Harrenhal, Riverlands, Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, Westeros, January of 281 AC of Westerosi Callendar / January of Year 10,281 - of the Imperial Lordranese Callendar
Harrenhal, the largest castle in the Seven Kingdoms, is the seat of House Whent in the Riverlands, on the north shore of the God's Eye. Since the burning of Harrenhal by dragonfire in Aegon's Conquest, however, the castle has become a dark and ruinous place.
During its peak, on the other hand, it was one of the most impressive fortresses in the Known Word; even according to the Lordranian standards, it was humongous. Something that not everyone would build because it was so huge that it was basically impractical without proper manpower and defenses.
Harrenhal was built on a gigantic scale; its colossal curtain walls were sheer and high as mountain cliffs, while atop the battlements, the wood-and-iron scorpions seemed as small as their namesakes when seen from the ground.
Harrenhal's gatehouse is as large as Winterfell's Great Keep, and its stone is discolored and fissured. From outside the gatehouse, only the tops of five immense towers can be seen because the height of the walls obscures the view of them.
Harrenhal's walls and towers are made of black stone, which was reminiscent of the building methods of the Valyrians, but in fact, it was only an imitation of it. Still, it gave the castle much stronger protection on average, when compared to ordinary stone.
The castle had five towers of dizzying size, with equally monstrous curtain walls. The walls were incredibly thick, and its rooms were built on a scale that would be more comfortable for giants than humans.
Yet...
Much of Harrenhal has far gone into decay. House Whent uses only the lower thirds of two of the five towers, letting the rest go to ruin, and many places in the castle have not been entered in decades. Bats infest the tops of some of the towers.
When Balerion the Black Dread burned the Harrenhal together with the House Hoare that ruled the monstrosity of the castle, it fell into ruin, and most of it was currently destroyed and lost its former splendor and beauty.
Even the dwarves that were in the delegation of the House Stark and Russ present marveled at the size of the place, not because of its architecture or its current state, but because they were able to tell the original appearance of the castle must have been truly something.
"This place looks terrible..."
From the House Stark an Russ only the Elector Count came together with his daughter and Heir Apparent Astrid Stark an Russ, while Ysgramor took large part of the Winter Knights and went to beyond the Wall and eventually to the Lands of the Always Winter.
And they had another of the special guests, from the Ironforge; one of the Dwarven Clans, had come here. More precisely, it was the Dunwald Clan of dwarves. It was a small dwarven clan related to the Wildhammer Clan, located in the Dunwald Mountains, not far from the Aerial Peak.
Dunwald Clan were excellent warriors, highly reputable for their combat skills among the Dwarven Clans, and in the League of Khaz-Modan, they were often in charge of various combat-related missions or training the soldiers.
The clansman that was sent to Westeros was Flynn Dunwald, who was rather young-looking according to the dwarven standards. He appeared like most dwarves: small stature, stocky, muscle build, with long black hair and a black beard.
"Yes... pretty unfortunate, but the Harrenhal is simply too huge for anyone to manage properly. The dent in coffers it would create for every single Lord is not something that they could bear... probably only Crown, Lannisters and some of the richest merchant companies would dare to maintain something like Harrenhal."
Rickard Stark knew that Harrenhal was owned by six Houses, since its builder and owner, House Hoare, was extinguished by the Targaryens during the conquest. Obviously, nobody stopped the decay and further deterioration of the Harrenhal, and slowly, it was falling apart.
"Fortress of this size would very hardly be maintained even by Elector Counts of the Imperium... even we would use a large part of them as housing for our most loyal servants and vassals and other subjects."
Astrid voiced her thoughts while she, like the Starks and the rest of the Imperial entourage, observed the Harrenhal from a distance. While the Fortress's size of Harrenhal was not anything new in the Imperium, only a handful of people could maintain one.
Even the Elector Count Houses, usually when it came to the super fortresses like Harrenhal, would basically share the cost of maintenance with several other subjects. For example, some of their powerful Magic Users transform a few of the Towers into the Mage Towers.
