Epilogue 01: The Long Peace (305 AC to 350 AC)
Droman
𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍
Epilogue 01: The Long Peace (305 AC to 350 AC)
The years that followed King Jon Stormcrown's mysterious expedition to Brandon's Wall were peaceful and quiet.
Not happy however, nor harmonious.
For though those who bedeviled and injure the kingdoms of Westeros had been seen to, the many lords of Westeros remained restless. Twice in the last fifty years had the throne passed to a new dynast, and twice had that passing come with great bloodshed and strife of lasting consequence.
Though His Grace the King had cemented his ascension with blood, fire and steel, the first dynast of House Stormcrown was no able administrator. Knowing this, he had entrusted much of the ruling of the Seven Kingdoms to his small council, to men and women more suited to the duties they had been raised. As well, he showed faith in family and friends, keeping close to hand Queen Margery's Tyrell kin. At the time, it was hoped that they would undertake the great rebuilding of Westeros, raising anew a better realm than the one that had torn itself apart in conflict.
In the burning sands to the south, the once princely House Martell remained chastened and quiet. Having come to blows among themselves over the succession of Sunspear, their schemes had seen them forced to tread softly at the king's court. Therefore, the Martells worked tirelessly to place themselves atop their vassals once more. Marriages a plenty followed in the wake of the Humiliation of Highgarden, and in the early years of King Jon Stormcrown's rule those marriages flowered into a peaceful compact for all of Dorne.
All of Dorne bar House Martell, that is.
While Oberyn Martell had worked tirelessly to keep the peace between in his family, the divisions between his niece and nephews was well known in Westerosi circles. Kept close at hand in Sunspear by Arianne's command, both Quentyn and Trystan Martell grew to chafe under the rule of their elder sister. In time they would depart for Essos, where a renewed rivalry between Tyrosh and Volantis had created a great demand for mercenaries. There, the brothers Martell found fame in the fleets of Volantis and rose to prominence in the courts of the continent for daring deeds done in the Narrow and Sunset Seas.
With daring deeds came fortune and wealth, which flowed through the lightly settled yet ever valuable Stepstone islands. As they did, Quentyn Martell's interest in those same islands grew, and he would dare to claim them as his own, albeit in fealty to Sunspear. For Quentyn Martell, a man of happy marriage with two living children raised abroad in Norvos, this proved a satisfying conclusion to his mercenary career. His line was secured in comfort and lands, if out of favor with his sister Arianne the Lady of Sunspear.
For Trystan Martell however, a man whose marriage was both childless and passionless, his apathy to such a future was widely assumed. A catamite much like his uncle, the youngest Martell scion was well known to favor the pleasures of Essos to the morality of Westeros, having gathered to him a coterie of Lyseni oft referred to as "his silver squires". Therefore it was no surprise that Trystan remained in Essos as a mercenary longer, before traveling up the Rhoyne to the ruins of old Rhoynar. There he stopped and claimed himself home, naming the lands of old Rhoynar a principality reborn. He was crowned by his fleet as an independent Prince of Dorne and confirmed by both Norvos and Volantis to that right, and in doing so denied fealty to both his sister and to the King of Westeros, who for his part proved disclined to interfere in Dornish affairs. It was an event timed as tension rose anew within Dorne between the likes of Arianne Martell and Edric Dayne.
Edric Dayne was the Lord of Starfall, who since his minority had been linked to the halls of power within Westeros. Bound by marriage to the long-serving Hand of the King Beric Dondarrion, Edric Dayne had been knighted by the King Jon Stormcrown himself and had been further distinguished by his knighting of the Crown Prince, Brynden "Blackbow" Stormcrown. These ties and others to the royal court left House Dayne of Starfall as a family in ascent in Dorne, a fact that Edric made use of frequently in efforts to assert himself over the Stone Dornish and against the disgraced Martells, who he believed to have surrendered their traditional claims to paramountcy when they had cast aside Nymeria's crown. That Edric's marriage to Elia Martell (legitimized daughter of the popular Oberyn Martell) granted him an additional form of immunity against traditional Dornish intrigue concerned the Lady Arianne, who felt him a potential threat to her children's succession to Sunspear.
Efforts to mediate by Oberyn Martell were frustrated by the rivalry developed between Edric Dayne and Daemon Sand, husband of the Lady Arianne. Both men were among the premier knights of Dorne and were reckoned to be the leading figures among the Stone Dornish. Disputes that occurred between their clients and retainers flared frequently, and would draw in Baratheon and Tyrell backers as a consequence. Edric would enjoy the support of his good-brother and fellow namesake Edric Baratheon, the Lord of Storm's End. Meanwhile, Lord Willas Tyrell of Highgarden distrusted the upstart Dornishman and his Stormlander patron in Beric Dondarrion and consequently stumped for Arianne Martell, finding her key to a more fractured and peaceable Dorne.
