The Flowering of the Rhoyne

Along the greatest river in the world grew one of its fairest civilizations. The Rhoynar loved Mother Rhoyne as a goddess and built their cities along her length: Ghoyan Drohe of the gardens, Ny Sar of the fountains where the Noyne met the great river, Ar Noy, Sar Mell, and proudest of all Chroyane, the festival city, whose Palace of Sorrow would one day earn its name. They were fisherfolk and traders who worked bronze before the Andals worked iron, and their prince-led cities knew little of war, for their water wizards could sing the river to rise in their defence. Men and women ruled alike among them, and the eldest child inherited regardless of sex — a custom Nymeria would one day carry to Dorne. Their flowering lasted thousands of years, until the turtle-and-dragon wars with Valyria brought it all to ash.