This not only increased the power of the Fortress itself but also lowered the rent because the Magic Users, who could afford their own Tower, were very rich. Aside from that, large parts of the super fortresses were used by the most loyal and powerful vassals of the Elector Count to live there.
So, it created some sort of weird symbiosis between various subjects to maintain such a fortress. Even the Valhalla, which was an enormous monstrosity even slightly bigger than Harrenhal, had upkeep of more than a hundred thousand Golden Crowns per year.
And this was obviously shared by several subjects that were using Valhalla as their home, so the House Stark an Russ didn't need to shoulder the expenses on their own. Probably only the Imperial House could do the upkeep like this alone due to their income, as Imperator was also a shrewd businessman as well.
"For some reason, I have very bad feelings about this entire endeavor."
Astrid didn't have a really good feeling about the entire Tourney and about their own presence at this place because it could soon develop into a fight or something even worse; not like she had any choice in this matter.
Orders were orders.
And they must be carried out.
***
The preparations for the Tourney of Harrenhal were already full go, while various Lords of the Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros already started gathering within the Harrenhal before the Tournament officially started.
It was clear that Crown Prince Rhaegar, when all out when organizing the Tourney of the Harrenhal, countless of the smaller Houses of the Westerosian nobility had already arrived, though it wasn't limited just to them.
There were even some guests from the Essos, representatives of the rich merchants and various interest groups, that were leaning onto the faction of the Crown Prince or decided to bet on them.
Even though the Essos and Westeros were divided by the sea, Westeros was most populous continent of the known world, even more than Essos, as the population of the Essos was constantly being culled down by continuous wars, diseases and now, with the resurgence of Magic, countless beasts and creatures raging across the lands of the Essos.
Right now, many eyes are aimed at Westeros as countless people and several factions eagerly await what will happen. To those who studied the political situation of the Seven Kingdoms, it was clear as day that the civil war was inevitable among them.
Now, everyone wanted to get something from the situation, just as the Holy Arcadia Empire was aiming to get something from the current state of Westeros. And it wasn't different for others who were attending the Tourney of the Harrenhal right now.
Several powerful Magisters of the Free Cities of the Essos sent their representatives to attend the Tourney of Harrenhall, especially the cities of Braavos, Tyrosh, Lys, Myr, and Pentos, because they were closest to the Westeros.
Though aside from them, there were also many others; some representing obscure magic organizations or societies of the Warlocks that were observing the development of Westeros so they could obtain something from the impending chaos that was awaiting them.
"Practically everyone is here already; only a few are impending with their arrival, and even a lot of people from the Essos are in attendance."
Procession of the House Lannister was more extravagant than ever because this time, his private guards were wearing the dwarven-forged armors, and all of them were of the Holy Knights of Corrin, newly established Knigth Order of the Westerlands.
All of them were baptized by the Healing Church, pressing them further through the limits of the average human, something that was possible only due to the close relationship that the House Lannister enjoyed with the Healing Church.
"It seems to be truth, Your Excellency."
The voice belonged to the High Scholar Jinfarah of the Byrgenwerth, who arrived at the new continent together with his Imperial Holy Majesty, but for the time being, he decided to remain at the new continent and scout for the possible benefits in this place.
One of them was a temporary contract with the Lord of the House Lannister, who agreed to pay him a ridiculous sum of money and Lacrima Crystals to train some low-ranking Magic Apprentices.
It seemed that the resurgence of the Magic was happening faster than anyone initially anticipated because during the few months he was living in the Westerlands, he already managed to gather a few tens of people who had some aptitude for Magic.
Thus, he already started training the first generation of the Magic Users for the House Lannisters. While most of them could only cast some low-level spells, it was an excellent result, considering the time they were being trained for.
It was true that after the Magic Resurgence, any place that was so rapidly revitalized through Magic would cause the natives to explode with latent magic talent and fast development in this aspect.
