The Rise of Sarnor #InTheDothrakiSea

Hello everyone!

I was really happy when I saw what today's challenge is about as I am a huge history nerd :sweat_smile: Even better when it's fictional history and an alternative timeline at that. So this might turn into a really long post, depending on how many ideas I come up with along the way. I might have to supply a TL;DR section at the end :eyes:

So anyway, this might seem a bit rambly at times, but bear with me here lol

- - - - - ☆☆☆☆☆ - - - - -

Introduction

Okay, so for this alternative timeline, I'm not going to change much from the original timeline, but it will have some great consequences for what's going to happen later on. I'm actually only going to change one thing and that is the fall of Sarnor.

Now for those who don't know, in the original timeline Sarnor was a kingdom in northern Central Essos, along the mighty river Sarne, stretching from the Silver Sea in the east to the Free Cities in the west. The kingdom fell in the Century of Blood to the Dothraki due to internal squabbles and some Sarnori trying to take advantage of and allying with the Dothraki. Eventualy all that is left of Sarnor today is a single city on the coast of the Shivering Sea, Saath, which is only able to survive because of trade with Ib and Lorath.

An Alternate Sarnor

So now in my alternate timeline, Sarnor never falls. Some of the border cities do fall to the Dothraki as they are not seen as a serious threat at first, but soon, much sooner than in the original timeline, the Sarnori realize that if the Dothraki aren't stopped, this could mean the end of their civilization.

Lazhor Alexi, High King of Sarnor, called all the kings of Sarnor to Sarnath, the nominal capital of Sarnor. Most of the kings heeded his call and marched their soldiers to Sarnath where they united into one big army, led by the High King himself. As the city of Sathar was where the Dothraki khalasar was seen last, Lazhor Alexi decided to march the bulk of his army there, while sending the rest of the troops with his son and heir to Mardosh, the big fortress city. There, he was to muster and train a second army, in case the main army was beaten back in their attempt to save Sathar.

This turned out to be a good plan, as when the High King reached Sathar it had already fallen and put to the torch by the biggest khalasar the world had ever seen. It was led by Khal Mengo and consisted of 200,000 Dothraki screamers, while Lazhor Alexi had only 70,000 soldiers at his command. They were spotted quickly and the khalasar came down on them.

Knowing that there was no chance if winning, the Kigh King gave orders for the main army to meet up with his son in Mardosh and then bravely charged his vanguard of 20,000 men into the enemy khalasar. They didn't stand a chance. After initial success with their heavy cavalry and scythed chariots, they were soon overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies. They managed to buy the rest of the army some time to retreat however and Lazhor Alexi was even able to slay Khal Mengo in single combat, only to die from his wounds shortly thereafter.

Through his sacrifice, the rest of the Sarnori troops were able to meet up with the High King's son at Mardosh to regroup. Morale was down after such a devastating defeat, but the son was able to rally everyone and was called out as the new High King, styling himself Mazor Alexi. Scouts had told them that Khal Mengo's son Moro had taken over leadership over the Khalasar, but that smaller khalasars had broken off from the main force. Their numbers were now estimated around 150,000.

Hearing this, Mazor Alexi left behind a token force as a garrison and marched the rest of his troops, now 100,000 strong, in the direction of Sathar. A few days aways from Sathar he had his army stop and make ready for battle. He would await the Dothraki here and fight them on his . As the field of battle he chose a flat plain flanked on both sides by fairly steep hills.

The Battle That Changed The World

The High King placed his heavy cavalry and half of his scythed chariots in the vanguard with his foot troops, all armed with long spears, in the center. The light cavalry and the other half of the chariots he placed on the far sides of the flanks, on the other side of the hilltops as to hide them from sight.

When the Dothraki khalasar approached he had his vanguard charge straight at the enemy so the foot troops could close the gap unharmed and lock up in formation. As soon as they did, the vanguard pulled back to present the Dothraki with a juicy target, the infantry. As expected, they charged right at them and were locked down in melee.

During all this, Mazor had the chariots on his flanks move up and the light cavalry circle all the way around the enemy. This took quite some time and during this many of the foot soldiers were killed and even started routing. To prevent that, Mazor charged the Dothraki himself with the remaining vanguard and gave order for his outflanking troops to attack the enemy from the sides and the rear.

The scythed chariots rolled down the steep hills with immense speed, crashing into the flanks of the Dothraki, cutting them to pieces with immense force. At the same time the kight cavalry attacked the khalasar from the back. The Dothraki had nowhere to run and were slaughtered to the last man.

The men began to cheer and many of them called out that Mazor Alexi must be Huzhor Amai come again, the legendary first king of Sarnor, to save his people from certain defeat. Seizing the moment, the High King proclaimed himself the first emperor of Sarnor, seeking a much more centralized power structure than before. As such he styled himself as Mazor I. Amai, Emperor of the Sarne.

The Empire of Sarnor

To ensure that the Dothraki would never again be a threat to them or anyone, Mazor I. decided to march on Vaes Dothrak with his triumphant army. As there were only a few smaller khalasars left, there was no real resistance on their way to the city of the horselords nor was there much at the city itself. As a result, there was only a small battle almost not worthy of mentioning and the city was put to the torch.

