(@Almost completely written by [@Abefroeman] who is an amazing collaborator and partner.)

King's Landing

[i]My name is Maester Elwyn, a humble recorder of history. It has fallen unto me and my apprentices to retell the events of the past two years, the moments of joy and happiness, as well as the less sorid and ideal events. This retelling, as to the best of my memory, evidence, and fellow review of the Citadel, is the true summary of the following events: the Stepstones Rebellion, the return of The Vulture King, The Reynes and The Gardners, the Sparrows and the Faith Militant, the Hill Tribes of the Vale, and union of the Dragon and the Lion, the marriage of Crown Prince Aemon Targaryen to the fair maiden, Lady Myrcella Lannister.[/i]

To truly understand the aftermath of the rebellious movements that wrecked so much havoc upon the realm, one must look back to the events preceding these violent uprisings against the Iron Throne. The Stepstones had long been a haven for malcontents and criminals, pirates, slavers, warlords large and small. So, to no surprise, when these quarelsome islands were annexed by decree and order of King Aegon "Jon" Targaryen and Queen Danaerys Targaryen, they immediately began to chafe beneath what they saw as a foreign oppressor. For years there were small uprisings, a lord here, a small flotilla of pirates, peseants there, sellswords wreaking havoc, and so on. To the benefit of the Iron Throne, these isolated and scattered acts of defiance, were little more than a nuisance that was left to the oversight of the Lord Paramount of the Stepstones, Aurane Velaryon. Yet, it was this festering unrest that culminated in the rise of the man dubbing himself the Scorpion King.

As of this moment we do not know his true name, nor his origins. Some say he is a scion of the overthrown House Vunatis, an infamous bloodline of pirate lords. Others say he is a corsair's bastard who rose to build his own fleet. What can be known for sure is that this man rallied and cobbled together a massive coalition of rebel lords, pirate captains, sellsword companies, and anti-Targaryen sentimentals to pose a grave danger to the Crown. The Scorpion King bided his time for three years, coordinating small isolated pockets of malcontent to draw attention away from the true threat, keeping Lord Velaryon and his peace-keeping forces constantly running from one end of the Stepstones to the other. This tactic allowed the Scorpion King to strike when the realm least suspected it, on the night of Crown Prince Aemon Targaryen's wedding to Lady Myrcella Lannister.

At the same time, in the rugged mountains that separated Dorne and the Stormlands, arose no less of a threat, another Vulture King. This Stone Dornishman raised a sizeable rebel army in open defiance of the Crown. No longer would he or his people pay taxes or kneel before the Iron Throne. Numbering thousands strong, if not tens of thousands, The Vulture King raided and attacked regions sorrounding the mountains of his rebel kingdom. Perhaps he thought himself safe in the treachorous mountain passes and tops, or he believed he could truly secure independence, all the same, he ellicited a response from the Iron Throne that would ultimately spell his doom.

However, these two rebel kings were not the only threats to the Crown. At first we believed the isolated and sporadic attacks in the Westerlands and the Reach to be the typical petty banditry, outlaws and brigands mere steps ahead of the law. Much to the suprise of many, two long though extinct Houses arouse from their ashes, or so they claimed. House Gardner, the former Kings of the Reach, and House Reyne, once powerful lords of Castemere, each claimant leading well organized, equipped, and trained forces seeking to reclaim their lost lands and titles. More interestingly, was the stark contrast between these rebels and those of the Stepstones and the Dornish Mountains. Lords Reyne and Gardner led almost an honorable force of bandits or rebels. They killed only in combat, only when forced to, they raided supply trains and military payrolls, even some reports stating them helping the smallfolk, and above all else, treated any prisoners with respect and dignity. Theses rebels, much to the irritation of House Tyrell, House Lannister, and the Iron Throne, still roam free and uncaptured. This is speculation, but I believe there to be House within each region who are sympathetic to the causes of these two resurgent Houses.

Sadly, this is not the end of the troubles of the realm. Much to the ire of many among the Faith of the Seven upon Queen Danareys ascension to the Iron Throne, she allowed the practice of the foreign faiths from across the Narrow Sea in open earnest. With our most benevolent Queen, came tens of thousands of refugees and followers from Essos, most if not all of whom worshiped gods other than the Divine Seven. Even with the signing of the Defenders of Sacred Grounds edicts by the Iron Throne, which ensured the Iron Throne's protection of holy sites, septs, and pilgrims with the creation of the Order of Knights Paladin, tensions remained a sore point of contention in more rural regions of the Realm. The Riverlands in particular, among a few other outlying counties and expanses of land, has seen violence between fanatical Sparrows and Essosi settlers, grisly massacres committed in the name of the Seven. House Tully has been charged to end the unrest, but thus far, even after two years of searching, the fanatics still hary the realm.

All these events came to a head on a what was meant to be a most joyous celebration. The Scorpion King sent his regards to the king and queen, which from what can be collaborated, was the severed head of an envoy the Crown had sent to the Stepstones. The Scorpion King's messanger would lose his own head that day, for they say King Aegon drew his blade moments later to relieve the pirate of his head in retaliation. And all the while, the true threat crept closer. After the days festivities were completed, the Crown Prince and new princess had retired for the night, a sinister surprise attack was launched upon King's Landing. Spearheaded by what reports call horribly mutilated, abominations, and all sorts of criminal filth, the Scorpion King tried to assasinate the Crown Prince and the princess. The attack lasted over two hours, and left hundreds dead. War... war had finally broken out, and there would be no going back.

