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A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover
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- a song of ice and fire a sword without a hilt d&d 3.5 dungeons & dragons 100% high octane dragon fuel ave corvidae battle action dragon diplomacy best sister bureaucromancy delicious soul-stuff dragon dreams come true dragon ta'veren greatest uncle hubris is a coward's word in defiance of gods and men mammon's folly mutually assured mage's disjunction qm murderhobo top tier coatl
Part MMMDCCLVIII: Whom the Throne Favors
Whom the Throne Favors
Fifteenth Day of the Fifth Month 294 AC
The last of the Ministerial seats is filled with only two days to spare before the opening session of the Curia, and hard was the finding of him. There simply are not that many who are skilled enough to run the complex and ever expanding apparatus of state that had grown out from the Deep, half by design and half by organic need, like a fruit tree half-wild in some strange garden of the gods. In the end you choose a grey-haired Tyroshi with perhaps a more interesting past than the post strictly needs, and with the glint of ambition in his eye over the other two.
You cannot afford to give Zherys the amount of influence choosing his candidate would have granted him and you cannot have a woman with a dislike of the ruling class of half your realm in the position of apportioning the budget, no matter how personally justified that dislike might be. It would not be the magisters who would suffer under Indryse's care, for all that Alinor claims she could keep her protégée from doing any harm. It would be like designing a ship with a hole already in the bottom on the reasoning that there are good pumps in the bilges.
With Valaena already safely ensconced in Heart's Home at the feet of the Eyrie, you have yet more lands in Westeros to hand ou. Not so many as you had thought you would, for in the end few Houses chose death by steam cannon, but still five seats to be filled in the west and one in the east ere the Curia can be seated.
- County of Wayfarer's Rest, Governorship of the Midlands
- Barony of the Ring (under Duke Baelor Hightower)
- Barony of Gallowsgrey (under Duke Stannis Baratheon)
- County of Ghoyan Drohe, Governorship of Ghoyan Drohe
- County of the Fingers, Governorship of the Verdant Vales
- County of The Crag, Seat at Tarbeck Hall, Governorship of the Golden Mountains
It is only when your eyes slip upon the last name in the list, another mark of Tywin Lannister's rule of blood and iron in the Westerlands, that you recall that you had spoken nothing to the young heir of the broken house for days. You had been too caught up in the far more urgent business of arranging the realm to worry about the fortunes of a broken house and a foe awaiting judgement in the cells beneath the palace. Still, the boy Tyrion, unlike his father, his uncles, or his aunt, is most likely free of any grave wrong doing and by all accounts he is hated by his father. You could do worse than handing him some land to govern as a show of your magnanimity... though not as a Lannister, of course.
Is there enough Tarbeck blood in the Lannisters to justify the name? You wonder in the stillness of your thoughts with the sort of cruel amusement you seldom allow yourself to indulge in. You could probably find some lady of the Westerlands with a half decent claim to the place to wed to him regardless.
You shake off the thought. You are not going to saddle anyone with a marriage to a stranger just so that you can have one last jest at the expense of a man with the noose already around his neck. Still, you could probably find heirs to most of these places who are yet untouched by treachery, bastards and daughters married out in previous generations, the lines of younger sons fallen into obscurity. That would suit the local nobility, but outside of Tarbeck Hall it would rather undermine the notion that the lands had fallen back into the keeping of the crown for treason.
After taking counsel with your mother, Bloodraven, and with the most loyal lords in the provinces in question, it is clear that the best thing to do with those lands would be the one for which there is historical precedent; appoint your own favorites and raise up new houses in the place of the old to 'make your mark upon the land'. That your mark shall be heavier indeed than a scattering of new houses is understood by all.
Thus, you make again a list of those high in your favor with both the interest and some of the skills to actually rule over a fief. Somewhat surprised, you find yourself rather short on candidates. You know Ser Criston Storm has ambitions for a fief, for all he has left Blackhaven and likely never to return. Alyssa Crowl has all the skills one might ask for from a lady of her rank and station, and more besides that she has gained on the long hard road and her husband is no less the son of a lord, if one of far harsher climes. You are honestly not certain which their possible neighbors would object to more, a woman appointed to a seat or a northern 'barbarian'. Still, you trust that they would set it aright regardless. Then there is Ser Renly Storm, in many ways the perfect lord, for he had been wrought as such... but his history hangs heavy in the balance of your choice. The truth would make for some very uncomfortable questions in the curia.
Liomond Lashare is a warrior you would hate to lose the common use of for the crown in times of strife when a handful of blades in the dark might win more than a great battle by light of day, but by the same token he would be a skilled commander for a province which can expect to see strife and brigandage as many in the Westerlands might.
