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

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Duesal said:
I'll be damned, a son Robert didn't put to the sword.
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Robert slew Lord Gerold Grafton's father, Marq Grafton, not his sons.

Edit: Anyway, Gerold Grafton, current Lord of Gulltown, should have multiple sons, a minimum of two (Gyles, currently in diapers) and Karyl Grafton (of an age for Knighthood) and I'd bet on at least a couple more sons somewhere between those two ages, probably at least one more who's a young adult (or slightly older than Karyl, who was apparently a second son going by when he was introduced as seeking land).
 
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Interlude MLXXIII: The Princess and the Pauper
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    • The Princess and the Pauper ​

    Twenty-Fourth Day of the Fifth Month 294 AC

    "So when you say that Joffrey Waters is being uncooperative, you mean..." Dany trailed off, looking at her friend expectantly over the new 'sketch-pad'. These things really were very nice, especially when you could use paper and not parchment, though she still did not have any skill past the native sense of geometry she must have picked up from some ancestor with an affinity for geomancy.

    "I mean he is being a screaming, kicking little shit who won't even eat without trying to make the food into a weapon. He actually bit one of the servants so they are just sending in the lar now, but we do not have a lar at Runestone and mother does not deserve to deal with that, nor father either. Could you... I don't know, scare him straight or something?" Ysilla asked a touch uncertainly.

    "If you do not know how to scare a seven year old yet, the Inquisition is doing a shit job at training you," Dany joked.

    "Ha...ha... ha," the younger girl enunciated the words. "I don't have your magic. I'd have to hurt the little beast to scare him and I don't want to do that."

    "He is just a little boy, lost and uncertain, and he thinks surrounded by foes," the princess replied, shaking her head and setting down her pad. "And he has just found out he is a bastard on top of it and that his father was not who he thought he was.."

    Ysi was not the least bit moved. "So hug him until it is all better, I don't care. Look, father has to deal with the Thing, right? He does not need this as well."

    The Thing was the agreed upon name for some dark realization that was secret and dark enough that Dany would not share it with her friends by common accord since both Ky and Ysi knew that anything that she would hesitate to share must be really bad. They were curious, of course, but upon being told that they would find out when they made full inquisitor, the curiosity abated, at least for the moment.

    "Alright, I'll see what I can do," Dany agreed while rising from her seat, her silhouette flickering in place for a moment before taking on the familiar silvery shape.

    ***​

    Joffrey Waters was about what she had expected, a sullen, golden-haired boy in a plain bottle green doublet and white breeches. Not a prince's silks maybe, but it was still court dress and he would not look out of place in the halls of the palace amid the pages learning their trade by watching and the various wards of the crown, though granted most of them were girls rather than boys. He was also as rude and loud as she had been given to expect. His first words were, "Who are you?" followed by the command. "Let me out! Tell them to let me out!" He was not very good at giving orders. Too much whine to the words.

    "Hello, my name is Daenerys. I would give you my title, but I do not think you would use it," she replied without missing a beat. "As for letting you out, might I ask, let out to do what? Challenge by brother to a duel? I am afraid he does not entertain those on account that a crown is not a thing that can be won in a brawl."

    "That is not..." the boy trailed off due to either her appearance, her words, or the fact that he really had no sort of answer. "I am not a bastard!" he proclaimed at once with the manner of one who had spoken those words many times before and perhaps the fear of one who was not quite as certain of them as the bold tone might imply. "I am the Trueborn son of Robert Baratheon, first of his name, and I am the rightful king of the Seven Kingdoms!"

    "That does not follow. Logically, I mean," the girl replied, calmly looking him in the eye. That was not what he had been expecting to judge from the yawning void of silence that followed. "Let's suppose for a moment that we were all lying for our own nefarious reasons and you were indeed the son of the last man to rule in King's Landing. What made him the rightful king in your eyes? It can't have been blood. He had, what, a Targaryen grandmother? That is not a very good line of succession..."

    "Father didn't need any of your filthy blood. He won his crown at the Trident with his hammer, when he killed your other brother!" The boy finally collected himself enough to sneer.

