A Song of Blood and Sunlight (ASOIAF / Warhammer Fantasy / Soulsborne)

[T4ndoris]

You mean Sothorys? to be honest, i do not see any thread there.

Sure,there is abadonned Valyrian city of fleshsmiths there,but you have only chimeras there.And black ruins,where people who try to live there vanish,but it was never dangerous to anybody who lived elsywhere.
So,i do not see any dangers there.

When in Essos we have Kadath,Stygoi and Cardossa,all places full of eldricht abominations.They are possible danger,not some Sothorys ruins.

Speaking about dangers - drowned god could be some Chaos demon here.

That aside - absorbing all units seems good on paper,but they were better in their provinces.The same goes for absorbing Church - nothing good come to protestants,when they did so,becouse they get another beaurocrats instead of priests.

P.S who rebuild leylines ? either cathay dragons,or...Elves ! author,you could introduce elves now !

Click to shrink...

ASOIAF magic and mystic lore is all about blood sacrifice ritual with eldritch entity. Sure the common man can live a 'normal' medieval life but beyond the scene you got a century old guy puppeting the world from a ablood sucking tree, cult of face stealing assassin, cthullu entity in the deep water, some kind of fire god asking for sacrifice in order to grant some wish, drug-sorcerer cult, a thousands year civilization destroyed in 1 night and the place where it happened still cursed more than 400 years after said event. You also have the north with the others, Ashaï and the shadow lands with supposed demon and feeling of 'wrongness' (no idea what happened there but imo it was some kind of horrible ritual, the kind Book Euron want to recreate), the meister who could be some kind of secret illuminaty cult (not confirmed but they are fishy). All that make ASOIAF a grimdark world imo, i wouldn't feel safe living there.

 

[Trafford]

MC POV

Resisting Maria when she was playing with herself like that was mission impossible, truth to be told... her piercing silver eyes were directly staring at me. For several minutes, I was trying to resist because I had really a lot of work to do, but hearing those obscene sounds coming from the chair...

When my fianceé / lover started pleasuring herself, it started to become unbearable, as my lust was slowly overcoming my other senses. In the end, it was very hard to resist such a beautiful and lustful sight; slowly, I stopped working entirely...

I went to Maria, who was pleasuring herself on the chair...

"You are really keen on distracting me, right?"

I kneeled down in front of her chair, ripping apart her leather pants, as her panties were already entirely soaked from all of the teasing she had done before... I took them down in one swift movement, revealing her gushing cunt that was in desperate need of attention.

"Yes!!!"

I heard her moan as I gave her cunt a long sensual lick while she was playing with her nipples, revealing her pair of beautiful breasts to me, but right now, I was focusing on her twat that needed some care.

And care, I would give it to her.

Using my hands, I spread her legs even more as I continued licking her, occasionally biting on her clitoris, causing her to moan.

She tasted best, and the more she moaned, the more she was around, the more aggressive in my attack on her drenching cunt I became as I was lucking her folds, biting her cunt.

"OH! I-I-A-M--COMMING!!!"

Suddenly, I felt a hot liquid pouring down my throat as her hands were pushing my head deeper into my folds as I drank everything that she released.

'Gulp. Gulp.'

I drank her golden liquid; this wasn't my first golden shower, and I must say that it tasted heavenly... when I stopped her shower, I continued eating her out as she put her right leg over my shoulder and pushed my head deeper into her folds.

Maria was a squirter, and when she was overwhelmed by pleasure, she even often gave a golden shower.

Though, even after she came, I didn't stop eating her out, and despite her vocal protests... it was a bit of punishment for seducing me from my work...

"No... mm--more..."

She was slowly turning to the blabbering mess that was barely able to talk. Though this decision of mine was slowly coming back at me because I started feeling pain in my pants, as my cock was asking for freedom and some action.

I then stood up from my kneeling position and put down my pants, revealing my throbbing 25 cm long cock, which was almost wider than my forearm as it was throbbing in anticipation of the action.

I nodded at her, took Maria by her chin, and gave her one sloppy kiss; as he invaded her mouth with his tongue, completely dominating her as she submitted to him while he pinched her erect nipples.

When they separated, only a trace of saliva was connecting them as he looked directly into her eyes before he commanded her.

"Suck."

I commanded with an authoritative voice, to which she shuddered a bit before she lowered her head to my cock and started worshipping my meat shaft by giving it several kisses on its head, causing my dick to twitch upon contact with her pouty red lips.

Second after, she took my cock into her mouth.

At the same time, I grabbed her head and her hair, violently forcing her to take me deep to the rook as she gagged for the air. But I didn't have anything of that and just continued to use her as I wished, which caused Maria to climax after I used her mouth as an onahole.

Lady Maria Vileblood of the Astral Clocktower was the perfect embodiment of the saying: "Princess by day, slut by night".

It couldn't get more accurate in regard to the Heir of the Lord High Magistrate of the Cainhurst because, after their first night, I found out that she was as depraved and perverted as I was.

Just like I had enjoyed dominating and sadism, she too greatly enjoyed submitting to me, just judging how many times she climaxed during their first time when I was treating her roughly and she constantly begged for more and more.

She couldn't get enough of it when I was treating her like my toy, using her holes as I wished, and being rough with her like no tomorrow.

Behind her cold mask of nobility and aloofness that she put on when they weren't alone, she turned into a being of passion and emotions when we were alone, just two of them.

She explained to me that it was part of the training that she should never show her emotions or anything when she was in public, only behind closed doors.

I gripped her ponytail as he was forcing her head down and up on my shaft as he was soon close to cumming, while his entire crotch was a mess of Maria's saliva from the sloppy deepthroat she was giving him.

"Close..."

I moaned as he sensed that it was coming; my shaft started twitching as he pressed her head as deep as possible while he started releasing my spunk into her throat.

To which Maria gagged for air, but I didn't do anything and continued holding her head in place, choking her on my spunk as she was drinking every single drop and the penetrating smell of saliva and cum getting into her nostrils.

After two minutes of gagging and cumming, I finally let go of her head as my dick popped out of her mouth and she breathed for air.

Naturally, as she was a powerful Professional, such treatment was actually not even far from what could be considered harmful.

However, I suspected that it wouldn't take long before she would suggest more and more kinky things to do in the bedroom...

Something I was pretty eager.

"Did you enjoy the taste of my cum?"

I asked as she licked the remains of cum from my twitching cock and her face with great eagerness as she enjoyed the taste of his semen as she then showed me that she gulped down everything.

Showing that she was a good girl...

***

3rd POV

Karl looked at his lover, Lady Maria Vileblood, who opened her mouth and showed her tongue that she drank every single drop of his spunk, not leaving even a drop of it. Aside from that, she licked his twitching cock clean; not a bit remained on his cock or her mouth.

"So, what do you say, giving this lordly pussy some attention?"

Spreading her legs, showing him her dripping wet cunt, Karl gulped a bit as he didn't waste a second; jumping from his position, he instantly took her by her hips, and without any warning, he penetrated her entirely, knocking on her womb with his shaft, as he started drilling her violently, enjoying her moans.

"Oh! Yes! Give this cunt the attention!"

Maria screamed as she felt her fold beating torn apart by his monster-like cock that was drilling into her deepest parts. For Karl, her moans were like music to his ears as he continued pushing into her pussy and pulling out.

"Comming! Comming! Coming!!!!"

She screamed as he felt something warm shooting on his chest as she just now squirted on his abs. For several seconds, he stopped moving, still remaining in her, seeing the small bulge on her stomach, even through her clothes, as he tore them apart, revealing her relatively muscular physique.

After several moments he started moving once again, penetrating deep into her as he smacked her tits, leaving there a red imprint of his hand as she climaxed around his huge cock that was splitting her in half; that was already the third time she came during their season.

"We have not ended, my dear..."

Karl muttered silently as he was increasing the tempo of his thrusts into her gushing pussy, while his left hand went to her cunt as he started teasing her there while with his right hand, he was pinching up her nipples.

Suddenly he got a strange gleam in his eyes as he stopped thrusting into her, causing Maria to whimper as he took out his cock out of her.

