Land of the King

Chapter 60: Annals of Kings IV, The Dragon Wars

In this fourth volume of the Annals of Kings, we will examine the lives of the Kings of Arnor who oversaw the greatest wars in history and their aftermath. This is a time spanning seven centuries, an era marked both by a new rising in Arnorian power and by great losses and tragedies that the nation had no choice but to overcome to survive.

Having recovered from the Dark Years, the centuries of weakness that had followed the Kin-Strife, the renewed Arnor had turned its gaze upon a rival which had predated on them in their moment of weakness, conquering their distant territories, enslaving their people, and setting up proxy states to raid their lands.

This rival of course, could be none other than the Freehold of Valyria. Arnor's second rising could not continue unimpeded long as Valyria stood in its way. It was inevitable perhaps, that Arnor and Valyria would come to blows. Putting aside their natural rivalry, Arnor had never truly forgotten the heinous crimes the Valyrians had committed during the Kin-Strife.

Arnor would fight no less than five brutal and bloody wars with Valyria and its successors. A series of conflicts remembered by history as the Dragon Wars. For the first time in its history, Arnor faced an external enemy as strong as itself, some would say even stronger at some points.

The First Dragon War, the War for the Stepstones.

The Second Dragon War, the War for the Rhoyne.

The Third Dragon War, the Great War.

The Fourth Dragon War, the Little War.

The Fifth Dragon War, the War of the Dragonlords.

The Fifth War is not covered in this volume due to its proximity to the Doom that ended the Freehold of Valyria, which is of great import to the topics covered in the fifth volume.


XXXII Arahad I 4283-4442

Arahad I was born in 4033 and died at the age of 409. He oversaw the First and Second Dragon Wars against Valyria and lived to see the beginning of the Third.

He grew up under the tutelage of his father who dreamed of war with Valyria and reconquering the Stepstones and Lys and so understandably felt betrayed when his father turned his back on their shared dreams for mysterious reasons.

Despite King Araglas refusing to approve of an invasion of Valyrian territory for several years, Arahad continued to build up and develop the army and navy of Arnor in preparation for his war. As Araglas edged closer to death of old age, his heir and regent began speeding up preparations for war.

One such preparation that would have implications that would resonate through the annals of history was sending Prince Túrin to Sothoryos on an exploratory mission. Prince Túrin was an explorer at heart and had long petitioned his father for permission and funding to lead an expedition into the Green Hell of Northern Sothoryos. Permission for this expedition was granted in 4278 on the condition that Túrin also bring back exotic flora and fauna believed by Arnorian scholars to have properties useful in the creation of anti-dragon poisons. Those attempts were not as successful as had been hoped, and yet the expedition bore fruit in a way few would have expected.

It was on that Sothoryi expedition that Prince Túrin met and befriended Lady Jaenara Belaerys, a dragon rider whose mother was a descendant of the Captives of Lys and Tolle Rusta, the Dúnedain captured and enslaved by Valyria millennia earlier. That friendship would prove to be a great boon to Arahad and his family when war broke out between Arnor and Valyria in 4285.

That year, Arahad finally began his long-desired war and his fleets simultaneously invaded Pentos, Myr, and the Stepstones and Tyrosh. As the war was mainly fought over control of the Stepstones, it was known at the time as the War for the Stepstones, though it will later come to be known as the First Dragon War.

While Pentos, Myr and the Stepstones were quick to fall before the Arnorian onslaught, the fortress city of Tyrosh remained stubborn and defiant and the Arnorian army was trapped in the outermost level when a force of three hundred dragons was deployed by the Valyrian Freehold to relieve its colonies. Tyrosh was where the hammer struck first and hardest.

Prince Túrin was captured during that battle while all the other survivors were executed by the Valyrians. The Third Prince was then used as leverage in an attempt force King Arahad to accept an ultimatum demanding Arnorian withdrawal from occupied territories, demilitarisation, and the payment of reparations to Valyria for the costs of the war so far.

While the personal price of such a decision was high, the needs of the Kingdom outweighed the needs of the man, so with a heavy head, the King rejected the ultimatum and doomed his son to death. Or he would have, had Jaenara Belaerys not refused to stand by and allow a friend and innocent man die. Choosing to turn her back on Valyria and embrace her Arnorian heritage, Jaenara broke Túrin out of prison and flew him to safety with her dragon Terrax. While a seemingly minor event in the grand scheme of things this event would have many implications, especially political ones in the Valyrian Senate and the army, as the disgrace House Belaerys suffered led to the army falling under the infamous Triumvirate, but that was for later.

Lady Jaenara discarded the name of Belaerys and pledged her aid and service to the cause of Arnor and for the next two years, she fought for her mother's country as Arnor and Valyria waged one of the greatest wars the world has ever seen.

Back and forth across the Narrow Sea, the two mighty empires warred. Raumdor and Andalos were laid afire and burned out from endless raids while millions of souls were laid to rest in the battlefields of Pentos, Myr, and the Stepstones.

Arnor had long since developed many means of fighting dragons. The standard Arnorian steelbow was powerful enough to pierce a dragon's scales, and the Arnorians built several more powerful weapons, scorpions, windlances, trebuchets, and the like, more oft than not coated with poison with water mages providing cover and support. Also important were the giants, long one of the staunchest and truest allies and vassals of Arnor, each was like a mobile artillery platform and dealt incredible amounts of damage no matter what weapons they wielded, be they slings, maces, axes, spears, or steelbows and crossbows. It was a lethal combination and hundreds of dragons were felled by Arnor. However, dragons remained terrifyingly powerful and by the end of the war, Arnor had lost a million soldiers, almost half their army.

The war finally came to an end when the Valyrian Senate sued for peace in the aftermath of a failed Valyrian offensive to retake the Stepstones and the conquest of Myr by Prince Ciryaher. It has long been believed that the Valyrians had anticipated an Arnorian counterattack to Myr by land but they were taken completely unaware by the fleet that sailed right into the Sea of Myrth to take the city right under the noses of the Valyrian headquarters in nearby Tyrosh. With the loss of Myr, the war was lost for Valyria, their logistics now impossible to maintain, especially since they were now left with only seventy-five battle-ready dragons.

In the infamous Treaty of Tyrosh, Valyria ceded Andalos, Pentos, Myr, Tyrosh, Lys, the Stepstones, and the entirety of the Heel of Essos to Arnorian rule. In the north as well, they were required to recognise Braavosi rule over Lorath as the Braavosi had seized the city during the war, having aligned themselves with the Arnorians.

The humiliation and disgrace of the treaty caused massive dissent, unrest, and resentment in Valyria. A former Valyrian, Lady Jaenara, now dragonless with the death of Terrax during the war, famously quipped, "This is not a peace. It is an armistice for a hundred years." Her words proved prophetic for the Second Dragon War began only 107 years later in 4394.

In Valyria, the embittered veterans of the war returned home and lead a coup to overthrow the Senate, who they saw as weak and cowardly. The Senate already weakened by the war, and faced with the wrath of most of their capable riders, hardened by years of war, stood no chance. A few of the Senate dragon riders attempted a glorious last stand, which ended with them becoming charred ash and bone. In the aftermath, the Triumvirate took power in Valyria.

Aelyx Belaerys, Viserys Varezys, and Valaena Gryvetheon, the leading commanders of the war and the new leaders of the Tigers, became the Ruling Triumvirate, each of whom held a seat as Triarch for life. They ushered in a new era, where the executive Triarchs held near dictatorial powers compared to the now weak and Tiger-dominated Senate. With their new authority, the Triumvirate began a series of reforms to centralise and militarise Valyria with the purpose of ensuring the proud nation could not be humiliated again and could take its vengeance. They had much work ahead of them however.

Their first act was perhaps the most infamous of all, The Proscriptions. Each day for several months, Valyrian nobles and merchants were singled out and they were often political enemies, but also rich or influential parties not fully aligned with the Tigers. Each day a list would be posted in the Valyrian forum, proscribing dozens if not hundreds of people. Those people would in that moment become outlaws, their properties and their lives forfeit. All their wealth would go to the state, though whoever managed to kill them would take a big slice of those fortunes.

In just a few months almost half of the Senate, and most of the merchant class in Valyria had been proscribed and quickly eliminated. It was a bloody and heartless act, and yet it did ensure Tiger supremacy and a smooth rule for the Triumvirate. With those internal issues somewhat resolved, Valyria turned its focus towards the more external problems.

Valyria at this point had many issues externally, Qohor, Norvos, Volantis, Essaria, and Gogossos, had become independent in all but name and the tributaries in the Rhoyneland and Ghiscar had ceased to pay tribute to Valyria or obey its commands. As Valyria had lost more and more dragons on the frontlines against Arnor, so too had they lost control of their fraying empire. It was many years before the Triumvirate's reforms bore fruit, but when they did, the world trembled.

The Triumvirate completely reformed the army and the dragon riding corps. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Valyrian army by the end of their rule was completely unlike the one before the war.

Other reforms were less noticeable but just as important. Even though the Triumvirate made sure that the Triarch seats would be open for election again upon their deaths, power remained centralised in the hands of the now elected Triarchs over the greatly weakened and reduced Senate.

All told, the reforms of the Triumvirate served one purpose above all. Vengeance. With one brutal reform after another for decades, the three triumvirs rapidly transformed Valyria into the war machine that would almost bring Arnor to its knees.

Back in Arnor, much work too was needed for the kingdom to recover from the war and take possession of its new territories. As reward for services in the war, Ciryaher, the second son of King Arahad, was confirmed as the Prince of Pentos, with the Principality being granted special autonomous and semi-independent status. The rest of the Arnorian gains were outright annexed into the Kingdom of Arnor as new provinces, or in the case of Lys and the Stepstones, as restored former provinces. Two new provinces were created, Myr and the surrounding hinterlands, and the Lands of the Heel, Tálnandor, in the fertile farmlands on the continent between Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh.

