Robert Baratheon

The Lucernian Invasion of Rhunian begin after an increasingly devolving James Lovie II. recieved word from Gondor that they needed help in fighting the Orcs on their eastern border. James would summon the council of Lucerne and reluctantly everyone outside of Forks came to the meeting but instead of proposing assistance to Gondor it was James that discussed his desire to attack and gain control of the Rhunian region of Gondor. Upon hearing this the Starke forces that were present would react with shock and resisted this heavily, but in this they were supported by none of the other members of the council who all have been successfully intimated by what everyone knows was James reaction to the last time the lords resisted him in the form of The Plague. When Eddard Starke continued to resist the wishes of James it was James Nighting and several guards who brought Rickon Starke, and Lyanna Starke and in front of the council Rickons life was threatened if Eddard did not agree to follow through. Unwilling to lose his son and sister it was Eddard that agreed to lead his forces in assaulting Gondor, and alongside Winterfell it was the Grand State of Castamere and several other prominent areas in the Valley that would be commanded to begin preperations for the assault on Rhunian. Eddard would remain behind after the rest of the council was sent away and it was made clear that Rickon, and Lyanna would remain in Lucerne and that if the Starke's did not make good on their word then not only would Rickon, and Lyanna be executed but the next council meeting would be about removing House Starke from their position.

While this was being planned it was James that was communicating with Gondor about his plans to support them in a push into Umbar to create a barrier between the two nations, and thus Gondor was moving troops to the Ethring region while Lucerne was moving troops to the Gondor border. Rhunian thus would have only its own forces, and a small amount of reserves from Gondor to defend it if the Lucernians attacked the land, but one element that the Lucernians had not anticiapted was the arrival of Tur-Eldarion Elessar a prince of Gondor who arrived in Langstrand to begin recruiting troops in Rhunian and this drive for recruitment would bring thousands of extra troops into Rhunian. When the Starke's did little more then send small outriders against northern Rhunian, and a contingent of Mormont men from Bear Island it was left to the Lannisters to actually instigate the conflict. Tywin, and Tygett Lannister would send hundreds of cavalry into central Rhunian against the villages along the border, and proceeded to ransack and pillage the entire area leading to at first confusion from Gondor who had signed alliance papers and had principally agreed on a mutual plan to attack Umbar. Gondorian diplomats were imprisoned in both Castamere and Winterfell and attempts to communicate were met with silence leading to a shocked Gondorian prince Tur-Eldarion to send word to the Gondor capital that was was now declared with Lucerne.

Lannister Invasion of Langstrad

As the Gondorians were mobilizing it was the Lannisters who smashed into the western areas of Rhunian taking control of dozens of villages and putting four towns under siege. House Lannister moved their main army straight out of Lannistane alongside all of their vassals, and other houses and moved directly towards Langstrand. The Lannisters were led by Tywin Lannister of whom took complete charge of the siege of Langstrand, and then he sent his family members to take control of the various villages, and castles nearby. The defenders of Langstrand were offered quarter, but refused under the command of Haalbrad and demanded the Lucernians leave their lands or else face the consequences. The defenders were outnumbered, but Langstrand sat on the edge of water, and the river bed was shielded by cliffs which meant they could get some supplies inside, thus making the siege even longer.

Invasion of Tolhnen

Elements from Mander, and southern Castamere landed by boat in southern Rhunian and placed the town of Tolhnen under siege as well as spread out throughout the coastline of southern Rhunian attempting to gain control of the entire southern coast.

Sack of Tolhnen

Invasion of Torginiath

With his brother Guntram still missing it was Arwin that took command of the House Jest forces during the Lucernian Invasion of Rhunian and his forces would launch a naval invasion of the port town of Minas Torginiath, but before he could reach the port he took part in a brief naval battle outside Torginiath where he sunk most of the Gondor navy. Having gained control of the port of Torginiath it was Arwin that situated his forces in a garrison position as per his commands from the Lannister high command, and prepared for any sort of invasion by the forces of mainland Gondor. During this garrison duty he would become close with the Admiral of the Torginiath naval forces in the form of Ka-Alisse Maethadis, and their friendship would allow for a more peaceful control of Torginiath as Alisse assisted him in controlling the city. Arwin would agree to Alisse's desire to travel to Tolhnen and try and save her brother and sent her there with three men, and before she left the two shared a kiss and promices of more for the two of them hung in the air as she left Torginiath for Tolhnen.