Lastly, there is Mors Umber who, well... he's the son of a lord and the brother of another. He will take lands off your hands and manage them with some basic skill, but.... No, you cross his name off the list with a sharp sweep of your quill
- Ser Criston Storm of the Misfits
- Danar or Alyssa Crowl
- Liomond Lashare
- Ser Renly Storm (Changeling)
Mors Umber
Do you name any of the current list to any seat?
[] Yes
-[] Write in
[] No, keep looking
-[] Write in Criteria
[] Write in
OOC: I considered Denys for land as well, but from the characterization he has been given in omakes I think he would much rather advance his magic than be bound to any land. @Crake feel free to correct me if I got this wrong.
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- Location
- Germany
Honestly. None of these people are suited for Governorships. We can hand out the baronies and that's it, otherwise the Curia becomes dominated by feudal lords and we can expect Essos to be pissed at that.
[X] Plan Keeping To The Plan
-[X] Only hand out the baronies as all other seats are supposed to be under direct Imperial control to counterbalance the influence of Feudal nobility on the government.
--[X] Barony of the Ring (under Duke Baelor Hightower)
---[X] Ser Renly Storm (Changeling)
--[X] Barony of Gallowsgrey (under Duke Stannis Baratheon)
---[X] Alyssa Crowl
--[X] Barony of Tarbeck (under the Magistrate of the Crag, in turn part of the Governorship of the Golden Mountains)
---[X] Ser Christon Storm
-[X] Fill some of the seats from previous candidates:
--[X] Southern Crownlands - Indryse Umaris (Myrish)
--[X] Northern Crownlands - Oddo the Fat
--[X] Red Lake - Syrio Coltherys
--[X] Ghoyan Drohe - Maekar the Mongrel
--[X] Verdant Vales - Lormar Tyos
--[X] Golden Mountains - Kora 'the Kindly'
--[X] The Marches - Este Argalys
-[X] Look for skilled bureaucrats of all open Governorships and have any lower titles under them that are still open run as Imperial fiefs.
--[X] Governorship of Skagos
--[X] Governorship of Stony Shore
--[X] Governorship of the Midlands
--[X] Governorship of the Heartlands
I have little opinion on whom to give those two baronies to.
Appointments filled.
[X] Plan Keeping To The Plan
-[X] Only hand out the baronies as all other seats are supposed to be under direct Imperial control to counterbalance the influence of Feudal nobility on the government.
--[X] Barony of the Ring (under Duke Baelor Hightower)
---[X] Ser Renly Storm (Changeling)
--[X] Barony of Gallowsgrey (under Duke Stannis Baratheon)
---[X] Alyssa Crowl
--[X] Barony of Tarbeck (under the Magistrate of the Crag, in turn part of the Governorship of the Golden Mountains)
---[X] Ser Christon Storm
-[X] Fill some of the seats from previous candidates:
--[X] Southern Crownlands - Indryse Umaris (Myrish)
--[X] Northern Crownlands - Oddo the Fat
--[X] Red Lake - Syrio Coltherys
--[X] Ghoyan Drohe - Maekar the Mongrel
--[X] Verdant Vales - Lormar Tyos
--[X] Golden Mountains - Kora 'the Kindly'
--[X] The Marches - Este Argalys
-[X] Look for skilled bureaucrats of all open Governorships and have any lower titles under them that are still open run as Imperial fiefs.
--[X] Governorship of Skagos
--[X] Governorship of Stony Shore
--[X] Governorship of the Midlands
--[X] Governorship of the Heartlands
Appointments filled.
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I'm not sure if I would call the Westerlings counts. I mean going by canon they barely have any men at arms. That does not look like count material to me. I would say that most likely the county in the area was dissolved with the fall of the Tarbecks and all the baronial oaths went up a level to the Duke.
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Magical_Duck
The One Who Quacks
- Location
- A Pond
- Pronouns
- Duck
So we are looking for a Orphan and a Hanged man?
- Location
- Germany
In that case I would keep it to that and make it a Magistracy like Wayfarer's Rest. Same for the Fingers.
Sure that would work.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Whom the Throne Favors
Fifteenth Day of the Fifth Month 294 AC
The last of the Ministerial seats is filled with only two days to spare before the opening session of the Curia, and hard was the finding of him. There simply are not that many who are skilled enough to run the complex and ever expanding apparatus of state that had grown out from the Deep, half by design and half by organic need, like a fruit tree half-wild in some strange garden of the gods. In the end you choose a grey-haired Tyroshi with perhaps a more interesting past than the post strictly needs, and with the glint of ambition in his eye over the other two.
