House Starke is a major Vandal Noble Family located inside the Kingdom of Lucerne, where they stand as the Arch Lord of the Grand State of Winterfell from their seat at Winterfell. They hold one of the permanent spots on the Kings Council, due to being co-lord of Stormwind alongside House Lannister. As a Arch Lord House the ranks of House Starke's vassals including a huge amount of land northwest of Stormwind, and it is from these lands that a large portion of their wealth arrives from.
House Stark's sigil is a direwolf on a white field, sometimes white and green. Their family motto is "Winter is Coming", which is a token send off to the old ways of their ancient homeland of Norway.
House Starke was once the masters of Karhold in Westros but after the two leading men of House Starke at the time came to conflict the house split in two with the loyalists to Jordin Starke heading west towards the Valley of Lucerne, and the members following Josin Starke stayed in Karhold and became the leading power. Since their arrival in Stormwind they have grown to one of the most powerful houses in the entire Kingdom of Lucerne, and only their conflict with House Lannister could be made into perhaps a problem for them.
History
Early History
The Earliest moments for the founding of House Starke came following the war between the White Walkers and Numenorians where the land was being rebuilt by the Numenorians but unknown to them was the fact that an agent of Odin had been sent there as well in the form of Vera Stonesnake. Vera would come to gain control of the Vandals who were being settled into the land between the rising walls the Numenorians were building, and these Vandals would be molded by Vera and during this time she came to love a Vandal man and mothered a child with him in the form of Eddard who became the first member of House Starke.
Karhold
Main Article : The First Kingdom of Bolten
The next evolution of House Starke begin as they would start leaving the Empire and found their way past Arnor into the region of Westros. When they arrived in Westros they kept moving south until they arrived in what is now the Bolten region. When they arrived in Bolten they begin setting up roots, and quickly through handwork, and the strength of their early leaders they became the leading House in the region. As the region surrounding them became known as Karhold the House became leaders in their own right, and came to be known as the King of Karhold. During this time the House was led by Jordin Starke, and he was silently facing resistance from his brother Josin Starke, who wanted to rule on his own without his brother.
Fall of the Kingdom of Winter
Main Article : House Starke Civil War
- “Once my son, there were four sons, and a single daughter all born your great ancestor Brenten Starke. The first son was a noble knight, and the destined heir. The second son was a scared, evil young man that was hated by many, and loved by none. The third son was the spitting image of the first son, and he followed at his brother's heels. The final son was a quiet by educated man that made strong friends, and was beloved by many, and hated by none. The daughter was a sweet girl loved deeply by her siblings, and it was only the dark love of the second son that would tarnish her.”
- — Eddard Starke to Robb, and Brann Starke
In the trailing days of the Kingdom of Winter, the Lord of House Starke in Brenten Starke would sit and look at his family. He had four sons, and one daughter of which his oldest son Brenten the second was his heir and beloved by the people of the land. His second son Artolf was a twisted man, that had spent too much time in the hands of the Urnet's, and Boltens and had been twisted by that influence. The third son Eddard had spent his life as a squire for the Hornwoods, and had the love of the east. The final son Rodrik was a quiet young man that while skilled with horse, and sword was more apt to be found reading then he was to be found fighting. The final child in the form of his daughter Lyanna Starke I. was beloved by all of the Starke's, but the love her brother Artolf had for her was a dark taboo that she kept secret for fear of his wrath. This peace would end in a most tragic way, as following an attempt by a northern house to leave the Kingdom of Winter the King of Winter would send his son Brenten to end the rebellion, and during the attempt he was accidently killed by an arrow from his own men. The death of Brenten Starke II. would send the entire house into a tailspin as everyone agreed tht in no way should Artolf be named heir, and when Brenten told Artolf that he was being passed over in favor of Eddard, it was with great rage that Artolf fled Karhold, and made his way to the Dreadfort with his sister Lyanna as a silent captive.
- “When Brenten died the whole thing just fell apart I suppose. It was his unquestionable right to the throne that held all from even thinking treasonous thoughts, and then with him gone every coward, and evil man in the land came of the woods to spin their webs.”
- — Eddard Starke to Robb, and Brann Starke.
The fleeing of Artolf, and the kidnapping of Lyanna Starke caused Brenten great sadness, and despite the ability to storm the Dreadfort he feared the death of Lyanna and thus continued for the rest of his sickness shortened life to get his son to return to Karhold. Upon the death of Brenten Starke the Winter Kingdom would fall to Eddard Starke I., and Eddard sent another letter to his brother and this time his brother would send word that he wished to return to Karhold and be forgiven by his family. Rodrik Starke would plead with his brother not to allow him to return, and when Eddard rejected his please Rodrik would flee the Winter Kingdom with his family for the Moonset Islands. When Artolf Starke arrived he arrived with the heir to House Bolten, and House Urnet, and after a happy meeting the city would awake to news that Eddard Starke had been killed in his sleep. Outside the city the armies of the Urnets, and Boltens had arrived and the search begin for Eddard's family, but they could not be found because Rodrik had arrived in the night and taken them out of the city and moved them by boat westward into the Divine Lands where the Goths of the Winter Kingdom had no reach. Following this Artolf Starke would rename himself Artolf Karstark and alongside the children he had fathered with his sister Lyanna his family became known as the Karstarks after the city they had taken. Artolf would be shocked though when instead of ruling the Winter Kingdom he found himself pushed aside as the Boltens set up a council of which quickly became the Boltens ruling the land, and despite his attempts to resist this he watched the name of the Kingdom change, and the Winter Crown was forgotten.
Stormwind
See Also : Stormwind
Conflict with Lannisters
See Also : House Lannister
Lucernian Invasion of Gondor
Main Article : Lucernian Invasion of Rhunian
Lucernian Invasion of Rhunian One day you men will look back and ask yourself what the hell you did here. You attacked us while were fighting monsters. So much for the honor of the Dragons. |
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The Lucernian Invasion of Rhunian begin after an increasingly devolving James Lovie II. recieved word from Gondor that they needed help in fighting the Orcs on their eastern border. James would summon the council of Lucerne and reluctantly everyone outside of Forks came to the meeting but instead of proposing assistance to Gondor it was James that discussed his desire to attack and gain control of the Rhunian region of Gondor. Upon hearing this the Starke forces that were present would react with shock and resisted this heavily, but in this they were supported by none of the other members of the council who all have been successfully intimated by what everyone knows was James reaction to the last time the lords resisted him in the form of The Plague. When Eddard Starke continued to resist the wishes of James it was James Nighting and several guards who brought Rickon Starke, and Lyanna Starke and in front of the council Rickons life was threatened if Eddard did not agree to follow through. Unwilling to lose his son and sister it was Eddard that agreed to lead his forces in assaulting Gondor, and alongside Winterfell it was the Grand State of Castamere and several other prominent areas in the Valley that would be commanded to begin preperations for the assault on Rhunian. Eddard would remain behind after the rest of the council was sent away and it was made clear that Rickon, and Lyanna would remain in Lucerne and that if the Starke's did not make good on their word then not only would Rickon, and Lyanna be executed but the next council meeting would be about removing House Starke from their position.