Before she could realize what was going on, he positioned his throbbing monster a bit lower and mercilessly penetrated her asshole.

"OHHHHH!"

Karl immediately felt her tightness as this was on an entirely new level; her perfect ass was on a whole new level, as her fold almost crushed her shaft with how tight she was, while immediately upon the penetration, she squirted onto his chest, dirtying everything around them with her love juices.

"What a naughty Huntress... who loves being fucked into the ass."

He whispered to her ear as he continued ramming into her asshole, stretching it beyond the limits before he increased the speed, and simultaneously, his tongue invaded her mouth as they engaged in one sloppy kiss as a trace of saliva connected them when they separated.

The feeling of having his monster of cock in her pussy was one thing, but in her ass, it was different, as she screamed and shouted from a mixture of ecstasy, pleasure, and pain as he was drilling her ass.

Fortunately, his cock was well lubricated from the mixture of her love juices, saliva, and precum when he fucked her cunt, as she watched how his thick shaft was going in and out of her asshole.

After several minutes of ramming into her ass, he took out his cock, as her gaping ass twitched in well fucked mess, drained in their own juices and her wet pussy that was dripping, as he then inserted his cock into her cunt for the next.

"Prepare to take it all..."

She was biting her lips, as her breasts were jiggling up and down, mimicking the thrusts into her deepest folds, as her lover wasn't showing any mercy, and Maria was greatly enjoying his treatment of her.

Her moans were penetrating the entire study, as it only fueled Karl's lust even more and more as he continued spreading her apart while occasionally kissing her.

"Yes! I will take it all! Paint me white!"

She screamed at him as he nodded his head and increased his tempo whole, hugging her body which was already half-limp from either tiredness or pleasure and brought fucking as he was nearing his release and then, with one powerful thrust, he reached the deepest parts of her pussy as he released his spunk into her depths while he breathed for air.

Karl tightly hugged her body as he released everything he had stored into her depths for two or three minutes as they ended their rather intense and passionate sex season.

After he finished cumming, he french kissed her passionately as she lay down in the chair, as they were still connected as one.

"I want to taste you..."

Maria muttered as she stood up from the chair, and they switched places. Karl sat on the leather chair that was soaked with her sweat as he spread his legs, with her dropping to her knees.

His length was already fully erect in its full glory of 25cm of throbbing hot flesh and desperate need of attention, to which his lover greatly took the role, as he was taking his entire length down to her throat with ease like an experienced whore.

While it was painful for her because she could breathe properly, Maria was just getting more and more aroused as she was deepthroating his meat pole.

He just continued to sit down on the armchair while enjoying the attention that his lover was giving him while listening to the sloppy sounds that her blowjob was creating.

Slurping sounds were heard across the entire room as Maria was bobbing her head up and down, her tongue was massaging his testicles, and she was sucking him with almost unnatural vigor like she wanted to obtain all the cum from his balls.

"Gonna cum?"

She asked after he heard a 'pop' sound as she took his cock out of her mouth; his entire meatpole was dripping with saliva and desperately twitching for release, but the Lady of the Astral Clocktower, enveloped her slender fingers around it, or at least attempted to do so, due to its thickness it wasn't really possible.

She maintained eye contact with Karl, giving the tip of his cock worshipping kiss as she traced down with her tongue, licking the monster that was previously splitting her in half to the root.

Maria then started jerking off his dick with both of her hands, as he felt sucking force on his balls, as she turned her attention to them, licking and sucking them, occasionally blowing up his cock when it was twitching too much, but not giving him the release as she kept him on edge...

While she was usually pretty masochistic, she was also a switch and had a relatively strong dominant side, and one thing that she loved entirely was keeping him on edge.

After several more minutes of her ministration, he pressed her head on his meatpole as he released another wave of his spunk into her mouth.

After he stopped cumming, Maria took out his cock from her mouth, without wasting a single drop of his cum, and showed it to him, as her mouth was full of white gooish liquid. Then, she started playing with it in her mouth and enjoying the taste before she gulped it down.

She showed him that she drank it all as she climbed onto his lap and inserted his meatpole into her drenched cunt that was ready for more action because he could go literarily for entire hours without much problems.

"Yes!"

She moaned as she gave her lover a passionate kiss, with Karl's hands trailing down to her perky ass as he started slowly moving his hips. Compared to their sex before, this time, it was more passionate and slower.

***

Unbeknownst to them, through the small Lacrima, one person was observing everything that was happening within the study room of the Imperator from the start. The golden-haired young girl with emerald green eyes was laying on her bed, furiously rubbing herself between her legs as she felt wet and horny from the sight before her.

"Oh! My Gods... amazing! It's too big, almost as big as a horse... he is going to split her apart... oh!"

Cersei was given Lacrima crystal by Maria several hours ago, unaware of its purpose, but when she arrived at the room, it started projecting these scenes... and she certainly couldn't put away her sight from the animalistic and primal fucking that was taking place there.

She saw how the ever-dignified Lady Maria was manhandled and behaved like the cheapest whore in the red-light district of her future lord husband.

While the golden lioness would never say it out of loud, she had always desired powerful men, and she was immediately attracted to Karl Franz from the first moment she saw him.

And she would be lying if she said that she was attracted only to his power because she was also attracted to his personality and character, and she was also pretty much horny for the past weeks...

She wanted for him to bend her over the table and take her from back, pressing her powerful form over her petite body, and now that she saw his cock... she shuddered and climaxed at the same time when she thought how he would take her and fuck her as he wished.

Her back arched up from the intense climax that was immensely pleasurable as she laid down on the bed and continued rubbing her folds. She then turned her sight to the Lacrima that was playing, imagining how Maria was taking that freakishly long and thick cock in her petite ass.

'He would break me... he would break my poor ass...'

"Break me!!!"

She creamed as she inserted three fingers into her drenching cunt that was already made a mess on the bed several times during her masturbation season as she bit her lip and, with her left hand, played with her nipples for further stimulation.

Her imagination was already running wild as she imagined Karl breaking apart her poor arsehole with his meatpole and with Maria kneeling in front of them and eager licking her pussy with her tongue.

Just the imagination of such a hot and steamy threesome was making her come harder and harder. That was one reason why she wasn't really opposed to sharing a bed with another woman because it could be another pleasurable experience.

"Am cumming! Cumming! Cumming!!!"

She screamed as she squirted several meters into the distance...

'Soon that cock will conquer me too...'

After she came so hard, she was lying on her bed and still continued teasing her after the latest and biggest orgasm that she experienced. She also made a mental note to thank Maria for his sight...

***

"Harder! Harder! Harder!"

Lady Maria screamed in pleasure as Karl pounded her cunt very hard, pushing in his dick, as Maria was screaming in pleasure, completely lost in the ecstasy of carnal lust and pleasure that she was experiencing.

Their tongues were battling for supremacy in one huge, sloppy kiss; when they separated, he bit her right nipple as she moaned into her ear.

"Yes, pound that cunt! Punish me! Fuck me harder!"

She screamed, and Karl as a responsible lover, naturally obliged a lot and continued exactly what his lady demanded as he was pounding her drenching wet cunt a good. Soon enough, he felt that he was close to the release as he kissed her on her neck, hugging her slender body.

"Cumming!"

With one powerful thrust into the deepest parts of her womb, he released his final load, painting her insides white. Both of them panted for breath after he came for the last time, as they had been fucking for several hours, and he came countless times, with Maria coming even more times than him.

"That... was... splendid..."

He heard her say as she remained on his, still connected as they just were there in embrace of one another, enjoying each other's warmth and presence that was so comforting to them...

"Yes... it was..."

Karl muttered as they continued resting and just enjoying each other's presence.

***

In the chambers far away within the premises of the Imperial Palace of the Anor Londo, Cersei Lannister has finished the "live feed" that was projecting itself within the Lacrima that Maria Vileblood gave her.

She also came a few more times when she was masturbating...

She knew that it would be soon her turn on... she just needed to wait a bit...

***

Sometime later, within the study of the Holy Imperator.

Karl Franz and his fainceé and lover were both lying on the leather sofa, covered by blankets, and drinking a hot chocolate, something that he wanted to have after their passionate lovemaking...

