Wars and Battles

Contained below are the summaries of all wars and battles, including and following the War of Ninepenny Kings

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The War of Ninepenny Kings (260 AC)
The War of the Ninepenny Kings, also known as the Fifth Blackfyre Rebellion, was a conflict between the Band of Nine, a group of merchants, mercenaries and pirates from the Free Cities, and the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. After the Band of Nine had successfully conquered the Stepstones, King Aegon V Targaryen, aware of the fact that the Band of Nine were set on conquering the Seven Kingdoms for the last remaining Blackfyre Pretender, Maelys I Blackfyre, dispatched an army to the Stepstones to defeat the enemies of the Iron Throne.

The war resulted in a victory for Westeros’ forces, and songs were soon thereafter sung of Barristan “the Bold” Selmy’s slaying of Maelys Blackfyre in single combat. Notable deaths of the War of the Ninepenny Kings include Maelys Blackfyre, believed to have been the last living male of House Blackfyre, as well as Lord Ormund Baratheon, who was slain by the pretender, and Jason and Tywin Lannister, who both died in battle on the isle of Bloodstone.

Though he did not personally fight in the war, his strong leadership truly unified Westeros under the command of the Iron Throne. Indeed, for the very first time in the decades that House Targaryen fought House Blackfyre, not a single Westerosi house joined forces with the Blackfyre Pretenders. King Aegon’s triumph in the war did much to cement the authority and the power of House Targaryen and the Seven Kingdoms were much more unified in the aftermath.

War Beyond the Wall (295-302 AC)
Mance Rayder is remembered as an ambitious man, if one who failed to find favour in his final moments. He sought to return to the Seven Kingdoms with the full might of the Free Folk behind him - but whether the Black Brother came to bring the North to ruin or merely to resettle his people remains

unknown to history. The King-Beyond-The-Wall mustered full support from the Thenns and the inhabitants of the Frostfangs in 302 AC, though many others among the Free Folk saw his invasion as a fruitless endeavour and refused to throw themselves at the impenetrable barrier that stood between them and the Seven Kingdoms.

Nevertheless, Mance remained confident that the dwindling Night’s Watch could not repel his numbers, even if they lacked the strength he’d sought. However, the Crows quickly became aware of the mobilisation beyond the wall and requested aid from House Stark and the North. Lord Stark answered the call, and Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen arrived on the crown’s behalf, ostensibly to tend to relations with the North. Some accounts have claimed that Prince Jaehaerys ventured North against the advice of the councilmen, seeking to fulfill his supposed duties to the Seven Kingdoms.

In the end, the reinforcements proved too much for the King-Beyond-The-Wall, who perished amidst a devastating defeat. Prince Jaehaerys was remembered fondly - not for their service but rather his sacrifice, as he became yet another corpse in the pile. Consequently, King Rhaegar I Targaryen pledged to bolster the Night’s Watch and restore it to its former strength.

War of the False Dragon (319-321 AC)
Viserys Targaryen, known to be a spiteful man, orchestrated nefarious machinations that culminated in the assassination of his elder brother, King Rhaegar I Targaryen. The Kingsguard accompanying Rhaegar managed to fend off the assassins, and several cracked under interrogation to reveal the mastermind of the plot and his intentions. Learning that his complicity had been revealed, Viserys briefly entered a self-imposed exile into Essos in 319 AC.

Rhaegar’s eldest son, Aegon, was then crowned in the subsequent days while word of Viserys’ treachery spread all throughout the Seven Kingdoms. Viserys, however, was able to build more than enough support across the sea, gathering various sellsword companies and securing an alliance with Tyrosh. By the fifth moon, Viserys had seized control of the Stepstones while his amassed fleets harried the coast of Dorne. In a daring assault, the Golden Company captured Yronwood to secure a valuable foothold on the continent.

As Viserys marched to the remnants of Summerhall, Ser Arthur Dayne led another force by sea to infiltrate and retake Yronwood. He scaled the castle disguised as a mere peasant before opening the gates to allow his forces through - yet they quickly became surrounded. It is said that the Sword of the Morning slew more than twenty men before succumbing to his wounds. Further north, Summerhall became host to another blackmark in the history of House Targaryen as rival claimants clashed head-to-head. Two years after his father’s assassination, Aegon slew Viserys in single combat, and Captain-General Myles Toyne fell shortly thereafter, leaving the Golden Company in ruins.

