You are Aerea Targaryen, Heir of Aegon the Uncrowned.
Your uncle Jaehaerys sits the Iron Throne, later to be hailed the greatest of all Targaryen kings. But he was just Aegon the Uncrowned's brother. A daughter comes before a brother.
Your mother, Rhaena, took you away from King's Landing's bustling life to dreary Dragonstone. You escaped on Balerion, the Conqueror's dragon. In canon, you died. Here, you return hale and healthy.
An embittered teenage girl, returning with the biggest, meaning dragon in the world.
This is a story of a teenage girl. A teenage girl whose right were stolen, who was furious with the world and with her mother in particular... and who now is coming back on the largest, oldest, strongest dragon of the world. An embittered teenage girl riding a weapon of mass destruction, to set things right again... or just to win her freedom.
Now, different to the other Targaryen quests currently running, you are not free to pick her background. You are Aerea Targaryen, and history happened as it did until that fateful day you claimed Balerion, and the Black Dread flew off with you, more under his own control than you. Well, okay, let's add two years to your age, at least. But more importantly, different to canon, both you and Balerion return hale and healthy. Better even, as the almost two year journey has netted you experiences and treasures.
And that is where SV comes in.
Chargen will be two posts. For now, it will be where Aerea has been on her travels, and what skills, bonuses and treasures she gains as a consequence. And then we will see to her future goals and how she returns.
Due to this chargen allowing for a multitude of different options, please keep in mind to plan-vote.
You are Aerea Targaryen, and all around you are the ruins and smoke of Valyria. You have been away for two years. Much has happened, but now finally Balerion is at rest. He found what he wanted, and you can return. It is time. As you made the arduous climb onto the back of the Black Dread, high as a castle wall, you reflect on how you got here.
Born the first (...well, officially...) child of Aegon Targaryen, the heir of King Aenys, you were named heir during the reign of the usurper, Aenys' half-brother Maegor the Cruel. He was toppled, and during the regency years that followed, you were put into the Red Keep's stables, hair dyed brown like a Westerosi girl and in commoner clothes. This was to avoid becoming a political tool for the enemies of the new king, your uncle Jaehaerys – but to you those were the happiest years of your life.
By right, you should sit the throne. Your mother, Rhaena, has told you so often enough. You are the firstborn of King Aenys' firstborn. Male primogeniture rules the land, but even by Andal and First Men right, a daughter comes before a brother. The daughter of Aegon the Uncrowned, firstborn of Aenys, should have come before Aegon's brother.
Not that you were you on good terms with Rhaena when you left. She had been abducted by Maegor and forced to marry him, but even after he had been toppled she hadn't come back to you. Instead, she had shown up one day, years later – and as your not even teenage self had seen it, she had abducted you and imprisoned you on Dragonstone, a dreary castle on a damp island, with no girls your age around, no singers, no splendour and no freedom, either, because you had been forbidden from mingling with the common folk as well.
Jaehaerys, your uncle, stole the crown from you by having heirs of his own, but Rhaena, your mother, stole the city from you: King's Landing with its bustling life and laughter, with the court and singers and fools and merriment. Both rankled, but you had felt the loss of the latter far more keenly. Dragonstone was a terrible place. You hated it. At the end, you had only communicated with your mother by way of shouting.
But even when you were just 14, you had known your way out: Dragons. Your mother had even encouraged you to claim one of the semi-wild dragons on the island. What she hadn't expected was that you would pick the oldest, meanest and biggest of them: Balerion, the Black Dread, dragon of Aegon the Conqueror – and of Maegor the Cruel. The dragon that had killed your father, not that you had ever really met him.
And what you hadn't expected was that as soon as Balerion had a rider, he would take off, and fly away from Dragonstone. Not towards King's Landing, not towards any place in Westeros, but just away.
Aerea's Starting Position
Aerea will start with an 1 in all skills (see post below for skills), with the exception of Dragonflight: That starting value is 6, due to two years of mostly riding Balerion.
For reference, feats are abilities not represented by just the skills, whereas traits are character traits that define Aerea's personality, and Factors are external factors with which you have to content. Specializations treat you as being 1 or 2 categories higher (case by case) in the particular skill in that specific area. For Advantages and Disadvantages, see how skills work.
Due to Aerea's time in the Red Keep's stable and the contact with the commoners there, and due to her wilfulness nature during childhood she starts with certain traits:
Unceremonious – you do not expect courtesies or special respect from the smallfolk, and you know their ways. Generally, you drive around them.
Urbanite - You loved the bustling and diverse life of King's Landing. You probably would feel right at home in Braavos or Oldtown as well. As long as it isn't some backwater castle or dreary village.
Horse Girl – you love horses, and can relax around them. You also would dislike seeing them hurt.
Wilful – You will object, loudly, if you feel your freedom is being taken away.
And now...
