My Audio Books Chapter 1373 Gg

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ASOIAF Gaemon REDUX (SI)

Thread starterStrangerOrders

Start dateMar 2, 2018

Tags1: dance of dragons house hightower house targaryen i cannot be clear enough about magic less magic but still magic magic is a thing and it will come up. planetos is high fantasy sort of warning: magic z: and to be clear: magic. z: did i mention magic? there is magic

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Mar 24, 2018

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#641

abraxasLD1

StrangerOrders said:

Incidentally my writing has slowed down due to a mix of jet-lag and the internet killing a bit more of my faith in humanity (which is impressive given that I work in foreign affairs, did not know there was anything left in there to lose ).

Want a tip? Don't have any at all in us. We're a pretty loathsome species. And if you have none you'll never be disappointed but occasionally happily surprised. It's slightly depressing but it works.

Edit:

FuZzvKiNgZz said:

As long as as Laena, Gaemon and Rhaenyra are a thing, now I've got to run before I'm lynched.

Don't worry, I'll get you later when he's not around.

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Mar 24, 2018

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#642

FuZzvKiNgZz

StrangerOrders said:

Nah, will come up in later chapters.

A quick word on relationships in this story. I am going to be trying to develop a wider net of relationships this time around because it really felt in V1 like no one had relationships beyond how they related to a given member of the royal family. This irked me.

Click to expand...

As long as as Laena, Gaemon and Rhaenyra are a thing, now I've got to run before I'm lynched.

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Mar 24, 2018

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#643

The Reader

FuZzvKiNgZz said:

As long as as Laena, Gaemon and Rhaenyra are a thing, now I've got to run before I'm lynched.

Mmm I wonder. Where do I have to click to dislike a comment here?

I do hope we get to see more dragons though. One of the things I love the most about this time period is that dragons are right in the front and center of the story

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Mar 24, 2018

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#644

mplustwerk

I was reading through the update again when this sentence struck me:

StrangerOrders said:

Some had the steel worked into petty trinkets and circlets to better dismiss the shames of the past, others tried to forge them into new blades to sell to foreigners.

Consider that the the Litsen branch of the Targaryen family had a circlet of Valyrian steel that Aegon wore, makes me wonder if Gaemon's family has some skeletons in the closet that they want to forget about.

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#645

LuxEterna

mplustwerk said:

I was reading through the update again when this sentence struck me:

Click to expand...

or one of the bigger branches had that made before they then died out and the litsen branch inherited it

or maybe it was even a gift from another family

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Mar 24, 2018

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#646

lordernest26

It should be taken into consideration that, no matter the origins of the Conqueror's Crown, Aegon himself may not have known where his crown came from. He was after all a few generations removed from the members of his family that escaped the Doom.

By then is not unbelievable that a few aspects of Valyrian culture may have already been lost; especially the aspects of High Culture because there wasn't any other Great Family nearby with which to share and reinforce them, only lesser nobles i.e. their vassals like Velaryons and the Westerosi nobles.

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Mar 24, 2018

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#647

Doragon

Much love. Got food poisoning and this is helping take mind off it @StrangerOrders

CtP: Critique this Person

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Mar 25, 2018

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#648

Azum

Well now i feel bad for Laena. I find myself very interested in what this new chapter will be about, theres only so much in Oldtown that isnt the Citadel, Starry Sept. I guess Arral will dig up something interesting for us.

Anyway, how big is Sky atm? Are you using Dany's dragon's growth as normal or is it something new?

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Mar 25, 2018

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#649

Eboniska

ARRAL IS BACK MOTHERTRUCKERS!!!!!!!

[COMING SOON] Queen of Blood and Vengeance: A Helaena Targaryen AU (NOT SI)

[DELAYED TILL FIRE AND BLOOD RELEASED] How to make Sons of the Dragon Era even worse- An SI

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Mar 25, 2018

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#650

Falzyker

StrangerOrders said:

The old man smiled even more brightly. "Why of course prince! As they say in my homeland, what is dead may never die!"