Either by fear of the king or simply in memory of the Humiliation of Highgarden, both factions held themselves back from open conflict, if only just. Both the highborn and lowlies of Dorne would find themselves either for the Daynes of Starfall or the Martells of Sunspear, or else seek less perilous futures on the Rhoyne with Trystane Martell. The divide only grew in scope, etching away at the fragile frameworks of peace enforced by king's writ.
And all the while, the wells dried and seawater encroached upon the shores...
All of Dorne bar House Martell, that is.
While Oberyn Martell had worked tirelessly to keep the peace between in his family, the divisions between his niece and nephews was well known in Westerosi circles. Kept close at hand in Sunspear by Arianne's command, both Quentyn and Trystan Martell grew to chafe under the rule of their elder sister. In time they would depart for Essos, where a renewed rivalry between Tyrosh and Volantis had created a great demand for mercenaries. There, the brothers Martell found fame in the fleets of Volantis and rose to prominence in the courts of the continent for daring deeds done in the Narrow and Sunset Seas.
With daring deeds came fortune and wealth, which flowed through the lightly settled yet ever valuable Stepstone islands. As they did, Quentyn Martell's interest in those same islands grew, and he would dare to claim them as his own, albeit in fealty to Sunspear. For Quentyn Martell, a man of happy marriage with two living children raised abroad in Norvos, this proved a satisfying conclusion to his mercenary career. His line was secured in comfort and lands, if out of favor with his sister Arianne the Lady of Sunspear.
For Trystan Martell however, a man whose marriage was both childless and passionless, his apathy to such a future was widely assumed. A catamite much like his uncle, the youngest Martell scion was well known to favor the pleasures of Essos to the morality of Westeros, having gathered to him a coterie of Lyseni oft referred to as "his silver squires". Therefore it was no surprise that Trystan remained in Essos as a mercenary longer, before traveling up the Rhoyne to the ruins of old Rhoynar. There he stopped and claimed himself home, naming the lands of old Rhoynar a principality reborn. He was crowned by his fleet as an independent Prince of Dorne and confirmed by both Norvos and Volantis to that right, and in doing so denied fealty to both his sister and to the King of Westeros, who for his part proved disclined to interfere in Dornish affairs. It was an event timed as tension rose anew within Dorne between the likes of Arianne Martell and Edric Dayne.
Edric Dayne was the Lord of Starfall, who since his minority had been linked to the halls of power within Westeros. Bound by marriage to the long-serving Hand of the King Beric Dondarrion, Edric Dayne had been knighted by the King Jon Stormcrown himself and had been further distinguished by his knighting of the Crown Prince, Brynden "Blackbow" Stormcrown. These ties and others to the royal court left House Dayne of Starfall as a family in ascent in Dorne, a fact that Edric made use of frequently in efforts to assert himself over the Stone Dornish and against the disgraced Martells, who he believed to have surrendered their traditional claims to paramountcy when they had cast aside Nymeria's crown. That Edric's marriage to Elia Martell (legitimized daughter of the popular Oberyn Martell) granted him an additional form of immunity against traditional Dornish intrigue concerned the Lady Arianne, who felt him a potential threat to her children's succession to Sunspear.
Efforts to mediate by Oberyn Martell were frustrated by the rivalry developed between Edric Dayne and Daemon Sand, husband of the Lady Arianne. Both men were among the premier knights of Dorne and were reckoned to be the leading figures among the Stone Dornish. Disputes that occurred between their clients and retainers flared frequently, and would draw in Baratheon and Tyrell backers as a consequence. Edric would enjoy the support of his good-brother and fellow namesake Edric Baratheon, the Lord of Storm's End. Meanwhile, Lord Willas Tyrell of Highgarden distrusted the upstart Dornishman and his Stormlander patron in Beric Dondarrion and consequently stumped for Arianne Martell, finding her key to a more fractured and peaceable Dorne.
Either by fear of the king or simply in memory of the Humiliation of Highgarden, both factions held themselves back from open conflict, if only just. Both the highborn and lowlies of Dorne would find themselves either for the Daynes of Starfall or the Martells of Sunspear, or else seek less perilous futures on the Rhoyne with Trystane Martell. The divide only grew in scope, etching away at the fragile frameworks of peace enforced by king's writ.
And all the while, the wells dried and seawater encroached upon the shores...