With the Dothraki threat over and Sarnor safe, they marched back to Sarnath, where Mazor I. had all the lesser kings swear fealty to him as emperor of the new Empire of Sarnor before he allowed them to disband the troops. To ensure their loyalty, he kept most of them at court where he could watch them. And thus the Empire was born, the new major power in Central Essos.

"Now wait a minute...", I can hear some of you saying. "What does this have to do with the main story?" Well... :relieved:

The Dragon Princess

You see, in our timeline, a few centuries after the fall of Sarnor, a young girl by the name of Daenerys Targaryen is sold by her brother Viserys to Khal Drogo in exchange for the promise to invade Westeros with his khalasar and put Viserys on the Iron Throne. This of course doesn't work, Viserys is killed, Dany hatches dragons and the rest is history.

In my timeline however, the Dothraki are almost non-existent and clearly not as powerful as in the original timeline. So Dany won't marry Khal Drogo (who might not even exist). So instead, Viserys is able to marry her off to the crown prince of Sarnor, the eldest son of Mazor VII. (highly unlikely, I know, but shhhh).

Being a feudal society as well, Viserys feels much more at home at the court of emperor Mazor VII. than he ever has among the Dothraki and thus is much more diplomatic and doesn't get himself killed miserably. Although he still is the laughing matter behind closed doors, Dany is able to shield him from it with the help of remaining Targaryen loyalists flocking to the Sarnori court from all over the world.

Even so, Viserys grows more and more impatient as Emperor Mazor VII. is not willing to invade Westeros, always citing some pretense as to why it is not the right time. In fact, old age and a pacifist disposition are the true reason the emperor won't invade anytime soon. Eventually however, the emperor dies and his young son, Dany's husband, takes over the throne. It is rumored that Viserys had a hand in the old emperors death, having heard enough excuses, but nothing can be proven.

The Invasion Begins

The new emperor, Mazor VIII. Amai, is a much less peaceful monarch and soon Viserys has him convinced to call the banners and invade Westeros to put the Targaryens back on the Iron Throne. Eager to prove himself, the young emperor calls for an army to be raised immediately and sets sail towards Westeros, commanding the invasion force himself.

In Westeros an aging Robert is still king on the Iron Throne, the War of the Five Kings never happened. His spies have told him of the rising threat from the Sarnori court and as such, he has ordered his lords to always train some of their smallfolk as soldiers, effectively having a standing army and a large amount of the population already trained in the basics of fighting. So when the Sarnori invade, Westeros is prepared.

Having made out the North as a weakness due to the lack of a navy, the Sarnori forces land on the North's eastern shores, quickly overwhelming White Harbor and the Dreadfort. The rest of the North is taken before reinforcements from the South can arrive. Not knowing about the superior defensive position at Moat Cailin, the Sarnori march past it and meet the Westerosi army at the Trident, not far from where Robert won his victory in the rebellion named after him.

The Two Kings

Noticing this, Robert insists on leading the troops from the front, like he did in the last battle on the Trident, not listening to his advisors saying a king his age (he is nearing his 60th name day) should lead from the rear if at all. Stubborn as Robert is, he doesn't care.

On the other side of the field, Viserys insists on quite the same, claiming that when the Westerosi soldiers see him, the rightful king of Westeros, they would desert from the Usurper's side and him in battle. Just like Robert, he can not be persuaded otherwise and leads the troops front and center.

On a day that couldn't be more beautiful, both armies eventually meet on the field of battle and, mirroring the first Battle of the Trident, Robert and Viserys meet as well. It is a much less spectacular fight than between Rhaegar and Robert, seeing how Robert is almost sixty and Viserys is, well, Viserys, but it is no less important.

After a long and boring fight full of bad feints and blocks, Robert caves in Viserys' helmet with his warhammer a s kills the would-be king, only to have a heart attack from overexertion seconds later and dying then and there. Seeing their king fall, believing he was killed by the enemy, the Westerosi turn tail and run, bestowing the victory of this second Battle of the Trident on the Sarnori.

A New Age

The news of King Robert's death spreads like wildfire and is a deathblow to the morale of the troops, as Joffrey, Robert's heir, is disliked throughout the realm for his sadistic tendencies. Not believeing in his ability to lead Westeros to victory, many of the high lords bend their knee and surrender to the invaders.

As Viserys had no children of his own, Daenerys is soon crowned Queen Regent of the Seven Kingdoms, effectively uniting Westeros and Sarnor through her marriage to the Emperor of Sarnor.

TL;DR: You lazy motherfuckers :joy: Go back up there and read the whole thing! This took a lot of work to finish :cry: :pensive:

- - - - - ☆☆☆☆☆ - - - - -

So yeah, that's it! My #AcrossTheNarrowSea challenge. Like always, I kept adding more and more stuff and eventually it turned into this monster of a blog.

So here's a real TL;DR :eyes:

The Dothraki never defeat Sarnor, which thus turns into an empire. Centuries later they shelter Viserys and Daenerys and eventually help them retake the Iron Throne.

I hope you at least somehow enjoyed reading through this long blog :sweat_smile: I tried to loosen it up with headers and pictures but it still looks very long. Anyway, I had a lot of fun writing this :satisfied: Also #BeatThisNuf :eyes:

#STFUMannis