The Chronicle of House Daeragon

By the quill of Archmaester Theomar of the Citadel

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Origins and Early Ascendancy

House Daeragon is among the oldest and most exalted lineages in the history of the world, tracing its ancestry back over ten thousand years to the earliest days of Valyria. When the fisherfolk of the Valyrian Peninsula first learned to tame dragons beneath the fiery caverns of the Fourteen Flames, it was the Daeragons who rose first among them, mastering both beast and flame.

Whereas other families were content to seize local dominion, the Daeragons carved empire. They established the Valyrian Kingdom, crowning themselves monarchs. From their ancestral fortress of Daerafort, their banners—a golden three-headed dragon upon a field of red—flew over all the peninsula. Their ancient words were “Dragons and Fire,” later softened into “The Blood of Valyria.”

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The Daeragon Monarchy

For five millennia, the Daeragons ruled as Royal Dynasty of Valyria. In this time they forged the Valyrian roads, oversaw the first crafting of Valyrian steel, and led the dragonriders in the conquest of the Rhoyne and the Ghiscari. Unlike their rivals, they forbade close incestuous marriage, believing it weakened the bloodline. Instead, they bound vassals to their dynasty through marriage, though cousin unions and polygamy remained permitted.

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The Freeholder Uprising and Fall of Kingship

Roughly five thousand years ago, envy and ambition consumed the other dragonlords. A coalition of the Forty Houses rose against the Daeragons in what history remembers as the Freeholder Uprising. Though the Daeragons were not destroyed, they were stripped of their crown. Henceforth, Valyria would be ruled by the oligarchy of the Freehold, with each family holding equal voice in the Forum.

Yet the Daeragons remained preeminent among the Forty. Their dragons were the largest, their wealth the greatest, their influence rivalled only by their distant kin, House Targaryen, a cadet branch descended from Daeragon blood.

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The Great Migration

Centuries before the Doom, the Daeragons once more displayed their gift of foresight. One of their Dragonlord (whose name is lost to time) read the trembling of the earth and the smoke of the mountains as omens. He ordered the family’s Great Migration. Much of their people, wealth, and dragonflights crossed the Summer Sea to their colony in Sothoryos.

There they raised Draegonopolis (formerly Daeragon’s Landing), a city of white marble and obsidian, crowned by the Imperial Palace of Draegonopolis, seat of their dynasty in exile. When the Doom of Valyria shattered the peninsula, the Daeragons endured, as did the Targaryens upon Dragonstone.

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The Empire in Exile

From Draegonopolis, the Daeragons expanded across the jungles of Sothoryos, subduing both beast and man with dragonfire. Their empire in exile flourished, and their dynasty remained unbroken. Their ancestral weapons—Firestone, Dragonblood, and the lost Dragonborn—were carried from age to age, wielded by the greatest of their lords.

Their customs solidified in this time:

• No close incest, distinguishing them from most dragonlords.

• Cousin marriages and polygamy remained, ensuring breadth of blood and power.

• Their banners came to be called the Golden Dragons, a symbol of supremacy and endurance.

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Relations with House Targaryen

Though separated by Millennia, House Targaryen ever remained bound to House Daeragon. The Targaryens were descended from a Daeragon branch, and their conquest of Westeros echoed the ancient wars of the Daeragon kings. Where Targaryens built Dragonstone and Aegon’s Landing, the Daeragons held Draegonopolis and the vast jungles of Sothoryos.

This bond was renewed in later centuries through Princess Rhaenyra Daeragon, daughter of Emperor Aegys I Daeragon, who wed Lord Duncan Baratheon, uniting storm and fire. Their son, Richard Baratheon, would rise to become Emperor of Westeros and Western Essos, fulfilling prophecies both Valyrian and Westerosi.

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Reputation Through the Ages

Throughout the known world, House Daeragon has carried a reputation unlike any other:

• In Essos: as the lost kings of Valyria, whose foresight saved them from the Doom.

• In Sothoryos: as god-kings who tamed jungle and beast alike with dragons.

• In Westeros: as the bloodline that gave rise to the Storm Dragon, Richard Baratheon.

• In legend: as the eternal house, the dynasty of ten thousand years unbroken, whose flame was never extinguished.

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The Legacy of the Blood of Valyria

House Daeragon’s legacy lives on in the Imperial bloodline of Westeros. Through Richard and Daenerys, the blood of the Golden Dragon mingled once more with the Storm Lords and the Silver Queens of old. From Valyria to Sothoryos to Westeros, their story is one of endurance, foresight, and fire.