Work Text:
Valyrio Valdrīzo Bē
or
Concerning the Valyrian Androdragon
A short treatise by Maester Aemon of the Citadel of Oldtown
214 A.C.
☙
Chapter I.
On the androdragon, its etymology, and its history.
The Valyrian androdragon, called in High Valyrian valdrīzes, meaning literally "man-dragon", is a species of hybrid endemic to Old Valyria.
In Westeros, the term "androdragon" has become synonymous with "Valyrian", although sometimes "Zalyrian" is used, from the High Valyrian word zālagon, meaning "to burn".
It should be noted that the compound word valdrīzes refers also to the Valyrian sphinx, an ancient mythical beast present in Valyrian art and writing resembling a dragon with the face of a man. This usage predates the arrival of the androdragon as a race, but was quickly adopted as the default appellation; see also the Westerosi Valyrianisms "valdrizos" and "valdryzos". In translation, I will refer to any artistic depictions of the mythical creature as "sphinx" and to the Valyrian breed as both "androdragon" and "valdrīzes" interchangeably.
It has been long established that only those possessed of the blood of Old Valyria can be said to be true androdragons. That is, Targaryens, Velaryons, Celtigars, dragonseeds, inhabitants of the Free Cities with Valyrian ancestry, all rivers stemming from one great sea: that of the dragonlords of Old Valyria. We have thusly categorized androdragons as dracomorphs, in which we also place dragons, Essosi firewryms, and Sothoryosi wyverns.
Valdrīzes traits typically manifest in the following ways: non-overlapping scales, scutes, or spikes along the spine, legs, and particularly the arms; a vestigial tail, no more than a cubit in length at the longest; slitted eyes with a nictitating membrane; sharp teeth; claws; sometimes small horns. Pheromone glands; two at the hinges of the jaw, and one inside the cloaca, which secrete pheromones used during courtship or nesting.
Like other amniotes, the egg's yolk stalk leaves a scar where it was attached to the developing embryo, resembling a navel in egg-born androdragons. It is less pronounced than in their placental siblings, however.
In Targaryens, scales are most often shades of red, sometimes so light as to be pink or so dark as to appear black. Velaryon scales are mostly silver or white, sometimes shot with sprays of green or blue, and Celtigar scales in sunset shades of reddish-orange. Aegon I and his sister-wives chose to immortalize their dragon ancestor in their sigil—the three-headed red dragon of House Targaryen.
Largely carnivorous, androdragons prefer a meat-based diet. They are able to consume raw flesh without becoming sick. Unlike dragons, androdragons possess no ability to breathe fire, but they do produce a paralyzing venom called in High Valyrian perzyñūvir, or "fire-venom", which serves simultaneously as a mild coagulant and potent aphrodisiac.
Known as "sweetfire" in the Common Tongue, the venom enjoys a thriving market in Lys, Pentos, Tyrosh, and Volantis, and in the cities of Slaver's Bay. Since the rule of Aegon I, sale and purchase of the venom is outlawed in Westeros except for use by maesters, but that does not prevent its proliferation in brothels and taverns. Paired with milk of the poppy, it makes for quite an effective anesthetic. We have used it for centuries to dull the pain of amputation or disease; but it is most often used illegally as a stimulant.
Valdrīzesse are exceptionally strong. They are able to bend steel or break stone, and tend to live twenty to thirty years longer than the average human. The longest-lived androdragon in recorded Westerosi history was Alysanne Targaryen, who outlived even her brother-husband King Jaehaerys I. She passed just before her great-grandson Viserys I Targaryen, and thus just before the Dance of the Dragons, at the remarkable age of 92.
A valdrīzes can exhibit one or all of these aforementioned traits, but they must have at least one to be considered pure blood of the dragon.
