House Martell

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House Fowler

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House Jordayne

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House Toland

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House Yronwood

**House Nymeros Martell of Sunspear**, usually simply called **House Martell**, is one of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms and the ruling house of Dorne. "Nymeros" indicates "of the line of Nymeria," referring to the union of the Martells with the Rhoynish warrior queen Nymeria around 700 BC. The Prince of Dorne rules from Sunspear in southeastern Dorne.

The Martells of old used a spear as their emblem, while Nymeria and her Rhoynar used the sun as theirs. When Nymeria wed Lord Mors Martell, the symbols were combined into a gold spear piercing a red sun on an orange field. Their words are *Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken*. In appearance they are what Daeron I Targaryen considered salty Dornishmen, with dark eyes, dark hair in ringlets, and olive skin.

## History

### **Foundation**

House Martell was founded by Morgan Martell, an Andal adventurer who settled between the mouth of the Greenblood and the Broken Arm during the coming of the Andals to Dorne. Morgan led the defeat of the local First Men, including Houses Wade and Shell, establishing his rule over a strip of land fifty leagues long and ten leagues wide. They did not rule as kings, but were cautious vassals of kings from Houses Jordayne, Allyrion, and Yronwood, as well as petty kings of the Greenblood.

### **Nymeria's War**

At the time of the Rhoynish Wars, the Martells were one of the lesser ruling families of Dorne. At the time of the arrival of the Rhoynish warrior queen Nymeria, around 700 BC, the lands of the Martells were dwarfed by those of House Yronwood. Mors Martell, the Lord of the Sandship, saw an opportunity in the arrival of the Rhoynar, and took Nymeria to wife. Combining their strength, the two managed to unite all of Dorne under their rule in Nymeria's War.

The union of their peoples saw the Martells abandon many of their older Andal customs in favor of those of the Rhoynar. Nymeria named Mors Prince of Dorne instead of king, and their lands and title passed down to their eldest child, their daughter, regardless of Nymeria marrying again after Mors's death and giving birth to a male child. The Spear Tower and the Tower of the Sun, the towers of Sunspear's Old Palace, were built in the Rhoynish fashion.

### **Targaryen Era**

During Aegon's Conquest, Queen Rhaenys Targaryen confronted the aged Princess of Dorne, Meria Martell, at Sunspear. When Meria refused to submit to the Targaryens, Rhaenys departed Dorne. The Targaryens returned in 4 AC, starting the First Dornish War. When their forces arrived at Sunspear, Meria had vanished. King Aegon I and Queen Rhaenys Targaryen declared themselves victorious and left Lord Jon Rosby as Castellan of Sunspear as they returned to King's Landing. However, the Dornishmen quickly came out of hiding, retaking Sunspear. Lord Rosby was captured, and thrown from a window atop the Spear Tower by Princess Meria herself. In later phases of the war, the Targaryens burned every Dornish stronghold at least once, with the exception of Sunspear and its shadow city. According to the Dornishmen, the Targaryens were did not dare to attack Sunspear as they feared that Princess Meria might have purchased a device from Lys to slay their dragons. In his *Conjectures* Archmaester Timotty suggests that Aegon hoped to turn the Dornish against the Martells by leaving them the only ones unharmed, and letters have been discovered in which marcher lords claimed to the Dornish that the Martells had bought their safety. However, the tactics did not work.

After nine years, the First Dornish War came to an end in 13 AC. When the elderly Princess Meria died, her son Nymor assumed rule over Dorne. Desiring peace, he sent his daughter Deria to King's Landing with an escort as an peace envoy. She brought with her the skull of Rhaenys's dragon Meraxes and a letter from Prince Nymor. Although at first determined to refuse the peace offer, Aegon agreed to it after reading Nymor's letter. During the remainder of King Aegon I's reign, the Martells and Targaryens remained on good terms. In 23 AC, King Aegon I and his son Aenys visited Sunspear for a "feast of friendship" celebrating the tenth anniversary of the peace accord with Princess Deria, now the Princess of Dorne. In 37 AC, as the Vulture King troubled the lands surrounding the border between Dorne and the Iron Throne, Princess Deria insisted to King Aenys I Targaryen that she was doing what she could to end the rebellion, many suspected that she was secretly giving the rebel her support.

In 110 AC Prince Qoren Martell gave his support to the Triarchy in the war against Prince Daemon Targaryen and Lord Corlys Velaryon in the Stepstones. Daemon's brother, King Viserys I Targaryen, spoke of wedding his daughter Rhaenyra to the Prince of Dorne as a way of finally uniting the Seven Kingdoms, though ultimately this did not occur. During the Dance of the Dragons, Prince Qoren was contacted by Hand of the King Otto Hightower, but refused the alliance, claiming he'd "*sooner sleep with scorpions*".

King Daeron I Targaryen conquered Dorne in 158 AC when the Prince of Dorne bent the knee at the Submission of Sunspear. Rebellion continued until Daeron's death in 161 AC, after which his brother, King Baelor I, travelled to Sunspear and agreed to a peace with House Martell. This included a betrothal between Myriah Martell and Prince Daeron Targaryen. Myriah's brother Maron was Daeron's most important supporter, and upon Daeron's ascension, agreed to join Dorne under Targaryen rule. This became official in 187 AC, when Maron married Daeron's sister Daenerys.

During Daeron II's reign, Dornish influence at court increased, while Daeron's other lords began to grow dissatisfied with the concessions Maron had won during the negotiations. These complaints, among others, were reasons causing several lords to oppose Daeron II's rule during the First Blackfyre Rebellion.

