A Dragon of the North VIII: Whispers of War
- Thread starter Droman
- Start date
- Crossover
Ezra
Amateur GM
Hmmm, what made you into a believer?
- Location
- SoCal
Personally, I choose to believe because the quest is a bit more fun if I imagine our fat friendly maester to be a pseudo-evil war-hawk leaning spy for the faith.
- Location
- Germany
I wish there was a head-banging-against-the-wall emote
Usernames
Merc gonna merc ya
Tucker absolutely have connections to the faith. Anyone who questions this needs to go read the archives. The question remains is will he become or is an"enemy"?
Cause all the maesters are spies for oldtown. What you think Maesters get to write the history books? Events that maesters see and hear. They can also survive in many situations due to being only loyal to the castle/town. You can kill the lord but not the maester. Also, there the fact that Maesters are the only ones that WRITE HISTORY BOOKS IN WESTEROS. Why no one is a bit scared of that?
You expect people who teach and help raise lords as well help manage fiefdoms all over westeros to not have some amount of power and influence? They also have control over the fastest way of sending messages.
Perhaps he was telling the truth about him wanting to fix harrenhal. But he can also be spying on us for maesters and for the faith. He can be spying on the maesters for the faith as well and must have gotten some replacements so that he could leave.
We didn't do shit on the faith other than kill turner and he was fucking asking for it due to his actions. Kidnapping in the middle of battle for no fucking reason? Look. Once we get alot of money, we send some of it to the 100 knights of the faith (55 alive but they can get more.) To clear up some tensions. just 1.5K or something.
The Faith is about to get alot of power if the faith militant revives if Robert want to clear up the debt and get his divorce.
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- Too Deep in the Midnight Sea
Good job @Corncake!
May I make a suggestion?
May I make a suggestion?
Would sound better as "You have 'till dawn, begone!", I think.
Droman
𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍
That was very well done, Corncake. It almost takes the foul taste out of my mouth regarding recent TV events (no, not license to discuss here).
A gift as this deserves a gift in return, so please choose either:
- 25 DP
- An Omake (only one)
- The Queen of Night
- The Final Moments
- The Night Terrors
- Location
- Italy
Don't we hate them for killing logain? and even if we don't hate them for that they are still knights that follow the Faith and that, in the period of unrest Westeros is headed for, are unlikely to side with us....
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That vote.. there should be an extra 55 knights on the wall.
Fixed it for you.
I am sorry but I lost it at crimson sept.
This came to mind:
If this is true, worry not, for you at least expect them!
I agree with the first two, but as for "Night Terrors", I get the worrying feeling that it is about Bran and his sword. We already know he is unusually attached to the sword (although perhaps not much more that Jon would have been to blackfire) and it is somehow magical (being unusually cold). He might have
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Cxjenious
The Young Lion
All maesters are spies? I don't think so. Just as every lord isn't loyal to their King, every maester isn't loyal to Oldtown. Some of them are actual human people, and come to care for those lordlings and ladies they birth.
I can't say that I recall an instance where a castle or town was sacked and the maester somehow magically survived due to his loyalty to said castle or town. I'm also fairly certain that a few history books have been written by lords. In a world where the great majority of people don't read or disdain learning, writing books doesn't really deserve all caps.
Yeah, maesters wield some measure of power and influence, but that's all it is. Some measure.
As for the Faith Militant... meh. That's one of those, "G.R.R.M. are you kidding me?" type deals. Just like the Dornish magically resisting Aegon with "guerrilla warfare" in a fucking desert, there's no way a thousand or so Knights could be of any true threat to the greater powers of Westeros-- not if they didn't consistently make the worse choices possible, as ol' George so often has his characters do.
TL;DR, yeah, the Maesters gather information and write books. So what? They're scholars, that's what they're supposed to do.
And Faith Militant, Smaith Shmilitant - they'd be crushed in any sort of real battle. They're up there with the Dothraki and Unsullied for undeserved hype.
- Location
- SoCal
I like the consonance, but the structure this follows doesn't allow commas to be freely used. I also really like the line "A warrior in the snow", and I'd have to change that to rhyme with gone. I agree that "You have 'till dawn to go" is a little off, but I don't see a convenient way to fix it, due to the rigid structure. I love constructive criticism though, so if you have any other concerns please share them.
Can I get a second opinion on my near arbitrary use of "a" or "the"? Sometimes I say "the warrior" or "the wolf" and sometimes I use "a warrior" and "a wolf". Do you think I should make it uniform, or is it fine the way it is?
I'm still thinking about which gift to choose.