Within the Anor Londo, there was constant cold truth; the entire Grand Province of Reikland was rather cold together with the entire Lordran because of the position of the continent within the Known World.

Lordran was located more to the north, where it was innately colder due to gatherings of the Winds of Winter that were congregating in that place.

"This one is better than the one we had last time..."

Maria remarked as she snuggled close to Karl and sipped from her cup of hot chocolate.

"Yes, the chocolate for this one has been brought from the deserts of Kuo Mena within the Grand Province of Munn..."

Kuo Mena was a desert within the Grand Province of Munn; it was the sole place within the entire Lordran that was actually hot, and the temperatures within the deserts were reaching such staggering heights that even high-level Professionals would find it very hard to survive in such a place.

It was also one of the places where the chocolate and coffee beans of the highest quality could be found, but to enter the Kuo Mena was courting death if one was unprepared for such a trip...

"No wonder that the taste is much more delicious..."

Maria had a stronger sweet tooth than him; he only ate sweets occasionally, while Maria would often search for something like this... So if he wanted to appease her or make her happy, he would always order something special made for her like this.

"Do you truly want to expand the borders of the Empire?"

She asked him as they were resting, to which Karl Franz had a thoughtful expression on his face...

"Yes, but only to the regions of the Known World that are not inhabited by anyone... I don't want to deal with the natives and the problems that will follow after that... it is not worth the trouble, and from what we have found out till now, most of the biggest regions of the Azyr are uninhabited."

Karl Franz knew that sooner or later, the expansion of the Holy Arcadia Empire would become a necessity due to the lifestyle of the people. Because the Holy Arcadia Empire had a tremendously huge territory and a very low population, as the population grew, they would need more land...

There was a question... why they would need more land?

Simple...

People were used to a certain lifestyle; even commoners were used to having a large plot of land if they lived outside of the cities, while those living in the cities were also used to living above certain living standards when it came to living space.

So he predicted that once in the far, far future, this would become a problem... fortunately, when it came to the Holy Arcadia Empire and its population, it would probably take a few thousand years...

"So, that is the reason why the House Stark an Russ is right now leading the expedition into the Westeros as we are speaking?"

Indeed, that was why... one of many reasons why I allowed the House Stark an Russ to conduct a visit to Westeros and reconnect with their very distant brethren, the House Stark of the North.

I was aware that the Rebellion against the Targaryens was coming as it was only a matter of time... they did a shitty job at ruling because they never addressed the one thing that was basically making their rule impossibly fragile...

They never truly unified the Westeros... while the Aegon the Conqueror conquered the Seven Kingdoms or rather the Six Kingdoms, Dorne not included, he nor the Hosue Targaryen never unified the continent.

The Seven Kingdoms were as fractured as they were before the Conquest, though just after the Conquest, they started playing by specific rules... but that never stopped them from fighting with each other, scheming, and so many other things...

The House Targaryen, in their arrogance, allowed such upstarts as Tullys and Tyrells to rule important Kigndosm, especially the Tyrells in the Reach, which was, in Karl's viewpoint, utter foolishness and madness.

"Yes... Westeros is on the verge of civil war... after the Targaryens lost their Wyverns because they were caging them like dogs and were arrogant about that pitiful accursed lineage of theirs, they are right now weak. They never strived to create a powerbase for themselves; the sole area that could be truly considered loyal to them would be the Crownlands, which is one of the smallest regions of the Westeros..."

Karl knew that the civil war against the House Targaryen was a matter of time and he predicted that even without Robert's Rebellion in the canon, something similar would have happened sooner or later.

With or without a justified reason for rebelling.

That didn't really matter.

The weakness of the Monarchical House was something that was unforgivable; weakness was sin, and that weakness would be exploited by power-hungry nobility where everyone wanted to put their useless ass on that spiky iron chair.

Laughable...

"Valyrians... as long as they had control over the Wyverns with the three members of Triarchy being bound to True Dragons, their arrogance didn't know boundaries, and the moment they lost them, their rule crumbled..."

It wasn't true that the Valyrians tamed only Wyverns... not entirely, because from the information that were brought to them by the Starks when their king landed at the Lordran several thousands of years ago, the Triarchy...

Their Triarchy had a method of taming and binding themselves to the True Dragons; only three Houses stood above the Forty Dragonlord Families who lost the connection.

When the Valyrian Freehold was first established, there were forty families that had connections to the True Dragons. Still, as time passed, that connection was getting weaker and weaker until only three of them remained.

And the distinction between the Forty Families and members of the Triarchy was created.

"Yes, but their civilization gave birth to some things that even we would pay anything to obtain... but let's talk about something more lighthearted for now... these heavy topics are not suitable to the post-sex talks..."

Maria just giggled hearing that because it was truly funny to hear something like that... it was indeed weird to talk about such a topic just after they were having some cuddly time alone together after sex.

"Okey... soon enough, our little resident lioness would start the Schola Progenium... how long do you think would take it her to finish the curriculum?"

While the standard curriculum of the Schola Progenium took four years, he predicted and not only that, he wanted for his fianceé to finish it far sooner. That was another requirement he put on her so that she could pursue her studies further in different areas...

"Three years so that she could be then put into posts of the Imperial Administration under the personal tutelage of the High Chancellor Luca Brewster; maybe in the future she would be taking over his post if she shows enough talent, dedication and merits..."

Karl Franz stated that because he planned to make Cersei the next High Chancellor of the Holy Arcadia Empire in the future.

Just as he had plans for Maria in the future, though he would need to work on her a bit longer and harder to convince her to take up some kind of office in the future.

Certain positions within the Imperium could be held only by members of the Imperial House, which was entirely non-negotiable for the Holy Imperator that ruled the civilized world of the Lordran and the strongest nation in the Known World.

"That is a rather big expectation that you have from her..."

Maria remarked because the post of the High Chancellor was one of the most important and essential positions within the Holy Arcadia Empire and held immense political power.

"Yes, though for that, she needs to work very hard on that... right now, I have no one as a substitute for High Chancellor Luca Brewster, and I want to have one of ours on that seat. Not to mention she has talent and eagerness for politics contrary to someone..."

The Heir of the Holy City Cainhurst, the City of Silver, frowned slightly as she heard that but didn't say anything to refute his claim, fully knowing that it was truth.

"She would do splendidly in that job position..."

Even the Imperator couldn't but to agree with her statement... and he couldn't help but think that sooner the Robert's Rebellion, according to the canon, would be starting as right now it was already May 280 AC of the Westerosi Callendar.

While he vaguely remembered the details of the canonical events, he decided not to do anything... he would give the things a free hand and let them flow... he had already put enough pawns into Westeros and manipulated enough things to obtain as many benefits as possible.

"How do you feel about going on the trip to the Fenrisian Mountains in December? There should be a season this time and the place should be especially beautiful..."

Karl Franz planned to make a trip to the Fenrisian Mountains, as he had there a very nice small castle that served as his mansion for the Winter because he loved the sight of the snowy mountains.

For him, it was one of the most beautiful and peaceful sights within the all existence.

"We could go... though the journey during the Deep Winter within the Fenris would be very dangerous..."

At the Lordran, there was Winter all the year, with the exception of two or three months that was warmer and would be considered Summer. Aside from this, the coldest months were considered a Deep Winter, so the conditions of the land were not very good.

Sometimes, it was even hard to produce food, and without the specifically crafted greenhouses that were inscribed with warming Runes and weather-controlling runes, it wouldn't have been possible to make enough food for the entirety of the Holy Arcadia Empire.

"That is true... we will take some of the newly forged Stormcast Eternals within the six months they should be created."

Within the Deep Winter, which was the period of November, December and January in which it was the coldest within the Lands of Lordran, the entire Grand Province of Fenris and Khaz-Modan and even that of the Klandor became extremely dangerous.

Countless of the most powerful Danger Beasts that thrived in such cold weather would leave their lairs to hunt. For three months, the danger of the Khaz-Modan and Fenris was increased more than ten times, while some of the lost ones would find their way to the Klandor.