To help strengthen control over the new territories in Essos, and to more easily project power over the rest of Old Arnor, King Arahad officially moved the capital and royal residence to the city of Morlond in 4292, abandoning the ancient capital of Annúminas. To further cement the move, the Master-stone, long stationed in Annúminas was swapped with the lieutenant-stone in Morlond and a seedling of the White Tree was planted there as well. The move might seem sudden and surprising but in truth, was to be expected.

Ever since the Kin-Strife, the power that Annúminas as capital held over the rest of Arnor had declined. New rising cities, such as Osgiliath, Arcalen, and Morlond, had eclipsed the old capital in importance due to their strategic position and control over the major rivers and canals in the kingdom. Morlond in particular had been the location of one of the most important battles of the Kin-Strife and one argued by many to have been the battle that decided the war.

The sheer strategic value of Morlond could not be understated. It controlled passage over the Blackwater River and the Blackwater-Mander canal. From Morlond, power could be easily projected deep into the rest of Arnor by use of the rivers and Morlond's proximity to the east meant it could easily project power to the new territories as well. It was the perfect capital.

Tradition had long bound the Kings to Annúminas but with the conquests in the east, pragmatism and necessity had finally won out over tradition. Despite this however, the move was not without its opponents and many, lords and commoners alike, were saddened and angered by the move, decrying it greatly. 'How can Elendil's Heir not rule from Elendil's City?' they asked. Their complaints were for naught however, and the move to Morlond was finalised.

Nevertheless, however, some traditions were upheld and in some way the Royal Family never forgot that their true seat was the Tower of the West. The Kings continued to be buried and crowned upon Amon Erain, the Hill of Kings, as they had been since the days of Elendil the Founder, and many kings would prefer staying in and ruling from Annúminas as though nothing had changed, though the capital officially remained Morlond.

Despite the change in capital however, Arnorian rule over their new territories was difficult. While the majority Dúnedain Stepstones eagerly reintegrated with Arnor, Tyrosh, now renamed Peluicarnë, and Pentos, Myr, and Lys were not nearly as eager. Several ethnic groups now covered the new lands controlled by Arnor, descended from the Andals, Rhoynar, and Valyrians, and resistant to Arnorian rule. It did not help that the Arnorians insisted on abolishing slavery, angering the slave-owning elite in all their new territories.

Resistance to Arnorian rule was strongest in Lys. While Myr and Tyrosh had been devastated by the war and ill-treated by the Valyrians, and so more amenable to the Arnorians, Lys had been completely unscathed by the war and Arnor had never had any troops in Lys or any of its continental possessions until the signing of the Treaty of Tyrosh.

Stripped of their mainland territories which were ceded to the new province of Tálnandor and being populated almost entirely by purebred descendants of Valyria, Lys refused to accept Arnorian rule and declared itself independent of Arnor and loyal still to Valyria, begging aid from the Tigers who now ruled Valyria.

The Arnorian Military remobilised and war between Arnor and Valyria almost restarted over Lys, but the plight of the Lyseni fell on deaf ears for the Triumvirate knew that Valyria could ill-afford another war with Arnor so soon. The short-lived Lyseni rebellion was crushed by 4290 and the city remained occupied by the Arnorian Army for decades.

The Tigers and the Triumvirate were unable to support Lys because they had far more pressing issues on their hands. The city-states of the Rhoynar rebelled with Arnorian aid and so did the cities of Ghiscar. Whilst the latter rebellion was crushed, the water mages of the Rhoynar and their Arnorian support forced Valyria to relinquish the Rhoyneland and recognise the new Rhoynar League as an independent nation.

This new Rhoynar League was a federation of thirteen principalities and city-states, each one ruled by a prince or princess. Every five years, the princes and princesses would take turns serving as the Grand Prince or Princess of the Rhoynar, the supreme leader of the Rhoynish people. The League made a formal alliance with Arnor in the year 4291, with Arnor guaranteeing its independence and protection from Valyria.

The next ten decades after the Rhoynish War of Independence were a time of tense peace, a build-up to the next war, nothing more than an armistice like Lady Jaenara had predicted. Arnor funded and sold massive amounts of anti-dragon weaponry to Braavos and the Rhoynar League, to support them against Valyria, using them as buffers between them and Valyria.

Arnor would also acquire even more giants in their service during this time when an expedition led by Prince Túrin and Lady Jaenara discovered the last giants north of the Wall and convinced them to come south, where they joined with their Arnorian cousins who were granted greater lands due to their newly increased population.

The increase in the giant population was of great aid to Arnor who put them to work in various construction projects, such as massive upgrades and expansions to Arnor's infrastructure, and the building of new roads and canals, such as the Honeywine to Mander canal, linking Arcalen to Hyarmenna. They also began training the new giants to utilise massive steelbows just like their kin so as to shoot down dragons in future wars with Valyria.

For its own part, Valyria, under the leadership of its ruling Tiger Triumvirate, did much to prepare for the next war. Apart from government reforms, strengthening the executive at the legislative's expense, the Triumvirate built a proper standing military, one skilled and trained enough to not be easily cut down by the Arnorians. Compared to the ragtag assembly of militias, levies, and merchant vessels that served as Valyria's army and navy during the War for the Stepstones, a new elite and uniform force was established to serve as Valyria's armed forces.

Furthemore, Valyria strengthened its control over its territories. The self-rule of Volantis, Qohor, Norvos, and Essaria, was upheld but heavily restricted, while Gogossos was brought back under direct rule. All military and foreign diplomatic matters were left to Valyria and dragonlords were dispatched to each of the cities along with Gogossos to the south and the cities of Slaver's Bay, now renamed the Bay of Dragons, to the east.

For their rebellion, the Ghiscari were utterly crushed and any semblance of autonomy they might have once had disappeared. Almost all of the nobility was enslaved, and nobles more pliable to Valyria, in some cases Valyrians themselves put in their place, while the cities become a crucial component of the Valyrian war machine. Astapor especially begun producing Unsullied on a truly industrial scale, while also making a few modifications after the original Unsullied had proven lacking against Arnorian archers and heavy cavalry, most notably abandoning the habit of castration in order to produce stronger soldiers able to have better, heavier equipment.

The Valyrian army reformed itself in other ways too. While their ranged capabilities would always be lacking when compared to that of the Arnorians and their steel bows, the Valyrians quickly came to that realisation as well and tried making up for it by matching the Arnorians in the other field of combat where the Arnorians had a complete advantage. The Cavalry. In response to the Arnorian Knights, the Valyrian created the Kataphractii force. Much like the Arnorian knights they were heavy cavalry in full plate, however due to the Valyrian nobility focusing on dragons, they never reached the professionalism or quality of their Dúnedain counterparts, where the time and resources of the nobility were much more dedicated to the cavalry force. Valyria's war elephants were also intensively bred to compete with Arnorian mammoths.

The sheer advantage given to the Arnorian military from their centuries-long lifespan could not be underestimated and ensured that in some way, they would always be more advanced than Valyria. Nevertheless, these reforms as well as other more administrative ones ensured that the Freehold managed to centralise and meld its diverse empire into one united realm and their efforts ushered in a new age for Valyria. Corruption and gridlock were resolved in the Senate under the autocratic rule of the now empowered Triarchs, a new military handled defence and was made up of loyal freeborn ethnic Valyrians and an elite Unsullied force, and Valyria's dragon population began recovering from the dreadful losses of the first war.

In support of that, the Valyrians delved deeper and further into their dark twisted magics. The fleshsmiths and bloodmages became an order in of themselves, as the Valyrians started breeding their dragons more aggressively and more selectively, enhancing them blood magic.

Many argue, that despite its substantial reduction in territory, the Valyria that fought Arnor in the Second War was a far more powerful beast than the one that lost the First War. And perhaps a summary of that war will explain why.

The Second Dragon War, also known as the War for the Rhoyne, began in 4394 over a dispute between the Rhoynar League and Valyria over trade and control over various regions in the Rhoyneland. Volantis and its allies called upon the support of Valyria while the Rhoynar called upon Arnorian aid, escalating the conflict. War became inevitable when Volantis, with the aid of three Valyrian dragonlords, sacked and razed the Rhoynish port city of Sarhoy to the ground.

Prince Garin of Chroyane was the ruling Grand Prince of the Rhoynar during this time and his actions perhaps, sealed the fate of his people. Proud, nationalistic, and overconfident in the abilities of his people and their Arnorian and Braavosi allies, Garin proposed before the Grand Council of Princes, that the Rhoynar people, as one nation, unite to drive Valyria from the River Rhoyne once and for all, seizing Norvos, Qohor, Volantis, and all the other Valyrian colonies for the Rhoynar and their allies and cleansing Mother Rhoyne of the taint of dragons and slavery.

However, in his pride and haste, Garin further declared that the time of action had to be then and that the Rhoynar had to act immediately to drive the Valyrians from the Rhoyne, even suggesting that they attack before their allies were ready. His reasoning was that the best defense was a good offense and that if they did not strike early, help or no help from Arnor, there would be no saving the Rhoynar.

With his charisma and charm, Garin was able to obtain the near unanimous support of the attending Princes and Princesses for his plan of war. All except one, Princess Nymeria of Ny Sar. She alone had kept reason, not pride, and she believed that the Rhoynar could not win a war against Valyria alone and she said so in the council, advocating for them to muster their armies but to wait for Arnor before taking any offensive actions against the Valyrians. Some say that in the depth of her heart, the Princess wondered if they could win at all, even if the entire host of Arnor mustered in their aid.

"We will all be slaves to Valyria once more unless we join together to end this threat once and for all!" Grand Prince Garin had proclaimed before the Council.