Where did Balerion take you during your journey? (Pick two places – or only one place if that choice is Lys)
(mind what place choices are compatible – Balerion is not zig-zagging around so much that Aerea can end up on both Skagos and the Summer Islands)
[]Skagos
For some reason, Balerion seemed to make a run for the wall, even appearing over one of the Nightwatch's forts... only to hesitate then, and fly away again. Exhausted from the ordeal, he sought rest on Skagos, that island of ill repute. Immediately, its people came running to you. They encountered you with reverence, for the Starks were detested here, and any family who had beaten them was hence well liked. Up here, they were impoverished and had not much to offer, but they were keeping ancient secrets – and the ways to keep them secret.
+1 Intrigue
Gain Feat: Unicorn Riding. You learn how to ride unicorns
Gain Factor: Notorious (Your stay on Skagos will become known, and the island has a very ill repute. Some people will have a worse reaction towards you. This is a trait that can appear multiple times for different reasons)
Gain: Unicorns (upon your return to Dragonstone you will see Skagos has sent you four unicorns as gift)
-compatible with Shivering Sea, Andalos and Northern Free Cities
[]Shivering Sea
Balerion flew over the Shivering Sea or its coast, living off all sorts of maritime life – including even kraken and smaller leviathans. For you, it was a bit more miserable experience, as it was cold and windy and you didn't land very often, but you have never and likely will never be able to fly as freely as here.
+1 Dragonflight
Gain Feat: Enduring (you can deal far better with lack of subsistence or shelter, and especially lack of sleep. Multi-day flights are no problem for either you or Balerion)
-compatible with Skagos, Andalos, Northern Free Cities and Grass Sea
[]Andalos
You ended up in the holy land of the Faith of the Seven, the original home of the Andals. The Andal invasion emptied the land millennia ago, and Northern counter-raids basically depopulated it for good. The Valyrians tried resettling it at their height, but more half-hearted than one would expect, only for the Century of Blood to destroy all those efforts again as well. It is an empty land where you lay low... but even though you were never particularly close to the Faith of the Seven, and maybe still aren't, you almost found some sort of religious peace here. Something that even only deepened when you stumbled across a wayshrine, and found there a sapphire in the form of a seven-rayed star. Could this have been one of the jewels in the fabled crown of Hugor of the Hill?
+1 Leadership
Gain Feat: Inner Balance (you take less stress in situations where you do take stress)
Gain Trait: Averse to Sorcery (you will look at sorcery as 'unnatural', potentially even as the reason for Valyria's downfall, and you will gain Stress if you have to tolerate to overtly 'unnatural' sorcery around you. Dragons and visions do not fall under this. A Targaryen is allowed some double standards.)
Gain: Majorly important relic of the Faith of the Seven.
-compatible with: Skagos, Shivering Sea, Northern Free Cities, Grass Sea and Selhoru/Volaena
Incompatible with any kind of active sorcery.
[]Northern Free Cities
You ended up in the wilderness between Braavos, Lorath, Norvos and Qohor – still a wilderness by the standards of those cities or even the Westerosi countryside, but not totally empty of people. While widely scattered, you found shepherds and merchant caravans and even whalers from Ib here – a whole array of different peoples, all with strange ways of life you learned after some rough interlingual communication, and with whom all you could barter for basic goods, in order to sustain yourself.
+1 Diplomacy
+1 Learning
Gain Disadvantage: On Learning rolls for higher fields of learning, temporarily, until you can devote at least some time to them – this is to represent that your learning bonus all came from contact with lower classes.
Gain Feat: Polyglot (Knows several foreign languages, can learn them more easily)
-compatible with Skagos, Shivering Sea, Andalos, Grass Sea, Sehlhoru/Volaena and Mantarys
[]Grass Sea
You ended up in the western reaches of the Dothraki Grass Sea, at the southern end of what once was the Kingdom of Sarnor. You were not far away from the Forest of Qohor, and yet you had no human contact here. Balerion nested in one of the ruined cities, and eventually the Dothraki became aware of him – and from that moment on, you had little choice but to defend that ruin. Fortunately, Balerion made that rather easy, but you picked up some tricks that way, and the life of subsisting on hunted meat toughened you. You even managed to take over and train on some of the Dothraki horses - that meshed well with your already existing love for horses from your time at the Red Keep's stables.
+1 Warcraft
+1 Prowess
Gain Major Advantage: On Prowess rolls for riding horses.
Gain Specialization: On Prowess rolls for hunting and survival. Lose Trait: Urbanite
Gain Trait: Nature Loving (Aerea gains an appreciation for the wilderness. She will be able to reduce stress in wild nature, and will begin to feel 'imprisoned' if she stays in large buildings or settlements for too long)
-compatible with Shivering Sea, Northern Free Cities, Andalos, Selhoru/Volaena and Mantarys
[]Selhoru/Volaena
There is a certain irony that the descendants of the Rhoynar would take care of a Valyrian princess. In the swamps of the Selhoru and Volaena rivers, northeast of Volantis, a remnant population of Rhoynar has survived, living not too dissimilar to the crannogmen of Westeros. You joined them for a time, while Balerion fed himself off the animals of the swamp. They taught you a bit of their way of life, and you proved a true prodigy at their healing arts.
+1 Diplomacy
+1 Learning
Gain Specialization: On rolling Learning for the purpose of healing.