I missed this guy.

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Mar 25, 2018

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#651

RichardWhereat

Not that that'll stop him jumping off a tower on her back...

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Mar 25, 2018

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#652

IslandHopper

StrangerOrders said:

Sky is at the size of bigger than average pony but smaller than a Rouncey. She is still not strong to carry even Gaemon at this point. She needs about another half a year to not go plummeting like a rock with Gaemon on her back and do some gliding.

Does Sky still live in fear of Nessa and her Almighty Skillet of Smiting?

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Mar 25, 2018

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#653

Valin Arcadius

IslandHopper said:

Does Sky still live in fear of Nessa and her Almighty Skillet of Smiting?

NO, NO, NO! It shall be called, THE FRYING PAN OF DOOM!!!

Goku is Sky and Chichi is Nessa.

That gave me another thought though...

Sky inspects Gaemons troops before the start of The Battle of "Knock it off you Idiots." (replace Maximus with Sky.)

The only battle of the short lived "War of the Morons", both named as such by Archmaester Arrel. because "Prince Gaemon seemed to be using the words idiot and moron every other sentience after he ended the battle, and it seemed appropriate" - Archmaester Arrel. This short lived conflict would also reveal the reason behind Prince Gaemons bizarre choice of weaponry for his men, and display to the world, the best weapon to have at your side when facing a dragon.

Last edited: Mar 25, 2018

Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip. - Winston Churchill

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#654

Threadmarks Fourteen Names of the Freehold: Syrax

Index

StrangerOrders

Fourteen Names of the Freehold: Syrax, the Ever-Kindling-Spark

Ēlī se mōrī rhaperzys. Se ēlī se mōrī naejot ropagon. Ao bāne īlva tubissa se ōños īlva bantior.

Ēlī naejot ropagon se mōrī naejot sīmonagon, hontes se zokli vāedagon hen aōha jaqiarzir.

Ao might īlva ēdrugon se grant īlva biarves naejot īlva qilōni issi aōha riñar.

Isse morghon ao tepagon īlva bantis se tubis.

Syrax, se mirre kindling rhaperzys.

-Hymn of the Sun Dragon.

Regarding the Ever-Kindling-Spark

The world began in nothing.

Nothing had a name nor an awareness so by nothing was the only thing known.

All things dwelled in a state of empty sleep.

Then from the nothing, something awoke.

In the moment of the first awareness, nothing ceased to be in truth.

The first looked at an endless world, its sight banishing unawareness everywhere it looked as it both saw what it beheld and forced what it beheld to become aware.

It looked everywhere, growing great wings to give the world flight and created distance as it traveled until there was nothing more to see.

When it could see no more, it turned to all that it had awoken.

"Who are you who seeks to make us see?" They asked.

"I am Syrax," It spoke the first name. "The Spark that ended Nothing."

-Song of the World, First Line.

Faces of the Sun and Moon

Given the tale of its origin, it is unsurprising that Syrax is understood as a god which encompasses both ignorance and enlightenment in its Transcendent Faces. In its Shaped Faces, Syrax is a god of truth and deceit, that which stands judge over liars and praises those who speak hard truths. When Unshaped, the god becomes the day and the night, the sun and the moon, light and dark which are all held synonymous in the oldest dialects of the Valyrian tongue.

The act and capacity to become aware of other existences as well as acknowledging them are then understood as the sum of the being which supposedly commenced existence.

It no surprise therefore that the Table of Syrax is among the broader of the laws of Valyria.

Table of the Sun

The Table of the Sun extols that all freeborn men and women must seek to understand the truths of both the world and each other while cautioning that the truth can burn as easily as the sun itself. Reference to the table is the table most heavily drawn upon when addressing matters of contract such as alliances, marriages, trade and testimony but it is also one of three tables which contributes to laws of conquest and rights.

