[center]A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE

[sub][b]T H E   L I V E S   O F   F O U R   K I N G S[/b][/sub]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/Lvi7m1w.jpg?1[/img][/center]
[center][hider=Theme][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXzDu071RdQ[/youtube][/hider][/center]

[b]T H E   R O L E P L A Y[/b]

This roleplay is based off of the novel series [i][b]A Song of Ice and Fire[/b][/i] and the television show [i][b]Game of Thrones[/b][/i]. The game is story-driven where the choices of characters will affect noble houses, cities, and an entire nation. In it you can take control of an entire noble house or a standalone character be they a mercenary, a priest, a singer, a scholar, or an assassin. Whatever the role, you will become another player in this world where political intrigue, cloak-and-dagger espionage and bloodshed are all simply tools to success in the game of thrones.[hr]


[b]S E T T I N G[/b]

[center][i]"The Gods won't mind. They spill more blood than the rest of us combined.[/i]
[sub][b]Jaime Lannister, to the High Sparrow.[/b][/sub][/center]
After a decade under King Baelor the Blessed, the popular but mentally unstable monarch was forced to give up his crown by a narrow vote in the Great Council of 171. Baelor's sisters were passed over by the council and his uncle Viserys ascended to the Iron Throne. Viserys ruled ably, and the realm is at peace, but tensions are high due to the king's facilitating of an alliance with the Principality of Dorne whom many consider a mortal enemy of the rest of Westeros. Furthermore, House Targaryen itself is deeply divided as several members of the King's family pursue their own vendettas and ambitions, with many seeking to undermine Viserys' rule. This familial strife has caused great turmoil as the noble houses are drawn into the conflict, choosing which dragon they follow, and splitting the country into factions. Once more, the great game threatens to erupt into full-blown war.[hr]


[b]H I S T O R Y  &  T H E   R E A L M[/b]

[hider=The History of Westeros]It is the 184th year since Aegon the Conqueror came upon on the shores of King's Landing and united the realm with Fire and Blood. Now, under the reign of Viserys, Second of His Name, the realm is both prosperous and at peace. At least on the surface. Underneath the ostensible propserity of the land and the amity of the noble houses, the embers of discontent are building to an inferno of war. 

Baelor the Blessed, the previous Targaryen King to sit the throne proved... unstable. A holy man, on the tenth year of his reign Baelor collapsed from an extended period of fasting, and very nearly died. Thanks to the work of the Grand Maester and perhaps the Seven themselves Baelor would live, but this event shook the faith of his council even further past its already paltry tolerance for the ailing monarch.

Although well loved by the small folk and the more faithful lords of the realm Baelor's edicts had grown more and more troublesome. Shortly after his collapse Baelor attempted to pass an edict mandating that all the people of the Seven Kingdoms convert to the worship of the Seven. This would prove to be the final straw.

Viserys Targaryen, Baelor's uncle and Hand of the King, called a Great Council before the edict could be made into law. He called for Baelor's abdication of the throne, citing his nephew's mental instability, and put forward himself as replacement. Lords great and small traveled to the castle of Harrenhal to cast their vote as to who would lead them. In the end, Viserys would win the crown despite the claims of his nieces, due to the precedent of the Great Council of 101, the reluctance of many lords to hand the crown to a woman and that the women had been locked in Baelor's Maidenvault, leaving them with little support. Baelor was allowed to remain as advisor on the small council to avoid any additonal friction, and Baelor the Blessed seemed pleased with the result.

And so in the year 171 AC, Baelor the Blessed kept his crown of flowers but gave up the Iron Throne to his uncle. Viserys took up his brother Aegon's simple golden crown and all the lords under his writ bent the knee, though some did so with far more hesitance and reluctance than others. Viserys, though undoubtedly intelligent and skilled at statecraft, had grown stern with age and was not well-loved. Despite his progressive administrative and legal reforms, his creation of a royal mint, his succesful efforts to expand trade, and a reign of peace and comfort, many saw the King as a pernicious and duplicitous schemer. 

He had poisoned his nephew in order to take the crown, some said. He had usurped Baelor's throne, they claimed. Criticism were not limited to Viserys himself however. His heir, Aegon was seen as lustful, conniving, and petty. And Aegon's son, the bookish Daeron, was also disdained by some for his lack of skill with arms and his intellectual disposition. Many believed that neither were fit to sit on the Iron Throne. 

Viserys' reversal of Baelor's fundamentalist policies also angered many of the Faithful, in the clergy, the nobility, and the general populace. Many of these same critics also saw Baelor as still being the rightful King, and that his forced abdication was a great injustice. Still some continued to support Daena the Defiant. The princess was a great beauty, strong and willfull, famed throughout the land and had many admirers both highborn and lowborn. Her son, Daemon Waters, drew even more love as he grew into a peerless warrior, a man many saw as worthy to hold the sword Blackfyre and wear the Valyrian steel crown. Aegon the Conqueror born again. 

