The War of Three Dragons
Jun 13, 2014 5:59:23 GMT -5
Nyessos Qhaedar, Lady Visenya Targaryen, and 4 more like this
Post by The Black Dread on Jun 13, 2014 5:59:23 GMT -5
And so it was that Rhaena Targaryen, called 'the Widow Queen' in her hearing and 'the Black Widow' outside of it, took the Iron Throne of Westeros from those who stood against her. Her war against her brothers was called The War of Three Dragons by the Maesters who wrote the history books, but colloquially it was named 'The Culling' or 'The Kinslayer War' for by the time the dust settled, of every five Targaryen dragonriders three had been killed by their own kinsmen. After consolidating her rule on Dragonstone and learning of the assassination of her bastard brother, Maekar Waters 'the Fortnight King', Rhaena marched on King's Landing in force. The capital city, thrown into chaos by the death of its King and the midnight flight of Maekar's wife Visenya, threw open its gates to Rhaena and the only remaining dragonrider, Lord Maelys Targaryen of Oldtown, bent the knee to her along with those lords who still remained. Lord Maelys, along with Lords Baratheon, Tully, Reyne, Redwyne as well as a dozen lesser lords who had declared for Maekar were required to deliver hostages to the Queen to ensure their continued good faith. Upon their compliance, however, the new Queen was generous with her pardons, and her magnanimity won her wide support among the realm's lords, many of whom feared the result of being caught in the middle of a civil war waged on dragonback. Peace finally came to Westeros, and the rebuilding began.
Lady Daenerys Velaryon used her close friendship with the Queen well, pressing Lady Ellyn Stokeworth into a marriage to her uncle, Janos Velaryon, making the former Hand Lord of Stokeworth in the process. Lady Ellyn bore Janos six children in as many years, though three of them died in the cradle and Lady Ellyn herself died delivering the last babe. Janos died in 96 AL, and his eldest son by Lady Stokeworth ascended to that lordship. Lady Velaryon also arranged the marriage of her youngest brother Monterys to the only daughter of the elderly Lord Corlys Sunglass who died a year after the marriage. His son inherited after him but the boy was sickly and only outlived his father by two years, and some whispered that Monterys Velaryon had ordered him poisoned so that he and his wife could inherit Sweetport Sound. Daenerys herself gave birth to a healthy daughter in the Eyrie during the early months of 81 AL, and named the girl Alysanne.
Yana Snow became Queen Rhaena's most Stalwart supporter, and when Queen Rhaena formally abolished the Kingsguard, replacing them with her new Dragon Guard in 84 AL, Yana became one of the Order's founding members. Instead of seven there were six; a knighthood was not required, nor even was it required to be male, though the Queen's edict stated that the order's Commander must always be a dragon rider. The Dragon Guard are not sworn to celibacy, but they may not marry and neither may they keep a lordship when they take their vows to the Queen.
Baelon Waters, who was the Lord of Sun House by virtue of his wife, was rewarded by Queen Rhaena for killing Maekar, despite her private mourning for her late brother. He was presented a writ signed by the Queen, declaring his birth legitimate and granting him the name Baelon Targaryen, and the right to pass that name on to his sons, though the document clarified that his legitimization was without prejudice to the throne, in effect declaring that while he bore the royal name, he still had no place in the line of succession. He was not permitted to keep the sword Dark Sister, taken from the corpse of Maekar, and in 85 AL he was raised to the Small Council and made Master of Ships by the Queen, who had stripped that office from Lord Redwyne in response to his support for Maekar. His wife, Arwyn Cuy, bore him a healthy stock of children, and Sun House prospered by its ties to the crown, growing wealthy and influential in the southern Reach.
Orys Targaryen kept his head down throughout the War of Three Dragons, contenting himself to rise through the ranks of the Pyromancers until he all but owned the Guild, in deed if not in name. He expanded their business, realizing that gold could be made through dipping into any industry where the Pyromancers' expertise in using fire could be applied, and the guild became vastly wealthy through the manufacture and sale of everything from candles to charcoal. In 87 AL, Orys was named Master of Flames and appointed to the Small Council.
