The Conquest of Dorne

Conflict between Dorne and the Seven Kingdoms had remained relatively low in the years following the Dance of the Dragons. This would all change when Queen Daenaerys Targaryen set her sights upon Dorne and made the necessary preparations to take it. Catching wind of this, the Princess of Dorne would prepare her force in what would become a two year war that would see the death of House Manwoody and the total subjugation of Dorne by the forces of the Iron Throne and the installation of a new ruler, House Caron of Kingsgrave; the culmination of a two-year bloody war called the Conquest of Dorne.

Prelude
The Queen first sets her eyes on Dorne in late 207 AC, beginning to prepare a fleet to focus on a naval invasion of Dorne. The 'why' is debatable, though commonly attributed to the two notable attempts on the life of the Queen, both historically attributed to Dorne. While she knew that a land invasion will be necessary, Queen Daenaerys saw the capture of Sunspear as the utmost priority, hoping to decapitate Dorne and to force the lords to survive on their own, with no singular ruler. The plans themselves had originated with Jaehaerys II, though he didn't live to see it. Instead it would be her glory to take the region that not even Aegon the Conqueror could with his dragons.

Spies having informed her of the building fleet, the Princess of Dorne makes contact with multiple sellsail Companies, amassing a respectable fleet at the Greenblood. As well, a bastard of House Fowler, Albin Sand, is allegedly recruited by the Princess to wreak havoc as a new Vulture King. Sand was veteran of multiple Essosi sellsword companies and took up the position with gusto. Dorne prepared for war, as the Vulture King began attacking Westerosi trade in the Reach. The crown orders a knightly expedition to rid the realm of the Vulture King, but after cornering his party in the northern Marches, they do not find him among the few, having apparently vanished into thin air.

The First Days (208 AC)
Early in 208 AC, her fleet built, the Queen rallies her banners and begins the war at once. The Princess of Dorne responds, calling her own banners and ordering all lords of the Red Mountains to begin preparing siege supplies at once, using all the crops of their spring harvest. The mobilization is done quickly and allows for raids to begin back and forth across the land border with the Marcher Lords.

The Battle of the Skull's Teeth
Early in the war, Lords Dondarrion, Swann, and Selmy gathered their forces at Blackhaven in an attempt to prematurely punch their way through the Boneway for the main royal army which was marching south from King's Landing and Storm's End. This ended in a massive defeat near a rock formation in the Boneway known as the Skull's Teeth, when Lord Wyl and the Bloodroyal routed their forces after an ambush just after dawn. This set the tone for much of the rest of the war, with many on both sides perishing in the fight.

The Second Flight of the Vulture King
Before the war, the Vulture King, who had made his disappearing act during the build up to the war did not sit around and wait. He recalled his friends across the Narrow Sea, bringing sellswords and mounting them on sand steeds, all paid out of the pocket of the Princess. The Vulture King's bunch strike into the realms of the Iron Throne, as each of the lords are still calling their banners. He rarely gives battle, instead preferring to move as fast as possible, raiding and pillaging all the way. Lord Eustace Tyrell, whose realms are the primary targets, sends an army led by Lord Tarly to hunt the Vulture King whilst he assembles a larger force to be led by his son Bayard.

TheHuntsman gives good chase, eventually cornering the Vulture King against the Cockleswhent, near Ashford - but as soon as he does, the Vulture King splits his army into equal forces, each led by a man claiming to be the Vulture King. Not to be tricked, as the Stormlanders were in the first flight, Lord Tarly splits his much larger army in equal number, giving chase to each and capturing every one. However, to his dismay, he discovers that not one of the three men is the real Vulture King.

The Royal Fleet's Foolishness
The royal fleet, splitting in parts to focus on different parts of Dorne. The first fleet was to take control of the Summer Sea, consisting primarily of the Velaryon fleet, Dragonstone fleet, and portions of the Redwyne fleet. The second fleet, consisting of the remaining ships of the Crownlands and Royal Fleet and what ships of the North and Vale that answered the call, are to take the Sea of Dorne and control it. The third fleet is made up of the remaining Redwyne forces, as well as the Costaynes of Oldtown, and the Westerlands are tasked with supporting the other two fleets and raiding as necessary to keep up pressure.

The second fleet, commanded by Lord Celtigar, was unable to completely defeat the Sellsail and pirate fleets in the Sea of Dorne, with the legendary pirate, Sallor Saan and his fleet of warships managing to elude the royal fleet for weeks on end.

The Velaryon fleet sailed to the Greenblood and were met with little resistance, deceiving Lord Velaryon and his captains that they were free to assault up the Greenblood and free to attack Sunspear with impunity. That night as the fleet sailed back down the Greenblood and towards Sunspear, they were cornered by the sellsails that had been hired by the Princess of Dorne, sinking numerous ships and capturing many as well. The survivors fled west towards the oncoming Redwyne fleets, but now the naval strength of the Iron Throne was not quite as numerous.