Typically, even some of the Senior Hunters of the Old Workshop were dispatched to these three Grand Provinces to deal with the Super Danger Beasts that were terrorizing the territories of the Imperium.

And there were also three cases when Omega Danger Beast appeared, and even Gehrman the First Hunter needed to move.

***

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[ATP]

Well,sexy slices of life.Why not?
Only important info - Valyrians once could tame true Dragons.Since they lost it,not really important.
Well,and Targs here could lost their power without kidnapping Lyanna.

P.S you missed maester conspiracy to bring down magic.And,Centralized states suck - becouse you need al lot of secret police.
Why soviets fall without one schoot? becouse they were centralized and hated.

 

[Trafford]

"If a Chaos Army invaded Marienburg, the merchants would try to sell them supplies."

- Tercero Gramsci, Headmaster of the Aquila Academy

***

Codex: Aquila Academy

Aquila Academy is one of the elite educational institutions of the Holy Arcadia Empire with the sole purpose of educating the new Knights. All people who are called Knights in the Imperium need to complete their education at the Aquila Academy, where they are taught how to fight, military strategy, or many other things that they may make during their lives.

Most of the recruits are either from civilian origins, talented fighters, Provincial Armies, or from the Imperial Army.

The most dazzling graduates of the Aquila Academy are then sent to the Schola Progenium for further education to become potential high-level Professionals or officers.

***

Two Weeks Later, Lordran, Holy Arcadia Empire, Holy City of Cainhurst, the City of Silver

The cityscape of Cainhurst was a testament to the artistic and engineering prowess of the greatest builders and engineers of the Lordran that ever walked through the lands of ancient, with towering structures that seemed to reach for the heavens, and their silver roofs were reflecting light to the distance.

Dominating the skyline were the city's majestic cathedrals belonging to the Healing Church. Their spires soar into the sky, intricate stone tracery adorning their massive facades. Stained glass windows catch the sunlight and cast a kaleidoscope of colors across the cobbled streets below.

The sound of the cathedral bells resonated through the city, marking the passage of time or calling the faithful to the prayer that would be carried out very soon.

As one gazed up at the cathedrals and other buildings, one could notice a multitude of intricately carved gargoyles and grotesques. These stone creatures seem to come alive in their eerie detail, perched high above to ward off evil spirits and protect the city.

Aside from the gargoyles, there were also countless other statues, many of which belonged to the legendary Knights that originated from the Cainhurst, as the Cainhurstians were people who venerated their Knights and their legendary figures.

The Knight culture was a fundamental part of Cainhurst, the City of Knights; it was an inseparable thing from the identity of the city itself. Cainhurst was known for producing the finest Knights of the Imperium and was known as home to several prominent Swordsmanship Schools.

Crossing the winding river that bisects the city were ancient, wonderfully crafted bridges adorned with arches and buttresses. As people walk across them, they can feel the history beneath their feet, and one can't help but admire the craftsmanship that has allowed these bridges to stand for centuries.

Meandering through the city are a labyrinth of narrow, cobblestone alleyways.

The towering buildings lean slightly toward each other, creating an intimate, shadowy atmosphere below. Lanterns hanging from wrought-iron posts cast a warm, flickering glow, revealing hidden courtyards and small shops selling medieval wares.

At the center of the city, a bustling town square stood there proudly; within the center of the town square was an enormous statue of a nameless Knight made from pure silver, which represented the culture and spirit of Cainhurst, the City of Silver.

The town square was surrounded by elegant townhouses with pointed arches and ornate balconies. Here, the locals gathered to trade, celebrate, and socialize. Most people were selling there their weapons or armor, manuals for training, or priests of the Healing Church were walking among the people and healing those in need.

One of the most imposing and most significant buildings within the town square was the headquarters of the Silver Knight Order that was being stationed within the Cainhurst, together with another important institution, which was Aquilla Academy.

That was also one of the reasons why one could see hundreds of Silver armored Knights, men and women who were members of the Silver Knight Order, walking through the streets of the Cainhurst.

Many of the high-ranking members of the Silver Knight Order were even permanent residents of the Cainhurst.

The city itself was encircled by imposing walls that had a silverish feel to them, inscribed with runes and other protective measures. Among the city walls that were height several tens of meters and very thick, there were countless battlements and watchtowers.

The defensive prowess of the City of Silver was extremely formidable, as the walls were manned with countless pieces of artillery, with Knights, Gunners, Archers and Battle Wizards stationed on the walls of the Cainhurst... ever vigilant and ever ready for combat.

Still, the most notable landmark in the Holy City was the Castle Cainhurst itself, after which the City of Silver was named.

The entire construction was utterly massive, not as big as the Imperial Palace of the Anor Londo, but it was still an enormous structure capable of accommodating tens of thousands of people with ease.

The castle's facade was a symphony of intricate details. It was constructed from a variety of materials, including brick, stone, or a combination of both. The castle of Cainhurst was constructed by Durin the First, the legendary dwarven king from the ancient past in times that were mostly forgotten by most.

The surface was covered in ornate carvings, moldings, and decorative motifs. Most of these decorations were images showcasing the glorious moments of the Cainhurst and its lords, showing the important figures, and showing the gravest defeats and majestic victories.

A hallmark of the architecture was its asymmetrical design. The castle's exterior is a mix of various shapes and sizes, with towers, turrets, and wings that seem to sprawl organically.

This asymmetry adds to the castle's unique charm because it was contrary to the typical Lordranese architecture that rotates around symmetry and perfection in all cases.

Bay windows and decorative ornaments were scattered throughout the facade. Bay windows often extended from the side of the castle, adding depth and character to the structure.

Elaborate wrought-iron railings and balconies adorn some sections of the castle, providing a touch of grace and sophistication. These ironwork elements often feature intricate scrollwork and floral motifs.

The main entrance was a grand affair, with a large and imposing door flanked by ornate sidelights and transoms. Carved stone or metal surrounds, sometimes featuring intricate floral or geometric patterns, frame the entrance.

"We have arrived, My Ladies."

An exquisitely crafted war wagon arrived in front of an enormous metal gate that was learning to the castle Cainhurst. The war wagon was surrounded by several Griffon Knights from the Reiksgarde who were protecting the war wagon and acting as its escort.

Today was the day when Cersei Lannister arrived at Cainhurst, the City of Silver, together with Lady Maria, who was guiding her to the City as they were not using the teleportation portal to Cainhurst from the Anor Londo.

"It is much colder here than at the Anor Londo..."

The young lioness remarked as she got out from the war wagon, wearing a much warmer outfit, together with Lady Maria Vileblood.

"Yes... Cainhurst is situated between borders of Reikland and Klandor, so it is much colder there than it is at the there... basically the closer we are to the Northern Peninsula, colder it would get..."

Maria remarked as she felt something nostalgic when she looked at the walls of the Cainhurst Castle; it had been several months since she returned back home, and she could already hear her mother giving her an earful about that.

"Come... we need to meet my mother, she is already awaiting us for sure..."

Her mother, Annalise Vileblood, was spending most of her time at Cainhurst if she was not attending some of her duties as the Minister of Domestic Affairs and Territorial Management.

"Would you believe that only two members of the House Vileblood are living here?"

Maria asked as they were passing through the columns of Silver Knights and Cainhurstian Knights that were saluting them, welcoming the return of the Heir of the City of Silver back to the Glorious Holy City.

"How?"

Cersei didn't know that the House Vileblood was so small... even though many of the Noble Houses of the Westeros were small, not to this extent, but with the problems that came with the procreations within the Lordran it wasn't anything that surprising.

"House Vileblood has only three living members: me, my mother, and cousin Nefertara, who decided to create her own House called House Lahmia and would marry Heir of the Elector Count Sylvania, Jubstacheit Draculya-Tepes."

Such a state was indeed pitiful, so that was one of many reasons why Annalise Vileblood was pressuring her daughter to have a child already, or perhaps two or three or even more...

"And unfortunately, during the time when my father was alive, they only had me and my mother refused to remarry..."

Maria said with some sadness in her voice because thoughts about her father always made her sad. Her father was a peak Level 6 Professional who had even defeated Omega Class Danger Beasts...

