153 AC: The Death of the Last Dragon; after the attempts to breed healthy dragons fails, the last dragon dies. All that is left are dragon eggs; while the Targaryens would attempt to hatch them in the decades to come, nothing ever comes of it.
158 AC: The Submission of Sunspear: after a two year campaign, King Daeron I – the Young King – conquers the capital of Dorne, leaving Lord Lyonell Tyrell in charge of the conquered nation while his armies move on to pacify the hinterlands. The full conquest will take another year.
160 AC: Lyonell Tyrell is killed by assassins, sparking uprisings within Dorne as news of his death spread quickly. When news of the uprising reaches King’s Landing, the Young King marches forth with his host. The battle to pacify Dorne is long and grueling and eventual Daeron I has the lords of Dorne agree to meet for a peace conference.
161 AC: The conference is a trap: Daeron is killed and his cousin Aemon captured. By the time the conquest is entirely called off, over forty thousand troops have been slain and the rest forced from Dorne. Daeron’s younger brother, Baelor, is crowned King Baelor I Targaryen. His first act is to walk the Boneway to Dorne barefoot to make peace; as part of the peace, the young Prince Daeron would marry the Prince of Dorne’s eldest daughter, Mariah, when they came of age and Aemon would be released.
When Baelor returned to claim Aemon, he found him suspended in a cage above a pit of vipers. Taking the key, Baelor entered the pit and was bitten multiple times as he brought the key to the cage. Freed, Aemon carried his king from the pit and bore him back to the lands of House Dondarrion and then to Storm’s End. While the king would remain unwell for half a year, these events would be the first steps to a lasting peace with Dorne.
169 AC: Mariah Martell finally comes of age and is wed to Prince Daeron.
170 AC: Mariah Martell gives birth to her first child with Prince Daeron. The child is named Baelor after the current king. Baelor’s sister Daena gives birth to a child – without husband, Daena gives him child the name Daemon Waters; it is believed the child is one of the growing number of bastards sired by Aegon Targaryen, Daeron’s father. After the birth of Daemon, Baelor I enters a fast.
171 AC: On the fourty-first day of his fast, King Baelor I collapses. Unable to be saved, he passes away. His uncle, Viserys, is crowned King Viserys II Targaryen.
172 AC: Lady Barba Bracken gives birth to a bastard child. Named Aegor Rivers, the child is believed to be one of Aegon Targaryen’s bastards – later in life he would become angered at his status as a bastard and be called the Bittersteel. Later in the year, King Viserys II grows sick; his condition rapidly deteriorates and he dies within a fortnight. Aegon is crowned King Aegon IV.
174 AC: Unable to accept that Dorne remains separate from his rule, Aegon IV sends a fleet to invade Dorne. The fleet is, however, caught in a storm and scattered. It is believed destroyed.
175 AC: Lady Melissa Blackwood gives birth to a bastard in King’s Landing. Believed to be yet another of Aegon IV’s illegitimate children, the child is given the name Brynden Rivers. In his older years, Brynden would become known as the Bloodraven for a wine-coloured birthmark the went from his chest and up his neck, said to resemble a raven drawn in blood.
182 AC: Aegon IV knights Daemon Waters and grants him the Valyrian steel blade Blackfyre, making him Daemon Blackfyre. He inverts the colours of the Targaryen coat of arms and takes it as his personal arms. This causes an uproar throughout Westeros; Blackfyre was the blade of Aegon the Conqueror and traditionally passed to the king’s heir, having been wielded by every Targaryen king. Some see this as Aegon appointing Daemon his heir as they would prefer a warrior king to the scholar that the true heir, Daeron, is.
184 AC: Aegon IV grows sick. On his deathbed, he makes orders that all his bastards be legitimized. Only a few of his councilors hear the command and are divided on the matter, knowing it would cause great strife in the kingdom. Daeron is crowned King Daeron II Targaryen. Daemon Blackfyre marries Rohanne of Tyrosh who, later that year, gives birth to twins – Aegon and Aemon Blackfyre.
187 AC: Daeron II marries his sister, Daenerys, to the Prince of Dorne, Maron Martell, in a ceremony in the Great Sept of Baelor in King’s Landing. As the ceremony concludes, Prince Maron travels to the Red Keep and kneels before the Iron Throne, swearing fealty to King Daeron II and the line of Targaryen kings, officially bringing Dorne into the realm. A great tournament was held afterwards on the fields outside of King’s Landing to celebrate the union.
188 AC: Contruction of Summerhall in the Dornish Marches is completed, marking the boundary between the Reach, the Stormlands, and Dorne.
196 AC: The refounding of House Forrester in the North. The Blackfyre Rebellion.
With the rapid number of Dornish concessions and the rise of their influence, a number of lords in Westeros had been growing increasingly malcontent with the Targaryen line. Where Aegon IV had been willing to continue fighting the Dornish, other recent kings had continually pursued peace and allowed greater Dornish influence – their current queen was even Dornish, something which sat poorly with many. They pointed to Aegon IV granting Blackfyre to Daemon. These events, coupled with rumours of Daeron illegitimacy, planted the seeds for what would become the Blackfyre Rebellion.