Maelys Targaryen, the Lord of Oldtown, bent the knee to Queen Rhaena when she arrived in King's Landing, receiving a pardon for his actions supporting Maekar, though he was required to deliver his heir to the Queen as a hostage against his good behavior. He was allowed to keep the Lordship of Oldtown, and his son Valarr was always treated appropriately for his rank, despite being a hostage of the crown. Maelys sought to improve the lives of the common people in Oldtown in ways that few noblemen ever think to do; they loved him for it, but his vassal lords and neighbors were less than pleased at the growing influence of the smallfolk, and when Maelys was killed in an accident during the construction of his castle in 93 AL, the neighboring lords breathed a sigh of relief and eagerly welcomed Maelys' heir back from the capital to assume his place as the Lord of Oldtown. The new castle on Battle Island was completed in 95 AL, a towering combination of beauty and utility though Maelys himself never lived to see it completed.
When Queen Rhaena approached King's Landing, Vira of Lower Crinkley, who was called 'the Ghostrider' or 'Dragonseed' learned of Maekar's death at the hands of Lady Daenerys Velaryon and Baelon Waters, and fled the capital ahead of Rhaena's coming, knowing that the new Queen would stop at nothing to see the lovers and children of Maekar killed. She flew east across the Narrow Sea, hiding in the Dothraki Sea and shunning all contact in an attempt to evade Rhaena's spies; it is rather difficult to hide a hundred year old dragon, after all. In the early months of 81 AL she gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Alexys Darkfyre in honor of the slain Maekar, though with an infant at her breast it grew harder and harder to avoid human contact and eventually Vira was forced to seek out a healer in Norvos when the baby fell ill. It was in Norvos that Queen Rhaena's spies caught up with Vira, and when word reached King's Landing of her whereabouts, Rhaena herself flew eastward with Lady Velaryon and her grandmother, Princess Laena Targaryen, in tow.
Vira succeeded in hiding her daughter from the Targaryen agents, though she could not conceal Aegerys from those hunting her, so it was in the sky above the Rhoyne river that she was finally caught by Queen Rhaena's dragonriders. Aegerys was over a hundred years old, and twice the size of Princess Laena's Vermilion, which was the largest of the three dragons flying with Rhaena. However despite such an advantage in size, three against one eventually wore down the great white beast, and when he was covered in scores of bloody slashes and smoking burns and eventually the great dragon's throat was lacerated by the Queen's Tyraxes, and he fell from the air and plunged into the Rhoyne. Between the rushing waters of the Royne, the fall, and the fact that she was chained to a dead dragon as it plunged into the Rhoyne; Vira was presumed dead.
Before he fell, however the dragon Aegerys gave as good as he got, however. The crimson dragon Mithrax was torn to bloody chunks by the great white beast, its rider Daenerys Velaryon mortally wounded during the fight, and Princess Laena's dragon Vermilion had its left wing almost entirely ripped from its body. Wounded and dying, Vermilion fled south and east, bearing its helpless rider along for the ride; by the time Rhaena had finished with Vira's dragon, her best friend was dead and her grandmother was nowhere to be found. Searches found the mangled corpse of Vermilion washed up on the riverbank near Volantis, but of Princess Laena herself there was no sign.
When Daenerys Velaryon was killed in Essos during the hunt for Vira, her eldest brother Jacaerys acted swiftly. Having received permission from the Queen to bond a dragon shortly after her coronation, both Jacaerys and Monterys Velaryon bonded Arrax and Servys respectively, and when their sister died in the sky over Essos, Jacaerys incited the poeple of Driftmark against the Castellan that Ser Edmyn Arryn had appointed to the rule the island until his daughter by Daenerys reached her majority. With the aid of his brother, Monterys, and his uncle, Janos, Jacaerys had the resources of Stokeworth, Sweetport Sound, and Driftmark to call upon, as well as three sizable dragons dragons. With Daenerys and Laena dead, Queen Rhaena's remaining dragonriders lacked the strength to truly contest Jacaerys' claim to the Lordship of Driftmark, and after he was able to destroy an invasion fleet at anchor in Gulltown he forced the Arryns to cede their claim to Driftmark, though it remained a bitter issue of contention between the Iron Throne and the Valemen, who already resented Queen Rhaena for the rumored manner of her husband's death.