Gain Advantage: On rolling Learning for the purpose of healing.
Gain Trait: Compassionate (Aerea will feel the need to help where she can. She will not necessarily go out of her way to help, but if she can help or is directly appealed to, denying help will cause her stress)
-compatible with Northern Free Cities, Andalos, Grass Sea, Mantarys and Summer Islands
[]Mantarys
You ended up almost in Valyria... in the Lands of the Long Summer. For some reason, Balerion landed close to Mantarys, the City of Monsters. Danger lurks in both city and wilderness here, where the people are often ill-formed and twisted... but this is the first time in over a century they saw a real dragon lady. One with silver hair and purple eyes and free of blemish. People envy you, they resent you... but they still listen. You seem to have a sort of authority over them.
+2 Leadership Lose Trait: Unceremonious
Gain Factor: Contacts [Mantarys] (if you can enable the logistics, Mantarys will heed call for aid to some extent. Also if for some gods-forsaken reason you end up doing something in the Land of Monsters, yeah, you'll have support)
Gain Factor: Notorious
-compatible with Northern Free Cities, Grass Sea, Selhoru/Volaena and Summer Islands
[]Lys
While Balerion fed off the Summer Sea, you yourself ended up in Lys. Hidden away by Magisters, you lived in a gilded cage for a while, until you could flee again off a returned Balerion.
+2 diplomacy
+2 Intrigue
+1 learning
-2 dragonflight
Gain Factor: Notorious (people will accuse you of having been in Lysene brothels. And maybe you have, truth be told)
Gain Factor: Enemies [Lys] (a good part of the ruling class saw you as their golden ticket to influence Westeros. Your flight has several of them seriously pissed off as you, especially as Balerion was not exactly gentle in his escape)
-incompatible with any other choice – if you pick Lys, this is your only stay.
[]Summer Islands
You ended up in the tropical paradise of the Summer Isles. At first, the inhabitants, after a century of raids by slavers, reacted to you with hostility. Their arrows couldn't harm Balerion, but you needed to fly really high to avoid them – the islanders' redwood bows granted them a reach that surprised you. This all only changed once Balerion had burned a slave raiding party. After that, you became the Summer Islanders' best friend.
+1 Diplomacy
Gain Specialization: On Prowess rolls for the purpose of using bow and arrow.
Gain Trait: Lustful (You enjoy the pleasures of the flesh, for ill or good)
Gain Feat: Inner Balance (you take less stress in situations where you do take stress – some of that Summer Islander mentality, less fearful than Westerosi smallfolk and less rigid than Westerosi nobility, has rubbed off on you)
Gain Factor: Contacts [Summer Islands, one time favour] (if you can enable the logistics, the Summer Islands will heed a call for aid to some extent – but not forever. One time for sure, and then it at least isn't certain anymore)
Gain a rare Redwood Bow
-compatible with Selhoru/Volaena and Mantarys
All that time, Balerion seemed restless – as if he was searching for something, but did not know what. Finally, one day, he slipped out of your control again – heading straight towards one place in particular. And as you saw smoke rising from the sea in front of you, you realized what place it was: Doomed Valyria, or rather, its ruins.
You can't say where exactly you landed. The destroyed capital? Or the ruin of some other city? All that haze in the air and the destruction wrought on the land made it basically impossible to distinguish directions here. All buildings here have crumbled. You can make out some of it – a collapsed dome here, a fallen tower there, and just rubble all over.
But it is not the only thing that you find here. Buried here are some real treasures.
Valyrian Treasures (pick 2, of which at most one may give you a skill boost)
[]Valyrian Steel
You find a hidden cabinet with weaponry of Valyrian steel
+1 Prowess
Gain: Two Valyrian Swords (one-handed), six daggers of Valyrian Steel.
[]Glass Candles
Surrounded by fire and smoke here, once you have dug them up, they seem to burn or stop burning almost as if on their own. It is unnerving.
+1 Sorcery, but only if you choose Sorcery as a Valyrian boon
Gain: 6 glass candles.
[]Knowledge
Hidden away in what may once have been a metal box for safekeeping, you find a treasure trove of surviving documents in High Valyrian, which you can read. Some family obviously tried to preserve their legal claims for after the doom. Foolish, but it is giving you a great insight into how Valyrian society worked.
+1 Learning
+1 Administration,
Gain Feat: Valyrian Legalist (you have enough knowledge of Valyrian law to bring forth arguments for your legitimacy. You are not an expert by any means, but that is the thing – nobody is on Valyrian law these days, so who could refute you?)
Gain: Several sheets of Valyrian writing (surely priced as historical documents by maesters and others)
[]A Crown
Valyria was no monarchy. As a "Freehold", it was an oligarchic republic of about two dozen dragonrider families. Still, certain offices came with insignia of power. As such, the headband of Valyrian steel you found may be more comparable to the pin that denotes the Hand's office than a monarch's crown... but as far as you know, no other of those insignia survived the fall of Valyria. Even the Conqueror's crown was fashioned afterwards. As well, Balerion really seems to like the crown.