But when she was thirty years old, a catastrophe happened to the Holy Arcadia Empire, when a Daemon Prince materialized in the Azyr after he was summoned by a bunch of Heretic and Chaos Cultists...

And fate wanted for the Daemon Prince to materialize himself at the Cainhurst... she vividly remembered that day when the Cainhurst came and became a target for the enraged Daemon Prince that wanted to destroy the city and turn it into the rubbles...

Her father, Gerstahl Vileblood, fought against the Daemon Prince and managed to lure the creature away from the Cainhurst and stall it long enough for Master Gehrman to arrive and slay it.

Unfortunately, the Daemon Prince descended onto the material plane in full force, he wasn't suppressed or anything, and thus, he was far more powerful than anyone could imagine as his battle against Gerstahl Vileblood reshaped the land and cracked the mountains.

And the price for all lives that were saved was the single life of Lord High Magistrate of the City of Silver, who perished for his city and for his subjects. He who was forever venerated as the Imperial Saint, as a Hero of the Holy Arcadia Empire that would be forever remembered in the annals of history.

"Maybe you will even meet Nefertara... but that is not very probable because that crazy woman is spending all the time she can with her fianceé."

Nefertara Vileblood, or now Nefertara Lahmia, was crazily obsessive over her finaceé and was almost having possessive feelings towards him. Lahmia was a new House that was directly risen to the Rank of Viceroy within the Grand Pronince of Sylvania.

***

Meanwhile, within the Great Hall of the Castle of Cainhurst.

The grandeur of the Great Hall of the Cainhurst could not be denied by anyone.

The place was huge, featuring stunning stained glass windows and statues of the Imperial Saints and legendary Knights.

It boasted a high vaulted ceiling with ribbed arches and massive stone pillars. Long wooden tables, tapestries, and a roaring hearth create an atmosphere of hospitality, and yet they also showcase the wealth and power of the Cainhurst.

At the end of the Great Hall, there was a simple yet luxurious-looking throne with golden lamination and red velvet parts. There were two such thrones, but the other one was empty; it was always empty for the past several centuries, but it was still maintained in a pristine condition.

With not even one speck of dust being allowed to fall onto it.

On the other throne, a young-looking woman was sitting on it, with an appearance not much different from Lady Maria Vileblood as they could pass out as sisters. Annalise Vileblood was older than one and a half millennia, and yet she looked like a young teen girl.

She wore very simple clothing, pitch black with a white collar, nothing extravagant like most if not all, noble ladies of her social status would wear. She preferred this simplicity and were the block clothes of mourning, as the emptiness in her heart after the death of her husband would never be filled.

"Your Excellency, they have arrived."

Her piercing grey eyes opened as she was previously being in a meditative station...

"Lead them here... and be quick."

Lord High Magistrate Annalise Vileblood waved her hand as she ordered the servant who came to report this. Her pale white skin was reflecting the light, as were her ashen white hair, giving her some sort of ethereal appearance to the outsider's eyes.

She knew that she had the responsibility of accommodating the newest fianceé of the Holy Imperator for whatever reason she didn't understand, like she didn't understand why the Imperator chose her to be his fianceé, especially considering the fact that there were much better candidates...

But it was not her place to question it because she was one of the very few people who were aware of the Imperator's gifts in the aspect of visions...

"Also, prepare for the dinner... take out the best True Dragon meat we have available... and prepare my chambers for a private discussion with my daughter."

True Dragon meat was especially rare and scarce within the Holy Arcadia Empire.

While the Empire couldn't really tame True Dragons, they were mostly ignoring the creatures and only killed those who were presenting danger to the Imperium.

Like when some of the Red Dragons started burning down villages or attacking dwarven holds for gold and precious things. Only then would they hunt down the True Dragons because they were forces of nature; even the weakest of them was classified as Special Class Dagner Beast.

"As you wish, Your Excellency."

Her personal butler stated as he then excused himself to carry out the orders of his master.

'We will see what the future has prepared for us...'

***

"Before you enter the Great Hall, you need to perform the traditional Cainhurstian greetings... Lady Vileblood has a stringent code of behavior in her courts and always wants it to be followed to the smallest details..."

After Cersei and Maria were escorted by the servants, they were met with the chamberlain of the House Vileblood, who was now showing both of them the traditional greeting between the Cainhurstian nobility.

Maria frowned but mostly ignored the futile efforts of the chamberlain because she was already used to it, her mother was always trying to get her to follow the protocols, but Maria was a small rebel of their family.

So, technically speaking, everyone was already a bit used to her not following protocol of behavior. Fortunately, contrary to Maria's indifference to the protocol and politics, Cersei took them easily and soon could do exactly as the grand chamberlain.

After that, they followed the grand chamberlain into the Great Hall, as they passed a few corridors in which huge armored knights were guarding the premises of the Cainhurstian Castle.

"Presenting, the Heir of the Cainhurst Castle, Lady Maria Vileblood, and in her company, Lady Cersei Lannister."

As his voice resounded through the Great Hall of the Cainhurst Castle, Lady Annalise Vileblood was sitting on her throne, unmoving with closed eyes, looking like she was sleeping, but that was far from the truth.

With her powerful and accurate senses, she was able to see everything that was happening around her even if her eyes were not open, as were most of the powerful Professionals of the Holy Arcadia Empire that strode through the lands of the Ancients.

"..."

"..."

Both Lady Maria Vileblood and Lord High Magistrate Annalise Vileblood were looking at each other for several moments, not saying anything and just staring as they were elevating one another.

While Annalise Vileblood looked like a fragile piece of porcelain, she was in fact one of the most powerful warriors of the entire Holy Arcadia Empire and was one of the few peak Level 6 Professionals that walked there, like a Gods among mortals.

Her expertise within the Vileblood's Blood Artes were second to none and her control over the Blood was even higher than any other Vampire, sans those purebloods of the House Draculya-Tepes.

"You have gotten stronger daughter."

After several minutes of silence within the Great Hall of Castle Cainhurst, which was empty... aside from three of them, there were only a few guards, but none else, as this was considered a family meeting; thus, Lady Annalise Vileblood ordered everyone to go away.

"As you have, mother."

Maria said back because she felt that her mother had also gotten significantly stronger; probably, it wouldn't be a long time, and the Holy Arcadia Empire would have another Level 7 warrior.

Which would be indeed a boom, a great one, as each Level 7 Professional was a tremendous boon to the Imperium.

There were several casters on the Level, but they were a bunch of reclusive old men who left their laboratories only once per several decades, and even that was only for a few hours before they turned their attention back to their research.

"I was surprised that you have returned home that soon, but as fortunate one reality is, the other one is crushing on me every single day... Did you change your mind?"

Lord High Magistrate Annalise Vileblood looked at her daughter with an intense stare, to which Maria continued defying her mother, not allowing her any kind of victory in this area...

No matter what her mother said or done, she would never change the reality of their situation.

"No, I don't want to have anything with the politics or the position of an Heir to the Cainhurst... it is too troublesome and annoying."

Hearing that, her mother's brow twitched a lot, but she held her anger at bay because it was only to be expected.

In the end, she already anticipated such an ending, and she knew very well that perhaps aside from her fianceé / lover, there was no one who could change her mind in this.

"You will never change, would you?"

It was mostly a rhetorical question that her mother was asking; everyone knew the answer to that, and both Maria and Annalise knew it, but after so long, it became some sort of game between them, where both of them would be testing each other in their resolve.

Lady Annalise would test her daughter in her resolve to do nothing, and Lady Maria would test her mother in her resolve to get her to do something.

Even among the servants of the Cainhurst Castle, it became a betting game on who would last the longest.

However, if there was one thing that Lady Annalise had on her side, it was patience, and she knew that sooner or later, Karl Franz would step in and would want to assign some governmental or military position to her daughter.

"No, my mother dearest, never... in this area, never..."

Maria said with a soft tone of voice as she looked at her mother.

"Now, let us proceed to the different matters on hand."

Lady Annalise Vileblood then turned her sight to the rather nervous-looking Cersei Lannister, who was curiously observing the exchanges between the two of them and trying to get a read on their relationships.

