Old Valyria CYOA

It is said that dragons are fire made flesh.[19][20][13] Great heat emanates from dragons' bodies, to the point that they steam during cold nights.[5] When a dragon is wounded, their blood is known to smoke.[13][21][3] Smoke often comes from a dragon's mouth and nostrils,[1][22][3] and dragonflame is expelled from a dragon's gullet and out of its mouth.[14]

Dragons are carnivore creatures, eating meat as well as fish, and breathing fire to cook their food before consuming it.[5][3] They are also known to exhibit behavior of opportunistic cannibalism.[3][16]

A dragon's scales are largely, but not entirely, impervious to flame, and serve as protection for the more vulnerable flesh and musculature beneath. As a dragon ages, its scales thicken and grow harder, affording even more protection,[9] leaving dragons nearly immune to fire,[7][23] although they can still be wounded by dragonflame (e.g., Moondancer's eyes being blinded by Sunfyre's fire during the Dance of the Dragons). Similarly, as dragons age, the fire they breathe becomes hotter and fiercer. Where a hatchling's flame can set straw aflame, the flames of older dragons, like Balerion and Vhagar in the fullness of their power, could melt steel and stone.[9]

Dragons are believed to be intrinsically tied to magic in the world. Since the death of the last dragon in 153 AC, it was said that summers grew shorter and the winters colder and crueler,[24] while magical spells became less powerful.[25]

Targaryen, Velaryon, Celtigar, Belaerys, Valtigar, Azoryen, Mataerys, Mataeryon, Malaelarys, Laendaerys, Alaenys, Gonlaeron, Valdaerys and Qoherys

Some of the abilities exhibited by those who practice magic are:

Elemental control allows practitioners to manipulate elemental forces. Pyromancers, firemages, and some red priests of R'hllor can manipulate fire to impress crowds[6][7][8] and attack enemies.[9] The wizards of the Rhoynar were able to use water magic to manipulate water, such as the river Rhoyne.[10] Aeromancers are known to practice their art in Asshai.[11] It is possible that other wizards and sorcerers know ways of using other elements.

Divination is the ability to see the future either through dreams or looking in the fire in the case of the followers and priests of the Lord of Light. This is called greensight if following the way of the old gods or dragon dreams if it is done by a Targaryen.

Skinchanging is the rare[12] ability to enter the mind of an animal and control its actions. Having the blood of the First Men may make it more likely for someone to be a skinchanger.

Raising the dead is an extraordinary feat performed by some followers of R'hllor after performing the last kiss. However, the reborn person may have difficulty remembering parts of their past life or exhibit a change in personality. The revived still have any wounds incurred before their passing.

Necromancy is the ability to raise the dead as mindless automatons bound to serve a specific purpose. Necromancy is said to have been practiced by the Bloodstone Emperor,[13] Dagon Drumm,[14] and Morgon Banefort.[15]

Glamoring is when wizards and sorcerers change their appearance or the appearance of others by using light and shadow. Some glamors are associated with specific objects. Years of practice can be needed for effective glamor use.[16]

Bloodmagic is said to be darkest and possibly the most powerful of magics.[17] Practitioners of bloodmagic have dark spells to save a man from death, though some say death is cleaner.[2]

Alchemy is a diverse range of practices involving the creation or transmuting of substances or materials with magical powers. Practitioners of alchemy include the Alchemists' Guild in King's Landing[18] and the alchemists of Lys.[19]

Religion

The Valyrians had a number of different gods, including Balerion, Meraxes, Vhagar, and Syrax.[44][45][46][47]

According to some scholars, the dragonlords regarded all faiths as equally false, and looked down on clergy and temples as relics of more primitive times but useful to placate the lower classes with promises of a better life to come after death. Thus, they promoted religious tolerance in order to keep their subjects divided, and prevent them from unifying under the banner of a single god.[22]

The people of Valyria were very strong in magic, and they would use their powerful wizards and their dragons in conjunction with their armies to conquer most of Essos west of the Bone Mountains. Dragons were controlled by whips, magic horns, and sorcery.
Governance

The Freehold of Valyria at the zenith of its power was neither a kingdom nor an empire, or at least it had neither a king nor an emperor.[4] Instead, all freeholders, or freeborn landowners, had a say in its governance.

In practice, however, the Freehold was ruled by the lords freeholder, powerful noble families. They were forty families of great wealth, high birth, and strong sorcerous ability, those families which controlled and rode dragons in battle, who came to dominate, were known as dragonlords.[2][4] The Targaryens were one of these dragon houses.

Architectural works:
The Valyrians had great skill in shaping stone. It is often said that the old wizards of Valyria did not cut and chisel stone, but worked it with fire and magic as a potter might work clay,[48] although much of their knowledge is now lost. Valyrians had a powerful magic which could liquefy stone and shape it how they wanted.[49] Valyrian roads, known as dragon roads, still exist as monuments to their work[50][51] as do the castle of Dragonstone, and the Black Wall and Long Bridge of Volantis.