In 273 AC, the Princess of Dorne took her younger children Oberyn and Elia to meet potential suitors. Their final destination was Casterly Rock, and despite learning of Lady Joanna Lannister's death while at Oldtown, they continued their journey. Oberyn Martell believes that his mother had planned with Joanna to marry either Elia or Oberyn to one of Joanna's twins, Jaime and Cersei, since there was an empty cabin on their ship meant for someone of high birth. Lord Tywin Lannister ignored them for weeks. When the Princess of Dorne eventually broached the subject of marriage to him, both matches were brusquely refused. He claimed Cersei was meant to marry Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, and suggested the new-born dwarf Tyrion for Elia instead, which was taken as an insult. Shortly thereafter, at the age of sixteen, Oberyn was caught abed with Lord Edgar Yronwood's paramour. To settle the situation, the two fought a duel in which both took wounds. Edgar's wounds festered and killed him, causing rumors Oberyn's blade in the duel had been poisoned. To make peace between the two houses, Oberyn was temporarily exiled.

### **Robert's Rebellion**

In 279 AC, Elia was betrothed to Rhaegar, whom she married the next year. When Rhaegar won the tourney at Harrenhal in 281 AC, he passed over Elia to name Lyanna Stark the Queen of Love and Beauty. A year later, he apparently abducted Lyanna, sparking Robert's Rebellion. Prince Doran Martell, furious at Elia's mistreatment, was slow to lend aid to the Targaryens during the war, but eventually sent ten thousand men to fight for the throne at the Battle of the Trident. One of the casualties at the battle was Prince Lewyn Martell of the Kingsguard. A fortnight later, Princess Elia and her two young children were murdered by two Lannister knights, Ser Gregor Clegane and Ser Amory Lorch, during the Sack of King's Landing.

### **Baratheon Dynasty**

The year following war's end, Oberyn attempted to raise Dorne for the exiled Prince Viserys Targaryen, but the diplomacy between Prince Doran Martell and Jon Arryn prevented further conflict. In secret, however, Doran and Oberyn worked on bringing an end to the reign of King Robert I Baratheon and destroying House Lannister. A secret marriage pact was signed, exchanging support to Viserys for a marriage between him and Doran's heir. However, Doran decides to keep his plots a secret from his daughter Arianne, which causes a severe deterioration of their once so strong relationship. It also causes Arianne to mistrust her younger brother Quentyn, who lives at Yronwood, serving Lord Ormond Yronwood as a page and squire.

The fued between the Martells and Tyrells was revitalized when Oberyn accidentally crippled Willas Tyrell in a tourney.

Doran eventually became afflicted with gout, and in 298 AC moved from Sunspear to the Water Gardens. Two years later, Doran's gout has become far worse, and he is no longer able to walk, but instead is usually confined to a wheelchair.

## **Recent Events**

The ever patient Prince Doran Martell’s best-laid plans were pragmatically set aside when he visited King’s Landing to attend the Great Council of 300 AC. A reassessment of the state of the realm led him to the conclusion that compromising with the Tyrells was a safer and more sensible course than supporting the restoration of the Targaryen dynasty. He reluctantly agreed to break the betrothal between Myrcella and Trystane and to instead accept Margaery Tyrell as his bride. After a brief tenure on Myrcella’s regency council, Doran died and passed down his titles to Prince Trystane.

Even with the breaking of their betrothal, a personal friendship endured between Prince Trystane and Queen Myrcella. He remained loyal to her throughout the War of the Two Dragons, during which he rejected Aegon Targaryen’s bid for support and faced a fierce rebellion against his rule led by House Yronwood. Bitter fighting persisted in the Red Mountains for three years, ending only when Queen Myrcella sent reinforcements to support the Martell loyalists. A lenient man who had grown tired of bloodshed, Trystane pardoned his rebellious lords in exchange for their mere fealty.

When Willas Tyrell died in 324 AC, his titles of Lord of Highgarden and Lord Paramount of the Mander were passed down to his young son - but at Myrcella’s insistence, the title of Warden of the South was withheld. She instead granted it to Prince Trystane in recognition of his enduring loyalty and service to the crown.

In 333 AC, a threat long in the making finally found Dorne’s shores. The bastards of Aurane Waters, a former lieutenant of Aegon and Daenerys Targaryen, harried the coasts of Dorne and the Stormlands. His corsairs pillaged, razed and enslaved everywhere they went, and were able to evade reprisals so long as a dragon still haunted the Stepstones. The Bastards of the Tides raided with impunity for fourteen years, until Lord Baratheon invaded the islands and brought their piracy to an end.

The subsequent decades saw a period of religious tension of an unexpected nature and an unanticipated scale. A dragon-worshipping cult had emerged in Lys, with strict precepts and an authoritative character that brought its followers into conflict with many elements of Lysene society. As the cult’s influence grew, worshippers of R’hllor in particular faced persecution, compelling them to flee to Dorne. The refugees largely settled in Planky Town and the Shadow City of Sunspear, with some moving further inland to the towns along the Greenblood.

After growing comfortable in their new homes, the hitherto insular refugees began pursuing a course of proselytization. Their religious zeal provoked conflict with the Faith of the Seven, culminating in bloody street brawls. Frustrated by the violence that plagued their towns, the lords of Dorne compelled House Martell to intervene. Septons were imposed upon their communities as the Martells attempted to convert the newcomers to the Faith of the Seven.

When a zealot named Arron burned a septon alive and called on the exiles to rise in rebellion against their prosecution, Lord Martell raised an army and marched against the zealots. The war that followed was not one of pitched battles but rather a campaign of skirmishes, culminating after several moons with Arron’s capture. Though the Prince of Dorne had intended to convict the rebels’ leader in a trial, his men ignored their orders and personally delivered the man a gruesome death.