Chapter 14: The Sun and the Dragon (134-136 AC)
The swift, decisive conquest of the Stepstones had reverberated across Westeros and beyond. The King's direct control over the vital trade arteries sent a shiver down the spines of independent merchants and rival powers alike. Viserys I Targaryen, now in his late fifties, had cemented his image as an unyielding force, a monarch whose word was backed by unimaginable power and a strategic mind that foresaw every move. The Crown's coffers swelled from newfound trade monopolies, and the Royal Army honed its skills in the garrisoning of the captured islands, solidifying its reputation as the most formidable fighting force in the known world.
Yet, one ancient kingdom stubbornly clung to its independence, a proud, unbowed thorn in the side of the centralized Targaryen realm: Dorne. For centuries, the Martells had resisted conquest, famously repelling Aegon the Conqueror himself. Their scorching deserts, treacherous mountain passes, and fierce, unyielding people had proven impenetrable. But Viserys was not Aegon. He possessed a different kind of power, a modern understanding of warfare that went beyond conventional armies and dragons. He would not just conquer Dorne; he would dismantle its will to resist.
The decision to bring Dorne fully under the Iron Throne was not born of petty ambition, but of strategic necessity. A unified Westeros, under a single, unchallengeable authority, was the cornerstone of Viserys's unassailable dynasty. Dorne, with its independent laws, its distinct culture, and its history of defiance, represented the last bastion of true feudal autonomy on the continent. Its conquest was the final piece of the territorial puzzle, ensuring complete control over the continent and its resources.
Viserys spent months, stretching into years, meticulously planning the campaign. This would not be a war of swift, fiery devastation like the Lannister lesson, nor a rapid occupation like the Stepstones. This would be a war of attrition, psychological disintegration, and overwhelming displays of power designed to minimize direct combat and civilian casualties, not out of mercy, but out of strategic efficiency. He wanted Dorne whole, its resources intact, its people productive subjects, not a scorched wasteland.
His strategy began with complete isolation. He ordered the Royal Fleet, reinforced by the loyal ships of the Reach and the Stormlands, to enforce an absolute naval blockade of Dorne's entire coastline. No ship was to enter or leave Sunspear, Planky Town, or any other Dornish port. Balerion and Argentia, often accompanied by Rhaenys on Meleys and a now-adult Aemon on Argentia, conducted regular, menacing aerial patrols along the Dornish coast, ensuring the blockade was absolute and instilling a palpable sense of dread.
Simultaneously, Viserys leveraged his vast economic strangulation network. Through the Royal Dragon Bank and his network of Crown-controlled trade guilds, he cut off all external trade to Dorne. No goods were to be imported, no Dornish wines or silks were to be exported. He quietly leaned on merchants from the Free Cities, subtly threatening them with exclusion from lucrative Westerosi markets if they dared to trade with Dorne. He offered generous incentives to houses in the Reach and the Stormlands to cease all overland trade with Dorne, ensuring their compliance.
> "Gold is a weapon," Viserys instructed his Master of Coin, now a trusted, capable man named Ser Osmund Hightower. "And the flow of coin can be stemmed. Let Dorne feel the bite of isolation, the pinch of an empty purse. Let their markets wither and their people grow restless for the familiar comforts they once enjoyed."
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Within months, the effects began to tell. Dornish merchants, reliant on trade for their livelihoods, felt the squeeze. Food prices, though not yet catastrophic due to Dorne's self-sufficiency, began to rise as imports dwindled. Luxury goods vanished from markets. The proud Dornish nobility, accustomed to their comforts, began to chafe under the growing privation.
The third pillar of Viserys's strategy was psychological warfare. He had no intention of burning Dornish cities to the ground, but he would break their will. His omnipresent dragons were key. Balerion, now a living legend of terror, would make frequent, unannounced flights over major Dornish castles and population centers, his immense shadow and thunderous roar a chilling reminder of the power arrayed against them. Aemon, on Argentia, often joined him, conducting low-altitude passes over markets and farms, a psychological hammer.
Viserys's intelligence network, honed in the royal hotels and taverns, shifted its focus to Dorne. Agents, disguised as wandering merchants or septons, infiltrated Dornish society, gathering information on internal dissent, the strength of various noble houses, and the morale of the populace. They subtly spread rumors of the Iron Throne's unstoppable might, of the endless resources of the Crown, and of the King's "merciful" nature – hinting that surrender would bring prosperity, while continued defiance would invite only lingering hardship.
> "A message delivered by fear," Viserys explained to Varys, "is often more effective than fire. Let them see our strength, but also our patience. Let them believe that their inevitable defeat will be less painful if they choose to embrace it themselves."
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Political maneuvering was equally crucial. Viserys knew that Dorne was not a monolithic entity. The various noble houses, from the Yronwoods to the Jordaynes, held their own ambitions and grievances. He dispatched secret envoys to discontented Dornish lords, offering promises of increased trade, royal appointments, and even future lands and titles, should they choose to side with the Crown. He subtly exacerbated existing rivalries between the sand, salt, and green Dornish, ensuring they remained too divided to present a united front against him.
Finally, the military pressure was meticulously planned, focusing on strategic attrition rather than outright invasion. While his Royal Army was fully mobilized along the Dornish marches (the Red Mountains border), Viserys held back from a direct, costly assault. Instead, small, highly trained detachments of the Royal Army, often accompanied by a single dragon (typically Argentia with Aemon, or Meleys with Rhaenys, for precise support), would conduct surgical strikes. They would target bandit camps, pirate havens within Dorne's rivers, or isolated supply convoys, demonstrating the Crown's reach and competence without engaging in pitched battles that would incur heavy casualties.
He ordered the construction of new, heavily fortified royal outposts along the Dornish borders in the Stormlands and the Reach, essentially creating a tighter net around the principality. These outposts were designed not for invasion, but for control – monitoring movement, interdicting smuggling, and projecting a constant, low-level military threat.
> "We choke them, we starve them of coin, we undermine their resolve, and we show them what awaits them if they resist," Viserys articulated to Aemon, who was now directly involved in overseeing parts of the campaign planning. "But we do not waste lives on a frontal assault against a people known for their stubborn defense of their homeland. We break them from within, and force them to choose. The Sunspear will cast no shadow when the Dragon hovers above it."
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Aemon, observing his father's methodical, almost cold, approach, found himself absorbing the lessons of comprehensive warfare. He saw the power of economic leverage, the insidious effectiveness of psychological pressure, and the strategic wisdom of attrition over direct engagement. He understood that true conquest wasn't just about winning battles, but about breaking a people's spirit before the first major clash.
The years from 134 to 136 AC became a period of slow, agonizing pressure for Dorne. The blockade tightened, the economy withered, and the constant, terrifying presence of the dragons wore down the populace. Internal dissent, fueled by Viserys's agents, began to simmer. The proud Martells found themselves increasingly isolated, their traditional allies unwilling to risk the wrath of the King and his dragons. The conquest of Dorne was not yet complete, but Viserys had already won the war of wills, setting the stage for the final, inevitable submission of the last free kingdom of Westeros.