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'''Valyria''' was the seat of the greatest civilization in the known history of the world, a peninsula and city on the continent of [[Essos]] whose empire, the [[Valyrian Freehold]], dominated much of the world for some five thousand years before its sudden destruction in the cataclysm known as the [[Doom of Valyria]].

== The Freehold ==
:''Main article: [[Valyrian Freehold]]''
Valyria rose from a nation of shepherds who tamed dragons among the Fourteen Flames, the volcanic mountains that ringed the peninsula. With dragonriders and sorcery the Valyrians conquered rival powers, including the old [[Ghiscari Empire]], and spread their dominion across Essos.

== Arts and Sorcery ==
The Valyrians were unmatched in their craft. They forged [[Valyrian steel]], rippling blades of surpassing sharpness whose secret was lost with the Doom, and they raised structures of fused stone using dragonfire and magic. The ruins of [[Dragonstone]] and the road-spanning works of Valyria still testify to their power.

== The Doom ==
The peninsula was destroyed in a single day when the Fourteen Flames erupted, shattering Valyria into a smoking ruin of islands and a poisoned sea called the Smoking Sea. The land is now shunned as cursed; few who sail too near return, and stories tell of stone men and horrors haunting the wreckage. House [[House Targaryen|Targaryen]], having abandoned Valyria for [[Dragonstone]] before the Doom, survived as the last of the dragonlords.

[[Category:Game of Thrones]]
[[Category:Places]]