House Targaryen

'''House Targaryen is a noble family of Valyrian descent who escaped the Doom. For centuries they dwelled on the island of Dragonstone until Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters rode their dragons in the First Conquest of the Seven Kingdoms. Aegon’s dynasty lasted nigh on 300 years before it was toppled during Robert’s Rebellion, known to their loyalists as the War of the Usurper during the reign of Aerys II, who some called the Mad King.

The Baratheon dynasty proved far more fleeting, however, and in 300 A.C. Prince Rhaegar’s son, Aegon, landed in the Stormlands. Shortly thereafter his aunt, daughter to Aerys II, arrived with her dragons. Together they reestablished their dynasty in what would come to be known as the Second War of Conquest.

The current head of House Targaryen is Aenar I, whom reigns as King. His has been a long, fruitful reign that has weathered its trials with dignity and purpose. In recent days, after 63 years of rule, the aged king’s mind has begun to wander and he has become withdrawn from the day-to-day affairs of the realm.

The Second War of Conquest
In 300 A.C., the Golden Company landed in the Stormlands claiming to herald the son of Prince Rhaegar, and true king of Westeros, Aegon VI. Many thought the boy slain during the sack of King’s Landing, but Lord Varys, known as the Spider, had spirited the boy away with Jon Connington. After some initial success bannermen began to flock to his cause. Well into the year he had made his way to King’s Landing, taken the city, and besieged the vile Queen Cersei Lannister in the Red Keep. He had even sent lieutenants to campaign in the Riverlands in order to restore Edmure Tully to Riverrun.

Fro some time, the campaign was ground to a halt on all fronts. Winter was upon them, and all the soldiers were wary. So long had the realm been ignited by the savage tenets of war. In the midst of this stagnation Daenerys, daughter to Aerys II, arrived with three dragons that had been hatched from eggs long forgotten in the Great Grass Sea. She took Dragonstone where Loras Tyrell yet recovered, and from there made her way to the capital.

No one knows what was spoken of between aunt and nephew, the last true scions of House Targaryen. In the end, they came form their private conclave and announced a renewed alliance. They would wed, and thereafter Aegon VI bonded with the dragon Rhaegal. The rest, is, as they say history.

The united blood of the dragon swept across the kingdoms with fire, blood, and more than a fair share of magnanimity. At war’s end a relative peace was restored. All the realm was once more under the aegis of the restored Targaryen dynasty beneath two ruling monarchs, Aegon VI and Daenerys I.

The Year of the False Banners
In 315 A.C. a series of conflicts across the Seven Kingdoms culminated from the remnants of past armies, and ambitious rebels. Each was short lived, and put down before any could truly inspire the populace against their new rulers. The king and queen, in particular, showed great restraint in the use of their dragons. In this they preferred to rely on the great lords and their bannermen to see these false kings brought to rights.

Twilight of the Conquerors
In 325 A.C. Aegon VI died, leaving behind his wife and children. The kingdom mourned this loss, for there were many who had come to greatly respect and love their king. A popularity that he enjoyed in far greater terms than that of his namesake, Aegon the Conqueror. Under he and his aunt’s rule the people, high and low, had found some measure of prosperity. True to the nature of the counsel he received he even thought much of the smallfolk in his deliberation.

Daenerys I, a ruling monarch in her own right, elected to take the opportunity to abdicate the throne in favor of her son. She remained in the capital for some years to act as his advisor. However, in 330 A.C. she took Drogon east to revisit the sites that had played such a great role. A journey from which she would never return. The Silver Queen and her great dragon faded into myth, and mystery.

The War in the Narrows
After the departure of Daenerys, her second son, Baelon, led a campaign in Essos. He had disliked life in King’s Landing, and was ever envious of Rhaegar’s position at court. When the opportunity had arisen, he departed with his wife, a famed courtesan known as Eireni of Lys, and made his way to the Fair City. While there he became lauded among the Magisters, and even coined himself as the Prince of Lys. With his great dragon, Leviathan, he was able to accomplish much and even restored the Kingdom of the Three Daughters.

Rhaegar I kept out of his brother’s wars, despite entreaties form the Free Cities. He was reticent to challenge Baelon, and was content to remain neutral so long as his brother kept his affairs across the Narrow Sea. Unfortunately, for all involved, Baelon broke this implicit peace when he and his Leviathan looked westward.