The same could be said about Westeros, where people would develop rapidly for the next few years, perhaps even a few decades, until the process was entirely completed. Or, in the Essos, where Magic never truly died off, like in Westeros, where native Magic Users were getting stronger with each passing day.
"Are there any important people attending?"
Tywin Lannister scanned the area, where tens of the various lords were being built, together with their banners. There were indeed representatives from all of the Seven Kingdoms present; such was the truth, though not all of them were part of the Crown Prince Faction's.
Just based on the division of the tents.
It was essentially divided into three sections, each representing one faction corresponding to that political climate of the Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros. One is for the King's Faction, one is for the Crown Prince's Faction, and one is for the Neutral Faction.
"Actually, yes... there are a few powerful Magic signatures all over the place... most curious, this development is indeed interesting, including some Red Priests of the R'hollor."
The Religion of the Red God was always very popular and widespread across the Essos, even reaching the Eastern Essos, beyond the Bone Mountains, which was very rare. And now, with the Magic returning back to the world, the powers of the Red Priests have grown exponentially.
Previously, they could only do some paltry tricks with their meager Magic, but nowadays, they could create fire and bend the flames to their will as they wished, making them very dangerous combatants on the field.
"Keep an eye on them in case it would be trouble... on a different note, does anyone from the Westerosi Lord advance in this direction?"
He knew that due to sheer luck, he was one of the first Lords of the Westeros who got his hands on the real power, though it wouldn't really last long before the other repeated the same thing.
However, without the support of some powerful faction or individuals or organization, it would be nigh impossible to replicate his progress with the same speed. A lot of people were gathering here, and many of them were of even remarkable power; he already predicted what effect would take the Resurgence of Magic within the Targaryens themselves.
In fact, Lineages of the Starks, Targaryens, Baratheons and even partially Nymeros Martels were far more magical in their origin compared to that of the Lannisters. Soon enough, it was clear that more and more powerhouses would be born among those lineages, and the power dynamics that have lasted for thousands of years would crumble apart.
'In the end, in front of the absolute power, everything else is meaningless...'
He had seen how powerful Mages of the Imperium could obliterate entire buildings with their spells, how they could unleash unprecedented destruction, or how knights that tapped into their powers, depending on the concrete source, could perform superhuman feats.
Meanwhile, the delegation of the House Lannister was making their tent in the area that belonged to the Neutrals; other Houses and representatives of various interest groups were already arriving one by one.
Among the Neutrals, the biggest one belonged to the Starks of the Winterfell, who arrived only a few hours prior to the House Lannister. However, what didn't escape the watchful eye of the Lord of the Westerlands was the distinctive banner of the House Stark and Russ of the Holy Arcadia Empire, who were present too...
This only affirmed Tywin's assumption that something was happening here and that the rumors about the civil war within Westeros would probably not be without a base. Still, with the Magic returning back, it would be highly problematic if the Targaryens managed to hatch their Wyverns or if they didn't do already in secret.
He noticed that the dwarves that arrived from the Imperium a few weeks ago were transporting some weapons specifically made to fight and subjugate everything, even remotely related to the dragons.
The Imperials hated the Old Valyria and saw their Blood Magic and entire culture as heretical to their very own existence. During the time he had the "honor" to talk with the members of the Imperium and their fanatical faith in the Religion of the Great Ones.
And it seems that during the past years, the worship of their Imperator as the Prophet of the Great Ones was spreading among the general populace even more and more. This was something that was impossible to fight against because the people of the Holy Arcadia Empire were a bunch of fanatical zealots that he needed to be very careful around.
Especially now that he heard when the Empire essentially became a Theocratic State with their Emperor being openly worshipped across the Churches of the Healing Church. The process of the transformation in the Empire was slow, but it brought unprecedented benefits for the Imperator.
Tywin knew that with one single word, the man would have millions marching for him to death without a single question, fighting the Holy Wars in his name, as it happened against the Barbarians of the Badlands.
