Aliandra Martell

## Princess of Dorne

**Princess Aliandra Martell** is the daughter of Prince Qyle Martell, granddaughter of Prince Nymor Martell, and the current Heiress of Dorne. She is currently 22 years old, and resides in Sunspear, working as Justiciar of her grandfather's court. She is a member of House Martell.

## Appearance

Aliandra is 5’2” tall, with a bosom and hips befitting a young mother. She has the olive skin and brown eyes of House Martell, and the straight black hair and strong jaw of Baratheon. Though a woman of renowned attractiveness, it is most often said that her beauty is a melancholy one. She bears deep scars on both her wrists, and wears sleeves or jewellery to cover them.

## History

Aliandra Martell was the first child of Prince Qyle Martell and his wife, Lady Marya Baratheon. Born of a marriage of love, Aliandra grew up idealistic toward such a notion of romance. Always the knowledge that she would be married for politics lingered in her mind from the age of five years, but not once did she stop hoping to find a husband who would love her as much as her father loved her mother. Three years following her birth she was joined by a brother named Tryston, born in Storm’s End during a visit to their mother’s ancestral home. Aliandra and Tryston grew up extremely close, and it was rare to find the pair apart from one another; in their teenage years, Tryston became her sworn shield and sword.

Some time after Tryston’s birth they were joined by three more siblings; a girl named Saria, a boy named Horen, and another named Drusan. Tryston grew to become a staggering foot-and-a-half taller than his elder sister, built like the Baratheons of old, while their sister Saria shared their mother’s Baratheon looks too, with fair skin that burned easily in the Dornish sun, and navy blue eyes. The boys Horen and Drusan could have been twins for all their alikeness, and though neither remember their father, look more and more like him each passing day.

As the first female Martell to rule since Princess Arianne, Aliandra’s future was already marked by her predecessor’s mistakes, and as such her tuition and upbringing was coordinated so she might never repeat Arianne’s failures. Educated by the finest Volantene tutors, Oldtown Septas, Braavosi accountants, and Dornish ladies of court, Qyle and Prince Nymor ensured her tuition would help their successor to-be become a good woman, wonderful wife, and a better Princess. For the many first years of her life, Aliandra saw only the inside of the Tower of the Sun, the libraries of the Old Palace, and on the rare special occasion, the Water Gardens west of Sunspear. In that time she was taught the excellence of music, singing, painting, dancing, and dialects of Valyrian; she was educated in the histories of her people and that of Westeros, in the finery of deportment and social graces, and the traditional Dornish skill in handling a Sand Steed and the ceremonial double-curved bow.

All the finest education could not help the young Martell’s difficulty in social situations. Always she found her heart racing near the point of illness at the prospect of greeting guests or hosting small events, and though a pretty young woman she grew to become, no amount of social etiquette or good looks could excuse Aliandra’s inability to hold a conversation with a lord or lady without stumbling on her words or her skirts. As such, she and her parents struggled for a time to make a match for the future Princess. Always it had been difficult to make a matrilineal match, even in Dorne, for few families wished to sign their sons’ futures away to life as a consort; matched with Aliandra’s lacking graces, it was not for some time until a union could be made.

### Grazdan the Gruesome

In 362AC, a sellsword by the name of Grazdan had purged the islands of pirates, effectively establishing his own kingdom. A generation earlier, Westeros had learned the hard way what a difficult task it would be to counteract him, and for a time, his activities were ignored by some, admired by others, but reviled by most. Grazdan established an organized pass through the Narrow Sea, removing the pirate threat between the isles, and when he wed the Sapphire of Tyrosh, a whore renowned for her beauty in the Free Cities, it was she who installed laws protecting women and prostitutes. Traffic through the Stepstones and relations with the Free Cities had never been better, but when it was said a member of House Martell had sent for the Faceless Man who had killed Grazdan's wife in her bed, all progress and peace between the Stepstones and Dorne seemed to have never exist at all.