- Location
- Germany
I think the maesters have more loyality to their own lords & lordlings, especially the lordling since they are partly raising them & give them their education, only maester with bad lords or whose place was recently taken over would probably hold no loyality to their lords.
The maesters loyality towards old town I think could be compared to our loyality to our school/university and more likely depend on their experiences & connections/friendships than some kind of sworn loyality on itself.
Maesters hold the power to define history, in as how it is remembered, which can be a powerful tool in order to influence the masses, but due westrosi tech standard a.k.a. middle age tech. it cannot be used consciously by them it is rather a by product of their shared influence in life a.k.a. old town & the faith of the seven which shape & define their view on the world quite a bit.
actually we also had our own faith militias, they are only known as crusades, and were quite a bit worse because they had an defined enemy they could activily attack, the inqusitions were also something like that only more controlled by the church then the kings unlike the crusades who were a task set by the church & controlled by the kings, lords & knight orders
that isn't actually so impossible to imagine, you know, think about it having 100 000 soldiers invade another kingdom, what is your biggest challange, right supplying them, twice so when you are trying to invade a dessert kingdom, were ressources are spares, your enemy knows the terrain better then you & your soldiers in their metal armor are cooked like a lobster because they aren't used to the heat,
thus even an enemy with only a 1000 knight could defeat such an army by raiding their supply line thus starving them & then regulary ambushing them & thus demoralizing them
it is not as impossible as you think, with quite a bit planning you can pull it off
And that they do, but they are also writing it from their perspective, not something we can fault them for, but due their perspective being the only one recorded, their views influence history quite a bit
you are right they are a after all not a trained unit, but at the sametime can you recuit them so much faster and can recruit so much more & they will also fight fiecer, since they fight for their believe & think they have god on their side & thus are right,they can also turn quite fast into zealots
And zealots are for that reason quite a bit more dangerous then your average trained soldiers, because are not bound by common sense, not the fears of a common man
The Dothraki are hyped because technically they are the greatest raiders you can find & they cannot be stopped, not really unless you kill them all
In our history they could be compared with the mongols in the middle ages
The Unsullied are basically spartans only more humane & inhumane at the same time, as they are raised from young age, to be the perfect soldiers, completly obedient & are longer trained then any knight
They are born & bred for battle & are not made known anything else but their tasks, so yeah I think they are a thing to be feared, not only because of their matrial poweress but also because they also lack common sense due their upbringing, commen sense that defines a mans moral & thinking, that which is critical to a man in battle
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A Nation's Virtue
南國山河南帝居
It's like you can't into history.
100 to 1 odds don't sound too great for achieving a victory, no matter that guerilla tactics are being used.
Besides, these are knights. For some reason I doubt they'll be that great at guerilla warfare.
rofl:Unsullied are eunuchs, so physically they're generally inferior to other soldiers and also don't wear armor. The Dothraki are also only nominal Mongol expies, as the Mongols actually valued armor and were nowhere near as uncompromisingly rigid on their tactics.
Unsullied are highly disciplined soldiers, but an equivalent force of knights (or even numerically inferior force) could beat them.
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You are talking about the Dornish here, right? Aegon had no reason to invade. He could simply burn all the crops and granaries and watch the Dornish starve or surrender, The only reason Dorne won the war was because of plot shields.
- Location
- Germany
??? i don't understand that sentence, what do you want to say ?
I think even I could beat 100 starved, exhaust, crying man who only want to go home & are have delusional cause they didn't drink enough & could take the heat
not that I would, that would be horrible
Yeah they may be physical inferior but they are also trained much longer, think about it, training a child up from 8 to 18, for 10 years teaching him only how to obey you & how to kill other man & then put him against a man that was a recruited by a lord & was trained for a few months
I think I would bet on the child-soldier & thats what they essentially are
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Update 185.2 Notice from the GM
Droman
𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍
185.2 Notice from the GM
Yeah, I can't fucking do this. I thought it would be a good test of my abilities to do an eleven week arc, but when it turned out to be near 44 updates minimum, and I tried to rework it all with this seasonal style, but the timelines all loopy and shit's not working out right in writing. With that in mind, I've elected to say fuck it, hand out bullet point answers/updates of everything that could have been followed up on from Jon's perspective, and skip ahead to the final events of this arc.
The only things that won't be skipped ahead on will be:
- The Business & The Faith. This is a very important arc involving concrete rolls and power-plays. This will and must be covered, for my sake of mind, if only in brief.
- Await a future update regarding this.
- The Waifus. At this point, your in-fighting has stopped being funny and I'm sure we're all very tired of it. As such, after discussion with fellow GMs and betas, the Waifu Debate will end at the Tourney of Oldtown.
