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A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover

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DragonParadox said:
In King's Colors ​

Twentieth Day of the First Month 294 AC

"No matter how well or ill the conversation in the Arbor goes, Horas will know that you kept him from it intentionally," you point out. "Wars have been lost and realms sundered because those involved did not converse freely. While I do not expect keeping this from Horas would end quite so poorly, it is still far preferable to be honest with those close to us."

"Now I'm going to have to wear a bloody dress or he'll feel he has to defend that, probably mentioning my axe-work in the doing," Asha sighs but she does not speak against the matter further, you suspect because you echoed her own doubts on the matter.

"You do not actually have to wear a dress just seem to," you try to cheer her up.

"Oh yes I do, Lord and Lady Redwyne use bound spells of aura sight, strong ones. They would notice the glamor even if they couldn't see through it," she replies in frustration.

"Naval colors," you muse, thinking through the hurdles ahead, perhaps a little too quickly to judge by Asha's expression. "A dress would do more harm than good, you would feel ill at ease trying to play a part you have no love for, but a naval officer's garb would make it clear that you sail under my banner with all that entails."

"That I have to share the plunder?" she asks innocently. She isn't doing a very good job of it, but...

"Have you been spending time around Dany?"

"Yeah, she's been curious about Yi Ti and not the stuff that goes into reports," Asha replies. "You know..."

"Yes, I am aware no report can encapsulate the whole of a land. That does not man they shouldn't be filed," you chide in jest.

"I'd rather wear a dress," she grumbles as she carefully pats herself, standard inquisition procedure to make sure one had not acquired a stowaway in an unusual environment.

"You could always write up reports while in a dress," you point out, earning a briefly horrified expression at the mental image.

"At least now I know what all those devils you are hiring see in you," she counters instantly.

Ser Richard's lips might have twitched into the faintest shadow of a smile, but you would need a dragon's sight to notice.

***​

Horas is as surprised as one might have expected at the realization that Asha had intended to travel to the Arbor, and he is rather embarrassed to see you involved. "I'm sure mother will come around, there's no need to..."

"Yes, I'm sure she'll stop insinuating that I spread my legs to half the sailors at the docks, just on her own," the young Greyjoy scoffs, causing poor Horas to turn so red his freckles vanish into a sea of crimson, but he does not deny that his lady mother had implied just that in a letter.

Looks like you have your work cut out for you, or rather Asha does, but she is willing to take advice on how to approach the Redwynes.

How should Asha present herself to the Redwynes and persuade them of the wisdom of their son's association with her?

[] Write in

OOC: A bit of character interaction, it's been a while since we saw Viserys and Asha together I figured it was worth showing a bit of that with the banter while also exploring how her character has changed. Not yet edited.
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Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.
 
DragonParadox said:
Horas is as surprised as one might have expected at the realization that Asha had intended to travel to the Arbor and he is rather embarrassed to see you involved. "I'm sure mother will come around there's no need to..."

"Yes, I'm sure she'll stop insinuating that I spread my legs to half the sailors at the docks, just on her own," the young Greyjoy scoffs causing poor Horas to turn so red his freckles vanish into a sea of crimson, but he does not deny that his lady mother had implied just that in a letter.
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Well, to be honest Horas may be right. The thing about 'proper ladies' is that it really doesn't matter one bit what his mother may imply, or shout from the rooftops for that matter, she doesn't have any decision power once Lord Redwyne has made up his mind so Asha could seriously consider skipping her.

Her social standing will be better off without her mother-in-law trying to sabotage her, so it isn't completely pointless, but it's not a crucial matter either.
 
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I found the dress Asha should wear. It seems appropriate, given the symbol of her house.
 
i can't wait for the day we sacrifice the seastone chair to the merlin King, that thing has got to have enough power to give the iron isles a very nice boon indeed
 
[X] Duchess Asha Greyjoy, Captain of the IMS Hunter's Moon
-[X] Asha budgeted for over a year as a successful chain-breaker and accomplished sailor, eventually earning her own commission and captaincy through her own hard-wrung efforts.
-[X] She recognizes the need for her people to change, that the 'stupidity' tax on expected behavior from the Ironborn is simultaneously unsustainable and self-perpetuating. Only by serious efforts to integrate it with the wider realm, through trade and diplomacy, will its people fundamentally become better than reavers and brigands in the night. That their unquestioned skill at sail can be put towards better ends, such as slaying the numerous monsters crawling and slithering out of the tide. The same boldness which has been accursed in Westeros for thousands of years might instead be looked upon with respect and not scorn.
-[X] She will never be a conventional noblewoman like many a lady of the Reach but then the empire that King Viserys is building is bigger than one kingdom, it is a whole world of diverse cultures who could stand to learn things from each other. To scorn or tarnish the name and word of another without letting their actions and deeds testify to their character does no one any credit.
-[X] Asha is of course determined to build House Greyjoy into a powerful ally of House Redwyne and has all of the concrete information necessary (cue the ledgers and portfolios of some of the people who could greatly ease setting up new industries in the Iron Islands, as well as raw numbers like the amount of acreage in farmland that could be set up for cash crops and vineyards, forests and grains, all using rich volcanic soil and magic). That's all less relevant and not the focus of Asha's efforts, rather portraying a character of a serious, determined and mature woman would be.
 