It is not precisely known how this androdraconic race came to be, just as it is not precisely known how dragons were first tamed by the Old Valyrians. Archmaester Fomas erroneously speculates in Lies of the Ancients that the earliest androdragons came from Sothoryos, but this is unlikely. Regarding the origins of valdrīzesse, as with dragonlords, Septon Barth in surviving fragments of his Unnatural History is the authority. He claims that the first bloodmages of the Valyrian Freehold used sorcery in order to mate dragonlords with their bonded dragons, eventually producing a man-dragon crossbreed. These bloodmages, he states, were likely Asshai'i in origin, from ancient records penned by the Asshai'i themselves.
Perhaps Barth's proposed bloodmages may indeed be Asshai'i; or perhaps it is only their sorcerous knowledge which originated by the Shadow. Perhaps dragons themselves are an unnatural species, born of sorcery and blood magic, as Barth further suggests. Whatever the case, we know indisputably that the first accounts of valdrīzesse come hundreds of years after those of the first dragons, and generations after the first Valyrian dragonlords; and only in the Valyrian Peninsula, indicating the race may have been created specifically for that purpose: to better bond, control, and mate with dragons.
Septon Barth estimates their proliferation around 4,000 BC, a thousand years after the approximate founding of the Valyrian Freehold. Indeed, surviving accounts from ancient Valyrian holdings in Lys, Pentos, and Tyrosh in Essos, and later on Dragonstone, Driftmark, and Claw Isle in Westeros seem to corroborate this claim, indicating that androdragon-and-dragon bonds were much stronger than those of man-and-dragon. This may explain the resulting strict social stratification within Valyrian Freeholder society—similar to the caste systems we see in the present-day cities of Slaver's Bay.
In the Valyrian Freehold, valdrīzes dragonlords, or valdrīzāeksia, were considered the elite class, followed by valdrīzes Lords Freeholder without dragons of their own. Human Valyrians occupied the lowest social class. Slaves occupied a fourth unspoken caste, so completely without status as to be excluded from the caste system altogether.
According to this system, it became so taboo for a Valyrian human to bond with a dragon that they were often executed for sacrilege, and the dragon taken and re-bonded with a valdrīzes rider at once.
By the height of the Valyrian Freehold's power and influence, its entire ruling class had been bred into androdragons, and much of the peasant population as well. Since the Doom, it is thought that all non-valdrīzes Valyrians, an already dwindling population, were wiped from existence; therefore, no present-day Valyrian can be said to be human.
Chapter II.
On the sexes of the androdragon and their respective characteristics.
In his early writings, Archmaester Gyldayn confidently states that an egg-laying dragon must be female. This strikes me as an oversimplification. I align most strongly with Barth's view that dragons are either both sexes at once, or can change sex as needed, as we have observed in some species of lizards and of fish.
If sexing dragons was as simple as Gyldayn presupposes, I suspect we would see but two sexes of androdragon—that of the Burning male and that of the egg-laying female. Instead we see four: the Burning male, the Burning female, the egg-laying male, and the egg-laying female, all with unique reproductive configurations.
These sexes are divided thusly:
The Burning male and female are called zāltys, or "one who burns; burner" (Valyrianisms zaltos, zaltosi), referring to a period of increased and aggressive sexual activity, which I shall discuss subsequently.
The egg-laying male and female are called dorzāltys, or "one who does not burn; non-burner" (Valyrianisms dorzaltos, dorzaltosi).
Determining the sex of an androdragon is reasonably uncomplicated. First, there are certain trends which must be considered. We have observed more male zāltyssy than female, and more female dorzāltyssy than male; thus, an apparent female is more likely to be a dorzāltys, and an apparent male is more likely to be a zāltys. Further, the more classically Valyrian one's features, such as hair and eye color, the more likely they are to be a zāltys. Valdrīzesse born of a human woman or sired by a human man are more likely to be dorzāltyssy, whereas pure valdrīzes parentage is more likely to result in a zāltys.
Valdrīzes traits will always supersede human reproductive characteristics. For example, a female zāltys may exhibit secondary sex characteristics, such as breasts, but she will always possess hemipenes with which to inseminate a dorzāltys, and her breasts will be unable to produce the milk expected of a human mother, and may indeed lack nipples altogether.
