Chapter 48 - Prelude to the Civil War (Patreon)

Codex: Westerosi Civil War

Westerosi Civil War.

This event reshaped the political structure of Westeros and subsequently led to two decades of decay, stagnation, and internal strife until the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros officially shattered into separate nations.

In the current age, it is rather hard to pinpoint the precise start of the Westerosi Civil War, but the entire conflict started with the disappearance of the Lyanna Stark in the spring of the Year 10,282 of the Imperial Callendar. Many said that the Civil War was inevitable and that it would happen even if not for this event, mainly due to the madness of Aerys II, the Mad King. 

Nevertheless, with the disappearance of Lyanna Stark, many came to the conclusion that she had been kidnapped by Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. The following acts are not very clear, but it is known that Lord Rickard Stark personally went to the King's Landing to demand for the King's son to release his daughter, only to be burned alive by the wildfire, with King proclaiming the Starks as traitors to the Crown and depending Lord Jon Arryn sending him heads of Lord Jon Arryn send him the heads of Lord Robert Baratheon of Storm's End, Lyanna's betrothed, and Eddard Stark.

This led to Jon Arryn raising his banners in revolt together with North and Stormlands, respectively, who would join the forces to create the Rebel Faction. Meanwhile, the Royalists raised their own banners mainly from the forces of the Crownlands, Dorne, Reach, and Riverlands. 

Westerlands, led by Lord Tywin Lannister, has remained neutral and ignored the Royal Orders and instead closed their borders, which had been fortified and were now almost impossible to pass through due to the walls that were built in the few mountains passes that were leading through the valley and pathways of the Westerland Mountains. 

The first significant battle of the Civil War was the battle for the Twins, when the Northern Army and Vale Army attacked the Twins of the House Frey and bombarded it to the ground with the help of dwarven artillery. After this, many realized that the Rebel Faction was getting military supplies from the Holy Arcadia Empire, which prompted the Mad King to seek help from the Sorcerers and Warlocks from the Essos to even the chances.

While the Rebel Faction and Royal Faction were fighting the war, sometime in the Year 10,283, the Westerland Army crossed the borders of the Reach and started systematically cleaning castle after castle with methodical precision of Lannisters with every single member of the Noble Houses that were in control of the castles and Lordships were put to the sword and entire lineages were extinguished. 

It was only then that everyone in the House Tyrell realized that Tywin Lannister was most obviously planning to expand the territory of the Westerlands, something that hadn't happened since the Aegon's Conquest of the Westeros. Sicne the Conquest, the borders within the Seven Kingdoms remained unchanged, and nobody was able to gain more land, even during the events like the Dance of Dragons.

Yet, the Lion Lord of the Casterly Rock has changed that when his Red Lion Armies swarmed the northern Reach and were taking castle after castle and were slowly pushing their borders toward the Red Lake and Goldengrove while killing everything in their path.

Unfortunately for the Reach, most of their forces were tied in the siege of the Storm's End and fighting with the rest of the Rebel Faction because nobody had anticipated that the Lions would attack at such a crucial moment when they had already closed their border and were seemingly neutral.

What was worse for the Reach was the inference of the zealous warriors of the Healing Church that they were supplementing the forces of the Westerlands and eradicating the influence of the Faith of the Seven in the conquered territories with brutal conviction.

Many would say that certainly the biggest winner of the Civil War was Lord Tywin Lannister, who expanded the territory of the Westerlands rather considerably and obtained a lot of new land.

After the end of the Civil War, Tyrells attempted to petition King Robert Baratheon to pressure the Lannisters to return them to their previous lands. Still, the results did not meet their expectations. Instead, Lord Mace Tyrell got kicked out from King's Landing, and King Robert Baratheon further sanctioned Reach and abolished the special privileges of the Faith of the Seven and allowed the Healing Church to spread its teaching within the Crownlands, Stormlands, and Riverlands.