Visenya Targaryen, suspecting that the worst had befallen her husband Maekar, fled King's Landing and flew south to Dorne, bringing with her the captive Prince Quentyn Martell as an offering to the Princess of Dorne in exchange for shelter and protection. It proved to be a wise decision, for Rhaena arrived in King's Landing mere days after Visenya's flight, and was reportedly enraged to find out that Maekar's wife had slipped through her fingers. Visenya gave birth to Maekar's daughter in the middle months of 81 AL, and married Prince Quentyn soon after, giving him two sons in as many years. Quentyn was granted a lordship and wide lands on the coast around Sunspear by his mother, and in the following years had a castle constructed from which to rule it. It earned the name Whitesand for the nearby coastline as well as the pale stones from which the castle had been constructed.
In 89 AL a pox struck Sunspear, killing the wife and both daughters of Prince Trystane Martell, who was Princess Sarella's heir. Prince Quentyn was also struck ill and though he survived, he never truly regained his strength and he was heartbroken when his and Visenya's youngest son also fell victim to the pox. He died less than a year later, some say of grief, though others whisper that Visenya had him poisoned. Led by Lord Borros Baratheon and supported by the Iron Throne, the men of the Stormlands waged a bloody campaign in the Dornish Marches, which culminated in the sacking of both Yronwood and Wyl in 86 AL. The following year, Lord Borros was able to annex the entire Boneway, and he refortified Yronwood as the southernmost stronghold of his domain, its massive gates blocking off a wide section of the mountains from Dornishmen who had lived in them for centuries.
Though the presence of Visenya and Silverwing turned the tide on every battlefield where they were present, the overwhelming numerical advantage of the Westerosi made reconquest of the lost territory all but impossible. In 87 AL Visenya caught a small column of Stormlanders marching toward Kingsgrave, and she roasted every one of them to an crisp, belatedly realizing that Lord Baratheon's personal banner flew above the riders. When she descended to search the bodies, she discovered Lord Borros himself among the dead, to her glee.
Elyas Sand and his companions, who had been dispatched from Sunspear on a secret mission to Dragonstone arrived at just the opportune moment. With Aegon and Maekar dead, Queen Rhaena advanced her fleet and her dragons on King's Landing, and there was a short period of chaos on Dragonstone in the weeks between her departure and her official Coronation in King's Landing. Elyas and his companions were able to sneak through the ships screening Dragonstone and land in secret, making their way to the Dragonmont by night. Though none of them proved capable of bonding a dragon (and four men died trying), Elyas was able to steal three eggs from the lair of Dreamfyre he escaped back to Dorne carrying the precious cargo to be delivered to Prince Trystane, who had sanctioned the mission. Princess Sarella was furious when she learned of the risk undertaken without her knowledge, but was elated by the prize; she gifted one of the eggs to Elyas himself, and kept the other two for any Martells that they might hatch for.
The man known as Sergio Delinaal spent a decade moving from city to city, never staying in the same place more than a fortnight, always just the smallest step ahead of his pursuers. The House of Black and White had no love for devotees who broke the code that they had sworn to uphold, and they hunted Sergio with a passion unmatched anywhere else in the world. They caught up to him in Volantis, attempting to insinuate himself into the household of one of the Triarchs, and in 91 AL the body of the man who called himself Sergio was found at the base of the Black Walls, with its throat cut and all the skin peeled off of its face.
With all her enemies dead or driven underground, Kesi Mandisa lived in relative security and built for herself a pleasant life in Braavos, re-establishing her old mercantile connections and growing wealthy through the shipping of goods from the east to Westeros. The name Kesi is still whispered of in hushed tones in King's Landing, and the sorceress who slaughtered King Maegor has become something of a spectre in the interim period, used by mothers to frighten their children into obedience. Whenever a Targaryen dies under unusual or suspicious circumstances, Kesi's hand is invariably mentioned though nobody has seen her since the day King Maegor died.
