Gulltown Massacre

The Gulltown Massacre, a consideration of the first-hand accounts taken during and after those troubled years of the Bleeding, as set down by Archmaester Cerion of the Citadel of Oldtown.

He was the grandson of a shepherd, the patron of a Holy Hundred, the Man of Seven Stars, and a Dragonslayer. Though history remembers him as the perpetrator of a massacre, of sin and a shining example of the faults of treachery, few can deny Ser Daryn Shett’s ability in both warfare and charisma. There were many who admired him, and more who reviled him.

It was by his hand that he would see the port city of Gulltown brought under his patronage, fighting in an expensive war that took tolls on both sides. Some consider The Gulltown Massacre the end to the greater events of the Bleeding, such as the War of Stone and Sky, or the Black Prophet’s Rebellion, however few can deny the far-reaching implications of that most disastrous event.

Prelude
It began in 433 AC, following the beginning of the Bleeding, when King Rhaegar, emboldened by the Cunning One’s charisma, allowed the two branches of the Faith Militant to be reformed. Chapterhouses were formed in most major cities, including Gulltown, where swarms of faithful had joined underneath one Ser Criston Templeton, a man of good faith as well as good heart.

Ser Criston was neither radical nor intolerant, though some few underneath him had become disturbed with Lord Gerold Grafton’s practice of the Red Faith, citing the city’s ills on the will of their so-called ‘demon god.’ Ser Criston condemned any action, however, and worked hand-in-hand with Lord Gerold to see both faiths work side by side with one another.

Such attempts proved short-lived however. Sources divulge that, on one evening in the early moons of 435 AC, when returning to the chapterhouse, Ser Criston was set upon by beggars and slain, stabbed fifty-seven times before he died. Though it is impossible to know who slew him, some suggest it was members of the Red Faith in the city, angered that their God should take place alongside that of the Seven. Others cite members of the Faith, dressed in rags, angry that their supposed rights had been shunned.

What we do know of the murder is this: the outcry was immediate. By morning, Ser Daryn Shett, a nobleman who had been of some staunch opposition to Ser Criston, had been voted Captain of the Chapter, and given the title, ‘Lord-Captain of Gulltown.’

Ser Darryn proved himself quick in the light of his recent appointment. When he went to the Lord Grafton to demand justice, he would not come out and see them. The manor of the Graftons was at a natural advantage for defence, however, and soon others joined in Ser Darryn’s outcries. A raven was dispatched to the Eyrie, and Lord Arryn was quick to dispatch his own riders to the city, and expressed in a letter to Lord Grafton, “that these men were just rabble.”

Call them rabble or call them common, but these were men armed to the teeth, and with each day that passed without answer, the faithful grew in number. First, they were a dozen. Then fifty. Then a hundred. By the time the first week was done, Ser Darryn had accumulated almost a thousand men and women of faith to protest against the death of Ser Criston.

By the dawn of the second week, when Lord Arryn’s own knights arrived at Gulltown to calm the growing crowd, it proved of ill effect. The crowd dispersed, aye, but only for the breath of a moment. The night they arrived, one of Ser Darryn’s companions led an attack on the growing congregation of Red faithful within the city.

The attack was merciless. It was said that blood stained every alley of Gulltown that night. Men, women, children all, those who were accused of heresy were put to the sword, and by the time morning came, Ser Darryn had ordered the gates sealed, and Lord Gerold brought to him cuffed and chained.

With him were Lord Arryn’s knights. Men of the Seven, they were allowed to leave, with word for Lord Arryn. Lord Gerold however suffered a far worse fate. Underneath the Seven a trial was convened in the Sept of Gulltown. Among Lord Gerold’s cited crimes was that of heresy, and allowing the Red Faith to ferment whilst the rest of Westeros rejected the coming scourge.

The sentence was simple and swift. Lord Gerold was hanged, drawn, and quartered. Such was the fate of those who challenged the will of the Gods… or so Ser Darryn said.