While peace had come to the Sunset Kingdoms by force and will, Essos-across-the-Sea found no such relief. Small Dothraki warbands who had survived the Volantene War slowly coalesced and grew again in size, while the ascendancies of Ghis and Tyrosh troubled the dragon-armed Freehold of Volantis with the renewal of its age-old rivals. Only Westeros's diplomatic niceties kept Essos peaceable enough, though enough skirmishes and trade wars erupted for sellswords to find their fortune. Even then, "peace" only truly existed to the west of Valyria, where the House of Stormcrown was in its ascent and could force its will by words rather than by force. The further east one travelled, the more violent the world seemed to be.
Though the Ghiscari successor-states had loomed large in the histories of Essos following the Doom of Valyria and the Century of Blood, the slave rebellion ushered into existence by the mysterious Horned Lord had devastated the economic landscape of the region and had left the mainland cities mere shadows of their former selves.
It was only by the cruelty and cunning of "The Perfumed Prince" Odran zo Odran, a commander of the united Ghiscari peoples that his defiance was seen to an end, with the Horned Lord and most of his closest surviving lieutenants all impaled for their disobedience. Emboldened by his victory and the loyalty of the freemen legions at his back, Odran set his on imperial glory and overthrew the entrenched elders of his home city.
With blood running through the streets and the mainlander Ghiscari dependent on his goodwill for their own fortunes, Odran crowned himself the first Emperor of a new Ghis, promising a golden age for all free subjects under his rule. This would begin at home he promised, with a great effort to rebuild Old Ghis as the great capital for the new empire. Then he promised, would come the rebuilding of Astapor, Meeren and Yunkai.
Further Ghiscari expansions followed against the island of Velos and the colonies of Gorgai, Gorosh and Zamettar in Sothoryos, while Ghis's armies readied themselves against northern expeditions to the ruins of Bhorash, Ghardaq, Hazdahn Mo and many others, all lands that had been lost before or during the Century of Blood. It would be an era of greatness in Ghis, he declared. One that would be hard-won, but won still. No matter the cost in human lives, as the many slaves who were taken from their homes to die laboring at his pleasure would quickly find out.
Though the Ghiscari successor-states had loomed large in the histories of Essos following the Doom of Valyria and the Century of Blood, the slave rebellion ushered into existence by the mysterious Horned Lord had devastated the economic landscape of the region and had left the mainland cities mere shadows of their former selves.
It was only by the cruelty and cunning of "The Perfumed Prince" Odran zo Odran, a commander of the united Ghiscari peoples that his defiance was seen to an end, with the Horned Lord and most of his closest surviving lieutenants all impaled for their disobedience. Emboldened by his victory and the loyalty of the freemen legions at his back, Odran set his on imperial glory and overthrew the entrenched elders of his home city.
With blood running through the streets and the mainlander Ghiscari dependent on his goodwill for their own fortunes, Odran crowned himself the first Emperor of a new Ghis, promising a golden age for all free subjects under his rule. This would begin at home he promised, with a great effort to rebuild Old Ghis as the great capital for the new empire. Then he promised, would come the rebuilding of Astapor, Meeren and Yunkai.
Further Ghiscari expansions followed against the island of Velos and the colonies of Gorgai, Gorosh and Zamettar in Sothoryos, while Ghis's armies readied themselves against northern expeditions to the ruins of Bhorash, Ghardaq, Hazdahn Mo and many others, all lands that had been lost before or during the Century of Blood. It would be an era of greatness in Ghis, he declared. One that would be hard-won, but won still. No matter the cost in human lives, as the many slaves who were taken from their homes to die laboring at his pleasure would quickly find out.
The years that followed Euron Greyjoy's attack on Winterfell proved to be the most peaceful and prosperous in the North's history. Though the Northmen had prepared plenty to withstand the long winter that had been sure to fall upon them, winter never came. Year after year, the lords of the North filled their stores with care and with each year's shorter and softer summer snows, they grew more cautious. A half decade passed before the Starks of Winterfell ordered the stores opened fully, proclaiming that winter would be a while longer still.
That proved true when a short winter of three years came a decade into the reign of King Jon Stormcrown; only to prove so light not even the tribes of the Wolf's Maw could say they lacked for food. In such warm summer times, the Starks grew richer and stronger, as villages grew to towns and new villages were planted on increasingly accessible lands. Precious metals of every sort were found and dug up in the hilly lands and mountain ranges, metals that enriched all as the earth surrendered its treasures. House Ryswell of the Rills proved the richest in this regard; its newfound mines proved the rival of any in the Westerlands, enough to match even the wealth of House Manderly.