Crimes of willful deceit are punished threw various means in addition to the more familiar notion of reparations. Minor infractions often bare punishments akin to wearing blinders in public for an ordained number of days while severe breaches of contract law can result in the perpetrator being permanent blinded with a burning brand. These are harsh but rarely fatal punishments as the violation of the Shaped Face of a God is seen as a crime for which amends can be made and Syrax is an especially forgiving deity among the Fourteen.

Much more severe is a slight against the Transcendent Faces. Under the Law of this Table, to destroy or otherwise modify the final copy of any form of record or account is a crime worthy of punishment. While this can be something admirable to the scholar, for many invaluable work has been lost to the chaos of battle and the wears of time, the Valyrians are singularly exacting in this regard.

While time is seen as a sad inevitability, failing to preserve a work of state or academic value is already seen as a crime which is to be punished by the breaking of the assigned caretaker's fingers, a brutal method even if the fingers are often reset and allowed to heal. Lighting fire to or otherwise sacking a library or other repository of knowledge in Conquest without first saving the contents is a much direr crime, often resulting in a finger joint lost per century that the repository was known to exist. While one would think that the difficulties of siege would make it difficult to catch a perpetrator of such an act, the fact that every man and woman, from the lowest slave to the highest dragonlord among the besieging army would be forced to pay the price should the perpetrator not be identified has made it so that there is never a shortage of accusations in the event of such a tragedy. Whether these men are often the guilty party or merely a scapegoat is left for the reader to discern. Most severe of all are the crimes for altering official records or academic works, these are without exception punished with death by exposure ranging from the familiar to being left on the rare isles of stone which form in the Caldera of Mount Syrax.

Order of Syrax

The dreaded servants of Syrax are better known as 'The Torches' among the people of Valyria, although they are also known as seers. They are among one of the smaller Orders within the borders of the Freehold, to my understanding they are not known to ever number past a dozen full-members.

It is difficult to know which tales are to be believed but the Torches are held to be masters of light and shadow, I have heard that Torches are called on when matters of the goings of distant lands are questioned. They have also been known to be called in times of war to give counsel to warleaders as to the dispositions of enemies.

More strangely, it is a generally held belief that it is not possible to deceive the eyes of a Torch with some freemen going as far as to claim that Torches are able to burn shadows in the way one might burn flesh.

Like all other Orders, I have heard of reference to 'Lesser' and 'Greater' sins among their number but what these crimes might be and how they might be punished seems a matter forbidden on penalty of death.

Lastly, the dragons of these odd men are believed by some be able to become stars racing across the night's sky but I have unfortunately been unable to trace the origin of these rumors.

They are known to wear colors of gold and white while marking themselves with ornaments of gold and glass.

Last edited: Mar 25, 2018

Have a nice day!

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Mar 25, 2018

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#655

FuZzvKiNgZz

Aww was super excited just then.

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#656

Commedia

is it just me or does the Red Priest's Shadow/Fire magic seem to be a cheap knockoff of the Torches'?

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#657

Praetor98

Commedia said:

is it just me or does the Red Priest's Shadow/Fire magic seem to be a cheap knockoff of the Torches'?

Perhaps their the descendants of that order?

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Mar 25, 2018

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#658

Commedia

Praetor98 said:

Perhaps their the descendants of that order?

That I consider unlikely. The Red Priests explicitly worship a fire god known as R'hllor. while similar....ish in concept, Valyrian Gods do not strike me as the type to play well with others.

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Mar 25, 2018

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#659

Praetor98

Commedia said:

That I consider unlikely. The Red Priests explicitly worship a fire god known as R'hllor. while similar....ish in concept, Valyrian Gods do not strike me as the type to play well with others.

Perhaps R'hllor is another face for Caraxes? Or a translation of Caraxes into a different language?

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#660

RichardWhereat

Hmm, I'm not sure, but I'm thinking that R'hllor sounds vaguely Valyrian.

Therefore, I'm going to put down a bet of a home delivered pizza, that R'hllor is some sort of former Valyrian God.

Any takers?

