Valyrians

Valyrians were an ancient people who arose on the Valyrian Peninsula of Essos. They built a vast realm known as the Valyrian Freehold and developed a powerful dragonlord class. Their language, High Valyrian, became the prestige tongue of the empire and remains the basis for scholarly study in the world. The culture fused advanced metallurgy, magical arts, and centralized political authority.

Politically, the Freehold was a dragon-centered, feudal-leaning empire whose dragonlords governed provinces and subject city-states along the Narrow Sea. Their reach extended through the slave cities and extensive trading networks of the era. Economically they exploited mines and seas, and culturally they valued learning, craft, spellcraft, and dragon lore. The cities were connected by roads and ports that facilitated swift imperial control.

Valyrians fused magic with industry, practicing blood magic and dragon-related rites, and developed smithing techniques that produced Valyrian steel, famed for its strength and enchantment-like properties in legend. They trained dragonriders to harness their beasts, making dragons symbols of imperial power. Their architecture and crafts combined stone, brick, and glass with magical reinforcement, reflecting a society that merged science and sorcery.

The Doom of Valyria, a cataclysmic event, shattered the empire and killed most dragonlords. Survivors fled with dragons to different lands, most notably Westeros, where the Targaryens established a new dragonriding line. In the aftermath, High Valyrian persisted as a liturgical and scholarly tongue, and Valyrian ancestry remained a valued marker among noble houses. Valyrian steel and dragon lore endured as enduring legacies.