Dorne

## Geography

### Location

Southernmost Westeros, bordered by the Stormlands, the Reach, and the Southlands.

### Notable Locations

Red MountainsTower of Joy

Hellholt

The Greenbelt

Starfall

**Dorne** is the large peninsula which makes up the southernmost part of Westeros, and is one of the constituent regions of 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.

## History

### The Great Council, 301 AC

Following the death of King Tommen I in a riot, Hand of the King Mace Tyrell called a Great Council, which elected **Myrcella I Baratheon** as the Lady of the Seven Kingdoms. A regency council, made up of Mace Tyrell, Randyll Tarly, Nestor Royce, Petyr Baelish, and Ser Jaime Lannister, was established to rule until Myrcella came of age. **Aegon Targaryen**, claimant to the Iron Throne, who also put his name forward during the council, was forced to call off his conquest and flee to Essos with the remnants of the Golden Company.

### Years of Consolidation, 300 - 306 AC

The Years of Consolidation was the period of time in were the War of the Five King's came to an end and saw the reintegration of Westeros into one realm once more under Queen Myrcella I Baratheon following the Great Council of 301 AC.

### War of the Two Dragons, 309 AC

Coming from the far east, Aegon Targaryen returned to the Seven Kingdoms with his aunt and wife **Daenerys Targaryen** at his side, and they brought dragonfire and twenty-thousand swords to try and reclaim the Iron Throne for their dynasty. Their attempt at conquest ultimately failed, however, and the Realm persevered under Queen Myrcella.

### A Dynasty of Roses, 336 AC

**324 AC**: King-Consort Willas Tyrell passed away in illness, and the young Prince Tommen inherited Highgarden, becoming the Lord Paramount of the Mander. As the latter was rather young, Queen Myrcella bestowed the honor of Warden of the South to her former betrothed, Prince Trystane Martell.

**336 AC**: Queen Myrcella I passed away and her son Tommen II Tyrell followed her as the sovereign of the Realm. His ascension to the throne was subject to some controversy, as he subsequently abolished the titles Lord of Highgarden and Lord Paramount of the Mander, an named his firstborn, Prince Alester, the Prince of Highgarden. This act signified the formal unification of the Crown and the Reach under the Dynasty of the Rose.

### Bastards of the Tide, 333 - 347 AC

333 AC saw the start of what would become the largest crisis Dorne has faced since the Fall of House Targaryen. A former captain under the Two Dragons, Aurane Waters made a home for himself in the Stepstones, raiding the coasts of the Stormlands and Dorne with impunity. While two attempts were made by the Dornish, one with the help of House Baratheon to end the threat in the Stepstones in 335 and 340 AC, both ended in disaster. The first was led by his son Mace Martell, and an inept naval engagement decimated nearly half of the Martell’s naval strength and left him dead to the blade of the bastard himself. Fueled by a thirst for revenge, Prince Trystane led the second attempt himself, joining his almost recovered naval strength with the Stormlanders. This ended with tragedy as well, the Martells pulling out their forces after a naval ambush sunk their Prince’s ship, ending Trystane’s long reign in Dorne. Each attempt deeply crippled the Martell’s strength at arms, and the fourteen year reign of The Bastards of the Tides allowed banditry to take root in the soil as well as in the sea. The desserts of Dorne grew to be infested by bandits, people who had lost their homes and livelihood to pirate raids turning their enemy’s tactics onto their fellow Dornishmen. The two failed invasions of the Stepstones left the newly ascended Princess Elia with few men to deal with the growing crisis and chose to deal with the more pressing threat to Sunspear. This left the vassals of Dorne to their own devices, struggling to handle the threat in their lands even as raids still came from the Stepstones. Only blind luck ended the internal crisis, the Baratheon’s opportune engagement ending the threat the two southern kingdoms faced from the narrow sea. Yet Dorne still faced an internal governing crisis, with bandits spread from the Sands in the east to the mountain passes in the west. While House Yronwood and Dayne were able to organize some neighboring lords to effectively combat the criminals in their lands, much of the east had little success in quelling their discontent smallfolk. Princess Elia, free from worrying about his own keep, quickly turned inward, organizing patrols and sending out small forces led by her brother Quentyn to deal with the worst bands of raiders. House Martell’s late efforts and the improving conditions on the coast finally quelled the crime wave in 348 AC.

Yet House Martell gained little credit for the now peaceful lands throughout Dorne. Much of the worst of it had already been handled in the West, House Yronwood gaining particular acclaim for helping many of their neighbors deal with their problem long before House Martell deigned to lift a finger. The embarrassments of the campaigns in the Stepstones only highlighted how unable their Prince and now Princess could not protect their own vassals from threats internal and external.

