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

Twenty-Fourth of the Second Month 294 AC

Saath was ever a city of proud legacy. The last of a great and noble history, its white walls enduring a tide of blood that had washed away so many others. Here were kept as precious treasures not only the regalia and seals of Lost Sarnor, but also treasures more ephemeral, its language, its art, and and music. But it was also a city with a wary eye turned ever to the plains. Fear of the khalassars ran bone deep here, matched only by the defiance of the soldiers upon the white walls on those rare times when the horselords marched this far north. More often than not, the hordes were turned away long before they came in sight of the city walls, with clever words and rich gifts.

The dead would not be bought with gold and silk, nor turned aside by envoys and diplomats, that the lords of Saath had discovered almost as soon as the wild rumors about the fate of the Dothraki were confirmed beyond a doubt. So it is little wonder that upon the Djuram Arrai's death and the tumultuous succession that followed, most in the city accepted an imperial embassy and a small crowd even cheered the legion in the streets, a shield against unaccustomed peril. It does not escape your ear that some, at least of those who welcomed imperial involvement initially, viewed you in much the same light they did the 'friendlier' khals, a useful barbarian from a strange realm far to the west.

Thankfully, in the last four months that sort have mostly been marginalized from the court of the present viceroy as trade with the empire has done much to enrich many of the city's more forethoughtful merchants. You see there has even been an adoption of arcane technology, from glancing over Silver Serpent records of what was sold in the port and to whom, though of course this benefited mostly those with the coin and the connections to afford such things.

No doubt the food you are served when meeting the viceroy has been preserved in an enchanted box just as the the phoenix fire that shines at the heart of the elegant bronze chandelier makes the chamber far clearer in its even golden light. Clearer in more ways than one. Announcing an end to the Dothraki threat earns you a round of cheers that is more polite than heartfelt, likely because the Lords of the White Tower assumed rightly that the new threat of the restless dead had long since devoured the old.

When your offers turned to trade, road building and education that Saath would gain under a Targaryen, there was considerably more genuine interest. Saath had for many years considered itself a center of culture, a reliquary of sorts for the culture of its forebearers. The chance to expand on that, to allow more of their citizens to partake of it, is met with a great deal more enthusiasm than you are used to hearing from a gathering of merchant princes and high nobles.

Tyene jested that it was 'like offering a monthly tourney to a gaggle of Reachers', forcing you to briefly struggle against inappropriate laughter, but when the mirth had passed you began to see the possibilities. The offer of land on the plains to the south is likely to be what ultimately seals the loyalty of most of the common citizens, but it will be a while yet before the first brave trickle of colonists turns into a flood, especially with the announcement that you had not removed all of the restless dead only the most dangerous and allied with some of the rest. The prospect of Sarnori unification across the gulf of ages is seen with skepticism below the bright smiles even at court.

So you decide to focus upon property and safety in the announcement of the city's integration, an announcement that will not be left solely to the town criers not even just to the mirror's glow. As Saath has more citizens able to read and write than most cities its size, you decide to also run a special edition of the Imperial Times to celebrate the occasion. Magic they can hold in their hands should go a long way to convincing the people that the Empire is here to stay and that this is to their benefit.

Lost 8.000 IM (Special edition of the Imperial Times for Saath and its hinterlands)

Dany suggests including the precise lists of enemy dead since they had recently been complied anyway, but Tyene is quick to point out that would likely be more frightening than uplifting, especially with the caveat that many more bodies were burned utterly and several of the most dangerous foes had no body to leave behind


What next?

[] Receive an operational report (Interlude chain)
-[] City of Brass where the foundations are laid for a most perilous raid
-[] Slaver's Bay where devils plot in the shadows
-[] Qohor, where dreams of madness spill into the waking world
-[] Vialesk, where enemies overt and hidden move against your envoys -
-[] Investigation into the hostile fey of the Braavosi hinterlands
-[] Write in

[] Receive a research report (Interlude chain)
-[] Stabilization of Sentient undead
-[] Study of Serentstone
-[] Spell-forging hostile translocation
-[]Developing Imperial Powered Armor
-[] Write in

[] Continue with Viserys
-[] Write in

OOC: And here we are, I hope you guys do not mind the money for wide scale printing, given the scale of your treasury that did not feel worth putting to a vote when there is so much else to do, but if anyone objects I can change it out easily enough so we can have a vote. Not yet edited.