It took three weeks to rally the armies of the Iron Throne, in that time, the Stepstones burned, the Dornish Mountains bled, and the Crown gathered its strength to once and for all crush those that would dare oppose it. Lords and knights, great and small, along with tens of thousands of men-at-arms, began a long arduous campaign of justice and bloodshed. The Royal forces were split in two, some 20,000 placed under the command of Ser Gendry Baratheon, Master of War, and Lord Commander Garlan Tyrell of the Order of the Green Hand, charged with routing the Vulture King in the Mountains of Dorne. Another 35,000 under the command of Crown Prince Aemon sailed for the Stepstones to end the threat of the Scorpion King once and for all. These two campaigns would bleed the realm, leaving behind devestation and death.

The first campaign to end was that of Crown Prince Aemon's, lasting little over seven months. Of the 35,000 sent to retake the Stepstones, 10,000 never returned, a testament of the threat a determined for like the Scorpion King presented. Entire islands were devestated, sometimes their entire population dead or having fled. The sheer brutality of this rebel uprising unlike any seen since that of Maelys the Monstorous, or perhaps that of Maegor the Cruel. What can be said with certainty is that over 25,000 rebels perished fighting the Royal army, with the Scorpion King himself slain in the final battle, yet not before he personally slew Lord Monterys Velaryon, Lord Aurane's nephew and Lord of the Tides and a host of noble knights and lordlings perished in the fighting. Perhaps it is poetic justice that this great despoiler and criminal was slain by none other than Crown Prince Aemon himself. With the death of the Scorpion King, in that final battle, the rebel fleet and ground forces soon into chaos, scattering, sinking, dying, turning from what seemed like a rebel victory to an all out rout. Though, even this victory may not be absolute, for the exiled Dagon Pyke, the Black Kracken slipped away during the chaos with a sizable force, fleeing further into the Eastern Seas, and, from multiple accounts, a female of great beauty, a princess some say, also managed to escape with her own fleet, disappearing into a storm raging north of the battle. It took another month to force the surrender of the few remaining holdouts, but few can say that the Iron Throne did not crush the rebels and ensure its dominion over the Stepstones.

The campaign in the Dornish mountains was no less arduous than that of the Stepstones. Of the 20,000 men marched into those dry, arid rocky mountains, 7,500 would not return. Those who experienced the campaign firsthand tell of fanatical resistance, a hostile environment that killed its own share of men, and horrific beasts used by the Vulture King's forces. The battles, excluding sporadic skirmishes, numbered nine major conflicts, before the final tenth battle, in which the Vulture King was captured during the rout of his remaining forces at the battered ruins he had chosen to shelter in. Of the dead among the Royal forces, Ser Terrance Thorne of the Kingsguard died, along with Ser Merrel Florent of the Green Hand and other noble heroes. This victory, however, was nearly complete and absolute, none escaping the justice of the Iron Throne other than the Vulture King's sister, said to be a black-hearted sorceress. From start to finish, the Dornish Mountains were retaken in little over six months, granting peace to both Dorne and the Stormlands.

Yet, during these rebellions, all was not bleak for the realm. Lord Tyrion Lannister, Hand of the King, and Ser Mychel Arryn, Heir to the Vale, were able to achieve what no man or king before them ever could, winning the fealty of the Mountain Clans in the Vale of Arryn. Together through shrewd negotiation and no small amount of luck, the Mountain Clans now answer to Lord Robin Arryn, and through him, the Iron Thone, thus ending thousands of years of constant fear of raiding and violence. Furthermore, while this was underway, the Tully's in Riverrun made several important strides in defeating the renegade Sparrows who had so long plagued the Riverlands. At least two major safe havens for the Sparrow fanatics were found and cleansed of those vile murderers.

And thus, we are brought to the present. By Royal decree, a memorial and celebratory tournament has been announced, in honor of all who fought the enemies of the realm, those who survived, and for those that now forevermore serve the Seven. Lords and ladies, the great and small, gather before King's Landing, as one unified Kingdom, to celebrate their victory's, to honor the fallen and victorious dead, and in order to hail the first name day for Crown Prince Aemon and Princess Myrcella's first child, Prince Aegon Targaryen. The crowds roar and cheer on the fights and spectacles, they lavish love and happiness unto the Royal family, and above all, they relish the return to normalcy and prosperity that peace has brought. 

The levy's have been sent home, no more do tax collectors hungrily roam the realm to collect funding for the war, fathers and mothers and children smile, and on this day, the sun shines bright and warm, a gentle breeze cooling all with a delicately gentle touch. Yet, in the shadows of this great day, this celebration of victory, still fester the blight and evil of Westeros. The Reyne and Gardner claimants, with their guerilla forces, still plague the Westerlands and the Reach respectively. Far to the North, words speak of a resurgent wildling King-beyond-the-Wall, rallying all those who forsook the protection of House Stark and the Iron Throne to his bloody cause. The militant Sparrows still clash with followers of foreign gods and the Freemen Brotherhood continue to rob and raid, troubling landed knights and small lords alike. Men, women, and children still disappear in the dark of night in the vastness of the countryside without a trace. In the east, wars have erupted between various factions in the name of conquest and plunder. And lastly, perhaps darkest and foulest of all, the growing rumors of a schsim within the Royal family, a rift that could even possibly spark another Dance of Dragons.

Only time will tell if House Targaryen and the Kingdoms of Westeros will continue to weather the storms that beset them, but at least for now the future of King Aegon and Queen Daenerys' line seems secure. And for those who have supported them in the past, their loyalties and fortunes will also doubtlessly be tested.