Robert Baratheon

Robert Baratheon is the son of two members of House Baratheon making him a member of and the current Patriarch and Lord of House Baratheon. Robert Baratheon married Lisa Baratheon at the behest of his best friend Eddard Starke and he hated her from the first moment he saw her. With Lisa Baratheon he has one child in the form of Trevor Baratheon of whom is the heir to House Baratheon and is known for how beloved he is by the people of the Baratheon realm. Robert Baratheon would have many many concubines throughout the years of his hate filled marriage with Lisa and during this he has many children of which the ones found by Trevor Baratheon and given better lives are Mya, Bella, Gendry Snow, and Edric Flowers of which Mya would travel with Trevor Baratheon westward and was made a servent at Norburg where she stayed on as, his daughter Bella travelled with Mya and Trevor westward and would become a servent girl at Castle Sunspear where she has become the castellan of the castle through her intelligence, his son Gendry Snow would be sent by his brother Trevor eastward to Stormwind where he was made an armorer under the teutalge of one of the premier armorors in the city and he has grown skilled in this position, while his final son Edric was born to Delena Florent of whom was noble and thus he was forced to acknowledge Edric of whom would go south to Highgarden to stay with his mother.

Robert Baratheon was born the first child of his father of whom was the Lord of House Baratheon, and at the age of seven he was sent to their liege lords seat at Winterfell where he would be educated with the Starke's and become best friends with Eddard Starke, and several of the other boys around their age that had been sent to Winterfell for the same reason. Lisbeth Tarly would become involved romantically with Robert Baratheon of whom seduced her and she fell quickly in love with him despite the reputation that had already begun for him. Following her pregnancy with their child it was Robert that begin to withdraw from their affair beggining new relationships and while Lisbeth was devestated by this she found solice in the protection her brother Randyll offered her and as she grew closer to her brother during the pregnancy the start of the Tarly-Baratheon hatred begin. Robert Baratheon along with his children, and nephew would lead his forces once more into the Lucernian Wars as he mobilized his forces on the command of House Starke and led them into Bolten where they would move towards Karhold forming a significant portion of the Stark-Lucernian invasion in the area.

Characteristics

A large man, though not particularly intelligent, Robert is a well renowned warrior. In his youth he was described as tall, broad shouldered and muscled like a maiden's fantasy, and this has gone somewhat in older age as he has become somewhat overwieght. He kept himself clean shaven as a young man, but as he has grown older he has become more devout in Dragonoph and now sports a large beard.

Personality

He was known for his charm, outgoing and gregarious personality and remarkable ability to turn enemies into friends. His lusts became the subject of ribald drinking songs throughout the realm as he had very little honor towards his wife for much of his life. According to Eddard Stark his best friend, Robert would promise a woman the world in the night and forget everything (including her) in the morning.

History

Early History

Robert Baratheon was born the first child of his father of whom was the Lord of House Baratheon, and at the age of seven he was sent to their liege lords seat at Winterfell where he would be educated with the Starke's and become best friends with Eddard Starke, and several of the other boys around their age that had been sent to Winterfell for the same reason.

Affair with a Tarly

Lisbeth Tarly would become involved romantically with Robert Baratheon of whom seduced her and she fell quickly in love with him despite the reputation that had already begun for him. Following her pregnancy with their child it was Robert that begin to withdraw from their affair beggining new relationships and while Lisbeth was devestated by this she found solice in the protection her brother Randyll offered her and as she grew closer to her brother during the pregnancy the start of the Tarly-Baratheon hatred begin.

Raid on Northerbourne

The Birth of Jon Snow
I was fifteen years old Jon. I won't even now say that I made a mistake because your mother was kind, and sweet. She was not a mistake. What I did to Cat though was a mistake, and that it why my dear wife will never forgive either of us.