Its wealth became a weapon most potent, as House Ryswell secured for itself the chosen bride to the Lord Stark's son and heir. They secured other such marriages, both to the traditional noble families as well as the quickly richening tribal chiefs and spreading their influence among the traditional linchpins that had bolstered Stark rule. Their ascension would prove troublesome for House Stark in time, forcing the wolves of Winterfell to find friendships with former upstarts. The tribal chiefs as well would grow more unruly, their newfound wealth causing great divisions between chieftains and their clansmen as control of individual mines became fractious.
This period of change extended even to the Night's Watch, the warrior brotherhood whose numbers had drastically thinned by the time House Stormcrown ascended to the Banner Throne. Led by First Ranger Benjen Stark, the order struggled to find new purpose in a post-wildling world and bereft of the possibility of solemn duty became little more than a relic. Only the history and knowledge remaining within its castles mattered now, attracting scores of scholars north in pursuit of the arcane and esoteric. With their coming faded the strictures of the Watch, as with the changing of the seasons did the Wall itself weep more and more. In time, Brandon's Wall would weep its last, leaving behind only 19 unmanned castles. Surrounded by desolate lands to the north and the Giants of the Gift and Skagos, those castles in turn would crumble to ruin as a fruitful and isolated populace forgot them.
That proved true when a short winter of three years came a decade into the reign of King Jon Stormcrown; only to prove so light not even the tribes of the Wolf's Maw could say they lacked for food. In such warm summer times, the Starks grew richer and stronger, as villages grew to towns and new villages were planted on increasingly accessible lands. Precious metals of every sort were found and dug up in the hilly lands and mountain ranges, metals that enriched all as the earth surrendered its treasures. House Ryswell of the Rills proved the richest in this regard; its newfound mines proved the rival of any in the Westerlands, enough to match even the wealth of House Manderly.
Its wealth became a weapon most potent, as House Ryswell secured for itself the chosen bride to the Lord Stark's son and heir. They secured other such marriages, both to the traditional noble families as well as the quickly richening tribal chiefs and spreading their influence among the traditional linchpins that had bolstered Stark rule. Their ascension would prove troublesome for House Stark in time, forcing the wolves of Winterfell to find friendships with former upstarts. The tribal chiefs as well would grow more unruly, their newfound wealth causing great divisions between chieftains and their clansmen as control of individual mines became fractious.
This period of change extended even to the Night's Watch, the warrior brotherhood whose numbers had drastically thinned by the time House Stormcrown ascended to the Banner Throne. Led by First Ranger Benjen Stark, the order struggled to find new purpose in a post-wildling world and bereft of the possibility of solemn duty became little more than a relic. Only the history and knowledge remaining within its castles mattered now, attracting scores of scholars north in pursuit of the arcane and esoteric. With their coming faded the strictures of the Watch, as with the changing of the seasons did the Wall itself weep more and more. In time, Brandon's Wall would weep its last, leaving behind only 19 unmanned castles. Surrounded by desolate lands to the north and the Giants of the Gift and Skagos, those castles in turn would crumble to ruin as a fruitful and isolated populace forgot them.
In the Reach, peace reigned supreme. Though the great city of Oldtown had been ravaged by the coming of Aegon the Black and his Golden Company, most of the lands once ruled from on high by House Gardener had been sheltered from death, famine or plague. Those who had fought in the short war against the Westerlands passed from spring youth to autumn humor, recalling time and again the great feats of the Black Prince-Turned-King. They sung ballads of the storming of Lannisport and the battle above Oldtown, told tales (true or otherwise) of how they had stood firmly at the side of King Stormcrown, First Of His Line.
But where the sons of the North had blossomed in the warmth that followed the ascension of House Stormcrown, the Reach withered. Great heatwaves struck across the land year after year, withering fields and prematurely budding crops. All manner of weeds, pests, and fungi thrived in such welcome climate, and farms failed with each passing year. With such environs the smallfolk fled to the market towns for succor, only to be driven back by mounted knights and swathes of men-at-arms who could brook neither dissent nor dissidence. In such times blame was levied on the Lord Willas Tyrell, who denied alms and security to all on basis of scarcity, and commanded his banners to thin those who would not return to their homes.
It grew common to mutter that the Lord of Highgarden was a bramblethorn, more like to draw blood than provide water. Mutterings even spread that it was of the Lord Tyrell's doing that the crops had failed and that plagues had spread, that he consorted with dark powers and had been bidden to provide them with deadly tithes. These rumors drove men to desperation and then open rebellion, and it was accounted that one in every twelve men in the Reach practiced either banditry, highway work or rebellion as his craft. Roving warbands numbering thousands marched from lordship to lordship in desperate search of food and safety, pillaging and rioting as they went.