Gain: Valyrian Steel Headband (potentially a boost to legitimacy if you can sell it right, and it seems to have some effect on dragons. If nothing else, there is only one other Valyrian steel crown in the whole world)
Incompatible with A Horn
[]A Horn
You have heard legends of those horns – literal dragon horns, banded in gold and valyrian steel. They can be bound to someone by some means, and when they are sounded, all dragons hearing the call will obey the horn's master... though whoever sounded the horn will die. Not that you would know right now how to even do that binding process. But you are pretty sure the horn you found is one of those legendary objects.
Gain: Dragon Horn, as described above.
Incompatibe with A Crown
[]Precious Stones
In one palace ruin, you find endless amounts of precious stones scattered on the ground – rubies and emeralds and sapphires and even diamonds. This represents enough money for one big construction project, or to bribe a major house, or for several smaller projects or several smaller ones or even to hire some sellsword companies at once (if you can bring them to Westeros).
Gain: Funds
Not all was well here, of course. Just keeping yourself fed was nearly impossible. You subsided on malformed fish and some gardens in strange niches that have escaped the destruction and gone wild over the century in between – but the omnipresent ash and smoke restricted that growth to small patches of land. Enough to feed you, but even that not well.
And more than that, the very air you were breathing was noxious. You have the feeling it did something to you... or maybe it was a lingering after-effect of the Doom, who could say. Something changed inside you.
Valyrian Boon (pick 1. You can take a second boon if you also take 2 curses)
[]Prowess
Your muscles grow. Despite the relative scarcity of food, you grow. Considerably beyond what an adolescent girl would normally grow.
+2 Prowess
Gain Advantage: On Prowess rolls for pure physical strength
Incompatible with the Frail curse.
[]Agility
Your movements become smoother. Maybe unnaturally smooth at times. And you seem to just thrive in the shadows
+1 Intrigue
Gain Specialization: On Intrigue rolls for the purpose of sneaking, silence and not being seen. (Specializations do not stack; this does not stack with the Specialization gained in the Frail Curse)
Gain Major Advantage: On Intrigue rolls for the purpose of sneaking, silence and not being seen.
[]Sorcery
Your mind... shifts. Things fall in place. You can almost, but only almost, perceive a... *pattern* to the Doom around you. And if you were to go on to read certain texts that have been plaguing maesters and learned men for you, you might also be able to make more sense of those.
+2 Sorcery
Incompatible with Andalos. This is the only place in chargen where you can unlock sorcery.
[]Mental Clarity
Your mind turns away from all the supernatural stuff around you... and yet you find that it still all makes sense. Kind of. Maybe with some more learning.
You make easier gains in Learning and Administration, and might also get bonuses in gaining Warcraft, depending on the situation.
Incompatible with Possession and the Distracted curse.
[]Possession
There is a voice inside your mind. It doesn't speak often. You only really hear it in your dreams. But it knows. It knows a great deal about statemanscraft.
+2 Administration
+2 Warcraft
Gain Curse: Possessed (This comes with side effects. You literally have a ghost inside you. He cannot take over without your consent, but he can be an additional source of stress. On the other hand, he may also be able to advize you, however indirectly.)
Incompatible with Andalos and with Mental Clarity
[]Visions
You start having dragon dreams. Most of the time, they do not tell you the future, though. What you see is the past, or perhaps the present, but always significant events for you. You know how your mother reacted to your departure, and you have seen how your grandmother dismissed her own husband as Hand when he proposed getting you on the throne, for example. You might see what your enemies are up to, too.
To be honest, you are kinda anxious about those changes. This is Accursed Valyria, fallen to a magical disaster like no other the world has ever seen. For all the good effects you are experiencing, you still feel... cursed.
Valyrian Curse (pick 1. Pick 2 if you have picked 2 boons. Each of those counts as a Curse, so I won't list that separately for every option)
[]Bloodlust
There is a hunger inside you. And you have at least an inkling of what can satisfy it: Blood. You want to see it spilled... and even more so if it is Valyrian blood.
Will accumulate stress if going too long without causing some violent bloodshedding. Bloodshed against Valyrians and dragons will stave off the accumulation for longer.
If you unlock sorcery, you will be able to gain advantages to sorcery rolls with sacrifices.
Incompatible with the Inner Balance trait
[]Frail
You become lean and gaunt. You tire easily, and are exhausted quickly. You aren't exactly unhealthy per se, but you can't exert yourself too much. It almost appears as if you are... fading.
All Prowess gains in chargen are negated, all future prowess gains will be more difficult.
Gain Specialization: On Intrigue rolls for the purpose of sneaking (Specializations do not stack; this does not stack with the Specialization gained in the Agility Boon)
Incompatible with the Prowess boon, with Wrathful and with Restless.
[]Restless
You cannot stay at one place for too long. You feel the grass is always greener on the other side, and that you have so much more to achieve, to gain. King's Landing has a special place in your heart, so you will always be able to *return* to there, but even there you won't be able to stay for too long.
Incompatible with Frail and with the Inner Balance trait
May not be taken if you choose to take two curses.