Exodus of Torginiath

The men that Arwin had sent to accompany Alisse to Tolhnen returned and told him that she had been executed alongside hundreds of other innocents by the order of Alberich Grefford, as well as telling him that Alberich was on his way to Torginiath. Realizing what Alberich would do if he came to Torginiath he would take his ship and meet with Admiral Ka-Nethion Authion and would faciliate the exodus of hundreds of high ranking nobles out of Minas Torginiath by boat, and when Alberich arrived this exodus was almost complete and once again in his desire to continue his ethnic cleansing program it was Alberich who attempted to order a fight with the Gondor navy. This attempt was resisted by Arwin and once again Alberich prepared to fight a fellow Lucernian force, and this time there was no high ranking Lucernian commander to stop him and thus started the Skirmish At Torginiath. During the brief skirmish between the forces loyal to Arwin and those loylal to Alberich hundreds were killed but when the population of Torginiath came to the streets in support of Arwin it was Alberich that forced to flee the city leaving Arwin firmly in control of Torginiath.

Invasion of Adrahil

With the Lannisters fully preparing to invade and once that war being declared it was the Starke's no matter what they wanted, and they massed all their vassals into the area now known as Arathor and prepared to attack into Central Rhunian and upwards, while the Lannisters already had mobilized were preparing to attack southern Rhunian, and upwards from there. It was this point that James Lovie would send forces from his own Circle of Magi of whom led by Kieth Schwartz, and accompanied by men from House Lerman under the command of Faedra Lerman, and Logan Lerman and these forces were sent to watch over the leadership of House Starke of whom James Lovie had no trust in. The strategy of House Starke though was for their forces to thrust against the large town of Adrahil, while there forces then moved against the villages north of Adrahil in an attempt to draw the Gondor soldiers into pitched battles that worked against them. They would be led by Eddard Starke, and Brandon Starke of which the two brothers would lead the siege of Adrahil.

Gondorian Counter Attack

Following this the conflict escalated very quickly when despite the conflicts on the eastern half of their Kingdom the forces of Gondor moved significant forces to the western half against the forces of Stormwind. During this escalation the forces of House Lannister, and House Starke moved increasingly to the front, with both sides employing different strategies. House Lannister and its forces continued to move against the area around the large Gondor town of Langstrand which they had surrounded with forces, and moved a smaller force of more elite irregular troops led by many of their more elite forces to harass the lands south of Adrahil where the main thrust of House Starke was moving against. This strategy worked with both the forces assisted by a small detatchment sent from House Ordos. House Ordos sent an elite force of siege experts that assisted with both the siege of Langstrand, and Adrahil with both logistics and leadership for goals of the sieges. On the other side of the conflict was the defenders of Gondor of whom were led by Eldarion Elessar, his brother Ildarion, and their uncle Halbaard Elessar. The conflict in the east was dire, and thus Gondor was forced to rely on the two princes, and the forces they brought were relatively weak auxiliary forces from south western Gondor, and not the more battle hardened eastern troops. The forces of Gondor were obviously relying mainly on defenders made up of the forces of the two major towns Adrahil, and Langstrand and because of this they were in a lot of trouble when it came to the massive forces being brought to bear by Castamere, Winterfell, Mander, and Hillsbrad. The northern town of Adrahil was led by the two sons of the King, while Lanstrand was held by Halbaard Elessar making for serious leadership in the two towns.