Aliandra was fifteen years of age when the Old Palace of Sunspear was infiltrated by Grazdan’s men in 365AC. Though the very best of Prince Nymor’s spears had guarded every entrance to the keep, the corsairs and rogues who scaled the sides of the cliffs were too quick for them. Aliandra was the first taken hostage, and by threat of her life the rest of House Martell came along quietly, boarding Grazdan’s flagship The Bloody Maw bound and gagged, still in their bedclothes. Prince Qyle was the first to die on the ship, after thinking to rescue his family with little more than his fists and wits, and received a cut throat for his efforts. Aliandra witnessed the abuse of her family first hand, her aunts and cousin Tya, her uncle Qorin, and her own mother, Lady Marya. The family were kept imprisoned in the keep of Bloodstone where Grazdan had made his den, and one by one they succumbed to wounds, starvation, or the sword. Qorin followed the way of his brother, before finally only Prince Nymor, Lady Marya, and the children remained.

Word of the Martells’ kidnapping had reached the people of Dorne and the Seven Kingdoms in a matter of days after the savagery began. Rescue attempts were lead by the Dornishmen over and over, but the small Dornish fleet was brutalised by Grazdan’s armada, and repelled countless times. It was only with the assistance of Lord Baratheon, King Maekar’s royal fleet, and the leadership of the Lord of the Tor, Morgan Jordayne, that the Dornishmen were finally able to penetrate Bloodstone’s savage beaches. By the time the battle ended, Lady Marya was inches before death, raped and beaten like her good-sisters had been weeks before. She died before her daughter while Baratheon broke the lines on the beaches, and for her death, the Lord of Storm’s End has since held a grudge against House Martell.

### After Bloodstone

Aliandra was not conscious during the rescue, but awoke in Sunspear once more, desperate for the last month of her hellish life to have been a dream. It was Lord Jordayne who had told her otherwise, her rescuer on Bloodstone. Aliandra recovered physically, but a lack of faith, a fear of the sea and the touch of man has tainted her life since. A year into the mourning period, Aliandra was betrothed to Lord Jordayne, the man to whom she supposedly owed her life. Their courtship needed not last long, for Morgan was sweet and generous, with a quick wit, quicker sword, and unending love for his new wife-- so much so that he gave up his own claim on the Tor to be able to spend more time with the Princess and their future children. He was respectful of her wishes and a gentle lover, and their wedding day held in the Nymeros Sept remains the happiest day of Aliandra’s life.

Though the marriage had initially been political, as thanks for his bravery and courage on the Stepstones, Aliandra grew to love Morgan with the intensity of the Dornish sun itself. On her 18th nameday celebration, songs were sung of their love, quickly followed by the announcement of her first pregnancy. House Martell had suffered greatly at the hands of Grazdan, and the continuation of their line had been of utmost importance to Prince Nymor. The news made the old man smile for the first time in years that day, though it is said he has not smiled once since.

Prince Garin Martell was born at dawn on a day in 368AC, and the bells of Sunspear and the Nymeros Sept in Plankytown rang from sunrise to sunset. Motherhood had always appealed to Aliandra, but following Garin’s birth, she found herself unable to enjoy the gift she was supposed to love. Painting and singing no longer held any appeal, nor any of her other passions in riding and reading. She became irritable and more anxious than ever, and in 369AC withdrew from Sunspear’s court to reside in the Water Gardens with her child and husband. Tried as she might, she was never fully able to care for Garin as she had hoped, and instead delved back into her own interests to little avail. Following Morgan’s death in 369AC while hunting the last of Grazdan’s men in the Stepstones, Aliandra fell into a deeper depression. Having lost not only her family some years before but the love of her life too, she found little to live for any longer, and attempted to end her life.

