He deliberately paused, savoring the flash of shock in Anders's eyes, before continuing:
"Dorne has Stone Dornishmen, Salt Dornishmen, and Sand Dornishmen, as well as the Rhoynar on the Greenblood...
House Yronwood represents the Stone Dornishmen, with the pure blood of the First Men and the Andals flowing through its veins.
And House Martell? They are Salt Dornishmen, long steeped in Rhoynar blood and culture. Even their title, 'Nymeros,' proclaims them 'of Nymeria's blood.'"
Liu Qian's tone carried a hint of provocation:
"A thousand years ago, before the Rhoynar queen Nymeria arrived with her fleet of ten thousand ships, your great ancestors called themselves High Kings of Dorne and ruled part of Dorne.
It was House Martell that used the strength of the foreign Rhoynar to defeat House Yronwood and steal dominion over Dorne.
By what right? Why should House Martell rule Dorne generation after generation, while House Yronwood must bow to others?
What the Iron Throne cannot give you, I can.
Under my rule, Dorne will return to the traditions of Westeros and discard those foreign Rhoynar titles... all of Dorne will be placed under your protection, Anders Yronwood."
Anders Yronwood was utterly stunned.
What shocked him was not merely Liu Qian's promise to make him "Warden of Dorne," but the Easterner's disturbingly profound understanding of Dorne's tangled ethnic tensions and historical grudges.
Stone Dornishmen, Salt Dornishmen, Sand Dornishmen, the Orphans of the Greenblood...
The man recited these ethnic divisions as readily as a list of his own treasures, though even many nobles of Westeros might struggle to distinguish them clearly.
Just as Liu Qian had said, Dorne had never been a united whole.
The Stone Dornishmen represented by House Yronwood lived in the Red Mountains and possessed physical features closer to those common throughout the Seven Kingdoms.
Tall