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ASOIAF Gaemon REDUX (SI)

Thread starterStrangerOrders

Start dateMar 2, 2018

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Mar 25, 2018

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#661

lordernest26

There is a certain simile between what we see of Melisandre and what has been described about the "The Torches" but it seems pretty small. As described in the Introduction, the dichotomy between light and shadow that is inherent of Syrax was just one part of the whole that composes the theology of that god for the Valyrians.

Besides, on the Red Priests' part, we only know that Melisandre is a Shadowbinder, right? Is it known as part of R'hllor worship? It could easily be a coincidence that Melisandre is a Red Priestess and a Shadowbinder because she is from Asshai. Thoros never indicates some capacity for Shadowbinding or that it's part of the religion; and the other members of the religion only seem to affect fire from what I recall.

Or, since there was a so great religious tolerance in the Valyrian Freehold, maybe R'hllor was the Sun God of some minor culture subjugated by the Dragonlords that then found the few similarities between their God and Syrax and afterwards, like Roman Mythology with Greek Mythology, took inspiration and developed their current religious beliefs and practices from there.

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Mar 25, 2018

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#662

Threadmarks Chapter Nineteen: Fast Times at the Oldtown Hightower

Index

StrangerOrders

Here is the first part of the chapter, I will change this post when I post the rest.

Chapter Nineteen: Fast Times at the Oldtown Hightower

Tenth Day of the Fourth Month, 113 AC.

I gently elbowed the boy next to me when he looked dangerously close to falling asleep on his feet.

"Ser Gwayne," I muttered to him while tilting my head slightly towards where my uncle sat on the feasting table with his empty goblet outstretched.

The boy blinked his blue eyes for a moment to shake off his boredom induced stupor and quickly moved with his wine jug over to the side of his supposed instructor while I resisted the urge to sigh.

The jug in my own hands was still full which was something I had grown used to in the week since I began my service.

Lymon Hightower was not much of a drinker, he sat at the head of the long tables in the main feasting hall with his goblet in hand like the other men but all he ever did was wet his lips with it. The Lord of Oldtown generally seemed averse to anything that kept him from functioning at peak efficiency.

But I still had my role to play, so I waited next to the other three Pages while my little cousin ran to pour wine for my rather noisy and less restrained uncle.

There were far more than five Pages in the Hightower, around twelve but the ones which I served with the most often were not chosen by accident.

Fossoway, Cuy, Roxton and Hightower.

It was surprisingly unsubtle to have me surrounded by children of Green Houses.

In any case, it really sort of backfired.

Four of them were a few steps farther than me than was strictly appropriate and shooting nervous glances in my direction even after a weak.

It was inaccurate to say that they were looking at me, they seemed more concerned by the armored giant standing next to me and the horse-sized dragon curled up behind us soaking up the sun.

I might have been a touch paranoid to think that it was a scheme as those were all Reach Houses and it would be strange for a Black to be sent to serve as a Page for a Green.

The only exception was my little cousin.

"Thank you," Garth whispered back to me as he scurried back from the table to take his place next to me. Ormund's son… did not take after his father, where my cousin was one leotard away from looking the part of a Golden Age comic hero his son was an unfortunate mix of husky and soft. I liked him enough, but the other boys mocked him when they thought he did not hear and simply lacked the malice to speak up about it.

"Just be sure to tell me if I nod off," I smiled back at the boy. It was easy to forget that he was two years my senior.

"Promise," He assured me.

Garth had quickly become a frequent companion whenever it came time for duties even if that was not as often as I had initially thought.

As I said, Lymon had struck me as a smart man and he knew that handling my time at the tower in the conventional way was not likely to get a desired result.

So I had considerable freedom in doing what I wanted as the mood struck as long as I kept up with my lessons and served him in public. The latter was easy, the former…

I sighed.

After the feast I was freed to go about my business until the time came to deal with the latter.

The other Pages went off to continue along with their meticulously planned schedules while I made my way back to my apartments. My instructor was not due to arrive for another few hours so I figured that there was time to go through with some preparations.