It was on Estermont that Baelon committed his greatest crime. He ravaged the isle with sword and flame. A feat that reminded the populace of the savagery of dragons, and what they might wreak in the hands of a madman. This forced Rhaegar to challenge his brother. Their forces met in the sea, while the brothers took to the sky. It was a fantastic battle on all fronts that saw Baelon, and both their dragons slain. Had it not been for the intervention of Peremore Vance, Rhaegar himself might have fallen.

The Summer Sickness
In 339 A.C. a plague began to spread through the Southron kingdoms. There was rumor that this illness had its roots in the Summer Isles, and it was traders from this land that brought the scourge with them through Oldtown. It spread quickly through the kingdoms, and proved resistant to many of the Maester’s solutions. In the end it claimed many lives, including King Rhaegar’s in 344 A.C.  Aenar, whom was in the North, returned thereafter to take up his father’s crown.

The Intercession in the North
For many years the construction of the Winter Palace had experienced a bevy of setbacks due to the sentiments of the local lords. There were many who felt that the reach of the Dragon was going too far, and they disliked such an infraction upon their territory. In truth many of the Northern lords were less than pleased to find themselves one more under the heel of the Iron Throne.

These sentiments deepened with the construction of the Winter Palace. The discontented lords gathered around the errant son of Lord Jon Stark, whom history remembers as Brandon the Black. In 342 A.C. King Rhaegar sent his wedded children, Prince Aenar and Princess Helaena, to oversee its construction.

The Intercession notes the struggle that ensued thereafter. In the end Brandon the Black’s defiance forced Aenar’s hand, and saw the errant son of House Stark devoured by dragon flame. The Winter Palace was abandoned, however, as a pacifying gesture when the need arose for Aenar to return to King’s Landing.

The Southern Schism
The events of the preceding decades had left the Faith to boil. The War in the Narrows saw dragonfire and war return to the shores of Westeros, followed thereafter by years of peace and plenty. The payments made to the Crown by Lys brought on a period of wealth that the realm had not known in decades, the excess of which began to seep into the whole of King's Landing, already long seen by many as decadent.

It came to pass that the High Septon died in the year 340, and his successor, a man of the island of Estermont, donned the mantle of the Avatar of the Gods. The new High Septon was known for his charisma and charm, but the loss of sons, nephews, and brothers in the war against Baelon Targaryen had instilled in him a deep hatred of dragons, and a distrust of the Targaryen dynasty.

The Schism split Westeros along lines both political and theological - with the shifting of the Faith's focus from King's Landing to Oldtown, to many it seemed an abandonment of the initial agreements put in place by the Conciliator, as well as a threat to the balance of power by increasing Hightower and Tyrell influence all the further. Because of this, the Baratheons especially took special pains to oust any of the followers of the starry rites, clinging firmly to the old Baelorian obediences.

While the two sides of the argument are not formal divisions, the opposing schools of thought persist to this day. Both are of the Faith, the High Septon appointed by King Aenar Targaryen taking great pains to assure all that both routes would lead one to heaven, but between adherents’ disagreement can sometimes turn nasty.

There have not been riots due to the schism in decades, though many who follow the starry rites yet wear a seven-pointed star about their necks, as a symbol of their purported piety. Though the star has ever been a symbol of the Faith as a whole, on non-clergy it has become something of a tell.

Aenar, however, was ever a monarch who favored peaceable, lasting solutions. His wife, the beloved Helaena, had perished some years before and so he took on a daughter of House Hightower to the marriage bed in her place. He and Queen Patrice were wed, and announced that their first daughter would be trained in the ways of Baelorian obedience.

The Mead Summer
A particularly good summer, and the beginning of the height of King Aenar’s reign. After the issues with the plague, this summer seemed a blessing from the gods: harvests are bountiful, weather is pleasant, and it lasts for much longer than usual. It is still fondly remembered by those who lived through it, as perhaps some of the best years in Westerosi history. It lasted from 351A.C. to 356 A.C.

The Blackwater Tourney
During the deepening prosperity of the Mead Summer, King Aenar I Targaryen deigned to host a grand tournament in King's Landing; the greatest of its kind. Partially to celebrate the return to good times and prosperous days, partially to welcome the magnificent summer, and partially to honor his recently wed wife, Patrice Hightower, the tournament served as ample excuse for all of Westeros to come together in a moment of revelry and splendor.