Varryn Targaryen, long thought dead, survived his encounters with the Night's Watch, finding his way to a clan of Free Folk who taught him what he needed to survive in the unforgiving land Beyond the Wall. He never abandoned his search for the Ice Dragon of which he had heard legends as a child, though every lead he found seemed to bring him to yet another dead end. Eventually he turned his gaze back southward, and began to forge an army out of the quarrelsome wildling tribes and clans, bribing some clan chiefs into following him, and killing others in combat to win the respect of their warriors. After seventeen years, it is likely that Varryn's army numbers over twenty thousand, and though he has not found the object of his quest yet, he believes himself close to solving the mystery of the Ice Dragon's lair.
Lady Daenerys Velaryon used her close friendship with the Queen well, pressing Lady Ellyn Stokeworth into a marriage to her uncle, Janos Velaryon, making the former Hand Lord of Stokeworth in the process. Lady Ellyn bore Janos six children in as many years, though three of them died in the cradle and Lady Ellyn herself died delivering the last babe. Janos died in 96 AL, and his eldest son by Lady Stokeworth ascended to that lordship. Lady Velaryon also arranged the marriage of her youngest brother Monterys to the only daughter of the elderly Lord Corlys Sunglass who died a year after the marriage. His son inherited after him but the boy was sickly and only outlived his father by two years, and some whispered that Monterys Velaryon had ordered him poisoned so that he and his wife could inherit Sweetport Sound. Daenerys herself gave birth to a healthy daughter in the Eyrie during the early months of 81 AL, and named the girl Alysanne.
Yana Snow became Queen Rhaena's most Stalwart supporter, and when Queen Rhaena formally abolished the Kingsguard, replacing them with her new Dragon Guard in 84 AL, Yana became one of the Order's founding members. Instead of seven there were six; a knighthood was not required, nor even was it required to be male, though the Queen's edict stated that the order's Commander must always be a dragon rider. The Dragon Guard are not sworn to celibacy, but they may not marry and neither may they keep a lordship when they take their vows to the Queen.
Baelon Waters, who was the Lord of Sun House by virtue of his wife, was rewarded by Queen Rhaena for killing Maekar, despite her private mourning for her late brother. He was presented a writ signed by the Queen, declaring his birth legitimate and granting him the name Baelon Targaryen, and the right to pass that name on to his sons, though the document clarified that his legitimization was without prejudice to the throne, in effect declaring that while he bore the royal name, he still had no place in the line of succession. He was not permitted to keep the sword Dark Sister, taken from the corpse of Maekar, and in 85 AL he was raised to the Small Council and made Master of Ships by the Queen, who had stripped that office from Lord Redwyne in response to his support for Maekar. His wife, Arwyn Cuy, bore him a healthy stock of children, and Sun House prospered by its ties to the crown, growing wealthy and influential in the southern Reach.
Orys Targaryen kept his head down throughout the War of Three Dragons, contenting himself to rise through the ranks of the Pyromancers until he all but owned the Guild, in deed if not in name. He expanded their business, realizing that gold could be made through dipping into any industry where the Pyromancers' expertise in using fire could be applied, and the guild became vastly wealthy through the manufacture and sale of everything from candles to charcoal. In 87 AL, Orys was named Master of Flames and appointed to the Small Council.
Maelys Targaryen, the Lord of Oldtown, bent the knee to Queen Rhaena when she arrived in King's Landing, receiving a pardon for his actions supporting Maekar, though he was required to deliver his heir to the Queen as a hostage against his good behavior. He was allowed to keep the Lordship of Oldtown, and his son Valarr was always treated appropriately for his rank, despite being a hostage of the crown. Maelys sought to improve the lives of the common people in Oldtown in ways that few noblemen ever think to do; they loved him for it, but his vassal lords and neighbors were less than pleased at the growing influence of the smallfolk, and when Maelys was killed in an accident during the construction of his castle in 93 AL, the neighboring lords breathed a sigh of relief and eagerly welcomed Maelys' heir back from the capital to assume his place as the Lord of Oldtown. The new castle on Battle Island was completed in 95 AL, a towering combination of beauty and utility though Maelys himself never lived to see it completed.