I frowned internally as we passed another pack of servants which edged away from us, that happened exceedingly often in the halls of the Tower.

I found it curious that they seemed just as wary of my Shield as my dragon, but I saw little point in concerning myself with it.

As was the custom, two of my nine guards were waiting beyond the hall and fell in line with us with mechanical ease. I went through my usual habit when seeing one of mine.

Gallen, twenty, sleeps around too much, son of an armsmen in service to a Hightower vassal. Primary concern is living up to his father's expectations. Current Priority: Allude to chance at a small tract of land in the future.

I found that I had at some point began to broaden the way that I approached my servants. I tried to know the hopes and fears of everyone in my service, get rid of those who were too troublesome, but I had begun to actively try and make them see their service to me as the key to fulfilling their hopes.

"Is the matter seen to?" I asked Hubert of the Reach.

Hubert the Reachman, forty-three, smarter than he looks and likes puzzle games, no family. Primary concern is learning and keeping himself financially stable. Current Priority: Continue to loan books from private collection.

The dark haired and heavily bearded man nodded slightly as he began his report, "As commanded, Your Grace. Ashur had the eggs swapped and Lady Serwyn'll be ill for a few days. He think's she'll be fine in a few days before Omeld sees her."

I nodded, the most annoying thing about moving were always the unlisted complications of a new house. My preference had always been to make certain that I got rid of the pests sooner rather than later.

I had brought an unusual number of staff (or 'servants') with me and my guards besides and sometimes it could be hard for them to mesh well with their surroundings or be preyed upon by those used to making certain abuses in the Westerosi manner.

For example, a certain lady-in-waiting that liked to humiliate her rivals by forging messages and rumors about them and some of the servants, rather raunchy ones. Fun for her and shame for her rivals, the Wall, geldings and dismemberment for the poor boys.

Well known to the servants but not to the lower-ranking nobility, certainly not even on my Cousin's radar.

She had regrettably opted to start a rumor regarding Floryn, Balerion's caretaker and one of Sky's groomers two days past.

Floryn, age nineteen, too much of a flirt, elderly mother in the care of younger brother. Primary concern is staying in my good graces. Current Priority: Ensure that he does not perceive himself in danger of losing his job.

A bit of a miscalculation on her part.

So I logically had her meals mildly poisoned and intended to issue a very polite warning.

A bit extreme but loyalty was key to my survival.

And she was a Mullendore anyway which meant that her house was a threat to me at any rate as they declared for the Blacks in the Dance of another world. They had been too far to be genuinely loyal to Rhaenyra in my mind, which meant that they were opportunists looking to turn on the Hightowers. So a threat, twice over.

If I were to be honest, it was no more extreme than some of the measures I had to employ in the capital at times. A rapist to the Wall here, a misleading maidservant reassigned there and so on.

I wish I could say that my behaviour had something to do with justice and that I was being the noble guy who looked out for the little people, but that would be dishonest. I did not think that what I did was necessarily in the right or even just, if it happened to be good and just then great but it was not the intended result.

I needed those pendants to mean something or they were just trinkets and the servants could be bought. More to the point, I needed it to be known that attacking them in any way shape or form was equivalent to an attack on my person.

"I do hope that she is not horribly inconvenienced," I tilted my head innocently.

"As you say," Ebermen snorted.

I had developed something of theory in the days since I moved into the abomination that was the Hightower.

Whoever built it had clearly hated servants. There were only three 'elevators' in the entire structure and they were all reserved for highborn use. Which meant that everyone else had seventy-plus flights of stairs as part of their daily routine.

It was an incentive to try and stay relatively fit if nothing else.

Curiously, most of the highborn men seemed to favor the stairs for that very reason. It gave them an excuse to exercise and it helped to give them a decent understanding of the time it would take to get around in the case of an attack or emergency.

I could admire that sort of practicality and tended to follow suit.

Even if it meant my legs were always a bit sore by the time that I made it into my apartments.