“I was fifteen years old Jon. I won't even now say that I made a mistake because your mother was kind, and sweet. She was not a mistake. What I did to Cat though was a mistake, and that it why my dear wife will never forgive either of us.”
— Eddard Starke

Jon Snow was born the bastard child of Eddard Starke, and Gresha Moseret of which the two had never met before Eddard Starke reacted to a call for aid from the northern village with a heavy force from Winterfell. Eddard at this point was the heir to House Starke, and was recently engaged to Catelyn Tully of whom he had only briefly met up to this point, and with his father, and brother in Riverrun visiting with her family of whom they were contining to grow relations with even after Catelyn Tully had already arrived in Winterfell, it was Eddard Starke that was bound to lead a force to Northerbourne and help the village. Leaving Winterfell with his younger friends of which included many noble heirs from the Starke's vassals they would lead a force of some four hundred men from Winterfell leaving his younger brother Benjen the Lord of Winterfell before they left. Arriving at the village they found it under attack by a force of bandits and they fought their way through the bandits killing them until Eddard came upon the home of House Moseret one of the two noble houses of Northerbourne. Entering the house alongside Robert Baratheon, Howland Reed, and Randyll Tarly they would kill the several bandits within saving the Lord of House Moseret and a young girl the same age as the boys. Eddard having saved the family would prepare to leave but was clung to by the young girl and after attempts to dislodge her failed he sent the men alongside Lord Moseret into the village where they would finish the bandits. The girl clung to him for nearly an hour before she seemed to awake from the panic attack she had been having and apologized to him, but he had had grown attracted to her during this time, and silenced her apologies with a kiss. The two kissed briefly before Aemon Estermont would interupt them and told him more bandits were incoming on the village. Eddard revealed to her the upcoming marriage he had with Catelyn, and the fact that nothing could come of them together before leaving, and he hoped that would end the tempation that she had sprung on him. Discovering the true plan of the bandits from one of the surviving bandits they learned that the true end game was to capture Ned Starke and as many of the noble heirs as they could, and then they would ransom them back to Winterfell.

“I don't know if what she and I had was love Jon. I do know that I cared for her in a way that I have only ever felt with Catelyn. Don't ever think you were a mistake.”
— Eddard Starke

The Starke forces spent the day preparing the defences, as the bandits planned on ambushing them during the night as they didn't believe their plot would be known. During the night as the attack was moments from happening Gresha Moseret would seek out Eddard Starke and the two slept together, before they were seperated by the arrival of the bandits. Defeating the bandits in a one sided fight he would seek out Gresha after the battle, and the two slept together one last time before awaking in the morning together he was told by Howland Reed that his father and brother had returned to Winterfell where they would be briefly honored for the victory before Ned was to marry Catelyn. Devesated that there time was over she would be strong, and tell him goodbye, and the two departed eachother where he would go to Winterfell and marry Catelyn days after his arrival, and in terms of knowledge of his time with her noone outside of his closest friends ever knew about it, and none revealed it. It would be several months down the line that she would realize that she was pregnant and knowing her power hungry older brother she didn't tell anyone about her time with Eddard outside of her sister of whom she told in order to make sure he would be cared for in the case something happened to her.

The Bastards of Robert Baratheon

The Bastards of Robert Baratheon
One day son you will wish that you had never brought these children to our court.

“I'm your son.”
— Broderik Snow

Broderik Snow would be told of the identity of his father during his early childhood and in this way at the age of ten he would travel to Tenade where he would introduce himself to his father of whom on the urging of Randyll Tarly - who had sent a letter with Broderik - would accept Broderik as his illigitimate child, and Broderik begin to split his time between Horn Hill and Tenade spending summers with his father and the rest of the year with his mother.

Isabella Snow

“I have learned from my father that he slept with Arianne Martell. I'm here to find my sister.”
— Trevor Baratheon

It was Isabella Snow would be living within the walls of Sunspear Hold when Trevor Baratheon begin his search for the bastard children of his father and Isabella Snow would be discovered when she was one of two children outside of Broderik that Robert remembered the names of their mothers, and upon learning this it was Trevor that traveled to Sunspear Hold to find his sister. Arriving at Sunspear Hold it was Trevor Baratheon that was able to locate his sister Isabella Snow and meeting with her he found she was living a tough life as she was the house servant of an old merchant in Sunspear and in this relationship she barely made enough to live on and with this in mind it was Trevor that offered her a chance to come home with him but she wanted to stay in Sunspear and he was able to use his pull to have her assigned to House Martell where she became a lady in waiting to Leven Martell.

