Andals

"The Andals were the first, a race of tall, fair-haired warriors who came with steel and fire and the seven-pointed star of the new gods painted on their chests."
- A Game of Thrones

Andals fighting the First Men

The Andals, also known as the Sea People, are the second major ethnic group of humans to migrate from Essos to Westeros, who brought with them the secret of iron, writing, the new gods, and traditions of chivalry and knighthood.

Seven thousand years after the First Men began their migration, now the Andals follow with their ships over the Narrow Sea, supplanting the old kingdoms, burning away the forests, and forging a new world for themselves.

History

Andalos

The Andals originated in Essos as a tall and fair-haired people from the Axe in the northeast of that vast continent. Originally a migratory people, thousands of years ago they migrated south-westwards, learned the secret of iron-making from the Rhoynar, and swept away the people who inhabited what would later become the Andal homeland of Andalos. In those days the Seven, their gods, walked Andalos spreading the dictates of what would become the Faith of the Seven, and crowned their first king Hugor of the Hill who ruled the whole of Andalos, and promised him and his descendents great kingdoms in a foreign land. Hugor allegedly had forty-four sons, and he and his descendants became the ancestors of many Andal houses.

The Valyrian Conquest

In the centuries after Hugor's crowning, the Andals prospered in Andalos and were left to their own devices. But eastwards, the dragon-lords of Valyria in their Valyrian Freehold had begun a great period of colonisation and rapid expansion after the fall of their rival empire Old Ghis. The Rhoynar along the river Rhoyne served as a buffer between the Valyrians and the Andals, but following the founding of Volantis and the crossing of the Valyrians' foot troops across the Rhoyne, the Rhoynar were conquered and the Andals were driven back. To escape the inevitable enslavement that would befell their people if they were lost to the Valyrians, some Andals retreated to the north to the Axe, while more built ships to sail westwards to Westeros seeking safe haven, thus beginning the Coming of the Andals.

Culture

The Faith

The Andals and the Faith of the Seven are very intertwined, as the gods embody their cultural values and their culture is represented through the same holy texts they worship. Andals consider themselves "Servants of the Star". Andalic society as a whole is stratified and built on religion, and they consider themselves divinely ordained to rule in Westeros, or as they call it, the "Sunset Lands". Septs are considered as centres of the community, and septas and septons serve as teachers, priests, and advisors for the Andals. The faith dictates their society and societal expectations. Men are embodied as the Father, the Warrior, and the Smith and are expected to be just rulers, brave warriors, skillful craftsmen, and dutiful labourers. Women are embodied by the Mother, the Maiden, and the Crone and labour under harsher restrictions to maintain their innocence and chastity, to nurture and protect as mothers, and to bestow wisdom upon the young in their old age.

Driven to zealotry by their flight from ancient Andalos, Andal warriors carved the seven-pointed star into their heads and the stones where they landed in Westeros, swearing by blood and the gods to fulfill the prophecy given to Hugor to rule in Westeros.

Knighthood

Knighthood is a unique institution of the Andal world, and is inherently tied to the Faith. A knight is a warrior who embodies the virtues espoused of the Faith and swears by them to uphold piety, law, and decency. To be made a knight requires being dubbed by an existing knight, and being annointed by a septon with the seven oils. Upholding knighthood is similar to the concept of personal honour amongst the First Men, but is far more codified and strict on what is and what is not considered knightly behaviour.

Knights are addressed with the title of "Ser", such as Ser Galladon Morne, or Ser Gylbert Gaunt.

Marriage

In the Andal world, marriage is carried out within a sept and presided over by a septon with prayers and vows between the bride and groom, and marriages are only considered legitimate if the Faith acknowledges it. The marriage ceremony itself involves the presence of the bride's father "giving away" his daughter to the groom and removing her cloak in the colours of her house, so that her husband-to-be can put a cloak with his own house colours around her shoulders.

A woman’s fidelity is considered very much her responsibility, and failure to remain chaste outside of marriage can have severe consequences for her personally. Not only from a vengeful husband, but from the Faith itself which may wish to render its own punishments. A woman's duties in marriage lie in obeying and supporting her husband, and birthing many children for him.

Inheritance

The Andals believe in a formalised practice of succession in order to promote order and stability, specifically male-preference primogeniture. The eldest son will inherit first, followed by his brothers, and then the eldest daughter will inherit, and then her sisters. Only trueborn children have the right to inherit, and illegitimate children, or "bastards", are barred from doing so unless legitimised. The Andals exclude women from being granted or owning land, so it is far more difficult for women to attain power than it is for men.

Technology

The Andals learned iron-making from the Rhoynar long ago, and outfitted their warriors with iron plate and iron weapons in their conquest of Andalos and then their migration to Westeros which surpassed the bronze weaponry of the First Men. Except for the Ironborn, who have used the same metal for millennia. The metal, and their cavalry tactics of outfitting plate-clad lancers on heavy warhorses has made for some of the deadliest fighters ever seen in Westeros.

Writing, and the use of an alphabet is another advantage of the Andals, which allows them to record accounts, exchange messages, and organise far faster than First Man runic systems. So great this skill was many of the early Andal nobility, such as House Penrose and House Jordayne, place writing as the foundation of their identity.

They also have knowledge of coinage, having taken inspiration from the Rhoynar and Valyrian cultures, finding them naturally complimentary to their more centralised economic structure, and more feudal system.