Game of Thrones: Rise of the Supreme Dragon Queen

"Yes, I raise horses for the Khalasar. I have always been loyal to you, Khaleesi, and I have contributed greatly. Even though I am old and no longer as strong as the others, I am far more qualified than they are to lead a khalasar," Afanti muttered, his eyes growing brighter as he spoke, as though he had stumbled upon a long-overlooked truth.

Dany observed their expressions and nodded subtly to herself: The power structure of the horse people was beginning to change today.

Every stable political structure is like a pyramid—the kind of foundation you build determines the shape of the pinnacle.

Dany wanted the pinnacle of the horse people's power structure to belong to "Queen Daenerys," not "Khaleesi Daenerys." To achieve that, the foundation had to change.

The new political structure would naturally form the throne she envisioned and instinctively protect that structure.

"From today onward, contributions to the Khalasar will determine a person's rank and position. Do you agree?" Dany loudly asked her khalasar leaders.

"We agree," they responded in unison without hesitation.

Of course they agreed!

In Dany's new system, they might not be the strongest warriors, but they were undoubtedly among those who had contributed the most—through the dragons.

Over time, even as the Khalasar grew larger and perhaps united all of the Dothraki Sea, they could still secure their rights and interests.

This was about protecting their own benefits. Only a fool would disagree.

"I feel as though the Princess has brought about some... enormous change for the horse people, though I can't quite put it into words," Ser Jorah muttered, watching the excited Dany with her khalasar leaders on the deck. There was a sense that something monumental had happened, though he wasn't sure what.

"From now on, the Princess's Khalasar of Dothraki will recognize only her. After her death, they will follow her offspring. Once the dragons grow, the Dothraki will bear the name Targaryen." Whitebeard's eyes widened in shock, his body trembling uncontrollably. "She truly is a Targaryen—a born ruler. Perhaps she will be the greatest Targaryen king."

"Greater than Aegon the Conqueror?" Jorah asked, incredulous.

"Perhaps. Even Aegon's vision wasn't as vast as hers," the old man murmured.

In truth, he wanted to say "ambition," but he wasn't sure if the Princess had done this deliberately or if it had happened unintentionally.

Dany approached a young Dothraki slave and asked in their tongue, "Do you wish to join my Khalasar and abide by my rules?"

"I…" The young woman, barely in her twenties, glanced at Dany nervously before lowering her gaze and whispering timidly, "I will follow the Khaleesi."

"Bend your head," Dany commanded.

The young woman obediently lowered her head, and Dany personally unfastened the heavy copper collar from her neck.

Clang!The collar fell heavily onto the wooden deck. The woman looked as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders, her steps suddenly lighter.

"You are free now. Once again, you are a proud Dothraki."

"Ughh..." For some reason, the young woman began to weep uncontrollably at Dany's simple declaration.

Dany ignored her and moved to the next slave. "Join my Khalasar, and I will grant you freedom and dignity. But you must swear to follow my rules. Do you agree?"

"I do, Khaleesi," the man replied.

One by one, the collars were removed, each clang announcing a new member of the Khalasar.

"My first rule is that rank and reward will be based on merit—you already understand this. Now, I proclaim the second law: the promotion of marriage."

Dany scanned the gathered horse people and declared loudly, "I swear in the name of the Khaleesi: your marriages will be protected and blessed by the entire Khalasar and by my dragons.

Any act of stealing another man's wife will be deemed a crime.

Likewise, marriage must be based on mutual consent between the man and woman. Forced unions will not be protected or blessed; instead, they will be punished.

The children born of such unions will have the right to inherit their parents' horses, arakhs, bows, and other possessions."

Though the Dothraki did not yet have noble titles, Dany was certain they would emerge in the future—or at least something similar. When that time came, titles would also be included as inheritable property.

Lesser nobles would inherit titles, while the greatest nobles would inherit the throne.

Dany continued outlining her laws, drafting what she believed to be the most advanced marriage system for this era based on her knowledge.

But as she finished, a wave of doubt crept into her mind. It wasn't that she feared the horse people would disobey her rules; rather, she wondered if they would even remember them all.

One additional note: the Dothraki had no written language, only spoken words.

She couldn't even compose a proclamation that everyone could read.

Nevertheless, Dany found a roll of parchment and wrote down the two laws—"Merit-Based Rewards" and "Marriage Protection"—in black ink.

She used High Valyrian script.

High Valyrian and Common Valyrian weren't fundamentally different. The former was the ancient language of the Valyrians, while the latter incorporated regional dialects and accents, with writing styles influenced by local cultures.

It was similar to how French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese all derived from Latin but had distinctions.

Of course, the differences between Valyrian dialects weren't as vast as those between these languages and Latin—more like the differences between Chinese dialects.

Though Daenerys hadn't received formal education, Viserys had.

It would indeed be strange if a Targaryen didn't know High Valyrian, but having wandered through multiple city-states of Westeros, Dany also picked up several Valyrian dialects.