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Crake said:
[X] Duchess Asha Greyjoy, Captain of the IMS Hunter's Moon
-[X] Asha budgeted for over a year as a successful chain-breaker and accomplished sailor, eventually earning her own commission and captaincy through her own hard-wrung efforts.
-[X] She recognizes the need for her people to change, that the 'stupidity' tax on expected behavior from the Ironborn is simultaneously unsustainable and self-perpetuating. Only by serious efforts to integrate it with the wider realm, through trade and diplomacy, will its people fundamentally become better than reavers and brigands in the night. That their unquestioned skill at sail can be put towards better ends, such as slaying the numerous monsters crawling and slithering out of the tide. The same boldness which has been accursed in Westeros for thousands of years might instead be looked upon with respect and not scorn.
-[X] She will never be a conventional noblewoman like many a lady of the Reach but then the empire that King Viserys is building is bigger than one kingdom, it is a whole world of diverse cultures who could stand to learn things from each other. To scorn or tarnish the name and word of another without letting their actions and deeds testify to their character does no one any credit.
-[X] Asha is of course determined to build House Greyjoy into a powerful ally of House Redwyne and has all of the concrete information necessary (cue the ledgers and portfolios of some of the people who could greatly ease setting up new industries in the Iron Islands, as well as raw numbers like the amount of acreage in farmland that could be set up for cash crops and vineyards, forests and crops, all using rich volcanic soil and magic). That's all less relevant and not the focus of Asha's efforts, rather portraying a character of a serious, determined and mature woman would be.
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I don't see any mention of her new Kraken dress in this... 🧐

[X] Crake
 
Speaking of which, the earlier comment by @Goldfish and the conversation in general made me take a gander, and as it turns out Westeros will have 28 individual Duchies, with one of them technically being a Principality composed of two Duchies.

Essos by contrast is mostly composed of non-hereditary Kingdom level titles, but they have more diversified interests in general, so it doesn't really place all that much undue power in the hands of a single person in most cases...
 
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[X] Crake

The Westeros genuinely feels like it is bogging us down in inconsequentialities whenever we turn our eyes to it.

Essos had no less, far more petty lordlings even - yet the absolute most was backgrounded with our conquest.
We never looked in as much detail to it, why Westeros gonna be so different?

Most of the Westeros rearing up it's ugly head feels like "gotta pay lip service to source material", rather than truly important problems to solve, undelegateable things-
The ones worthy of the screen-time - i.e. stuff like the Devils, Others, Fey.

And by now we are almost done with the sort of visiting too, and it would be kinda OOC to just stop doing such stuff.

Ugh.
Let's just run through this as quick as we can without fucking up the IC-ness, I guess.

G'night all.
 
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egoo said:
We never looked in as much detail to it, why Westeros gonna be so different?
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The quagmire has to do with the baggage involved. In Essos, our conquering the place was initially seen as just changing seating arrangements a little. The ending of slavery was inconvenient, but it was muddled through. I mean surely eventually the Dragon will lose control of everything just like his ancestors did in Westeros? Or whatever other justification was necessary to get a bunch of people who we ultimately cowed through threat of violence into compliance with us.

In Westeros, violence implicated or otherwise does not put a halt to the backbiting, double-dealing and the heritage-based baggage. You are your banner, basically, and the Dragon on our banner means everyone has something to say, EVERYONE thinks their opinion is more valid than the last person we spoke with, and they all feel like they need to be explicit and thorough in expressing it.

Keep in mind, Essos was composed of states which mostly exercised streamlined control through vested mercantile interests, landowners congregating withing the same spheres of influence, and a bureaucracy that already somewhat existed.

Westeros has none of that. They are and have been for centuries individualistic warlords who only have implied fealty and demarcated claims to the land they rule, not all of which is equally recognized by their neighbors.

Rather than negotiating with a handful of truly important people who controlled everyone else in Essos, or utterly terrorizing hundreds into cooperating at once, we are basically forced to acknowledge and interact with dozens of petty kings.
 
[X] Crake

I actually really enjoy the Westeros stuff tbh. I'm ready for the Liberation already.
 
Yeah, I think it is alright. A handful of people utterly despise everything about it, or at least the situation we're involved in with it.

Contextually, it is literally no different than any of the previous work, it is just taking a realistic amount of time to touch base and assure the loyalty and cooperation of what is literally hundreds of noble houses, rather than hand-waving the cooperation of the local nobility.

And to be fair?

@egoo just tried to disingenuously imply the situations when we conquered the Three Daughters and Westeros in general vis a vis politics is even remotely similar.

We tried dozens of Magisters in Tyrosh and coerced the rest on implied pain of death if anyone sought to destabilize us in the aftermath of a still bloody and shocking conquest.