The Woe of Wolves (352 AC)
In 348 AC, King Aerys III Targaryen betrothed Crown Prince Vaegon Targaryen to Lyarra Stark, hoping to further improve relations between the North and the South, and more importantly the Crown itself. It seemed an unlikely match, as irregularities often occurred. However, Prince Vaegon expressed disfavour for this seemingly inevitable partnership and fled to Dragonstone to defiantly announce that another shall be the future Queen. King Aerys demanded Vaegon set aside this foolish notion, but Vaegon stated his oath and consummated his marriage. It was too late to preserve his father’s promises.

Lord Stark, in response, set aside his title for another: the King in the North. Thus began the Woe of Wolves, as King Dorren Stark prepared a defense against the Iron Throne. He stationed men at the famously impregnable Moat Cailin, as well as the open, southern shores of the North to prevent an invasion by sea.

Courtiers at the Red Keep were divided on the matter, as some favoured King Aerys’ diplomatic approach while others favoured Prince Vaegon’s more forceful response. The Hand of the King, Robin Penrose, demanded the need for a trial-by-combat not unlike what had transpired during the Laughing Storm’s rebellion, while Vaegon put forth the notion for immediate armed response to bathe the North in blood.

As House Stark became preoccupied with its conflict with the south, the King-Beyond-The-Wall emerged in the vast shadows that stretched on forever in the Far North. Lord Commander Dustin lacked the resources to defeat the Free Folk in true combat and instead elected to rely on the impenetrable Wall as his first and last defence.

However, Quenn Blackmaw assembled a middling fleet of no more than a dozen stolen and shambling vessels to transport his men into the North. The houses Mormont, Glover and Flint suffered the most before King Dorren Stark could bring forces to meet the invaders. His situation became all the more dangerous as enemies seeped in from above and below.

Lord Robin Penrose travelled North beneath a peaceful pretense, hoisting the flag to signify his intentions. He sought not to bleed the North or see them suffer further, and the proposed trial-by-combat never occurred. Instead, Penrose proposed a far more beneficial offer: the blockade upon the North would lifted and loyalist forces would aid in removing the King-Beyond-The-Wall in exchange for the fealty of the North. It took Dorren Stark three days and three nights to decide, and in the end came to accept the terms.

The combined forces proved to far outmatch the Free Folk, winning victories against them both in the field and at sea. In the end, Quenn Blackmaw was bested by Lord Mormont in a final, foolish assault on Bear Island.

Aerys III remained in King’s Landing as the news spread south to the Red Keep. He was informed of the peace forged between his Hand and the self-proclaimed King in the North, as well as the promises made in order to ensure the North’s lasting loyalty. The King further learned that the victory against the Free Folk came at a cost.

Lord Robin Penrose was slain, and Dorren Stark rode South. Some had feared that the Wolf King sought to cause more bloodshed as the Winter Crown remained atop his head. Yet Dorren brought no more than a dozen men with him, and inside the Red Keep he drew his ancestral steel - much to the discomfort of the Royal Court. However, King Dorren Stark instead became the second King Who Knelt.

He pledged the fealty of House Stark to House Targaryen, offering three items in his surrender: a hostage, his head, and his crown. King Aerys descended the throne and first took the offered crown before taking the Northerner’s hand, beckoning him to rise. Aerys asked for none of these concessions save for the crown. He remained true to the terms that were presented by Robin Penrose: a pardon and confirmation as Warden of the North. Dorren thanked Aerys for his mercy, and it is said then that Aerys embraced the once-King before Stark returned to the North.

He remained in Winterfell for no more than a night before venturing northbound once more as two thousand men - loyal retainers and veterans of the war, still loyal to the man they once called “King” - joined Dorren Stark in taking the black and entering service to the Night’s Watch.

Second Lysene Spring (369 AC)
In 364 AC, Sargaeno surprised Tyrosh with a hasty invasion of their territory in the Disputed Lands. The people of Lys, including many of Sargaeno Saan’s most confident supporters, doubted the possibility of victory, as the Tyroshi had a much larger mercenary army at their disposal. As the two armies prepared for a pitched battle, a decisive Tyroshi victory seemed inevitable, but Sargaeno Saan boldly invited the leaders of Tyrosh’s hired mercenaries to a meeting in his camp.