Hiding

It would be at this time that Liana Beyne would be nearly completely in love with Philip Prester by the time the two were fourteen and it was this love that led Philip to take drastic actions when his father sent him word about the invasion of Rhuthian. The word came in the form of several pages, and a man at arm in the form of Tristen of Feastfires of whom would take Philip aside and tell him he needed to come with them as the attack on Rhuthian was weeks away. Learning this he would in the dead of night sneak away from the sleeping Tristen of Feastfires and go to Liana's father Menagil Beyne of whom would assemble his family after hearing what Philip had to say, and would put complete faith in the young Philip Prester when he handed him over his two daughters for protection, and with only supplies and horses he sent them away from Castle Beyne for the west. Tristen of Feastfires would awaken and realizing quickly what had happened left the castle with little resistance from House Beyne of whom was happy to have him and his two squires gone. Philip would reach the Gondorian port town of Leghland where they found passage to Lucerne where shortly after arriving on shore they found a large encampment of Lucernian forces carrying the banner of House Starke. Going into the camp of House Starke Philip Prester would present himself to the Starke leadership of whom listened to him as he was the heir to a powerful house, and they would do the honorable thing when they sent him northward with Liana and Vellia to Winterfell. As the conflict neared its beginning his presence in Winterfell would become known when Tristen of Feastfires finally found his trail after weeks of looking, and would lie saying Tywin Lannister himself had summoned Philip, and with this command in place Philip would tearfully say goodbye for a time to Liana Beyne while traveling with Tristen to the forces of House Prester.

Chasing the Prince

While Jaime was searching for Ildarion Elessar his brother in Tyrion Lannister moved throughout the region between around Langstrand with a largely weakly equipped ground force and begin capturing the various castles, and forts that dotted this region. These forts, and castles were far weaker then they had ever been because the west was seen by Gondor as the area that they least needed to be worried about. Despite this though Tyrion had to deal with each of these defences of which the largest was the fort of Amon Hen of which was defended by six hundred men of Gondor and was perched on a cliff overlooking the valley around it. Tyrion would use great skill in traversing the valley around the fort which allowed him to sneak his forces to the depths surrounding the fort. The forces of Gondor in many places fought to the last man, but were clearly given some orders for larger garrisons to surrender and save their lives. In Amon Hen the defenders lost some three hundred troops in the suprise attack, but still held on for hours before they surrendered and were sent westward as prisoners. With Tyrion sacking castle after castle he finally had managed to block the eastern river approach into Langstrand thus closing the city off from supplies by the water, and thus making starving them out once more an option.

The Chase Expands

Theon Greyjoy joined Robb Starke in a raiding party that was basically meant to harass, and capture large tracts of land in the hopes of getting the Gondorians to leave their fortifications and walk into traps north of Adrahil. While they did this Jon Snow led a smaller group of heavy cavalry against the villages of this area, and he slowly but surely became a sort of vangaurd for the larger cavalry force of Theon, and Robb. At this point with fighting breaking out all over the region the main army of Eddard Starke supported by House Baratheon and some logistics sent by House Ordos moved against the town of Adrahil and put the town completely under siege. Before they could get the entire town under siege though one of the brothers in Ildarion left the city from the west with a large force of heavy, and light cavalry and made his way south to defend Langstrad where the the city was more capable of falling quickly. With Adrahil under siege and the objective of starving the town out until it surrendered Eddard gave the command to begin the heavy harrasment in the north. House Mormont and the Bear Island troops would capture nearly all the mines, and livestock of the area and bring it westward, while the other Bear Island troops ransacked northern Rhunian and took the spoils into Lucerne. While this was happening the forces of House Tarly of whom commanded a large force would move eastward towards Lamedon, where they would arrive and thus block off the ability of Gondor to send any kind of supplies or reinforcements into the area. Randyll Tarly would hold two castles west of Lamedon, and despite attempts by the Lamedon troops to dislodge him, he was a master tactision and was unable to be removed.

Theon and Robb would command together a force of cavalary of which they used brilliantly and after raiding the village of Meadow's Grove they noticed a rather large group of Gondor soilders marching eastward and they immediatly begin following the group. After a full day of marching the Gondor forces set up camp inside a forest and they believed they had the night to rest before marching again. This was a large mistake, and the forces of Theon and Robb moved quickly to surround the camp. While they surrounded the camp the forces of Jon Snow moved against the only real chance of the Gondor force to be saved when they moved against a cavalry force led by one of the local commanders. In the coming Raid on Groilline Jon Snow would discover that Ildarion was with that camped force, and would send word to Robb about this, while Jamie Lannister was not told or made aware of any changes.

