After The End - News and Rumors of Turn 6
3rd Season / Curing Season of 299 AC
The Wall - The Massacre of Castle Black
It is not unknown for members of the Night Watch to try to desert or even turn blades on each other, but rarely does such a mutiny reach the scale of what transpired in Castle Black during the last month of Curing Season. Brother turned against brother and the keep sustained severe damage from the fighting itself an a fire that broke out in the process. Word is that the just recently promoted First Ranger Eddard Stark was one of the instigators and was slain by his own bastard son Jon Snow.
Letters from the Lord Commander sent to the lords and ladies of Westeros claim a quite different story though. In them, he urgently calls for men and arms to be sent to the Wall, as there was no mutiny, but the unquiet dead rising up to slaughter the living. It is anyone's guess who might believe this outlandish tale.
The Wall - The Wildlings Gather
On the other side of the Wall, the wildlings gather once more in a great host under the banner of a white raven. Claiming the title Magnar of Magnar, though just called King Beyond the Wall in the south, Brynjolf White Raven has united nearly all tribes under his banner and reportedly even has Giants serving him. With the Night Watch so severely weakened, the lord of the North are beginning to worry that he might succeed at breaking through the ancient fortification and lead his host to rape and pillage in the war torn region.
The North - Lord Stark Returns
After over year spent campaigning in the south and slowly seeing his host and supporters bleed away, Lord Paramount Robb Stark has been seen making landfall near Karhold, carried by Braavosi merchants. He only commands a tiny host, many men deserting him in the Riverlands. At the same time, Winterfell is still under siege by Lady Dustin and the main host of Lord Roose Bolton has been seen camping in Moat Cailin after allied pirates had overwhelmed the local defenders from the north. Few believe in a return of Stark rule to the North at this point.
The North - White Harbor Burns
After a swift and brutal assault, raiders from the Three Sisters and assorted Essosi pirates under Euron Greyjoy, together with the host of Ramsay Snow, have taken White Harbor. The city was plundered and sacked by the attackers. Only the fate of Wyman Manderly himself is known, as Euron Greyjoy made a great show of having him drowned, though the rest of his family is unaccounted for. Rumor also has it that Rickon Stark was hosted in White Harbor recently and that Greyjoy tried and failed to capture him.
Mountain and Vale - Dragon Banners on the Eyrie
After a brief siege, Lady Lysa Arryn lowered the banners and knelt before the alliance of Targaryen pretenders that had turned and conquered the Vale over the past year. Their hosts, heavily backed by the Iron Bank of Braavos, outnumbered the loyalists greatly and infighting among the Vale nobles made it unlikely that they would have lasted for long in a siege. People now wonder what the dragons next moves might be as the Bloody Gate still resists them and there are indications that the garrison is working with the forces of Tywin Lannister.
Riverlands - Famine and Banditry
Torn apart by over a year of brutal warfare, the Riverlands are beginning to feel the toll of it all. With thousands of former soldiers now roaming the countryside as petty bandits, two years with next to no harvest and the voracious appetite of the Westerlander host, despair and sickness are the only thing left abundant in these blighted lands. Only the northern Riverlands, chiefly under control of Walder Frey at this point, remain largely intact.
Yet there are still many who wish nothing more than to leave these hopeless lands, though few know where to turn. With the destruction of Kings Landing and the cities of the Riverlands themselves sacked, most don't have any destination they could turn to and so the lines blur ever more between the bandits and those seeking to escape them. Already, the Reach and Westerlands are beginning to feel the pain of these dispossessed and broken people coming into their lands with only the clothes on their back and little to lose.
Riverlands - The Lions Call
A mere day after word began to spread of what happened in Kings Landing, when the flames were still rising into the sky, a letter penned by Tywin Lannisters was sent to every keep of note in Westeros. In it, he blames the catastrophe on vile sorcery wielded by the heirs of Aerys the Mad, citing the battle of the Stepstones the previous year as proof of the Targaryens using wildfyre in battle. The letter further states that he will henceforth hold court in Harrenhal until peace returns to Westeros. All lords and ladies of the realm who wish to aid him to restore said peace are invited to come.
Westerlands - Kraken and Lion
With the arrival of Tyrion Lannister and his host, the Ironborn under Balon Greyjoy have finally met resistance. No longer capable of raiding freely into the countryside, they instead fell back towards the shores and defensible locations there, but a lot of damage was already done. Firmly entrenched as they are already, the small host under the small Lannister could not dislodge them and instead had to focus on skirmishes and raiding.
