Chronicle of Dragons #4
Prince Vaeron Targaryen atop the dragon Tridax above the city of Kings Landing, shortly before its death at the claws against the dragon Moondancer.
Name: Tridax
Description: Green scales and deep burgundy purple eyes the color of wine, thirty three feet in length at the time of its death.
Lineage: Was hatched from an egg lain by Moondancer in Riverrun.
Riders:
Lord Commander Aemorys Targaryen
Lord Commander Vaeron Targaryen
Chronicle: The dragon Tridax was hatched around the year 88 AC during the reign of Queen Laena in Riverrun by the dragon Moondancer, mount of Daena Targaryen, the niece of the late King Vaemond Targaryen.
The hatchling was meant for the Tully children of Daena Targaryen, who possessed some blood of the dragon through their mother, however, Tridax would not take to them, and would flee the castle courtyard into the wilderness of the Riverlands, prompting Queen Laena to dispatch her grandson and Kingsguard Aemorys Targaryen to find and reclaim the lost dragon for the royal family, and after weeks of searching, Aemorys would find and claim the beast somewhere in the Blackwood Vale.
Aemorys would bond with the beast, and when it grew large enough would fly it in service to his nephew Aurion, with Tridax being a common sight beside the dragon Vhagar during Aurions early progresses. Tridax would see combat against the pirates of the Stepstones under Aemorys, most notably at the battle of Deepstone where it turned the tide of the battle.
Following the death of Aemorys, Tridax would bond with Vaeron Targaryen, brother of the King Aurion, though the pair would be a rarer sight as Prince Vaeron only occasionally took to the skies, though the beast would be present during the campaign against Lys. During Aelor Seafyres rebellion, Tridax would be left in King's Landing to guard the capitol against a potential attack. Years later, Tridax would once again take to the skies to defend the city against Monford Velaryons assault on the capitol….in the ensuing battle, the smaller Tridax would engage the dragon which had hatched it….Moondancer. Tridax would be mortally wounded in the battle of flame, tooth and claw and would not survive.
The dragon Moondancer shortly before being claimed by Monford Velaryon, the Lord of Driftmark and the beasts final rider
Name: Moondancer
Description: Perhaps the most magnificent Targaryen dragon of its time, thousands of thin sharp scales, thin as ringmail and white as snowy frost. Eyes as blue as a northern glacier. Was the second largest and oldest dragon in the world at the time of its death, surpassing eighty feet in length.
Lineage: Hatched from an egg laid by the dragon Meraxes, mount of Princess Rhaenys, the egg would later be gifted by Rhaenys to her nephew Prince Matarys as a parting gift as the boy departed for the Vale.
Riders:
King Vaemond Targaryen
Princess Daena Targaryen
Monford Velaryon, Lord of Driftmark
Chronicle:
The egg which would hatch the dragon Moondancer would be laid by the dragon Meraxes, mount of Princess Rhaenys in 12 AC. The Princess would later gift the egg to her nephew Matarys Targaryen, second son of the Conqueror as he was sent away to be educated in the Vale. 2 years later, in the year 14 AC, the egg would hatch in the Eyrie.
Following the Conqueror's death, Matarys and the hatchling would return to the capitol, yet Moondancer would not take to the prince, tearing a chunk of his hand off and flying away from the castle.
The wounded Matarys would not venture forth to reclaim his dragon, but rather his older brother, the boy King Vaemond, who would set out from Kings Landing with his distant cousin, the Lord Commander Corlys Velaryon, the pair eventually coming across the dragon on a small island, where Vaemond would claim the dragon as his own.
Moondancer would grow alongside its young rider, and while it would not be large enough to play a role in the Lion's Rebellion, soon after growing to a size where it was a common sight in the skies above Kings Landing alongside the young King Vaemond, often joined by Queen Nyel and Narrah. Years later, Moondancer would get its first taste of combat, being ridden by Vaemond while attacking the pirate stronghold of Dark Den in the Stepstones, burning several pirates and saving the young King's life.
King Vaemond and Moondancer would have a remarkable bond for much of the Kings life, however when the aging Vaemonds beloved queen Nyel passed away, a change would come over Vaemond, who secluded himself in his chambers, a veritable shell of his former self and it was rumored he had begun to fear the very dragon he had called his own since he was a child, and Vaemond would not ride Moondancer for the final years of his life.
Following King Vaemond the Strongs death in Dragonstone, Moondancer would be confined to the Dragonpit….for a short time until Daena Targaryen, the Lady of Riverrun and a niece of King Vaemond would enter the dragonpit whilst Queen Laena was away and spirit the dragon away, claiming the powerful mount as her own, leading to a long feud between the cousins Daena and Laena.