Daemon, for his part, had grown to resent his status as a bastard. It was the arrival of Aegor Rivers and the other bastards of Aegon that finally tilted his discontent into open rebellion. Some years prior, on of Aegon IV’s advisors had come to Aegor and revealed that Aegon had legitimized his bastards upon his deathbed. With this news and knowing that he had the support of a number of lords, Daemon Blackfyre declared open rebellion against King Daeron II and the Iron Throne, claiming it for his own.
Before they could march, however, Daemon and Aegor found themselves confronted by the Kingsguard. Unknown to him, Daemon had been betrayed by Brynden Rivers, who had been granted a seat on Daeron’s small council in exchange for the information. While Daemon was able to escape the Red Keep with help from sympathizers, he had lost the initiative and word of his efforts soon spread through the lands.
Regardless, near on half the realm declared for Blackfyre. Although no one place was safe enough to declare his capital, Daemon began to produce his own coinage – and soon became known as the Black Dragon for his sigil.
Early on, the fighting went strongly in Daemon’s favour with Ser Quentyn Ball leading troops to the Westerlands and laying siege to Lannisport. The siege was soon lifted though when a force lead by Edmund Reyne came to the city and forced Ball’s forces to depart. While Lord Damon Lannister rallied his troops in the Westerlands, Quentyn Ball headed south to the Reach where he won a great victory at the crossing of the Mander, a battle which saw him slay all of the sons of Lord Penrose.
Finally, troops loyal to the Targaryens began to fight back; Lord Damon Lannister marched his rallied army eastward, conquering the seats of several rebel houses including House Algood before merging with the forces of Prince Maekar near the Trident. In the south, Quentyn Ball retreated to merge with the main army of Daemon Blackfyre and moved to attack King’s Landing – a move which drew Maekar’s army southward to stand in their way as they advanced on the capital.
In the south, meanwhile, mercenary companies from Essos in the employ of the Blackfyres had landed near Oldtown, forcing Leo Tyrell to choose between saving his people and fighting to protect his king. A raven from Prince Baelor, however, set him on the course he needed and he turned his army to Oldtown to meet the foreign invaders.
Ill omens sat on Daemon’s army from the beginning – the night before the forces would clash, a stray arrow struck Ser Quentyn Ball, now one of Blackfyre’s most trusted commanders, through the eye, killing him instantly. Regardless, the Blackfyre forces stood their ground and pushed against Maekar’s army – they needed only to break through as King’s Landing stood effectively defenseless beyond.
And it seemed that they would succeed – despite Maekar’s masterful commanding, his forces were near overwhelmed by the ferocity with which Blackfyre’s forces fought. All might have been lost and Blackfyre might very well have won had it not been for his duel with Ser Gwayne Corbray of the Kingsguard.
Despite his mistrust of the Kingsguard, Daemon was impressed with the duel – something that would for years be considered a sight to behold. The battle lasted for minutes and ended only with a lucky blow from Daemon blinding the KIngsguard and allowing the Blackfyre to end the duel by bringing the man down. So impressed was Daemon that he stopped to ensure that the Kingsguard was taken to safety so he could not be further injured.
That compassion would be his death.
During the duel, Brynden Rivers and his unit of archers, the Raven’s Teeth, had mounted a nearby ridge, allowing them high ground to see the battle and harass the enemy. It was the Bloodraven himself who saw the act of mercy by Daemon that left him defenseless. The first arrow did not strike Blackfyre – instead, it struck his eldest song, Aegon, who had been fighting at his side, killing him instantly. As Blackfyre turned to his dying son, Bloodraven unleashed arrow after arrow, striking Blackfyre unerringly with seven shafts. Enraged, Aegon’s twin Aemon picked up Blackfyre to continue fighting – only for the Bloodraven to strike him down as well.
Even with Blackfyre’s death the battle continued – and the war might have – as Aegor Rivers drove the army on. Bittersteel rode against the Bloodraven, fighting a duel that was outshone only by Daemon and Corbray’s duel. At the end, Bloodraven knelt defeated, one of his eyes missing, and might very well have died had it not been for the arrival of Prince Baelor.
While the war had been going on, Baelor had secretly sailed to Sunspear in Dorne to treat with Prince Maron Martell to send aid against Blackfyre. Maron quickly agreed and Baelor, in imitation of his namesake, marched across Dorne with the army, gathering troops from lords along the way as they marched first west and then north into the Stormlands. There he merged with the armies of Lord Orys Baratheon and headed north, coming up behind the rebel forces on the eve of battle.
With Daemon dead, Baelor charged into the enemy forces, throwing them into chaos. It was only his timely intervention that saved his uncle and drove Aegor Rivers away. Between the two armies, the remains of the Blackfyre forces were crushed.
However, Bittersteel had swooped in, taking the blade Blackfyre for himself and fleeing with his personal guard. He and a number of those loyal to the Blackfyres rode quickly from the battle, gathering up Blackfyre’s widow and children and fleeing with them across the Narrow Sea to the Free Cities.
In the aftermath of the rebellion, a number of rebel lords were severely punished depending upon their actions during the rebellion. Some King Daeron II had executed; others merely gave their children up as wards. Among the executed was Lord Karl Algood; his son, the now Lord Arryk Algood, gave his brother to the king as a hostage and his sister to the Lannisters as a hostage and meekly accepted the punishment as House Algood was stripped of most of its land.Statistics: Posted by Rahvin — Tue Aug 08, 2017 1:47 am
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