    "If you are trying to be cruel, you are rather off the mark," Dany plopped herself into a chair without invitation, not caring that she was giving up the slight advantage of height. "I never knew Rhaegar. Truth be told, I am not entirely sure I would have liked him."

    If Joffrey Waters had been confused before, he was now too shocked to even keep up the anger. She was not acting like she was supposed to, neither as a girl nor as a member of an enemy House and that he knew well. "What do you want?" He said, finally, almost unwillingly, as though the words were being dragged out from him.

    "To make you a little less confused," she replied in a matter of fact tone. "If Robert won his throne by force of arms than we were no less legitimate in taking it back the same way, even if we did not use hammers..." one small hand motioned to the window just as a wyvern flashed by at low altitude. That would be going into an odd report. They were not usually supposed to be flying that close near the palace. "And if it is the acclamation of the High Lords, then you should keep in mind that the Curia is full at this hour, and all those who are still alive and free are more than happy to be part of the realm. So what are you holding up for?"

    He did not call her a liar as he might have called almost anyone else. Something about her manner made it clear she did not need to lie, but at the same time she did not loom or threaten, which would have put Joffrey on his guard.

    For a long moment the boy did not speak, his face contorting into expressions that one would be hard pressed to name aright, save that they contained sorrow and wrath as well as a fragile sort of pride... that broke like glass.

    "I'm not a bastard born of incest, alright! I'm not!" he finally shouted. "Tell your brother... tell him I will swear to him as a Baratheon, he just has to tell them... tell him to... " He was crying now and trying to blink away the tears. "Tell him to stop lying!"

    "Do you care that much about the Seven?" Dany asked, in place of the promise she could not give, and would not for that matter.

    "Well... they are the ones who watched over the joining of Robert Baratheon and Cersei Lannister, and they are also the ones who say it is sin for bother and sister to lay together as man and woman."

    She looked him up and down like he was a particularly slow learner. "You do recall who my parents were to each other, yes?"

    "That is... mad, you are a mad as your father," the tone was less one of insult and more one of wonder, almost of envy.

    "That is funny. I don't think I am, but then mad people never do," she giggled and leaned back in the chair.

    "They didn't, my mother didn't break her vows," Joffrey hissed.

    "Well, that is between her and the Seven, isn't it?" Dany asked reasonably. "That is why I asked if you cared about their opinion. If you asked, say, the Summer Islanders and their gods, they would say that sort of vow is itself mad."

    "What do the Summer Islands have to do with anything?" By now the tears had dried on his cheeks and he just wanted some answers.

    "For one, you could go there when you are a grown knight in your own right. They would find nothing remarkable about Joffrey Waters, save what your deeds might mean by then, and there are other lands yet stranger that have not heard and could not care less for the trials and tribulations of the world under the sun." She offered the boy an encouraging smile. "Think about that, alright?"

    And before he could answer she was gone in a flash of silver, leaving him too many strange thoughts.

    OOC: I made a thing... one I was not sure I would be able to finish, but it would not get out of my head until I wrote it down.
     
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    • SeekerofLight said:
    But, I imagine they would have similar taboos about incest though. Most human civilisations do, with only the Valyrians being the exception.
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    Yes they do, Dany was kind of patching together a justification for Joff's parents on the fly here. The point was not to be perfectly logically consistent, it was to get him to at least be able to conceptualize that he could be 'Joffrey Waters' without loosing all self-worth.
     
    I'm honestly not seeing the Valyrians having a generalized acceptance of incest either. Most real world cultures who had exceptions to the general incest taboo had those only apply to very specific people, such as the royal line of the Pharao in Khemetic Egypt. It would make much more sense if Valyria only accept incest among certain bloodlines, most likely the 40 families.
     
