Golden Bells' Last Tolling
First Day of the Fifth Month 294 AC
By the fourth hour of the day, Lannisport had been secured, including the holdings of the cadet branch of House Lannister, with scarce more than harsh words thrown about. It is clear the sight of the Rock falling had gone a long way towards quenching any martial ardor or lingering loyalty to their old lord the citizens of Lannisport might have felt. The grip of Tywin Lannister had been strong indeed, the flames of a thousand copies of the Imperial times cast into forges could attest to that, but it had also been brittle as only one born of fear could be. As the city had fallen to praetori, it is also as orderly a hand over of power as one might have hoped. The looting and grudge killing that so often shadow conquest of any stripe do not materialize.
The single instance of arson that night is from a captain of the Red Cloaks who was trying to burn documents and almost burned far more, though thanks to the Dauntless' weather control, the blaze was put out long before it could endanger others. As for the captain himself, well, another one for the trials would almost be a rounding error.
The Golden Shields are about what you would have expected as an institution, judging by the answers you receive back from all over the Westerlands. An institution which was founded, if not with pure intentions, then at least good ones, which had unfortunately been slowly rotted at the core by the ever greater need for control. It would be weeks or months before your inquisitors can read all the files kept beneath Castamere and the vaults under the Rock, but already the names and dates of the events that mark the fall of the Golden Shields, like stepping stones on the road to hell, are clear:
Pact of the Twelve Maidens, a demonic sacrifice meant to grant strength and potency to those involved, which had begotten a minor incursion of hellhounds that had taken months to hunt down and, worse still, had twisted the minds of several knights into madness and hunting their own smallfolk for sport.
The Casterly Affair, an attempt to revive one of the old lords of the Rock by a necromancer answering to powers whose names are not mentioned even in script, and which had seen several scholars and one learned maester fall pray to the madness, committing all manner of blasphemy finally culminating in sending the nameless specters of those long dead howling across the hills....
"Wait, did they actually call this one the Golden Seed, in official files..." Lya hands you a document.
"That is Lanna's writing," you say after glancing at it. "I suspect that is for the eyes of the Lord and Lady of Castamere only, given what is contained within." Not that you are not glad Joy Hill was kept safe from the Deep Ones, you would not wish their ministrations upon your worst foe, much less a child who is not guilty of her father's sins, but still you are going to have to decide what do do with the girl and her siblings. That is a matter for later, though. As many of the Golden Shields continue to offer their surrenders you have to decide how you are to treat them.
On the one hand, you have what Ser Richard rightfully calls the bloody fingers of Tywin Lannister around the throat of Westeros, the enforcers of his will not only upon lowborn and nobles alike, but on their own fellows as well. On the other, you have Malarys note that the Imperial justice system simply was not designed to judge people on simple political affiliation. While the mages of the Mysterium were not responsible for mass enchantment, they surely made use of some of it in the days leading up to the integration of the city. Many of the mages you have contacted across the Westerlands will only surrender themselves in exchange for surety that they will not be prosecuted for their deeds under the command of their former Lannister lords.
What do you offer the Golden Shields in exchange for surrender?
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OOC: So yeah it turns out that after watching the magi-tech ship wipe out CR 20 golems in the sky very few people will be inclined to resist. This decision is not binding when it comes to Lanna and anyone else who was captured, this is just for the mages who willingly surrender. Not yet edited.