The foundation of the modern Kingdom of Bretonnia has roots in the Westerosi Civil War. Though the same could be said about the Tzardom of Kislev and Principality of the Estalia or the Confederation of the Andalos. The existence of the modern nations of the Westeros, could be all traced to the Westerosi Civil War and the fall of the House Targaryen.

- Fall of the Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros by Professor Gillian Lannister of the Lion University, Year 10,421 of the Imperial Callendar, Kingdom of Bretonnia, Lion City of Corrin.

***

Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros, Westerlands, Casterly Rock, January of the Year 10,282 of the Imperial Callendar

Saying that Tywin Lannister was in a good mood was rather a severe underestimation. He was ecstatic because of his good mood right now. Everything was going exactly according to his plans with the unrest within the Westeros, and he would be the first player to expand the realm of the Westerlands.

There are rumors about the disappearance of Lyanna Stark and her abduction by Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. And the rumors were rather dangerous things, very dangerous if used correctly, and he wasn't the only one who was fanning the flames of war.

Immediately after Tywin heard the rumors, he started paying a lot of gold to spread these rumors across every corner of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, and he was sure that the Empire was doing the exact same time.

And then another piece of news came, which made him crack a smile after a long time. 

Aerys finally went mad and executed Lord Paramount of North by burning him alive and ordered his guards to massacre the entire retinue of the Northern Lords. 

The Civil War was here.

Fianlly at last.

This was the exact moment that he was preparing for, and this was the moment that he was building the standing army of the Westerlands. The standard army of the Westerlands was under the command of 20,000 professional soldiers trained by General Reban Greiss and a few officers from the Imperial Military Universities that he managed to recruit.

The defenses of the Westerlands were repaired and elevated by great degree by the dwarven handwork as he managed to hire a lot of Dwarves to work on many fortresses and fortifications.

At the same time, he cleared several of the Lords and Vassals that were harboring malicious intentions towards the House Lannister and gave the Lordships of their castles to some of his loyal men.

Right now, there was a meeting of the highest order convened within his office, with a few people attending the meeting. Aside from his brother Kevan, who was Castellan of the Casterly Rock, there was also General Reban Greiss attending and his other brother Tygett Lannister, who has now joined the Holy Lion Knights of Corrin.

The religious Knight Order was created in the religion of the Great Ones in the Lannisport, though now, the city was renamed Corrin because it was expanding at a staggering rate and merging with the Casterly Rock. 

Tywin knew that he would need to hire more dwarves to build the fortifications around the Casterly Rock and build a new set of city walls. 

"Now, as you are all aware, Jon Arryn has officially started a rebellion against the Crown. As we are speaking, North, Vale, and Stormlands have created a coalition against the Crown, while the Royal House is gathering their own powers mainly from the Crownlands, Reach, Riverlands, and Dorne."

The forces were rather even... even though the Royalists had a considerable numerical advantage over the Rebels, the Rebel Faction itself was most evidently being supported by the Empire from the shadows.

He was already informed that several Free Companies from the Empire were already en route to Westeros in hopes of selling their services to the Rebels. And the Free Companies of the Lordran were not like the ones from the Essos.

The Free Mercenary Companies in the Empire were all certified by the Imperial government and had a Warrant of Trade, which allowed them to operate within the Imperial borders and Imperial Territory.

Thus, the Free Mercanry Companies were like small armies that services one could hire, and they always followed their contract. Due to that, they had a very good reputation in the Lands of the Ancient Lords, which was paramount for their business.

"Are our troops in the emergency?"

Tywin Lannister looked at the General Reban Greiss who was in charge of the training of Westerland standing army. Since the creation of the standing army of the Westerlands, many of the Lords lost their right to conscript levies, something that Tywin felt assuring because he never really liked the concept of raising levies.

Sending the untrained peasants to fight was a really stupid idea, but alas, nobody in Westeros tried to change things, and the last time when the Kingdoms of the Seven Kingdoms maintained standing armies was before the Aegon's Conquest.

That was three hundred years ago.