Working Together

Isabella Snow would assist her brother Trevor Baratheon in searching for the remaining children of their father, and she was instrumental in the discovery of Oktavia Snow a commoner living just outside of the House Baratheon estate. Discovered living a poor life at a rundown farm just near the Baratheon estates it was Trevor that found this unacceptable and would use his personal funds to purchase the farm from the corrupt merchant who had owned it and brought the farm to ruin, and then helped his sister further when he purchased tools and goods that turned the farm into a prosperous operation, and after all of this it was Oktavia that would secretly be taken on by Trevor as an attendant but her identity was kept a secret.

Lucernian Invasion of Gondor

Main Article : Gondor War with Stormwind

Gondor War with Stormwind
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.

“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 necessarily to actually resist the Lucernian advance. The army of Gondor was spread so thin due to the fact that King Aragorn Elessar around the time Bill Lovie ordered the assault was mobilizing the army of Gondor to move to Ethring where the forces of Umbar were preparing to attack the city. 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. 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 this point that Bill 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 Bill Lovie was beginning to no longer trust, but needed proof of this.

“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.

Hidden Away

“Did my father expect me to leave you here Liana? Did he think I would turn away? I hope he thinks more of me now then he clearly thought of me back then.”
— Philip Prester

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.

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 a little 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 necessary. 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 precisely 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.

Invasion of Westbridge

Main Article : Invasion of Westbridge

Invasion of Westbridge
The Fall of Westbridge would shake the entire continent to its core.

“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, 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.

“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 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.

“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 each other.

Boralus — 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

Jamie Lannister2 — 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.

Death of Lucius Malfoy

“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. 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.

LUCIUS Malfoy2 — Lucius had finally come to the end of resistence and understood it was all over for him.

“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.

“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 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.

“My King we have control of the city. Its truly happened Will, you took Westbridge.”
— Leven Martell

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.

Baratheon Garrison

The forces of House Baretheon would remain along with most of House Starke in Westbridge following the Invasion and during this time several including Trevor, and Nedrick Baratheon would become increasingly influencial.

Council of Heathfall

Council of Heathfall
You can stand alone, and join an evil people corrupted by darkness or...or you can join with us. I don't come here to threaten you. I don't come here to make demands. I come here because my King is tired of these monsters running around doing whatever they want. Today you can make a decision to stop them. Stop them here.

Powers of Southern Thedas
Name	Leader	Powerbase
Kingdom of Noveria	Florian Orlais	Large army, and a sizeable population match a heavily defended kingdom.
Gnomer	Gelbin Mekkatorque	Large army, and population alongside one of the most technologically advanced people in the continent.
Dowenshire	Gran Reville	Medium sized army with large population of which is spread out in the plains of Dowenshire.
Heathfall	Dran Arryn	Large army supported by immense Lucerne forces, alongside large population.
Lydes	Tylor Griggs	Small army, with a large population, but a large navy and influencial control over the large kingdom of Anderfells, and extremely wealthy
Kingdom of Anderfells	Anders Feron	Very large army, with a large population, no navy, and very poor of which forces its reliance upon the Franks of Lydes.

“Following the Invasion of Westbridge the entire south of Thedas was something we wanted to get closer to. It was either we put them in our sphere or wait until The Empire placed them in their own.”
— William Lovie III.

Following the Invasion of Westbridge and the collapse of the House Malfoy control base north of Westbridge the powerbrokers of southern Thedas would begin to realign themselves with an eye for Lucerne and away from Tevinter. With House Arryn of Heathfall as the leadership caste of Heathfall they had been members of the Kingdom of Lucerne in everything but name, but preceding the Invasion of Westbridge Heathfall was finally made a member and took a heavy role within the Invasion of Westbridge. Dowenshire would become the target of Lucerne due to its power and position and to secure it Edmure Tully a R'hllor Knight, and Edmund Blackwood would travel to Dowenshire in order to try and convince the Theocracy there to join Lucerne. Edmure Tully, and Edmund Blackwood would arrive in the town of Dowenshire with a contingent of Riverland lords including a healthy mix of R'hllor knights, and Dragon Knights, and were treated well by the Dowenshire Theocracy due mainly to their mistreatment by the forces of the Deatheaters of whom had reacted violently to their defeat at Westbridge by massacring many villages on their way north into Tevinter. Using the hatred of the Dowenshire Theocracy of the Deatheaters to their advantage they were able to convince the Theocratic leadership of Dowenshire to support the Kingdom of Lucerne in return for their retaining their religious independence.