While this was being planned it was James that was communicating with Gondor about his plans to support them in a push into Umbar to create a barrier between the two nations, and thus Gondor was moving troops to the Ethring region while Lucerne was moving troops to the Gondor border. Rhunian thus would have only its own forces, and a small amount of reserves from Gondor to defend it if the Lucernians attacked the land, but one element that the Lucernians had not anticiapted was the arrival of Tur-Eldarion Elessar a prince of Gondor who arrived in Langstrand to begin recruiting troops in Rhunian and this drive for recruitment would bring thousands of extra troops into Rhunian. When the Starke's did little more then send small outriders against northern Rhunian, and a contingent of Mormont men from Bear Island it was left to the Lannisters to actually instigate the conflict. Tywin, and Tygett Lannister would send hundreds of cavalry into central Rhunian against the villages along the border, and proceeded to ransack and pillage the entire area leading to at first confusion from Gondor who had signed alliance papers and had principally agreed on a mutual plan to attack Umbar. Gondorian diplomats were imprisoned in both Castamere and Winterfell and attempts to communicate were met with silence leading to a shocked Gondorian prince Tur-Eldarion to send word to the Gondor capital that was was now declared with Lucerne. Lannister Invasion of Langstrad
As the Gondorians were mobilizing it was the Lannisters who smashed into the western areas of Rhunian taking control of dozens of villages and putting four towns under siege. House Lannister moved their main army straight out of Lannistane alongside all of their vassals, and other houses and moved directly towards Langstrand. The Lannisters were led by Tywin Lannister of whom took complete charge of the siege of Langstrand, and then he sent his family members to take control of the various villages, and castles nearby. The defenders of Langstrand were offered quarter, but refused under the command of Haalbrad and demanded the Lucernians leave their lands or else face the consequences. The defenders were outnumbered, but Langstrand sat on the edge of water, and the river bed was shielded by cliffs which meant they could get some supplies inside, thus making the siege even longer. Invasion of TolhnenElements from Mander, and southern Castamere landed by boat in southern Rhunian and placed the town of Tolhnen under siege as well as spread out throughout the coastline of southern Rhunian attempting to gain control of the entire southern coast. Sack of TolhnenInvasion of TorginiathWith his brother Guntram still missing it was Arwin that took command of the House Jest forces during the Lucernian Invasion of Rhunian and his forces would launch a naval invasion of the port town of Minas Torginiath, but before he could reach the port he took part in a brief naval battle outside Torginiath where he sunk most of the Gondor navy. Having gained control of the port of Torginiath it was Arwin that situated his forces in a garrison position as per his commands from the Lannister high command, and prepared for any sort of invasion by the forces of mainland Gondor. During this garrison duty he would become close with the Admiral of the Torginiath naval forces in the form of Ka-Alisse Maethadis, and their friendship would allow for a more peaceful control of Torginiath as Alisse assisted him in controlling the city. Arwin would agree to Alisse's desire to travel to Tolhnen and try and save her brother and sent her there with three men, and before she left the two shared a kiss and promices of more for the two of them hung in the air as she left Torginiath for Tolhnen. Exodus of TorginiathThe men that Arwin had sent to accompany Alisse to Tolhnen returned and told him that she had been executed alongside hundreds of other innocents by the order of Alberich Grefford, as well as telling him that Alberich was on his way to Torginiath. Realizing what Alberich would do if he came to Torginiath he would take his ship and meet with Admiral Ka-Nethion Authion and would faciliate the exodus of hundreds of high ranking nobles out of Minas Torginiath by boat, and when Alberich arrived this exodus was almost complete and once again in his desire to continue his ethnic cleansing program it was Alberich who attempted to order a fight with the Gondor navy. This attempt was resisted by Arwin and once again Alberich prepared to fight a fellow Lucernian force, and this time there was no high ranking Lucernian commander to stop him and thus started the Skirmish At Torginiath. During the brief skirmish between the forces loyal to Arwin and those loylal to Alberich hundreds were killed but when the population of Torginiath came to the streets in support of Arwin it was Alberich that forced to flee the city leaving Arwin firmly in control of Torginiath. Invasion of AdrahilWith the Lannisters fully preparing to invade and once that war being declared it was the Starke's no matter what they wanted, and they massed all their vassals into the area now known as Arathor and prepared to attack into Central Rhunian and upwards, while the Lannisters already had mobilized were preparing to attack southern Rhunian, and upwards from there. It was this point that James Lovie would send forces from his own Circle of Magi of whom led by Kieth Schwartz, and accompanied by men from House Lerman under the command of Faedra Lerman, and Logan Lerman and these forces were sent to watch over the leadership of House Starke of whom James Lovie had no trust in. The strategy of House Starke though was for their forces to thrust against the large town of Adrahil, while there forces then moved against the villages north of Adrahil in an attempt to draw the Gondor soldiers into pitched battles that worked against them. They would be led by Eddard Starke, and Brandon Starke of which the two brothers would lead the siege of Adrahil. Gondorian Counter Attack
Following this the conflict escalated very quickly when despite the conflicts on the eastern half of their Kingdom the forces of Gondor moved significant forces to the western half against the forces of Stormwind. During this escalation the forces of House Lannister, and House Starke moved increasingly to the front, with both sides employing different strategies. House Lannister and its forces continued to move against the area around the large Gondor town of Langstrand which they had surrounded with forces, and moved a smaller force of more elite irregular troops led by many of their more elite forces to harass the lands south of Adrahil where the main thrust of House Starke was moving against. This strategy worked with both the forces assisted by a small detatchment sent from House Ordos. House Ordos sent an elite force of siege experts that assisted with both the siege of Langstrand, and Adrahil with both logistics and leadership for goals of the sieges. On the other side of the conflict was the defenders of Gondor of whom were led by Eldarion Elessar, his brother Ildarion, and their uncle Halbaard Elessar. The conflict in the east was dire, and thus Gondor was forced to rely on the two princes, and the forces they brought were relatively weak auxiliary forces from south western Gondor, and not the more battle hardened eastern troops. The forces of Gondor were obviously relying mainly on defenders made up of the forces of the two major towns Adrahil, and Langstrand and because of this they were in a lot of trouble when it came to the massive forces being brought to bear by Castamere, Winterfell, Mander, and Hillsbrad. The northern town of Adrahil was led by the two sons of the King, while Lanstrand was held by Halbaard Elessar making for serious leadership in the two towns. Hiding
It would be at this time that Liana Beyne would be nearly completely in love with Philip Prester by the time the two were fourteen and it was this love that led Philip to take drastic actions when his father sent him word about the invasion of Rhuthian. The word came in the form of several pages, and a man at arm in the form of Tristen of Feastfires of whom would take Philip aside and tell him he needed to come with them as the attack on Rhuthian was weeks away. Learning this he would in the dead of night sneak away from the sleeping Tristen of Feastfires and go to Liana's father Menagil Beyne of whom would assemble his family after hearing what Philip had to say, and would put complete faith in the young Philip Prester when he handed him over his two daughters for protection, and with only supplies and horses he sent them away from Castle Beyne for the west. Tristen of Feastfires would awaken and realizing quickly what had happened left the castle with little resistance from House Beyne of whom was happy to have him and his two squires gone. Philip would reach the Gondorian port town of Leghland where they found passage to Lucerne where shortly after arriving on shore they found a large encampment of Lucernian forces carrying the banner of House Starke. Going into the camp of House Starke Philip Prester would present himself to the Starke leadership of whom listened to him as he was the heir to a powerful house, and they would do the honorable thing when they sent him northward with Liana and Vellia to Winterfell. As the conflict neared its beginning his presence in Winterfell would become known when Tristen of Feastfires finally found his trail after weeks of looking, and would lie saying Tywin Lannister himself had summoned Philip, and with this command in place Philip would tearfully say goodbye for a time to Liana Beyne while traveling with Tristen to the forces of House Prester. Chasing the PrinceWhen he was given word that Ildarion Elessar had fled Adrahil and was moving south he sent his most trusted commander in his son Jaime Lannister north to chase him down with most of the heavy cavalry and the entire force of House Reyne that had come with House Lannister. Jaime Lannister would move quickly north, but was very careful to move his large force out of sight of any force that they saw and through this strategy he moved undetected through Gondor and begin stalking Ildarion Elessar and his force so that he could capture the prince before the Starke's got him. Jaime got close to Ildarion Elessar twice but both times Ildarion was able to meneaver himself away from the forces of Jaime Lannister, and escape. Either way the forces of Ildarion were basically reduced to running around for nearly a month as they were chased by Jaime Lannister and this left them unable to take part in any actual fighting.
While Jaime was searching for Ildarion Elessar his brother in Tyrion Lannister moved throughout the region between around Langstrand with a largely weakly equipped ground force and begin capturing the various castles, and forts that dotted this region. These forts, and castles were far weaker then they had ever been because the west was seen by Gondor as the area that they least needed to be worried about. Despite this though Tyrion had to deal with each of these defences of which the largest was the fort of Amon Hen of which was defended by six hundred men of Gondor and was perched on a cliff overlooking the valley around it. Tyrion would use great skill in traversing the valley around the fort which allowed him to sneak his forces to the depths surrounding the fort. The forces of Gondor in many places fought to the last man, but were clearly given some orders for larger garrisons to surrender and save their lives. In Amon Hen the defenders lost some three hundred troops in the suprise attack, but still held on for hours before they surrendered and were sent westward as prisoners. With Tyrion sacking castle after castle he finally had managed to block the eastern river approach into Langstrand thus closing the city off from supplies by the water, and thus making starving them out once more an option. The Chase Expands
Theon Greyjoy joined Robb Starke in a raiding party that was basically meant to harass, and capture large tracts of land in the hopes of getting the Gondorians to leave their fortifications and walk into traps north of Adrahil. While they did this Jon Snow led a smaller group of heavy cavalry against the villages of this area, and he slowly but surely became a sort of vangaurd for the larger cavalry force of Theon, and Robb. At this point with fighting breaking out all over the region the main army of Eddard Starke supported by House Baratheon and some logistics sent by House Ordos moved against the town of Adrahil and put the town completely under siege. Before they could get the entire town under siege though one of the brothers in Ildarion left the city from the west with a large force of heavy, and light cavalry and made his way south to defend Langstrad where the the city was more capable of falling quickly. With Adrahil under siege and the objective of starving the town out until it surrendered Eddard gave the command to begin the heavy harrasment in the north. House Mormont and the Bear Island troops would capture nearly all the mines, and livestock of the area and bring it westward, while the other Bear Island troops ransacked northern Rhunian and took the spoils into Lucerne. While this was happening the forces of House Tarly of whom commanded a large force would move eastward towards Lamedon, where they would arrive and thus block off the ability of Gondor to send any kind of supplies or reinforcements into the area. Randyll Tarly would hold two castles west of Lamedon, and despite attempts by the Lamedon troops to dislodge him, he was a master tactision and was unable to be removed.
