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As the most religiously diverse region in Westeros, Dorne was a fertile ground for an uprising of the faithful. But in the Stone Mountains - where Andal culture and the Faith of the Seven predominated - the Warsmiths struggled to gain any traction. Instead, anti-R’hllor sentiment was channeled into a rebellion of its own making. With many grievances to raise against the Martells, the stony lords rallied around Tommen Blackmont, who took on the storied title of “the Vulture King.”

The houses of Dorne were divided roughly along geographic lines in a war that pitted the east against the west. During the first phase of the War of Stone and Sky, the Vulture King’s army swept across the sands and occupied Vaith, from which it staged numerous guerrilla raids throughout the fertile river banks of central Dorne. Preoccupied with smaller uprisings in the east, it took Lord Trystane Martell nearly a year to mobilize his full strength against the Vulture King.

In the end, it was deceit that allowed the Martells to secure a decisive victory. By feigning a naval deployment of his army to the Torrentine, Trystane made the east appear vulnerable - and lured the Vulture King into a battle at Godsgrace. To the rebels’ surprise, Prince Aerion Targaryen arrived upon his dragon, Vhaegon, and incinerated the stony host. The Vulture King’s insurrection amounted to a complete failure; House Martell’s position was only strengthened in its aftermath. After a few of the war’s key perpetrators were tried and executed, the other rebellious lords were pardoned - and Dorne returned to its status quo.

Read more about the War of Stone and Sky! >