Raid on Groiline

During the days of the war with Gondor, Jon Snow was tasked with a small unit of troops that he was tasked with raiding the northern farmlands in order to draw out the outstretched Gondor forces into the trap of the army of House Lannister, and House Starke. In Jon's role he would become aware of how outstretched the Gondor forces were when he chased a force of Gondor cavalry through the night and as he passed by the village of Groiline his scouts reported no defenders. His scouts informed him that the cavalry had no intention of stopping as they were moving eastwards towards Prince Ildarion of whom was being shadowed by both Robb Starke, and Jaime Lannister. Seeing this as an oppurtunity he would stop chasing the cavalry and would instead move his force to Groiline and capture the village, thus unknown to Ildarion Elessar and his forces the road west was free for them to go back through, but without knowing that they made camp that nigh with no knowledge they were trapped on all sides except one.

Ambush at Meadow's Grove

Robb immediatly engaged him in combat and on his own velition was able to defeat him only because he could tell that Ildarion was half dead from fatigue, and being unequipped with armor, or a shield. When Ildarion fell defeated the rest of the Gondor force was swiftly throwing down their weapons and surrendering leaving the full Starke force with a nearly complete victory. With Ildarion defeated Robb was egged on by Theon to kill him, and for a moment Robb contimplated listening to his friend but he then thought strategically and realized that if they had the prince they could basically ransom whatever they wanted from the Gondorians. With this in mind Robb decided instead of killing him he would instead take him in as a prisoner, and ordered the force to pull back to their original position with their now sixty prisoners along with the prince of Gondor.

Prisoner

Robb Starke would pull his force back behind the lines, and there would set up a camp for all the prisoners they had captured and then sent word to his father about the capture of Ildarion, which would then spread like wildfire. When Eddard heard of this news he sent word to Eldarion in Adrahil of whom then sent word to Aragorn of this change in events. Aragorn had two options in front of him. The first option was to engage the Lucernians in a full pitched battle which he might lose, and if he didn't lose he would most likely lose on the east because of all the causualites. Or he surrendered most of the Gondor lands west of the River Rhine. In the end he would send word to Eldarion that their forces were going to surrender under the terms that all Gondor citizens, and forces be allowed free pass into Gondor, along with the return of Ildarion, and all prisoners. Bill Lovie would send word to Eddard that he was incoming to the camp that Eddard and Tywin Lannister were meeting, but when the letter came the servent that brought it told them that Bill planned to execute Ildarion on the spot.

Both commanders understood that if they did this it would mean all out war which was stupid since they could have all of this land with no bloodshed. Because of this they hid the note, and told the scout that the prisoners were already in transfer back to Gondor. With this information Bill Lovie would return to Lucerne instead of seeing the two Lords, and they both knew they had made an enemy that day. When this happened Ildarion was given word by Robb Starke that he was to be released along with all of his men. The two would discuss the coming world that they both lived in, and Robb Starke would gain a lot of respect for Ildarion, and the same would be true of Ildarion for Robb Starke.

William Lovie III.'s quick conquest of the Riverlands, and Fairmarket had led to the Lucernian Kingdom becoming a main part of the Empire foreign affairs to the point that the feelers were out to the Malfoy's of whom they would attack Hogwarts in their attempt to grow the relationship. House Starke, and House Lannister were tasked with leading the attack that Lucerne would launch from the sea, and they would bring all of their vassals and head northward from the Port of Stormwind. Over the course of several months dozens and dozens of ships had been constructed, or purchased from Westros and elsewhere in order to provide the required ships for the invasion, and these ships had all packed into the rivers of Castamere as well as the coasts of Bear Island. Eddard Starke was the leader of the Starke forces that were assembled to take part in the Invasion, and he along with House Lannister was tasked with using the ships that had been constructed to land on the two islands that existed in Westbridge, and hold them while spreading out from there leaving the Malfoy's attacked from all sides and no where to retreat too. On the lead up to the campaign it was members of the Kreigs Marine that were brought in as mediators for the two sides that despised each other and basically tasked with making sure that they worked together for the good of the invasion.