    Azel said:
    I'm honestly not seeing the Valyrians having a generalized acceptance of incest either. Most real world cultures who had exceptions to the general incest taboo had those only apply to very specific people, such as the royal line of the Pharao in Khemetic Egypt. It would make much more sense if Valyria only accept incest among certain bloodlines, most likely the 40 families.
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    Well yeah it was the high nobility, the literally high since they were all dragon riders. That said it was not even common, just accepted if you did not have anyone else of sufficient heritage to wed... like if you were across the sea in a land of savages in iron suits. :V
     
    DragonParadox said:
    The Princess and the Pauper ​

    Twenty-Fourth Day of the Fifth Month 294 AC

    "So when you say that Joffrey Waters is being uncooperative, you mean..." Dany trailed off, looking at her friend expectantly over the new 'sketch-pad'. These things really were very nice, especially when you could use paper and not parchment, though she still did not have any skill past the native sense of geometry she must have picked up from some ancestor with an affinity for geomancy.

    "I mean he is being a screaming, kicking little shit who won't even eat without trying to make the food into a weapon. He actually bit one of the servants so they are just sending in the lar now, but we do not have a lar at Runestone and mother does not deserve to deal with that, nor father either. Could you... I don't know, scare him straight or something?" Ysilla asked a touch uncertainly.

    "If you do not know how to scare a seven year old yet, the Inquisition is doing a shit job at training you," Dany joked.

    "Ha...ha... ha," the younger girl enunciated the words. "I don't have your magic. I'd have to hurt the little beast to scare him and I don't want to do that."

    "He is just a little boy, lost and uncertain, and he thinks surrounded by foes," the princess replied, shaking her head and setting down her pad. "And he has just found out he is a bastard on top of it and that his father was not who he thought he was.."

    Ysi was not the least bit moved. "So hug him until it is all better, I don't care. Look, father has to deal with the Thing, right? He does not need this as well."

    The Thing was the agreed upon name for some dark realization that was secret and dark enough that Dany would not share it with her friends by common accord since both Ky and Ysi knew that anything that she would hesitate to share must be really bad. They were curious, of course, but upon being told that they would find out when they made full inquisitor, the curiosity abated, at least for the moment.

    "Alright, I'll see what I can do," Dany agreed while rising from her seat, her silhouette flickering in place for a moment before taking on the familiar silvery shape.

    ***​

    Joffrey Waters was about what she had expected, a sullen, golden-haired boy in a plain bottle green doublet and white breeches. Not a prince's silks maybe, but it was still court dress and he would not look out of place in the halls of the palace amid the pages learning their trade by watching and the various wards of the crown, though granted most of them were girls rather than boys. He was also as rude and loud as she had been given to expect. His first words were, "Who are you?" followed by the command. "Let me out! Tell them to let me out!" He was not very good at giving orders. Too much whine to the words.

    "Hello, my name is Daenerys. I would give you my title, but I do not think you would use it," she replied without missing a beat. "As for letting you out, might I ask, let out to do what? Challenge by brother to a duel? I am afraid he does not entertain those on account that a crown is not a thing that can be won in a brawl."

    "That is not..." the boy trailed off due to either her appearance, her words, or the fact that he really had no sort of answer. "I am not a bastard!" he proclaimed at once with the manner of one who had spoken those words many times before and perhaps the fear of one who was not quite as certain of them as the bold tone might imply. "I am the Trueborn son of Robert Baratheon, first of his name, and I am the rightful king of the Seven Kingdoms!"

    "That does not follow. Logically, I mean," the girl replied, calmly looking him in the eye. That was not what he had been expecting to judge from the yawning void of silence that followed. "Let's suppose for a moment that we were all lying for our own nefarious reasons and you were indeed the son of the last man to rule in King's Landing. What made him the rightful king in your eyes? It can't have been blood. He had, what, a Targaryen grandmother? That is not a very good line of succession..."

    "Father didn't need any of your filthy blood. He won his crown at the Trident with his hammer, when he killed your other brother!" The boy finally collected himself enough to sneer.

    "If you are trying to be cruel, you are rather off the mark," Dany plopped herself into a chair without invitation, not caring that she was giving up the slight advantage of height. "I never knew Rhaegar. Truth be told, I am not entirely sure I would have liked him."

    If Joffrey Waters had been confused before, he was now too shocked to even keep up the anger. She was not acting like she was supposed to, neither as a girl nor as a member of an enemy House and that he knew well. "What do you want?" He said, finally, almost unwillingly, as though the words were being dragged out from him.