Moondancer would continue to grow during this time, and once again see further combat when conflict broke out between Stark and Tully, and Daena would utilize Moondancer to deadly effect, burning many Crannog villages in the neck and even leading an attack on Moat Cailin, which was captured for the first time in its history, Moondancer burned hundreds that day….though shortly after would be taken out of the war by a poisoned arrow shot by a crannogman archer, wounding the beast.
Moondancer would be mounted by Daena Targaryen at the funeral of King Jaerion Targaryen, lending its flames to the brief Kings pyre, and shortly after, Daena Targaryen would pass away, the last living grandchild of the Conqueror.
Following Daenas death in Riverrun, Moondancer would never be captured or interred in the dragonpit, living a rather peaceful life for decades in the Gullet near Driftmark and Dragonstone, making itself a large den on an island, being a common sight in the region, frequently flying to Crackclaw Point or Massey's Hook in the Crownlands to steal sheep.
Moondancers peaceful existence in the Gullet would abruptly end when Monford Velaryon, Lord of Driftmark and Master of the Tides would venture to Moondancers lair, successfully claiming the beast for his planned attack on Kings Landing and King Aurion.
Monford Velaryon would lead Moondancer, now the second largest dragon in the world during his sudden attack on the capitol, and the large dragon would make easy work of Tridax, the dragon of Vaeron Targaryen, killing its smaller relative.
Moondancer would meet fiercer resistance in Vhagar, ridden by King Aurion itself, and after a brutal fight above the streets of Kings Landing, Vhagar would get the better of the former mount of King Vaemond, slaying the dragon, though Moondancer dealt terrible wounds to the old Vhagar.
History of the Targaryen Rulers 143 AC
Name: King Aurion Targaryen, First of His Name
Commonly Known as: King Aurion the Dragon, ‘’Good King Aurion’’, ‘’The Dragon King’’
King Aurion Targaryen shortly before confronting his Great Aunt Vaella in the Dragonpit
Years Reigned: 99 AC - 143 AC, 43 Years, 2 Months (Including a 3 year Regency)
Progeny: *d=Deceased *b=bastard
-King Maelyx Targaryen, 39 y/o, Aurions heir and current King of Westeros
-Prince Taegar Targaryen 24 y/o Heir to the Throne
-Prince Valaenor Targaryen 22 y/o, Master of Laws of Dragonstone
-Princess Naehna Targaryen, 17 y/o, Married to Ser Byren Royce, heir to Runestone
-Prince Baerion Targaryen 11 y/o
-Princess Shaella Targaryen 8 y/o, recently freed from captivity in Driftmark by her father
-Princess Syaella Targaryen 4/yo
-Prince Jaenar Targaryen (d)
Fell to his death atop the dragon Oathwing in 125 AC above Kings Landing
-Prince Maegor Targaryen, 35 y/o, Presumptive heir to Oldstones
-Raelor Targaryen 16 y/o Serving in the household guard of his kinsman Balaeron in the Southern Stepstones
-
Prince Vaegon Targaryen 32 y/o, Dragonrider of Kastax
-Princess Baela Targaryen 29 y/o, Married to Raymund Tyrell, Heir to Highgarden
-Lynesse Tyrell 9 y/o
-Olene Tyrell 9 y/o
-Samwyle Tyrell 0 y/o
-Prince Yraenor Targaryen, 29 y/o, Commander of the Gate of the Gods and Dragonrider of Proudwing
-Princess Rhaena Targaryen (d)
Succumbed to a long battle with cancer in 141 AC
-Edgerran Tarly, 6 y/o Heir to Horn Hill and the Westmarch
-Hobber Tarly 4 y/o
-Gerold Tarly 3 y/o
-Prince Taegon Targaryen 26 y/o, Acolyte and Maester-in-Training at the Citadel
-Eraenya 0 y/o
When Aurion Targaryen succeeded his father King Jaerion after a short reign of one year, just weeks shy of a boy of thirteen, and with the realm not far removed from the violence of the reign of his great grandmother Queen Laena, it must be said not much was expected of the boy King, with much of the realm doubting he would amount to much.
King Aurion Targaryen would prove these doubters wrong, being the longest reigning Targaryen Monarch since King Vaemond the Strong, with his 43 year rulership of Westeros being a single year less than that of his great great grandfather.