"All twenty thousand troops have been mobilized and stationed across the most important defense points in our defensive line. At the same time, we have another ten thousand reservists being mobilized as we speak."

When the levy system was still implemented within the Westeralnds, the overall military power of the Westerlands was something above fifty thousand or so. Even though most of these men were just untrained peasants who never fought and would be killed in the first wave of arrows.

That was the reason why he had greatly disdained the system of levies.

Right now, the Westerlands had twenty-thousand and another ten thousand that were in the reserve. In the reserve were the troops that didn't finish the formal training to be a soldier in the standing army.

"What do you want to do, brother?"

Kevan Lannister who was the Castellan of the Casterly Rock and soon to be Mayor of the City of Corrin. The last time there was such kind of conflict in the Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros, it was something under around two hundred years ago.

"Nothing for the time being. We will close down the border and ignore anything that would happen our way. The messages from the King's Landing are to be ignored, and messengers are to be killed, but at the same time, we won't be supporting Rebel Faction as well. Right now, the fall of the Targaryens is imminent... not even the return of their so-called dragons will save them, as the Empire is determined to see them fall..."

This was what has Tywin planned to do.

Do nothing. 

He would wait for how things would play out.

"I am sure that many of you are wondering why we should do nothing..."

Tywin stated that several people were really wondering why they should do nothing at this time. For everyone, it was clear that with sufficient Imperial support, the Rebels would definitely win.

So it would be best to join the rebel forces as soon as possible for further benefits.

"The fall of the House Targaryen is set in stone, and the wyvern that Rhaegar Targaryen won't really do much against the Dragon Slayer Weapons that the Empire has provided to the House Baratheon and House Stark. The aims of the Westeralnds are different... for the first time in the past three hundred years, we are going to expand territory behind our borders and push forward south."

Tywin knew that no matter who sat on that chair made from the scrap of iron, they wouldn't be able to hold the Seven Kingdoms together. As much as he hated to admit it, the Targaryen Lineage was the thing that was holding the Kingdom together.

Without them on the Iron Throne, it would be just a matter of time before the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros would fall back into the state of the warring kingdoms. Tywin knew that this was something that the Empire really wished to see because they were various of the unified Westeros, truly unified under one banner, and that had time to develop.

The population of Westeros was several times that of the Empire, much less about the overall population of the Western Essos, which was even above that of the Westeros.

Yet, even though Tywin realized the advantages of the unified Westeros and not this charade of Targaryen's Kingdom, he also didn't like the idea of someone ruling over them.

The Lannisters, Starks, Arryns, and Martels were in rather similar positions in this because they, too, ruined their realms for millennia, and the submission to the Iron Throne came with a great deal of hatred and reluctance.

Especially for the Martels.

Tywin realized that they were pawns in the Emperor's great game, but Tywin was aware that even though he was a pawn in this game, he could make maximum profit from his situation.

"We are going to push past the Red Lake to the Cobble Cove along the rivers to the Coldmoat Castle, and then the straight line to the Goldengrove, and the river Lesser Mander would be the natural barrier between Westerlands and Reach."

He pointed at the several places on the map that Tywin wanted to add to the dominion of the Westerlands. The Reach had the biggest population among the other member kingdoms of the Seven Kingdoms and the most fertile lands.

While the Westerlands also had some fertile lands, it was not where their true strength lay, because the true power of the Westerlands lay in the mining and its mountain ranges and the resources that they could obtain from them.

What the Lord of the Casterly Rock wanted to conquer was rather a sizeable chunk of the Reach, and it would greatly strengthen the capabilities of the Westerlands. It would allow them to produce more food, which was a crucial thing for the Westerlands, like for the other kingdoms, and they would also take possession of the Horseshoe Hills.

The only source of the minerals and ores in the entire Reach were the Horseshoe Hills, which are a series of hills in the Reach. They are part of House Webber's holdings, and they are known to produce some iron, bits of silver, and perhaps some other things because the Reachmen never properly examined the Horseshoe Hills.