On the zāltys.
Zāltys physical traits are often more pronounced than those of their dorzāltys counterparts. Aside from reproductive organs, this dimorphism manifests most notably in ornamental characteristics such as supplementary scales, spikes, or horns.
Zāltyssy posses a vent, which houses the breeding organs. This vent, or slit, is distinct from the cloaca. When sexually aroused, hemipenes emerge from the vent, then retract when unaroused. These hemipenes vary in size but tend not to exceed the length of a half-cubit. On average male zāltyssy exhibit a larger size of hemipenis than females. Only one must be inserted into the oviduct for insemination to occur, and each is attached to its own internal testis, which can be stimulated separately. Hemipenes are highly ornamental, adorned with barbs and ridges designed to keep them locked inside the dorzāltys's oviduct.
In zāltyssy, the cloaca most closely resembles a human anus, acting as both urinary and excretory orifice. In females, however, the cloaca also leads to a vestigial uterus. We know of only two recorded cases of female zāltys pregnancy. The first, we shall examine at a later point. The second, Laena Velaryon, was able to produce a single clutch of eggs by the zāltys Daemon Targaryen; and of that clutch, only one double-yolk egg was viable, resulting in the twins Baela and Rhaena.
On the dorzāltys.
The dorzāltys is so named because they experience neither Burning rut nor mammalian estrus. However, during a Burning, dorzāltyssy are more receptive to the zāltys's pheromones, which can trigger a lesser, empathetic Burning, called a perzītsos, or "little fire". Unlike the all-consuming Burning, this perzītsos is a purely sexual response, distinct from thoughts or emotions. It primes the body to receive the the zāltys's venom, which in turn exacerbates this sexual response to the point of dysfunction. Higher thought is suppressed, compelling the dorzāltys to become as receptive as possible to the zāltys's advances.
As in zāltyssy, the dorzāltys cloaca is alike in outward appearance to a human anus, but with radically different internal structures. Similar to the slit that sheathes the zāltys's hemipenes, the female's slit hides the opening to her oviduct and uterus, as well as one or two clitorises, human in range of size, shape, and location, comparable in arrangement to a human female's vagina. This opening functions only as the reproductive tract, whereas the rear cloaca, closely resembling a human anus, acts as excretory opening for both the urinary and digestive tracts.
This is unlike the male dorzāltys, whose cloaca is both an excretory and urinary opening as well as the reproductive, egg-laying opening. Male dorzāltyssy have only one external vestigial penis, human in range of size, shape, and location. Most male dorzāltyssy do not possess testes, let alone exterior testicles, but like vestigial uteruses in some female zāltyssy, some male dorzāltyssy do produce semen. Thus, these male dorzāltyssy are able to impregnate human women and sometimes even other dorzāltyssy. This is known as a Cold Marriage, or a Qapadīnnon, untouched by the fire of a "proper" Burning: a Perzydīnnon, or Fire Marriage.
Male dorzāltyssy known to have bred with human women in this way are Daeron II with the Dornishwoman Myriah Martell, as well as their firstborn dorzāltys son Baelor II, the current king, who married Jena Dondarrion. Aegon IV's disdain for these Cold Marriages was well known. He considered them weak and shameful, thinning the blood of the dragon. In his work Lives of Four Kings, Maester Kaeth observes that it was Daeron II's dorzāltys nature which drove Aegon IV to spitefully legitimize his bastards, specifically the zāltys Daemon Waters, his clear favorite, engendering the Blackfyre Rebellion.
Chapter III.
On the reproductive process.
Valdrīzes eggs develop within the womb for about two months before they are ready to be laid. At this stage each egg is roughly the same size as a swan egg. They are soft, pale, and transparent, but harden over a following two-month incubation period. A clutch can range anywhere from six to twelve eggs, although female dorzāltyssy are said to be able to carry more.