Slavery

One practice the Valyrians adopted from their wars with the Old Empire of Ghis was slavery.[52] The Valyrians used thousands of slaves from across the continent in the blisteringly hot mines underneath the Fourteen Flames to find gold and silver. Slave revolts were common in the mines, but the Valyrians were strong in sorcery and were able to put them down. When there was war, the Valyrians took thousands of slaves, and when there was peace they bred them.[5] As the power of the Freehold grew, so did its hunger for ore, and the dragonlords led many conquests to keep the mines full with slaves. It is said so many perished, toiling in the Valyrian mines, that the number was so large as to surely defy comprehension.[52]

Valyrians are famous for having silver-gold hair and violet-purple eyes, characteristics not found amongst any other peoples of the world. This can vary from white to silver-gold to blond hair, and from lilac, to deep purple, and pale blue eyes. The most noble of Valyrians were considered strikingly, some say inhumanly,[40] beautiful.[42]

The Valyrian nobility valued purity of blood. Therefore, the practice of incest was common in old Valyria,[43] as the Valyrians would customarily wed brother to sister.[40] These practices were not limited to the Freehold; on Dragonstone the Targaryens continued to practice incestuous marriage and polygamy to keep the dragon bloodline pure.

The language Valyrians spoke was High Valyrian.

Much of Essos fell into chaos after the Doom. During the Century of Blood, the Volantenes unsuccessfully considered themselves the heirs to Valyria, often waging war against other Free Cities.[8] The Dothraki conquered many of the lands surrounding the Dothraki sea,[9] and the last Ibbenese king was thrown down.[10] The Slaver Cities of Slaver's Bay regained their independence.[11]

Some dragonlords in Lys and Tyrosh survived the Doom, but they were soon killed along with their dragons.[4] The dragonlord Aurion declared himself Emperor of Valyria and led a host from Qohor toward Valyria, but he and his followers were not seen again.[4] Tommen II Lannister, King of the Rock, vanished while sailing to Valyria with his blade, Brightroar, and Gerion Lannister later disappeared while searching for Brightroar.[12] It is thus said that no one has returned from a journey to the ruins of Valyria, and even the most hardened sailors shudder at the thought of sailing to ruined Valyria.[13]

Many of Valyria's secrets, such as magic,[14] the method for creating Valyrian steel,[12] and ancient records[15] were lost in the Doom. The disaster is represented in art across the known world.[1] Songs are sung of the Doom.[16]

In 54 AC during the reign of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen, Princess Aerea Targaryen disappeared from Dragonstone with the dragon Balerion.[17] Balerion returned to King's Landing in 56 AC with a dying Aerea. Septon Barth, who helped treat her, believed that Balerion had taken Aerea to Valyria, its birthplace. Because of her bizarre and horrific death and the powerful dragon's mysterious wounds, Jaehaerys made traveling to Valyria punishable by execution, and prohibited ships that had visited the area from docking in Westeros.[18]

Twelve years before the Doom, Lord Aenar Targaryen's maiden daughter, Daenys the Dreamer, had a powerful prophetic dream along with visions that Valyria would be destroyed.[4] Foreseeing the Doom, she convinced her father to leave Valyria before the cataclysm. Aenar set sail, moving House Targaryen and their property and their five dragons to the island Dragonstone.[5] Other Houses of the narrow sea of Valyrian descent include the Velaryons of Driftmark and the Celtigars of Claw Isle.

On the day of the Doom, every hill for five hundred miles exploded, filling the air with ash and smoke and fire, which killed even dragons. Earthquakes destroyed palaces, temples, and towns, while lakes boiled or turned to acid. The Fourteen Flames, the fiery mountains of Valyria, sent molten rock a thousand feet into the air, and red clouds rained down dragonglass. The cataclysm fragmented the Valyrian peninsula surrounding Valyria into numerous smaller islands and creating the Smoking Sea between them.[6] East of Valyria, Velos and Ghozai on the Isle of Cedars were destroyed by a tsunami.[7]

It is commonly believed that the Doom was a natural calamity caused by the eruption of the Fourteen Flames, although some septons believe the polytheistic Valyrians delved too deep to the seven hells. Alternatively, Septon Barth and some maesters believe that Valyrian spells controlling the Fourteen Flames faltered. Other explanations include the curse of Garin the Great, the fire of R'hllor, or infighting dragonlords assassinating fire mages.

At the height of its power, the Freehold stretched over most of Essos west of the Bone Mountains. Many of the numerous cities were connected by dragon roads.[17]

The Free Cities, the self-ruling daughters of Valyria, are spread throughout western Essos. Volantis[18] and Tyrosh[19] began as military outposts, while Myr[19] and Pentos[20] were founded by merchants in Andal territory. Dragonlords established Lys as a pleasure retreat.[19] Religious refugees founded Lorath,[21] Norvos,[22] and Qohor.[23] Essaria was founded as a colony near the Kingdom of Sarnor.[24] Braavos was founded by slaves who rebelled against a Valyrian slaving fleet, and this Secret City did not accept the rule of Valyria.[25]

Other cities and towns founded or conquered by the Freehold were governed by archons from Valyria. The Valyrian peninsula contained Oros and Tyria.[17] Near Volantis were built Selhorys, Volon Therys, and Valysar.[26] South of the Painted Mountains were Bhorash, Mantarys, and Tolos, while located in Slaver's Bay were Velos on the Isle of Cedars and Elyria.