[]Nocturnal
You become paler than any Targaryen ever has. Within weeks of your arrival back home, you will get problems with sunlight. You can be out at day, but it is frankly irritating, especially to your eyes, and you get sunburn ridiculously easily. Plus, it is difficult to even *get* you to be awake at day. No matter how hard you try, your natural sleeping patterns will always shift back to nocturnal.
May not be taken if you choose to take two curses.
[]Bleeding
You develop a non-hereditary form of haemophilia – a mild enough case that your life is not threatened after every accident, but even so: You bruise easily, and injuries you take in battle or after major accidents are very difficult to heal.
[]Wrathful
You don't actually crave violence... but you are easily provoked, and in difficult situations your first instinct is to lash out.
Possible to lock you out of decisions completely in certain situations.
Incompatible with Frail and the Inner Balance trait.
[]Scales
Dragon-like scales grow on part of your body. People will find you repulsive, and smallfolk and nobility alike might openly talk about a curse.
Disadvantage to Diplomacy rolls in most cases of direct meetings, but considerably harder to harm.
[]Melancholic
You are moody and often depressed. Often times, you just cannot be bothered to do things.
The GM rolls a Melancholy roll every round. On a 1 on a d6, you lose one action.
[]Distracted
You find it harder to focus. You just cannot keep your thoughts straight.
It is more difficult for you to raise Learning and Administration, and it might also be more difficult to raise Warcraft, depending on the situation.
Gain Disadvantage: On Intrigue rolls for the purpose of sneaking or staying silent.
Gain Disadvantage: On Learning rolls for the purpose of crafts or other fine manual labour.
Incompatible with Mental Clarity and the Agility Boon.
May not be taken if you choose to take two curses.
Well, this now is all behind you. You are in the air again, on Balerion, the near full moon above you. And he is flying straight northwest, towards Westeros. Soon, you will be back. Back together with your mother, with your uncle on the throne, with the bustling life of King's Landing, hopefully.
...you hadn't thought about all that for a while. You need to come to terms with what you would actually do once you're back. Well, you have a whole long flight to think deeply about that. For now, you at least know you are.
NAME: Aerea Targaryen
AGE: 16
DRAGON: Balerion the Black Dread
STRESS: 5 out of 100
SKILLS
PROWESS: You feel like you are en par with an average knight, which is not bad for a 16 year old girl. And you are sure few of the knights can handle themselves as well you outdoors or on a hunt.
WARCRAFT: You are new to the art of war, but have picked up some few tricks.
ADMINISTRATION: You know that you should buy at low prices and sell at high prices. Not much more.
LEADERSHIP: You hope Balerion will win arguments for you.
DIPLOMACY: You know how to speak in both Noble-ese and Smallfolkish, and that's about it.
INTRIGUE: Why sneak if you have a dragon and Valyrian swords?
LEARNING: You know no craft, trade or science, and at best have the basics of general knowledge.
DRAGONFLIGHT: You utterly excel at it. Your bond with Balerion is deep, and you can handle all situations up in the air.
SORCERY: You have a good bit of natural understanding for it. No real expertise yet, but you can intuit more than a Maester without Valyrian steel ring will know.
PERMANENT (DIS)ADVANTAGES
HORSERIDING: Major advantage on Prowess rolls for the purpose of horseriding.
STRENGTH: Advantage on Prowess rolls for the purpose of pure physical strength.
FEATS
ENDURING: You can deal far better with lack of subsistence or shelter, and especially lack of sleep. Multi-day flights are no problem for either you or Balerion
TRAITS
UNCEREMONIOUS: Crucial formative years of your live were spent away from court, among smallfolk. You are comfortable around them, and you know how they tick. As a result, you do not expect courtesies or special respect from the smallfolk. In fact, you thrrive around them.
HORSEGIRL: Your happiest years were spent in the stable. Horses still bring a smile to your face, and it is relaxing for you to care for them. Even now that you have Balerion, rides on 'mere' horses are still great fun. On the flipside, you also would dislike seeing horses hurt.
AMBITIOUS: After your arduous journey, it is not enough for you to have a comfortable, good life. You want more. You want to be more. This can manifest in any number of ways, but you do seek power and a place in the annals of history, and at least a part of your mind will always be tuned towards seeing things in that light.
NATURE LOVING: You have developed an appreciation for the wilderness and its beauty. After your long, lonely journey, you quickly begin to feel trapped Inside of large buildings or in sizable settlements now. You need to go out now and then to sea the beauty of nature for yourself.
DETAIL MINDED: You are not content with just the status symbols and titles of ruling. You want the details of administration, of the realm, of its subjects and taxes and roads and agricultural yield. Nobody can escape by saying the right words of homage to you – you want the substance. And if you can't invest time into that, you will get restless.
FACTORS
None so far
CURSES
BLOODLUST: There is a hunger inside you. And you have at least an inkling of what can satisfy it: Blood. You want to see it spilled... and even more so if it is Valyrian blood. You will slowly, over time, accumulate stress if going too long without causing some violent bloodshedding. Bloodshed against Valyrians and dragons will stave off the accumulation for longer.