Theon and Robb would command together a force of cavalary of which they used brilliantly and after raiding the village of Meadow's Grove they noticed a rather large group of Gondor soilders marching eastward and they immediatly begin following the group. After a full day of marching the Gondor forces set up camp inside a forest and they believed they had the night to rest before marching again. This was a large mistake, and the forces of Theon and Robb moved quickly to surround the camp. While they surrounded the camp the forces of Jon Snow moved against the only real chance of the Gondor force to be saved when they moved against a cavalry force led by one of the local commanders. In the coming Raid on Groilline Jon Snow would discover that Ildarion was with that camped force, and would send word to Robb about this, while Jamie Lannister was not told or made aware of any changes. Raid on Groiline
During the days of the war with Gondor, Jon Snow was tasked with a small unit of troops that he was tasked with raiding the northern farmlands in order to draw out the outstretched Gondor forces into the trap of the army of House Lannister, and House Starke. In Jon's role he would become aware of how outstretched the Gondor forces were when he chased a force of Gondor cavalry through the night and as he passed by the village of Groiline his scouts reported no defenders. His scouts informed him that the cavalry had no intention of stopping as they were moving eastwards towards Prince Ildarion of whom was being shadowed by both Robb Starke, and Jaime Lannister. Seeing this as an oppurtunity he would stop chasing the cavalry and would instead move his force to Groiline and capture the village, thus unknown to Ildarion Elessar and his forces the road west was free for them to go back through, but without knowing that they made camp that nigh with no knowledge they were trapped on all sides except one.
Ambush at Meadow's Grove
Robb immediatly engaged him in combat and on his own velition was able to defeat him only because he could tell that Ildarion was half dead from fatigue, and being unequipped with armor, or a shield. When Ildarion fell defeated the rest of the Gondor force was swiftly throwing down their weapons and surrendering leaving the full Starke force with a nearly complete victory. With Ildarion defeated Robb was egged on by Theon to kill him, and for a moment Robb contimplated listening to his friend but he then thought strategically and realized that if they had the prince they could basically ransom whatever they wanted from the Gondorians. With this in mind Robb decided instead of killing him he would instead take him in as a prisoner, and ordered the force to pull back to their original position with their now sixty prisoners along with the prince of Gondor. Prisoner
Robb Starke would pull his force back behind the lines, and there would set up a camp for all the prisoners they had captured and then sent word to his father about the capture of Ildarion, which would then spread like wildfire. When Eddard heard of this news he sent word to Eldarion in Adrahil of whom then sent word to Aragorn of this change in events. Aragorn had two options in front of him. The first option was to engage the Lucernians in a full pitched battle which he might lose, and if he didn't lose he would most likely lose on the east because of all the causualites. Or he surrendered most of the Gondor lands west of the River Rhine. In the end he would send word to Eldarion that their forces were going to surrender under the terms that all Gondor citizens, and forces be allowed free pass into Gondor, along with the return of Ildarion, and all prisoners. Bill Lovie would send word to Eddard that he was incoming to the camp that Eddard and Tywin Lannister were meeting, but when the letter came the servent that brought it told them that Bill planned to execute Ildarion on the spot.
Both commanders understood that if they did this it would mean all out war which was stupid since they could have all of this land with no bloodshed. Because of this they hid the note, and told the scout that the prisoners were already in transfer back to Gondor. With this information Bill Lovie would return to Lucerne instead of seeing the two Lords, and they both knew they had made an enemy that day. When this happened Ildarion was given word by Robb Starke that he was to be released along with all of his men. The two would discuss the coming world that they both lived in, and Robb Starke would gain a lot of respect for Ildarion, and the same would be true of Ildarion for Robb Starke. |
Founding of Anthor
Main Article : Founding of Anthor
Founding of Anthor Father it is time. You must come with us. This is the only way the Kingdom can ever truly heal. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Following the crowning of William Lovie III. as the King of Lucerne many drastic changes were going on in the Kingdom of Lucerne, and one of these was the idea of the necessity of a port in eastern Lucerne to be the center of the navy of Lucerne. This eastern location would also allow them to combat the increasing piracy that was coming from Yairs (Region) and in time William wanted to incorporate them into the Kingdom of Lucerne. William also wanted to expand the control of the Lucernian Kingdom in the east with the feeling that most of the region was either of dubious loyalty or underpopulated the region of Anthor was chosen for the site of the new port. The Order of the Red Dragon had the funds and materials needed to begin construction of the Lucerne navy but no great port existed, and Lannistane was deemed to dangerous a location to do it at since the Lannisters couldn't be fully trusted. William would send Varian Anthor his family and vassals eastward where they would found a port on the island now to be named Anthor. The Port of Eastfall would become the beacon of the eastern section in a part of the land where there was little Lucernian presence. The vast province of Winterfell was somewhat broken up to make way for the larger state of Anthor and the many provinces within it, and this was compromise of later giving House Starke land north of Anthor (Later would become Hentwood). The lands that became Anthor would be rich in fishing, and had some mining, but the main operations of the house would be built around Eastfall and the trade that would grow from being the center of eastern trade for the Kingdom of Lucerne.
The Port of Eastfall's construction would be the responsibility of both House Anthor and the Order of the Grey Dragon of whom had already worked magic reconstructing Tree Hill. The Port of Eastfall was constructed over several months and during this time House Anthor was busy travelling around the new state making sure that everything was going according to plan, and during this time they were met by members of House Starke who arrived in the near built port of Eastfall. During this time Leonardo Mevinlo would arrive in the port with nearly two hundred engineers and thousands of workmen from the west. Leonard had been tasked with completing the port as quickly as possible and that the Order would fund a basic design on its own, and that House Anthor would be responsible for any expansions on the plan. Finding Varian very much interested in growth he would be tasked with quickly adding to the construction several extra docks, and a large expansion of the Anthor esates.
The Starke's were led by Robb , and Brandon Starke while accompanied by Jon Snow and his friend Samwell Tarly in order to meet with the new Noble House that existed on their doorstep. Kevan Ambry also arrived in the area in order to make sure everyone knew that he was the first in line for the lands north of Anthor that were being promiced, and he arrived around the time that Keven, and Tyrek Lannister also arrived in order to see what was happening and how it would affect Castamere. Candice Anthor was placed in charge of leading the visiting nobles around and making sure they were kept happy, and she did this extremely effectively to the point that Keven Lannister bid her whether she would be open to a marriage to young Tytos Lannister. She would politely refuse but Jon Snow was listening in and watched as she eyed him afar, and after this she would confront Jon on evesdropping. She would kiss him, and the two would begin to take it farther until he stopped her telling her that his heart was with another. Following this the whole group would group together to meet with a large party of Frey's that her father had bid come to the port and see the scope of what was planned in order to further relations under the overal command of William. Frey Trouble
The Kingdom of Lucerne would make it a point to invite the Frey's and under the command of William Lovie III. the Frey's were to be treated with the utmost of care. William though would be skeptical of them at the same time due to the conversation that he had with Menelia Proudmoore during the Nortburg Tournament of 5125 where Menelia Candice Anthor, and Jon Snow would continue to spend time together and she continued to attempt to seduce him, but his father's teachings about honor made him unable to do so. She would go to the port when the Freys arrived with Jon Snow beside her, and as the Freys visited it seemed clear to the Lucernians that the Freys were after a marriage. After discussions over the female Frey's that they brought with them went well it was believed by all those that were there that everything was going according to plan. After the Freys returned with Roslin Frey the most pretty of the girls that had been sent the Lucernians would make the mistake of not bringing Tytos Lannister to the meeting (Keven had been commanded not to by Tywin Lannister knowing that it would make them think it was Robb Starke they were offering) and this led the Frey's to believe that Robb was being offered. When this was made verbal there was laughter from several Lucernians who saw it as a joke that the Freys would believe Robb Starke would marry someone like a Frey. Black Walder Frey would take out his sword and fighting nearly broke out before his father Stevron Frey grabs ahold of him and controls the situation. The Freys leave after this with parting words from Lothar Frey being very threatening to Robb Starke of whom they feel greatly insulted them.