Such actions eventually aroused the King himself, who though engaged in much the same affairs in the Riverlands raised fifteen thousand knights and sent them south to scour the Reach. At their head rode the King's three sons, each commanding a third and given writ to conscript the Reachlords who had cowered in their castles and towns rather than march out to crush the insurrections. Three years would they spend in their mother's homeland, putting paid to rights and settling affairs long since overdue, which included:
But where the sons of the North had blossomed in the warmth that followed the ascension of House Stormcrown, the Reach withered. Great heatwaves struck across the land year after year, withering fields and prematurely budding crops. All manner of weeds, pests, and fungi thrived in such welcome climate, and farms failed with each passing year. With such environs the smallfolk fled to the market towns for succor, only to be driven back by mounted knights and swathes of men-at-arms who could brook neither dissent nor dissidence. In such times blame was levied on the Lord Willas Tyrell, who denied alms and security to all on basis of scarcity, and commanded his banners to thin those who would not return to their homes.
It grew common to mutter that the Lord of Highgarden was a bramblethorn, more like to draw blood than provide water. Mutterings even spread that it was of the Lord Tyrell's doing that the crops had failed and that plagues had spread, that he consorted with dark powers and had been bidden to provide them with deadly tithes. These rumors drove men to desperation and then open rebellion, and it was accounted that one in every twelve men in the Reach practiced either banditry, highway work or rebellion as his craft. Roving warbands numbering thousands marched from lordship to lordship in desperate search of food and safety, pillaging and rioting as they went.
Such actions eventually aroused the King himself, who though engaged in much the same affairs in the Riverlands raised fifteen thousand knights and sent them south to scour the Reach. At their head rode the King's three sons, each commanding a third and given writ to conscript the Reachlords who had cowered in their castles and towns rather than march out to crush the insurrections. Three years would they spend in their mother's homeland, putting paid to rights and settling affairs long since overdue, which included:
- The Surprise of Grassy Vale, where Brynden Stormcrown earned the monicker of Blackbow for pinned then killed three thousand smallfolk with a hundred archers of weirwood bows.
- The Relief of Highgarden, where Robert Stormcrown had averted the sacking of his mother's home by septon-maddened masses by sailing half a hundred ships filled with slingers from the Shield Isles.
- The Charge of Cockleswent, where Loren Stormcrown ran down two hundred thousand rebels led by the "Green King" who proclaimed himself to be Garth Gardener come again. Loren would accomplish this feet in twelve battles across a month, at the head of a cumulative thirty thousand knights and mounted men at arms.
The Riverlands strained and stretched over much in the years that followed the ascension of House Stormcrown. Having been the traditional powerbase of King Jon Stormcrown in the years that preceded his rise to kingship, the expansion of the region to encompass the Old Crownlands and the usurpation of the rights of House Tully cast shadows against the administration and righteous rule of the king for many. The rebellions of the Iron Islands and the Westerlands and the ensuing impact against the Riverlands also cast their own shadows, leaving the King and his Court with a great many fires to put out.
In time however, the Riverlands returned to pre-war prosperity, aided by the large scale building campaigns pioneered by the small council, and chief among them a little known figure known as Ruben Vance. His contributions to the trade routes and waterways of the Riverlands proved a great contribution in facilitating transportation, though was slightly undercut as many smaller rivers fell susceptible to drought and dried out. These matters and others across the Seven Kingdoms occupied the royal court greatly, though the King himself withdrew himself from much of the more "tedious" matters in favor of dispatching emissaries and representatives in his stead.
In time however, the Riverlands returned to pre-war prosperity, aided by the large scale building campaigns pioneered by the small council, and chief among them a little known figure known as Ruben Vance. His contributions to the trade routes and waterways of the Riverlands proved a great contribution in facilitating transportation, though was slightly undercut as many smaller rivers fell susceptible to drought and dried out. These matters and others across the Seven Kingdoms occupied the royal court greatly, though the King himself withdrew himself from much of the more "tedious" matters in favor of dispatching emissaries and representatives in his stead.
In the years following the ascension of House Stormcrown to royalty, Lord Renly Baratheon rose to greater prominence than ever before as a member of the King's Small Council. Once an idle nobleman of excess and largess as Master of Laws, his journey to the Free Cities in pursuit of the Crimson Sept had instilled in him a diplomat's passion and love of travel. Feted highly for his accomplishments, Renly quickly formalized his new role by becoming the first Master of Words.