You cannot afford to give Zherys the amount of influence choosing his candidate would have granted him and you cannot have a woman with a dislike of the ruling class of half your realm in the position of apportioning the budget, no matter how personally justified that dislike might be. It would not be the magisters who would suffer under Indryse's care, for all that Alinor claims she could keep her protégée from doing any harm. It would be like designing a ship with a hole already in the bottom on the reasoning that there are good pumps in the bilges.
With Valaena already safely ensconced in Heart's Home at the feet of the Eyrie, you have yet more lands in Westeros to hand ou. Not so many as you had thought you would, for in the end few Houses chose death by steam cannon, but still five seats to be filled in the west and one in the east ere the Curia can be seated.
- County of Wayfarer's Rest, Governorship of the Midlands
- Barony of the Ring (under Duke Baelor Hightower)
- Barony of Gallowsgrey (under Duke Stannis Baratheon)
- County of Ghoyan Drohe, Governorship of Ghoyan Drohe
- County of the Fingers, Governorship of the Verdant Vales
- County of The Crag, Seat at Tarbeck Hall, Governorship of the Golden Mountains
It is only when your eyes slip upon the last name in the list, another mark of Tywin Lannister's rule of blood and iron in the Westerlands, that you recall that you had spoken nothing to the young heir of the broken house for days. You had been too caught up in the far more urgent business of arranging the realm to worry about the fortunes of a broken house and a foe awaiting judgement in the cells beneath the palace. Still, the boy Tyrion, unlike his father, his uncles, or his aunt, is most likely free of any grave wrong doing and by all accounts he is hated by his father. You could do worse than handing him some land to govern as a show of your magnanimity... though not as a Lannister, of course.
Is there enough Tarbeck blood in the Lannisters to justify the name? You wonder in the stillness of your thoughts with the sort of cruel amusement you seldom allow yourself to indulge in. You could probably find some lady of the Westerlands with a half decent claim to the place to wed to him regardless.
You shake off the thought. You are not going to saddle anyone with a marriage to a stranger just so that you can have one last jest at the expense of a man with the noose already around his neck. Still, you could probably find heirs to most of these places who are yet untouched by treachery, bastards and daughters married out in previous generations, the lines of younger sons fallen into obscurity. That would suit the local nobility, but outside of Tarbeck Hall it would rather undermine the notion that the lands had fallen back into the keeping of the crown for treason.
After taking counsel with your mother, Bloodraven, and with the most loyal lords in the provinces in question, it is clear that the best thing to do with those lands would be the one for which there is historical precedent; appoint your own favorites and raise up new houses in the place of the old to 'make your mark upon the land'. That your mark shall be heavier indeed than a scattering of new houses is understood by all.
Thus, you make again a list of those high in your favor with both the interest and some of the skills to actually rule over a fief. Somewhat surprised, you find yourself rather short on candidates. You know Ser Criston Storm has ambitions for a fief, for all he has left Blackhaven and likely never to return. Alyssa Crowl has all the skills one might ask for from a lady of her rank and station, and more besides that she has gained on the long hard road and her husband is no less the son of a lord, if one of far harsher climes. You are honestly not certain which their possible neighbors would object to more, a woman appointed to a seat or a northern 'barbarian'. Still, you trust that they would set it aright regardless. Then there is Ser Renly Storm, in many ways the perfect lord, for he had been wrought as such... but his history hangs heavy in the balance of your choice. The truth would make for some very uncomfortable questions in the curia.
Liomond Lashare is a warrior you would hate to lose the common use of for the crown in times of strife when a handful of blades in the dark might win more than a great battle by light of day, but by the same token he would be a skilled commander for a province which can expect to see strife and brigandage as many in the Westerlands might.
Lastly, there is Mors Umber who, well... he's the son of a lord and the brother of another. He will take lands off your hands and manage them with some basic skill, but.... No, you cross his name off the list with a sharp sweep of your quill
- Ser Criston Storm of the Misfits
- Danar or Alyssa Crowl
- Liomond Lashare
- Ser Renly Storm (Changeling)
Mors Umber
Do you name any of the current list to any seat?
[] Yes
-[] Write in
[] No, keep looking
-[] Write in Criteria
[] Write in
OOC: I considered Denys for land as well, but from the characterization he has been given in omakes I think he would much rather advance his magic than be bound to any land. @Crake feel free to correct me if I got this wrong.
Magical_Duck
The One Who Quacks
- Location
- A Pond
- Pronouns
- Duck
Honestly this a great chance for some puns, like offering someone a "Ring" or sending someone - Bronn - to the Gallows.