The Frey's would return to their ships following the argument and despite attempts by many including a near marriage proposal created by Candice Anthor and Stevron Frey the other Freys were intimidated by Black Walder Frey and refused to listen to the heir of Frey in Stevron Frey. On the route back from Eastfall it is known that during the night everyone went to bed, and the next morning the boat had its anchors up, and many on board were dead including Stevron his wife, and the captain. Everyone believed that Black Walder had done it, but unable to prove it and unwilling to be next on the chopping block noone mentioned it, and the story returning to Frey was that the captain had gone insane and killed Stevron and his wife. Trouble in Highport
Alongside the other forces it would be Robin Highport that travels to Eastfall in order to take part in the celebrations for the new city alongside his friends. Shortly before they leave Fogtown his sister Lara Highport comes down with a sickness due to her pregnancy with their second child and thus stayed behind while Robin Highport left Fogtown by boat traveling to Eastfall. Arriving in Fogtown he finds his friends forcing him to go to the newest local brothel and after a confrontation with Percival Lott he is convinced that the only way to keep his relationship with Larra a secret is to follow their lead and thus he agrees to sleep with a whore at the brothel, and unknown to him the whore he is paired with is Vanessa Cleef of whom is in the process of being tricked by several noble girls into believing this will make her popular. Vanessa Cleef would travel to Anthor for the same reason as Robin, and accompanied by her family there was much thought to finding the fourteen year old Vanessa a future prospect for a husband, but in this regard she was extremely uncomfortable and was not looking forward to this. Entering the room where he believes he will sleep with a whore he finds Vanessa Cleef of whom convinced that she will popular if she sleeps with Robin decides to play the part as best she can, and so desperate for popularity is Vanessa that she is able to convince Robin that she is a whore at the brothel, and he eventually after having a connection with her sleeps with Vanessa.
Arrival of Kul Tiras
While the situation in Lucerne was coming under control it was other regions that were feeling a different feeling and of these the situation in Kul Tiras was one of fear and chaos. Following the marriage of Derek Proudmoore to Sauria Frey the relationship between the Freys and Proudmoore's should have gotten better but instead it had gotten far worse with Tiras ships and Frey ships fighting on the Rhine. This got worse when the Empire of Frey declared war on Kul Tiras in the Frey Invasion of Kul Tiras but despite having superior numbers the navy of Kul Tiras was able to defeat the Frey's at sea and thus push back the invasion. Realizing that they would not survive another invasion Kul Tiras first looked to the Riverlands, and Lorderon for assistance but when both negotiations went no where it was the Kingdom of Lucerne that would be viewed as the next best option. Meeting the Hearth Druids
The Truth Comes Out
William watches as Leven walks away from the tent and then lets Elsa into his tent where once inside she shows him the letter. Reading the letter it is written by an unknown writer but details how the Druids of the Hearth are corrupted by evil and mean to simply distract Lucerne so that there true plans can move forward. |
Game of Rivers
Main Article : Lucernian Invasion of the Riverlands
Game of Rivers Father it is time. You must come with us. This is the only way the Kingdom can ever truly heal. | ||
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Invasion of FairmarketMain Article : Invasion of Fairmarket
The leadership of Fairmarket was led by House Jennet of whom deployed their forces alongside nearly twenty thousand mercenaries hired from the Riverlands. While unreliable they gave them significant numbers and made a once easy invasion more of a problem. Eddard, Robb, and Brendan Starke led the forces of House Starke into the center of the attack. In the west Saiden, Darion, and other Scarlets led the attack but found that the forces of House Wilde and their vassals were reluctant to engage in actual conflict and were doing more retreating then anything elce. In the east the mercenarie forces of Fairmarket were joined by a small army sent from the Island of Frey of which were called freedom fighters but were sent by the Freys as an insult.
With the weakest section of the Fairmarket forces standing on the eastern front, it was the objective of the Lucernians to target that area. Jamie Lannister would instigate a situation where the mercenaries would march during the day and then both armies would camp during the night both sides never exposing themselves. After five days of this the mercenaries and Freys were becoming less and less prepared for battle, and this was exploited on the sixth day when Jamie Lannister moved his men during the night. The Fairmarket forces noticed this and assembled their forces for battle, but their scouts were slacking and did not notice the divergence of the Lannister forces and focused on in front of them. While Jamie moved right at them two larger forces moved in from the sides and enveloped the Fairmarket force. After fighting for several minutes the Mercenaries accepted defeat and would surrender with little hold out fighting, while the Frey`s fled eastward back to the ships on the coast. News spread quickly but not quickly enough for the main Fairmarket force of whom was stuck in between the Starke`s and the Lannisters.
While this was happening the Wilde family determined the time was right to change sides, and under the guidance of Olivia Wilde returned nearly all of their forces to Whellia. Back in Whellia Olivia Wilde would lead some two thousand men at arms and a hundred knights towards Fairmarket and behind all the fighting going on in the center. All of this went on while the Scarlet forces moved towards Whellia slowly as they feared they were being lured into a trap, and it was around this time that they were joined in the fight by the forces of House Lovie who were finally arriving in the area and brought overwhelming numbers. Olivia though arrived at Fairmarket, and without alerting the defenders of the Wilde turning on them would use Andrik Wilde to allow Olivia Wilde and the army of House Wilde to enter the city. Entering the city they turned on the Fairmarket forces, and burned and pillaged the town before massacring House Jennet, and taking nearly all the nobles prisoner. As this happened the forces of House Lannister arrived at the gates of Fairmarket joined by the well aware Saiden Scarlet and received the bodies of House Jennet as gifts. Saiden Scarlet would want to take the Wilde family prisoner, but Catherine Lovie had arrived and under the orders of William Lovie III. would command House Wilde spared and handed control of northern Fairmarket, while House Scarlet was given the south. Council of RiverrunMain Article : Treaty of Riverrun
When it came to the Riverlands the main power brokers were the most powerful house in the form of House Tully, the dominent northern house in the form of House Green, and the dominant southern house in House Blackwood. These three houses learned of the destruction of Fairmarket, and immediately the Tully`s made the decision to join Lucerne whatever was offered to them. House Blackwood would accept this as well, but many in the house wanted to resist for honor`s sake, but Brandyn Blackwood disagreed and invited the Lucernians to Raventree for a meeting. House Green led by Fadin Green was having difficulties in their north in fighting against the forces of the Deatheaters and thus was more then open to the idea of gaining a very important ally and thus in the spirit of gaining this ally Fadin would send his son and daughter to Fairmarket where they made their ideas clear. Unwilling to meet in a unknown venue such as Raventree the meeting took place in Riverrun. While this meeting was being formed it was House Keath one of the most powerful Riverlords who controlled the large Keath Islands in the southern Riverlands who go to the Lucernians at Fairmarket sending their heir and two daughters alongside several of their most powerful vassals in the form of House Butterwell, and House Vypros in order wot swear themselves into the Kingdom of Lucerne. Following the capture of Fairmarket Lord Tobben Keath would become horrified by the potential invasion of his own island and with this fear in mind he would send letters to the Lucernian forces now garrisoning Fairmarket and these letters opened up conversations about what swearing themselves to Lucerne would mean to them. The meeting in Riverrun would count in all the major houses of the Riverlands, and major elements from Lucerne including Catherine Lovie of whom led the Lovie delegation.
As the groups came together and met in order to arrange the alliance it would be a clear divide during the meetings about how House Tully, and most of the Riverlanders were very receptive to the words of Lucerne, with really only House Hantoway of the Western Islands of Hantoway, and secondly House Graege from the south western Islands of Greage providing any kind of resistance against the Kingdom of Lucerne's plans. Very similar to the current situation in the Riverlands it was decided that the Riverlands would become a Grand State of Lucerne with House Tully forming the Arch Lord of the Riverlands and gaining a seat at Lucerne, while the Riverlords would continue to be known as Riverlords but all fall within the Grand State of the Riverlands. Realizing that their resistance was going to mean little due to the agreement of House Tully, House Blackwood, House Keath, House Justman, House Goodbrooke, and House Lancer the leaders of House Hantoway, and House Graege would storm from the meeting to return to their seats with the belief that they would declare their independance from there. It was during this meeting that the true scope of what the Deatheaters were would become known to the Lucernians as led by the words of Seth Green the violence and chaos that had come with the arrival of the Deatheaters was detailed. Also during the meeting it was Harras Handlin that made the point of joining for the mutual protection of everyone against the increasing hostility of the Iron Islands of whom had started reaving against the lands of House Handlin as well as many other Riverland areas. Invasion of the Hantoway'sMain Article : Invasion of Hantoway The moment that House Hantoway, and House Graege stormed from the meeting it was decided by the Lucernian counterparts of the meeting that there resistence had to be stomped out immediatly and this took the form of House Proudmoore, and House Scarlet and all of their forces taking a Kul Tiras fleet and invading the Island of Hantoway. Annexation of the ValeMain Article : Treaty of Surdenfane |
Invasion of Westbridge
Main Article : Invasion of Westbridge
Invasion of Westbridge The Fall of Westbridge would shake the entire continent to its core. |
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William Lovie III.'s quick conquest of the Riverlands, and Fairmarket had led to the Lucernian Kingdom becoming a main part of the Empire foreign affairs to the point that the feelers were out to the Malfoy's of whom they would attack Hogwarts in their attempt to grow the relationship. House Starke, and House Lannister were tasked with leading the attack that Lucerne would launch from the sea, and they would bring all of their vassals and head northward from the Port of Stormwind. Over the course of several months dozens and dozens of ships had been constructed, or purchased from Westros and elsewhere in order to provide the required ships for the invasion, and these ships had all packed into the rivers of Castamere as well as the coasts of Bear Island. Eddard Starke was the leader of the Starke forces that were assembled to take part in the Invasion, and he along with House Lannister was tasked with using the ships that had been constructed to land on the two islands that existed in Westbridge, and hold them while spreading out from there leaving the Malfoy's attacked from all sides and no where to retreat too. On the lead up to the campaign it was members of the Kreigs Marine that were brought in as mediators for the two sides that despised each other and basically tasked with making sure that they worked together for the good of the invasion.