His Eminence would demonstrate a mastery of diplomacy only matched by King Jaeherys the Conciliator, with many crediting Renly for returning the oft-broken peace across the Narrow Sea, deftly preventing Westeros's Targaryen allies from expansion by playing off their allies and rivals as adeptly as possible. Such was the frequency of his travels, that his legitimized nephew Edric Baratheon would rise from minority to adulthood as lord-in-waiting to Storm's End.
Edric would succeed him as Lord of Storm's End in 325 AC following the birth of his firstborn, when Lord Renly abdicated rule over the Stormlands and sent himself to an idyllic retirement to Braavos. His Grace the King sent with him Ser Loras Tyrell of the Kingsguard as a safeguard, charging the then Lord Commander with the well-being of his paternal uncle. Edric Baratheon proved a capable if uneventful lord, dutiful to the needs of his people.
Though haughty, by virtue of his long standing as heir to the Stormlands he had cultivated a generation of knights and lords who favored him above all others, and by virtue of his marriage into House Martell cultivated a patronage network along the coastlines of the Dornish Sea.
Strongly private, Edric Baratheon enjoyed a firm friendship with his good-brother Edric Dayne, with the two lords working together to restrain and unsettle House Martell of Sunspear. Both men also worked together to contain Reach-strife from spilling over into their more sparsely populated lands, contributing men to the eastern campaign of Prince Loren Stormcrown.
In contrast to either the Lord Baratheon or His Grace, the youngest child of Robert Baratheon proved more… difficult. Born Celia Waters to the Lady of Antlers, the sole living daughter of King Robert Baratheon was reputed to enjoy much of her father's less charitable nature. While raised in the lap of luxury as heiress to Antlers, she proved a constant source of headaches for her Stormcrown relations, who were forced to expend significant efforts to restrain her disputes and resolve her arrears. These matters worsened her standing in the Sunset Court and removed her from favor.
Left with only her a fragment of her inheritance, the Lady Buckwell chose to sell her estates to her half-brother before departing for the pleasures of the Isle of Lys. There she remained for a year in wanton excess that at best was only partially documented. By the year's end, half the old families of Lys were left destitute, with the Lady Buckler moving on to Braavos. Her year there was much a repeat of Lys, and such was her stay in Essos that by five years time no aristocrat or magister in all the continent would afford her more than the barest niceties, and certainly not the excessive lines of credit she had tricked from all others before.
Consequently, information of the Lady Buckler grew scarce, save that she was said to have dabbled in all manners of alchemy and sorcery, that she had joined a menagerie of magnificent creatures from Asshai-by-the-Shadow, that she had sailed to Valyria in a mad bid to taste the aged and ancient elxirs of ruined Mantarys.
Each tale was spun more fancifully by the last, and by the time she reappeared at the head of a small pirate fleet raiding trading routes from Ghis to Westeros not a soul was surprised. She remained a pirate for a dozen years, accumulating maps and ships for some unrealized gambit.
Commanding a hundred ships at the height of her powers, she was eventually captured by the grand fleets of Ghis who transported her to the Emperor's custody. Once there she remained a prisoner until her death by self-poisoning, efforts to ransom her to Westeros having been refused by her nephew Brynden Stormcrown, who had ascended to the Banner Throne following the abdication and disappearance of his father.
His Eminence would demonstrate a mastery of diplomacy only matched by King Jaeherys the Conciliator, with many crediting Renly for returning the oft-broken peace across the Narrow Sea, deftly preventing Westeros's Targaryen allies from expansion by playing off their allies and rivals as adeptly as possible. Such was the frequency of his travels, that his legitimized nephew Edric Baratheon would rise from minority to adulthood as lord-in-waiting to Storm's End.
Edric would succeed him as Lord of Storm's End in 325 AC following the birth of his firstborn, when Lord Renly abdicated rule over the Stormlands and sent himself to an idyllic retirement to Braavos. His Grace the King sent with him Ser Loras Tyrell of the Kingsguard as a safeguard, charging the then Lord Commander with the well-being of his paternal uncle. Edric Baratheon proved a capable if uneventful lord, dutiful to the needs of his people.
Though haughty, by virtue of his long standing as heir to the Stormlands he had cultivated a generation of knights and lords who favored him above all others, and by virtue of his marriage into House Martell cultivated a patronage network along the coastlines of the Dornish Sea.
Strongly private, Edric Baratheon enjoyed a firm friendship with his good-brother Edric Dayne, with the two lords working together to restrain and unsettle House Martell of Sunspear. Both men also worked together to contain Reach-strife from spilling over into their more sparsely populated lands, contributing men to the eastern campaign of Prince Loren Stormcrown.
