Hanzal Reyne is the son of Turmen, and Flavia Reyne making him a member of House Reyne and the current Patriarch of House Reyne. Hanzal Reyne has two siblings in the form of Veryl, and Maryl Reyne of which his sister Maryl was murdered alongside his mother during the rebellion of his youth, while his brother is his bitter rival of whome has attempted to murder him on several occasions and is the commander of Banesten a castle west of Lannistane. Hanzal Reyne is married to Martina Reyne of with whome he has three children in the form of Bendrin, Roslin, and Karyl Reyne of whome his daughter Karyl is very close to his wife and is well prepared for the marriage that is no doubt incoming, his daughter Roslin was very beautiful but disapeared one day while travelling with an unknown man and has never been seen again but her true fate was that she was murdered by Sean Lovie, while his son Bendrin was married off to Janei Lannister with whome he has become the commander of small brigade within House Reyne and gained clout in the power struggle in Lannistane.
His sister and mother were both killed during the Lannister rebellion by Tylin Lannister and this caused the involvement of everyone in the house to a larger extent then they thought were possible. Following this there were a series of small conflicts which eventually led to the death of his father Turmen which left House Reyne in search of a new leader of which Hanzal was the rightful heir to the power of House Reyne but this meant nothing to Veryl who hated his brother for abusing him when he was weak. On the day he assumed control of House Reyne his brother attempted to poison him but the poison only suceeded in killing several servents and never killed Hanzal but Hanzal suspected Veryl in the attempt and thus banished his brother from Lannistane.
His sister and mother were both killed during the Lannister rebellion by Tylin Lannister and this caused the involvement of everyone in the house to a larger extent then they thought were possible. Following this there were a series of small conflicts which eventually led to the death of his father Turmen which left House Reyne in search of a new leader of which Hanzal was the rightful heir to the power of House Reyne but this meant nothing to Veryl who hated his brother for abusing him when he was weak. On the day he assumed control of House Reyne his brother attempted to poison him but the poison only suceeded in killing several servents and never killed Hanzal but Hanzal suspected Veryl in the attempt and thus banished his brother from Lannistane.
War in Gondor When we attacked Gondor we could have led to its fall and then we would have never been able to relieve Tree Hill. The decisions of one mad man nearly created a situation that noone could have fixed. Just think how much worse it would have been if Bill had gotten to Ildarion before we got him away from us.
“Bill Lovie forced us to invade a realm we knew next to nothing about militarily, and beyond that they were our most important trading partners.”
— Eddard Starke
The Stormwind war against Gondor begin after Bill Lovie ordered the forces of House Starke and House Lannister to make conflict with the western side of Gondor. The initial talk was sent from Bill Lovie to the Lannisters and Starke and told them that the region of Rhunian was to be in Lucernian hands, and that they needed to do anything possible to take it, but also Bill Lovie made a specific point to say that Gondor was stretched very thin and wouldn't have the numbers neccessary to actually resist the Lucernian advance. 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 until finally Gondor sent warnings about war if this continued. But the Lannisters were commanded by Bill Lovie not to stop, and thus they sacked two larger villages on the western border leaving them to ruin, and forcing thousands to flee eastward. With this the Starke's realized war was upon them 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 just another tick in a nearly endless supply of failures given to us by Bill Lovie. He told us noone would come, and here we were facing the might of the two princes of Gondor and a weaker but still substancial army.”
— Eddard Starke
Following this the conflict escaled 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 moved against the large Gondor town of Langstrand which they quickly 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 around the Gondor town of Adrahil where the main thrust of House Starke was moving against. 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. 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 auxillary 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 Stormwind, and House Ordos. 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.
House Lannister
“I looked at the conflict in two different lenses. The first was my belief that Bill Lovie was increasingly moving in the direction of a mad King and this decision wreaked of a lack of foresight. On the other hand control of Lanstrand would be a great addition to the power of House Lannister.”
— Tywin Lannister
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 nearbye. 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. When 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.
“My father may not have noticed but while Jaime was running about chasing around Ildarion Elessar, I was taking control of an entire province of Gondor.”