She was revived by her brother Tryston, and the resident maester originally sent to care for the Princess and her babe. The incident was kept quiet for some time, as Maester Voryn admired the young princess and wished for her recovery to be swift and able, but as her behaviour and that around her own son became more and more recklessly selfish, he had little choice but to obey his obligation to the Lord of Sunspear. Three months after Morgan’s death, Aliandra was ordered to return to the safety of Sunspear and the Tower of the Sun by the ageing Prince Nymor. Her new duties included being where the Prince could not, was given the title of Sunspear’s Justiciar and managed court well enough; her social anxiety and occasional, notable clumsiness often got in the way of her responsibilities. She remains aloof, cold, and unyielding, and though she is aware that she is required to marry once more, has yet to view her suitors with anything less than dread.

Though the two had never been close before the deaths of their family, grief had united Nymor and his granddaughter, and in him Aliandra found much of her own personality. Prince Garin’s education was left to the same fine tutors given to Aliandra and her siblings during her own childhood, and for the majority of his life, Aliandra has remained apart from her son, unable to look at the eyes so similar to that of her late husband. In 372AC, following the death of King Maekar I, Prince Nymor was ordered to attend the coronation of the new King Aemon; considering his age and ailing condition, Aliandra was trusted to attend in his stead, and swear fealty for all of Dorne to the new King on the Iron Throne.

## Recent Events

Aliandra left Dorne ahead of most of the attending vassals with a party including her brother Tryston, Tya Sand, and soldiers lead by an Orphan of the Greenblood, named Captain Olyver. They arrived in Summerhall some weeks after the king's death, and were escorted through the Stormlands by Prince Valarr Targaryen and his own retinue. They were eventually joined by one of Prince Nymor's own vassals and favoured councillor, Lord Harmen Allyrion, before making for King's Landing through the Kingswood.

## Timeline

* 350AC: Aliandra is born.
* 365AC: The events of the Second War on the Stepstones.
* 367AC: Married to Lord Morgan Jordayne.
* 368AC: Birth of her first son, Prince Garin Martell.
* 369AC: Death of Lord Morgan Jordayne; Aliandra becomes a widow. She attempts to commit suicide but is unsuccessful.
* 370AC: Aliandra returns to Sunspear court and operates as Justiciar.
* 372AC: Aliandra attends the coronation of King Aemon I Targaryen in the stead of Prince Nymor.

## Family Tree

* Princess Arianne Martell (b. 276AC, d. 332AC), Lady of Sunspear, wife of Ser Cletus Yronwood
	+ Prince Nymor Martell (b. 306AC), and his wife, Lady Lorella Qorgyle (b. 311AC, d. 360AC)
		- Prince Qyle Martell (b. 331AC, d. 365AC), and his wife, Lady Marya Baratheon (b. 334AC, d. 365AC)
			* Princess **Aliandra Martell** (b. 350AC), and her husband Lord Morgan Jordayne (b. 342AC, d. 369AC)
				+ Prince Garin Martell (b. 367AC)
			* Prince Tryston Martell (b. 353AC), a knight and Aliandra's sworn sword
			* Princess Saria Martell (b. 354AC)
			* Prince Horan Martell (b. 361AC)
			* Prince Drusan Martell (b. 364AC)
		- Princess Rhya Martell (b. 332AC, d. 365AC), a septa of the Faith
		- Princess Priya Martell (b. 333AC, d. 365AC), and her paramour, a Braavosi merchant lord
			* Ser Arian Sand (b. 348AC), a knight of the Kingsguard
			* Tya Sand (b. 350AC)
			* Yandry Sand (b. 351AC)
		- Prince Qorin Martell (b. 338AC, d. 365AC) and his wife, Lady Catrin Dalt (b. 339AC, d. 364AC)
			* Prince Quentyn Martell (b. 355AC)
			* Princess Yllsa Martell (b. 355AC)
			* Princess Tysa Martell (b. 364, stillborn)
	+ Princess Tysane Martell (b. 307AC) and her husband, Lord Dareon Vaith (b. 299AC, d. 368AC)

## References

1. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/FireandBloodRP/comments/3wgljg/from\_summerhall/
2. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/FireandBloodRP/comments/3x1bjy/the\_princes\_trusted/
3. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/FireandBloodRP/comments/3xkw2b/straight\_for\_the\_castle/