Eddard and his council met with Tywin, and his council at the Port of Stormwind where there armies were camped west of and together over the course of two days they decided on the best course of action. Eddard did make sure to show the letter he had recieved from William Lovie III. of which detailed the fact that if the two groups could not work together then Randyll Tarly would be placed in charge of the Starke's while for the Lannisters Hanzal Reyne would be made commnader. This was a great insult to Tywin Lannister and thus he would meet outside the room with Eddard and the two would come to an agreement that they would work together and not let this ruin the potential of this for the two families. They decided to land the majority of their troops on the main island, while they split their vassals, and banner houses into attacking the individual islands that dotted Westbridge city so that there would be no holdouts left. On the days preceding the leaving for the invasion Eddard relunctantly led his forces along with House Lannister on to the boats of the Kreigs Marine fleet, and they sailed up the river Rhine to coincide with arrival during the night.

The Trident would become the main block in the route of the Starke/Lannister forces moving northward, and it was thought of heavily by the overall battle commanders. Lucerne had sent several spies into the Trident, and on the days before the Invasion fleet landed they would spread rumors that the Riverlands had gone into rebellion and there was fighting across the entire land. When the fleet reached The Trident they were stopped by the Trident forces led by Symond Frey, Ryman Frey, and Walton Frey of whom forced the leadership of the Stark and Lannister forces to meet on the docks of the city. Following this it was Jamie Lannister, Robb Starke and a few other commanders that would meet with the Frey detachment led by several prominent Freys but mainly Symond Frey would be in charge of the direction of the negotiations. The talking went better then they thought, and after believing they had permission to leave the Starke's and Lannister forces went to leave but were stopped by Symond Frey of whom told them the conditions to get through.

The first was a major payment of gold of which they knew was coming, and the second was the marriage of two Starke's and several other nobles to Freys. Symond Frey would declare knowledge of Robb's bethrothal to Obella Martell and thus let it be known that Brann, and Arya Starke would be the two Starke's while the others would be decided later. Robb was forced to accept this knowing that the fleet could not take the Frey navy as they were not meant for heavy combat, and even if they did they would suffer terrible casualties and be unable to go any further. Agreeing to the arrangement they would leave, and as they were travelling back by boat to the fleet Jamie Lannister would insult the arrangement and Robb's failings and because of this the two got into a heavy fight which forced them to be pulled back from each other.

The North Islands

The attack on the northern islands was mainly an attack on the small wall estate that controlled the largest island, and its walls were small enough that the ships dropping them off would only need to make a few small holes in the wall in order for the troops to be able to spill into the estate and quickly take control of the island. The defenders were controlled by House Brand who controlled several vassals on the northern islands and was well fortified in the estate, but its vassals had been silenced by the Order of the Violet Dragon greatly weakening their defences.

The troops landed on the islands without much problems but a gaurd on the wall noticed their arrival as they spilled into the homes of the people of the northern island, and when this happened the bells went off, and the estate became aware of the attack. As Randyll Tarly led his forces into the breaches created by the ships the combined vassals of House Starke made simple work of the few defenders that had managed to wake themselves up in the middle of the night. As they broke the ranks of the defenders it was Dickon Tarly that dueled Ryan Brand the heir of House Brand and defeated him but spared his life, and this caused a general surrender of the House Brand forces and the northern islands with it.

The Southern Island

The Southern Islands were heavily populated and even more heavily defended, but its main problem was the fact that House Lovie and the Order of the Red Dragon once they broke the southern gate would be coming at them from the front, while the forces of House Reyne, and House Tarback alongside their sworn houses would be coming in from the relatively undefended rear ranks. As the siege moved to the more heavily defended bridge areas of the southern islands the Kreigs Fleet moved the vassals onto the island, and then proceeded to move towards the main contested areas where they targeted the defenders with their on board archers, and balistas. The members of House Reyne made a straight movement towards the forces of House Rangold, while the remainder of the landed forces captured the southern islands one after another before taking the defenders of the main southern gate from behind and allowing inside House Lovie, and the Waffen Army. House Reyne led by Hanzal made their way into the House Rangold esate and shocked the house by having Haznal challenging the Lord of House Rangold to a duel. The two would fight for some time but Arthur Rangold fell, and prepared to die. Hanzal offered him the choice of death or becoming a sworn house, and Arthur chose to become a sworn house, and thus Hanzal had gained exactly what he wanted with basically no losses.