Eddard and his council met with Tywin, and his council at the Port of Stormwind where there armies were camped west of and together over the course of two days they decided on the best course of action. Eddard did make sure to show the letter he had recieved from William Lovie III. of which detailed the fact that if the two groups could not work together then Randyll Tarly would be placed in charge of the Starke's while for the Lannisters Hanzal Reyne would be made commnader. This was a great insult to Tywin Lannister and thus he would meet outside the room with Eddard and the two would come to an agreement that they would work together and not let this ruin the potential of this for the two families. They decided to land the majority of their troops on the main island, while they split their vassals, and banner houses into attacking the individual islands that dotted Westbridge city so that there would be no holdouts left. On the days preceding the leaving for the invasion Eddard relunctantly led his forces along with House Lannister on to the boats of the Kreigs Marine fleet, and they sailed up the river Rhine to coincide with arrival during the night.
The Trident would become the main block in the route of the Starke/Lannister forces moving northward, and it was thought of heavily by the overall battle commanders. Lucerne had sent several spies into the Trident, and on the days before the Invasion fleet landed they would spread rumors that the Riverlands had gone into rebellion and there was fighting across the entire land. When the fleet reached The Trident they were stopped by the Trident forces led by Symond Frey, Ryman Frey, and Walton Frey of whom forced the leadership of the Stark and Lannister forces to meet on the docks of the city. Following this it was Jamie Lannister, Robb Starke and a few other commanders that would meet with the Frey detachment led by several prominent Freys but mainly Symond Frey would be in charge of the direction of the negotiations. The talking went better then they thought, and after believing they had permission to leave the Starke's and Lannister forces went to leave but were stopped by Symond Frey of whom told them the conditions to get through.
The first was a major payment of gold of which they knew was coming, and the second was the marriage of two Starke's and several other nobles to Freys. Symond Frey would declare knowledge of Robb's bethrothal to Obella Martell and thus let it be known that Brann, and Arya Starke would be the two Starke's while the others would be decided later. Robb was forced to accept this knowing that the fleet could not take the Frey navy as they were not meant for heavy combat, and even if they did they would suffer terrible casualties and be unable to go any further. Agreeing to the arrangement they would leave, and as they were travelling back by boat to the fleet Jamie Lannister would insult the arrangement and Robb's failings and because of this the two got into a heavy fight which forced them to be pulled back from each other.
The North Islands
The attack on the northern islands was mainly an attack on the small wall estate that controlled the largest island, and its walls were small enough that the ships dropping them off would only need to make a few small holes in the wall in order for the troops to be able to spill into the estate and quickly take control of the island. The defenders were controlled by House Brand who controlled several vassals on the northern islands and was well fortified in the estate, but its vassals had been silenced by the Order of the Violet Dragon greatly weakening their defences.
The troops landed on the islands without much problems but a gaurd on the wall noticed their arrival as they spilled into the homes of the people of the northern island, and when this happened the bells went off, and the estate became aware of the attack. As Randyll Tarly led his forces into the breaches created by the ships the combined vassals of House Starke made simple work of the few defenders that had managed to wake themselves up in the middle of the night. As they broke the ranks of the defenders it was Dickon Tarly that dueled Ryan Brand the heir of House Brand and defeated him but spared his life, and this caused a general surrender of the House Brand forces and the northern islands with it. The Southern Island
The Southern Islands were heavily populated and even more heavily defended, but its main problem was the fact that House Lovie and the Order of the Red Dragon once they broke the southern gate would be coming at them from the front, while the forces of House Reyne, and House Tarback alongside their sworn houses would be coming in from the relatively undefended rear ranks. As the siege moved to the more heavily defended bridge areas of the southern islands the Kreigs Fleet moved the vassals onto the island, and then proceeded to move towards the main contested areas where they targeted the defenders with their on board archers, and balistas. The members of House Reyne made a straight movement towards the forces of House Rangold, while the remainder of the landed forces captured the southern islands one after another before taking the defenders of the main southern gate from behind and allowing inside House Lovie, and the Waffen Army. House Reyne led by Hanzal made their way into the House Rangold esate and shocked the house by having Haznal challenging the Lord of House Rangold to a duel. The two would fight for some time but Arthur Rangold fell, and prepared to die. Hanzal offered him the choice of death or becoming a sworn house, and Arthur chose to become a sworn house, and thus Hanzal had gained exactly what he wanted with basically no losses. The Main Island
While the attacks on the northern, and then southern islands were more easily accomplished it was the main attack on the largest island that would be the most interesting. It was here that the House Malfoy forces led by House Labeouf, and their vassals were the strongest, but it was also here that the forces of the Order of the Violet Dragon had become the most intermingled in the attack. When the forces of House Lannister, and House Starke made their way onto the island carefully planned rebels forces attacked Malfoy forces all across the island, and this was followed by the loyalist vassal houses openly turning against House Malfoy, and thus chaos was brewing behind the main lines as the forces of House Starke, and House Lannister engaged the forces of House Malfoy in the streets. House Malfoy was barely mobile at this point but its commanders were able to atleast launch a defence of the streets, but they were cut down as they were defending against a very well prepared and more numerous oponenet. With the death of several commanders of the defenders the defence collapsed and they begin retreating into the attackers hoping they would be able to surrender, and they were as this was part of the attackers mandate.
As the attacking Starke forces under Robb Starke moved forward they met with a detatchment of Mormont troops, and Robb and Dacey Mormont would chase several Malfoy men into a house where the two would battle alongside several other Starke, and vassal soldiers. Killing the Malfoy men the others left the house to continue the attack, but Robb and Dacey would remain and in the violence of the fight they begin kissing. There kissing became fevorous and they would make love amongst the dead within the house, and after they were finished Robb held her and she professed her love for him, but knew they couldn`t be together because of his relationship with Obella Martell and she accepted that. Leaving the house they joined the remainder of the mopping up and noone realized what had happened between the two lovers. Death of Lucius Malfoy
With the fall of the final gatehouse into the main city, and the quickly debarking marines from House Starke, and House Lannister the forces remaining under the command of Lucius Malfoy waited for his command, and he ordered them to retreat to the Malfoy Keep for what everyone believed was a last stand. At this moment more then half the remaining men under his command would lay their swords down instead of retreat, and thus Lucius travelled over the bridge with less then thirty men left and ordered the men to prepare for the final attack. He was reported to by a messenger that the Hall of the Deatheaters had just fallen, thus meaning their final means of escaping the city was gone as the forces of Hogwarts alongside the Order of the Blue Dragon had teleported directly inside the building after the wards had been destroyed by traitors within the Malfoy forces. With Westbridge fallen to the forces of Lucerne Lucius saw this as his chance to finally die. As his remaining men prepared to die in the last stand, he knew he had to make sure that his son Lucius wasn't going to make the same mistakes that he did. Lucius first went to his youngest son, and the only one left in his family who he felt had any morals left and told him the following.
Following this he took out his sword and walked to the center of the bridge connecting the main island to the palace, and stood waiting for the forces of Lucerne to come. His men waited around him horrified but still remaining loyal to the end, and in that moment he ordered them to lay their swords down, and return to stand with his family. After a few minutes Joshua Jackson arrived on the bridge with his men, and told Lucius to stand down and accept the surrender of the city. Lucius just laughed at them and said that his time was over, and if they had any compassion they would end him. Joshua knew something about compassion for the weak, and he ordered his men to stand down while he engaged Lucius in a duel. The two fought and as Draco watched on Lucius was killed by Joshua Jackson, and then released gently into the river.