Only the female dorzāltys possesses the peculiar ability to produce fertilized ovum with no known origin, a process known to us as parthenogenesis. This process was weaponized by Daena the Defiant, who while imprisoned in the Maidenvault claimed to have become pregnant without zāltys influence in order to antagonize her brother, Baelor. This of course was not true, as we know that any child born of true parthenogenesis would be born a female dorzāltys herself, and resemble her mother in all physical respects. Instead, Daena produced the zāltys bastard Daemon Blackfyre, whose father was later revealed to be Aegon IV.
Even when sex-compatible breeding takes place, there are a higher than usual number of stillbirths—or rather, unviable eggs—which occur. It is thought that unexpected changes in temperature can result in deformities, such as sudden and prolonged cold, and this has been observed in some clutches; but it is not the sole reason for death and deformity. Even the most stable clutch will produce more malformed embryos than viable ones. We do not yet understand why this is, but it is well-known that even the most fertile dorzāltys is unlikely to yield a wholly healthy clutch.
Accordingly, perhaps one or two out of a clutch of ten eggs hatch healthy newborns, similar at first glance to a premature human infant, but scaled on the arms, legs, and back. The true extent of their draconic features develop over the next year, as their horns, teeth, and claws grow in. These hatchlings cannot fight their way out on their own, and must be manually retrieved in "cutting ceremonies" by a ritual egg-cutting dagger called a drōmonātsio, or "egg-tooth" knife, so named for its resemblance to the razor sharp egg tooth dragon hatchlings once used to emerge from their much sturdier eggs.
Unviable embryos have varied appearance, but all appear more draconic than human, ranging from elongated limbs and snouts to leathery, hyper-scaled skin, to tails so long and sharp that some have accidentally severed the yolk stalk mid-development. Some of these malformed embryos may persist until hatching, but most are too misshapen to survive long outside of their shell.
Chapter IV.
On androdragon marriages.
Presently, male zāltyssy are matched to female dorzāltyssy whenever possible. The ideal match, one that appeases both the Faith and the Targaryen kings in matters of blood purity, is that of a brother and a sister. However, same-sex couplings do inevitably occur. Valyrians traditionally prioritized valdrīzes sex in marriages (zāltys, dorzāltys) in order to produce as many viable eggs as possible, whereas the Faith prioritizes human sex (male, female), and decries same-sex relationships regardless of reproductive capability. This is why, in Westeros, we do not see any Faith-approved sister-sister or brother-brother marriages, although there have certainly been unofficial, illegitimate compatible matches, some more obvious than others, the matter of which has been a topic of great debate amongst both scholars and fools.
As I have mentioned before, to Valyrians, a pair bond formed by Burning is considered a type of marriage; the Fire Marriage in the Common Tongue. But it is not the only type. The Blood Marriage, ānogardīnnon, is an incestuous marriage; thus, the ideal Valyrian marriage is both a Fire and Blood Marriage, or zaldrīnnon, a true pure-blooded Dragon Marriage. These bonded partners are interchangeably called zaldrīzȳrys, "dragon-spouse".
It is in this manner Aegon I married his two sisters; enjoying Dragon Marriages with both, according to Valyrian custom.
It is said that Visenya would fight Aegon often for their dorzāltys sister's affections, sometimes violently. It was not until after ten years of childless marriage that it came to light that Visenya was not, as the maesters of the Citadel had assumed, a dorzāltys, but a zāltys like her brother, unable to bear his children, yet still able to sire them. She, like Aegon, had married Rhaenys; but she had also bonded with Aegon, through Fire and Blood.
Valyrians considered it deeply taboo to marry zāltys to zāltys, as it would be to marry man to man in Westeros; yet, Aegon took Visenya in a mutual Burning anyway, both mating their sister as well as each other. And because Visenya appeared by all accounts a dorzāltys woman, the High Septon, unfamiliar with valdrīzes cultural norms, was concerned only with the incest and polygamy, and most crucially, the line of succession, instead of the valdrīzes homosexuality.