    "To make you a little less confused," she replied in a matter of fact tone. "If Robert won his throne by force of arms than we were no less legitimate in taking it back the same way, even if we did not use hammers..." one small hand motioned to the window just as a wyvern flashed by at low altitude. That would be going into an odd report. They were not usually supposed to be flying that close near the palace. "And if it is the acclamation of the High Lords, then you should keep in mind that the Curia is full at this hour, and all those who are still alive and free are more than happy to be part of the realm. So what are you holding up for?"

    He did not call her a liar as he might have called almost anyone else. Something about her manner made it clear she did not need to lie, but at the same time she did not loom or threaten, which would have put Joffrey on his guard.

    For a long moment the boy did not speak, his face contorting into expressions that one would be hard pressed to name aright, save that they contained sorrow and wrath as well as a fragile sort of pride... that broke like glass.

    "I'm not a bastard born of incest, alright! I'm not!" he finally shouted. "Tell your brother... tell him I will swear to him as a Baratheon, he just has to tell them... tell him to... " He was crying now and trying to blink away the tears. "Tell him to stop lying!"

    "Do you care that much about the Seven?" Dany asked, in place of the promise she could not give, and would not for that matter.

    "Well... they are the ones who watched over the joining of Robert Baratheon and Cersei Lannister, and they are also the ones who say it is sin for bother and sister to lay together as man and woman."

    She looked him up and down like he was a particularly slow learner. "You do recall who my parents were to each other, yes?"

    "That is... mad, you are a mad as your father," the tone was less one of insult and more one of wonder, almost of envy.

    "That is funny. I don't think I am, but then mad people never do," she giggled and leaned back in the chair.

    "They didn't, my mother didn't break her vows," Joffrey hissed.

    "Well, that is between her and the Seven, isn't it?" Dany asked reasonably. "That is why I asked if you cared about their opinion. If you asked, say, the Summer Islanders and their gods, they would say that sort of vow is itself mad."

    "What do the Summer Islands have to do with anything?" By now the tears had dried on his cheeks and he just wanted some answers.

    "For one, you could go there when you are a grown knight in your own right. They would find nothing remarkable about Joffrey Waters, save what your deeds might mean by then, and there are other lands yet stranger that have not heard and could not care less for the trials and tribulations of the world under the sun." She offered the boy an encouraging smile. "Think about that, alright?"

    And before he could answer she was gone in a flash of silver, leaving him too many strange thoughts.

    OOC: I made a thing... one I was not sure I would be able to finish, but it would not get out of my head until I wrote it down.
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    Made a few additional edits to the chapter, DP.

    Nice Dany POV, we don't see enough of her. Good job writing Joffrey as a child in his pre-monster days, too. You managed that surprisingly well.
     
    @DragonParadox The troubles of incest have hardly left House Targaryen behind. If there's one thing I've learned from CK2, The Witcher and Jerry Springer, if it's in pursuit of a claim or due to sordid dalliance between royals, or just because their father left to get cigarettes and never came back, there's probably a brother-sister affair somewhere in there.
     
    Tbh if they had '40 families' or more of Dragonlords they probably wouldn't even need incest between brothers and sisters. It would still be a tiny gene pool but they would be marrying cousins and between the different families. The Targs only married brother to sister so much because the were the last dragonlords and they still intermarried with the Velaryons loads as well as other families like the Baratheons, Arryns, Hightowers and later the Martells.
     
    I really liked this interlude!

    It even made me feel pity for this Joffrey. I don't want to know what is going on his head right now.
     
    Takesis said:
    -Theon's City
    -Danar and Alyssa Crowl's City
    -Rina's Hometown

    Blatant favoritism there :V

    You still haven't added Summerhall in your vote

    [X] Azel
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    It's more awarding the Royces (Waymars family) and Darrys (Raymun literally was the closest thing Viserys had to a dad in Bravos) than the companions but it's nice that it works out both ways!

    And wow poor Joffrey. Also lol that Cersei is turning in her grave at her precious golden son wanting to be A Baratheon.
     
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