Joshua would lead his men across the bridge and find the remaining members of House Malfoy and their vassal aristocrats lying on the ground with their swords thrown away. Seeing this he ordered his men to take them into captivity until they knew what to do with them. As the House Jackson men moved to do this, Draco finally came to the conclusion that would change everything. Draco would rise from the rest of the surrendered troops and stand up. His mother would yell at him to lay down, and think about his wife who was in another part of the city, but he had to escape and so he ran from the group and climbed to the top of the House Malfoy keep. Chased by the men of House Jackson, and the now arriving Lovie forces, and the shouting of his mother he would jump from the ramparts into the water nearly thirty feet down barely missing the rocks. Hitting the water he stayed under as long as he possibly could before hiding under the outcropping of rocks so that none could see him. The Jackson men believed he was dead, and thus he managed to escape but left behind much of his family and his wife and young son.
With the death of Lucius the capture of remaining resistence within the final Malfoy keep the city of Westbridge was well and truly fallen into the hands of Lucerne. William would meet with the commanders of the attack at the center of town, and already news filtered in about the fall of Yerness, and the numerous towns south of Wesbridge having fallen as well. Realizing he had a true victory William would have the Labeoufs brought to the center of the town where the large population of the town was brought forward, and from there he named the Labeoufs the new Arch Lords of the Grand State of Westbridge. Promicing to assist in rebuilding the city, the people would chear as the Malfoy`s and their madness was pushed out and the new Lucerne-Labouef union began. |
First Bolten-Lucerne War
Main Article : First Bolten-Lucerne War
- "The Kingdom of Bolten was the first time we were ever met agressively by an oponent, and at first we were shocked at their actions. I determined quickly that they had to be stopped at any cost, and this led to our promise to defend our two major allies in the region, and a massive influx of our troops into the region."
- -William Lovie III.
With the taking of Westbrige the region of Bolten became more interested in its own growth and in particular they really wanted to get the Lucernian army involved in pitch battles which they had the numbers to survive. In order to do this they begin threatening several allies of Lucerne in western Westros in the form of Koenisburg, and the town of Jeutenburg. While these threats rancheted up the Kingdom of Lucerne did exactly what the Boltens hoped they would do when they brought huge forces to bear on the defences of the Westros river crossing of Levin. The Lucernians also made it known that any action taken against their allies in Koenisburg, or Jeutenburg would be deemed a decleration of war against Lucerne itself. This promice to defend meant a lot to the two towns, and most believed that with that the conflict would be ended before any blood was spilled. This idea changed quickly when the Kingdom of Bolten sacked Jeutenburg in a massive siege that took place in the guise of a peace mission.
Fall of Jeutenburg Jeutenburg was the first act of a truly insane man. Instead of offering quarter and hoping for any kind of assistence in the Divine Lands he butchered the first city he found and expected the rest to what...give in to him peacefully. Madness, and stupidity. | ||
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Fall of JeutenburgMain Article : Bolten Capture of Jeutenburg
The city of Jeutenburg with the promise of Lucerne to defend it should the worst come stood tall as the army of Bolten came to its door, and House Banner blocked there entry. At first the Boltens sent in emissaries of whom promised peace and they simply wished to pass peacefully so they could get to Koenisburg in order to stop Lucerne from taking Koenisburg. Nikolas refused this offer as he was now aligned with Koenisburg and told the Boltens they would not peacefully be passing by the city, and when this happened to his shock the Bolten emissaries said they would do this the following day. Despite these promises during the night spies, and mercenaries scaled the walls of Jeutenburg infiltrating the main gatehouse and once they got inside the walls they showed hidden weapons and overpowered the outnumbered guards they had before occupying the gatehouse. The forces of Jeutenburg were somewhat unprepared for this sudden attack and despite attempting to resist the taking of the gatehouse the Bolten forces held out for nearly twenty minutes while the army of Bolten reached the gate. With the gatehouse in their control they filled into the city overwhelming every point of resistance with their vastly superior numbers and for nearly an hour the sacking of the city went on before Domeric Bolten, and Daryn Hornwood were able to control the palace and large enough segments of the city that they slowed the killing. One spot where the Jeutenburg defences held was the estate of House Chandyll where under the leadership of Calrin Chandyll they held the gaps between the estate buildings killing dozens and forcing a coordinated assault on the estate. This assault would be led by the Stoney Shore forces of House Haryen, and House Rurwell who led by Lucas Rurwell launched a ferocious attack on the estate which by this point was simply buying time to get there people out of the city. While after nearly a half an hour of assault the estate fell the leadership of House Chandyll retreated in good order and had bought time for there members and vassals to escape out of the city, and alongside this Daman Haryen would be badly injured during the fighting and fell into a coma due to his injuries and then died several days after.
During the sacking of the city Jeutenburg was given very little quarter with nearly half the city killed, and the survivors forced to live under the occupation of House Urnet of whom spent their time ransacking the city of its ancient wealth and history. As the army of Bolten did this their was division as the forces under the command of Domeric Bolten, and House Hornwood would protect several areas within the city, and were the main reason the entire city wasn't massacred. With conflict between this force, and the more chaotic forces of Ramsey Bolten looking likely a raven arrived from Roose Bolten who tasked them with quickly moving towards Koenisburg before the Lucernians could react. A meeting was held in the old Jeutenburg palace where Ramsey Bolten commanded the entire army leave Jeutenburg except for House Urnet of whom would hold the town alongside two companies of mercenaries. Domeric was able to trick Ramsey into allowing House Hornwood under Daryn to stay behind as well after he convinced everyone that Daryn was about to capture the Banner family. Following this meeting Ramsey would lead the army outside of Jeutenburg alongside Domeric of whom went along with him but during the first night of the march he abandoned the army and returned to Jeutenburg to meet with Daryn. Behind Enemy Lines
Daryn Hornwood would be leading his forces alongside Orsen Stout and others in his personal council, and during his searching for nobles of Jeutenburg he captured Nikolas Banner and his family bringing them back to the Hornwood quarters in Jeutenburg which were once the Banner home. Daryn Hornwood would send word of the capture but by this point Ramsey and most of the other leaders had already left for Koenisburg and thus he was sent a raven saying he should kill all members of House Banner he had before taking House Hornwood, and his vassals towards Koenisburg. While an honorable young man he was also driven by duty, and thus when he first received this command he planned on following through but Daryn would have a change of heart after he spent the night talking to Nikolas's daughter Corina Banner. Originally meeting her by mistake when he was planning on going to tell Nikolas about the execution he found her crying and without thinking consoled her. Corina would see quickly that Daryn was a good young man and someone that didn't want to do what he told her had been commanded to do by the raven sent to him from Ramsey Bolten. The two spent the entire night talking and as he prepared to leave she would steal a kiss, and from the second that happened the already conflicted Daryn Hornwood didn't know what he would do when he raised the sword to kill Nikolas.
Daryn returned to the top level of the castle to find Lorant, Jonas and Ser Rafford talking to Gunthor Urnet of whom was accompanied by many of his men including several Karstark men led by Atolf Karstark. Gunthor revealed he knew they had not killed the Lord of Jeutenburg yet and was here to make sure the deed was done to the satisfaction of those above and heavily threatened death to the Hornwood hostages in the Dreadfort if the task was not done to their satisfaction as well. Daryn to the surprise of his council would tell Gunthor that they were fine to do it now, and that he would summon the family right away, and Gunthor could witness it himself. Rafford, and Lorant went to gather the Banner family, and while they did this Atolf Karstark begin bragging about the number of young girls he had been with during the sacking of Jeutenburg to the point that Jonas nearly attacked him before Daryn commanded him to stand down.
When Rafford, and Lorant returned with the Banner family Nikolas kneeled before Daryn and closed his eyes as Daryn prepared to execute the man. Daryn would raise the sword once before putting it down briefly when Atolf Karstark begin rubbing the hair of Corina's younger sister Cersei and taunted Nikolas about what he was going to do to the young before she died too. Gunthor Urnet would then taunt Daryn calling him a coward and this led him to raise his sword once more, but this time as he did he felt Corina's presence behind him, and as he turned to look at her she gave him a sad smile before closing her eyes. Daryn knew in that moment that he couldn't do it and smashed his sword against a block of wood nearby. Gunthor would push his way past Jonas screaming about the commands of the Boltens and calling Daryn a coward and a traitor. As Gunther Urnet stepped forward to try and kill Nikolas it was Jonas Intris that stepped forward and slit the throat of Gunther before he could kill Nikolas.