MELANCHOLIC: You are moody and often depressed, which results in apathy. Now and then, you cannot be bothered to do much at all beyond staying in bed. Before every round, the QM throws a d6. On a 1, you lose one action that turn.
CONNECTIONS
RHAENA TARGARYEN: Your mother. You communicated through shouting only when you left.
ALYSANNE TARGARYEN: She showed concern towards you, and promised you to get you off Dragonstone, but then never did. You are still a bit resentful about it, but appreciate that she was the only one who did show concern. And maybe she still does.
An explanation of the game mechanics. Or the overt game mechanics at least, though so far there are no hidden mechanics.
Skills
Whenever you face a challenge, skills will be involved. The narrative side of Aerea may be driven by other factors, but skills represent the core of the mechanical side. Right after Chargen, you will know your exact stat in every skill (since you can just add your chargen options up), but afterwards you will only be given a rougher estimation via the skill ranks. An in-depth explanation of what skills means for rolling dice and a list of single skills follows at the end of the post.
---Advantages/Disadvantages
An advantage means you roll with one die more, and then take the three highest dice for the result. A major advantage means you roll with two dice more, and then take the three highest one. It is similar with (Major) Disadvantages, but you take the lowest three dice there. Most advantages and disadvantages will be situational, borne out the circumstances you are in and whether they favour you or not. But some are permanent part of your character sheet, at least until something may happen to make you lose them again.
---Specializations
You can gain specializations in skills, each of them covering a certain subset of the skill. If you have such a specialization it means your skill rank will be treated as being 1 or 2 (case by case basis) for the sake of rolls in that subset.
Feats
Feats are your abilities that are not represented by just skills. For example, the Feat: Polyglot means you can speak and easily learn several foreign languages - something that would fall within Learning among the skills, but be only poorly represented. This is what feats are for in general.
Traits
Traits do not grant you any bonuses or abilities. Rather, they define Aerea's personality. An Aerea with the Trait: Curiousity will probably want to explore all areas she's going to, while an Aerea with the Trait: Compassionate could not stand to see a person suffer. Thus, Traits will determine Aerea's behaviour and attitude throughout the quest, and will also influence the choices questers can made. Certain traits will open new choices, or close off others. They also play a major factor in when Aerea is taking or reducing Stress.
Factors
Sometimes, it isn't about you. If you have earned the animosity of a Great House, then that is something that will stick with you, something to legitimately appear on your character sheet, but it is not something inherent to you. Same with having a good reputation, or contacts, or rumours attached to you. These external matters are (external) Factors. They will not determine how Aerea behaves... but they will, at times, determine, what challenges she will encounter, or what resources are available to her.
Stress
While Aerea has a fixed personality, the questers are still free to make decisions for her how they see fit. Stress is how those two things are reconciled. Yes, you can make decisions as you see fit – but some decisions will cause Stress in Aerea. What is this is usually determined by her traits, but also her contacts. Aerea starts out as a wilful youth; if you decide she does submit to authorities and tasks, this will cause her considerable Stress. Working out the issues with her mother will also cause Stress. There are also events that can cause Stress – setbacks, traumata, etc etc.
Stress can be reduced by various means. Standard rounds will have actions to reduce stress, and certain decisions can decrese stress as well. This might be even more coloured by traits – being in the wilderness might cause stress to a hedonistic, urbanite Aerea, but will reduce stress for a nature-loving Aerea. However, if let to its own devices, stress will rather increase than decrease over time.
Stress is measured on a scale of 1-100. Depending on chargen, Aerea might start with zero Stress, and then work her way up. If she hits 100 stress, she will have some sort of mental breakdown. The repercussions of that will be determined narratively, but it certainly won't look good if you are, say, fighting in a war and suddenly have a psychotic episode. You might also gain additional negative traits.
Goals
While Balerion's flight disrupted her life, Aerea still has things in that life she wants. She just didn't have a lot of space recently to think about them. Goals are basically she will be working towards – what you, as Questers will be working towards. Those can be relatively small things, like reconciliation with your mother, towards big things like, well, the Iron Throne. It can be very private things, like caring about your own freedom, or overtly political things, like wanting to see your name in the annals of history. Thus, a lot of the Quest will naturally be structured towards attaining Goals.
Attaining goals comes with benefits – if nothing else, the goal itself. Sitting the Iron Throne is quite sweet on itself, after all. But they will also come with major Reductions in stress. Meanwhile, if you fail goals, i.e. if it becomes impossible to ever achieve them again, you will gain considerable amounts of Stress.
Relationships
Another factor to keep in mind are the relationships Aerea has with people. In some cases, those may directly play into your Goals. In other cases, it's politics and conflicts and interpersonal drama depending on them. Often, it will be both. People can be opposed to Aerea, dismissive, fearful, hateful, regretful, etc. ... and this will all show in their actions towards her.