— Tyrion Lannister
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.
House Starke
“I knew I had to take control of the situation before the Lannisters got their brand of victory. The only problem was that I knew Halbaard very well and I didn't have any violent quarrel with the city.”
— Eddard Starke
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.
“My father gave me strict orders that I wasn't to die.”
— Robb Starke
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
“My success in the capture of Groiline would allow me to get out of the shadow of being a bastard son of the Lord of Stormwind, but it also sent me to the north.”
— Jon Snow
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.
Chasing Illdarion Elessar
“I followed my orders to the letter. I chased that foolish prince through the forests for weeks, and each time I got close he ran allitle faster. When I finally caught him I was failed by my scouts of whom I can only assume died for their mistake.”
— Jamie Lannister
As Jamie Lannister made his way north his scouts were constantly scanning the woods, and the villages that they moved through, and around in the guise of finding Ildarion. As this continued they reached just east of Castle Beyne when they caught the scent of Ildarion as he was travelling north of the castle fighting a running battle against a House Starke cavalry force. His scouts reported to him that the forces of House Starke that were involved were those of his rival in Robb Starke so he moved quicker then he wanted to in order to catch Ildarion. As he moved with less stealth now his force was noticed by a local garrison of whom was led by the able commander Aegnor Tal-Villion of whom begin shadowing the larger Lannister force. Aegnor was a Numenorian just like his friend Ildarion Ellessar and knew the importance of his prince, and thus he made the decision to stop Jame Lannister by whatever means neccessary. Aegnor quickly realized as he followed Jamie's forces that Jamie was attempting to harry his prince, and thus Aegnor prepared most of his men for the defence of their fort, while he and a company fifty cavalry begin to harass the rear echolon of the Jaime Lannister force. Jaime
Lannister was in a meeting with his scouts of whom informed him that Ildarion was only a few hours away and if they marched now they could catch him. As he prepared to give the command the cries of battle went out as the cavalry of Aegnor crashed into the camp killing at random. As they charged into the camp Aegnor would set off extremely loud horns and cut the ropes that bound the horses thus causing the Lannister horses to go screaming into the night. Jaime moved into the fray, and after a brief fight the cavalry of Aegnor calmly retreated from the field. The Lannisters had lost nearly two hundred men in the brief fight, and their supplies were in tatters following the ambush so Jaime was forced to deal with the forces of Aegnor and resist the capture of Ildarion as he didn't have the capable forces anymore. Having saved his prince from capture Aegnor retreated to Castle Trenabal where they bunkered in for the inevitable counter assault.
Ambush at Meadow's Grove
“The culmination of everything over the past months was finally coming together, and the closeness of it gave me slight pause. I moved into that camp with the belief that I would either be sealing his coffin, or walking into the trap that sealed mine.”
— Robb Starke
Before Jon Snow had moved against the village of Goiline he had sent a raven scout northwest towards where he believed his brother to be with the information that he had Ildarion surrounded from the north, while Jaime Lannister was in the south blocking that route, and a force of cavalry was coming from the west to alert the Ildarion force of their predicament. Realizing they had to stop the cavalry force Robb Starke ordered a bold move when he moved his entire force south west into the path of the cavalry. His force would get off their horses and quickly prepare and ambush for the force of maybe fifteen cavalry, and when the force arrived they quickly saw they were in a lot of trouble so they surrendered with only two casualties of whom had attempted to flee. Robb's force would quickly gain the information from the cavalry about where the prince was precisley located, and with this information they were sent to the rear lines by some of the men, and the rest of the force moved towards the force of Ildarion. With no hope of relief, or any new information they knew they had Ildarion this night if they worked this well. Theon, and Robb's forces moved silently in the night and proceeded to take out the scouts that had been posted to watch for just this event. With the scouts taken out the forces moved into the camp, and went tent to tent killing the nearly 300 strong Gondor force. Quickly into the attack the Gondorians woke up on mass after a large death scream, and combat raged across the camp with the House Starke force vastly outnumbering the Gondorians and completely surrounded and without their equipment on. The force had been chased by Jamie Lannister for well over a month, and due to House Tarly closing the supplies they were not able to be releived as often, and thus for all of these reasons by the time they were now in battle they were no longer even capable of fighting. After only a few minutes the Gondorians begin to surrender, and it was during this end of the fighting that Robb Starke noticed that one of the fighters who had remained fighting was Ildarion Elessar the son of the King of Gondor.