"I could carry you," Ebermen suggested as was his habit around the thirtieth flight.

Damn these short legs, "I am fine Ebermen."

I was for once grateful that Clearsky went out the nearest window whenever stairs appeared in her path. She had grown far too big for the tight spaces and she had hated the things even when she was small.

Said lizard usually awaited at the top of any given flight to seemingly taunt us with the inefficiency of our mode of travel.

The long and short of it was that I typically arrived somewhat winded to my apartments.

I raised a brow when I saw Nessa standing outside of the main door to my apartments with a less than pleased expression. The guards at the door bore similar expressions but guarding the main door had become something of a somber duty after the first day's fiasco. Granted my mostly Reachmen guard had adapted much more easily than my Crownlander governess.

Nessa had been having a bit of difficulty adapting to the Hightower, I could tell it from the way she had been working herself half-to-death to familiarize herself with the ins and outs of the literal and social structures of the House while getting everything sorted and establishing everyone in their new roles. That Lymon had insisted on augmenting my guard and household with some of his own men and servants had not exactly served to relieve her either.

The lack of sleep was obvious in the bags under her hazel eyes and the few hairs which had escaped her usually militant braid of golden hair. Granted her plain gown and the ledger she was idly glancing through seemed to have retained their typically immaculate neatness.

"My Prince," She smiled in greeting, fatigue making it a touch weaker than usual. "The feast was pleasant?"

She had become increasingly obsessed with her diction over the years, she still slipped every now and then, but the head of my staff had largely managed to refine her accent to the point that she was probably better spoken than many highborn.

"As pleasant as they ever are," I chuckled. It is genuinely pleasant to attend meals where the rumors, glares and snide remarks are unlikely to end in a kingdom-ruining, fratricidal bloodbath.

"Is that so?" She nodded. "I am glad, my prince. I am afraid that the Archmaester has decided to arrive early for your lessons."

Ah. Well that explains her manner.

"I will see to Arral then," I chuckled as I greeted my guards and proceeded into my apartments.

Lambert, age twenty-four, likes to read, brought a young wife, no children. Primary concern is making a comfortable living. Loyal so long as wife remains healthy. Current priority: direct to competent maester should wife become pregnant.

Edric, age thirty-nine, likes to sing, good voice for it too and handsome enough, wants to marry but bad prospects. Primary concern is earning prospects. Loyal so long as he perceives hope of marriage. Current priority: find a suitable girl not too fixed on Oldtown.

I continued the routine as we walked through my apartments and I greeted the maids and guards.

The girls, boys, men and women which were new would have been easy to pick out even if I did not track them. They seemed out of place and clumsy next to the mechanical and almost single-minded coordination of the others.

I supposed that it was natural, I had gone out of my way to foster a sense of community among the staff. Reading lessons by those who were literate, communal prayers and I even ate with them a few times a week.

The new ones would be either replaced or pulled as time went on. My men had already interrupted one of the new ones who got a bit frisky before being reassigned elsewhere, minus a few teeth and a finger.

To be perfectly frank, we could not reach an equilibrium soon enough. I had no patience whatsoever for having to resort to barbarism long before I was even strong enough to fight for myself.

I sighed as Gallen went forward and pulled the door.

Sure enough, he waited inside as he had every day since our meeting.

He was seated on the floor of the study and idly chewing on a lemon tart while pouring over the tomes he had brought with him. As usual, he had taken liberty to raid the books on the shelves and scatter them among what he had brought himself.

And as usual, I heard Nessa issue an annoyed sigh as she trailed behind me like the household head she was in all but name.

"AH!" The Maester's smile revealed a row of crooked teeth interlaced with gold, silver, iron and who knew what else between wizened teeth. "Gaemon! I had a thought!"

"Really, Archmaester?" I chuckled as I came into the study, Clearsky and my two most trusted humans coming behind.

Over the past week, a singular fact had become clear about the madman.

He was utterly brilliant. In a few days I had learned more from his lessons than I had from years with Melos and Nessa.