At the same time, the Ironborn have begun to supplement their troops with all sorts horrifying measures. Bandits and criminals have been granted pardon for all their crimes if they join the Greyjoy hosts and now began to maraud and burn the Westerlands with the backing of an army. At the same time, men and sometimes even women have been bound in thralldom and forced into serving as soldiers with the promise that they can buy their freedom if they capture someone to take their place.
Crownlands / Ashlands - The Doom of Kings Landing
In an event that defies words to do the horrors justice, the city of Kings Landing was consumed by a conflagration of Wildfyre. Thousands upon thousands burned, the flames uncaring if they consumed highborn or base born. The inferno could be seen well into the neighboring regions as an eerie shine of green burning in the night and corpses are washing up all around Blackwater Bay. Those few who survived and could flee dare not speak of what they witnessed in the cities final moments, though a few septons hear stories of sorcery and baleful laughter echoing through the flames from those begging for the protection of the Seven.
Many great houses of the realm lost members on this day. Some were even extinguished entirely. Especially Reacher and Stormlander houses often lost heirs and lords as they were just moving into the city with their liege as events unfolded. The most notable dead are the entire remainder of House Baratheon-Lannister, Renly Baratheon, Olenna Tyrell, he grandchildren Loras and Margaery and Edmure Tully. With so many houses in disarray and the Iron Throne only a memory, some wonder what the ongoing civil war is even fought for anymore.
Stormlands - Forlorn Banners
Being closest to the catastrophe in Kings Landing, the camps of Renly Baratheon were also the first to see the horrors. Some were even daring and foolish enough to travel to the city itself, hoping to help those who could not flee under their own power. Few returned from this endeavor. The camps themselves soon had to be abandoned as supplies ran out and the Blackwater began to rise above its banks. With no one left to lead the armies, most scattered into the winds. Some turned to banditry. Others traveled on to find a cause worth fighting for.
The Reach - The End of the Golden Company
After a daring landing near the mouth of the Mander, the Golden Company was accosted by host of Reacher forces under Garlan Tyrell and driven into a precarious situation. With little hope of matching the much larger and better equipped host in open battle, the Companies leader Shasta Blackfyre instead opted to accept a honorable surrender offer by her opponent. After laying down their arms, the Company is now being dispersed through the Reach, their men offered freedom and fallow land to till as long as they never again raise arms against the Reach. Most reportedly took this gracious offer, though a few are likely already looking for other sellsword groups to ply their trade with.
The Reach - Fallen Shields
The onslaught of the Ironborn on the western coasts carries on, even as their main force in the Westerlands is under pressure. Unsurprisingly, their first target in the Reach was the Shield Isles and after brief naval skirmishes and months of raiding, the keeps on the islands were invested and stormed one by one, with three of the assaults being led by Victarion, Asha and Theon Greyjoy themselves. Now the harbors of the Shields are being used to repair the Iron Fleet and many expect the Ironborn to gather their strength there before terrorizing the Reach once more in the coming Sowing Season.
The Reach - The Council of Highgarden
Letters are sent from Highgarden to the lords and ladies of the Reach and the surrounding areas. Mace Tyrell is inviting all highborn to a council held at his court to decide about the future of the Reach. The death of so many of his detractors in the conflagration of Kings Landing has left the man much more secure in his position, but at the same time, the loss of two children and his mother is said to weigh heavy on him. No one quite knows what to expect of this gathering.
Dorne - A New Princess
After many long months, the Council of Dorne has concluded and the matter of Prince Doran Martells succession has been peacefully settled. Quenty Martell renounced his claim in the end and knelt before his sister, making Arianne Martell the new Princess of Dorne. It was widely expected that her first act of office would be to call the banners to press the claim of Rhaenys Targaryen on the Iron Throne, but with events in Kings Landing overshadowing her coronation, there is no doubt what Dorne might do. Voices had risen during the Council that the region should once more become independent and with the Iron Throne gone, they are growing louder once more.