“Seeing him like this was exactly what I thought it would look like. He was unarmored due to the fact that he was probably catching the first true sleep he'd had in over a month, and this was how it turned out for him. He killed two of my men before I was able to intervene, and fighting him made me realize how much training I still needed to do. If he wasn't half asleep, and ragged from being worn down for two months I would have never won that fight, but he was and I won.”
— Robb Starke
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
“I never thought I would be captured. Even as I was chased I just assumed I would get away.”
— Ildarion Ellessar
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.
“The King was coming to kill the prisoner that stood between me and a lot of power. I couldn't let his stupidity and blatent attempts at war to stand between me and all that. Luckily for me Eddard Starke was able to ignore his honor for a second and do exactly what had to be done.”
— Tywin Lannister
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.
Game of Rivers
“The Riverlands were a prize that we just couldn`t walk away from. The ports, the navy, the armies, the population...everything was just far too much to not have within our control.”
— William Lovie III.
The Kingdom of Lucerne following the capture of Berne, and the internal reorganization under William begin to heavily target the Riverlands for their next conquest. The region south of the Riverlands called Fairmarket was the first problem in the way as without control of Fairmarket then the threat of a land based offensive was going to be moot. Fairmarket was not very heavily populated but had two main population centers in the form of the large city of Fairmarket, and the western stronghold of Whellia. With this in mind the forces of House Starke, House Lannister, and House Scarlet would mobilize against Fairmarket. Representitives of the Kingdom of Lucerne were sent into Fairmarket, and the capital of the same name, and these diplomats were either killed outright or tortered and sent back nearly dead. Only in the west where House Wilde was dominent would the sent diplomats return safely. In the case of House Wilde when it seemed that conflict was coming they would send one of their members in the form of Andrik Wilde of whom would enter Fairmarket with the command to wait there with fifty men in case the defence failed. With diplomacy having failed the Invasion of Fairmarket was launched, by the combined forces of Lucerne of whom moved in three different spots against the defence of Fairmarket.
Invasion of Fairmarket
“The Jennet line was broken and rotten by the time Lucerne arrived. If I had of wanted to resist, of which I didn`t want to. I would have never fought and died so that the Jennet`s could have one last bloodbath.”
— Olivia Wilde
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.
“After the mercenaries broke and ran you knew it was over. We were not going to die with the fools that thought Frey`s and a mercenary band calling themselves the Whores Servents was enough to defeat the Kingdom of Lucerne.”
— Olivia Wilde
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.
“You almost wanted to punish the Wilde for the cowardess of the act, but how could you. They had destroyed our enemy and surrendered Fairmarket to us without much more of a fight.”
— Saiden Scarlet
While this was happening the Wilde family determined the time was right to change sides, and under the guidence 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 recieved 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.
Tully, and Blackwood Give in
Edmure Tully was headstrong in wanting to join with Lucerne.
“The Tully`s were already blood, so I wasn`t surprised when they wanted to not shed any.”
— Eddard Starke
When it came to the Riverlands the main powerbrokers were the most powerful house in the form of House Tully, and the dominent southern house in House Blackwood. These two houses learned of the destruction of Fairmarket, and immediatly 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 metting. Unwilling to meet in a unknown venue such as Raventree the meeting took place in Riverrun. 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.
The Rise of Lucerne I saw the destruction of the world, and knew I had to stop it. There was nothing left to do but become bigger then everyone else. The Empire was never going to be the beacon the world needed it to be. Westros was on fire. The Bretonians had reached for the stars and been burned. And the old shadow of Numeron was fading far too quickly. It was left to us in Lucerne to change the fate of all those who wished to reject darkness. We were the last hope for a world who had long since given up on believing.