It is no surprise then that Rhaenys's son Aenys's parentage was brought into question: whether he was Aegon's trueborn son, or Visenya's. These rumors were persistent, despite Aegon's attempts to quash them, especially after Queen Rhaenys's death and the birth of Maegor.
It is still unknown how Visenya begat Maegor. Some maesters speculate she worked dark sorceries upon herself in order to bring a single egg to bear, and that this supposed sorcery caused Maegor's cruel, tyrannical nature. In one Unnatural Histories fragment, Barth submits that, in the wake of her bonded wife's death, Visenya's nature was made malleable—a quality he and I believe are innate to dragons—in order to adapt to her fellow zāltys's needs, allowing Aegon to father Maegor on her.
It is unclear if Barth speculated further on the subject, due to the lost nature of his fragments, but I submit that any valdrīzes can be unmade and then made again. They must be, as dragons are—changeable as flame, so long as they burn.
Chapter V.
On the origins of Targaryen Exceptionalism.
Maegor the Cruel was no stranger to angering the Faith. Among his many transgressions, one of his most egregious was the public claiming of his king and brother Aenys I.
Previously, in order to solve the problem of succession, Visenya recommended that Maegor take Rhaena, Aenys's eldest daughter, to wife. Aenys refused, as did the High Septon. Another candidate was put forward, and so Maegor wed the High Septon's niece, Ceryse Hightower, instead. He was not well pleased with this match, however. In the years following, he told his mother he need not wed Rhaena in order to secure the succession; she would not satisfy his dragon's appetite. Only one other would suffice. When Aegon I finally passed, and Aenys ascended the throne, Maegor made his move. He claimed two dragons that day: Balerion for his mount, and Aenys for his spouse.
The Faith had largely ignored the insult of Aegon I's polygamous marriage, but this new blasphemy, they could not ignore. Several rebellions instantly sprang up, but were just as quickly burned to ash. Aenys named his brother-husband Hand of the King, and Maegor spent much of his time afterward cutting down censorious septons and flying Balerion to immolate dissidents. The Faith Militant slunk into hiding, but they had not been put down for good; it was merely the beginning of a long and bitter war, which would last until Maegor's death.
Meanwhile, even though Maegor had been married to Ceryse for years, and even though he had bonded with Aenys, neither spouse produced any children. This greatly angered Maegor. Envious of Aenys's many children by his wife Alyssa Velaryon, he took another wife, which neither Aenys nor the High Septon could abide. Maegor was subsequently exiled to Pentos, causing the Faith Militant to gain confidence and openly rebel once again. But without Balerion to scour the revolt, Aenys struggled to contain the unrest, exacerbated by his decision to wed Rhaena and Aegon, his children, to each other—another dire insult to the Faith that could not go unpunished.
Aenys, already a fragile man, died the next year from illness and melancholia caused by the Faith Militant uprising and, maesters suspect, sustained bond separation from Maegor.
In the histories Aenys is referred to pejoratively as Maegor's second wife; the second of seven, one for each of the gods Maegor insulted. Maegor took only one other zaldrīzȳrys: his niece Rhaena, whom he took by force after the death of her husband by Maegor's hand. But as he did not Burn when he mated her, she remained unbonded—and produced, like all his wives, only misshapen horrors.
It was the hard work of Jaehaerys the Conciliator to broker a new peace with the Faith. The Poor Fellows and Warrior's Sons were so greatly diminished after Maegor's efforts that there could be no meaningful reply to Jaehaerys and his sister Alysanne's wedding.
Instead, Jaehaerys came to an agreement with the High Septon: incestuous marriages would only be accepted and legitimized between zāltys men and dorzāltys women, for the Faith could tolerate matters of bloodline purity, but they could not abide homosexuality. And having witnessed Maegor's atrocities—the rotten fruit of a homosexual union between his own grandparents—Jaehaerys himself was critical of homosexual pairs within valdrīzesse, believing any child born of such a coupling to be cursed.