In contrast to either the Lord Baratheon or His Grace, the youngest child of Robert Baratheon proved more… difficult. Born Celia Waters to the Lady of Antlers, the sole living daughter of King Robert Baratheon was reputed to enjoy much of her father's less charitable nature. While raised in the lap of luxury as heiress to Antlers, she proved a constant source of headaches for her Stormcrown relations, who were forced to expend significant efforts to restrain her disputes and resolve her arrears. These matters worsened her standing in the Sunset Court and removed her from favor.
Left with only her a fragment of her inheritance, the Lady Buckwell chose to sell her estates to her half-brother before departing for the pleasures of the Isle of Lys. There she remained for a year in wanton excess that at best was only partially documented. By the year's end, half the old families of Lys were left destitute, with the Lady Buckler moving on to Braavos. Her year there was much a repeat of Lys, and such was her stay in Essos that by five years time no aristocrat or magister in all the continent would afford her more than the barest niceties, and certainly not the excessive lines of credit she had tricked from all others before.
Consequently, information of the Lady Buckler grew scarce, save that she was said to have dabbled in all manners of alchemy and sorcery, that she had joined a menagerie of magnificent creatures from Asshai-by-the-Shadow, that she had sailed to Valyria in a mad bid to taste the aged and ancient elxirs of ruined Mantarys.
Each tale was spun more fancifully by the last, and by the time she reappeared at the head of a small pirate fleet raiding trading routes from Ghis to Westeros not a soul was surprised. She remained a pirate for a dozen years, accumulating maps and ships for some unrealized gambit.
Commanding a hundred ships at the height of her powers, she was eventually captured by the grand fleets of Ghis who transported her to the Emperor's custody. Once there she remained a prisoner until her death by self-poisoning, efforts to ransom her to Westeros having been refused by her nephew Brynden Stormcrown, who had ascended to the Banner Throne following the abdication and disappearance of his father.
Maddened by grief, Lysa Tully was never able to look past the death of her eldest son Robin. Reliant for the longest time on the emotional support of King Jon Stormcrown and his Queen Margaery Tyrell, her frailty saw her living children Edmure and Minisa Arryn raised in Harrenhal under the King's watchful eyes. In their stead, their cousin Harold Hardyng ruled the Vale, named High Steward as his good-father Nestor Royce had been before him.
Heedful of his good relations among the Valesmen, King Jon's small council took care to maintain the balance of power in the region and to address concerns and problems that occurred as a result of the changing climes. As part of those efforts and to honour those who had been his greatest patrons, it was declared during the minority of Edmure Arryn's rule that his sister Minisa would be wed to the crown prince Brynden Stormcrown while Edmure himself would wed Bess Royce, the only daughter of Lord Robar Royce and a firm ally to House Stormcrown.
The lives of those children would come and pass very differently. While Minisa quickly grew into a favorite of the court and was hailed by some as Queen Margaery's fitting successor, Edmure Arryn seemed to embody the worst of King Jon's character. Gloomy and solemn (a fact some blamed on his mother's influence), Edmure lacked for close companions and counted only Prince Brynden as friend. Edmure would marry twice in his life, first to Bess Royce who died birthing a stillborn son and later to his cousin Mya Hardyng. His second marriage proved more fruitful, blessing House Arryn with three daughters.
Named for his mother and good-mothers, the girls were spoiled rotten and lived controversially, often named pale shades of Celia Buckwell. In time, the controversial marriages, foreign debts and legitimate and illegitimate heirs of Lysandra Arryn, Myra Arryn and Alayne Arryn would would set in motion the Crisis of the Eyrie during the late years of King Brynden Stormcrown's rule.
Heedful of his good relations among the Valesmen, King Jon's small council took care to maintain the balance of power in the region and to address concerns and problems that occurred as a result of the changing climes. As part of those efforts and to honour those who had been his greatest patrons, it was declared during the minority of Edmure Arryn's rule that his sister Minisa would be wed to the crown prince Brynden Stormcrown while Edmure himself would wed Bess Royce, the only daughter of Lord Robar Royce and a firm ally to House Stormcrown.
The lives of those children would come and pass very differently. While Minisa quickly grew into a favorite of the court and was hailed by some as Queen Margaery's fitting successor, Edmure Arryn seemed to embody the worst of King Jon's character. Gloomy and solemn (a fact some blamed on his mother's influence), Edmure lacked for close companions and counted only Prince Brynden as friend. Edmure would marry twice in his life, first to Bess Royce who died birthing a stillborn son and later to his cousin Mya Hardyng. His second marriage proved more fruitful, blessing House Arryn with three daughters.