The closing ceremonies of the grand tournament of the Blackwater were capped by a display of dragon-prowess that struck awe into all who watched. Orchestrated by the young princes; a ten-and-two Aenys, and a ten-year-old Viserys, they took to their mounts and soared above the gathered crowd, their dragons circling upward, wing tip to wing tip. The display was the first many had seen of dragons, and it showed many their ability and power. The age o the young princes was also duly noted, for despite their youth they were already accomplished riders.

The Royal Tour of 360 A.C.
The royal family, including Aenar I, Prince Aenys and Prince Viserys, went on a tour of the realm. They traveled from holdfast to holdfast and held court to listen to the cares and woes of their people. It was a highly popular maneuver on Aenar’s part, and one that he would see repeated in some fashion or other in the years going forward. The most notable event, however, was the wedding of Lenore Blackwood to Prince Aenys. Aenar had intended to see him betrothed to a Lannister of Casterly Rock, but had yielded to this young, budding love. Not wishing to insult the Lannisters, however, he did arrange a match for his second son, Viserys.

The Trial and Execution of Lenore Blackwood
Lenore Blackwood had proven to be a deft hand at Court, but her antics did much to cultivate enmity with other players of the game. Most particularly Aenys’ younger brother Viserys, and his step-mother, Queen Patrice Hightower. She had a flair for the dramatic, and would often chide them in some ways or other. Despite this, she and her husband enjoyed great success. Even proving to place their own installment as Hand of the King in Lord Crispian Celtigar.

Her reach went beyond her grasp, however, and before long her popularity among the court and small folk dwindled. There were rumors that she was having an illicit affair with Lord Celtigar, and that her son by the Prince, may have been, in truth, baseborn. After Prince Viserys was suspected of being poisoned, one of Lenore’s retainers was taken into custody. The wise woman, after exhaustive torture, implicated many in the plot to kill Prince Viserys, including Lenore herself.

Aenar I, loathe to see a royal consort brought to trial, leaned heavily upon the Faith. When his negotiations with the High Septon were through, the marriage between Lenore and Prince Aenys was dissolved.

Her trial was a swift one, and this time overseen with far greater authority by the king himself. He did not sit as her judge, as was his right, but instead against tasked his selected magistrates to do so in his stead. Nevertheless, this time he remained for the proceedings, and oversaw them in all but name. Lenore was allowed little defense, but was permitted to speak. Wherein she gave a passionate speech about her son, the young Maegor. Clearly resigned to her fate, her time in seclusion had seen her thoughts turn to the boy who should have one day been king.

There were no truly grand standing witnesses. Each gave their testimony, and all of the high drama that had pervaded the Hand’s trail withered before the eyes of the king. None can say what he thought of the affair, for as ever his expressions were neutral. There is little doubt, however, that it was by his will that Ser Loren Lannister pronounced her execution, despite the alleged entreaties of the Queen Mother, Olenna Tyrell, whom it was said favored exile.

The execution itself was not a public one as was announced during her trial. Nor was she burned for her heretical ways, as was likewise pronounced. By royal decree she was taken to the bowels of the Red Keep and beheaded. Only the Small Council was in attendance. This marked the end of Lenore’s tumultuous tenure as a royal bride, and for many years thereafter cast a pall over the city. Eventually, as a result, Prince Aenys committed suicide at Dragonstone.

The Kingswood Tourney
Following the execution of Lenore Blackwood and the death of Aenys Targaryen, a pall was cast over the Red Keep and the royal court in King's Landing. Much of the realm felt sorrow at the Crown Prince's passing, for he had traveled much of it during his life. For a time, Westeros mourned the loss of its prince. But time, of course, moves on.

In 379A.C., as a means of reminding the realm of the still-numerous and powerful House Targaryen, King Aenar arranged for another tournament, this one meant to dwarf the event held in King's Landing some quarter century earlier. The planned event was far too large for the traditional tourney grounds outside of the city, and so it was held off the edge of the Kingswood, in a great plain that took a fortnight to set up. Lords, ladies, knights and commonfolk from across the Seven Kingdoms attended, drawn by the promise of spectacle as well as the offered grand prize of some fifty thousand dragons.

Aenar’s youngest son, Baelor, proved to be the victor.