Viola Feron Large1 — The kidnapping of Viola Feron, murder of Marik Feron, and near murder of Tylor Griggs would lead the Anderfells, and their benefactor in Lydes to become extremely agressive about getting revenge on Tevinter.

Due to this Dowenshire, and Heathfall were already all but members of the Kingdom of Lucerne, while the Kingdom of Noveria, and Gnomer were powerful and had independent ideas but also wanted an alliance to assist in defending themselves against the encroachment of The Empire, or Tevinter. Noveria in particular stood right on the doorstep of the Empire of Tevinter and was already seeing a dramatic rise in the number of Tevinter troops amassing on the borders with them without any sign of diplomats coming with them. The city of Lydes, and its dependent Kingdom of Anderfells would also become intertwined after the murder of Anders Feron's oldest son by the order of Lord Voldermorte had the effect of creating an immense enemy in the Anderfells, and thus with Anderfells their benefactor in Lydes would support them. Anders Feron would thus arrive in Heathfall and without really anyone having to communicate to him about moving forward he gave the distinct impression to Dran Arryn that he and his family wanted and desired two things in the form of revenge for the murder of Marik Feron, and for the Lucernians to assist them in getting Viola Feron back from her holding in Tevinter. Dran Arryn would be the one that was finally able to bring everyone together when he was able to have everyone send representatives to Heathfall for what people came to call the Council of Heathfall. The meeting would take place in the large town of Heathfall only three months following the death of Marik Feron, and six months following the Coup of Tevinter, and the Lucernians would send the Labeouf's, Starke's as well as Saiden Scarlet and a party of his people, while the leaders of all the nations came to Heathfall outside of Lydes of which Tylor Griggs was still recuperating from the injury he had suffered during the Tevinter ambush on the Anderfells capital of Hossberg, and thus instead sent his son Bylor Griggs of whom would act as the Lord of Lydes during the meeting.

“I had never seen a Gnome before. I had seen Dwarves of Lucerne. Elves of the Forest and Ulthuan. Orcs at Tree Hill. A dead Goblin body in Lucerne. A ratman corpse in Lorderon. But I had never seen a Gnome. Seemed like a short human to me.”
— Saiden Scarlet

The Gnomes of Gnomer were the second last group to arrive and led by their High King Gelbin Mekkatorque it would be Saiden Scarlet, and Robb Starke that would meet them at the gates of Heathfall and had a long talk with both the king and Silas Nonu. The Gnome King had brought Silas Nonu alongside Tinken Cogbonk, Fimbus Puddlefizz, and Ressa Beddlespark alongside some thirty Gnomish soldiers of whom would act as his guards of sorts but Tinken Cogbonk would accompany Silas Nonu to speak to Robb Starke, and Saiden Scarlet out of the ears of the guards of both groups. The four would discuss how the Gnomes would side with Lucerne during the council, but they also said that there assistance to the alliance would be minimal as they were fighting a war in their capital of which they had finally turned the tides on.

Anna Orlais II. Wide — Anna Orlais II. would be one of the many noble daughters of Southern Thedas that would be married off, or betrothed following the Council of Heathfall in order to further alliances.