After finishing her writing, Dany signed her full name on the back of the document. Then, in her bond with Drogon, she compelled him to "sign" as well—by sketching a crude yet remarkably lifelike self-portrait.

The spectators around her gasped in awe. This act, albeit subtle, added an air of sacredness to the Code of the Horselords.

Finally, Dany had all the Khalasars' leaders sign and mark their seals. She first wrote their names herself, then guided them to imitate her strokes, finishing with their handprints.

It's worth noting that these names were transliterated, losing much of their original meaning in Dothraki.

For instance, the word "go" is common in Dothraki names—Drogo, Rhaego, Ago, Jhogo, and Haggo. In Dothraki, "go" connotes strength and bravery, but this meaning is entirely lost in transliteration.

While the Dothraki are savage in some ways, they hold oaths in high regard, and signing their name was tantamount to swearing an oath.

At this stage, only ten-man captains were signing. However, these individuals could one day grow to become Kos, or even Khals.

In this way, Dany ensured that her laws would be followed by this generation, and by the time the next generation rose to power, the so-called "ancestral laws" would already be entrenched.

As those born under the "ancestral laws" grew older, they would instinctively enforce the same rules on the third generation, perpetuating the system.

Thus, as long as Dany's Dothraki Empire didn't collapse within three generations, her laws would evolve into "common knowledge" among the horselords.

Whether or not she could establish a thousand-year Targaryen dynasty, Dany wasn't sure, but she was confident that the Dothraki's level of civilization would leap forward.

This "Khalasar reform" wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision. Dany had a grander plan in mind—a world-shaking endeavor. Reforming the horselords was merely practice for what was to come.

Holding the rolled-up Code of the Horselords in her hand, Dany continued, "Rewarding merit begins immediately, but the marriage system can't be implemented overnight. We'll take it step by step."

"The first step is to establish a few 'model couples' so everyone can see the benefits and workings of the marriage system firsthand.

The second step is to open the marriage system to everyone. Any Dothraki under my Khalasar may freely choose to marry or not.

The third step is that all new Dothraki children must have clearly identified parents. Children born outside of marriage will be considered bastards."

While the horselords digested this information, Dany turned to Jorah and the others with a smile. "I've already decided on a surname for Dothraki bastards. Following the traditions of the Seven Kingdoms, how about 'Godzilla'?"

Grass is the most abundant and least valuable thing on the Dothraki Sea. By logic, "Grass" would be a more accurate surname, but bastard surnames often come with variations.

Take, for example, "Blackfyre." The correct term would be "Blackfire," yet it's spelled "Blackfyre." Similarly, "Waters" for bastards from the Riverlands derives from "Water."

Dany's naming suggestion wasn't a violation of the Seven Kingdoms' customs.

"But ordinary Dothraki don't even have surnames," Barristan Selmy noted dismissively. "Even Khal Drogo doesn't have a surname. Wouldn't giving bastards a surname like 'Godzilla' encourage people to have more illegitimate children?"

Dany flashed a mysterious smile. "You'll see—over time, they will start to develop surnames of their own."

"How would you manage that? Surnames are ancestral, steeped in meaning. You can't just hand them out randomly," Barristan said, shaking his head.

Heh, foreigners like you still don't understand.

How did surnames originate in the Great Empire of the Dawn?

Surnames initially arose among nobles—ordinary people didn't even have them. But where did noble surnames come from?

Most of them evolved from the names of fiefdoms.

In the future, Dany planned to use surnames as a form of reward, granting them to her meritorious followers.

As for commoners with no achievements, well, they could wait for the nobles to "enrich" their daughters' or wives' wombs.

It didn't matter if the children were truly theirs. What mattered was making the nobles believe they were.

Or, following the Neonese tradition, children could be named based on where they were born: "Tanaka" for those born in rice fields, "Watanabe" for those born near a bridge, or "Kawaguchi" for those born by a riverbank.

After a moment of thought, Barristan hesitated and said to Dany, "You shouldn't allow the bloodriders to marry and have children."

"You mean adopting the Kingsguard system?"

"Yes. That's the only way to ensure their undivided loyalty to you," the old knight replied.

Dany didn't dismiss Barristan's words as nonsense. Centuries of history had already proven the effectiveness of the Kingsguard system.

In the three centuries of Targaryen rule, there had been hundreds of Kingsguard members. Apart from Jaime Lannister, their loyalty to their monarchs had rarely faltered, even if their personal virtues were occasionally flawed.

Among the notable failures of the Kingsguard, only three stood out: one who slept with the king's mistress (not the queen), another who secretly fathered a slew of bastards (despite the Kingsguard vow of celibacy), and, finally, Jaime Lannister, who slew his king.

When compared to the number of Kingsguard who died protecting their monarchs, the proportion of traitors was minuscule.

It could be said that the Kingsguard were to Westerosi chivalry what dragons were to Valyrian magic.

(End of Chapter)

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