Viserys' most controversial act was the announcement of the betrothal of his granddaughter Daenerys to Prince Maron Martell of Sunspear, and that negotiations had been opened for Dorne to join the Iron Throne's domains as the Seventh Kingdom, once Daenerys came of age and was married to the Prince. Prince Daeron had already been married to the Princess Mariah, Maron's sister, forming an uneasy peace. The announcement drew the ire of many nobles and smallfolk both in Dorne and the other kingdoms, especially in the Reach and the Stormlands, whose people had been warring with the Dornish for countless generations. 

It is now the thirteenth year of King Viserys' reign, the Targaryen family has grown larger than ever before, and tensions have reached a peak. Many of the Faithful decry what they perceive to be a degradation in the country's moral and religious values, and call for a return to the piety of Baelor's reign. Even more extreme and rogue elements preach holy war on the supposed infidels of the North and the Iron Islands. Numerous small skirmishes and brawls between men of the Marches and the Red Mountains have strained the already fragile peace between Dorne and the rest of Westeros, while their lords do little to curtail the violence. 

And in King Viserys' court, the great game continues as ever. Despite the King's best efforts, his house is divided by deep rivalries and emnities, as various parties in the capital scheme for power and influence, and more than a few seek to end Visery's rule. For the moment, the battles are fought with words and in the shadows. But as the days pass, more and more sense that fire and blood will once again engulf the realm as brother turns against brother, and House Targaryen wars amongst itself.[/hider]

[hider=House Targaryen][b]King Viserys Targaryen, the Second of His Name,[/b]
    - His wife, {Larra Rogare} of Lys. Returned to her home in 140 AC and vanished soon after, 
    - Their children: 
        - [b]Prince Aegon, heir to the Iron Throne,[/b] married to Princess Naerys,
        - Princess Naerys, younger sister-wife of Aegon and twin sister of Aemon,
        - Prince Aemon, called the Dragonknight, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard,
    - Their grandchildren:
        - Prince Daeron, married to Princess Mariah Martell of Dorne,
        - Princess Daenerys, betrothed to Prince Maron Martell, Lord of Sunspear,
    - Their great-grandchildren: 
        - Prince Baelor, married with children to Jena Dondarrion,
        - Prince Aerys, married to Aelinor Penrose
        - Prince Rhaegel, married with children to Alys Arryn,
        - Prince Maekar, married to Dyanna Dayne,
    - His nephews and nieces by his late brother King {Aegon}, Third of His Name,
        - King {Daeron}, called the Young Dragon, First of His Name, killed in Dorne at eighteen,
        - [b]Prince, formerly King Baelor, called the Blessed, First of His Name,[/b] abdicated in 171,
        - Princess Daena, called the Defiant, former wife of King Baelor,
        - Princess Rhaena, member of the Most Devout of the Faith of the Seven. 
        - Princess Elaena, paramour of Lord Alyn Velaryon, called the Oakenfist, 
            - Elaena's and Alyn's natural-born children:
                - The twins Jon and Jeyne Waters,
                - Viserys Waters, rumored to be Prince Aegon's son,
    - His older half-sisters by Daemon Targaryen, the Rogue Prince, and Laena Velaryon,
        - Princess Baela, married with children to Lord Alyn Velaryon
        - Princess Rhaena, her twin, married with children to Lord Garmund Hightower,
    - His acknowledged noble grandchildren, by Prince Aegon, known as the Great Bastards,
        - Ser Daemon, born by Princess Daena, married with children to Rohanne of Tyrosh,
        - [b]Ser Aegor Rivers, called Bittersteel,[/b] born by Barba Bracken,
        - Mya, Gwenys, and [b]Ser Brynden Rivers, called Bloodraven,[/b] born by Melissa Blackwood
        - Shiera, born by Serenei of Lys,

Characters in [b]bold[/b] indicates they are being GM-Controlled.

(Note: Viserys' grandchildren and their descendants have earlier birthdates than in canon in order to be playable during the RP's timeline, all other Targaryen birthdates are unaltered, and specific ages of the altered characters will be left to their players) [/hider][hr]


[b]R U L E S[/b]
[list][*]GMs for the roleplay are myself and MrDidact.
    [*]Typical Guild rules apply.
    [*]Use common sense. We want to use logic and reason to create a good, enjoyable story.
    [*]Listen to the GMs.
    [*]Magic will be largely uninvolved in this roleplay, and there will certainly be no practitioners of it. It is mysterious, unknown, and rarely seen.
    [*]Being advanced, try to provide adequate character development and depth in your storytelling. We want to immerse ourselves in Westeros.[/list]