Aurion Targaryen would ascend to the Throne in 99 AC, after the less than two year reign of his father Jaerion, who would succumb to an infection sustained while hunting.
The young boy of thirteen, whom had lived most of his childhood on Dragonstone, would be largely unknown to the realm, though those close to his fathers court would be impressed with the lads sense of diligence and personal bravery, bravery which would lead him to claim the mount Vhagar on his thirteenth nameday, the largest dragon in the known world.
Shortly after this promising triumph however, the reign of the young Aurion seemed doomed to never begin as Aurion would be stricken by the Bloody Flux during King's Landing's plague of 101 AC, and as he lay on the brink of death, his councilors began to fear the worst.
Aurion however, was a youth strong in body, and for the first, but not the last time would pull through a serious illness, and survive the dreaded bloody flux.
A Teenage King Aurion shortly after his recovery from the Bloody Flux
In his place however, the plague would take with it Aurions mother Belle Tully, leaving the young Aurion and his five brothers orphans,adding to the heavy burden and responsibility that the young boy, fast becoming young man would have to shoulder.
In time however, the short reign of Aurion would come to an end, and the time had come for him to become King in his own right. Unlike his father Jaerion, who had summoned the High Septon to crown him in King's Landing, Aurion would keep with tradition and make the journey to Oldtown.
A young Aurion Targaryen riding through the Streets of Oldtown
This would prove to be among the most important decisions of Aurions young life, as it would be in Oldtown that he would meet Alicent Hightower, the woman who was to be Queen and lover, the two being married not even a month after meeting.
Freshly married and crowned, Aurion would waste no time in taking to his duties as King with diligent vigor, ordering the realm's first major census of all Seven Kingdoms, and sitting the Iron Throne in judgment of matters great and small.
Not long after his coronation, Aurion would set out on the first of his many progresses and journeys across the realm, attending the coronation of Lady Helia of Dorne in Sunspear, ending decades of royal isolation in the capitol seen in the late stages of King Vaemond’s reign and the long reign of Queen Laena.
This would prove to be a theme of Aurions reign as he would embark on no less than five great progresses of the realm during his decades long reign (with countless shorter trips and visits in between), spending many entire years of his rule on the road, visiting houses great and small from the Stony Shore to Sunspear. Good Queen Alicent too would become well known for her presence on her husband's progresses, holding many famed ‘’womens courts’’ across the realms, open forums for women, nobly and gently born to share their concerns, hopes, and ideas.
King Aurion would see combat for the first time as a young man on his first royal progress in Dorne, slaying a party of Dornish separatist assassins near Skyreach, though this taste of treason would not poison Aurions love of Dorne and its mountains, evidenced by the fact that Aurion would make several more trips to Dorne. Aurion would also befriend Norman Tyrell as a young man and the King and the Heir to Highgarden would share a close bond for many decades, ending only with Aurions death.
Aurion would face his first true test upon his return from his first progress, entering the capitol with news that a court dispute between his spymaster and Great Aunt Vaella and his Hand, Aegon Bar Emmon, had led to the latters murder and Vaella barricading herself in the Dragonpit with her dragon Narrah.
Aurion would personally confront his Great Aunt in the Dragonpit, causing the daughter of the Queen of Skulls to stand down. King Aurion, who would become known for his honor and generosity, would spare his wayward kin woman's life, instead banishing her to the Silent Sisters.
It would be during the reign of King Aurion that what is now known as the Kingsroad would be begun….and completed. Aurion would appoint Anders Swygert as his new Hand, a capable man who would oversee the vast network of roads which now connect the Seven Kingdoms, increasing the efficiency, safety, and volume of trade across the realm and a feat which can be considered among the most important of Aurions reign.
King Aurion, even as early as his coronation (evidenced by a discussion between the young Aurion and the High Septon in his holiness's private diaries) was known to have ambitions to drive the pirates out of the Stepstones and bring order to the islands, having grown up in an time where news of constant bloody raids, attacks and plundering in the lawless region was never far from his ears.
Aurion would make good on these ambitions, in 108 AC ordering the conquest of the pirate fortress of the Skulls, granting the islands to his younger brother Valerion, the man who would one day be known as Valerion Seafyre, first Lord Paramount of the Stepstones. Aurion would order further campaigns and incursions against the pirates in the narrow sea for a another 15 years before at last the islands were finally tamed and incorporated into his realm, with the young King also granting land to his younger brothers Aelor and Matarys, for Aurion was a generous man who wished to provide for all of his brothers, though granting his brothers land, power, and isolated seats would be a decision he would one day have cause to regret.