The three who answered his invitation were the leaders of large, recently-formed companies: Qosio Myrakis of Pentos, the leader of the Silver Spears; Ser Agramore Rivers, an exiled knight and the leader of the Black Fork; and Malko Greenthumb, a native of the Disputed Lands who led the Lotus Company. With a credible offer of wealth beyond their imaginations, Saan convinced them that defection from Tyrosh would be more than worth the stain it would place on their companies’ reputations. The agreement forged between them came to be known as the ‘Pact of Rats.’

This Pact was unveiled when the battle began the next day, as the three companies ruthlessly turned cloak against Tyrosh’s other forces. After an easy victory, the Pact of Rats quickly subjugated the entirety of the Disputed Lands, culminating in the capture of the port of Pelosse. Though this city was returned to Tyrosh during subsequent negotiations, the rest of the peninsula was ceded to Lys. Sargaeno Saan then set his eyes on the Stepstones, though he intended to wait for the right opportunity before instigating another war.

Already losing its war with Myr, Tyrosh desperately turned to its nearest neutral neighbor: the Seven Kingdoms. Though few gave serious consideration to their pleas, the bellicose King Vaegon I - who had long sought to earn more glory to his name - saw an opportunity in the crisis. Skillful flattery from Tyrosh’s emissary further persuaded the King that an intervention in the Stepstones would be a righteous cause - but his Small Council persuaded him to stay out of the conflict. They were confident that Lys’ control of the Stepstones was tenuous at best, and doomed to fall apart in a few years’ time.

A few years came and went, and by the end of 368 AC, Lys’ grip over the Stepstones had only strengthened. The Small Council’s insistence on neutrality began to fall on deaf ears as King Vaegon tended to all preparations necessary for war. If nothing else, Vaegon Targaryen was a fearsome warrior and a talented commander - and from the first day of his reign, he had eagerly awaited a chance to display his true strengths. The King had at last found such an opportunity.

A call to arms was sent throughout the Seven Kingdoms, inviting all its knights and warriors to join their King in the capital. A host was likewise amassed at King’s Landing, largely consisting of levies sent from the Crownlands, the Stormlands, the Westerlands and the Reach. Though a great number of troops was also raised in the Riverlands, its belated arrival brought only a fraction of its initial strength. An outbreak of disease, coupled with flooding along the Trident, stymied the riverlords’ mobilization - and the strain of these crises relitigated the many unresolved feuds between them.

The invasion saw intense fighting both on islands and at sea, with Vaegon matching the full might of his levied armies against Lys’ mercenaries - whose numbers were regularly reinforced by virtue of Sargaeno Saan’s near-bottomless treasury. While the King’s own host invaded from the north, an unlikely coalition of fleets from the Reach, the Westerlands, and the Iron Islands wrestled with Lys’ sellsails at sea. Though this partnership proved effective, the disgruntled ironborn eventually defected in pursuit of loot. After a series of lucrative raids upon Lys’ lesser ports, the ironborn abandoned the war effort and returned home.

The King himself, however, conducted the war in a similarly brutal fashion. He fully captured the island of Highwatch only through an impatient assault on a fortified position, and pitched the war’s decisive battle on forbidding terrain at the island of bloodstone. Though the Seven Kingdoms ultimately gained little more than navigation rights from the treaty that concluded the war, the success of this campaign greatly bolstered the King’s reputation.

For the next few years Vaegon’s sins and vices were all but forgotten by a realm that delighted in the feats of its warrior-king.

The Dragon's Defiance (379 AC)
The Dragon's Defiance was the most recent major civil war in Westeros. The Civil War began after the reigning king, Vaegon I Targaryen, attempted to assassinate his eldest son, Daeron III Targaryen. The assassination was a failure, instead claiming the wife of Daeron, Argella Baratheon. Though the war proceeded primarily in favour of the Loyalist forces, the Rebels saw success after the Sack of King's Landing, where Vaegon Targaryen was betrayed by his Kingsguard, and killed by Vorian Dayne during a duel before the Iron Throne.