The Dragon's Revival: CK2 GoT House Targaryen in Robert's Rebellion (It's Over)

[Madame Adequate]

Chapter 10: Six Weeks

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Finally, movement forwards. I have spent months gathering allies in King’s Landing, carefully and meticulously vetting them and bringing them on board. Finally the opportunity strikes and with the aid of a bribed carriage driver, King Stannis’ new wife is sent to meet her untimely demise. It is a grim task, and grimmer still for the necessity of killing the carriage driver, but it is a necessary one. King Stannis grows old and I aim to prevent him from procreating again before he passes away. Whilst the circumstances are obviously very suspicious, Stannis finds no leads that bring him to the conspiracy.

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To the north, former Lord Paramount Eddard Stark, who had been usurped in some rebellion in my childhood, passes away at the age of 67. By all accounts he deserves his nickname “The Honorable”. I am saddened that I will never gloat over the destruction of his house for the treason it has done to mine.

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That thrice-damned assassin of joy Stannis Baratheon has already remarried, to someone called Perra. Another commoner! Is he just picking out whores from the brothels and elevating them to Queendom? I begin putting out feelers to repeat our efforts against Leonette, but the fear of the Seven has been put into the court of King’s Landing. I don’t know what threats Stannis has made, but not a single person is willing to join me in an effort against Perra. Fortunately that same fear seems to be keeping them silent about their own roles in Leonette’s death as well.

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Frustrated, I have taken to reading through old tomes in the castle’s library. It’s not an extensive collection but there are some interesting works in there, and I have found the efforts to decipher them calm and sharpen my mind. Many are just gibberish, but a few are actually clever codes that can be undone. Most interesting is the array of methods people have used throughout history to bring about political changes.

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A few days later and I realize from my nausea that I am once again with child. A third child is a great blessing indeed, and Kennett greets the news with great joy. I am now hoping for a girl, to be a sister-wife to Aelix. And a daughter it is. She has the striking eyes of a true Targaryen, with the golden hair of a Lannister. I name her Visenya.

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Shortly thereafter, my spymaster comes to me with dire news. (I don’t know why he started the letter with an insult, he’s got 100 relations with me!) My own Septon, Osney, is conniving to murder my sweet husband Kennett. I will countenance nothing of the sort! I order him seized and thrown into the dungeon. Unfortunately it seems he had guessed that we had learned of his plot, because he was already out of the castle on the way to the Septry when I gave that order. He raised his flag against me, hoping against hope that he might win. I order my own banners raised and march against him at the head of it.

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It takes just a few days to force his surrender. He had managed to rouse some peasant rabble to his cause, but they were swept aside without a single casualty among my men. One horse stepped on a dog’s tail and was bitten, but neither was seriously wounded.

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I have Osney executed on the spot. I will not countenance traitors and I will certainly not countenance those who seek to murder my family. I am a Targaryen! I may be a temporarily embarrassed Queen, but I am a Queen still. I then send word to my other Septon, the one in Plankytown, that he is to be my new court Septon and holy man. He is the most learned remaining in my court aside from myself.

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Well, it seems that Castamere is just not a place that the Lannisters can hold without trouble arising. Despite the example Tywin Lannister made of House Reyne, killing them down to their last child, his son Tyrion now faces a revolt on the part of House Piper, the new holders of the lands. Apparently, though, they were able to come to some sort of arrangement, as the revolt ends inconclusively after a few weeks. Many wonder if Tyrion is not undoing the work Tywin put into strengthening his House.

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Soon enough the time comes to decide on the course of education Aelix will undertake. After some deliberation I decide he must be shaped into a commander and warrior. The only way he can overcome his hunchback is to destroy it head-on. The Targaryens must be strong warriors and brilliant commanders, able to lead men.

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FINALLY! A raven arrived from King’s Landing just a moment ago, with perhaps the most momentous piece of news in the Realm for thirty years. Stannis Baratheon, curse his name, has finally died. Despite my efforts I could not secure his death, so he died peacefully and naturally at the age of sixty-seven. No matter, revenge is pleasant, but second to efficiency. Now - now my time is at hand!

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His heir Steffon is a lackwit prone to dour moods, and believed by half the world to be the son of some man other than Stannis. He will not, I expect, be a popular or effective king. Not that he is likely to get the chance to prove it. He is known for his kindness and general honesty as well as his idiocy, and has cultivated friendships with many Lords Paramount. I can still find the support needed to murder him within a week. The plan is set in motion within a few weeks of it being agreed upon.

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It is an easy kill. Supposed highwaymen ambush the King’s carriage during a trip through the Kingswood and slay him with crossbow quarrels. He looked, I am told, much like a hedgehog. After a mere six weeks on the throne his son Gulian, just ten years of age, as much of a moron as his father, inept with a blade, and too scared to use one anyway, has come to the throne. This young man I have no intentions of killing, at least not yet.

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Gulian is crowned and blessed by the High Septon. My investigations suggest that only his relative Renly Baratheon, Lord Paramount of the Stormlands, and Princess Janyce of Dorne hold him in any regard. The rest of the Lords Paramount consider him either frostily or with outright hostility. Good. I must, however, continue the work and put pressure upon him. I turn to an old trick, one which helped against his father - I press the issue of his legitimacy. To my delight, his own Master of Whisperers, Merrell Bushy, a highly competent man, gets wind of my plot and agrees to join it. With his efforts we cannot fail.

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To aid me even further, Hand of the King and Lord Paramount of the Westerlands Tyrion Lannister dies of natural causes. Given that Tyrion was a brilliant man, if shackled by his status as a dwarf, it is to my advantage that he passes away. Four of Tyrion’s six children, all daughters, are themselves dwarves, and it is Sallei who takes the reigns as Lady Paramount. She is far from her father’s match. Gulian names Renly Baratheon, probably the only prominent person in all Westeros he can trust, as his new Hand. I can barely disguise my happiness at this, as Renly has never been a very exciting man. Age has given him some seasonings of experience, but not enough to make up for his basic shortcomings.

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Sallei does not last very long - within just a few weeks she has been murdered, though the culprit remains unknown. She is succeeded by her one-year-old son, yet another dwarf, Barion Tully. I had to check the details there more than once. Apparently, out of necessity, negligence, or optimism, Tyrion had arranged Sallei’s marriage as a traditional one, rather than matrilineal. House Lannister no longer holds the Westerlands, and I didn’t have to lift a finger!

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I may have been premature declaring Stannis' death the most momentous news of recent years. To the far north, the Night’s Watch has retaken Castle Black, but much of the wall remains in Wildling hands. Although they descended into infighting and Queen Gerra was murdered, her son Jarl the Handsome has bound them back together and is now marching on the remnants of the Night’s Watch. He is from what I have heard a terrifyingly brilliant man, the sort who only comes along once in an age, and there is no doubt he poses a tremendous threat to those of us south of the Wall. (Jesus smurf look at his stats. For reference, 10 is perfectly average competence for an adult. Varys had Intrigue of 35 and Aegon the Conquerer had Martial of 35. For someone to have these kinds of stats WITHOUT even having the Genius or Quick traits is mind-boggling. This guy is going to shove the Wall up the Realm’s butthole sideways.)