He received the information about the end of the Holy Crusade against the Badlands, and in truth, it gave him fright to no end. Hundreds of thousands were slaughtered in the Holy Name of the Imperator by the Divine Decree of Gods.
From what he saw, the religious fanatics and zealots of the Holy Imperium were far worse than those who were known to the Westeros or Essos. He perhaps realized that it was a mistake to become close to the Imperium, even to the degree that his daughter married the Imperator.
But at the same time, his thirst for the power that the Imperium had in their disposition was far higher than anything he could think of. So, right now, Tywin knew that he was treading on very thin ice.
One sole mistake and offense towards the religious fanatics of the Imperium, and his head would roll. He was aware that the moment he offended the zealots of the Imperium, he would be cut down with extreme prejudice.
But... what was done was done and now the fate of his and the whole House Lannister was tied to that of the Imperium.
He saw the spreading of the Religion of the Great Ones among the smallfolk of Westeros, the priests of the Healing Church preaching about the savior and messiah of the Holy Imperator Karl Franz, the one who would lead them to the paradise of the Great Ones.
***
Nothing really interesting happened until the arrival of Crown Prince Rheagar Targaryen.
The precision of the Crown Prince of the Targaryen Dynasty that ruled the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros for almost three whole centuries was grand, as the man was accompanied by hundreds of servants, soldiers, guards, and members of the Kingsguard.
Rhaegar Targaryen the firstborn son of King Aerys II Targaryen and his sister-wife, Queen Rhaella.The heir-apparent, he was the Prince of Dragonstone and Crown Prince for the Iron Throne.
He was a beautiful man with deep purple-colored eyes; elegance was all around him, and he was rather tall and had silver-blond hair, signifying his strong Valyrian heritage.
He wore night-black plate armor, with the three-headed dragon of House Targaryen decorated in rubies on its breastplate, and underneath the plate, he wore golden ringmail. Rhaegar decorated his helm with gold, orange, and red silken streamers resembling flames.
"So, they have arrived too..."
He said with almost a whisper as he skimmed through the banners that belonged to the Lords who were present. Among the ones that belonged to the Westerosi Lords, there were many that belonged to the nobles of the Essos, rich Merchant Princes of the Free Cities, or others representing various interest groups.
The most notable, though, were a few banners belonging to the Nobles of the Imperium and even a banner of the Healing Church that was among the camp of the House Lannister.
Rhaegar too, like many others, heard about the spreading influence of the Imperium within the Westeros, especially that of the Healing Church and Faith that was already taking the whole Westerlands by attack, as thousands upon thousands of the smallfolk were converted each day.
The promises of the savior and messiah in the form of the Holy Imperator, the promises of a better life under the Imperium, were something that not a single Lord could fight against because religion was the greatest weapon of all.
The Crown Prince of the Targaryen Dynasty was an exceptionally intelligent man, and he knew the dangers that such uncontrolled religious fervor represented for the Westeros. Coupled with his father's madness and distrust towards basically everything around him, he was surprised that the situation didn't become much worse than it already was.
Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning and the deadliest knight of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, was standing next to the Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen in an eternal vigil as his closest companion.
The Dornish heritage was strong in his, as he had lightly tanned skin with the purplish eyes of the House Dayne. Arthur Dayne was regarded as the most chivalrous knight in the Seven Kings and probably as well the best fighter that the Seven Kingdoms produced in the past decades, aside from the Commander of the Kingsguard Barristan Selmy.
"Keep an eye on the outsiders... not many came here with good intentions..."
Rhaegar Targaryen knew very well that there were many of the foreigners who came to Westeros, more precisely to the Tourney of the Harenhal, with good intentions.
Even though he wasn't that paranoid, he didn't trust any of the foreigners much, especially those who were more powerful than the Seven Kingdoms or the shady organizations of the Essos that had a terrible reputations even here beyond the narrow sea.