Watching the coast disappear, and the vast city of Riverrun appear on the horizon I was shocked at its scope. The port itself ran for miles, and the port was guarded by two large castles on both edges, and in the distinct center was a massive tower the size of which I hadn`t seen since I saw the Cloud Tower back in Lucerne. Eddard approached from behind me, and I felt his hand go to my shoulder. ``Its quite the sight isn`t it Saiden.`` I looked still at Riverrun as he spoke, and the tide of Blue Flags carrying the Tully Fish were so many that it made the city appear blue.
``Were you as intimated the first time you were, or is it just me.``
``When I came here to marry Catelyn I was beyond scared.`` He walked away and towards the mast, and I followed in behind him. ``Back then the tower you see in the center was nothing but a wall, and now look at it. Its funny the way things change.`` He stared out into the port, and behind us I looked and saw the form of my squire, and other nobles coming from beneath. My family vassals in Sigmund Mien, and Tirrion Fraizen came into sight and Tirrion gave me a bow as he caught glimpse of me looking. I laughed at the gesture of Tirrion who through his mother was my blood relative and was older then me, and yet he still managed to be beyond loyal.
``Will Lady Catelyn be meeting us on the deck alone.``
``I would assume her brother Edmund will meet as well, along with any of the Lords that are in the city.`` He turned towards me and rested his hand on my shoulder. ``Never forget that you and I are Lords of Lands larger and more powerful then these Riverlords. While you may be intimidated by the larger port and the castles, never forget that they know what we represent. We represent a threat that their ships, and their trade cannot hope to resist.`` The boat finally reached the dock, and men poured themselves onto the side throwing ropes to the dock hands, and letting us go ashore.
Following behind Eddard he was enveloped in an intimate hug by his wife Catelyn, and looking at the two I couldn`t help but be envious of that kind of love. I had married Jessica when I was very young and she was already past her bloom. She was a beautiful women I would never say otherwise, but her beauty hid an anger and pettiness that was entirely unbecoming. For years I tried to love her, but despite her good and loyal work for me she was still nothing I cared for truly. Not the way Eddard loved his cat. Not the way William loved Bella. It was just so much lesser then what it should be. ``Lord Saiden shall you accompany us.`` It was a question but the man saying it said it with a hint of laughter and I realized I must have looked ridiculous lost in thought standing on the edge of the boat. I turned and bid my squire Fredick Clegane II. to bring my sword shield and I followed behind Eddard.
As we walked I looked into the bay and watched the ship of Jack Shephard, and the representatives of House Lovie that had been sent to further the talks. We all knew that with Riverrun so went the entire Riverlands, and other then some hot spots the talks were going extremely well especially with the constant threat of the large Lannister and Starke combining with my houses forces. ``Fredrick have you ever seen ships this big.`` The young boy looked around and he was so awe struck it made me laugh.
``No my Lord I havn`t.``
``Well lets get moving, and perhaps we can find a pretty Brannish girl for you to marry while were here.`` It saddened me that this honorable young man was so mistreated by his father. Apparently his father had spent years working at a betrothal for his younger son, while letting poor Fredick the second of his name sit idle training with the Clegane forces. As he followed closely behind me I wondered whether there was some kind of silent failing in the father that had led to that kind of neglect, but the evidence was so widespread maybe loving your child unconditionally was the rarer act.
Before I knew it we reached the base of the tower, and a giant tent was arrayed where Eddard, his wife and her brother the lord of Rivverun had gathered around a table. A skinny man in purple armor with a intricate beard approached me from the side, and clasped his hand on my shoulder. ``Lord Scarlet I bid you welcome to our beloved Riverlands.`` As he stared at me it dawned in his face that I had no idea who he was, and he laughed. ``I`m sorry my Lord where are my manners.`` He dusted his hands on his jacket before outstretching his hand for me to shake. ``I am Bryndan Blackwood son of Lord Tytos Blackwood of the Raventree. I am very glad to see your people today, as it is long due that Lucerne and Riverlands be joined together. In the coming days know that I am willing and greatly hopeful to help you with everything your people may need.`` Going back to the notes my Maester had given me on the boat, I remembered back to the Blackwood`s and realized the company I was with.