The Main Island

While the attacks on the northern, and then southern islands were more easily accomplished it was the main attack on the largest island that would be the most interesting. It was here that the House Malfoy forces led by House Labeouf, and their vassals were the strongest, but it was also here that the forces of the Order of the Violet Dragon had become the most intermingled in the attack. When the forces of House Lannister, and House Starke made their way onto the island carefully planned rebels forces attacked Malfoy forces all across the island, and this was followed by the loyalist vassal houses openly turning against House Malfoy, and thus chaos was brewing behind the main lines as the forces of House Starke, and House Lannister engaged the forces of House Malfoy in the streets. House Malfoy was barely mobile at this point but its commanders were able to atleast launch a defence of the streets, but they were cut down as they were defending against a very well prepared and more numerous oponenet. With the death of several commanders of the defenders the defence collapsed and they begin retreating into the attackers hoping they would be able to surrender, and they were as this was part of the attackers mandate.

As the attacking Starke forces under Robb Starke moved forward they met with a detatchment of Mormont troops, and Robb and Dacey Mormont would chase several Malfoy men into a house where the two would battle alongside several other Starke, and vassal soldiers. Killing the Malfoy men the others left the house to continue the attack, but Robb and Dacey would remain and in the violence of the fight they begin kissing. There kissing became fevorous and they would make love amongst the dead within the house, and after they were finished Robb held her and she professed her love for him, but knew they couldn`t be together because of his relationship with Obella Martell and she accepted that. Leaving the house they joined the remainder of the mopping up and noone realized what had happened between the two lovers.

Death of Lucius Malfoy

With the fall of the final gatehouse into the main city, and the quickly debarking marines from House Starke, and House Lannister the forces remaining under the command of Lucius Malfoy waited for his command, and he ordered them to retreat to the Malfoy Keep for what everyone believed was a last stand. At this moment more then half the remaining men under his command would lay their swords down instead of retreat, and thus Lucius travelled over the bridge with less then thirty men left and ordered the men to prepare for the final attack. He was reported to by a messenger that the Hall of the Deatheaters had just fallen, thus meaning their final means of escaping the city was gone as the forces of Hogwarts alongside the Order of the Blue Dragon had teleported directly inside the building after the wards had been destroyed by traitors within the Malfoy forces. With Westbridge fallen to the forces of Lucerne Lucius saw this as his chance to finally die. As his remaining men prepared to die in the last stand, he knew he had to make sure that his son Lucius wasn't going to make the same mistakes that he did. Lucius first went to his youngest son, and the only one left in his family who he felt had any morals left and told him the following.

Following this he took out his sword and walked to the center of the bridge connecting the main island to the palace, and stood waiting for the forces of Lucerne to come. His men waited around him horrified but still remaining loyal to the end, and in that moment he ordered them to lay their swords down, and return to stand with his family. After a few minutes Joshua Jackson arrived on the bridge with his men, and told Lucius to stand down and accept the surrender of the city. Lucius just laughed at them and said that his time was over, and if they had any compassion they would end him. Joshua knew something about compassion for the weak, and he ordered his men to stand down while he engaged Lucius in a duel. The two fought and as Draco watched on Lucius was killed by Joshua Jackson, and then released gently into the river.