With the addition of the Magic Resurgence, it wasn't guaranteed that some other precious things were not located within the Horseshoe Hills, and Tywin wanted to secure them for the House Lannister as well.

One move would be enough to make Westerlands stronger and Reach weaker, even more dependent on the outside sources of the ores and metals.

"Even if we succeed, holding those holds would be problematic... Compared to the Westerlands, which have a good strategic location, the only natural protection would be the Lesser Mander, Chequy Water, and then there are one hundred kilometers of nothing as a connecting point of Leafy Lake and Lesser Mander, but the Coldmoat could take the position of primary defense of that area..."

General Reban Greiss studied the map for several minutes as he said to his Lord that he was already a vassal in the service of the House Lannister of the Westerlands. Even though Reban Greiss knew that obtaining Aristocratic Status within the Empire was possible, it was extremely hard, and here in Westeros, it was many times easier.

He wasn't young anymore, and he wanted some foundation for his future children.

"I am aware of this, General, and for that reason, I plan to commission the dwarves to create a defensive line across the one hundred kilometers between rivers and a series of the watchers along the shores of the rivers."

The defenses along the shores of the rivers would be of the utmost importance because he was sure that after the end of the civil war, the Reach would try to make a fuss about the borders. 

Even though he was confident in keeping the conquered land, mainly due to the combination of his very close relationship with the Holy Arcadia Empire, the weakened state of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, and the almost untouched state of the Westerland's armies. 

Tywin planned to strike when most of the forces of the Reach would be tied elsewhere, fighting against the Rebel Faction, and for that, he would need to bid his time. Everything needed to be planned carefully so it could be executed without any complications.

During the last year or so that has passed from the first contact between the Westeros and Lordran, he managed to clean out most of his house from spies. As expected, most of them were from that old woman who was running the entire Kingdom because her son was one huge disappointment.

Though not that his children were much better to a certain extent.

His eldest son was infatuated with the ideas of Knighthood and got himself admitted into the Kingsguard much to his dismay, his second son was imp and his daughter became too smart for her own good and wasn't really pleased to be a pawn on the chessboard.

"Right now, we need to lock down the entire Westerlands. Nothing will go in, and nothing will go out until we are ready to invade the Reach. Tygett, how many Knights could the Holy Lion Knights of Corrin send?"

The Holy Lion Knights of Corrin were quickly becoming the true elite force of the Westerlands, even though their loyalty lay with the Westerlands and not with the House Lannister or any other Noble House.

They were natural towards the internal strife, but they would act as against the enemies of the Westerlands. Even though Tywin didn't like something that he had no control over, he knew that this was still the best-case scenario that he could achieve, and it was clear that the Holy Lion Knights of Corrin were open to working with him on the invasion of the Reach.

Each of the Holy Knights was a Knight blessed by the Great Ones who drank the deluded Old Blood and was very strong and superhuman, almost in terms of physical attributes. 

They were the Knight Order stylized after the Holy Orders of the Lordran, so even if one became Holy Knight; it didn't mean that he was forsaken worldly possessions and other things like the members of the Night Watch. 

On the contrary, for example, the Knights of the Holy Orders in the Lands of the Ancient Lords were even encouraged to sire as many children as possible because only through selective breeding would they be able to produce even more powerful warriors.

The Imperials called this Eugenics.

One of the most critical aspects for the marriage partners in the Empire was the individual strength, power and potential of the person. This was done because the next generation could be stronger than the previous one.

Apparently, it was working too well on many occasions, and the Imperials were able to breed a stronger generation of their people literarily.

"Do we have information about the state of the Rebel Faction and the Royalist Faction?"

Tywin asked as there was need for the information on both of the factions, beiucase the Westerlands were playing their own game.

In fact, even though he was about to declare independence from the Iron Throne, as the political animal he was, he realized that no matter who ended on the Iron Throne, there would be another series of wars across Westeros.

