The Chronicle of Fire and Storm
The Chronicle of Fire and Storm
As set down by Archmaester Vaelor, in the year 167 after the Coronation of Emperor Richard I Baratheon, styled the Storm Dragon.
Origins of the Storm Dragon
Richard Baratheon, born of Lord Duncan Baratheon of Storm’s End and Princess Rhaenyra Daeragon of Valyria, entered the world already straddling two heritages: the storm and the flame. From his mother, he inherited the violet eyes and Valyrian blood that marked him apart from his Baratheon kin; from his father, the unyielding strength of the stag.
He was the third-born child, yet from his earliest years he shone brightest. While his elder brother Prince Randall trained in statecraft and his sisters Rosalia and Marianne excelled in war and courtesy, Richard turned his eyes to the skies. His fate was sealed when he hatched and claimed the golden dragon Caesarion, the largest dragon in recorded history, mightier even than Balerion the Black Dread.
Rise to Power
Richard came of age during the waning reign of King Robert I Baratheon. Unlike his uncle, Richard possessed both fire and discipline. Where Robert drank, Richard studied; where Robert fought for glory, Richard fought with vision.
When Robert yielded the throne, Richard ascended as King Richard I of House Baratheon, styled the Dragonlord of Storm’s End. With his bride, Daenerys Targaryen, the Silver Queen, he united storm and fire not only in blood but in rule.
The Founding of the Empire
Richard’s reign did not stop at the Iron Throne. He abolished the Seven Kingdoms, forging instead the Empire of Westeros, with himself as its first Emperor.
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Rygoros, built in the Vale’s mountains, became the Imperial Capital. At its center rose the Imperial Palace, where Richard sat the Golden Throne of Westeros, while the Iron Throne remained as a relic in Aegon’s Landing.
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His siblings were raised high:
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Prince Randall, Lord Chancellor and Governor of the Stormlands.
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Princess Rosalia, a general and later wife to Prince Rhaemond Assarion, ruler of the Isles.
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Prince Lucas, Governor of Sunspear by marriage to Princess Arianne Martell.
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Princess Marianne, the “Princess of Courtesy,” who bridged Crown and commons.
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Richard’s marriage to Daenerys gave him legitimacy among dragonlords, while his victories against Tywin Lannister, the Greyjoys, and rebellious lords cemented his might.
The Eastern Realm and New Valyria
Richard did not confine his vision to Westeros. He crossed the Narrow Sea, bringing the Free Cities and the Valyrian Peninsula into his grasp. Mantarys, Tolos, and Elyria became the Province of New Valyria, governed by Prince Aegon Targaryen, nephew-in-law to Richard and son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Princess Elia Martell.
In time, Richard divided the Empire into two realms:
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The Western Realm, with Aegon’s Landing as its capital.
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The Eastern Realm, with Braavos as its capital.
Yet above both stood Rygoros, seat of the Emperor, binding all lands in unity.
The White Walker War
The greatest threat of Richard’s reign came not from lords or cities, but from the dead. The Night King rose beyond the Wall, wielding the Horn of Winter to bring the Wall crashing down.
Richard, aided by the Order of the Golden Sun, his reformed army of a million, marched north with Rosalia and Lucas as his generals. At Moat Cailin, living and dead clashed in the greatest battle since the Dawn Age.
Through fire and prophecy, Richard himself slew the Night King, fulfilling the role of the Prince That Was Promised. The dead fell, the White Walkers were ended, and the lands beyond the Wall became part of the Empire as the Province of the North, stretching from the Lands of Always Winter to the Dothraki Sea.
Mance Rayder bent the knee, ruling the new province from Hardhome. The Night’s Watch was dissolved, its brothers folded into the Order of the Golden Sun.
The Eastern Campaigns and the Dothraki Sea
Richard turned his gaze eastward once more. The Dothraki horde, united under Khal Jhago, was shattered by the Order of the Golden Sun. The grasslands were split:
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The western half fell under Imperial control, with four new provinces born: Sarnor, Easterland, Duncania, and Essaria.
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The eastern half remained under Dothraki rule but was placed under occupation, its people enslaved to rebuild what they once destroyed.
Thus the plains that had devoured kingdoms now became provinces of the Empire.
The Firewyrm of Valyria
Not all of Richard’s triumphs came through conquest. In the Fourteen Flames of old Valyria, Richard and Caesarion tamed the Firewyrm Verman, a wingless but fire-breathing beast of terrible power. With this act, Richard became the first and only rider of both dragon and firewyrm, proving his bloodline’s immunity to flame and furthering the legend of the Storm Dragon.
The Legacy of the Silver Queen
If Richard was the storm, Daenerys Targaryen was the flame that warmed the Empire. She championed mercy, abolished countless cruelties, and safeguarded the dragons as protectors rather than terrors. She was loved not only as Empress but as “Mother of the Empire.”
Even after Richard’s death, Daenerys endured as Empress Dowager, guiding their heir Daemon Baratheon, the Second Emperor, with steady wisdom until her passing at a venerable age.
The Passing of the Storm Dragon
After sixty years upon the Golden Throne—longer than even King Jaehaerys the Wise—Richard I Baratheon died peacefully, surrounded by his wife, children, and grandchildren. His reign was the longest in recorded history, and his Empire the broadest, stretching from the Lands of Always Winter in the north to the Dothraki Sea in the east.
The bells of Rygoros tolled for seven days, and the skies were darkened by dragons in mourning flight.
Conclusion
The world remembers him as Emperor Richard I Baratheon, the Storm Dragon, first Emperor of Westeros and Western Essos. His reign was fire and storm, conquest and unity, but above all, it was endurance: a dynasty born not to fall in fire and blood, but to rise in fire and storm eternal.
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