- Location
- Germany
@DragonParadox, these are the Governorships still needing to be filled:
I'd honestly ignore any appointments lower than that and just fold the lower titles.
The Fingers should be a Magistracy under Verdant Vales. Crag under Golden Mountains. Ghoyan Drohe under Ghoyan Drohe.
The biggest ones here are Golden Mountains (northern Westerlands), Red Lake (parts of the southern Westerlands) and Southern Crownlands (contains Kings Landing). Those are the most likely to make trouble in some fashion.
| Governorship of Skagos |
| Governorship of Stony Shore |
| Governorship of the Verdant Vales |
| Governorship of the Golden Mountains |
| Governorship of the Midlands |
| Governorship of the Northern Crownlands |
| Governorship of the Heartlands |
| Governorship of the Southern Crownlands |
| Governorship of Red Lake |
| Governorship of the Marches |
| Governorship of Ghoyan Drohe |
I'd honestly ignore any appointments lower than that and just fold the lower titles.
The Fingers should be a Magistracy under Verdant Vales. Crag under Golden Mountains. Ghoyan Drohe under Ghoyan Drohe.
The biggest ones here are Golden Mountains (northern Westerlands), Red Lake (parts of the southern Westerlands) and Southern Crownlands (contains Kings Landing). Those are the most likely to make trouble in some fashion.
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Hmm.. sure that works, you guys can vote in that format if you like. BTW one small thing that I just recalled when I saw Skagos. People like the Skagosi and the mountain clans really should not have 'Westerosi' culture. As different as say Eddard Stark an Doran Martell are they still have some basic cultural touchstones in common that you would not find in a place like Skagos where they still call their kings Magnar adn there is no concept of smallfolk, only armed warriors, ready to go on a raid, but just as ready to take the local lord's head if he screws up enough.
Magical_Duck
The One Who Quacks
- Location
- A Pond
- Pronouns
- Duck
Or just give Gallowsgrey to whoever is in charge of the island of Grey Gallows... or maybe their sibling in order to confuse their parents.
- Location
- Germany
First Men culture? With the Curia Vocium seats not filled, there isn't anyone to whom this applies to yet though.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Could you plug in Alyssa Crowl for Gallowsgrey and Renly for the Ring?
Alyssa and Danar are skilled and loyal, and they have a young child already, so they would be ideal for settling down to raise her there if they wanted to. With them serving under Stannis, no one with even a shred of common sense will give them trouble over her gender or his origin, not with them being the lawfully appointed landholders.
Renly is built to be a good lord, but giving him a place in the Stormlands would be awkward and could cause issues for both him and Stannis.
Yes, First Men sounds good.
- Location
- Germany
Sold. I was thinking the same for Renly and with the Crowl's having a kid, that would indeed be a good choice.
- Location
- Germany
Did a bit of digging through the old candidates and I'd say this bunch here would work:
-[] Southern Crownlands - Indryse Umaris (Myrish)
-[] Northern Crownlands - Oddo the Fat
-[] Red Lake - Syrio Coltherys
-[] Ghoyan Drohe - Maekar the Mongrel
-[] Verdant Vales - Lormar Tyos
-[] Golden Mountains - Kora 'the Kindly'
-[] The Marches - Este Argalys
This would leave us with only the following seats open:
-[] Southern Crownlands - Indryse Umaris (Myrish)
-[] Northern Crownlands - Oddo the Fat
-[] Red Lake - Syrio Coltherys
-[] Ghoyan Drohe - Maekar the Mongrel
-[] Verdant Vales - Lormar Tyos
-[] Golden Mountains - Kora 'the Kindly'
-[] The Marches - Este Argalys
This would leave us with only the following seats open:
| Governorship of Skagos |
| Governorship of Stony Shore |
| Governorship of the Midlands |
| Governorship of the Heartlands |
- Location
- Africa
wouldn't these candidates be busy holding managerial jobs in the various departments they were once considered to lead , I question the wisdom of draining our ministries of their most prominent and leading figures
- Location
- Germany
The same holds true for whatever other skilled people we pull to become Governors.
We can't avoid stretching the bureaucracy a bit, since we just took so bloody much territory.
Functionally, the effect is no different if we take these people or someone else that DP rolls up, but we already got these guys and gals rolled for, so it's less work on the QM side.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
It could easily be accomplished over the next few months. They wouldn't need to drop everything and leave their departments hanging.
While preparing for their new posts, they could be searching for replacements, training their underlings, etc.
- Location
- Germany
That should already be in place, since they were sufficiently disentangled from daily business to take up a Ministry post.
I mean, these choices should have been made months ago in a real-world setting, but we always kicked the can down the road or ignored the bureaucracy entirely.