And most obviously, that would be a priceless opportunity to capitalize on. 

"Royalists are nervous, mainly due to the possible Imperial interface, and even right the Empire is supporting Starks and Baratheons with the means of Dragon Slaying Weapons, and the regiments of dwarves have secretly arrived at the North and Stormlands and are forging their weapons and fortifying some of the most crucial castles for the Rebels. We also have news that the army of the Reach would be in command of Lord Randyll Tarly, and they are heading primarily at the Stormlands, leaving their western borders primarily undefended aside from a few garrisons of the levies and Household Guards in the local castles."

When it came to intelligence, the House Lannister, under Tywin's administration, was investing a lot of money into spy networks. Tywin knew how precious and valuable it was to have a source of actual information about what was happening.

It wasn't a cheap thing to create, maintain, and grow, but it was proving invaluable. Especially in a situation like this, when the information was a decisive thing, and the one who had the most actual information was the winner.

Randyl Tarly was the capable commander and someone very well-versed in matters of war and warfare. Not a summer knight or boy playing on a soldier like most of the Reach Nobles who were pursing glory and honor on the battlefield, only to find their death there instead.

"Hmm... we can conclude then the Elector Count House Stark and Russ have the same mindset as the rest of the northerners, and even if the Imperator forbade them from participating in the war, they would still be sending tons of material support to the Starks."

Tywin knew that the House Stark had the most significant advantage compared to anyone else because they were enjoying the direct relationship with the Electoral House within the Holy Arcadia Empire.

While Tywin's own daughter was set to marry the Imperator, it seemed that Cersei was smarter than she looked and wouldn't be easily manipulated into helping him.

Something that Tywin learned the hard way was when he realized that his daughter lost any filial piety towards the House Lannister, and it seemed that she indeed inherited a lot of his intellect, and getting more material and military help through his daughter would be a very pricy thing.

Tywin knew that Cersei always had the potential to be a great tinker; she was rather arrogant and too confident in her own capabilities, but it seemed that during her stay in the Holy Arcadia Empire, these traits were slowly being hammered out of her,

Much to his displeasure because it was now clear that he wouldn't be able to manipulate her into helping him strengthen the Westerlands and the House Lannister, much to his dismay.

The Starks of Winterfell had a direction connection to the Elector Count House, and the people of the Grand Province of Fenris were similar in thinking as much as northerners of the Westeros, so when it came to the recognition, the Stark and Russ Lineage were helping their cousins at the Westeros a lot.

One year after the reconnection between the two Houses, the North profited immensely from the relationships. Not only the North managed to establish a very good relationship with the Grand Province of Fenris, but due to their connection with the Stark and Russ, the Starks of Winterfell also had some ties with the League of Khaz-Modan.

The home of the dwarves and was invaluable in itself because it was the dwarves that were restoring the Moat Cailin for the past year and making it even grander than at its peak. 

It was clear that any possible invasion of the North in the future would be suicide with the Moat Cailin being rebuilt with the Imperial and dwarven engineering. And then there was a trade that was booming for the North because the Stark and Russ facilitated several agreements between the Starks of Winterfell and Merchnads of Merienburg in the Grand Principality of Klandor.

"Yes... it seems that the North would be stronger than ever... the Stark and Russ have appeared invested a lot to uplift their cousins from the Winterfell, and Lord Rickard Stark has apparently even used the entire savings of the House Stark to modernize the North. There have been rumors in the South that they have been doing this so they could secede from the Seven Kingdoms."

As Kevan said that, Tywin merely raised his eyebrows, but he wouldn't be surprised by that. 

The Northerners never cared about what was happening in the South, and neither did the South care about what was happening in the North. Tywin knew that Rickard Stark was a man who was very pragmatic to the point where he even wanted to marry his sons for someone from the South so they could obtain cheaper food.

Now that offer was off the table, and it seemed that Brandon Stark would marry someone from the Lordran, more precisely, sister of the Viceroy Ragnar Lothbrok, Lady Sif Lothbrok from the House of Munsö.