### The Greyscale Outbreak of 350 AC

Dorne had barely escaped the first crisis, when a second threatened to descend on Dorne. During the quelling of the unrest, rumors of greyscale in the Rainwood quickly became overtaken by reports of infections in the Tor, Ghost Hill, and Plankeytown. Princess Elia’s esoteric pursuits which held little use in a time of raids and banditry, proved useful to deal with the threat of plague. She quickly shut down the ports at Plankeytown from any ship coming from the Stormlands, and ordered her vassals to do the same. This did much to reduce the spread, but Dorne still had to deal with the outbreak that had already arrived. Study of the disease was difficult, with many of the maesters assigned quickly becoming victims of their research subject. Little could be done but to isolate the inflicted, and a deal was quickly made to use the all but abandoned penal colony of Ghaston Grey to keep the Stonemen away from their lands. Ships were constructed for the effort, and the inflicted gathered in Shandystone before being led to the northern coast. The stonemen were forced onto these shoddily constructed vessels and escorted by Martell ships to the island, flaming arrows used to make sure all the ships were destroyed to ensure none would escape. The Greyscale outbreak lasted for only a few short years, and affected relatively few Dornish, a relief to the war weary smallfolk already dealing with losses from pirates and bandits alike.

### War of White and Gold

For the first time in two decades, Dorne faced no war or disease, but instead received yet another wave of people fleeing from the dragons and their followers. Like the Rhoynar before, R'hllor worshipers fled to Dorne, seeking a life away from the dragon cultists wreaking havoc in the free cities. Princess Elia welcomed this new wave of refugees, offering them sanctuary in Plankeytown and the Shadow City. During the 350’s, the new religion would make little impact, the Red God’s followers organizing their own enclaves within these shantytowns. Their strange customs did little to endear themselves to the local Dornish, but events outside the Desert Kingdom would distract them from these newcomers. Prince Lyonel raising his banner in revolt was a shock to the Princess, yet her duty to the crown and the descendants of her uncle and aunt, left her no choice but to answer Prince Alester’s call to arms. Prince Quentyn Martell was once again called upon to lead the Dornish forces, and he quickly started mustering the Dornish forces in the Red Mountains and leading raids across the border in the meantime. Lords were slow to answer the call, the six years since the crisis of the previous two decades doing little to make them wish to dive into yet another conflict. Taking the greater part of the year to finally organize the reluctant forces of their vassals, Prince Quentyn led the army into the Reach and took Starpike with the help of a Stormlander army. Soon after Starpike’s fall word reached the Dornish army of their King’s defeat at Cider Hall. Prince Quentyn quickly prepared for the victorious White Rose, sending out raiders to slow the enemy as they marched towards Starpike. The battle would prove to be decisive, the forces of Prince Quentyn and their Stormlander allies able to slay the rebellious Prince Lyonel. This great achievement, the first cause to unite the Dornish together in nearly two decades, quickly turned to outrage as the King all but gave in to the rebel demands. What started as a celebration quickly turned into bickering, with many of the Dornish lords furious over the war they were forced into being for nothing. Some agitated for Prince Quentyn to continue the war, sacking a few keeps for loot to repay the sacrifice of Dornish lives. Only a direct order from Princess Elia forced the Prince to decide against his underlying commanders wishes, reluctantly giving up the castle and returning through the passes.

### The Cleansing, 360 AC

The Dornish were already in a state of unrest from what many viewed as a pointless war when the Red God’s worshipers started to stir. The first refugees had arrived almost a decade prior, but it was only in 360 AC that they started to come in earnest, fleeing from the religious zealotry of the Lysen Dragon cultists. Initially keeping to themselves, the preachers of this foreign faith became increasingly aggressive in their attempts at conversion. While they were successful in finding a few new converts, they did more to inflame people’s unease about their odd faith into zealous hatred. The Red God worshipers quickly became violent, raiding septs, the faithful, and orphans of the greenblood in equal measure. Initial attempts were made to convert the Red God’s faithful, confining them to their communities and enclaves for septons to proselytize. This only caused the Fire God’s followers to redouble their reign of terror, killing many of the septons sent and fleeing into the desert as bands of bandits. Princess Elia did not wish to see a return of the banditry that characterized her first years as Princess, and tasked her son and heir Prince Lewyn with aggressively hunting down the fire worshipers and ending the threat to their homeland. He went to work right away, forming spy rings and informant networks to find any and all who professed their faith in the Red God. Raids in the night became common in the shantytowns and desserts of Dorne, Martell forces taking those accused of worshipping or aiding those who do for questioning before their execution. The phrase ‘Watch out for vipers in the grass’ became a common saying amongst the smallfolk, an oblique warning to watch what one says lest you disappear in the night, never to be heard from again. While small groups were regularly crushed, one worshiper by the name of Arron quickly grew to be a thorn in Sunspear’s side they could not catch. Gaining notoriety for the burning of a septon, he quickly grew to become the face of the Red God’s insurrection. The vassals of the Princess, while receiving more assistance than the prior banditry crisis, were still largely left to defend their own lands. Once again, it fell to leal servants of the House Martell to do what they had failed to accomplish, Lord Vaith and Allyrion finally slaying the figurehead for the Red God revolt and ensuring the success of the cleansing. The Red God's faithful were killed regardless of innocence or guilt, and their communities put to the fire they worshiped.