"This is a war we cannot hope to win alone," Nymeria had retorted. But she was shouted down by her fellow princes and even her own warriors were eager to join the war. Begrudgingly, she joined her strength to Garin's and the Grand Prince gathered the largest army the world had ever seen since the First Dragon War a century earlier. 300,000 strong was the strength of the Rhoynar, a mighty force and one not even Valyria took lightly, especially due to the incredible number of water mages serving in that host.

Garin led his massive army to many victories, crushing all the armies sent against him and even vanquishing some of the dragonlords as well, before sacking Valysar and Volon Therys. He was so skilled and so respected, that all, Rhoynar, Arnorian, and Valyrian alike, called him Garin the Great. Soon, Garin's army was at the gates of Volantis itself, and Valyria responded in force. A thunder of four hundred dragons was readied and sent to war, a force greater even then that sent to Tyrosh in the First Dragon War.

Valyria however, was not the only nation that began readying its forces. In the north, Braavos had begun mobilising to threaten Norvos and Qohor, whilst in Lys, a great fleet had been readied by Arnor and had set sail, intent on landing at the ruins of Sarhoy to link up with Garin's army and support their assault on Volantis. Arnorian regiments had also begun deploying overland from East Arnor to reinforce the Rhoyne.

Garin was confident in victory for a number of reasons. Arnor had mobilised and deployed to their aid and while Garin thought it unnecessary, he did not find it unwelcome and thought it would make their victory certain. Furthermore, he believed firmly in the power of water magic as proven by its incredible effectiveness in the First War between Arnor and Valyria, boasting that so long as the Rhoynar stood united and strong next to the river, Mother Rhoyne would protect them from the dragons. He was wrong.

In battle outside the Black Walls of Volantis, the fury of four hundred dragons burned through Garin and his whole host and their water magic did not save them. Some legends say that the River Rhoyne itself boiled from the sheer heat of the flames.

Garin was captured and his host broken and scattered. Only days later, the Arnorian fleet, commanded by Crown Prince Aragost, landed in Sarhoy, too late to save Garin.

Triumphant in their victory, the Volantenes and Valyrians hung Garin in a golden cage and carried him north to his city of Chroyane. There they mocked him and forced him to watch as they desecrated and destroyed his home city, enslaving and massacring its people until he called upon Mother Rhoyne to destroy them. That very night, the waters rose and drowned many invaders, and survivors began to die of greyscale.

From that day, the spirits of the fallen conquerors were said to have remained beneath the waters of the Sorrows. Legends say that their cold breath would rise from the murk to make the fogs that infested the ruined city of Chroyane, and their flesh is said to have turned as stony as their hearts. It is believed by some that Garin rose from his watery grave and became the Shrouded Lord and some also say that Garin's Curse brought the Doom of Valyria over 600 years later.

While all this was occurring, Prince Aragost rallied the survivors of Garin's army in a bid to save the Rhoynar and with reinforcements by land from Tálnandor, Myr, and Pentos, waged a long and lengthy campaign in defense of the Rhoynar cities. Despite his efforts however, the campaign ended in failure and Valyria sacked and destroyed almost all the Rhoynar cities, with the sole exception of Ghoyan Drohe, near Arnorian-controlled Pentos.

After three years of war, Arnor signed the Treaty of Volantis with Valyria in 4397, recognising the Valyrian annexation of all the lands of the now defunct Rhoynar League with the sole exception of the Principality of Ghoyan Drohe which was made an Arnorian protectorate.

With their failure to save their ally, Arnor had effectively lost the War for the Rhoyne and the loss greatly affected the confidence of the Arnorian people and worried them for with the loss of their allied buffer state, Arnor's Essosi provinces now shared a very long, very flat, and very open border with the Valyrian Freehold.

Despite their crushing defeat in the war and the destruction of their cities, it was not the end for the Rhoynar and their people as a culture. Princess Nymeria had anticipated the end of the war and had gathered as many refugees as she could to herself in Ny Sar before leading them all upstream to Ghoyan Drohe, the only surviving Rhoynar city that was placed under the protection of Arnor in the aftermath of the Second War.

It was here that two very different choices presented themselves before Nymeria in the form of two offers of marriage from Prince Oberyn of Ghoyan Drohe, the only surviving Rhoynar Prince other than Nymeria, and from Prince Cregan of Winterfell. The latter had been in Pentos during the war, and with his father's approval, had reached out to Nymeria, offering marriage and asylum in the North.

The two choices would determine the future of the Rhoynar people. If Nymeria chose Oberyn, like many suggested, the Rhoynar as a people and culture could possibly survive, if much diminished and under Arnorian protection. No doubt many of her followers would rather she married Oberyn and joined her strength with his to forge a new future for the Rhoynar in their new principality in Arnor.

However, Nymeria was distrustful of Arnor. She appreciated their support and friendship, but did not wish to shackle herself to them. She also heavily resented Arnor's failure to protect the rest of the Rhoynar people from Valyria like they had sworn and was wary of settling so close to the new border with Valyria, fearing that Valyria could easily destroy the Rhoynar once and for all before Arnor could aid them.

With that in mind, Nymeria chose to marry Prince Cregan of Winterfell, and with all of her Rhoynar that would come rather than stay in Ghoyan Drohe, she set off for White Harbour in the Second Rhoynar Exodus, (The first being the fleeing of Rhoynish water mages to Arnor during the reign of Aragorn I).

The vast majority of Nymeria's Rhoynar settled in or around White Harbour on the White Knife River and their influence would always be felt most strongly there. Despite this however, in the years to come, the Rhoynar began heavily intermarrying with the local nobility and people, mingling their blood with theirs and spreading all over the North. Even the language of the North, a dialect of the Old Tongue of the First Men, mingled with the Rhoynish spoken by the Rhoynar, eventually creating a new language entirely. The customs and traditions of the First Men and the Rhoynar melded and mingled in many ways, leading to the rise of a new name for the Kingdom of the North, 'Norda' and its people as 'Nords' from the Rhoynish word for 'north'. This new Nordic identiy was forged from the previous First Man and Rhoynar cultures that had assimilated together to form a new one, though of course, all of these changes took many years and in many parts of the North, such as in Skagos or amongst the mountain clans, the old ways and traditions remained, completely unchanged by the Rhoynar's coming.

Furthermore, women of the North began taking up arms and inheriting. Nymeria's coming eventually led to equal inheritance rights for men and women in the North and women being trained to fight and these things were not without precedent for the First Men either as evident in the wildling spearwives beyond the Wall and the warrior women of Bear Island.

The North or Norda as it was now commonly called, would also gain some water mages from Nymeria's host. Though their water mages were far less numerous and powerful than their Dúnedain counterparts, it cannot be denied that they and Nymeria's coming greatly strengthened the kingdom as the Starks had intended in the hope that the Rhoynar could help them even their unequal alliance with Arnor.

More equal rights for women in the North, once more led to demands for absolute primogeniture in Arnor. In following of the mythical Eldar whom the ancestors of the Arnorians, the Edain, had allied with millennia ago, men and women were almost entirely equal in Arnor except for two important differences. Women did not inherit, and they did not bear arms. Most water mages and many skinchangers being female had weakened the latter point and the sheer casualties of the First War had led to several women learning how to fight so as to defend the homeland and replace the soldiers who had gone to fight in Essos.

With the Rhoynar altering the succession laws of the previously firmly male-preferential Northmen, many women in Arnor began demanding that Arnor follow suit, allowing women, of royalty, nobility, gentry, and peasantry alike, to inherit on equal grounds to their brothers. This was not without precedent entirely, for in Númenor of old, the eldest child of the king inherited, regardless of gender. However, this custom had applied only to the Royal House.

The Royal House of Arnor refused to revive the customs of cognatic inheritance, citing tradition and precedent, as the House of Valandil of Andúnië had never followed the cognatic primogeniture succession of their cousins in Armenelos. Not many were pleased but they were not angered enough to force the issues. It would be many years more before Arnor had a Ruling Queen.

In truth, the movement for cognatic inheritance in Arnor was least of the concerns of the King. With their crushing defeat in the Second War, Arnorian Essos was left exposed and open to assault from Valyria. Between Ghoyan Drohe and the Velvet hills to the north and Lake Kiros in the south was a massive long border of almost 500 miles stretching across open flat fields and lowlands. The Flatlands had earned their name for a reason after all.

Previously the defense of this border was secure due to the existence of the Rhoynar League as a buffer state in the Rhoyneland to the east. However, in the Second War, the Rhoynar League was destroyed and the Rhoyneland once more fell under the rule of Valyria, this time for good, as the Valyrians sacked and razed the cities of the Rhoynar before rebuilding them and settling them with Valyrians from the peninsula.

Knowing that any future invasions from Valyria would come through this region, the Velvet-Kiros Corridor, King Arahad ordered the construction of a massively long wall spanning the entire length of the border and linking all the previous forts built in the area. Those forts were of a new star-shaped design, known as star forts, and were wrought entirely out of black stone though due to the expense, the long walls linking the eighteen forts on the border were not. Together, the fortifications were known as the Rammas Rómen, the Great Eastern Wall.

In further preparation for war, Pentos and Myr were both ringed in black stone outer walls surrounding their own previous fortifications and a great number of Arnor's active military power was stationed in both cities and in Ghoyan Drohe in anticipation for war,

By 4440, Arahad had overseen one of the eras of great change in Arnor. He had massively expanded the kingdom's borders and infrastructure, returned giants to the realm, and fortified the new frontiers. Arnor had never been more powerful, and some said that the Golden Age of Alcarin had come again. Yet never before had Arnor had an adversary as dangerous as Valyria.

In the last years of Arahad, he would live to see the wars he had started brought to the very homeland he treasured. In 4441, war erupted once more between Arnor and Valyria and the ailing king would see Arnor fighting for its own survival in the worst war it ever fought before he died.