***
The Camp of the House Lannister, several hours later
Only several hours later, after the arrival of Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, there was another unannounced attendee to the Tourney of Harrenhal that gave most of the people a present fright.
The King of the Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros, Aerys II. Targaryen has arrived in all of his decay and madness. Tywin observed everything from the tent because of the movement when the King Aerys arrived at the Tourney, the atmosphere in the entire place became tense.
He didn't know exactly why the King had decided to arrive at the Tourney of the Harrenhal, but he suspected that it was because of his ever-increasing paranoia. King Aerys II Targaryen most probably attended the tournament only because Lord Varys warned him that Rhaegar, his son and the crown prince, arranged the tournament as a pretext to meet with several high lords to discuss removing his father as king in an informal Great Council.
"His decay is even more visible..."
Tywin Lannister wasn't the only one who was shocked by the king's current state; many in attendance were also shocked by the king's physical decline. Now, the entire situation was making a lot more sense, even he had some ideas about the rumors that Crown Prince Rhaegar was planning to depose his father from the throne.
"What should we do..."
In the end, the best course of action would be to just watch everything play itself while strengthening their own power and defenses. Tywin knew that once Crown Prince Rhaegar became the King, the situation would change drastically.
Rhaegar had a far better head on his shoulders than his father and would most probably use the change of the era to his advantage. Something that Aerys would never really do, because he was too preoccupied by searching for the enemies all around him.
"We shall see..."
***
Lands of the Ancient Lords of Lordran, Grand Principality of the Reikland, Holy Imperial Capital of Lordran, February of Year 10,281 - of the Imperial Lordranese Callendar
Within the depths of the Imperial Palace of the Anor Londo, the Holy Imperator Karl Franz was sitting on the Divine Throne of Blood and Sunlingt, while listening to the reports that were forwarded to him by the members of the Imperial High Council.
"What about the situation within the Westeros?"
Karl Franz then turned his attention to the Cross Marian, who was head of the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence. He gave a lot more resources to the espionage now that they had been making contact with the other continents and factions.
"Yes, Your Holy Majesty."
The Head of the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence stepped forward as he started explaining the situation.
"Our spies within the entourage of Lord Lannister noticed that the thorn between the members of the House Targaryen is set in stone. It is only a matter of time before the Crown Prince attempts to remove his father from the throne. According to the analysis, our experts are giving the Seven Kingdoms approximately one year or something around that, before the Crown Prince makes his move to seize the throne."
This wasn't really the surprising thing to hear.
***
1st POV
I listened to the reports of the Head of the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence on intelligence reports about the state of things within Westeros and Essos. Things were not going according to the plans that I envisioned at all...
The process of the Mana Resurgence was happening way faster than it should, which was a great problem because now, many of our plans that were formulated to get as many benefits from Westeros as possible were basically null and void.
"There are also a few pieces of important information to report. The first thing is that our spies have noticed that some of the local Lords have started gathering anything even remotely connected to the Magic and Magic Tomes. Some are going to the extremes, even exerting the books and material from the local Septs, Faith or taking extreme measures to obtain them at any costs."
This didn't really surprise me at all; it was only a matter of time before the nobility of the Seven Kingdoms realized what was happening and started acting against the Faith of the Seven, which was hoarding the majority of the magical knowledge in Westeros.
"There are reports of local Lords even attacking some of the Septs indirectly, mostly using bandits and brigands to obtain the Magic Tomes and Grimoires. Another important piece of news is that... apparently, some sort of schism is appearing within the Maester Order between the Maesters who want to use Magic and study it and between those who refuse the existence of the Magic and want to suppress it."
I raised my brow hearing this, because this wasn't really something that expected to happen this fast. Initially, I predicted that this would happen much later; probably I was underestimating the intellectual level of Westerosi Aristocracy.
Probably I was wrong.
It seemed that they realized that the times were changing and they needed to act fast; probably, the things happening within the Westerlands and North of the Seven Kingdoms of the Westers didn't really help the situation.