Challenge
Ser Darryn met little challenge within the city, but without, enemies were brewing. Declaring Gulltown a new center of the Faith, Ser Darryn held daily trials to see who might become the next Lord of Gulltown. By all rights, the city went to Lord Gerold’s son, but Ser Darryn would have none of it. “I will not cohort with men whose fathers were open blasphemers,” he was reported to have said.

Word soon came however of a coming Arryn host. Joined by Lord Royce and others, Lord Arryn assumed a siege of Gulltown from both sides, cutting Gulltown off by both land and sea. Lord Darryn had assumed a siege might take place, and had taken precautions against it, gathering food from the countryside as the days passed, and bunkering in for what was doubtless going to be something long and drawn out.

There was no safety to be found elsewhere, however. Lord Darryn had accounted for the Lady Saera as well, Lady Saera Targaryen, who herself rode the fair dragon Blue. Though not as nimble nor as large as her cousins in King’s Landing, she was a strong beast, with a heavy flame, and when Ser Darryn saw her in the skies, and when offered surrender once again, he refused.

It was with a promise of death come morning. Death would not be found for those of the Faith, however. By morning, Lord Arryn had led a charge against the walls of Gulltown. Supported by Saera and her dragon, it seemed it might be impossible to lose, except for when the whistle of a Scorpion flew through the air. Gulltown was not a city privy to defense against dragons, but in his time, Lord Gerold had sired three Scorpions of whom had grown dusted over and unused.

They were discovered by Lord Darryn’s men, however, and refitted and rearmed, and though two bolts missed, and seven in total were fired, Lady Saera herself was struck with a deadly bolt. Some sources say it pierced her chest, or her side. History says that in her struggle for consciousness, she pulled her drake with her into the ground, instantly killing the dragon after an almost three-hundred foot drop; when Lady Saera was recovered, it was far too late. Her legs had been shattered, and her chest opened from belly to collar. She died within moments, never regaining her consciousness.

The sight bolstered the morale of the men of Ser Darryn, but not the others. Though the men of Gulltown were men of Faith, and good followers of the Seven, so to had been Lady Saera, whose death had been at the hands of a man supposedly fighting for the Seven. Morale began to wane as the assault wavered, and Lord Arryn’s men were thrown back.

It was the first and last assault of the Gulltown Massacre, and far deadlier a battle than most Targaryens had seen during the war. As the days continued on, and food continued to grow scarce in the city, Ser Darryn offered a peace to Lord Arryn, but such would not be found. On the second day of the second moon from the day the siege had begun, the gates were thrown open, and presented to Lord Arryn was Ser Darryn Shett, bound and escorted by a ring of seven men.

Of the fates of those who participated and followed Ser Darryn, we will not speak. But of Ser Darryn Shett, must needs be said. The Lord Arryn was most unkind with Ser Darryn, as Ser Darryn was him - the two had not gotten on, but Lord Arryn was not of the like to execute him. Instead, he sent Ser Darryn to King’s Landing, where he might face reprisal for his actions.

Aftermath
The Cunning One, as we know him now, was a man of particular wit and skill with the diplomatic arts, it need be said, for it was he who dispelled the situation that had grown in Gulltown and dismissed them as mere, “fanatics in their madness,” effectively condemning Lord Shett to whatever fate might await him. Reports say the Septon was surprised to hear the man would be tried in King’s Landing, and ordered a grand procession for him when he arrived.

It was not the procession Ser Darryn wished for, but it was a procession. Stripped naked, the knight was made to walk through the streets of King’s Landing before arriving at the Great Sept of Baelor. Within a fortnight, he was tried before the Seven where much of the lords of the Vale presided. Much like the fate of Lord Gerold, Ser Darryn’s end was unbecoming. One month after his rebellion had failed, Ser Darryn was hanged, drawn, and quartered, his death an ever-present testament to the High Septon’s distancing of himself from the more zealous outliers of the faith.

With the conclusion of the Gulltown Massacre, the period known as the Bleeding ended, and ushered in a winter colder than the last. The Vale had been forever torn by Ser Darryn’s actions, and his machinations still resound to this day.