Dornishmen

The Dornishmen, also known as Dornish, are the inhabitants of Dorne, one of the constituent regions of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Like the Northmen and the ironborn, the Dornish have a unique culture, law, and ethnic background, the result of the intermingling between the Westerosi inhabitants - predominantly of Andal origins - and the Rhoynar invaders that escaped Essos to avoid conquest by the Valyrian Freehold.

Due to their Rhoynar blood, Dornishmen tend towards olive skin, black hair and dark eyes. In the rest of the Seven Kingdoms they have a reputation for sexual for hot-bloodedness and sexual licentiousness.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Dornishmen are the result of the Rhoynar invasion, in which the Rhoynish people, led by Queen Nymeria conquered Dorne with the aid of Prince Mors Martell, who brokered a marriage alliance with her.

The level of Rhoynish blood in the Dornish gene pool varies depending on the proximity to the coast, becoming weaker the closer to inland Westeros. King Daeron I, during his Conquest of Dorne, classified the Dornish in three groups:


 * Salty Dornishmen, who live along the coasts, mainly along the Broken Arm, where the Red Mountains stretch out into the Sea of Dorne. These Dornishmen are lithe and dark, with smooth olive skin and long black hair. They are fishermen and sailors, hard men who sail the ships of the Dornish fleet.


 * Sandy Dornishmen live in the deserts and the long river valleys, faces burned brown by the hot Dornish sun, they are even darker than the salty Dornishmen.


 * Stony Dornishmen live in the passes and heights of the Red Mountains. They have the most Andal and First Men blood and mostly resemble the other people of the Seven Kingdoms in look, customs and traditions. They are brown-haired or blond with faces that are freckled or burned by the sun.


 * Aditionally, there is a smaller, fourth group of pure Rhoynish blood. They call themselves the Orphans of the Greenblood. They call themselves "Orphans" because still mourn the loss of their distant homeland along the Rhoyne, which they worship as "Mother Rhoyne", and so continue to practice the traditions and religion of their river-faring ancestors. The are established along the Greenblood, plying poleboats.

The Rhoynish influence extends to the law and culture of the Dornishmen, which remains unique even though Dorne is part of the Seven Kingdoms. Equal primogeniture is still practiced, with elder daughters standing higher in lines of succession than younger brothers and still bearing the family name.

Paramours are not shunned or kept in secret; instead they are held in a smilair status as a lawful wife or husband. Similarly, bastards are raised along their trueborn siblings and cousins, though they are still considered poor matches for marriage due to their impossibility to receive inheritance.

Homosexuality is likewise tolerated by the Dornish and doesn't carry the same stigma it does in the rest of the Seven Kingdoms.