Joshua would lead his men across the bridge and find the remaining members of House Malfoy and their vassal aristocrats lying on the ground with their swords thrown away. Seeing this he ordered his men to take them into captivity until they knew what to do with them. As the House Jackson men moved to do this, Draco finally came to the conclusion that would change everything. Draco would rise from the rest of the surrendered troops and stand up. His mother would yell at him to lay down, and think about his wife who was in another part of the city, but he had to escape and so he ran from the group and climbed to the top of the House Malfoy keep. Chased by the men of House Jackson, and the now arriving Lovie forces, and the shouting of his mother he would jump from the ramparts into the water nearly thirty feet down barely missing the rocks. Hitting the water he stayed under as long as he possibly could before hiding under the outcropping of rocks so that none could see him. The Jackson men believed he was dead, and thus he managed to escape but left behind much of his family and his wife and young son.

With the death of Lucius the capture of remaining resistence within the final Malfoy keep the city of Westbridge was well and truly fallen into the hands of Lucerne. William would meet with the commanders of the attack at the center of town, and already news filtered in about the fall of Yerness, and the numerous towns south of Wesbridge having fallen as well. Realizing he had a true victory William would have the Labeoufs brought to the center of the town where the large population of the town was brought forward, and from there he named the Labeoufs the new Arch Lords of the Grand State of Westbridge. Promicing to assist in rebuilding the city, the people would chear as the Malfoy`s and their madness was pushed out and the new Lucerne-Labouef union began.

Following the Invasion of Westbridge and the collapse of the House Malfoy control base north of Westbridge the power brokers 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. 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.

Assassination in Hossberg

Main Article : Tevinter Assassinations in Hossberg

The city of Lydes, and its dependent Kingdom of Anderfells would also become intertwined after the Tevinter diplomat Cho-Ninimdor Narthriel arrived in the Kingdom of Dole's capital of Inrathous and met with the king of Anderfells son Anders Feron. The meeting would go well enough with Anders being open to improving relations with Tevinter but then collapsed completely following a conversation between Ninimdor and Marik Feron the eldest son of Prince Anders where in Ninimdor let slip the further desire of Tevinter to expand into Thedas and more specifically Lydes. Following this argument Diplomat Ninimdor returned to Tevinter and relayed the now broken relationship, but downplayed his role in this instead blaming Prince Anders for the break down. Following this High Archon Thomas Malfoy would send an elite force of Death Eaters to the Anderfells in order to ambush and kill the Anderfells leadership as well as the Grand Prince of Lydes who had traveled to Hossberg to meet with the King of Anderfells. Arriving in the Anderfells capital of Hossberg it was the Deatheaters who used the meetings of Lydes and Anderfells to ambush both parties and during this ambush they would kill Marik Feron, and his wife while also maiming the face of Anders Feron who survived only due to the arrival of Grand Prince Tylor Griggs and his elite Personal Guard instigating a skirmish in the palace. During this skirmish most of the Deatheaters were killed, while Tylor Griggs was injured quite badly and dozens of guards killed but Anders Feron survived the attempted killing. Following the interrogation of the surviving Deatheaters it was discovered to be a part of a larger plot and with all this evidence the border was closed with Tevinter and while war was not declared the two nations would be in a state of near war.

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.

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.

Siege of Karhold

Main Article : Siege of Karhold

With the fall of Jeutenburg the route into Karhold was completely open to the forces of Lucerne and they would take advantage of the shock caused on the Bolten forces by the destruction of the army at Green Creek. Moving eastward the forces of House Karstark would be fed bad information from the retreating forces who told them that the main goal was the castle west of Karhold in the form of Saltwood Castle. In this way believing they would hit Saltwood first Arnolf who was in command of Karhold would send a significant portion of the Karstark forces to Saltwood under the command of the Bastard and already turned to the Lucernians Wellen Flayed of whom knew that House Saltwood had already defected to the Lucernians and was thus further feeding bad information. As the Bolten forces were going towards Saltwood Castle in order to meet the forces of House Starke head on the true Starke force was now heading directly towards Karhold from the north where due to misinformation and much of the Karstark forces turning to the Lucernians it found basically no resistance.