Something that she subtly noticed from her father was that he was constantly getting himself informed and gathering information, observing people and analyzing them to learn their strong side, weak sides and everything he could around them.

"So you are the new fianceé of the Holy Imperator... rather young, certainly beautiful, but aside from that, I don't see anything special about you... Certainly, there are much better candidates for such a prestigious position."

Annalise Vileblood said that, with her main intention being to see the reaction from her, she was curious about the state she was in.

She had already had a talk with the Holy Imperator Karl Franz about this matter, who told her about everything she needed to know.

Cersei meanwhile stood there as several sentences that Karl Franz told her were returning to her within a mere moment as flashbacks of the past that happened not that much ago.

'They will look down on you and they will test you with a variety of means... It would be up to you to show them wrong and not show them any weakness because most of them are vicious once they smell weakness; such is the gravest sin within the Lordran the Lands of Ancient... Being weak... So you can never show it outside no matter how you feel inside.'

She then raised her head and looked straight into the eyes of Lord High Magistrate Annalise Vileblood, which certainly required a great deal of courage because she had heard a lot of things about the mother of Lady Maria and her ruthless personality.

Especially after the death of her husband...

"Maybe there are and maybe there are not, but that is up to the Holy Imperator to decide not anyone else, Lord High Magistrate Vileblood of the Cainhurst. In the end, he is the Lord of the Lands of Ancients by the will of the Gods and Master of the Imperium by the power of his inexhaustible armies; in all of his Divine Wisdom, he certainly must have his reasons and to doubt them is equal to heresy."

Even Maria Vileblood raised her brows hearing that because that was a certainty very daring answer; some may even consider it outright offensive, but contrary to what many would think, Lord High Magistrate Annalise Vileblood just started laughing a bit.

"Good! Good! At least you have enough backbone and won't be scared of confrontation."

She then motioned them to sit down in the seats that were closest to her throne.

Meanwhile, Cersei was rather satisfied with herself; she knew that her answer was the best she could muster, and she knew that if she said it this way, Lady Annalise Vileblood wouldn't have anything to say back to her on this topic.

"Now that you have arrived here, we will discuss several rules."

Both Maria and Cersei followed and sat down; soon enough, two servants came and served them tea, though for Maria, was also served a cup of Blood of powerful Danger Beasts...

"Imperator sent me here to basically educate you in the matters of nobility within the Holy Arcadia Empire, and you would be living here during your study at the Schola Progenium. The Shola Progenium has three branches: one is at the Cainhurst, one at Yharnam and the last one is at the Anor Londo."

This was already something that she was aware of, as Karl Franz purposely chose the branch of the Schola Progenium that was stationed at the Cainhurst.

"Second thing, you will be assigned quarters and you will be living at Castle Cainhurst so that you can be directly trained by me personally or by Maria; aside from that Supreme Patriarch Balthasar Gelt will be coming once per week for your magic lessons that would be taking place at Sunday, majority of the Sunday. Aside from that, your combat training will be taking place every day in the morning, with waking up time being five hours in the morning."

The more Cersei listened, the more she dreaded of that because it sounded like a living hell... or perhaps it sounded way worse than the living hell.

Being forced to wake up so early in the morning sounded terrible, but being forced to wake up so early in the morning just for the arduous physical combat training was far, far, far worse.

"Don't make that face... after a few weeks, you will get used to it and you have reached the Level 3 physique after the Blood Ministration, so you will need a lot of training to control your strength completely and to reach the higher Levels... if you don't, then you would be left in dust and possibly even discarded if you cannot reach Level 5 in the future."

Those who were classified as Level 3 had an average lifespan of around 1,000 Years, which may be considered a very high lifespan was still something insignificant compared to the essential agelessness that one could reach after mastering the Old Blood to Level 5 and higher.

"And the last thing that I need to mention clearly. When you start attending the Schola Progenium, it won't take long for the rumors to take place about your relationship with the Imperator, so it would create a lot of hostility with a lot of people..."

That was something that she was already prepared for.

"Most notably with the members of the female gender, especially those related to the Elector Count Houses that had their sights on becoming either wife or concubine of the Holy Imperator."

And even this was taken into her consideration, as she was aware of the fact that her engagement would become the target of jealousy for many. That was already something that, with what she was counting...

But nevertheless, it didn't mean anything to her, not to mention even right now she was aware that her personal power was rather high...

Very high because ascending directly to the Level 3 Physique after the Blood Ministration was putting her on the same level as an average member of the Reiksgarde or Holy Knight Executioners of the Healing Church.

At least in the physical strength department, naturally, she didn't know anything about the combat, fighting, and so on, but that would be very swiftly addressed probably as soon as possible, and just within a few days at Cainhurst, she predicted that she would learn the basics.

"Let them come then... I will show all of them that lion still has claws."

Both women of the House Vileblood smiled at that because that was the exact approach that they wanted to see.

"Wasn't that a part of the Rains of Castamere?"

Lady Annalise Vileblood asked curiously, fully knowing the history of Tywin Lannister and the recent happenings there, together with the information about the other living and recently deceased members of the said House.

Everything was gathered by the Imperial Military Intelligence, compiled and sent back to the Imperium and then to her, so she knew everything about the person whom she would be taking care of.

"Yes... you know the song?"

Cersei was now genuinely surprised that the Rains of Castemere were known so fast even in the Lands of Ancient.

"Yes... it quickly became my favorite."

Lady Annalise Vileblood said as suddenly a melody of playing the violin was heard, which Cersei recognized very well as it was one of the Rains of Castamere.

"And who are you? The proud lord said
That I must bow so low?
Only a cat of a different coat
That's all the truth I know
In a coat of gold or a coat of red
A lion still has claws
Mine are long and sharp my lord
As long and sharp as yours

*

And so he spoke
And so he spoke
That Lord of Castamere
But now the rains weep over his hall
And not a soul to hear

*

And who are you? The proud lord said
That I must bow so low?
Only a cat of a different coat
That's all the truth I know
And so he spoke
And so he spoke
That Lord of Castamere
But now the rains weep over his hall
And not a soul to hear

*

And so he spoke
And so he spoke
That Lord of Castamere
But now the rains weep over his hall
And not a soul to hear

*

And so he spoke (And so he spoke, and so he spoke)
Lord of Castamere (That Lord of Castamere)
Weep over his hall (But now the rains weep over his hall)
(And not a soul to hear)
And not a soul to hear."

And then there was a silence when the bard finished singing as Lady Annalise was satisfied with the performance, while Maria thought that the song was beautiful but at the same time, it was unnerving her through something.

"And now that we have the cultural window behind us, you two should go and accommodate yourself, especially you little lion as from tomorrow the training regime will be starting. And also, dinner is exactly at 20:00 not even a minute earlier or later."

Lord High Magistrate of the Cainhurst the City of Silver said as she looked at her daughter and then at her new ward before she closed her eyes, returning to her meditation or whatever she was doing.

***

Both Lady Maria and Cersei exited the Great Hall as they headed toward their chambers, as Maria was leading the way because she knew where Cersei was to be accommodated.

"That went good... at least for most of the parts."

Maria said to her future sister-wife as they were walking out of the Great Hall after meeting with her mother. She thought that it would be worse, but it seemed that the Lord High Magistrate of the Cainhurst the City of Silver was today in a good mood.

"Really? Sometimes I found that she wanted nothing more than just to throw us out or attack us in some way..."

In truth, she had some mixed feelings about the meeting with Lady Annalise Vileblood of the Cainhurst. Certainly, it wasn't the most pleasing first impression around that one was for sure.

"She was just testing the waters..."

Maria waved it off because she knew exactly what her scheming mother was doing; for someone like her who had spent her whole life watching her and learning from her, it wasn't hard to see through her schemes.

"So even that song was a part of some test?"

It wasn't really pleasant to be read like an open book.

"Yes... most probably yes, but my mother certainly took a liking for it, mainly due to its history and weight, but we are off from the topic."

Maria knew that by playing of the song The Rains of Castemare, her mother wanted to show that she knew everything about Cersei and House Lannister. Which in fact wasn't a very hard thing to do, especially if someone got the information directly from the hands of Imperial Military Intelligence.