Hence, the House of the Dragon and the Faith of the Seven were able to reach an understanding. Jaehaerys sent Seven Speakers across the realm to preach this new Doctrine of Exceptionalism, each proclaiming that Targaryens were not at all like human men, but dragons in human-like form—exempted from rules the Seven had laid down for the common man, and blessed by the Seven with the powers and appetites of a dragon, mating as dragons mated, with fire to fire and blood to blood.
Indeed, the physical evidence of this proposed supremacy was unmistakable. Jaehaerys and Alysanne made certain to give credence to their new doctrine through many royal progressess, showing the smallfolk they were as draconic as the Speakers had said, and bringing their dragons Vermithor and Silverwing with them, to display the absolute unassailable might of House Targaryen.
Of course, despite Jaehaerys's agreement with the Faith, further same-sex couplings did inevitably occur, both of valdrīzes-sex and human-sex. For instance, a bond of Fire and Blood was rumored to have been forged between zāltys Aegon III and his zāltys brother Viserys II upon Viserys's return; but this was never confirmed, as Aegon III was a broken man prone to long bouts of deep melancholia, and despised his draconic nature—almost to the extent of Baelor I. It is said he once prayed to the gods to make him dorzāltys; it is also said that his brother answered, as Aegon III was not known to Burn for the remainder of his reign.
Chapter VI.
On the mating season.
The defining property of androdraconic courtship is what Valyrians called, vulgarly, Zaldrījāves or "Dragonheat"; or more simply and commonly Zālza, "the Burning"—always communicated with a sense of dread veneration, reflected in the Common Tongue as a proper noun. The Valyrians believed this Burning was a godly madness bestowed upon them by the Fourteen Flames, as dragons were.
Burning takes place during the spring, and so for zāltyssy, many summer or winter years may pass before they experience a Burning. It is a state most similar to that of a mammalian rut, as in the hart or the goat, but tremendously violent and frenzied. In dragons, the Burning would take place high in the air during mating flights of extreme elegance and beauty, far away from those who might accurately document the process. In the landbound androdragon, the dragon's perfervidity manifests itself as something crude and barbarous, as though the androdraconic form was never meant to contain such extraordinary fire.
During their Burning, the zāltys will be driven to protect whatever they consider theirs—territory, belongings, people—and attack any challengers that may threaten these possessions. They will be compelled to mate any nearby dorzāltyssy, regardless of receptivity, and will use any means to achieve these ends, often violent ones. If they are dueling another zāltys for the right to sexual congress, sexual domination is used as a tool to force the other to submit, often to the death. Once begun, a Burning will last two to three weeks, or less if the zāltys successfully mates a dorzāltys.
After ejaculation, the zāltys will be locked inside the dorzāltys for an extended period. It is not recommend to separate them before the zāltys's hemipenes have begun to retract, as this may injure the dorzāltys.
Notably, the zāltys Baelor I Targaryen so detested what he called his "hellish" nature that he considered castration. Instead, he instituted a law that all unmarried dorzāltyssy must wear a chastity belt to protect themselves from sin (a law instantly repealed by Aegon IV upon Baelor's passing). Baelor's youngest sister, Princess Elaena Targaryen, noted scornfully that if her brother was so concerned with protecting the virtue of dorzãltyssy, he would mandate all unmarried zāltyssy to wear chastity devices instead, given they, unlike their counterparts, could not control themselves. This went largely ignored.
Of all the miraculous legends surrounding Baelor the Blessed, the most fantastic states that, through prayer and fasting, he was able to overcome his dragon's lusts; the only zāltys to be able to do so.