That he was apparently an old friend of Runciter only warmed me more to the maester.

"Quite! Your writings regarding expeditionary works!" He waved my manuscript while taking another bite of the tart. "They confirm my theory regarding the links between the Thousand Isles and Seastone Chair! I saw the chair once or twice! It fits the report you describe! Magnificent! Were it not for my fear of the sea I would be looking for the sites myself!"

I snorted, I had only written the memories of Gaema's few trips to the docks of Oros and her letters with her uncle, an explorer in the northern trade posts of Essos. "I am glad to have been of aid."

Arral waved me off while tossing the book over his shoulder. "Thank me if there is a result! I would need to get approval! The tyranny! What does money have to do with science?!?! Ignorance! Now onto the lesson!"

Arral was the sort of man who became stranger with every damned thing you noticed.

His balding head reminded me of an upside-down triangle, the fact that his face was extremely gaunt did not better things. The sides of his gunmetal hair were lime-stiffened which were worked into conical lines to become triangular along with his long beard.

His hairless upper lip revealed a thin scar which raced up to his eye. I had not noticed it at first since it was buried in the heavy wrinkles and cracks in his sun-worn skin.

That was the man in a nutshell, as crazy as he sounded, he was stranger with every detail.

That he punctuated his words by doing a handstand and somersaulting to his feet, momentarily revealing legs braced with ink only confirmed that idea.

"Now, you said you wanted to know about the early Ghiscari! Fascinating people! Horrible logisticians but truly gifted at repetition!" The mad Maester nodded to himself while knocking down a pile of books to dig out a ponderous tome. "Useful study if you want to understand how to not administer supply lines! Much like your great-great-great-grandfather! Just as ineffective at battling Rhoynar folk as well!"

I snorted as the Maester launched into his lecture.

He might have been mad, but he reminded me of Runciter in his own way.

Frankly, I enjoyed my first few weeks in the Hightower while barely leaving it. I was a creature by habit and I preferred to be systemic with exploration, I had little desire to explore beyond the boundaries of the Hightower until I knew every nook and cranny of the monolithic structure.

Which unfortunately meant that eventually I was forced to suck it up and do something that I really did not want to do.

I would have to go into the basement that no one liked to talk about.

It took me a few days to work up the nerve to mention it to the Lord of Oldtown and he sadly approved with the caveut that I did not go unaccompanied. Unfortunate, in that he robbed me of a valid reason to follow my instincts and run in the opposite direction of the place.

In retrospect, I had been a bit of a coward about the whole thing. It was just a creepy basement which the Hightowers regularly used as a storehouse, it was not even rarely used since granaries and a number of servant's quarters were there.

Absolutely nothing to worry about… is what I would have said if I had not been in Westeros and the planet did not actively hate me.

Sadly, I was in Westeros and things went the exact opposite of swimmingly.

Poor choice of words incidentally.

Last edited: May 13, 2018

Have a nice day!

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Mar 25, 2018

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#663

TruthfulPanda

Gone Fishin'

It took me some head scratching to figure out that Garth was given the head's up to attend to Ser Gwayne, and not that the boy went under two names ... but I'm not the sharpest keyboard on this forum ...

One weak should be week, I think.

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Mar 25, 2018

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#664

sxeron10

Banned

So the Fourteen is basically a mix of Dualism and Polytheism that is also a group of Eldritch Abominations... Neat.

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Mar 25, 2018

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#665

Tirion

Gaemon is getting good at this mafia Don thing... whoops, I mean highborn courtier thing, stupid autocorrect

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Mar 25, 2018

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#666

Corax

I like this new aspect of Gaemon, it's really cool.

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Mar 25, 2018

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#667

Valin Arcadius

Tirion said:

Gaemon is getting good at this mafia Don thing... whoops, I mean highborn courtier thing, stupid autocorrect

Makes me wonder how long it will be until some poor fool crosses Gaemon and wakes up with a horse head in their bed...

Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip. - Winston Churchill

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Mar 25, 2018

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#668

TruthfulPanda

Gone Fishin'

This building of ser ... staff's loyalty reminded me that Roman Courts accepted slave testimony only if obtained under torture, the assumption being that they would lie for their Masters.

Or so I remember reading (which, considering my memory, might not mean much ...).

Last edited: Mar 25, 2018

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Mar 25, 2018

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#669

Doragon

StrangerOrders said:

damn right

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Mar 25, 2018

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#670

LuxEterna

Tirion said:

Gaemon is getting good at this mafia Don thing... whoops, I mean highborn courtier thing, stupid autocorrect

he will have to get even better because once gaemon has managed to get his servants special protections via their pendants, there will be some copycats that will want top profit from it by falsely invoking the protection

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Mar 25, 2018

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#671

Doragon

LuxEterna said:

Oh man, Gaemon's reaction when someone he doesn't know starts wearing a pendant.....

"And I saw a pale horse, and the name of him who sat upon it was Death"

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Mar 25, 2018

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#672

Garm88

LuxEterna said:

There's probably a maker's mark on the back.

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Mar 25, 2018

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#673

LuxEterna

Garm88 said:

There's probably a maker's mark on the back.

and you think that make people stop trying to make forgeries and trying to profit from them?

because if you believe yes then i've got a nice piece of realestate to sell you...

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Mar 25, 2018

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#674

TarMiniatur

Valin Arcadius said:

Makes me wonder how long it will be until some poor fool crosses Gaemon and wakes up with a horse head in their bed...

Or an enraged dragon's head on their windowsill.

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Mar 25, 2018

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#675

Garm88

LuxEterna said:

and you think that make people stop trying to make forgeries and trying to profit from them?

because if you believe yes then i've got a nice piece of realestate to sell you...

No, but it's an extremely easy way to spot forgeries.

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Mar 25, 2018

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#676

Doragon

Garm88 said:

No, but it's an extremely easy way to spot forgeries.

and an extremely easy way to get your head on a spike

or a visit from a dragon

or worse...a visit from Ebermann

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Mar 25, 2018

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#677

LuxEterna

Doragon said:

and an extremely easy way to get your head on a spike

or a visit from a dragon

or worse...a visit from Ebermann

the thing is that gaemon would need to be made aware of the problem first though and if the ofrgers are clever then the ofrgeries wont be used against gaemons people but against third parties that arent aware of the intricacies

because once that wear the medailions are well known as the prince's people the sigils will be used to identify them and anyone with a good forgery could coopt those guards/merchants/... for hiding their crimes by showing off the fakes and asking for discretion in the name of the prince and i guarantee you that most low level guards in the cities will do keep quiet and not check back if it truly was the prince that wanted a minor crime kept quiet (like smuggling or disposing of a corpse)

i am sorry if i was rambling about, but did i get the gist of what i meant across?

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Mar 25, 2018

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#678

Doragon

LuxEterna said:

i am sorry if i was rambling about, but did i get the gist of what i meant across?

Click to expand...

Sort of. But the issue is that it wouldn't take long for Gaemon to get the message. Someone is spotted wearing the pendant doing something wrong. Word gets to those who wear the REAL pendants. Now, either they will tell Gaemon and get instructions, or they will take it upon themselves to deal with the idiot on their own.

Either way, once word gets around about what would happen if you worse a false pendant, people will stop.

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Mar 25, 2018

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#679

Garm88

Doragon said:

Either way, once word gets around about what would happen if you worse a false pendant, people will stop.

Click to expand...

On top of this I can only assume that everyone that has a pendant is at least aware of everyone else that does, if not directly then through a couple degrees of separation. There aren't many of them.

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Mar 25, 2018

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#680

Garm88

StrangerOrders said:

Gaemon knows them by name. You might recall that he does a mental review of his servants by habit.

That does not prohibit counterfeits, it just means that legbreaking is a thing.

Yet more proof that there is little difference between mob bosses and fuedal lords.

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