XXXIII Aragost the Dreaded 4442-4452

Aragost was born in the year 4170. As a Prince, he served under his father during the First and Second Dragon Wars and he came to power in the midst of the Third, in the darkest moments of Arnor since the Kin-Strife.

Many, including this author, have referred to the Kin-Strife as Arnor's darkest era and while that is true, the same must be said for the beginning of the Third Dragon War. Though the war began in the last years of Arahad, for the sake of consistent continuity, the telling of the war in full will be presented under the reign of Aragost.

As the Second War had its roots in the First, so too did the Third have its roots in the Second. Following the crushing defeat of Arnor's armies and the destruction of the Rhoynar League in the Second War, the Rhoyneland and control over the River Rhoyne fell to Valyria once more and this enabled Valyria to reconnect with and reassert control over Norvos and Qohor. With the Rhoyne as their highway, Valyria's economy developed massively and trade flourished, especially after blood magic and dragonfire was used to purge and cleanse the Sorrows, killing all the Stone Men and dispelling the mists, Garin's Curse had been seemingly broken.

Furthermore, Arnorian hegemony over the Narrow Sea and Valyria's restored control over the River Rhoyne led to the construction of a massive canal between Dark Lake and the Shivering Sea, restoring Valyria's trade with the Shivering Sea and allowing them to send ships between the Summer and Shivering Seas using the Rhoyne, bypassing the Narrow Sea and the Arnorian Stepstones entirely.

A large port city, known as Darkos was built to control the canal and with the neighbouring Forest of Qohor, one of the largest in the world and perhaps one of few that could sustain their shipbuilding, Valyria built a massive northern fleet, one more than capable of challenging Braavos and Ibben for supremacy in the Shivering Sea. At the same time, care was taken to not neglect their other fleet and several squadrons of ships would be deployed in Volantis and Gogossos to protect Valyrian interests in the Summer Sea. By the time of the Third War, Valyria outnumbered the Braavosi navy and was on rough parity with the Arnorian Royal Navy.

The Third Dragon War began in the twelfth month of 4441. There was ample warning for the Arnorians. Valyria had been militarising the Rhoyneland for the past few decades and had massive armies and hundreds of dragons ready to assault. Despite this however, Arnor was confident, having deployed a massive battalion to the Rammas Rómen, equipped with the latest and most efficient anti-dragon weapons, and with expert water mages and skinchangers in the army's ranks. There were even a few giants wielding steelbows and the centuries had even allowed Arnor to develop armour that gave at least limited protection to dragonfire. However, the Arnorians had sorely underestimated the Valyrians' cunning which is why they were taken completely by surprise by the Valyrians' true target.

The city of Braavos had long been a thorn in the Valyrian side, especially when during the First War they had taken Lorath from them. Now, Valyria wanted to retaliate, and open the Narrow Sea to its Shivering Sea Fleet. For a long time, Arnorian naval strategy had been predicated on stopping an attack towards Lys or the Stepstones. Knowing this, the Valyrians had intentionally attacked from the other direction, taking Arnor and all its allies by surprise

Without a declaration of war and in a blatant violation of its neutrality, on the seventh day of the twelfth moon of 4441, a Valyrian thunder of dragons attacked the city without any warning or provocation. Most of the city's famous landmarks like the Sealord's Palace, the Arsenal, the Isle of Gods, the Titan and the House of Black and White, and most importantly, almost the entire Braavosi fleet went up in flames and were reduced to ashes in hours. What little remained offered no resistance as just two days later the Valyrian fleet sailed into the lagoon and took the city. The first strike Valyria inflicted on Arnor had been a quick, decisive and terrible one, and yet it would be far from the last.

For all the preparation they had made for a Valyrian assault, nothing could have prepared the Arnorians for what came charging for the Rammas. In open daylight one morning a few days after Braavos burned, the Arnorian soldiers at various points along the Rammas all awoke to see the same things slowly, and menacingly walking upon the flatlands. Three enormous drakes, covered near entirely in Valyrian Steel plate. They had no wings, possessing four legs instead. Yet for the purpose they were given, they needed no wings, they were the Glaurungs, beasts bred and created for one purpose alone. War.

Inspired by the Father of Dragons from the Arnorian stories of the legendary First Age, these beasts were the pinnacle of siege and ground warfare. Years of selective breeding and blood magic had created dragons with four legs instead of wings. Not needing to fly, they could be armoured head to tail in Valyrian Steel, making the three drakes nearly invulnerable, as the Arnorian defenders soon discovered to their dismay. Small comfort to some perhaps that Valyria had only ever been able to create and armour three combat-ready specimens.

With a great roar, the Glaurungs breathed a fire hotter than any other dragon in the world, melting straight through the stone of the Rammas Rómen before they stampeded forward charging through the holes they had made, behind them, a great and massive army, cavalry, infantry, and elephants, all charged through the gaps to take the Rammas, while in the skies above, the traditional dragons proved no less menacing and they were ridden now by dragonlords trained to fight and ride skilfully since birth. And just like that, the Great Eastern Wall, the cornerstone of the Arnorian defense, had fallen.

Back in Morlond, word came swiftly from the frontlines of the Burning of Braavos, the Breaking of the Rammas and the unveiling of the Valyrians' new weapons, the Glaurungs. Immediately, Prince Regent Aragost, having taken rule in his bedridden father's place, ordered Arnor's reserves to mobilise and sail to Pentos and Myr to support the front in Essos while word was sent to Gulltown, Blackstone, and Driftmark to fortify and prepare for a Valyrian incursion. However, it would be too little, too late.

Within weeks, Valyria overran the Flatlands and their banner returned to those lands for the first time since the end of the First War. Fulfilling Nymeria's fears, the Valyrians razed Ghoyan Drohe to the ground, destroying the last truly Rhoynar city in the world. However, the Arnorian fortresses-cities of Pentos and Myr remained stubborn and defiant, and with the Arnorian supremacy in the Narrow Sea and their black walls, they could be endlessly resupplied and reinforced from West Arnor, or at least, so they thought

Valyria was of course aware of this. Barely a week after the fall of Braavos, the Valyrian armada and the accompanying dragons moved out. Their target was Gulltown. The speed of the Valyrian attack had been so overwhelming, that Arnor had not even had time to call its allies into the war. Yet, that made no matter to the Valyrians as they attacked the main port city of the Vale, annihilating Arnor's northernmost naval base.

Though an attack had been expected, the sheer overwhelming force stunned the defenders. Due to Braavos guarding its flank, long had Gulltown been thought safe and if anything, the defenses against the inland were stronger than the ones against the sea, something that the Allies would come to deeply regret. The city fell in under an hour and the Valyrians had their first foothold into Westeros. But it would not be their last.

Once Gulltown had been secured, the Valyrians split their forces into two. Half their forces advanced through the Vale almost unopposed, burning and taking everything in their path. There was very little in the way of organized resistance, with the chivalry of the Vale making a last but doomed attempt to hold at the Battle of Ironwood. Afterwards, with the King of the Vale dead, and his son taking refuge in the Gates of the Moon, the Vale would no longer pose a meaningful threat to Valyria. The only bit of good news was that both the Gates of the Moon and the Bloody Gate held, preventing the Valyrian forces from spilling over towards Osgiliath.

At the same time, the other forces in Gulltown moved south to take the Isles of the Bay of Morfalas, Claw Isle, Driftmark, and Blackstone, and neighbouring Nammatil. Collectively, these territories controlled the Gullet and the Bay of Crabs, and the last major Arnorian base in the Narrow Sea. Here, the Arnorians put up a great fight but overmatched and outnumbered, there was little they could do, and the islands and peninsula soon fell as well.

All of a sudden, the war wasn't some distant thing in Essos, it had been brought right to the Arnorian people in the homeland and they were terrified of it. With control over the Bay of Crabs and the Gullet, the Valyrians had effectively blockaded Arnor as the major trade routes to the Great Canals all flowed through those two waterways. Trade in northern and central Arnor effectively ground to a halt, crippling their economy and for the first time in its history, the capital of Arnor itself was under threat from a foreign power and most of its armies were off fighting in the east, far away and unable to defend it.

With the fall of the Blackwater Islands, the supply lines to Pentos were cut off and the ones to Myr and Tyrosh placed in serious jeopardy. Further attacks into the Heel of Essos went by flawlessly for the Valyrians as the Glaurungs burst through the Heel just like they had done to the Rammas, as did attacks in the Pentoshi Flatlands, almost completely cutting off Myr and Pentos. Pentos soon fell to the Valyrians, with the last of the line of Ciryaher dying valiantly in its defense while Myr was besieged.

Even worse, by the time Pentos fell, a local revolt had begun in Lys. With support from the dragons, the pro Valyrian partisans were able to wrestle control of the city from the Arnorians. Even more devastatingly, the Arnorian fleet there was also lost, though the sailors were able to scuttle the ships to prevent them from being taken by the enemy, an action that would have them all sent to the mines in the Fourteen Flames by their Valyria conquerors. Nevertheless, Lys had fallen and the Valyrian Summer Sea Fleet was soon deployed to it.

At the same time, cut off and isolated, Lorath too fell to a Valyrian attack. Thus, as the fourth moon of 4442 came, Valyria controlled almost the entirely of Western Essos once more, having taken back most of their lost lands. The only exceptions were the Stepstones, Tyrosh, and Myr, all of whom were now at risk.

The Stepstones were by now one of the most formidably fortified places in the world, built up over centuries as they were believed to be where a Valyrian attack was most likely. Even now, over a century since the First War, tales of how Arnor had held the islands for two years due to their fortresses persisted, those memories had led to the Arnorians strengthening the old fortresses and expanding them into truly impregnable strongholds. So strong were they, that Valyria never actually bothered trying to take them at any point during the war.