This distorted myth has resulted in many rapes performed by many devout zāltyssy certain that they could withstand their "sinful natures" through enough prayer and godly devotion alone. Baelor indeed resisted consummating his marriage with his sister, but it was not through piousness, penitence, and prayer he was able to do this. He chained himself to his bed for seven days and nights and fasted so intensely that his body was too weakened to break the shackles; but his mind had submitted fully to his Burning, like every zāltys before him. His attendants report him screaming at them to "bring her to me", but having been counseled to ignore the king's desperate requests during his madness, they refrained, and he went unsatisfied.
Methods of quelling or dimming a Burning are varied, but they all rely on external intervention. Willpower alone cannot master the impulse. Substances are most popular. Enough alcohol can significantly dampen one's Burning urges, as Daeron, son of Maekar, can attest: "Drowning the mind drowns the body, and I have made myself an ocean."
Conversely, there are those vāldrizes who take substances to magnify their Burning, sending them into a frenzy so acute that some have reported seeing gods and demons, or experienced prophetic dreams, or felt as though they could fly. Some jumped from tall buildings, believing themselves bewinged. Others never emerged from this state, maddened by the dragon's limitless capacity for destruction and desire. It is said that Aerion Brightflame drives himself to such heights in Lys, artificially provoking Burning after Burning in an attempt to become a true dragon.
Chapter VII.
On Burning rituals.
The Burning season was particularly sacred to the valdrīzesse of the Valyrian Freehold. They would hold Zāltymptra, "Burning Games": mating fights where two zāltyssy would duel in a formal, ritualized manner for the chance to mate a dorzāltys. Often, these fights would be to the death, ending in cannibalism or desecration of the corpse.
Such games had dwindled after the Doom, but some still took place in Essos during the Century of Blood. They were officially prohibited in Westeros through an agreement negotiated between the High Septon and Aegon I. The Westerosi tourney, however, became a sort of replacement Zāltymptra, with a ritualized pageantry all its own. Young dragons would attend them as a matter of course, eager to prove their worth.
Zāltyssy did not often Burn during these tourneys, as most lords, understandably, did not wish to hold them during the spring, for fear a zāltys knight may attend.
However, one can never be sure when a winter turns to spring, or to another summer; and so lords who perhaps could not afford to wait still risked tourneys on the precipice between one season and another. Perhaps the most famous examples available to us are the tourneys at Riverrun and Ashford. At Riverrun, Maegor the Cruel, only six-and-ten at the time, raped and killed a fellow knight in the melée. Nearly two hundred years later, Aerion Targaryen demanded a Trial of Seven at the tourney at Ashford, the second ever to be called in Westerosl—and attempted to do to his opponent as Maegor had done. Unlike Maegor, he did not succeed, and Ser Duncan the Tall prevailed in the eyes of the Seven.
This disaster resulted in the unforeseen Dragon Marriage between Baelor II and his youngest brother Maekar. Directly following the Trial, King Daeron II Targaryen expressly forbid zāltyssy from competing in spring tourneys. This had been an informal edict for years, but it became one of King Daeron's last royal decrees before he died, designating it as a crime punishable by exile, and upheld by his son Baelor II, for whom the law was made official.
After the sordid events of the Trial, and the passing of Daeron II, Jena Dondarrion, her youngest son Matarys Targaryen from the Spring Sickness, the new King Baelor II named his brother and now dragon-husband Maekar Hand of the King, so that he might keep him near. He did not command any formal recognition or marriage rites to be performed, as the High Septon would never have agreed, calling the bond "abomination"; but King Baelor maintains that if the Seven truly condemned his and Maekar's coupling, they would have both died in the Trial. Instead, he says, they have been blessed by the Seven; and so the High Septon was forced to allow the unorthodox Dragon Marriage to persist—so long as Baelor remarried a woman of the realm and performed all duties expected of a king.
Baelor agreed to the concession and wed Lysa Tyrell, daughter of Lord Leo "Longthorn" Tyrell, in 210 AC. They produced a son, Dyannos—silver-haired, lilac-eyed, and scarlet-scaled—the following year. There are those at court who whisper that the babe is not Baelor's, but Maekar's, and that Baelor commanded him to bed Lysa in his stead; yet despite these rumors, Maekar reportedly despises the arrangement. Upon Dyannos's birth, he instituted a decree of his own: that Baelor would sire no other children, and when Dyannos came of age, he would wed Maekar's youngest daughter Rhae.
