Rise of the North (asoiaf)

Alexi II's reign continued peacefully for about a decade-and-a-half until 136 AC when Alexi II banned any new excursions into the Dothraki Sea. In 139 AC news came that an old Sarnori fort on the banks of the river Sarne has been repaired and was currently inhabited. Called simply The Fort, it was a grave insult to the dothraki for not only existing in the dothraki sea but also being too close to Vaes Dothrak. And so, a rising dothraki khal, Khal Menno, took his Khalasar of 10,000 blood riders to sack and burn the fort. He was never heard from again.

A few moons after another Khalasar went to investigate, and then another and then another. By 138 AC about forty Dothraki Khalasars had vanished. This had grave implications for the dothraki as at any time there were only about a hundred Khalasars in total. And so, in the matter of two years two-fifths of the Dothraki were likely dead. Because the Dothraki felt that reason for their losses was that the Khalasars had attacked individually, an alliance of 10 Khals was formed and soon 200,000 dothraki screamers rode for victory. They too were never heard from again. 

Soon whispers began making their way throughout Essos on what was there in the fort. Most whispered that dragons had returned and were feasting on the horses others claimed that the dead had risen and begun taking vengeance on the dothraki. Some even said that this was all a ruse and the dothraki were about to launch a second century of blood, expending the dothraki sea to western Essos. 

No more khals visited the area because they were too busy slaughtering one another. This was as the dothraki usually divided up the pastures, rivers, and right to tributes from the free cities between the Khalasars. There were no fixed and precise boundaries, but in general each Khalasar knew where It should and should not be. The disappearance of roughly half of the Dothraki meant that all these agreements were in a mess and that much valuable land was for the taking. The Dothraki Civil Wars which lasted roughly 138 AC to 143 AC were a devastating orgy of violence. With one hundred khaleesi joining the ranks of the Dosh Khaleen each year. By the end of the main and heightened conflict the dothraki were in tatters. More than Half of them lay dead, if not from the infighting between Khalasars then soon by the blades of their old and new slaves who began staging uprisings against their weakened masters.

Other Khalasars would find that the Lhazareen, while bound to be peaceful due to their faith, would simply mix up various herbs into the food and then escape when their masters were incapacitated, taking with them the food, water and horses in order to return home. In the meantime, if the other slave did attack and kill the dothraki who were too weak to fight back, well their faith only said they had to be peaceful.

All of this meant that the Dothraki were at their weakest since the century of blood. For not only were their numbers low, but also because they were more divided than ever with an estimated 500 Khalasars, with each Khalasars growing smaller and smaller in number. Soon the free cities began fighting with and killing off the dothraki Khalasars rather than paying them. For the strength of the dothraki had always come from their numbers and their ability to overwhelm their opponents.

In 144 AC King Alexi II invoked the Rhoynish-Sarnori Treaty and declared that the children of the rivers would fight the children of the horse. Starting what would be called as the Horse-Fish Wars. These were not wars in the traditional sense where grand armies would fight to take over lands and strongholds, rather they were more or a series of skirmishes, battles and ambushes meant to slowly but surely kill off the dothraki. One by one.

Soon, enough Qarth will also join them in this war and would join the fight against savage dothraki for the ancient grudge against dothraki for sacking their cities in the Red Waste. Later many more powers joined them including the Ghiscari all of whose cities were sacked and destroyed by the dothraki. They qould soon began to take back their lands and rebuild their ruined cities.

As such much of the war was very mobile and consisted of learning about a small Khalasar nearby, going into the dothraki sea, attacking and killing of the Khalasars and quickly returning back. Along with the Sarnori and the Rhoynar most of Essos participated in the fighting for all had many a grudge against the Dothraki.

The Volantene even made it into a sport, taking large number of slave soldiers and freeborn troops to hunt the Khals foolish enough to come close to the Volantene lands. During this time the Ibbenese also too back control of the port City of Ibben from which they were driven from so many years ago.

This is not to say the dothraki always lost for that is not true. The dothraki for all their weaknesses were fierce warriors and won many battles devastating their opposing armies. But the people of Essos could replace their soldiers faster than the dothraki who in the end lost more than they won. By 160 AC most considered the Horse-River wars to have ended since by then the dothraki had been banished into the far east of the continent, as they were during the age of Valyria.

The Sarnori then began to resettle their former lands and King Alexi II, now known forever as Alexi the Great, declared the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Sarnor from the ruins Palace of the thousand rooms in the City of Sarnath which once again would serve as the capital city of the Sarnori. Today the Kingdom of Sarnor thrives and despite continuing to trade with the east via Vaes Dothrak, always keep an eye open to any resurgence by the dothraki from the east.