Myr however was a city on the coast of the mainland continent, only its black walls saved it from annihilation by the Valyrian assault. However, those walls did little to protect the food convoys from Arnor that the city was reliant upon. Thus began the long siege of Myr. The siege would last for almost two years, and take the lives of half a million people. And yet all that was to come later, for now, with Essos mainly secured, and their foothold in Westeros established, it was time for Valyria to begin their invasion into Arnor proper.

However, in the time it had taken for Valyria to conquer most of Essos, Arnor had finally had time to catch a breath after the overwhelming tide of Valyria had nearly annihilated them entirely. By that time most of their army was defeated, and only a small core remained, Valyria was advancing on all fronts and seemed unstoppable. And yet, the Arnorians used the break in the action to their advantage, beginning to finally mount a defense. By now it was clear that this would be a battle for the very survival of Arnor, a battle they could not lose, would not lose.

With the respite they were given the Arnorians prepared for what they knew would be a vicious struggle for their country. The armies of Arnor were gathered around two objectives, Osgiliath and Morlond, two of the major cities of Arnor most likely to come in danger, while the inhabitants were evacuated further west.

Even the Royal Family itself was evacuated from Morlond. They took with them the Master-stone, greatest of the palantiri, for its falling into the hands of the Valyrians would be disastrous for Arnorian communications, and all the heirlooms of their house and any important documents and treasures. Prince-Regent Aragost, his wife, and children and other important nobles were all ferried south via the Black-Mander canal down the Mander River to Arcalen and then on to Annúminas which was again made capital for the duration of the war. Old King Arahad however refused to leave the city however, and would remain in Morlond, using the last of his strength to coordinate the defense of the capital.

As he mobilised the armies from Annúminas, Aragost mobilised the country with them, transforming Arnor itself into a war machine. The cities of Annúminas and Arcalen especially were turned into production hubs, the forges working tirelessly to produce the anti-dragon weaponry that would be needed for the upcoming struggle, and the swords and spears needed to equip a new Arnorian army. And not just those two, for all Arnor, from Angrenost to Vinyambar and from Morlond to Hyarmenna, began to muster in the defense of their beloved homeland. Never before had the Kingdom of Arnor fallen to an enemy. They weren't going to let it now.

Finally, as the sixth moon of 4442 arrived, the Valyrians finished their preparations and attacked Arnor proper. Prince Aravorn famously declared, "The Battle for Essos is over, the Battle for Westeros has only just begun."

The first direction of attack was towards Osgiliath. The capture of Osgiliath would cut Norda off from Arnor as well as secure the Valyrian occupation of the Vale. The battle there was fierce, and for a long while it seemed the city might indeed fall, before a mighty host from Norda arrived to reinforce the city. With it came many a water mage and skinchanger, and it was said that the Trident ran red with dragonblood, proving the valour of the Northmen and their worth as allies of Arnor.

However true that description was, Osgiliath held, even if the surrounding lands, including the Trident-God's Eye canal were destroyed almost beyond recognition, and the forces of Norda and Arnor were savaged by the battle.

And yet it was a victory, a much-needed victory in Arnor's darkest hour, a help in morale that would prove to be critical in the upcoming months, as the fate of Arnor and the world hung in the balance. Arnor had been bloodied and savaged, yet far from defeated.

Realising that that time was not on their side, the Valyrians decided to take a great risk, and attack the capital of Arnor itself, Morlond. The last thing King Arahad knew was fire as the Valyrians descended upon the capital of Morlond, setting the whole city aflame though the attack came at a great cost for the dragons.

Following that, Valyria sent over half its armies in Westeros to take the city. Their army marched south supported by their dragons to take every castle and fortress between Nammatil and Morlond, setting all of Morfalas afire. From Blackstone, the Valyrian fleet set sail to beleaguer Morlond by sea. And while they managed to take the walls of Morlond, in the burned out ruins of the city, they faced bloody resistance, the ruins serving as the perfect cover for the defenders. The battle would last for months as the Arnorians and Valyrians threw waves of men at each other even as the skies darkened with the wings of dragons.

Slowly, the Valyrians pushed more and more into the ruined city, eventually reaching the Blackwater. Under any other man, Morlond might have fallen, but commanded as it was by the great captain Boromir, Steward of Arnor, it held and the more time passed the harder it was for the Valyrians to push, until, by the third moon of 4443, the Arnorians were ready to counterattack.

For many months did the now King Aragost prepare a new army to strike back. Finally, when it was time, two attacks were launched, one from Osgilliath down the coast towards Maidenpool and Duskendale, the other through the Blackwater, threatening the Valyrians more directly. Realizing that they had lost, the Valyrians armies pulled back, first towards Duskendale, and then to the Isles of Driftmark and Blackstone.

It was here that the darkest choice of the war was made. The islands of Driftmark and Blackstone were especially rich and prosperous before the war, sitting as they were on the trade linking Morlond with East Arnor and Braavos. That prosperity had supported a massive population on both islands, a population now held hostage by the Valyrians to stall any attack on the isles. More and more Valyrian soldiers, ships, dragons, and even a Glaurung crossed the Narrow Sea, threatening to bring yet more destruction to Westeros if they were not stopped.

In a decision that would haunt him the rest of his life and make him dreaded and hated by both friend and foe, King Aragost ordered his water mages to flood both islands, drowning all the Valyrian soldiers, almost all their dragons, and the entire populace of the two islands. The surviving dragons were all hunted down by Arnor, and the security of the Arnorian homeland was guaranteed. However, according to many, the cost of that victory was far, far too great, and King Aragost was never again truly loved by Arnor. He was respected still, but few could love a king who drowned his own people, even if it was to win the war and save the country.

With the threat to its homeland finally over, Arnor had time to truly mobilize its whole might and turn it against Valyria on other fronts and little by little, the tide began to turn. First was the Battle of the Prince's Arm, where most of what remained of the Valyrian Shivering Sea Fleet was destroyed by a much smaller Arnorian fleet from the Stepstones. The battle would re-establish Arnorian supremacy over the Narrow Sea and prove crucial in the campaigns to come. It also marked the alleviation of the Siege of Myr as Arnor could now move supplies over by ship without hindrance.

The other major event of the year was the retaking of the Vale, as the forces of Arnor poured through the Bloody Gate, and defeated the last Valyrian forces in Westeros at the Second Battle of Gulltown. And yet, as they retreated, the Vale suffered from the wrath of the Valyrians, determined to leave nothing behind for Arnor and its allies. The Desolation of the Vale as it would come to be known would mar the Kingdom for many centuries to come, the level of wanton destruction unprecedented. Finally, almost two years after the fall of Gulltown, the entirely of Westeros was freed from the Valyrians.

Emboldened by the Valyrian defeats in Westeros the populations of Pentos and Braavos rose up in the new year of 4444 against their invaders, the uprising being particularly bloody in Braavos, where the few scant survivors of the House of Black and White organized what would come to be known as the "Red Feast", in which most of the Valyrian dragonriders stationed in the city were killed at dinner before an Arnorian fleet relieved the city and slew the dragons.

Such luck would not befall on Pentos, where the insurrection was forced to face far more alive and battle-ready dragonriders. The insurrection was brutally put down with dragonfire but it only strengthened the people's hatred of Valyrian rule. Resistance continued in Pentos in secret.

In the south, King Aragost and his Steward Boromir landed in Myr to relieve the city and lift the siege. Soon after the Valyrians were driven away from the city. Arnor now had two footholds on the Essosi continent. However, pushing out of those footholds proved a very hard task indeed, with Valyria still having many dragons and two Glaurungs. All Arnorian breakout attempts from Myr were thwarted and in the north, the Valyrians stopped the Arnorian advance from Andalos at the Velvet Hills. It would be five years before the Arnorians were finally able to gain the upper hand over the dragon force in East Arnor.

With the Valyrians exhausted and depleted the Arnorians broke out from their footholds and waged a long and punishing campaign to retake, the Heel, the Flatlands, and the Velvet Hills against Valyrian reinforcements. At the same time, Arnor's wartime shipbuilding rate proved superior to Valyria's and soon they completely dominated the seas, allowing them to blockade and starve Lys into submission once its defending dragonlords had been lured away and killed. In 4448, after years of occupation, Pentos was finally liberated by Arnorian forces, with the aid of the resistance inside the city.

Yet though Valyria had been greatly weakened by these losses, it was not yet defeated and much blood was shed for years more before Arnor had pushed Valyria back beyond the Rammas Rómen.

King Aragost made another controversial decision during these long and bloody campagins, for with the immense losses on the battlefield, near the entire adult male giant population had died over the course of the war alongside millions of Arnorian men. Female soldiers, both giant and human, had already begun volunteering for non-combat roles joining the traditionally majority female water mage corps and mixed-gender skinchanger corps. However, with the possibility of losing giant support on the frontlines, something immensely important to the war effort, Aragost ordered for the conscription of female giants into combat roles to replace their dead husbands and brothers. His decision would have many long-term effects.

With their problem with giant casualties resolved, at least for the short term, Arnor turned to ending the last two Glaurungs. The first had been killed in the Drowning of the Isles but the last two were still at large. A series of hunts led by Arnor's elite forces, giants, and rangers, finally killed the second Glaurung in 4447 before the last was overcome by sheer numbers in the invasion of the Rhoyneland in 4451. The invasion however consequently failed.

The failed counter-invasion of the Rhoyneland finally led to a ceasefire agreement and peace treaty in 4452 restoring the pre-war status quo with the exception of Valyria reclaiming Lorath from Braavos. After ten long years, the Third Dragon War was over, the sheer scale of the casualties and the unbearable length had given it a second name, the Great War.

As mentioned before, King Aragost lost the love of his people for his decision to drown the Isles of Blackwater and also for his later decision to conscript female giants into combat roles. Though they had remained respectful and loyal for the duration of the war, with the war's end came demands that the King abdicate and Aragost, crippled by his own guilt, conceded and abdicated the throne to his son and heir, Prince Aravorn in 4452.