Furthermore, Baelor's firstborn dorzāltys son and heir Valarr had been unable to conceive with his human Tyroshi wife, each attempt ending in stillbirth. Maekar counseled Baelor to dissolve his son's marriage to Kiera of Tyrosh and wed Valarr to a valdrīzes woman so they might conceive heirs. Baelor eventually consented, and so Kiera was wed to Maekar's firstborn zāltys son instead, Daeron, while Valarr took his dorzāltys cousin, Maekar's eldest daughter Daella, to wife. Daella soon produced a son, Myrion, and Kiera a daughter, Vaella.
Chapter VIII.
On the valdrīzes pair bond.
The bond between dragon and rider is said to be as strong as that of kin; certainly, it must have burned even hotter in those valdrīzes dragonlords who took their own dragons as lovers. But the bond between valdrīzes pairs is said to transcend even a rider's bond—for valdrīsse may have been bred to ride dragons, but they were unquestionably made to Burn for each other.
A valdrīzes bond allows the bonded pair to share dreams, emotions, and even physical responses to separate external stimuli. It is difficult for them to go great distances from one another. If separated for a sustained period, spouses report feeling short of breath, ill, despondent; and their condition will worsen if kept apart, ending eventually in death.
Valyrians aptly call this bond a zālarys—a "scorch mark". Through the zāltys's Burning, they scorch both the dorzāltys and themselves, leaving an indelible mark burned into the pair's very souls. Valyrians liken it to dragonglass: two stones melting together, forged of fire, becoming one.
A zālarys can only be formed during a Burning. Thus, it is possible, though rare, for valdrīzes to couple and marry and not be pair bonded. Consequently, only pairs involving a zāltys can bond, including zāltys-zāltys pairs; as we have seen between Aegon I and his sister-wife Visenya.
Multiple bonds can be forged with multiple partners, but too many bonds can paralyze the valdrīzes, or drive them to madness. The zālarys can also be forced. Through rape, a zāltys can shackle an unwilling dorzāltys to them forever; conversely, a dorzāltys can take advantage of a Burning zāltys and bind them accordingly. Once the bond is forged, it cannot be undone, save by death, or perhaps by magic; but by what sort of magic is unknown to us.
Chapter IX.
On the fate of the present-day androdragon.
With the death of the last dragon in Westeros, valdrīzes traits have been growing less and less pronounced in each successive generation of Targaryens: compare tales of Aegon I, called the Dragon, who even a century after the Doom of his homeland resembled his mount Balerion the Black Dread more than he did a human man. Now, at time of writing, the dorzāltys Baelor II sits the throne, whom to the casual observer appears in all ways outwardly human, except for one eye. This has earned him the sobriquet Baelor Dragon-Eye by his supporters and Baelor Dornish-Eye by his detractors.
If we accept Barth's theory that androdragons were crossbred into existence through the use of blood magic, we can also accept that these Valyrian bloodmages intended to preserve, at least to some extent, human sexual characteristics. Male dorzāltyssy retain a vestigial penis; female zāltyssy retain a vestigial uterus. Why keep these features, if not to specifically ensure even non-compatible sexes can breed, if the need arises, and to maintain the fecundity of any offspring produced by a human-valdrīzes pair? The architects of this race must have wanted to avoid sterile offspring produced by other humans and near-human pairs, as observed, for example, in children of Essosi-Ibbenese pairs.
Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that the blood is thinning. Targaryens no longer have dragons, and perhaps in several generations, they shall no longer have valdrīzesse. Or perhaps this dwindling, long-burning flame may one day find new fuel, and dragons shall once again take to the skies, and their valdrīzesse with them.
For I have dreamed of a bleeding star, and a silver dragon born amongst a bed of flames