SKILLS
Whenever the success or failure of an action needs to be determined, rolls will be involved, and nearly always that will take the form of skills. Skills are rolled by rolling three dice of the same size, with the size being determined by skill stat. The sum of the die eyes is then matched against a target number that only the GM knows, or against a competing roll from an NPC. Circumstances, or your character sheet, may grant you Advantages or Disadvantages for a roll. In that case, one extra die is rolled per degree. When you have advantage, the lowest die is dropped, and with Disadvantage, the highest is dropped instead. This can be extended: You can also have a Major Advantage/Disadvantage, in which case two extra die are rolled, and the lowest/highest two are discarded, until only three remain to be summed up. And, theoretically, so on and so forth. Degrees of Advantage and Disadvantage cancel each other out, so having two degrees of Advantage and one degree of Disadvantage for the same roll means in effect having one degree of Advantage.
Rank
Skill Level
Dice
0
Incapable
-
1
Inept
3d2
2
Novice
3d4
3
Skilled
3d6
4
Proficient
3d8
5
Expert
3d10
6
Master
3d12
7
Grandmaster
3d14
8
Genius
3d16
9
Legend
3d18
10
Perfect
3d20
Prowess
This contains both raw physical strength, and also your personal ability to fight. Things like riding, reaction times, athletics and acrobatics would also fall under this.
-Street Thug: 2
-Knight: 4-5
-Kingsguard: 6-7
-Barristan Selmy: 9
-The Last Hero: 10
Warcraft
Anything to do with leading armies – from small gang fights to battle of tens of thousands, including strategy, tactics, logistics, etc.
-Knight: 3
-Sellsword Captain: 4
-Meritious General: 5-6
-Robb Stark: 8
-The Stallion Who Mounts the World: 10
Administration
Most of what has to do with running the realm – taxes, finances, law, effective crisis management, construction projects, etc. Does not include "politics" (deals, negotiations, etc), that would fall under Diplomacy.
-Housekeeper: 2
-Maester: 3-4
-Bureaucrat: 5-6
-Magistrate: 7
-Jaehaerys the Concilator: 9
-Garth the Gardener: 10
Leadership
Your personal aura of authority. There are official positions of authority, and then there is this – your ability to take command in any given situation, or how much people look to you for leadership. This also helps with the morale of troops, or with the loyalty of your personnel.
-Guards Captain: 3
-Captain-General: 5
-King raised to the position from birth: 6
-Berric Dondarrion: 8
-Azor Ahai: 10
Diplomacy
The art of talking to people. From just personal conversations and keeping good relations to your neighbour across the street, to diplomatic negotiations with another realm. Can also include haggling or manipulation.
-Local Gossip: 2
-Courtier: 3-4
-Well-travelled Bard: 4
-Educated Lord: 5
-Littlefinger: 8
Intrigue
This is used for all aspects of covert operations. It includes sneaking around yourself, but also manipulating people through speech (especially lies), knowing how to build up spy networks, recognizing spies, secret codes, knowledge about poisons, etc etc.
-Nosy Neighbour: 3
-Courtesan: 5
-Spymaster: 6-8
-Varys: 9
-Lann the Clever: 10
Learning
For everything where you need knowledge that does not fall into any of the other categories. Can be used to just appear sufficiently learned or sophisticated, but also to recall specific knowledge in a given field, like history, making potions, architecture etc, or als for crafts and healing and other things where you simply need expertise.
-Traveller: 2
-Well-read person: 3
-Maester: 4-6
-Grandmaester: 6
-Archmaester: 7
Dragonflight
The bond with your dragon and how good you are riding it.
Frankly, you do not know how good the others Targaryens are – your potential rivals.
Sorcery
For all your unnatural needs. Something to keep in mind: Unlike other Targaryen quests, this one does let you combine sorcery with other stuff. It is possible for you to half-ass sorcery. That is dangerous. Sorcery will not just "fail" and thus not work. It will fail catastrophically, and drag you down with it.
Oh, ah, and yeah. All posts have been reserved, you can post now. Teen Spirit told me it's probably best I I do announce that. It is my first quest, heh.
Many thanks to @Teen Spirit and @Azel for their help and the inspiration they provided and, uh, well, for the system Azel created and I just copied
[X] Plan: Came Back Strong
-[X] Shivering Sea
-[X] Grass Sea
-[X] Valyrian Steel
-[X] A Crown
-[X] Prowess
-[X] Sorcery
-[X] Bloodlust
-[X] Melancholic
So here's the thing, we're never going to beat Jaehaerys by playing a nice character. To claim our throne we have to overthrow what is fundmentally a fairly popular King. We need to lean into our biggest strength (Having the biggest Dragon alive)and play to areas where Jaehaerys is weaker (Sorcery, Magecraft).
[X] Plan The Horse Girl That Mounts The World
-[X] Shivering Sea
-[X] Grass Sea
-[X] Valyrian Steel
-[X] A Crown
-[X] Agility
-[X] Prowess
-[X] Restless
-[X] Scales
[X] Plan Dragonlady of the North
-[X]Skagos
-[X]Shivering Sea
-[X]Valyrian Steel
-[X]Precious Stones
-[X]Prowess
-[X]Wrathful
With this Plan we are the fierce Dragonrider that survived in the frozen north, returning stronger and hardier.