The reign of King Aurion would also be known for the tense, and often outright hostile relationship between Westeros and the Serene Republic of Lys, which Aurion sought to oppose when the aforementioned slaver republic launched an invasion of the Myr and Tyrosh whom had recently been liberated by former slaves and had formed an alliance known to history as the ‘’Free Sisters’’.
After Lys refused to back down, Aurion ordered direct military intervention against Lys to protect the Free Sisters, and the campaign against Lys, led by his brothers, most notably Valerion and Aelor, would culminate in several major victories and the eventual capture and looting of the city of Lys itself, ending the war with Targaryen victory.
Aurions foreign policy decision to intervene in the Lyseni-Free Sisters war would have long lasting consequences, culminating in a pirate attack on Kings Landing that was seen off by Aurion and Vhagar, the attack in 124 AC was widely assumed to have been funded by the Lyseni, the eventual attack of Monford Velaryon would also be funded by the bitter Lyseni.
King Aurion would make good on his close friendship with Norman Tyrell, arranging his son and heir Maelyx to wed Myria Tyrell, a daughter of Highgarden, cementing that the close bond between Targaryen and Tyrell would endure, several other marriages of Aurions children would also be brokered with House Tyrell and other noble Reach houses.
King Aurion Targaryen at the wedding of his son and heir Maelyx, 118 AC
The realm would enjoy some years of peace in the period following Westerosi intervention against Lys, however that peace would soon come to an abrupt end in 125 AC with the outbreak of the first Seafyre Rebellion, led by Aurions own younger brother, Aelor Seafyre.
The rebellion, started after Aelor would escape imprisonment in Kings Landing for his alleged plot to murder a knight of the Kingsguard (an escape which is thought to have been aided by Prince Matarys targaryen), Aelors flight from the capitol would quickly escalate into a full blown uprising when Aelor would name himself King Aelor Seafyre upon his return to the Stepstones.
King Aurion, still reeling from the recent death of his son Jaenar, would travel atop Vhagar to the Stepstones, hoping to intimidate his wayward sibling into submission, however unbeknownst to him, Aelor had secured the support of Prince Matarys, rider of the dragon Narrah, who ambushed Aurion and Vhagar near the island of Deepstone.
The battle between Vhagar and Narrah would mark the first (but not the last) time that the dragons of the Targaryens would engage in their deadly dance above the skies, and after a long fierce melee, the older Vhagar would prevail against its younger kin, killing Narrah and severely wounding Matarys.
The King, fitting with his chivalrous temperament, attempted to help his wounded brother, but the traitor Matarys Seafyre would use Aurions aid against him, drawing a dagger and attempting to slay Aurion in cold blood, successfully wounding him and forcing Aurion to kill his younger brother with Blackfyre. The wound sustained to his thigh by Matarys’s dagger would trouble the King for the rest of his life, and along with an old shoulder wound from an Ironborn spear sustained in the North, would cause the King to turn to drink in later life to numb the pain.
With his brother Aelors rebellion crushed and the traitor safely secured in the castle dungeons under armed guard, peace once again returned to the realm for many years, and eventually the King would recover enough to continue his progresses across the realm, it is during this period that a change would come over the King, as in addition to his newfound thirst of wine, he would also develop a strange fixation with fire, spending many nights and long hours sitting in silence, observing the flames, though little would come of this harmless fixation.
The aging King would suffer a scare in 137 AC, collapsing in his chambers as a result of a cancerous growth within his skull, like his many other previous wounds and illnesses however, Aurion would pull through and survive, a fortuitous turn of events for the House of the Dragon, for if he had died, events in later years may have ended all together differently.
King Aurion Targaryen shortly before collapsing in 137 AC
King Aurion would face one final test in his reign, as in 143 AC, Monford Velaryon, the Lord of Driftmark would tame the wild dragon Moondancer, and after securing an army from the vengeful Lyseni, would launch a surprise attack on Kings Landing itself.
King Aurion surveys his troops shortly before the battle of King's Landing, 143 AC
Monford Velaryon and Moondancer would successfully kill the dragon Tridax in the attack, and very nearly succeeded in casting down Aurion and Vhagar as well, wounding the old dragon in a fierce melee of tooth, fire, and claw, however both Aurion and Vhagar had one more fight left in them, and would eventually win the fight, sending Moondancer and Velaryon to their doom.
King Aurion would not live long to celebrate his victory, collapsing after dismounting Vhagar at the Dragonpit following the battle, his heart giving out.
He was 57 years old.