Was it fair to King Aragost? Perhaps not. Modern historians, distant from the severity of the losses in the Third War, judge the king more objectively, concluding that he made the right decisions. What many often forget is that Prince Ciryaher and his sons had all died in battle before the Drowning, ending their line. This is often believed to be a major contributor to Aragost's decision to flood Blackstone and Driftmark. His own brother and nephews had given their lives to for Arnor, and he refused to let their sacrifice be in vain. Furthermore, allowing Valyria to hold the isles would have been disastrous for Arnor, they were always going to have to reclaim the isles and the people would have inevitably died anyway when the Valyrians carried out their threat and killed them all. His decision to conscript female giants was also highly criticised though it cannot be doubted that their presence on the frontlines had been sorely needed.

Aragost chose to make the hard cruel choices needed and threw away his reputation and honour to win the war for his country. His people could not accept the necessity of his choices then, but in the modern day, public opinion of the Thirty-Third King of Arnor has shown a marked improvement, restoring his legacy and reputation.

For the man in question however, such things are meaningless for his own people villainised him for his actions at the time. Had he not abdicated, it is possible the monarchy might have been forcefully overthrown or Arnor might have rebelled to place his son on the throne. For the sake of his kingdom, Aragost again made the hard but correct decision and stepped down.

He eventually died in 4574 at the age of 404, broken and hated by the kingdom he had saved.

XXXIV Aravorn Giantbane 4452-4732

King Aravorn was born in the year 4312 and came to the throne at the relatively young age of 120. Because of this, his rule was quite long, lasting for almost 280 years until his death in 4732.

Aravorn was the first king to inherit because their predecessor had abdicated since Celepharn the Conqueror. As mentioned above, his father Aragost had abdicated due to the public pressure upon the ending of the Third Dragon War. As such, Aravorn not only inherited the kingdom in the aftermath of the worst war in its history, but also came to the throne at a time when public opinion of the monarchy was at its lowest point.

With much work ahead of him, Aravorn threw himself into his role as King, overseeing the rebuilding and restoration of the war torn territories. Morlond in particular was the seat of much needed rebuilding and it would be several decades before Morlond had been fully restored and made more beautiful and prosperous than it had been before the war. The capital was returned to Morlond in 4453, but in practice, royal administration continued from the traditional capital of Annúminas in the west for many years until Morlond recovered from the war.

Blackstone and Driftmark were repopulated, and memorials to the victims of the Drowning were built on both islands. In East Arnor, Myr and Pentos were restored and the Rammas Rómen was repaired and strengthened. However, the line of Ciryaher was believed to have come to an end during the Third War, and the title of 'Prince of Pentos' had defaulted to King Aragost. After the war, it was decided that the title would be bestowed upon Aravorn's younger brother, Prince Celeb.

The assault on Morlond and the Arnorian homeland in the early years of the war led to an increased Arnorian presence in the North Narrow Sea and the Shivering Sea. The failure of both Braavos and the Vale to contain the Valyrian incursion meant both allies were no longer being fully trusted by Arnor to maintain their part of the alliance and with the destruction of the major ports and fleets of both countries, the Arnorian Royal Navy now patrolled their waters to ensure Valyria could not invade Arnor from the north again.

Braavos in particular was hit hard by the war. Lorath and all its acquisitions from the First War had been lost and the city itself was in ruins with many of its most notable landmarks destroyed. Aware of Braavosi weakness and fearing a Valyrian annexation, the city-state was reduced into an Arnorian protectorate in 4464 and would later be incorporated more fully into the Arnorian Empire as an autonomous principality in 4473 with the title of 'Sealord of Braavos' going to King Aravorn's uncle and goodfather, Prince Túrin.

The year 4473 also saw the outbreak of the Fourth Dragon War over various territorial disputes in Essos between Arnor and Valyria. However, with both empires still greatly weakened and devastated, the Fourth War was highly limited compared to all the previous conflicts and was fought almost half-heartedly by both powers. It ended within a year and saw little losses on either side and so was called 'The Little War'. Both Arnor and Valyria, exhausted and weary of the endless wars, began steps to seek a permanent peace, resulting in the Treaty of Kiros in 4479.

The Treaty of Kiros divided the world into two spheres of influence. Arnor recognised Valyrian control and influence over Lorath, the Rhoyneland, and all territories east of the Rammas Romen. Valyria's sphere of influence was recognised to extend over Sarnor, Lhazar, Qarth, and most of Essos as far east as the Bone Mountains with certain provisions for Arnorian trade with the region. In Sothoryos, Valyrian claims to Gogossos, the Basilisk Isles and the Green Hell were also upheld.

Valyria in turn recognised Arnorian control of Western Essos, renouncing all claims to Pentos, Myr, Lys, the Stepstones, and other territories and recognising the Arnorian annexation of Braavos. Again, the Rammas Romen was recognised as being part of a dividing line between the two powers and their spheres of influence. Westeros of course was recognised as under Arnorian influence and Valyria also agreed to withdraw from the Summer Islands and leave them to Arnor so long as Arnor similarly withdrew from Naath where they had long operated a fort protecting the native populace. In Arnor's place, Valyria agreed to protect Naath from pirates and slavers though due to the butterfly fever, they could not operate a fort on the island the way Arnor could.

With the stroke of a pen, Arnor and Valyria had divided their spheres of influence and had agreed not to intrude onto the others' affairs, earning Aravorn the name of 'Peacemaker'. However, the world was a large place and the Treaty made no mention of the lands of Essos east of the Bone Mountains nor of Sothoryos south of Yeen, nor of Ulthos. All three regions were so far away from both Arnor and Valyria and was under the influence of neither at the time.

With peace, Arnor and Valyria both began rapidly expanding into the spheres of influence given to them in the Treaty of Kiros. Arnor began conquering the Summer Islands, allying with certain princes against others and building forts and trade posts as an increasing number of Dúnedain settled in the isles. The economic prosperity following Arnor's recovery from the Third War saw a massive population growth and this excess population began settling in East Arnor, which now included Braavos, the Summer Islands, and the Kingoms of Norda and the Vale.

In Norda and the Vale, the Arnorian influence sped up a process that had been ongoing for centuries. The slow but steady cultural, economic, ethnic, and political assimilation of the two kingdoms with Arnor. During Aravorn's reign, almost the entirety of the nobility and upper class of both kingdoms became ethnically Númenórean and culturally closer to Arnor. This in turn sparked the growth of movements across all three kingdoms that called for the unification of the continent under Arnorian rule. Advocates of this were called Unionists.

To the east, Valyria reformed slightly. The failure of the Tigers to win the Third War decisively saw them lose power to a revived and restructured Elephant Party. Nevertheless, Valyria remained heavily militarised and with the west blocked to them, they looked east, expanding into Lhazar, Qarth, and Sarnor, turning all three regions into tributaries and vassals of their empire. The swamps north of Volantis were also drained and turned into fertile farmland, and a massive canal was built linking the Selhoru to the Sarne south of Essaria, connecting the Rhoyne and Sarne river basins and allowing Valyria to easily project power deep into the continent.

King Aravorn not only made peace with Valyria during his reign but also worked hard to put an end to the prejudices against citizens of Valyrian descent in East Arnor. As aforementioned, Lys betrayed Arnor during the Third War and this was due to the rather discriminatory way its majority Valyrian populace had been treated. Though punishments were necessary and Aravorn forcibly deported several of these Valyrians to various parts of Arnor to lessen their majority in Lys, he was more conciliatory to them than his grandfather had been and more active in curtailing the discrimination they were treated with. The diaspora of the Valyrians throughout the Kingdom and the greater Empire is also often attributed as the chief reason for the classic Valyrian look spreading around Arnor even as the ethnic Valyrians became increasingly assimilated into Arnorian culture. Such that a few centuries in the future, it would not be unheard of to meet a person who looked near entirely Valyrian, but was Dúnedain in culture and lifespan

This conciliatory attitude is often attributed to the Valyrian heritage of his wife, Nimloth, born in 4318 to the famed explorers Jaenara and Túrin, heroes of the First War, and the aunt and uncle of Aravorn, making Nimloth his first cousin. As mentioned previously, Túrin was the third son of King Arahad I and his wife, Princess Jaenara, was once a member of the Valyrian House of Belaerys and had ridden the dragon Terrax until his death in the First War. Like her mother, Nimloth was supportive of increased rights for the Valyrian minority in Arnor.

Princess Nimloth, had inherited the silver hair and pale complexion of her half-Valyrian mother and the silver-grey eyes of her father. She was given the name that her mother had been affectionately called in her youth by her own mother, Lina. Princess Jaenara is noted to have remarked that she had a Nimloth of her own when her daughter was born.

In her youth, the Princess grew up in Annúminas and Morlond and was very close to her cousin, Prince Aravorn. The two would later marry in 4418. Their marriage was controversial amongst certain circles due to the bride's Valyrian heritage and the close kinship of the pair, as first-cousin marriage was forbidden in ancient Númenórean law. Like many customs however, that custom had not been followed in Arnor for millennia and the absolute power of the Royal Family after the Kin-Strife ensured that discontent over the prince's choice of wife ultimately amounted to nothing in the end.

With their newfound prosperity after the Third War, both Arnor and Valyria found that peaceful coexistence was better than constant war and so both empires moved to a more peaceful and friendly relationship. This can be seen in how Aravorn's efforts in suppressing anti-Valyrian prejudice in Arnor were at least partially successful. However, despite the peace that now prevailed, the consequences of the Dragon Wars had many long lasting consequences which are still felt to this day. Perhaps most notably was the dying out of the Arnorian giants and their consequent extinction as a species.

The Giant race had a long and storied history in Arnor. From the days of Eldacar Giantking, the fourth king of Arnor who legendarily defeated a giant chief in single combat, the giants of Westeros had faithfully served their Arnorian overlords in every single Arnorian war since they first swore their fealty to the King of Giants.