"Not really comfortable..."

She muttered quickly because this was the first time she was being read like an open book by someone of higher stature and she could tell that she didn't like that feeling even a bit.

"You will get used to it... my mother is obsessed with being constantly informed about everything that takes place within the Lands of Ancients."

Lady Maria Vileblood was already used to it and she knew that even Cersei would get used to it after some time. In the end, after some time of living in Cainhurst Castle, everyone would get used to the fact that their privacy was almost non-existent.

"Don't dwell on it... come, we need to unpack you and soon enough, there will be dinner; it is already getting dark."

Maria said as they proceeded to the young Lannister's chambers...

***

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[ATP]

House Lahmia...they were supposed to be kind of vampires,right? how doughter of hunter become vampire? her boyfriend turned her?

No matter.What is important - why Maria mother like Castemare song? it was proof of Tywin weakness,not strenght.If he was smart,he would kill adults, and children send to Wall or Silent Sisters.Effect would be the same,but people would think that he is noble,not monster.

Even worst with Ellia later - he should save her with children,and rule as Aegon baby Regent.And marry Elia doughter to Jaime,when she is 14.

 

[Trafford]

House Lahmia...they were supposed to be kind of vampires,right? how doughter of hunter become vampire? her boyfriend turned her?

No matter.What is important - why Maria mother like Castemare song? it was proof of Tywin weakness,not strenght.If he was smart,he would kill adults, and children send to Wall or Silent Sisters.Effect would be the same,but people would think that he is noble,not monster.

Even worst with Ellia later - he should save her with children,and rule as Aegon baby Regent.And marry Elia doughter to Jaime,when she is 14.

Click to shrink...

Actually, Tywin did the right thing... in both, be it killing Elia and her children or Reines and Tarbecks... when you are defeating your enemy, you cut the roots so they could never become a problem for you. If he killed the adults and left the children out, there would be loose ends that could potentially want revenge. When you have an enemy, the safest way is to kill them to the last, every single descendant, to prevent problems... there is no guarantee that they or their own descendants won't ever want to exact revenge on you for whatever reason... That was also reason why in the history, the purges were mostly carried meticulously to the last one, so there won't be the loose ends...

 

[Trafford]

Well,sexy slices of life.Why not?
Only important info - Valyrians once could tame true Dragons.Since they lost it,not really important.
Well,and Targs here could lost their power without kidnapping Lyanna.

P.S you missed maester conspiracy to bring down magic.And,Centralized states suck - becouse you need al lot of secret police.
Why soviets fall without one schoot? becouse they were centralized and hated.

Click to shrink...

Maester conspicary would be addressed at the later date...

Centralized states don't suck, you can't control large territories without certain centralization, because you need to prevent rebellions or possible thoughts of betrayal or separatism... if not for the centralization then USA would have fallen apart long ago...

And no... Soviet's didn't fall due to centralization; USSR fell apart due to countless different reasons, though the most notable were the terrible economic situation, and horrible regimes of Communists that were repressive and were often slaughtering their own people en-masse, especially during the several waves of the Red Terror, not to mention, there were a lot of racism and prejudice against the minorities within the USSR which was creating resentment towards the communist regime. Aside from that, when Gorbachev passed "Perestojka" and "Glasnost"... it actually freed the regime enough for various interest groups to vie for their own independence...

The hatred for the USSR wasn't stemming from the centralization of the state and the centralization of the USSR itself wasn't problem in that area, the most problematic aspect was the behavior and regimes of the Bolschevik parties, their purges, brutality, repressions and other things...

 

[ATP]

Actually, Tywin did the right thing... in both, be it killing Elia and her children or Reines and Tarbecks... when you are defeating your enemy, you cut the roots so they could never become a problem for you. If he killed the adults and left the children out, there would be loose ends that could potentially want revenge. When you have an enemy, the safest way is to kill them to the last, every single descendant, to prevent problems... there is no guarantee that they or their own descendants won't ever want to exact revenge on you for whatever reason... That was also reason why in the history, the purges were mostly carried meticulously to the last one, so there won't be the loose ends...

Click to shrink...

Who say that those children would be danger? boys would die on Wall,and daughters as Silent Sisters.And why murder Ellia at all,when he could keep her alive and rule as Regent of Aegon?
And even if he decide to kill them,they should die few months later becouse of some disease,which would also kill some guards.The same effect,but nobody thing bad about him.
Becouse worst thing which you could achieve is being hated.

Maester conspicary would be addressed at the later date...

Centralized states don't suck, you can't control large territories without certain centralization, because you need to prevent rebellions or possible thoughts of betrayal or separatism... if not for the centralization then USA would have fallen apart long ago...

And no... Soviet's didn't fall due to centralization; USSR fell apart due to countless different reasons, though the most notable were the terrible economic situation, and horrible regimes of Communists that were repressive and were often slaughtering their own people en-masse, especially during the several waves of the Red Terror, not to mention, there were a lot of racism and prejudice against the minorities within the USSR which was creating resentment towards the communist regime. Aside from that, when Gorbachev passed "Perestojka" and "Glasnost"... it actually freed the regime enough for various interest groups to vie for their own independence...

The hatred for the USSR wasn't stemming from the centralization of the state and the centralization of the USSR itself wasn't problem in that area, the most problematic aspect was the behavior and regimes of the Bolschevik parties, their purges, brutality, repressions and other things...

Click to shrink...

Paradoxally,soviets do not fall as long as they keep purging everybody.Just like North Korea now.
About effects of centralization - HRE was decentralized and lasted about 900 years.II Reich was centralized and lasted 47 years.III Reich was even more centralized,and lasted 12 years.

P.S i do not say,that purging is good or moral - only that you could rule as long as you keep purging people and do not try any reform.
Revolutions happened,when bad regimes tried to be better.

 

[Trafford]

"We are concerned with the future. The victory of the Imperium depends on those who lead and those who serve. That responsibility is ours; that future is ours to bring to pass."

- Professor Bernar Skrayling of the Schola Progenium

***

Codex: The Pantheon of the Great Ones I.

The Great Ones are a group of immensely powerful, multi-dimensional beings that can exist across several planes of existence. Nobody exactly knows when they started interacting with the mortal planes, and especially with the world of Azyr, but one thing is sure: that the power of the Great Ones is beyond the imagination.

Within the Pantheon of the Great Ones are several notable beings that are the target of the primary worship of the entire Holy Arcadia Empire and the Healing Church.

***

Evening, Cainhurst the City of Silver, Holy Arcadia Empire, Lordran

Soon enough, it was already evening, and after unpacking her things and accommodating herself within her chambers, she was assigned to the castle Cainhurst by Lord High Magistrate Annalise Vileblood. Cersei and Maria were both called to the dinner.

The dining room was rich and had a deep dark red color mixed with black. The entire place could be described as rather gloomy, yet holding a particular sort of elegance and refined beauty.

Walls were adorned with ornate wallpaper featuring intricate patterns, damasks, and, in some places, even floral motifs. Wainscoting was made of dark wood, as it was a standard feature on the lower portion of the walls.

The ceiling itself was another piece of art that was decorating the entire dining room with its decorative molding, intricate plasterwork, and even ceiling medallions.

Chandeliers were suspended from the ceiling, made from a mixture of crystal and glass elements, holding in them several small Lacrimas that were producing the light, as they were the sole source of light in the dining room.

Naturally, the light wasn't very strong, and the entire room was only lighted slightly, giving it some sort of dimmed feeling.

The furniture was made of a dark, polished wood directly exported from the Reikland's dark forests, with its naturally black and dark colors. The tables around the room were large and rectangular, with ornate carving and details. Dining chairs had high backs and upholstered seats, often in velvet or other luxurious fabrics, with intricate patterns naturally unique to the culture of the Cainhurst.

The most notable thing was the dining table that was made from not wood but rather unknown black stone, large enough to accommodate larger gatherings. It also had carved legs and a polished surface, showing the masterful work with a stone.

At the end of the dining room, there was a fireplace with an ornate mantel and decorative tiles or carving. Large, ornate mirrors and oil paintings in ornate frames are often hung on the walls, adding to the sense of grandeur.