Byrdan Blackwood was the heir to the seasoned but not elderly Tytos Blackwood, and despite being the third oldest was the heir. Apparently some kind of mishap had broken faith in the oldest boy, and since then Bryndan had become the voice of House Blackwood. Maester Seryn told me that the Blackwood`s would be beyond important to us, and thus without another moment pause I reached and shook his hand. ``Lord Bryndan I believe Raventree has a lot to gain from our friendship.``
Invasion of Westbridge The Fall of Westbridge would shake the entire continent to its core.
For the Starke's, and Lannisters there attack on Westbridge would form the critical suprise assault on the very inside of the defences of the port city. There success and failure would determine how quick a victory the Lucernians would have.
“This would be the first time that we would be asked to work together since the War against Gondor. During that conflict both sides had not worked together at all and had basically moved however they wanted in order to take as much land for their respective house. This time we were being shuttled by the new Order of the Red Dragon and thus we would be landing where the commanders had decided it was best to land.”
— Robb Starke
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. 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. 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 eachother and basically tasked with making sure that they worked together for the good of the invasion.
“I had to make them understand that the conflict between the Lannisters and the Starke's wasn't something I could have happening right now. If it meant I put a non-starke or Lannister in charge I would, and I just hoped that threat was enough to push them off.”
— William Lovie III.
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 was the only place we didn't control along the route to Westbridge, and thus it was of supreme importance to peacefully get past the city. I knew they would be angry, but what they demanded was beyond comprehension.”
— Robb Starke
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 and forced to meet on the meeting docks, where Jamie Lannister, Robb Starke and a few other commanders would meet with the Frey detatchment led by several prominent Freys but mainly Symond Frey. 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.
“Poor little Brann would be forced to live his life without any choise. Arya was going to kill me.”
— Robb Starke
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 eachother.
The Starke's had visited the island of Kul Tiras during the initial annexxation and for this reason many within the house had built some relationships with the leadership, while only Keven Lannister had visited Kul Tiras. This all added together to create a situation where the Lannisters were forced onto an uneven playing field with the Starke's.
“When we stopped for the night at Kul Tiras you knew there was going to be trouble if everyone wasn't seperated so sadly enough the fleet split into the two sides with the Starke's landing in Boralus, and the Lannisters landing in Drisburg.”
— Daelin Proudmoore
The fleet would stop for a night in Kul Tiras where they were forced to split in half so that there wouldn't be any trouble. While there Eddard Starke would meet with Daelin Proudmoore who took him throughout the capital of Kul Tiras and told him of the lands, while in Drisburg the Lannisters made little contact with the Kul Tiras people and stayed mainly on the boats. As they left it would be the next day that they would land on the islands once they got the sign that the city was under siege by the flags that House Lovie would plant on the towers of the southern gate, as well as a message arriving from a griffon of the Luftwaffe. On a normal occasion their boats would have been discovered by the Westbridge lighthouses that were located throughout the islands, and this would have led to the fleet of Westbridge ships launching to stop them, but the lighthouses were taken out of commision by the work of the Order of the Violet Dragon and thus Westbridge was blind to the ships movements. This would be the first time that the fleets of the Kreigs Marine would be used in this manner, and the hundreds of ships litterly packed themselves on the River with many ships litterly bumping into eachother because of their close proximity. The Fleet would plant anchor within range of the island, and all throughout the night the men on board waited for the flags to be raised and the griffon to arrive. When the Griffon arrived and the flags were raised the Kreigs Marine moved its ships to land on the main island.
The North Islands
“It was the first time many of my men had seen real combat since the conflict with Gondor, and there was some worry that they would panic under the pressure that was surely going to come our way.”
— Robert Baratheon
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.
“They fell like the traitorous swine that they were. You need to have loyalty and I don`t think there was a single soldier that I fought that I felt was ready to die for the cause.”