### The Cold War Under the Dornish Sun 361-377 AC

Dorne was finally at peace, the four decades prior draining much of the wealth and manpower the proud kingdom possessed. It would take over a decade to recover from the constant troubles facing her land, but the Princess proved a more able administrator in peace than a leader in war. Commerce flowed through the narrow sea and the passes, and the smallfolk could once again safely travel the roads and desert trails that had been bled dry of merchants and travelers. Yet this did not placate the Lords and Ladies who had sacrificed much in conflicts and wars and saw little to gain even when victory was achieved. Many began to question for what reason they served a Princess who could not lead a defense of her homeland. Within this discontent, House Yronwood stood out not only for their own grievance against the Princess, but for the opportunity a marriage nearly five decades prior gave them. Lord Yronwood, and soon other Dornish houses began to question the legitimacy of their aging Princess, claiming that the marriage betrothals at the Great Council changed the Martell’s inheritance from following the Rhoynish custom of eldest child regardless of gender, to the Andal first born son inheriting. This so happened to have made Prince Doran Martell and his descendants from his Yronwood bride the true rulers of Sunspear. No fighting broke out, but a quiet war of influence between Sunspear and Yronwood kept the land on the edge of yet another conflict. While both sides prepared for the possibility of conflict, the realities of Dorne still recovering from decades of strife kept them from lighting the sparks that would set Dorne ablaze.

### War of the Last Dragon, 378 - 381 AC

This stalemate kept up until 378 AC, when the ravens of Sunspear and many other coastal keeps were discovered dead in the rookeries. This was initially seen as the start of the revolt by their Yronwood rivals, but that notion was quickly dispelled with the arrival of ships bearing the Targaryen banner appeared over the horizon. Men had been raised to defend Sunspear, but the hours between the infiltration and invasion left the Princess with few choices but to flee with her family to the mountains in the west. Only the Princess’s youngest child remained to defend Sunspear, leading a valiant defense and taking many of the dragon’s mercenaries with him as he died. It became clear quickly just how badly Dorne was hit in what would be named the Night of Dancing Shadows, with many of the coastal keeps having fallen along with Sunspear. Not long after news reached the Martells, now in hiding in the Red Mountains, that the Southlands had fallen and Oldtown in the possession of the Targaryens. It became clear that no force would be on their way to help their beleaguered cause, Prince Lewyn did what he could from the shadows, organizing his ever growing network of informants to feed them information of soft targets and important figures to kill to disrupt Targaryen operations in Dorne. The few Martell forces left quickly adapted to these tactics, the Dornish proclivity for skirmishing serving them well in the game of cat and mouse against their larger foe.

Dorne was left out of much of the early fighting after the initial invasion, what few houses remained in control of their lands unable to do much to fight off the overwhelming odds. While raids against supplies and patrols became a thorn in the Targaryen’s side, the Princess knew that victory could only be achieved if the tide turned against Daena outside of their conquered homeland. Yet hope did not come from the King, but from a revolt amongst the Targaryen’s own ranks. The loss of the Three Daughters gave the Dornish the hope that this seemingly unstoppable empire was starting to crack, and smallfolk cowed into submission suddenly joined the paramilitary groups Prince Lewyn maintained throughout his homeland. These Children of the Spear redoubled their efforts, making Dorne all but ungovernable for the occupying force. Mostly confined to their fortifications, the Targaryen’s hold on the deserts of Dorne was as tenuous as they had ever been, but still the Dornish lords could not force the invaders out of their home. Only the death of the Last Dragon would finally allow the Dornish to shake off their oppressors. The Children of the Spear quickly started to recruit and organize for a final push to retake the many keeps garrisoned by Targaryen mercenaries. Already reeling from the death of their benefactor, the occupying force never saw the attack that would be known as the Day of the Rising Sun. Recruiting from the many disaffected Dornish servants being abused by the mercenaries, these paramilitary groups were quietly brought into the castles and slaughtered the garrisons by force, poison, or other means. The Day of the Rising Sun, a misnomer considering the infiltrations happened over the course of a couple weeks, permanently ended the Targaryen threat in Dorne, and the Iron Throne cleaning up what remnants remained.

### Aftermath of the War of the Last Dragon 381-383 AC

The Martells were in the end, able of throwing off their oppressors without the direct help of the Iron Throne, but many Dornish lords knew well that it was only possible because of the combined efforts of the Seven Kingdoms keeping Daena’s forces distracted conquering land north of the passes. Yet again, the Princess proved incapable of defending their homeland from invasion, and the discontent felt before the invasion only redoubled as the war of influence between Yronwood and Sunspear raged again. As the realm moved on and crowned a new Queen, Dorne still held the scars of the past close, only a tiny ember needed to set the entire kingdom alight.