The several Urnet, and Karstark men in the room tried to fight back, but were overwhelmed by the more numerous Hornwood forces and killed leaving only Atolf Karstark of whom begged for mercy, but without a word Daryn dragged him out of the courtyard and away from the Banners and once out of sight decapitated Atolf. Nikolas was set free from his bonds along with his family and Daryn would assist him in locating the loyalist members of his vassals along with his sister and her family. Following this he would set his men to helping Nikolas in exiting the city and as they left he stole his own kiss from Corina Banner before she was rushed from the burning town. Nikolas would thus be able to escape with much of his family and a significant force of his most loyal banner men. Staying behind under orders from Nikolas was his step-brother Otto Dragoon the bastard husband of his sister of whom led the rebels within the city while Nikolas rallied the Divine Lands to retake Jeutenburg. Daryn Hornwood would leave behind his knightly house in House Intris in order to better assist Nikolas Banner, and to make sure that his actions were not discovered by House Karstarke and Urnet who remained in the town with several influential family members. |
Siege of Koenisburg If they take Koenisburg it will prolong with this war for so much longer then it needs to be. Hold the city and we can break them now. Hold the city and we can end this before it begins. | ||||
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Siege of KoenisburgMain Article : Siege of Koenisburg
When Jeutenburg came under siege this was a huge indicator that the diplomatic message wasn't going to be enough so William ordered House Starke under Jon Snow, House Lannister under Tyrion Lannister, as well as House Clegane under Hedrik Clegane III. to send their forces to assist in the defense of Koenisburg as the city was now completely under threat. Word was sent to Koenisburg that this was happening and Britt Lancave would prepare herself for the ultimate defense of the city she loved so dearly. Word was also sent northward to Kul Tiras of whom was to send a large force of ships to Fairmaket in order to send the forces incoming to the Divine Lands. Kul Tiras would send two ships to Koenisburg under different purposes led by Wilheim Caellin, Dilon Borrell, and Tandred Proudmoore of whom would land in Koenisburg planting there house flags on two of the towers of the city making it appear once more there were more forces present then there would actually be. At the same time as this was going to happen William sent one of his greatest generals in Jamie Lannister to the small town of Grandlen where if the Boltens besieged the city of Koenisburg Jamie was to move southwards from Grandlen and hit them from behind and destroy the Boltens before this got out of hand. Jamie Lannister joined heavily by forces of House Reyne, House Brax, and other vassals of Castamere would arrive two weeks after leaving in Grandlen alongside a force of some two thousand cavalry, and they would make camp a days march east of Grandlen and await word from Koenisburg.
Jon Snow would arrive alongside Tyrion Lannister and a small force of House Starke and House Baratheon into Koenisburg, and were met with great applause by the scared locals of Koenisburg. Jon Snow and Tyrion were shown to rooms by Britt Lancave and when they were both situated Britt met with them to discuss what was happening in the theater. She told them that the Boltens appeared led by Ramsey Bolten, and were massing a large army outside of Karhold in a direct threat to Jeutenburg, and while the armies of the Divine Lands were large they were not even close to capable of defeating the amassed army of Bolten. The three would talk some more before Tyrion left leaving just Britt and Jon Snow alone, and she would ask him about how his situation in the north was going. Shocked that she remembered from briefly telling her years ago he told her about the letters and told her that it was taking all of his strength to stay himself from leaving for the north. Britt would explain to him the way Bastards worked in the Divine Lands, and told him how sad she was for him feeling so unloved just because of the manner in which he was born. Feeling comforted by this he was shocked when Britt suggested they marry, and despite finding her very attractive he still longed to see Ygritte again, and was forced to reject her offer. Things continued in a spin mode for many days until as they were meeting in the keep news reached them that Hedrik Clegane III. had arrived in Koenisburg and they went to the docks to meet him. Meeting with Hedrik Clegane III. he would give Jon Snow a letter passed onto him from a Maester from Stormwind, and labelled from Jeor Mormont he excused himself to read it, and digest what it would mean.
Hours after the arrival of Hedrik Clegane III. the city was alerted to the sudden arrival of more Lucernians as they were further joined by Sawyer Shephard of whom brought nearly a hundred Order of the Red Dragon men and flags with him as well in order to help. Using these flags and honor guard they mounted themselves all along the walls of Koenisburg, and alongside the earlier arrival of the Kul Tiras forces the walls were arrayed with different sigils and gave a very clear impression that House Starke, House Clegane, the Kul Tirasi Houses, and House Lannister had arrived in force. Tandred Proudmoore would also have his highly trained Kul Tirasi marines captain nearly every ship in Koenisburg to the point that the port looked filled to the brim furthering the idea that there was large force present. By this point the Lucernians, and Divine Lands had learned the extent of the destruction of Jeutenburg of which pushed basically the entire Divine Lands into the Lucernian camp including Grandlens large forces. Devision and Failure
The moment the flags went up on the walls of Koenisburg their was a severe amount of panic among the leadership of House Bolten after Ramsey Bolten went on a screaming spree as he believed his commanders had failed him and brought them all into a trap. Following his ranting Ramsey Bolten would call the commanders together and go on another mad rant inside the command tent about the need for the army to retreat before they were overwhelmed by what he believed was a massive Lucernian army. In this moment Domeric would step forward and heavily push that they should attack the city right away as he argued their was no way that the Lucernians could have massed enough troops in the city to stop them. As he was almost finished talking Ramsey would take a knife out and lunge at Domeric attempting to kill him. Domeric was the more skilled warrior and dodged the knife before wrestling Ramsey to the ground, and only the interference of the other commanders stopped Ramsey from being killed right there. With Ramsey losing his mind in the tent it was Rickard Karstark that would suggest that they meet with the Lucernians and at least gauge the forces of the Lucernians from the meeting. Ramsey would reluctantly agree to this plan, and with that a messenger was sent to the wall making it known that they wanted a meeting.
The two forces would meet with Ramsey and Domeric Bolten followed by Rickard Karstark, and John Cole on the Bolten side and on the Lucernian side it was Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, and Hedrik Clegane III. alongside Britt Lancave. As the two forces rode out it was a quiet moment for both sides as both believed the other side was going to break the honorable truce of a white flag meeting. Meeting together they would barely be starting to discuss the issues when Ramsey Bolten would intervene and begin insulting Tyrion Lannister for being a dwarf, and Jon Snow for his bastardy birth.
With these insults the meeting begin to fall apart and it nearly came to violence when Ramsey took out a knife from his side and only the quick movement of Domeric Bolten stopped the situation from completely falling apart. Despite this Ramsey and Domeric would nearly come to blows but only Ramsey's knowledge that he couldn't defeat Domeric stopped him from attacking him right there. Ramsey would spit in his face before leaving with everyone else in the party outside of Domeric who remained behind. Britt Lancave would attempt to convinse him to come back with them, but he was loyal to a fault and returned to the Bolten lines. The Retreat
Following the fight between Domeric and Ramsey Bolten and the collapse of the meeting with the Lucernians it was Ramsey's hatred and madness that led him him to decide to put nearly the entire Bolten army into a full retreat back to Karhold. Ramsey was at this point beyond any sort of rational thought and noone dared resist him despite the fact that many believed that Koenisburg was there's for the taking and Roose Bolten wanted the city taken at all costs. While he planned to have nearly the entire army do this he would force his brother Domeric to return to Karhold from a different direction with only House Hornwood and its loyal vassals. As the armies made their retreat back to Karkhold, it was Ramsey that put into work his real plan when he split from the main army and moved north with a large force of cavalry and planned to burn the town of Pomlet to the ground and thus force Domeric to come to its aid, where he would then say he was responsible for the act and ambush his brother's force. After hearing Ramsey talking about his plan to Reek it was Jordin Bolten that snuck into the force of Ramsey as it split off from the main army, and he would send a Raven to Grandlen telling Jamie Lannister of the change.