The four would discuss the Gnomer invention of underwater boats of which could move men, and supplies without risk of being caught by defending ships, and this was something both Saiden, and Robb Starke needed to be brought to the attention of the King of Lucerne, and made Silas Nonu not discuss the offer with anyone else until the King had heard. Eventually there discussion ended and they were forced to attend the overall meeting with the rest of the group where they found Eddard Starke already beginning the discussion. The final group to arrive at Heathfall was the forces of the Kingdom of Noveria of whom arrived in heavy numbers and influence with the king himself coming to Heathfall accompanied by nearly five hundred men, two of his five council members, and the princess of Noveria also came in the form of Anna Orlais II. of whom he was ready to marry off to further strengthen any alliance he might make while in Heathfall. The Noverian forces were met by Shia Labeouf and his beloved Meghanna of whom took them towards the Heathfall Keep where the meetings would take place and during this time the Noverian King showed himself to also be very hateful towards the forces of Tevinter.

“We were the obvious choice in terms of who was going to care more about their people, but sometimes fear overstates common sence. Sometimes people are so afriad of something that they will bow before it. That fear might have allowed Tevinter to control southern Thedas but instead Lord Voldermorte attacked Anderfells and lost himself that fear. Hate is a stronger emotion that fear.”
— Saiden Scarlet

One of the main things discussed during the council was what there strategy was going to be to resisting the might of Tevinter if the conflict did come to a head. Noveria would be struck heavily as well as the Anderfells, and for that reason it was decided that Noveria would be heavily fortified against attack, and at the same time they were going to send a large troop of the Order of the Grey Dragon to rebuild several of the fortresses of northern Anderfells for the coming attacks. Lydes was prepared to finance much of the rebuild of northern Anderfells under the condition that Lucerne name them an Arch Duke within their kingdom and they became the head of the State that would be created north of Westbridge. This was heavily argued amongst the table, but eventually Dran Arryn was willing to accept this for a position of Grand Lord and lordship over his own province, as well as becoming the vassal of House Lovie over House Griggs. By this point the news was coming southward of how violent northern Tevinter was becoming due to the rising cult falling behind the Deatheaters, and this alone would scare all those assembled at the council to their shared cooperation in regards to defending against Tevinter.

First Bolten-Lucerne War

Main Article : First Bolten-Lucerne War

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.

Siege of Karhold

Main Article : Siege of Karhold

“It had been generations since we had been betrayed and our land taken form us. While we had rebuilt our lives and the memory had begun to fade. The anger and hatred of a betrayal never truly goes away.”
— Eddard Starke

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 Castle

Main Article : Battle of Saltwood Castle

“You half felt bad for those poor fools walking into the disaster at Saltwood. We knew there would surprise and everyone who laid down a sword was going to live. It had to be that way.”
— Jaden Ambry

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

“We went immediatly under the assumption that the Saltwood turning would lead to our victory against their main force, and we hit the northern gate while noone was ready.”
— Robb Starke

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.

“They held fast at the eastern gatehouse, but they were horribly outnumbered and in most spots we controlled the high ground.”
— Gregory Estermont

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.

Name	Fate
Eddard Karstark	Killed by Robb in a duel near the western bridge after failing to surrender
Craig Karstark	Killed by Gregory Estermont while defending the eastern gatehouse
Urmen Stone	Killed by arrow while defending eastern gatehouse
Janise Karstark	Died trying to kill Gregory after the death of Craig Karstark
Cregan Karstark II.	Prisoner following the Battle of Saltwood Castle
Eddard Karstark II.	Prisoner following the Battle of Saltwood Castle
Ophellia Karstark	Prisoner following failed attempt to flee the city during the intial attack
Metalyn Karstark	Prisoner following failed attempt to flee the city during the initial attack
Cregan Karstark	Killed by Grey Wind defending the western Gatehouse
Leysha Karstark	Prisoner following surrendering to the Starkes

“Bodies were strewn about the streets as the Karstark forces had left disaster as they retreated into their keep. I stood over the body of Eddard Karstark his name brought shame to my fathers and for that along with his poor life choices he paid the ultimate price. Looking at the keep I saw four bridges and my men had told me a fifth was located on the opposite side of the island, and that made me clearly aware that we controlled three out of the five bridges. One of the bridges they controlled was so close to our lines that we would be able to destroy it with ease while the one on the east was built of stronger work then that. In the end it was clear the siege was over, and now we were fighting to see how many of them died.”
— Robb Starke

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.

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