Westeros - A Requiem To The Iron Throne
As the dust of Kings Landing settles on the Crownlands like black snow, the enormity of what has transpired sinks in with many of the lords and ladies both east and west of the Narrow Sea. What Aegon forged has been brought to ruin. Fire and Blood the beginning of a realm and its end. As armies clash from Winterfell to Oldtown, the mere idea of a united Seven Kingdoms seems preposterous. Blasphemous even. The mind shies away from such thoughts and those still making claims to the slag buried under molten rock seem foolish at best, if not outright the delusional. Even those once most driven by ambitions feel the fire cooling in their chest.
Once more in the history of the world, a great conflagration has claimed a once great realm and as the name Ashlands settles upon the blighted fields along the putrid Blackwater, so does the funeral shroud settle on Aegons realm just shy of 300 years after its birth.
Westeros - Woken From Stone
The Ironborn say that what is dead may never die, but will rise again. And as the black clouds drift over eastern Westeros, something long thought dead and gone is indeed rising from its grave. All across the world, those holding dragon eggs find them no longer as hard and cold as before. The shells become malleable once more and a gentle warmth begins to emanate form within. Those who witness this miracle ascribe it to all kinds of sources, from divine providence to a curse being lifted as Aegons throne was destroyed.
But in the end, what they can all agree on is that the dragons will live once more.
Braavos - The New Masters
Under the auspicious of the Sealord and with aid from the Iron Bank, the lands of Tyrosh and the Stepstones were parceled and auctioned out to the influential trade families of Braavos. Derisively called New Masters by their new subjects, they have little backing by the local population as slaves fear a return of their bondage while the freeborn consider them foreign occupiers. None the less, trade begins to flow again and there are high hopes that with the next Sowing Season, the lands will become wealthy again.
Braavos - Sails and Blades
Likely fueled by the rumors of an alliance between Myr, Lys and Volantis forming, the Sealord has opened his coffers and began to hire sellwords from the east while the Arsenal of Braavos once more redoubles its efforts to churn out warships. A great war is coming for Essos and while there was hesitance among the Braavosi just a few months past, the specter of Volantene dominance on the continent has quieted many of the cautious voices.
Three Daughters - Marching For Slavery
With tensions rising in Essos, Myr and Lys have openly begun to prepare for a war. An agreement was signed by the Archons of both cities proclaiming peace and a cessation of all border raids for a minimum of two years. At the same time, what little sellswords and sellsails are still available in the region after the wars past and the voracious appetite of the Westerosi battlefields is being bought for high sums and the promises of future plunder. Envoys were also sent to the ruling Empress of Volantis and word on the street is that the First Daughter of Valyria has greeted them as friends and brothers in arms.
Qohor - Hungry Flames
In the Essosi city of Qohor, another great fire happened in the early Curing Season. Though much less catastrophic than the one in Kings Landing, it took still a heavy toll from the city. Starting among the manses of the highborn instead of the slums, the city was thrown into turmoil as a number of influential houses found themselves ruined or in the woes of a succession struggle. It left the city disunited while another crisis came to its walls.
Qohor - The Great Khalazaar
Numbering in the tens of thousands, the Dothraki have come for Qohor and despite lavish bribes being promised, Khal Drogo would not relent. His host swarmed the farmlands west of Qohor, ranging far towards the Darkwater and leaving nothing but death and churned earth behind. The Dothraki feasted for one season while Qohor starved and word is that they intend to soon make a feast for the vultures of the great city.
Volantis - Same As The Old
After nearly a year of chaos, Volantis is calming once again. With a council assembled to aid the Empress in ruling the realm, things are once more moving in familiar patterns. Trades flows along the Rhoyne and the coast. Slaves work in plantations. With many familiar and influential names now holding office behind the Black Walls, the lowborn feel as if normalcy has returned, even if the western half of Volantis is still deeply scarred by the civil war. At the same time though, soldiers and sailors drill day and night as the city prepares for the next war. Hopefully though, this one will be fought war away in the Narrow Sea against Braavos or in the fields of central Essos against the Dothraki.
Volantis - The Orphans Move
Witht he ascension of the known cutthroat Tor Windblown to high office, many Rhoynish boats are leaving the southern Rhoyne for water further away from Volantene power. Some closer to Dagger Lake, more wary of the devil in the south than the dangers of the north, while others are slinking into the tributaries. Particularly the shores of the Volaena are drawing many, the wilderness of the timeless swamps a well known refuge for the Orphans in times of hardship.
AN: Since people kept asking, I will post the rumors of this doomed world here as they roll in.
(indirectly)