Battle of Saltwood Castle

Main Article : Battle of Saltwood Castle

The Secondary force from House Starke would arrive at Saltwood Castle before the forces of Bolten and would menaeuver themselves into the forests south of the castle while the Bolten forces could be devided into two distinct sections. The first section of the Bolten forces had remained loyal to House Bolten and the Karstarkes either out of honor or had not been told of other options and thus moved towards Saltwood without knowledge that most had switched sides. The second group were led by House Johanston of whom commanded a force made up of the houses of the area and from elsewhere that had switched sides to the Lucernians and these forces were prepared for the ambush as they marched. Marching forward the Lucernian loyalists would remain outside the castle while the Bolten loyalists split in a further half with one side entering the castle, and the other side heading towards the forest where the Lucernians awaited them. Once out of range of the castle the Saltwoods would reject the call to call for surrenders when they opened fire on the Bolten troops entering the castle, and nearly the entire force was massacred. Trying to flee the Lucernians turncoats that had waited outside the castle hit them from the rear and these forces were more willing to accept prisoners but the Bolten troops were destroyed or captured in their entirety. The other force led by Cregan Karstark II., and Eddard Karstark II. would find themselves moving towards the forest and seeing a now fully deployed and larger force of Lucernian troops awaiting them. Deploying into position they watched the arrival of the other forces but these forces stopped behind them with weapons drawn clearly indicating a trap. Moving forward towards these troops Jaden Ambry, and Trevor Baratheon would bid them surrender and seeing the hopelessness of their position they would surrender themselves as well.

The Attack Begins

Robb Starke and the main Starke force would hit the northern edge of Karhold during the night, and would spy very few sentries on the wall due to the late night and the fact that noone thought Karhold was even threatened. Robb would send Theon Greyjoy, and Gregory Estermont with a small team of troops carring ropes who would ascend the northern wall and open the gatehouse for their troops. Theon, and Gregory would be able to get onto the wall but the alarm was raised as they were opening the gates thus alerting the city to the attack. The army of the Starkes entered the northern gate either way and was able to quickly capture a large swathe of the northern section as most of the defenders were just waking up, and those that were up were either killed or disarmed by the attacking forces. Arriving at the western gate Robb Starke alongside Wilheim Martell would get inside the gatehouse, and open the gate allowing the monsterous Grey Wind to enter as well and Grey Wind would massacre Cregan Karstark and several other men before finally being restrained by Robb and together they left men at the gatehouse before moving to the Keep.

The fighting in the eastern gatehouse was particularrly stiff as Craig Karstark, Urmen Stone, and Douglas Tisler waking to the alarm and heading to the eastern gatehouse in order to try and defend it. Urmen Stone would be struck by an arrow as the Stark men had taken the tower that overlooked the gatehouse and fired shots down at them. Retreating from view of the tower Craig would hold the inner gatehouse and fought off several men before finally Gregory Estermont got into the courtyard and would kill Craig. With the gate opening Douglas Tisler would jump from the wall into the water beneath and while badly injuring his leg he was able to swim to the Karstark side of the river to safety. The Karstarks would resist greatly in the marketplace of southern Karhold, but the main reason for the resistence being able to hold them off was the fact that Robb Starke had ordered a slow and safe conquest of the town believing he had increasingly large amounts of reinforcements incoming and didnt need to risk his forces in a battle he was already going to win.

The Karstarks had been devestated by the fighting with nearly ten of their number either captured or dead on the field, and without much hope that they could hold the keep for long. The sheer number of Karstarks that they had prisoner meant that they were forced to house them all in the walled keep in the northern part of the city, and from there they made Arnolf very much aware of how many were prisoners. Arnolf himself was sickly and was unable to move but in an act of blind arrogance refused to hand command over to his grandson Harnolf Karstark believing that his brother Rickard was laughing at him for failing to hold the city, and thus he would die before he gave it up. Outside of the Karstarks there allies in House Urnet, and House Tisler also lost several members with only Heshen Urnet able to flee out of the city, and returning to the forces of House Urnet. With the fighting intensifying in the southern half of the city the Karstarks awaited reinforcements, but this would be a hopeless wait as well as while the fighting was dying down in Karhold the news begin filtering in that Hornwood was under siege from House Locke and House Hornwood was abandoning the area east of Karhold in order return home, and they were taking all their men with them.