[X] Plan Heir of Doomed Valyria
-[X]Grass Sea
-[X]Mantarys
-[X]Valyrian Steel
-[X]A Crown
-[X]Sorcery
-[X]Possession
-[X]Scales
-[X]Bloodlust
With this Plan instead we are the twisted and cursed heir of the Valyrian Freehold, both of its glory and its madness. We wield great power, but to do it we have paid a terrible price.
So here's the thing, we're never going to beat Jaehaerys by playing a nice character. To claim our throne we have to overthrow what is fundmentally a fairly popular King. We need to lean into our biggest strength (Having the biggest Dragon alive)and play to areas where Jaehaerys is weaker (Sorcery, Magecraft).
I do largely agree with the assessment that killing with kindness isn't going to win the Iron Throne, but I don't think Maegor-come-again is the only route to a victory by force of arms. If we can take the support of the Faith out from under him, that presents both its own path to power and followers and a thorough, nigh irremovable network of supporters throughout Westeros.
We return to Westeros the picture of the Maiden, reignite the Faith of the Seven - Targaryen disputes and brew a holy war over Targaryen exceptionalists stealing the birthright of a true follower of the Seven that has been so blessed as to find a miraculous fragment of Hugor's crown and a band of Old Valyria to mount it on.
I would also like to remark that you don't have to go against Jaehaerys. The Goals section of chargen is in the next step, which I split up precisely because a goals list after so many chargen possibilities would lead to pretty chaotic list of "incompatible with...". So the goals list will be tailored to the character created in this step. But it can also include stuff like reshaping the realm (doesn't need to be Queen for that) or conquest (not necessarily Westeros) or studying the higher mysteries. Or also personal stuff, like reconciling with your mother or ensuring your freedom etc. Not travelling, though, you have done that quite a lot already.
That being said, you do have the better rights (strictly legalistically speaking), and being replaced as Jaehaerys' heir with the birth of Daenerys was one of factors contributing to your downward spiral on Dragonstone. So I understand if contesting the Iron Throne will be a popular choice and if chargen builds will prepare for that.
Of course, like always. I just stressed the need to plan-vote because, uh, I have seen it in quests that in the update, the decisions are not delineated according to category (like often in RhaenyraQuest), thus necessitating plans - but then people still don't use plans. Seems to happen a lot in Rethall's Beastmen quest (granted that... fits to beastmen....). So I wanted to avoid that. But approval voting is always fine, of course.
If we have to conquer a kingdom I'd rather it be on Essos than Westeros. Jaehaerys, for all his many faults, ultimately improves the lives of people on Westeros a lot as fairly effective king and administrator, and that's in addition to him being the only other person with dragons around, who could consequently push our shit in if it came to blows unless we get other dragon riders to help us, and these days all the other dragon riders are either Jaehaerys' wife or his kids
In contrast Essos may as well be free real estate in comparison.
Grass Sea and Mantarys for War and Leadership
Knowledge and Crown for Valyrian legitimacy
Prowess, Possession, Wrathful, Scales to literally be a strong, angry Dragon with the voice of what MUST be a dead Dragonlord (inherited a voice of a dead person in VALYRIA who knows a lot about war and statesmanship) in her head.
Valyria is reborn and it is ANGRY.
Just imagine the scene - she comes back as the lone known person to survive Valyria literally part Dragon and with a prodigious knowledge of single-combat, war and administration.
I want her to reforge a Valyrian Empire, in Westeros or Essos I don't care (though fuck Jaehaerys)
Like fuck this whole King/Queen shit, She's going to be Empress.
Scales over Melancholic DEFINTELY - it's basically a boon IMO, yeah it won't LOOK "pretty", but it's literally more durability and resistance to damage and offers "I am LITERALLY a Dragon" legitimacy from actually having Dragon scales. (I'm imagining what a dragon sorcerer gets in BG3)
Dragonflight STARTS at 6, and giving up a boost to Warcraft and Leadership for an extra +1 there is ABSOLUTELY not worth it.
And Wrathful just seems like a less problematic Bloodlust.
Aerea has BALERION. Balerion with a 6 beats literally any other Dragon with a 8, easily, if not a 9.
And this literally only applies in Dragon vs Dragon combat, becuase against literally anything else minor differences in Dragonflight won't make a difference - what could Dragonflight 7 do against an army of infantry and cavalry or a stationary fortification that Dragonflight 6 can't?
If we have to conquer a kingdom I'd rather it be on Essos than Westeros. Jaehaerys, for all his many faults, ultimately improves the lives of people on Westeros a lot as fairly effective king and administrator...
Who cares for the people's good, the throne was stolen from us! If the common good is the price to reright this wrong, that is a price I would gladly pay.
The world has betrayed us, we should not allow to do so ever again
[X] Plan: Came Back Strong
[X] Plan: Dragonlord Reborn
But more seriously, it's not a bad idea and could probably be fun, but I do really want to play a villain-esque quest where we overthrow the good and righteous king to claim our BIRTHRIGHT!