The Sacking of Kingsgrave
With the Royal Armies now in place, the push into Dorne began in earnest. Many a man distinguished himself in the fighting as the forces of the Seven Kingdoms slowly pushed their way into the Red Mountains. The castles of Kingsgrave, Wyl, and Skyreach would all fall under attack by the forces of the Iron Throne. Both sides were bloodied by these battles, with two successive Bloodroyals perishing in the defense of Wyl.

Things turned against the Dornish when a knight of House Caron named Ser Jacklyn Caron lead a daring night assault against the castle of Kingsgrave, taking the castle and putting it to the sword. Every man, woman, and child inside were slaughtered in the chaos of the fighting after the gates were thrown open to the waiting army. This put more pressure on the Dornish as Lord Fowler was forced to recall what forces he had at Wyl to defend the western approaches into Dorne.

The Third Flight of the Vulture King
The Vulture King, now on a boat, crosses the Sea of Dorne with his forces and takes Wrath Town in the night, forcing the Baratheons to divert men to retake the city. The actions and crimes that he would commit there would result with it being known as the Weeping Town forever after. The Vulture King takes battle for once, but is defeated by the forces of House Mertyns, Gower, and what remains of the forces of Wrath Town. However, the Vulture King still managed to flee capture once again as he had his ships waiting for him in case of such an event.

The War of the Whirlpools
The Redwyne fleet begins to raid the southern coast of Dorne, dealing with the treacherous waves and whirlpools, attacking coastal and river settlements. There are few land battles, but the few that occur are often fought between House Dayne and House Redwyne, as the Redwynes seek to take control of the Torrentine. Though not providing much, the War of the Whirlpools draws Dornish attention away from the mountains, creating a necessary second front as Lord Dayne and his vassals are forced to defend their homes as well.

The Reaving of Dorne (209 AC)
With their naval dominance still not secured, Queen Daenaerys swiftly makes a decision. A raven was dispatched across Westeros and soon she would be smiling as she read the reply.

As the new year dawned, the Dornish fleet and their sellsails and pirates were treated to a sight of horror. From the west came more sails, though these bore the black and gold sails of House Greyjoy. The sellsail fleet in the Greenblood was swiftly destroyed as also was what remained of the Dornish fleet in the Summer Sea. The Greenblood was wide open to the Ironborn. Dorne was not subject to the Crown and the queen had allowed the Ironborn to enact the old way upon the Dornish, thus, the Greenblood ran red with the blood. Naval dominance was all but assured, with the longships of the Ironborn becoming a feared sight across Dorne.

The Fall of Wyl and Skyreach
After nearly eight moons of siege and assaults, Wyl finally falls to an assault of the Royal Army, lead by Lords Baratheon, Strong, Prince Viserys Targaryen, and the King Consort Durran Dondarrion. Lord Wyl refused to kneel and being executed for it. With another Bloodroyal dying in the final battle, the title now passed to a younger scion of the House, the younger nephew of the original Lord Yronwood. The Bloodroyal, instead of dying defiant like their kinsmen or Lord Wyl, kneels before the Dragon, swearing fealty, to the shock and horror of the Dornish around him. The Boneway was now wide open and in the west, word reaches House Fowler in the Red Mountains about the fall of Wyl and the kneeling of Yronwood. Lord Fowler throws open his gates and surrenders to the army there, with Lord Tarly making the castle his new command center with Lords Peake, Oakheart, Ser Jacklyn Caron, and Prince Baelor Targaryen.

The Death of the Vulture King
The final gambit of the Vulture King, where he attempts to use the criminals of Ghaston Gray to rally an army. Before he can truly muster this force, the Sea of Dorne is taken by the Iron Throne when Sallor Saan is defeated after being caught between Lord Celtigar's fleet and a rain squall. Ghaston Gray is surrounded by the Crown fleet.

The Vulture King, desperate now, rallies the prisoners of the island with gold and freedom and makes a final stand at the docks of the island. The final battle is short but bloody, lead by the forces of Houses Darklyn, Sunglass, and Staunton, the Vulture King and his forces are killed with the few survivors attesting that one body was the one of the Vulture King.

The Battle of the Sands
After the Red Mountains fell, the Dornish, led by a defiant House Uller and by the Prince of Dorne himself, led a valiant defense. They take a number of victories, mostly in guerilla warfare, slowing the advance of the Westerosi to a crawl as they make their way down the coast. Lord Mertyns, a critical commander in the war, makes the strategic decision to turn around and march to Hellholt, slaughtering the populace along the way. Lord Uller, compelled to protect his smallfolk and the fears of what they will do to his family, abandons the efforts to slow the march, meeting Lord Mertyns in open combat and is defeated by the numerically superior force. Uller surrenders soon after, opening up the advance and allowing the march to continue unstopped, even as the deserts eat at the men of the Crown.