Most of them were really frightened by that, and they started searching for advantages against their opponents... It seemed that we would need to remedy those things. And it seemed to be proved to be a very effective approach by the Nobility of the Seven Kingdoms.
"Most interesting... anything else?"
This would for sure become a topic within the next convening of the High Council and perhaps even among the nobles of the Landsraad. Even though it may seem different right now, Westeros had a very rich magical heritage, and there were very interesting pieces of magical knowledge remaining there.
Most, if not all, of them, were in the hands of the Faith of the Seven or mostly in the hands of the Maester Order. Both of them were constantly searching for these items, for different purposes obviously, but they also had a lot in common.
"Spreading of the Faith of the Great Ones is continuing very well within the Westeralands; the Healing Church is becoming the dominant religion among the commoners because of the various benefits it provides for them. The nobles are cautious, and some from the several Kingdoms of Westeros are outright hostile, especially those of the Riverlands and Reach. The most notable hurdle and enemy is the ruling Dynasty of the Targaryens. The King is ever paranoid, but at the same time, in this area, the King sees unique danger in the existence of the Empire and its reach in the Westeros. Right now, we have managed to confirm that the state of the Westeros is in several-way possible civil war."
I just listened to the voice of the Head of the Office of the Imperial Military Intellignece echoed through the enormous halls of the Throne Room of the Imperial Place, as the members of the Stormcast Eternals stood ever-vigilant within the halls of the Throne Room like statues.
"Change the course of action, relay the orders to the Westeros, and tell them to abandon the previous plans and implement the new ones. Focus on the fortifications of the positions in the Westerlands and the protection of the Churches. Invest more resources into the potential attack on the Citated and start focusing on the infiltration of the Maester Order. Also... create plans to annihilate the Targyens from the face of the world."
The last direct lineages of ancient Valyria must be removed from the face of the world; they are a stain on the teachings of the Healing Church. The tenets of the faith and holiness of the Blood must be upheld under any circumstances.
And what the Valyrians were doing with their Blood Magic was considered the greatest blasphemy in the face of the Great Ones and for that, they must be purged from the world till the last one.
The Legacy of the ancient Valyrian Freehold would be used to pay for their heresy together with their blood.
Everything would return to the ashes.
"Did you find their Vault?"
I long ago suspected that the Targaryens must have brought a lot from the ancient Valyrian Freehold, and they were hiding somewhere the remaining relics of the Valyrian Freehold. The Legacy of the Valyrian Freehold was something that even the Holy Arcadia Empire could not ignore.
The legacy of their civilization was precious; their inventions and the advances they made with magic were staggering. The Imperium needed to obtain them for its strategic dominance on the world stage.
Especially now, when the existence of the Cathayan Celestial Dragons was revealed, it honestly gave me a bit of fright. The Cathayan Celestial Dragons were extremely powerful entities that were even stronger than Gehrman the First Hunter, at least in terms of raw power.
"Yes, Your Holy Majesty... it is hidden in the depths of the Dragonstone; clearly, it wasn't built by the Targaryens themselves but most probably by the House Laenanor, judging from the crest on the Vault Door. The most problematic is the opening mechanism."
Seeing the Cross Marian stop, made me raise my brow as I looked him in his remaining eye.
"What problem is there, Director?"
I asked, rather impatient about the entire endeavor.
"It is a rather delicate magical principle and requires the blood of the Head of the House Targaryen to open, old no less than one minute given personally into the mechanism or so... we can't really translate it in its entirety, because the words around the Vaultdoor and the manuals we obtain were no in the standard High Valyrian, but they are written in code words of the House Laenanor."
This really made me frown because it complicated the situation as fuck...
House Laenanor was one of the Triarchy, the ruling Houses of the Valyrian Freehold, fabled for their discovery and creation of the Valyrian Steel or Magi Steel. It seemed that they made the Vaultdoors with extra caution.
And they were also responsible for making the most wonderous and impregnable structures and fortresses of the Valyrian Freehold.