War, uniting it with House Nymeros Martell of Sunspear as its ruler.
While the monarchs from the rest of Westeros used the title "king", the new rulers of Dorne used the Rhoynish title "prince" instead. Although no longer kings, the Yronwoods, the second most powerful house in Dorne, continued to call themselves "the Bloodroyal".

The Rhoynar brought their own gods with them to Dorne, but they have largely disappeared in favor of the Faith of the Seven. Nevertheless, many Rhoynish customs, including inheritance regardless of gender, have been absorbed into Dornish society. Descendants of the Rhoynar who have not assimilated into Dornish society are known as orphans of the Greenblood.

### House Targaryen

A century and a half ago, Aegon I Targaryen claimed the Seven Kingdoms and invaded Westeros. During Aegon's Conquest, he subjugated each of the Westerosi monarchs one by one, except Dorne. One of Aegon's sisters, Rhaenys Targaryen, flew on her dragon, Meraxes, above the Dornishmen guarding the Prince's Pass, but each Dornish castle she visited was abandoned. When she came to Sunspear, she was met by Meria Martell, Princess of Dorne, who warned her that the Targaryens would face peril if they attacked Dorne.

In 4 A.C., however, Aegon the Conqueror announced another campaign, which became the First Dornish War. Whereas other kings and lords had taken to the field against Aegon, or clustered in castles, the Dornish refused to give open battle and allow Aegon to deploy his dragons. Instead, they turned to ambush and raids, striking quickly and then slipping back into the desert or through the mountain passes, where even the dragons could not find them. Aegon's younger sister-wife, Queen Rhaenys, participated in this war, which eventually lead to her death. Meraxes was also killed, being hit in the eye by a scorpion at the Hellholt. In 13 A.C. a peace was agreed between Dorne and the Iron Throne, which held for seventy years, barring conflicts with raiders in the mountains, the misleadingly named Second and Third Dornish Wars.

Despite Dornish independence, House Targaryen continued to claim the Iron Throne's control over the land as part of the Seven Kingdoms. In 83 A.C. the foolish Prince Morion Martell launched the Fourth Dornish War and was defeated in a day by King Jaehaerys I Targaryen and his sons. On his death in 103 A.C. it was said that even Dorne mourned.

In 110 A.C., Prince Qoren Martell led Dorne to join the Triarchy in the war against Prince Daemon Targaryen for control of the Stepstones. King Viserys I Targaryen considered wedding his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra, to the Prince of Dorne, and thereby bring Dorne under control of the Iron Throne, but Rhaenyra eventually wed Ser Laenor Velaryon instead. At the outbreak of the great Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons in 129 A.C. both sides sought Dorne as a potential ally, but remembering the devastation of the First Dornish War, Prince Qoren chose to reject both. Rhaenyra's faction was co-led by Daemon, who had recently been fighting against Dorne, but the opposing faction of Rhaenyra's half-brother Aegon II included Dorne's ancestral enemies in the Stormlands and the southern Reach. Dorne therefore remained neutral throughout the Targaryen civil war, content to sit back and watch them destroy each other.

Qoren had died by 132 A.C. and was succeeded by his fiery seventeen year-old daughter Aliandra Martell, who considered herself "the new Nymeria". Dorne's power waxed during her reign, as the Targaryen realm was left badly weakened by the Dance of the Dragons and would take a full generation to recover. Aliandra encouraged her knights and lords to prove themselves with renewed raids in the Dornish Marches. Eventually conflict in the Stepstones flared up again when the Triarchy collapsed in the chaotic Daughters' War of 131-134 A.C., and Aliandra actively sought to expand Dorne's influence east there as well. Towards the end of the war Aliandra allied with Tyrosh and Lys against the other factions competing over the region, and when the dust settled, at the end of the war Dorne ended up in control of almost all of the Stepstones.

## Houses

  House Blackmont of Blackmont
  House Dalt of Lemonwood.
  House Dayne of Starfall