When Queen Rhaena approached King's Landing, Vira of Lower Crinkley, who was called 'the Ghostrider' or 'Dragonseed' learned of Maekar's death at the hands of Lady Daenerys Velaryon and Baelon Waters, and fled the capital ahead of Rhaena's coming, knowing that the new Queen would stop at nothing to see the lovers and children of Maekar killed. She flew east across the Narrow Sea, hiding in the Dothraki Sea and shunning all contact in an attempt to evade Rhaena's spies; it is rather difficult to hide a hundred year old dragon, after all. In the early months of 81 AL she gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Alexys Darkfyre in honor of the slain Maekar, though with an infant at her breast it grew harder and harder to avoid human contact and eventually Vira was forced to seek out a healer in Norvos when the baby fell ill. It was in Norvos that Queen Rhaena's spies caught up with Vira, and when word reached King's Landing of her whereabouts, Rhaena herself flew eastward with Lady Velaryon and her grandmother, Princess Laena Targaryen, in tow.
Vira succeeded in hiding her daughter from the Targaryen agents, though she could not conceal Aegerys from those hunting her, so it was in the sky above the Rhoyne river that she was finally caught by Queen Rhaena's dragonriders. Aegerys was over a hundred years old, and twice the size of Princess Laena's Vermilion, which was the largest of the three dragons flying with Rhaena. However despite such an advantage in size, three against one eventually wore down the great white beast, and when he was covered in scores of bloody slashes and smoking burns and eventually the great dragon's throat was lacerated by the Queen's Tyraxes, and he fell from the air and plunged into the Rhoyne. Between the rushing waters of the Royne, the fall, and the fact that she was chained to a dead dragon as it plunged into the Rhoyne; Vira was presumed dead.
Before he fell, however the dragon Aegerys gave as good as he got, however. The crimson dragon Mithrax was torn to bloody chunks by the great white beast, its rider Daenerys Velaryon mortally wounded during the fight, and Princess Laena's dragon Vermilion had its left wing almost entirely ripped from its body. Wounded and dying, Vermilion fled south and east, bearing its helpless rider along for the ride; by the time Rhaena had finished with Vira's dragon, her best friend was dead and her grandmother was nowhere to be found. Searches found the mangled corpse of Vermilion washed up on the riverbank near Volantis, but of Princess Laena herself there was no sign.
When Daenerys Velaryon was killed in Essos during the hunt for Vira, her eldest brother Jacaerys acted swiftly. Having received permission from the Queen to bond a dragon shortly after her coronation, both Jacaerys and Monterys Velaryon bonded Arrax and Servys respectively, and when their sister died in the sky over Essos, Jacaerys incited the poeple of Driftmark against the Castellan that Ser Edmyn Arryn had appointed to the rule the island until his daughter by Daenerys reached her majority. With the aid of his brother, Monterys, and his uncle, Janos, Jacaerys had the resources of Stokeworth, Sweetport Sound, and Driftmark to call upon, as well as three sizable dragons dragons. With Daenerys and Laena dead, Queen Rhaena's remaining dragonriders lacked the strength to truly contest Jacaerys' claim to the Lordship of Driftmark, and after he was able to destroy an invasion fleet at anchor in Gulltown he forced the Arryns to cede their claim to Driftmark, though it remained a bitter issue of contention between the Iron Throne and the Valemen, who already resented Queen Rhaena for the rumored manner of her husband's death.
Visenya Targaryen, suspecting that the worst had befallen her husband Maekar, fled King's Landing and flew south to Dorne, bringing with her the captive Prince Quentyn Martell as an offering to the Princess of Dorne in exchange for shelter and protection. It proved to be a wise decision, for Rhaena arrived in King's Landing mere days after Visenya's flight, and was reportedly enraged to find out that Maekar's wife had slipped through her fingers. Visenya gave birth to Maekar's daughter in the middle months of 81 AL, and married Prince Quentyn soon after, giving him two sons in as many years. Quentyn was granted a lordship and wide lands on the coast around Sunspear by his mother, and in the following years had a castle constructed from which to rule it. It earned the name Whitesand for the nearby coastline as well as the pale stones from which the castle had been constructed.