We literally murdered over 50% of the aristocracy in Lys and crushed their army.

And we blackmailed, assassinated and backroom dealed our way into annexing Myr all without having to personally interact with anyone except the leadership.

Different tools, different goals.
 
Crake said:
Yeah, I think it is alright. A handful of people utterly despise everything about it, or at least the situation we're involved in with it.

Contextually, it is literally no different than any of the previous work, it is just taking a realistic amount of time to touch base and assure the loyalty and cooperation of what is literally hundreds of noble houses, rather than hand-waving the cooperation of the local nobility.

And to be fair?

@egoo just tried to disingenuously imply the situations when we conquered the Three Daughters and Westeros in general vis a vis politics is even remotely similar.

We tried dozens of Magisters in Tyrosh and coerced the rest on implied pain of death if anyone sought to destabilize us in the aftermath of a still bloody and shocking conquest.

We literally murdered over 50% of the aristocracy in Lys and crushed their army.

And we blackmailed, assassinated and backroom dealed our way into annexing Myr all without having to personally interact with anyone except the leadership.

Different tools, different goals.
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And we feel bad about 0% of it.
 
egoo said:
[X] Crake

The Westeros genuinely feels like it is bogging us down in inconsequentialities whenever we turn our eyes to it.

Essos had no less, far more petty lordlings even - yet the absolute most was backgrounded with our conquest.
We never looked in as much detail to it, why Westeros gonna be so different?

Most of the Westeros rearing up it's ugly head feels like "gotta pay lip service to source material", rather than truly important problems to solve, undelegateable things-
The ones worthy of the screen-time - i.e. stuff like the Devils, Others, Fey.

And by now we are almost done with the sort of visiting too, and it would be kinda OOC to just stop doing such stuff.

Ugh.
Let's just run through this as quick as we can without fucking up the IC-ness, I guess.

G'night all.
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In Essos we took the time to kill most of the egregious assholes, and dealt similarly with anyone who looked like a political threat. The only places we didn't do this were those that had locals cleaning up for us.

If we were handing out explosive runes to irritating Westerosi lords instead of PfE amulets to useful ones the political situation would simplify itself pretty quickly. Almost certainly not in a useful way, but likely a straightforward one.
 
Basically, Westeros is the place you KNOW is FUCKED politically speaking when killing all of the pains in the ass opinionated nobility by sending them all mailbombs would slow down EVERYTHING by a factor of approximately five (5) (五).

It is actually faster to just talk to everyone like reasonable, civilized monkey-suit shaped gentle-dragons.
 
Crake said:
The quagmire has to do with the baggage involved. In Essos, our conquering the place was initially seen as just changing seating arrangements a little. The ending of slavery was inconvenient, but it was muddled through. I mean surely eventually the Dragon will lose control of everything just like his ancestors did in Westeros? Or whatever other justification was necessary to get a bunch of people who we ultimately cowed through threat of violence into compliance with us.

In Westeros, violence implicated or otherwise does not put a halt to the backbiting, double-dealing and the heritage-based baggage. You are your banner, basically, and the Dragon on our banner means everyone has something to say, EVERYONE thinks their opinion is more valid than the last person we spoke with, and they all feel like they need to be explicit and thorough in expressing it.

Keep in mind, Essos was composed of states which mostly exercised streamlined control through vested mercantile interests, landowners congregating withing the same spheres of influence, and a bureaucracy that already somewhat existed.

Westeros has none of that. They are and have been for centuries individualistic warlords who only have implied fealty and demarcated claims to the land they rule, not all of which is equally recognized by their neighbors.

Rather than negotiating with a handful of truly important people who controlled everyone else in Essos, or utterly terrorizing hundreds into cooperating at once, we are basically forced to acknowledge and interact with dozens of petty kings.
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You are forgetting that Essos has nearly no canon characters, so nobody cared all that much when I plotted the wholesale slaughter of everyone who had inconvenient opinions.

In Westeros, I have to fight over every bloody body.
 
Azel said:
You are forgetting that Essos has nearly no canon characters, so nobody cared all that much when I plotted the wholesale slaughter of everyone who had inconvenient opinions.

In Westeros, I have to fight over every bloody body.
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Hey, the fact that you can even get people to acquiesce to murder someone like Brynden Tully with only the minimum token amount of squawking is impressive.

I guess it does seem to inflate the issue for you if it always results in at least a little minor bitching, right?

All else being equal, I kind of like it when the thread bitches, you at least see people who rarely post putting serious effort into contributing to the discussion again, even if it's not always constructive...
 
We are still gonna displace at least 25% of the Westerosi aristocracy even after all this. And then there is administering the damned beast. So many people. So many actions. We are going to be spending at least one IRL year trying to bring that continent up to the standards of the Essosi portion of the Imperium.

Not to mention the religious squabbling, the goddamned fey, god knows how many Demonic, Daemonic and Devilish cults and whatever remains of the enemies that miraculously got away.

Edit: The point being that this isn't the end of what Westeros has to offer in our issues with it.

Edit: At most 25%. Not at least.
 
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