Despite their long history, the giants had never been that numerous. A naturally low birth rate and vulnerability to several diseases the scions of Númenor were not affected by did much to limit their population. It did not help that for millennia, the giants were not granted any additional lands after the initial grant of Eldacar.

Though the story of Eldacar Giantking's defeat of a giant was told to near every child in Arnor, both human and giant, the Arnorians both loved and feared the Orodondrim, as the giants were called in Sindarin. Their height and immense physical prowess had made them immensely valuable in the wars and building projects of Arnor's kings but the same strengths that had made them such a boon to Arnor also made them a threat should they ever decide they no longer wished to be ruled by the Arnorians.

That fear unfortunately led to the Kings restricting them. Though their population had long grown too large for the land they were give, no extra land was given from the vast territories Arnor had conquered with giant aid. The giants were locked in the hills of Fornost, not allowed to leave save by the permission of the King and the number of their children was limited by their small dwellings and food stores.

The Kings were not cruel, for they sent aid in food and medicine to the giants whenever needed and rewarded them richly for their services, but it was clear that the Kings feared the giants and were restricting them for the two boons that they asked the most, the freedom to travel as they wished and for new lands to settle, were never granted, that is until Arvedui.

During the Kin-Strife, Arvedui, promised vast swathes of lands from the rebel Purists to the giants in exchange for their support. The giants already supported him but Arvedui thought to earn their loyalty even more and to correct the wrongs of his forefathers.

When the war ended, Arvedui, now known as Arvegil the Great, kept his promise and gave immense amounts of lands to the giants. Indeed, he gave more lands to the giants than he did any other lord or faction in Arnor. With their vast new territories and advances in medicine, the giant population exploded and it soon became obvious that Arvegil had not had entirely altruistic reasons.

Where before giants had only ever wielded maces, axes, slings and other weapons that made them powerful melee soldiers and artillery units, they were now being equipped and trained with massive steelbows. Giant archers would prove immensely capable in the Dragon Wars. Traditional machine artillery, Arnorian skill with archery, and water magic already allowed Arnor to fight Valyria on even footing in fortresses, rough terrain, and near bodies of water, however giant archers enabled Arnor to fight Valyria in the open fields the dragons would normally dominate. The ability to fight in those plains allowed Arnor to strip yet another advantage from the dragons.

Casualties however remained high, amongst both giants and men. Some estimate that perhaps three quarters of the male giant population was killed in the First Dragon War and that many feared they would go extinct then. The introduction of new giants from beyond the Wall revitalised the giant population and they soon recovered but then came the Third War.

In the Third War, the desperate Arnorians threw everything they had at Valyria. Some estimates for the human casualties of Arnor, both civilian and military, range from 2-5 million. On the other hand, almost the entire adult population of the giants died during the Third War. First it was the males but as the casualties on the front lines piled up, the females were conscripted into service as well, mothers and sisters forced to leave behind their children and young siblings for their country. Some consider it a war crime, yet another misdeed laid at the foot of King Aragost. Regardless of the necessity of the controversial order, it is undoubted by all that it was fatal for the giant race.

The giants never recovered from their grievous losses in the first three Dragon Wars. Further losses in the Little War and a plague (believed by many to have been engineered by the Valyrians) caused the population to plummet further and seal the doom of the giant race. Arnor would now have to fight its future wars without one of their greatest advantages. The last giant died in 4689, giving Aravorn the rather unsavoury moniker of 'Giantbane' by which he is perhaps unfairly remembered more by than the title of 'Peacemaker'.

Though it is possible that was not entirely unfair for the peace Aravorn brought was not likely to last forver. The fact remained that Arnor and Valyria were still geopolitically opposed to the other and bore different ideologies, with Arnor's monarchism and freeborn citizenry and Valyria's republicanism, triarchy, and slavery. The border along the hills of Andalos, the Rammas Romen, and the Kiros River, the same border that Valyria's Glaurungs had smashed through, remained heavily militarised despite the peace and both empires knew that war could begin again at any moment.

XXXV Arahad II 4732-4834

Named for his great-grandfather, Arahad II was born in 4421. He would live to see the beginning of the Third Dragon War and the end of his namesake's reign when he was only thirty years old. Such an experience at such a young age left an impression on the young prince and would shape his policies in his rule later on.

As a youth, the young Prince was a believer in Westerosi Unionism, firmly believing that Arnor should annex and integrate the North and Vale and this later melded into his fear of Valyria as he thought direct control of the resources of the two kingdoms would aid Arnor in fending off any potential Valyrian incursions.

Though the Treaty of Kiros had brought a seemingly permanent peace, the tense and militarised border with Valyria ensured that the memory of the Third War would not die for a long time and for most of his father's reign, Arahad would push for increased fortification on the Valyrian border to deter aggression. He also denounced the Valyrian vassalisation of Sarnor, Qarth, and Lhazar, leading to a reprimand from his father for potentially endangering the peace by interfering in Valyria's sphere of influence.

Humbled by his father's rebuke, the hot headed young prince would make no further comments on Valyria's expansion but continued to firmly believe that the Valyrians would one day turn their attention back to the west. Their irredentist claims to East Arnor and the significant Valyrian speaking minorities there meant that future conflict was inevitable, at least in Arahad's eyes.

The at the time Prince Arahad married Princess Alyssa Arryn in the year 4546. Princess Alyssa was the only daughter of King Roland Arryn, with four older brothers. The marriage was part of a process that strengthened the ties between Arnor and the Vale in the aftermath of the Third Dragon War, as the Vale became ever closer to Arnor in its recovery. One of the projects in that reconstruction, which allowed the Vale to soar to ever higher heights was the construction of the Eyrie, a castle and palace atop the highest mountain in the Vale, the Giant's Lance, with Arnorian aid. One of the boons asked by the Arnorians for all the help they provided was the hand of Roland's daughter, Alyssa, a proposal he rather eagerly accepted seeing as it would make his daughter Queen of Arnor and strengthen the alliance.

The marriage however would spark a civil war in the Vale. For years now, the growth of the Unionist movement in the Vale had been mostly supported by pro-Arnorian nobles and merchants who advocated closer cultural and economic ties to Arnor, with some radicals even advocating for the Vale to become part of there was a small but growing minority of Arnorians living in the Vale, especially in Gulltown, strengthening the movement, did not help tensions.

King Roland had married an Arnorian noblewoman and had himself a not insignificant amount of Númenórean ancestry. His children had mostly abandoned the Faith of the Seven in favour of the style of worship practiced by their mother. With the Princess of the Vale being wed to the Crown Prince of Arnor, many in the Vale saw it as confirmation of their fears that they would be annexed and enacted a coup that saw King Roland and his sons killed, with the High Septon crowning Roland's brother, Rodrick Arryn, as King of the Vale.

The rebels espoused traditional Andal values, the Faith of the Seven in its pure non syncretised form, and the expulsion of Arnorian immigrants from the Vale and the end of the alliance with Arnor which had dragged them into war with Valyria. Swiftly the rebels swept over the Vale, and its capital of Gulltown and began enacting their goals. Civil war had come to the Vale.

Alyssa and Arahad had been in the Eyrie at the time and when word came of the butchering of her family, Alyssa Arryn famously did not shed a single tear. A waterfall on the Giant's Lance is named for her, Alyssa's Tears. Not a single drop lands on the valley floor below as all of it turns into mist before it reaches the bottom.

With the death of her father and brothers, Andal succession customs dictated that Alyssa was the rightful heir and she declared herself the Queen of the Vale. With her marriage as well, she called in support from Arnor and her goodfather, King Aravorn sent aid. From the Bloody Gate, a large contingent of soldiers marched and placed themselves under the command of her husband, Prince Arahad who would lead them to victory over the rebels in 4548, though several more mountainous regions would remain rebellious and defiant for years.

During the course of the war, Alyssa reached out to the Mountain Men of the Vale, the survivors of the old First Men driven into the mountains by the Andals. With Arnor backing her, she promised them several territories if they swore allegiance to her and helped her win. Some clans accepted the offer and those that didn't were destroyed by the Arnorian army. The ones that swore allegiance were rewarded with lands taken from the former rebel lords, though that settlement would prove to be problematic in the following years.

By the end of the war, the Vale had been mostly pacified under Alyssa's rule. Rodrick Arryn and several of the lords who supported him were executed. The political power of the Faith of the Seven was almost entirely broken, with the position of High Septon abolished and Alyssa placed at the head of the Faith. The Faith as a religion as well began to assimilate and fully syncretise into the Arnorian religion, fully completing the process begun in the Concordat of Stars, with the supporters of Rodrick Arryn and his ilk becoming nothing less than heretics, even if it was a popular heresy. With the increasing number of Arnorian migrants as well, who integrated mostly peacefully, adherents of the Faith and its particular practices decreased rapidly though the religion and culture of the Vale would remain distinct though closely tied to that of Arnor.

Ironically by rebelling and killing King Roland and his sons, the rebels had sped up the process of their annexation as the ruler of the Vale was now the Crown Princess of Arnor by marriage. Though the Vale would not be annexed until the ascension of Alyssa and Arahad's son Arassuil to the rule of both kingdoms, it became increasingly tied and integrated to Arnor during the remainder of Aravorn and Arahad's rule such that when it was formally unified under Arassuil, it was a mere formality.

Arahad remained in the Vale to help his wife rule for the remainder of his father's reign and consequently all of their children would grow up in the Vale. He finally left for good in 4732 to take up the rule of Arnor upon his father Aravorn's death.

As King, Arahad continued the process of integrating the Vale and Braavos, and also tightened the Arnorian grip on the Summer Islands, fully conquering them and adding the title, 'King of the Summer Islands', to his list of titles.