In 89 AL a pox struck Sunspear, killing the wife and both daughters of Prince Trystane Martell, who was Princess Sarella's heir. Prince Quentyn was also struck ill and though he survived, he never truly regained his strength and he was heartbroken when his and Visenya's youngest son also fell victim to the pox. He died less than a year later, some say of grief, though others whisper that Visenya had him poisoned. Led by Lord Borros Baratheon and supported by the Iron Throne, the men of the Stormlands waged a bloody campaign in the Dornish Marches, which culminated in the sacking of both Yronwood and Wyl in 86 AL. The following year, Lord Borros was able to annex the entire Boneway, and he refortified Yronwood as the southernmost stronghold of his domain, its massive gates blocking off a wide section of the mountains from Dornishmen who had lived in them for centuries.
Though the presence of Visenya and Silverwing turned the tide on every battlefield where they were present, the overwhelming numerical advantage of the Westerosi made reconquest of the lost territory all but impossible. In 87 AL Visenya caught a small column of Stormlanders marching toward Kingsgrave, and she roasted every one of them to an crisp, belatedly realizing that Lord Baratheon's personal banner flew above the riders. When she descended to search the bodies, she discovered Lord Borros himself among the dead, to her glee.
Elyas Sand and his companions, who had been dispatched from Sunspear on a secret mission to Dragonstone arrived at just the opportune moment. With Aegon and Maekar dead, Queen Rhaena advanced her fleet and her dragons on King's Landing, and there was a short period of chaos on Dragonstone in the weeks between her departure and her official Coronation in King's Landing. Elyas and his companions were able to sneak through the ships screening Dragonstone and land in secret, making their way to the Dragonmont by night. Though none of them proved capable of bonding a dragon (and four men died trying), Elyas was able to steal three eggs from the lair of Dreamfyre he escaped back to Dorne carrying the precious cargo to be delivered to Prince Trystane, who had sanctioned the mission. Princess Sarella was furious when she learned of the risk undertaken without her knowledge, but was elated by the prize; she gifted one of the eggs to Elyas himself, and kept the other two for any Martells that they might hatch for.
The man known as Sergio Delinaal spent a decade moving from city to city, never staying in the same place more than a fortnight, always just the smallest step ahead of his pursuers. The House of Black and White had no love for devotees who broke the code that they had sworn to uphold, and they hunted Sergio with a passion unmatched anywhere else in the world. They caught up to him in Volantis, attempting to insinuate himself into the household of one of the Triarchs, and in 91 AL the body of the man who called himself Sergio was found at the base of the Black Walls, with its throat cut and all the skin peeled off of its face.
With all her enemies dead or driven underground, Kesi Mandisa lived in relative security and built for herself a pleasant life in Braavos, re-establishing her old mercantile connections and growing wealthy through the shipping of goods from the east to Westeros. The name Kesi is still whispered of in hushed tones in King's Landing, and the sorceress who slaughtered King Maegor has become something of a spectre in the interim period, used by mothers to frighten their children into obedience. Whenever a Targaryen dies under unusual or suspicious circumstances, Kesi's hand is invariably mentioned though nobody has seen her since the day King Maegor died.
Varryn Targaryen, long thought dead, survived his encounters with the Night's Watch, finding his way to a clan of Free Folk who taught him what he needed to survive in the unforgiving land Beyond the Wall. He never abandoned his search for the Ice Dragon of which he had heard legends as a child, though every lead he found seemed to bring him to yet another dead end. Eventually he turned his gaze back southward, and began to forge an army out of the quarrelsome wildling tribes and clans, bribing some clan chiefs into following him, and killing others in combat to win the respect of their warriors. After seventeen years, it is likely that Varryn's army numbers over twenty thousand, and though he has not found the object of his quest yet, he believes himself close to solving the mystery of the Ice Dragon's lair.
all alone and also really bored 
Hopefully going to kickstart the festival too