The Hammer Uprising
The Hammer Uprising was a peasant uprising in 388AC when the infamous outlaw band called the Warsmiths, led by Brynden Hammer and Tomas Hew, stirred up a populist rebellion against the crown and its excesses. Though the initial revolt was put down by the King Aenar's forces, the death of Brynden Hammer and the massacre of his followers sparked similar revolts across the realm, and a resurgence in the divide between the Starry Sept and the Great Sept of Baelor.

The final revolts inspired by Brynden's defiance had not yet been quelled when the first songs about the fallen outlaw were penned. Some glorified his victories, while others played forlornly with his defeats, and yet others still explored the tragedy of his life, and the ideals for which he fought. Among the common folk many still see him as a gallant figure, a man who dared stand against tyranny and excess.

In future years, the Septon of the Starry Sept in Oldtown would find himself inspired by the tale of Brynden Hammer, lauding his famous generosity and rebellion against the "rich and depraved" nobles of King's Landing. Though Brynden and his followers were Crownlanders, and thus most likely clung to the Baelorian method of belief, the Starry septon held them up as examples of piety and virtue, strength and resilience. Their fight, in his sermons, became one not against taxes and lords, but the Targaryens themselves, with their heretical marriages and endless lust for luxury. The septon of Oldtown preached long and loud against the royal house, and the story of the Warsmiths and the revolt of Brynden Hammer granting the ideas purchase in the heart of many smallfolk.

The War of the Three Thieves
The Great Famine in Westeros saw an increase of ships heading through the Stepstones, as merchants in the Free Cities sought to sell their wares at exorbitant prices in the Seven Kingdoms. As always, with the increase of trade came the increase of piracy, and in the Stepstones a king arose, more powerful than many who had come before.

Daarius Ormollen was the scion of the ancient Ormollen family, who had left home, title, and responsibility behind in his pursuit of greater glories. His piracy was a different sort than the usual breed, boasting discipline and strategy such as was taught in the finest halls of the Free Cities. He was clever, daring, and dangerous; made all the more so when Bessaro of Norvos began paying him to prey more strongly upon the ships of his rivals.

In 393AC, Daarius made common cause with Bessaro of Norvos and a smuggler named Alequo Silverband. Together, the Ormollen hoped that they might manage to steal a Targaryen egg, and with it cement their rule over the Narrow Sea.

In the end the thieves were successful in the taking of an egg, with the aid of an elusive figure known as the Nightingale. The egg eventually hatched and the three used this to their advantage, forging a mighty alliance and placing an iron grip over the Stepstones. It did not take long for Aenar to rise to give challenge to these with several of his family members in tow.

It was a brutal war, and one that was not easily won. It lasted through the turn of the century, and would see even the great Viserion brought down from the sky. The wound that Viserion took early in the fighting continues to haunt the beast to this day - though by all accounts healthy, and still rather hale, he is slower and more irritable than in years past. Aenar, despite his advanced age, seemed to recover, taking no major injuries in the fall. Both dragon and rider remain in the city, though the days of them flying together now seem long past.

The Stepstones, though still a haunt for pirates and corsairs, still bears many of the scars of the war. After seven years it is only just beginning to return to normal, though no man yet dares name himself its king, and reawaken that wrath that so scorched the isles once before.

In Westeros, many were slain the fighting, and many more proved their valor and won renown. Knights were made in the score after the war, and heroes by the handful. The Prince of Summerhall, in his duel above the Gallows, is now the main article of several songs - though the loss of a dragon, even one stolen and subverted, yet causes some of the royal family grief.

Fourth Century AC
Aenar I Targaryen has enjoyed a long, fruitful reign. His own health, however, has seen him outlive all his children save for his daughter, Naerys. The king’s grandson, and heir Prince Aemon had long served his family alongside his sister-wife, Visaera, after the death of his father, Prince Viserys. He was Prince of Dragonstone, Hand of the King and before that had served as Master of Laws. Tragedy and mystery once more assailed the ancient house in 405 A.C. that caused quite a stir within the royal court.

Prince Aemon and his dragon, Rhaegal, had departed Dragonstone to embark on a critical mission to Braavos. Neither arrived nor did either return. After an exhaustive search they were presumed to have been lost. There was much talk about who would succeed him as the heir apparent, for while he had a son, his wife and elder sister, Visaera, was a great force at the royal court. Moreover, the precedents set forth by Daenerys’ reign confused matters. After much deliberation, and without much consultation with his Hand or Small Council, Aenar decreed that his granddaughter would succeed her husband as Princess of Dragonstone.