Viceroys in the Holy Arcadia Empire were the highest-ranked nobility that one could obtain, and they commanded considerable influence. Not to mention, they all had their seats in the Landsraad and had strong political power within the Imperium.

To achieve this, he broke the engagement with the House Tully, which left the Riverlands the bitter enemies to the Stark as Hoster Tully won't forget this, but Tywin didn't really think that Tullys would withstand the winds of change.

The resurgence of Magic was doing as the High Scholar Jinfarah had predicted. The ones with strong, magically-attuned Houses were becoming stronger, and those without them would become weaker. 

It was only a matter of time until someone overthrew them entirely. And Tywin predicted the same outcome for the Tyrells as well because the amount of Magic in their blood wasn't really that great despite their claims of being descendants of the Garth the Green Hand and the Hightowers were watching.

"Understandable and expectable, though I seriously doubt that they would go for it right now. The situation is not keen on something like secession for the time being, and the North is still vulnerable for many reasons. To really have independence from the South for food and other things would require a lot of time. Anything else?"

Tywin knew that even if the North went for the independence, they would do it much later, though... with Brandon Stark as the new Lord Paramount of the North after the death of his father, who knows...

The younger Stark was far more hot-blooded than it seemed, and anything could happen. From the rumors about his soon-to-be wife, who was at the Winterfell, she was of a similar mind and preferred to solve everything with her sword.

"Actually, yes... it seems that as we are speaking, the Lady Sif Lothbrok is leading a few thousand soldiers and laying siege on the islands of Skagos, and it is expected that the reconquest would be swift."

Tywin heard the rumors about the future Lady Stark of the Winterfell, and even though in Westeros the woman warriors were very rare as it went against the teachings in the Faith of Seven, it seemed that the North would have one of the most talented warrior women as their Lady in the future.

Just some time ago, shortly after the death of Lord Paramount Rickard Stark, they received news that the House Bolton was put to the sword. The reasons were unknown, but it seemed that Brandon Stark had far less patience and mercy for the Boltons than the previous Lord's Paramounts.

Usually, the wives of the nobles in Westeros played the softer role and were often the ones that calmed down the King, the Lord Paramount, or the nobles... but in the case of Brandon Stark, his fianceé was as much warlike as he was, and also preferred to swing sword first and ask questions second.

"Skagos has been a thorn for the Starks for the centuries since the Aegon's Conquest. It seems that after the civil war, the North would be entirely revamped, far more militarized and united than before... which is rather problematic."

Unfortunately, for the time being, he could not do anything about it, nor could he afford to. Tywin knew his limits, including the limits of creating a multicultural kingdom with too many differences and clashing cultures.

Without overwhelming power or something acting as a deterrent, it would be impossible to maintain the domain over large territories of non-related cultures and societies. He aimed for a different strategy... using the local population of the Westerlands to repopulate the empty territories.

There were not many of those in Westeros, but after the war?

There would be plenty of them, starting with the territory that he would take from the Reach and, in the future, the Iron Islands. The ultimate goal would be part of his grand legacy, which would end the Ironborn culture as a whole, end the raiding, establish Lannister supremacy over the Iron Islands, and make them a naval power.

"And what of the Imperial detachments of the Silver Knights and other forces that were still in the Westerlands?"

The Westerlands still had a sizeable number of the Silver Knights, officers from the Office of the Imperial Military Intelligence, and Officio Assassinorum station in the Corrin. They were mainly tasked with collecting information on the happenings in Westeros and protecting the Cathedral of the Great Ones in the Corrin.

"They would support us in the march. Commander Agamemnon said if we agree to pressure Reach enough and contain their forces long enough for them to infiltrate the Citadel and carry out their mission, they will share a considerable amount of loot with us."

Tygett Lannister, as the Holy Knight of the Holy Knights of Corrin, was probably the best informed about the status of the Imperial Forces in the Westerlands.