— Randyll Tarly
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
“I had been told by the Order of the Violet Dragon that the defenders of the southern islands were mainly kept in line by the defenders of House Rangold of whom were very rich and powerful. I knew the right of control, and if I was able to best the leader of the house, and then he was knighted by me I would gain them as a Sworn House. The taking of the southern Islands were never in question once William captured the southern gate, so I knew my main purpose had to be taking control of House Rangold.”
— Hanzal Reyne
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
The Lannisters, and the Starke's had taken the other islands, or at this point were atleast contesting them but the staunchest of resistence was assumed to be found on the main island, and thus all the heavy infantry, and the leadership were full into the assault of the main island. During the attack noone could have anticipated how effectively the Order of the Violet Dragon would have been in forming a fighting force of rebels, but their success led to a debilitating failure on the defenders as they were attacked from all sides.
“So many things can go wrong when you attack a fortress using suprise. Maybe they were all aware we were coming, and the moment we got off the boats we would be met by a hail of arrows. Maybe the siege machines would fail and we wouldn't be able to get past the walls. So much could have gone wrong, but when we landed aside from a few strong points they fell without much of a fight.”
— Jamie Lannister
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.
“He was the one I wanted since I was a little girl. My armor, and my swords had left me in a disadvantage in comparison to the dresses and beautiful ladies of Stormwind. I deffinetly never had a chance against the Martell girl.”
— Dacey Mormont
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.
Snape's arrival and capture of the key northern bridge led to the end of major resistance in the city.
“The town was burning around me, and it seemed hopeless to believe we could survive after the arrival of Severus, and the members of Hogwarts from within our ranks. Nothing to do but wait. Nothing to do but wait and hope my family surivived.”
— 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. 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.
Lucius Malfoy had spent his entire life living the way his family had wanted him too and then after that collapsed he lived simply so that his brother wouldn`t kill his family. The moment he was surrounded on the bridge he prayed he was able to free his son, but knew that he was finally free of the pain he had felt for years.
“You must listen to me son. What has happened here was for the best. We are morally bankrupt, and the pain weve caused must be paid for, and I plan on making the first deposit. No matter what happens son never allow vengeance to consume you or elce you will make the mistake my brother made. I love you son.”
— Lucius Malfoy
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.
At the end Lucius Malfoy wanted to escape what he had done, and he got his wish.
“You just never think your hero is going to die. You always assume after reading books, and hearing stories that the hero lives. Either everything I'd ever read, or heard was a lie or my father wasn't the hero. And if he wasn't the hero that means he was the villian. And if he was the villian what does that make me?”
— Draco Malfoy
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 Shephard 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 Shephard 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 Shephard men believed he was dead, and thus he managed to escape but left behind much of his family and his wife and young son.
"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.
"The fool camped for an entire day on the words of a man he hated. He deserved what came on him that night."
-Jordin Bolten
What Ramsey did not anticipate was the fact that the moment that Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, Britt Lancave and Hedrik Clegane returned to Koenisburg they sent a raven to Jamie Lannister telling him to move against the Boltens. Ramsey had not realized that Jordin Bolten had joined his army but discovered his presence and begin to plot to kill Jordin. Before he could do this Ramsey was fed falce information by Jordin Bolten about a scouting party from Grandlen nearbye which caused Ramsey to camp for an entire day and gave Jamie Lannister enough time to catch Ramsey's force on the bed of the River Creek. Jamie Lannister and his three thousand cavalry would smash into the camp of Ramsey Bolten and in less then twenty minutes nearly the entire force was massacred. It was as everything was falling apart that Ramsey Bolten would switch clothes with his servent Reek of whom he would smash the face of beyond any recegnition so that he could not be found to be not him. When Jamie entered the tent of Ramsey attempting to kill Ramsey or take him prisoner he found nothing but the supposed Reek standing over the destroyed body of "Ramsey Bolten". In that moment Jamie went to kill Reek but was stopped by Jordin Bolten who said to let Reek go as he was nothing but a slave they had captured from the Greyjoy's years past. Trusting Jordin Jamie would let "Reek" go and thus Ramsey Bolten escape the battle and made his way back to the Dreadfort.
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