- It will end by crowning a Queen of Love & Beauty, who will in effect be your marital option following thereafter.
- If you for some ridiculous reason not win the Tourney, well... we'll see where it goes from there.
- We'll be doing the preliminaries for Jon + the finals.
- With that said, -75 DP will be excised from the DP registry, to account for various events and ongoings that are being skipped over and summarized. Don't bitch, it won't get you anywhere.
- Dragonsworn
- The Dragonsworn are alive and well in Oldtown, or they at least look it, after they attempt to make a go of it against Lord Jon Stormcrown.
- A matter quickly ended personally for him, it takes on new light after they are accused of attempting to assassinate the Crown Prince, Joffrey Baratheon. A bloodbath ensues in the streets of Oldtown after King Robert Baratheon swears to give a white-cloak of the Kingsguard to the man or family that would bring him justice, with hundreds of believed or true Dragonsworn killed outright in the streets.
- Unfortunately, no one is actually able to find these would-be killers, the reason revealed to Jon as being due to Joffrey's attacker being some whore in Oldtown's docks, rather than any practiced assassin or killer. Someone of Dornish or Essosi origins, older than the prince by some few years.
- In the weeks that follow, Jon spent significant amount of time in the company of King Robert, out of a desire to see further harm avoided, and Joffrey kept out of kingly powers.
- No great danger or threat threatened Robert's life during these weeks, though Robert does let slip to Jon his intent to betroth his children to the great lords of Westeros, with Joffrey to Margaery Tyrell (a marriage being prosecuted by Renly Baratheon), Tommen to Arya Stark and Myrcella to Robin Arryn, the last two he has not yet opened talks on.
- Still wary of threat to the king however, Jon Arryn entrusts his trusted confidante and many of his bannermen to scourge the Oldtown underworld, setting them to task to discover any final or potential risks to House Baratheon of King's Landing.
- In doing so, they find very little, only discovering that the larger bulk of Dragonsworn in the Reach have dispersed since the destruction of King's Landing, with anyone not directly landed or titled having retired to lands unfriendly to House Baratheon.
- Or at least, that's the official spin on it, as cover for other affairs (see Vale).
- Incest
- Jon Arryn boldly reveals his allegations that the royal children (Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen) are not in fact Robert's heirs, but are instead Queen Cersei's bastards, born of her brother Jaime Lannister's seed. He announces this to his bannermen and Jon Stormcrown, they being amongst the most trusted and renowned "next-generation" of lords (with the exception of Ser Sturm Brightblade, an older soul amongst these youths).
- He declares his intention to reveal to Robert the truth of the matter upon their meeting with the High Septon to annul his wedding to Cersei Lannister, which needs wait until after the High Septon's naming, which is it's own can of worms.
- He entrusts Jon Stormcrown with the recovery of a truly massive genealogical book from the Citadel, and his own bannermen with standing guard over prisoners, documents, books and other materials that will help build his case before Robert should he question it.
- Jon does so, gathering it without any suspicions, while the others maintain an effective charge and guard on the others, while still competing in the tourney of Oldtown over the weeks.
- Vale
- Basically, the Hangover. Only more ridiculous, because it's medieval and magic and shit is being involved. Plus, whores, knights, Dragonsworn, cultists, and lascivious crones.
- .... Yeah.
- Upon arriving to Oldtown, Lord Jon Stormcrown of Harrenhal and his retinue are stopped by Ser Humfrey Hightower, a scion of the hosting noble family. He is confronted over his name being written in blood at three different murder scenes, two of whom belong to Ser Humfrey's father and sister, now dead.
- Professing his innocence and ignorance, Jon Stormcrown offers his aid and assistance in solving these murders. Ser Humfrey accepts, and the two travel to the Hightower. There and with the aid of Arlan Stormcrown, his past life and wraith-like mentor, Jon discovers that beings known as Seekers have come from Arlan's realm of existence, perhaps following him to this new world.
- Judging their interest in knowledge in all forms, Jon and Arlan deduce their location to be at the Citadel, the largest repository of knowledge in Westeros.
- Taking flight upon Valonqar, his dragon, Jon Stormcrown flew ahead of his men and Ser Humfreys to Citadel, already in a state of mass panic upon his arrival.
- Entering the Citadel, he discovers three Seekers, cthonic beings of knowledge who serve a exotic being known as Hermaeus Mora. Alone and without his presence in their thoughts, these Seekers reacted poorly and lashed out.