Named for his mother and good-mothers, the girls were spoiled rotten and lived controversially, often named pale shades of Celia Buckwell. In time, the controversial marriages, foreign debts and legitimate and illegitimate heirs of Lysandra Arryn, Myra Arryn and Alayne Arryn would would set in motion the Crisis of the Eyrie during the late years of King Brynden Stormcrown's rule.
In the wake of the Defiance of Casterly Rock, the Westerlands were bonded by kingly decree to their infamous foemen of the Iron Islands. Both regions had risen up in defiance in the final breaths of the Baratheon regime, and had seen themselves beaten into submission in the early days of the Stormcrown dynasty as a result.
With the collapse of the Lannister leadership, King Jon Stormcrown had elected to name Theon Greyjoy, heir to the Iron Islands as Lord of the Westerlands, bonding those two peoples in perpetual union. While this decree had seemed to many only likely to inflame the antipathy of both surviving noble castes, Theon's backing by the new royal family proved sufficient enough to settle the simmering embers of discontent.
For his part, Theon proved to favor the remnants of his Ironborn brethren over the disenfranchised and disenchanted Westron nobility, transplanting sizeable numbers of unlanded or shipless Ironborn to serve as his retainers and appointing many of them to major or minor estates across the Westerlands. A process known as "The Plantations", this served to further undercut the importance the Iron Islands could expect in a post-Stormcrown Westeros. Indeed, their influence would only further decline as the years passed, as rising sea levels swallowed more and more of the barren, crumbling islands.
Blacktyde, Botley, Farwynd, Goodbrother, Harlaw, Orkwood, Saltcliffe and Wynch were the last of the great families to remain in the Iron Islands, but with each passing year their ships would shrink in numbers as Ironborn men once destined for fishing or reaving instead found their fortunes in the "green lands". Efforts by the drowned priests to reverse this transition or offer resistance to the "Greenjoy" or the Stormcrowns ended poorly, with ad-hoc barrows and pyres left wherever the Black Dragon of Harrenhal visited.
All the while, the "New Nobility" (those settled by King Jon Stormcrown) intermingled with the "Old Nobility" (Traditional Westerlanders) and the Ironborn, the three communities piecing together a new political landscape, one indirectly influenced by the Stormcrown royals (mostly through the machinations of their Tyrell kinsmen at court) and more directly managed by the Greyjoys of Casterly Rock. It would prove a fraught relationship, with the Old Nobles biding their time and hoping for an opportunity to set matters right.
With the collapse of the Lannister leadership, King Jon Stormcrown had elected to name Theon Greyjoy, heir to the Iron Islands as Lord of the Westerlands, bonding those two peoples in perpetual union. While this decree had seemed to many only likely to inflame the antipathy of both surviving noble castes, Theon's backing by the new royal family proved sufficient enough to settle the simmering embers of discontent.
For his part, Theon proved to favor the remnants of his Ironborn brethren over the disenfranchised and disenchanted Westron nobility, transplanting sizeable numbers of unlanded or shipless Ironborn to serve as his retainers and appointing many of them to major or minor estates across the Westerlands. A process known as "The Plantations", this served to further undercut the importance the Iron Islands could expect in a post-Stormcrown Westeros. Indeed, their influence would only further decline as the years passed, as rising sea levels swallowed more and more of the barren, crumbling islands.
Blacktyde, Botley, Farwynd, Goodbrother, Harlaw, Orkwood, Saltcliffe and Wynch were the last of the great families to remain in the Iron Islands, but with each passing year their ships would shrink in numbers as Ironborn men once destined for fishing or reaving instead found their fortunes in the "green lands". Efforts by the drowned priests to reverse this transition or offer resistance to the "Greenjoy" or the Stormcrowns ended poorly, with ad-hoc barrows and pyres left wherever the Black Dragon of Harrenhal visited.
All the while, the "New Nobility" (those settled by King Jon Stormcrown) intermingled with the "Old Nobility" (Traditional Westerlanders) and the Ironborn, the three communities piecing together a new political landscape, one indirectly influenced by the Stormcrown royals (mostly through the machinations of their Tyrell kinsmen at court) and more directly managed by the Greyjoys of Casterly Rock. It would prove a fraught relationship, with the Old Nobles biding their time and hoping for an opportunity to set matters right.
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GM Note: These are general bits of info and will be followed by a second epilogue detailing some events post-Jon. If you have questions regarding specific characters, ask away and I'll be threadmarking my own responses.
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