Paranoid as he was about Valyria restarting the wars, he upgraded the fortifications of the Rammas Rómen and stationed more troops on the border. These actions along with Arahad's previous disapproval of Valyrian suzerainty over Sarnor, Lhazar and Qarth, almost sparked a Fifth Dragon War in 4755 before cooler heads prevailed.

In the resulting negotiations, Arnor and Valyria reaffirmed the Treaty of Kiros and both nations established a permanent embassy in the other's capital to facilitate and expedite diplomacy with the intended purpose of preventing a Fifth War.

The embassies soothed Arahad's paranoia somewhat though he never ceased to believe that Valyria would one day turn its attention back to Arnor and try and push them out of Essos. 'Time will make the Valyrians forget the savagery of the Dragon Wars and make them think they can win a fifth round,' he famously said after the embassy was built.

XXXVI Arassuil 4834-4951

Arassuil was born to Arahad II of Arnor and Alyssa of the Vale in 4548. He reigned as king for 148 years, though only 117 of those years were as High King of Arnor.

Though his mother was half-Dúnedain, she was not of the Line of Elros and furthermore was quite Andal in culture despite favouring her Númenórean heritage somewhat. She died at the age of 297 in 4803 and with her death, Arassuil ascended her throne as the first Arnorian King of the Vale.

His first order of business upon ascending his mother's throne was pacifying the last rebel holdouts who had remained defiant in the northern mountains. With a deft mix of might and diplomacy, he eventually managed to pacify all the rebels, earning much acclaim for doing so, though many would accuse him of being too soft on the rebels.

He would rule the Vale as an independent kingdom for 31 years until upon his father's death in 4951, he also inherited the rule of Arnor, uniting the two kingdoms in a personal union. The union was formalised three years later with an official decree annexing the Vale into the Kingdom of Arnor. Due to the nature of the union, stemming from a direct personal union with the King of the Vale and the High King of Arnor being the same person, the Vale, known as Imladen in Sindarin, was not granted any special privileges and autonomy within the kingdom, like what Pentos and Braavos had been given.

Legally speaking, the Kingdom of the Vale still existed though it was now part of the High Kingship of Arnor, and administratively it was ruled from Morlond with not a thought to its autonomy or self-rule. Even more than that, by the time Arassuil took power, the southern fertile parts of the Vale were rapidly becoming indistinguishable from any other Arnorian province in demographics. The north of the Vale was the only exception, having a high degree of autonomy and religious tolerance. Nevertheless, it too had become a de-facto part of Arnor and the title of 'King of the Vale' was reduced to a lesser secondary title of the High King of Arnor.

Apart from the annexation of the Vale, Arassuil's reign is known for the massively renewed interest in exploration and colonization in Arnor. Arnorian explorers would move in two major directions, west and south.

To the south they pushed down from the recently annexed Summer Islands, charting out the coast of Sothoryos until they reached so far south the climate turned temperate and eventually even polar once again, like it was in Westeros. This region would become known as Hyarmen, taking its name from Cape Hyarmen at its southernmost promontory.

Arnor did not stop at Cape Hyarmen and soon rounded it, exploring up the eastern coast of Sothoryos until they reached Ulthos, discovering the narrow isthmus between Sothoryos and Ulthos that formed the southern boundary of the Jade Sea. Some explorers even went south from Cape Hyarmen and discovered the southern polar ice caps, though they found that unlike the far north of Westeros, there were no lands beneath the ice, only a few islands scattered across the frozen southern seas.

In the west, Arnor had explored the Sunset Sea for thousands of years. Milennia ago they had discovered Lonely Light west of the Isles of Angren as well as the Founder Islands, Elendil, Isildur, and Anárion, to the southwest of Tol Winion and Hyarmenna. Those islands were but the tip of the iceberg for the Arnorians now learned the Sunset Sea was a truly vast and enormous ocean filled with many islands, all of which were uninhabited, though mysteriously the Arnorians would find many black stone totems, made of the same oily black stone material that made up the Seastone Chair in Angrenost, throughout the entire Sunset Sea.

Directly west of Westeros across the great expanse of the Sunset Sea laid the Far Eastern coast of Essos. A region paradoxically named Annúrómen, 'West-East' so named because while it was the easternmost lands of Essos, Arnor reached it by sailing west. To the north, Arnor discovered the Northern Passage, a relatively narrow waterway between a jutting peninsula of Annúrómen that almost reached the polar icecaps and Lands of Always Winter. Past the passage, explorers found that if one travelled far enough west from there, they would end up in the familiar waters of the Known Shivering Sea, namely the Thousand Isles and Ibben.

To the south, the explorers would find the eastern end of the Saffron Straits and would end up sailing into the Jade Sea from the east. Moving further south, the western explorers would eventually link up with explorers coming from Hyarmen and together lead many expeditions to chart and explore the tropical southern and eastern coasts of Ulthos.

These combined efforts were also responsible for the discovery and exploration of the widest stretch of ocean in the world, the southern Summer Sea between the western coast of Sothoryos and the Summer Islands and the coast of Sothoryos east of Cape Hyarmen.

Exploration was but the first step, soon Arnor laid claim to Hyarmen and Annuromen and began sending large numbers of colonists to settle these new lands. Relations with the natives who had previously dwelt in those lands would be mixed.

Hyarmen was, like much of Sothoryos, populated by the tribal and nomadic hunter-gatherer Brindled Men, which are described in other texts, but suffice to say, relations were not good. The Brindled Men reacted to Arnorian settlement with much hostility but were soon driven deep into the continent's interior. Their savagery and hostility to the Arnorians did not allow for much peaceful dialogue.

The people of Annúrómen, were either sparse tribes or primitive kingdoms of typical if lesser men. Very much like the early Casterrim of Westeros, they were awed by the majesty and strength of the Dúnedain and soon were vassalized or absorbed into the Annúrómen colonies.

It is still a matter of much debate in academia as to why exactly the indigenous peoples of Annúrómen were so primitive when ruins of great civilizations dotted their lands. One might believe civilizations on the level of Essos west of the Grey Waste once existed so what happened to them? The most commonly believed theory in the present era is that the First Long Night wiped out the civilizations of Essos east of the Grey Waste, with the Northern Passage having iced over and allowing the Others to cross into Essos from there. Of course this is based greatly on the less then reliable legends of Essosi civilizations as well as the existence of Yi Ti's Five Forts and the desolation of the Grey Waste. Still the theory makes the most sense.

The origins of the Arnorian people is once more called into question by these explorations. With the Sunset and Summer Seas explored and charted and no traces found whatsoever of the mythical Númenor, nor any of the lands mentioned in the ancient myths and tales of the Silmarillion, one begs the question of where did they come from?

Recorded history reliably states that Arnor originates from the Nine Ships that landed at Annúminas long after humans had spread across Westeros and Essos. It gives credence to long held beliefs that they did not originate from this world and the Nine Ships were somehow transported here during the Downfall of Númenor, perhaps explaining the differences from the native inhabitants. Whatever the origins, one cannot say Arnor has not thrived in this new world since Elendil's Landing.

Indeed, Arassuil's reign featured an Arnor at a greater extent than ever before historically. It was during the rule of Arassuil that the concept of a greater Arnorian Empire became more prevalent made up of regional areas and identities. This makes quite a lot of sense due to fact that in the few hundred years, Arnor had massively expanded and conquered and colonized vast swathes of new territory and was no longer the homogenous kingdom that had fought the First Dragon War.

The first and oldest was Arnor itself, sometimes referred to as Nedhdor (Centre Land) to differentiate it from Arnor as the Empire. This is the heartland of Arnor in the central plains and river basins of Westeros and the ancient provinces of Malldolan, Angren, Calenardhon, Siriand, and Raumdor among others. In other words, Arnor as it was at the end of the Kin-Strife, when the reforms of King Arvegil established Arnor as we know it today.

Dorne was more often than not detached from Nedhdor, due to it having been distinct for millennia, even after annexation in the Dark Years after the Kin-Strife leading up to the Dragon Wars. Territories such as the Stepstones and Lys which had been part of pre-Kin-Strife Arnor are usually placed into the regional category of Rómennor, East Arnor, made up of Arnorian territories in Essos, due to the long millennium in which they were ruled and populated by Valyrians.

Like Nedhdor, Rómennor was diverse with smaller divisions between Braavos, Pentos, Myr, and Tálnandor. To the north was Imladen, the Vale, remaining part of the Empire and even the Kingdom of Arnor but also distinct in its own right. The foreign colonies and territories in the Summer Islands, Annúrómen and Hyarmen were much the same. (As would Norda, or Formenor when it joined the Empire)

However, despite the regionalism, the Empire was kept together by a shared Arnorian and Dúnedain identity and loyalty to the Arnorian High King. Instantaneous communication in the form of the palantiri and glass candles were also crucial in maintaining the Empire.

One may now be confused and asking why? Why after four thousand years was Arnor becoming so diversified and so interested in exploring and settling far off regions. Well for one, Arnor's population had now reached an incredible density and maximum, one that was very crowded and encouraging its people to emigrate. Secondly, the more recent conquests of large numbers of non-Arnorians made it quite inevitable that Arnor became more diverse.

And lastly, the greatest reason was perhaps survival. During the waning years of Arassuil's rule, the Freehold again became hostile to Arnor as his father, Arahad II had predicted, and tensions began rising in Essos as both nations began preparing for yet another war. One may then easily see, that the unofficial establishment of the Arnorian Empire and the new and heavy focus on the exploration and colonization of foreign lands was to prepare a last resort should the worst come to pass. The Dúnedain were no strangers to exile.


Author's Note: This chapter was published on the 25th of May 2021. Exactly a year prior, I wrote and published the first chapter of this story. To those who have followed this story in the time since, thank you, I couldn't have done it without you and your support. I hope you liked the Dragon Wars!