- They attempt to remonstrate with Jon, but with no concrete support from Arlan to accept their remonstration and already seeing their latest handy work (a number of maesters and students cut open like a book), he choose instead to attack, putting them unto death.
- Upon the arrival of Ser Humfrey Hightower with reinforcements, the Citadel is put on lockdown as they search for more of these things, while the Seeker bodies are taken under Hightower custody, so as to prevent a mass-panic. Despite successfully concealing the matter so far, word begins to reach to some amongst the faithful.
- After visiting the Hightower for the funerals of Ser Humfrey's lord father and sister, Jon is informed of more monsters being loose in Oldtown, to which he grimly gives his continued assistance and support.
- Further hunts in upcoming weeks kill more Seekers, as well as Lurkers, aquatic demons who cause havoc near the coastal areas of Oldtown. During this time period, Jon Stormcrown again runs into Prince Oberyn Martell, having come to Oldtown to compete in the tourney.
- Grieving the recent death of his daughter in the events of the Citadel (she having snuck in pretending to be a man to study), he demands answers, answers which Jon freely gives him, explaining the events passing in recent weeks. Despite their fantastical nature, Oberyn believes him.
- With Jon's backing him to participate, Ser Humfrey, Prince Oberyn and Lord Jon all take part in the remaining hunt for Lurkers in Oldtown. During this hunt, Jon is struck by moments of helplessness, moments when it is Arlan in control of his body, and him looking from the outside. This problem is troubling for a variety of reasons, and Arlan believes that it is likely due to a confluence of Tamrielic magics and influences, confusing the Dragon Soul that empowers them both. He muses that it may very well be possible to use this for their benefit however, if both Arlan and Jon can perfect it to ensure a meld of their personalities and powers, rather than a replacement of one another.
- Jon does not comment.
- With these last remaining Lurkers killed, Jon's time spent in Hightower presence is largely a formality, and dedicated to more jovial matters. A grieving man, Oberyn's mind is not fully on the tourney, and he ultimately resigns from the tourney in defeat against a Ser Edgar Oakheart, instead choosing to return to Dorne to mourn his deceased daughter, Sarella Sand. In respect to Jon, he takes with him another Dornish corpse, that of Ser Darahmir Sand, the Bastard of Dawnstar. A Sword of the Morning hopeful, his death came in service to House Stormcrown against Dragonsworn rebels in Oldtown, after an attempted assassination of the Crown Prince Joffrey.
- As he leaves however with his retinue, you briefly meet one of his older daughters (third of three, if you could count Sarella's corpse). A beauty of Dornish or Essosi features, you are most particularly struck by a long thin scar running from her right shoulder down across her bosom. Almost as if she'd been in a fight of some sort...
- Just the basics.
- The advancing two from the first bracket are Lord Lucias Vyperen (1d100+13) and the Fawn Knight (1d100).
- The advancing two from the second bracket are Lord Beric Dondarrion (1d100+23) and Ser Colin Florent (1d100+18)
- The advancing two from the third bracket are Ser Huma Dragonbane (1d100+28) and Lord Baelor Blacktyde (1d100+18)
- The advancing two from the fourth bracket are ??? (possibly Jon) and Ser Flement Brax (1d100+23)
- Cerenna Lannister
- Meeting Jon Stormcrown initially at a Lannister owned manse in Oldtown, Cerenna does her very best to see the perfect choice to Jon, keenly aware of her family's recent feuding history with him, as well as the massive, massive dowry her uncle by marriage had given in her father's stead to cement this.
- She is polite and courteous, yet briefly daring in parts. She does her best to seem unassuming or perhaps humble, knowing or guessing of Jon's interactions with the other two waifu contenders currently in Oldtown (Margaery using Sera as a shield is becoming quite well known, and Desmera she saw herself).
- Part of this time was spent in discussion with Tyrion regarding his father's hopes for settling tensions and problems between your houses. Tyrion is earnest, diligent, hard-working and a number of other things you'd never label the more-often-than-not drunken dwarf, which draws your attention and questioning. He resists at first, before confessing his role within the Lannister line of succession might very well depend on your approval of the betrothal. Which you must admit, leaves you a little mixed in feeling, particularly after Tyrion sells you on a half-fanciful idea of you ensuring his succession on Casterly Rock, in exchange for a pact of alliance and brotherhood between you both against Joffrey and whatever "madness might spring from his mind".
- In a bid to build up some reasoning so as to take Cerenna as wife, you questioned as to why she would want to marry Jon (someone not really on good standing with her family). She in turn candidly admits that she is not her family, nor is she her uncle Tywin. As such, while there are certain expectations regarding certain things (particularly from her cousin Cersei, outright boor that she is), she is not obligated to follow them, nor does she particularly to. She is after all, marrying into House Stormcrown, and not the other way around...