The greatest remnants of the Old Empire of Ghis were Astapor, Meereen, and Yunkai. Other Ghiscari settlements were Ghozai on the Isle of Cedars, Ghardaq, and what are now Vaes Efe and Vaes Mejhah.[27] It is unknown if New Ghis, located south of ruined Old Ghis, owed allegiance to Valyria.

South of the Summer Sea, the Freehold controlled Gogossos on the Isle of Tears[28] and also had three failed colonies at Basilisk Point in Sothoryos.[29]

Valyrian cities of unknown location included Aquos Dhaen, Draconys, Mhysa Faer, and Rhyos.[30] Among the ruined cities of the Rhoynar were Ar Noy, Chroyane, Ghoyan Drohe, Ny Sar, Sar Mell,[31] and Sarhoy.[14]

The Rhoynish Wars were a series of wars fought between the city-states of the Rhoynar and colonies of the Valyrian Freehold between ~950 BC and 700 BC.[14][15] They are described in Beldecar's History of the Rhoynish Wars.[16]

The wars were concluded in the Second Spice War, when the Valyrian colony Volantis turned its eyes to the ancient and high civilization of the Rhoynar. Prince Garin of Chroyane led an army of a 250,000 men and defeated the Valyrian armies at Selhorys, Valysar, and Volon Therys, where they won their greatest victory by defeating an army of a hundred thousand men and killing two dragons in the process.[14]

However, the Valyrians responded with an overwhelming force of three hundred dragons, capturing Garin the Great and burning the Rhoynish armies. Princess Nymeria of Ny Sar led the exodus of the remaining Rhoynar out of Essos, eventually arriving in Dorne. The singers say her ten thousand ships were filled with women and children, suggesting most of the men of fighting age had died in the conflict with the Freehold.[14]

The Valyrian Freehold continued to expand and conquer further west, capturing many slaves from conquered lands and using them to mine great wealth from the Fourteen Flames, as well as build great cities and roadways that led to Valyria.

For many years the Valyrians were at peace with the Rhoynar civilization of the Rhoyne, west of the Valyrian peninsula. From the colonial freehold of Volantis, the Valyrians instead crossed the Rhoyne and marched west to wage war on the Andals of Andalos. Rather than be enslaved by Valyria, the Andals crossed the narrow sea and invaded Westeros.[11] The Valyrians overwhelmed the remaining Andals of western Essos and established colonies west of their peninsula.

The Valyrians are believed to have traveled as far as Oldtown, predating the arrival of the First Men and trading with the elder races, according to Jellicoe. Septon Barth also claimed Valyrians came to Westeros because their priests prophesied that the Doom of Man would come out of the land beyond the narrow sea.[12]. Archmaester Perestan speculates some tragedy or mishap fell upon them and led them to shun Westeros ever after.

Some five thousand years ago, in the early days of Valyria, the Old Empire of Ghis dominated and controlled much of Essos. The Ghiscari attempted to stop Valyria's expansion and the burgeoning freehold was involved in a series of great wars against the Old Empire. The Ghiscari lockstep legions attacked Valyria five times, but they could never defeat them - with the help of dragons, Valyria was able to defend and emerge victorious each time.

Finally, in the last of the Ghiscari wars, the Valyrians marched on their capital, Old Ghis, razed it to the ground, and sowed its fields with salt, sulfur, and skulls,[10] obliterating it and thereby destroying the Old Empire of Ghis. Adopting slavery from Ghis, Valyria expanded its influence over the surviving Ghiscari colonies of Slaver's Bay, and continued to conquer and colonize further.

Ancient Valyria was a civilization sheltered in the Fourteen Flames, a ring of volcanoes on the Valyrian peninsula.[2] Valyrian stories claim that dragons originated in their lands, although tales from Asshai claim the beasts were brought to Valyria from the Shadow Lands.[2] The Valyrians tamed the dragons with magic—taught by a vanished people from the Shadow Lands according to the Asshai'i[2]—and mastered the technique of raising and training the dragons into devastating weapons of war.[5]

They began expanding their influence, establishing the Freehold with the city of Valyria as its capital. Magic flowered, topless towers[6] rose toward the heavens where dragons soared, stone Valyrian sphinxes gazed down through eyes of garnet,[7] and smiths used spells to forge Valyrian steel weapons of legendary strength and sharpness.[8][9]

Omniscient narrator that roleplays like a text-based rpg
Narrator will put player in the normal timeline and have events follow the canon of ASOIAF unless player changes things