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The Siege of Karhold Surrender now. Everything west of here is gone to your kingdom, and we have this city surrounded. Save thousands of lives and surrender yourselves to the justice of Lucerne. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Siege of KarholdMain Article : Siege of Karhold
With the fall of Jeutenburg the route into Karhold was completely open to the forces of Lucerne and they would take advantage of the shock caused on the Bolten forces by the destruction of the army at Green Creek. Moving eastward the forces of House Karstark would be fed bad information from the retreating forces who told them that the main goal was the castle west of Karhold in the form of Saltwood Castle. In this way believing they would hit Saltwood first Arnolf who was in command of Karhold would send a significant portion of the Karstark forces to Saltwood under the command of the Bastard and already turned to the Lucernians Wellen Flayed of whom knew that House Saltwood had already defected to the Lucernians and was thus further feeding bad information. As the Bolten forces were going towards Saltwood Castle in order to meet the forces of House Starke head on the true Starke force was now heading directly towards Karhold from the north where due to misinformation and much of the Karstark forces turning to the Lucernians it found basically no resistance. Battle of Saltwood CastleMain Article : Battle of Saltwood Castle
The Secondary force from House Starke would arrive at Saltwood Castle before the forces of Bolten and would menaeuver themselves into the forests south of the castle while the Bolten forces could be devided into two distinct sections. The first section of the Bolten forces had remained loyal to House Bolten and the Karstarkes either out of honor or had not been told of other options and thus moved towards Saltwood without knowledge that most had switched sides. The second group were led by House Johanston of whom commanded a force made up of the houses of the area and from elsewhere that had switched sides to the Lucernians and these forces were prepared for the ambush as they marched. Marching forward the Lucernian loyalists would remain outside the castle while the Bolten loyalists split in a further half with one side entering the castle, and the other side heading towards the forest where the Lucernians awaited them. Once out of range of the castle the Saltwoods would reject the call to call for surrenders when they opened fire on the Bolten troops entering the castle, and nearly the entire force was massacred. Trying to flee the Lucernians turncoats that had waited outside the castle hit them from the rear and these forces were more willing to accept prisoners but the Bolten troops were destroyed or captured in their entirety. The other force led by Cregan Karstark II., and Eddard Karstark II. would find themselves moving towards the forest and seeing a now fully deployed and larger force of Lucernian troops awaiting them. Deploying into position they watched the arrival of the other forces but these forces stopped behind them with weapons drawn clearly indicating a trap. Moving forward towards these troops Jaden Ambry, and Trevor Baratheon would bid them surrender and seeing the hopelessness of their position they would surrender themselves as well. The Attack Begins
Robb Starke and the main Starke force would hit the northern edge of Karhold during the night, and would spy very few sentries on the wall due to the late night and the fact that noone thought Karhold was even threatened. Robb would send Theon Greyjoy, and Gregory Estermont with a small team of troops carring ropes who would ascend the northern wall and open the gatehouse for their troops. Theon, and Gregory would be able to get onto the wall but the alarm was raised as they were opening the gates thus alerting the city to the attack. The army of the Starkes entered the northern gate either way and was able to quickly capture a large swathe of the northern section as most of the defenders were just waking up, and those that were up were either killed or disarmed by the attacking forces. Arriving at the western gate Robb Starke alongside Wilheim Martell would get inside the gatehouse, and open the gate allowing the monsterous Grey Wind to enter as well and Grey Wind would massacre Cregan Karstark and several other men before finally being restrained by Robb and together they left men at the gatehouse before moving to the Keep.
The fighting in the eastern gatehouse was particularrly stiff as Craig Karstark, Urmen Stone, and Douglas Tisler waking to the alarm and heading to the eastern gatehouse in order to try and defend it. Urmen Stone would be struck by an arrow as the Stark men had taken the tower that overlooked the gatehouse and fired shots down at them. Retreating from view of the tower Craig would hold the inner gatehouse and fought off several men before finally Gregory Estermont got into the courtyard and would kill Craig. With the gate opening Douglas Tisler would jump from the wall into the water beneath and while badly injuring his leg he was able to swim to the Karstark side of the river to safety. The Karstarks would resist greatly in the marketplace of southern Karhold, but the main reason for the resistence being able to hold them off was the fact that Robb Starke had ordered a slow and safe conquest of the town believing he had increasingly large amounts of reinforcements incoming and didnt need to risk his forces in a battle he was already going to win.
The Karstarks had been devestated by the fighting with nearly ten of their number either captured or dead on the field, and without much hope that they could hold the keep for long. The sheer number of Karstarks that they had prisoner meant that they were forced to house them all in the walled keep in the northern part of the city, and from there they made Arnolf very much aware of how many were prisoners. Arnolf himself was sickly and was unable to move but in an act of blind arrogance refused to hand command over to his grandson Harnolf Karstark believing that his brother Rickard was laughing at him for failing to hold the city, and thus he would die before he gave it up. Outside of the Karstarks there allies in House Urnet, and House Tisler also lost several members with only Heshen Urnet able to flee out of the city, and returning to the forces of House Urnet. With the fighting intensifying in the southern half of the city the Karstarks awaited reinforcements, but this would be a hopeless wait as well as while the fighting was dying down in Karhold the news begin filtering in that Hornwood was under siege from House Locke and House Hornwood was abandoning the area east of Karhold in order return home, and they were taking all their men with them. |
House Karstark
The members of House Karstark and their old House members in House Starke are now mortal enemies due to the betrayal the members of the now House Karstark did against their former House in House Starke. This has led to numerous clashes between the members during trades, and other chance meetings.
There is great conflict amongst the fact that House Karstark continues to use the Stark in their name, and the motto of House Karstark continues to be the same as the one held by House Starke.
- † Artolf Starke. Died of sickness, but changed surname to Karstark
- Josin Karstark II.
- Hertial Karstark
- Arnolf Karstark
- Rickard Karstark
- Janise Karstark
- Harrion Karstark
- Eddard Karstark
- Alys Karstark
- Janise Karstark
- Arnolf Karstark II.
- Marja Karstark
- Cregan Karstark
- Arthor Karstark
- Marja Karstark
- Rickard Karstark
- Arnolf Karstark
- Hertial Karstark
- Josin Karstark II.
Noteable Members
Family Members
- † Jordin Starke
- † Dorren Starke. Killed at the Bloody Supper
- † Rickard Starke I.
- † Rodrick Starke
- † Rickard Starke II. Killed during the Battle of Lyons
- Eddard Starke
- Catelyn Starke
- † Dallia Starke. Killed at Second Battle of Minus Ithil
- † Dher-Torthor Gloristin. Killed at Second Battle of Minus Ithil
- † Ol-Morien Gloristin. Killed at Second Battle of Minus Ithil
- † Dher-Torthor Gloristin. Killed at Second Battle of Minus Ithil
- † Edric Starke. Killed at Second Battle of Minus Ithil
- Ol-Galdis Harnastin
- Edric Starke II.
- Ol-Galdis Harnastin
- Robb Starke
- Obella Starke (Obella Martell)
- Tollena Starke
- Eddard Starke II.
- Dacey Mormont
- Catelyn Mormont
- Robb Mormont
- Obella Starke (Obella Martell)
- Sansa Starke
- Harrold Hardyng
- Robin Hardyng
- Eddard Hardyng
- Harrold Hardyng
- Brann Starke
- Arya Starke
- Rickon Starke
- † Dallia Starke. Killed at Second Battle of Minus Ithil
- † Gresha Moseret. Died of sickness
- Catelyn Starke
- Benjen Starke
- † Sallina Starke (Sallina Ordos). Died during the birth of Marissa
- Marissa Starke
- † Sallina Starke (Sallina Ordos). Died during the birth of Marissa
- Brandon Starke
- Barbery Starke
- † Brandon Starke II. Murdered by Ironborn
- † Jaellin Godfrey. Murdered by Ironborn
- Grace Starke
- Rodrick Starke II.
- Aleyn Starke (Aleyn Estermont)
- † Brandon Starke II. Murdered by Ironborn
- Barbery Starke
- Lyanna Starke
- Eddard Starke
- † Mary Starke II. Child Childless
- † Rickard Starke II. Killed during the Battle of Lyons
- † Jorin Starke IV. Died of Old Age
- † Wilham Starke III. Died of Old Age
- Karolin Starke
- Broderick Lovejoy
- Sasha Lovejoy
- Balon Lovejoy
- Yara Lovejoy
- Yara Lovejoy II.
- Derek Lovejoy
- Yara Lovejoy
- Broderick Lovejoy
- Karolin Starke
- † Wilham Starke III. Died of Old Age
- † Mary Starke. Murdered at the Bloody Supper
- † Rodrick Starke
- † Rickard Starke I.
- † Dorren Starke. Killed at the Bloody Supper
Historical Members
- Male Wildling
- Vera Stonesnake
- Eddard Starke. First member of House Starke
- Vera Stonesnake
- Brenten Starke
- Tellisa Starke
- Brenten Starke II.
- Died early and was believed childless.
- Artolf Starke
- Had several children of which Artolf Karstark II. would come to lead them in Karhold.
- Eddard Starke
- Had several children of which Jordin Starke would come to lead them in Stormwind
- Rodrik Starke
- Had many children of which came to lead House Greystark.
- Lyanna Starke
- Brenten Starke II.
- Tellisa Starke
Other Noteables
- Luwin
Vassal Houses
Name | Titles Held | Seat | Lord |
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House Ambry | Central Stormwind | Castle Ambry | |
House Baratheon | Grand Province of Northron | Tenade | |
House Tarly | |||
House Forrester | |||
House Reed | |||
House Timberheart | Castle Timberheart | Castle Timberheart |