- Gifted Jon her favour at their first meeting, capable of being worn at all tourney appearances, though not without consequence.
- Desmera Redwyne
- Meeting Jon Stormcrown initially at a Redwyne owned manse in Oldtown, Desmera is nothing but rude, challenging and outright abusive to yet another of her would-be suitors...
- Only to be intrigued when he gives her as good as he gets (or better!), and then happily drops his suit, leaving her and her granmother's presence with some modicum of grace.
- In the week that follow, Desmera becomes increasingly intrigued by the young Harrenhal lord, catching him in conversation on a number of occasions (including her uncle Mace's funeral), trying to get a better understanding of him as a person.
- It's during this time that a contender of sorts appears for Desmera's hand in marriage, in the form of Lord Baelor Blacktyde.
- A lord in his own right raised as a ward of House Hightower much like Theon was of Winterfell, his credibility as a sailor and in naval matters deeply attracts to Desmera's favour, and you both find yourselves being subtly played off against the other.
- It becomes an equal match of sorts, as your honesty and candor pleases Desmera, while Baelor attracts her more personal desires. As the weeks go on, your distracted nature means no significant push to you from the Redwyne heiress, though you know her to be suitably divided...
- Perhaps naming her Queen of Love and Beauty would sway her thoughts?
- Margaery Tyrell
- Perhaps the singular greatest bachelorette in all of Westeros (barring the unflowered Princess Myrcella), Margaery Tyrell has long been used to seeing off suitors, and as of late has been more than happy to use her handmaiden, Sera Durwell as buffer, mouth-piece and shield.
- As a result, you don't really get to know her very well yourself in the early weeks of your visit to Oldtown, and it's only worsened by her father's death around three weeks in, dropping dead of heart problems while speaking in private to his oldest son and heir Willas Tyrell. Of what you're not really sure, but you assume the maester didn't see anything problematic in the autopsy... if they even did one.
- It's after that, and armed with the foreknowledge via King Robert's drunken blabbing that you approach her with more intent, warning her off point blank off of Joffrey Baratheon as a husband, no matter what Lord Renly might be saying as his uncle and mediator.
- To your surprise (and with her amusement), she agrees, stating that Lord Renly had spoken at length of his nephew's the enemies he had made and his low standing amongst many who would otherwise have been his fiercest loyalists (pointedly, she speaks of the regions who fought for Robert in his rebellion). However, her father had been most intent on arranging the betrothal, hoping for a grandson as king, as the Hightowers themselves had once managed.
- With his unfortunate death however, her grandmother and brother have taken reigns of any negotiating, and both have proven quite reluctant to agree to Robert's offer.
- She admits that Lord Renly had made an offer of his own to take her as bride, but owing to his close friendship with her brother, she's not quite sure it would prove to be a happy or healthy marriage.
- As the weeks pass on, she does warm up to you slightly more, aided by the friendliness her siblings and mother show you. Garlan quickly proves himself a worthy challenge, beating you in various close encounters as you try a different tack with your lesser used variant of fighting two handed. Loras you see little, owing to his duties with Renly. Their mother Alerie as well is little seen, leaving for Highgarden after her husband's death, so as to bury him at Highgarden. Her eldest Willas (now Lord of Highgarden and Lord Paramount of the Reach with a bevy of other titles), bids you a goodbye, issuing an offer to visit any time with Valonqar, with whom he has spent a great deal of time studying.
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- Location
- United Kingdom
Ok, wow. Thats a lot of interesting information. I'm sorry we missed out on the Vale stuff though, that sounds hilarious!
The Arlan body-sharing could be a problem... Or an incredible boon. Who knows? Also, sand snake assassin....
So Mace died when alone with Willas. That's interesting, I guess... Though Willas doesn't really seem the type to kill his father.
I assume the schedule will now be Faith -> Incest reveal -> Tourney and final waifu stuff which should all be interesting.
Anyway Droman, I hope this change makes things easier for you
The Arlan body-sharing could be a problem... Or an incredible boon. Who knows? Also, sand snake assassin....
So Mace died when alone with Willas. That's interesting, I guess... Though Willas doesn't really seem the type to kill his father.
I assume the schedule will now be Faith -> Incest reveal -> Tourney and final waifu stuff which should all be interesting.
Anyway Droman, I hope this change makes things easier for you
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- Location
- Germany
I only said that it isn't impossible when both sides only use men, the fact that aegon had a dragon that could burn shit was definitly a big point for his side & should have secured him victory