The Fallen Star
With much of the coast of Dorne ablaze and the Greenblood as well, the Ironborn descended on the Torrentine. With his father to the north attempting to stop Lord Tarly's army from pushing towards Sandstone and Hellholt. A young Dayne, barley cusping manhood, took up the sword Dawn and led a brave charge against the Raiders who had come up the Torrentine. Brave but foolish, the maester later wrote. He and his brave band were slain, with Dawn being taken up by some reaver of House Wynch. Starfall's surrounding villages and hamlets were razed, women and girls carried off as salt wives, though the castle alone still stood, the Palestone Sword Tower standing defiantly against the Ironborn. Dawn was eventually recovered by the Dalts of Lemonwood, who returned it to Starfall after the wars end.

The Sacking of Sunspear (210 AC)
The combined Royal armies make their way to Sunspear, where many of the Martell soldiers make their final stand. Lord Tarly's army bypassed Hellholt as Lord Uller had already surrendered and ignored the Qorgyles to reach the Greenblood and march down the river to meet Lord Baratheon's army as they made for the seat of House Martell. The battle was bloody, with the Crown forces fighting their way through the Shadow City to the Sandship itself. Within a day the castle had fallen and many within were put to the sword, with a young girl still at her mothers breast of the House Martell, being thrown from the tower of the Sun.

The Battle of Tallgrass
The forces of the Bloodroyal and King Consort Durran Dondarrion are ambushed to west in the lands around the Brimstone river by the men of the Houses Jordayne, Qorgyle, and Dayne. Though the Crown host outnumbers their Dornish foes near three-to-one, they are not equipped to meet their foe in unfamiliar terrain and are swiftly put on the defensive. Prince Viserys of the Queensguard and King Consort Durran are slain by Dornish archers raining arrows down on the host, and the Valyrian Steel swords Blackfyre and Dark Sister are recovered from their bodies by the royal bastards Daemon Waters and Baelon Rivers respectively.

The Dornish forces are eventually ousted from their vantage points in the valley and driven into the nearby settlements. The Royal army, while demoralized, is able to rally around Lord Yronwood preventing them from routing, instead forcing the Dornish to retreat. This would be known as the Battle of Tallgrass and solidified the treachery of the Yronwoods in the eyes of some of the Dornish. The villages the Dornish flee to are sacked by Crown forces led by Jacklyn Caron, to avenge the fallen Prince and King.

Lord Dayne, refusing to surrender, attempts to return to Sunspear after Tallgrass while Lord Jordayne bends the knee to the Bloodroyal. Starfall would be the final castle in Dorne to surrender, after Sandstone surrendered to the Royal Army a few weeks after Tallgrass. Surrounded by the Redwyne and Ironborn fleet, Lord Dayne surrendered himself and his castle after their supplies finally ran dry. Dorne was finally subjugated, and the Conquest was over.

Aftermath
While Dorne had been taken, both sides had been bloodied beyond their imaginations at the start of the conflict. The swift strike the Seven Kingdoms prepared failed and lead to a protracted war and the Dornish guerrilla tactics ate away at their manpower as the Royal armies continued to hammer away at their castles and holdfasts.

The Dornish lords, chief among them the Princess of Dorne herself, were brought to King's Landing. There the Queen received them in the Great Hall of the Red Keep, in mourning for her dead husband and son; a black wraith offering what mercy she could stomach.

Before the Iron Throne of Aegon the Conqueror, the skulls of Balerion, Vhagar and Meraxes watching, the Princess of Dorne was forced to bend the knee to the Queen and accept her as her liege. Queen Daenaerys then stripped House Martell of their princely title and named Ser Jacelyn Caron as the new Lord Paramount of Dorne and Warden of the Sands, granting him a seat at Kingsgrave.

Many of the major lords were shocked by this, but the Queen stated that the man was instrumental in bringing Dorne to heel and the Marcher lords knew the Dornish the best. The Crown's rewards did not end there, as the Queen's daughter, Princess Naerys, had her hand given in marriage to Lord Yronwood to bind their houses together, and to thank him and his for his efforts in the war. Dorne would, ultimately, find itself divided between those that accepted the rule of the Crown and those that desired to be independent once more.

The Dornish surrender was the last time the Queen was seen in public following the Conquest, and when the army cheered her for her victory after, she was reported to weep hearing it.

Additionally, a close relative of the ruler of House Martell was brought to King's Landing and remains there as a hostage. Every other Dornish House was forced to send a ward to Kingsgrave to ensure their loyalty to the new Lord Paramount. For the Dornish value their independence and the Iron Throne hopes to crush that spirit.