Both Maria and Cersei were wearing a dress for the dinner, an indirect order or direct advice from Lady Annalise, much to Maria's dismay and Cersei's delight. All three of them were sitting behind the table, with Maria and Cersei facing each other with Lady Annalise sitting at the end of the table, a special seat for the lord of the house.

"I am glad that you decided to wear a dress for once, Maria... it is a delight compared to your typical combat outfits that you always wear."

Lady Annalise remarked, seeing her daughter wearing something different than the armor or combat outfit after such a long time already.

"Don't worry... this won't become a new standard for sure... I can't understand how you can bear in something this impractical and uncomfortable."

Maria almost immediately scoffed at her mother hearing that because she didn't like wearing dresses, especially the ones that were popular fashion among the Imperial Nobles and the various balls and gatherings.

In her mind, they were impractical, pretty much uncomfortable clothes, and she would feel better in her Hunter outfit.

"Shame... that dress fits you perfectly, my dear, and is enhancing your female curves splendidly... I fear with this tempo, you won't be able even properly to seduce your man and give me a grandchild."

Lady Annalise Vileblood said with fake sight as she teased her daughter; this was a rather common occurrence in their family dynamics, to which Maria was more or less used.

Though, at the same time, she was also being constantly annoyed by her mother's teasing because it was annoying to a great degree. Especially when she was hinting that she lacked feminine charm due to her style of clothing.

"Again? This tactic is getting pretty old, mother dearest..."

Maria smirked at her mother before she cut into her steak.

"Your worries of not getting enough of Karl's cock into my cunt are not really substantiated."

When that was said, everything went quiet in a mere moment. Cersei gasped a bit hearing such vulgar and crass language, but Lady Annalise Vileblood just smiled without saying much.

"What could I expect from my warrior daughter... absolutely zero level of standards... but what should I expect."

It wasn't anything surprising, as they continued eating, because the steaks from the True Dragons, which were considered of the utmost delicacy among the Imperial Nobles of the Holy Arcadia Empire, were served.

Even Maria chose to ignore her mother's teasings and remarks but rather focused on her plate of food. Meanwhile, the young Lannister girl was focusing on her food, tending to ignore more of Lady Annalise's remarks because sometimes she felt that the discussion was really "morally breaking"...

"Now to our second guest, who is pretending not to be here."

Suddenly, Cersei felt something went wrong because she felt that Lady Annalise looked at her with an intense glare, which made her realize that she had instantly become the topic of the discussion.

Much to her dismay, Maria finally imaginary sighed in relief as she wasn't, for now, a point of interest for her mother.

"How are you feeling about attending the Schola Progenium?"

She asked as she scrutinized the young woman up and down, seeing that she remained calm upon hearing her question, though considering how much she managed to acclimatize to the Lordran, she must know about the fearsome reputation of the Schola Progenium.

Officially, the Schola Progenium was categorized under the joint control of the Healing Church, Byrgenwerth, Imperial Military, and Imperial Administration as a joint project between them, making the unique status of the Schola Progenium.

"Truthfully, a bit nervous, but that will pass... from what I have heard about the General Forge, it will be even beyond hard..."

The Schola Progenium had several types of Programs called Forges, which basically represented the specialization of the Progenas, the students of the Shola Progenium.

The most notable Forges were General Forge, Cadet Forge, and Administrator Forge and there were several minor Forges that served purpose.

Like the Intelligence Forge or Scholar Forge...

Cadet Forge was a specific program focused on forging the officers for the Imperial Army, Silver Knight Order and other military Units. The Cadet Forge was then divided into several subdivisions based on the future area of their activity...

Administrator Forge was, on the other hand, cultivating the best bureaucrats within the Holy Arcadia Empire that would be ruling the Imperium and carrying out various administrative tasks across the entire Imperium.

Most of the Progens of the Schola Progenium were actually orphans that were collected by the Imperium so that they could be educated and brainwashed into blind loyalty towards the Holy Arcadia Empire.

The system was personally created by the Holy Imperator to cultivate stable and absolutely loyal administrators and officers of the Holy Arcadia Empire. Approximately 50% of the Progenas were orphans that were collected across the territories of the Imperium.

The rest were children of military officials, Imperial Nobles, high-level Professionals and other people of high standing within the Holy Arcadia Empire.

"Yes... the General Forge is the hardest one among all Forges and only elites among the elties could even dream of completing the General Forge."

Lord High Magistrate Annalise Vileblood stated as General Forge, contrary to the name, which may tell somebody it was in the mind of jack of all trades master of none, it was the exact opposite.

The General Forge was a combination of several other Forges, mainly the Cadet Forge, Administration Forge and several minor Forges together and was served only for the best students of the entire Imperium.

It was typically visited only by the children of the Elector Counts, the strongest and most powerful Professionals off the Holy Arcadia Empire, or other high-ranking officials of the Imperium that could afford it.

"Each year across the whole Imperium, from the millions of citizens of the Holy Arcadia Empire, only twenty people are chosen for the General Forge. This signifies the high standards of the General Forge of the Schola Progenium, and technically speaking, you can complete the Forge within the two years if we are talking about the basic course."

The educational system of the Imperium was a mess, and it wasn't really unified... one could say that every single Grand Province had its own educational system, and the only thing that was even remotely unified were the great educational institutions.

"Karl told me that I would be attended to a somewhat adjusted one; what does that exactly mean?"

Cersei asked curiously as she looked at the Lord High Magistrate Annalise Vileblood.

"You won't be attending the great parts of the Combat Course and Magic Course because those courses would be handled respectively by Maria and Supreme Patriarch Balthasar Gelt. While the Schola Progenium is the best educational institution within the Holy Arcadia Empire, it still couldn't be compared to the personal tutelage of Senior Hunter and Headmaster of Byrgenwerth."

Lady Annalise stated that due to specific reasons, Cersei's education was adjusted to suit perfectly her needs.

"You would attend only combat evaluation and practices, but you won't be attending drills and training; for that, we have better means within the Cainhurst."

The young lines nodded her head, rather unsure and nervous, because she had a feeling that training at the Cainhurst would be even more arduous compared to that of the Schola Progenium.

Unaware of her, it would be even worse than she imagined.

When they finished eating, all three of them departed to their chambers, not before Lady Annalise told them their next program for the upcoming days. At first, she planned for Maria to train with Cersei because she thought that it would be best for the adjustment period.

***

Training Yard of the Castle Cainhurst.

At the next morning, very early, within the private training yard of the House Vileblood at the Castle Cainhurst, two figures were repeating the basic combat stances and acts...

One of them was Lady Maria clad in her Hunter outfit, as she was showing the basic combat moves to Cersei, who was wearing a rather similar light outfit that was created for better mobility and agility for the combat.

They were repeating the same thing for one hour already, as Maria would be teaching Cersei some basic combat techniques and just the fundamentals. Maria wasn't as good at teaching as she thought she would be, so in the end, she settled just with the basics.

"How long must we be doing this?"

Cersei Lannister asked with a tired voice because not only was she forced to wake up at five hours in the morning, but she was also spending the past hour since she woke up doing harsh training and exercises.

For someone as pampered as her, this was a literal nightmare... while she always wanted to learn to fight like a man, she now realized that her wish and dream had many problems and it would be a thorny path to walk on.

"Probably a few weeks; you are learning fast, so be grateful for that..."

Cersei revealed a mortified expression when she heard that this would continue for several weeks, but she also understood that a stable foundation was everything for the future.

"Don't give me that look; basics are everything... without a stable foundation, you won't be able to advance as a warrior in the future."

Basic combat, basic footwork and stances, and several of the most fundamental sword stances.

"Come on, chop, chop, chop..."

Lady Maria then followed after Cersei by showing her the proper execution of the techniques as she was training together with her.

For Maria, she started training when she was little, she was literarily born with weapons in her hands, and she was a prodigy at combat.

If not, then she wouldn't be the prized student of the Gehrman the First Hunter together with the Holy Imperator Karl Franz. Lady Maria Vileblood was hailed as the strongest female warrior within the entire Imperium for a very long time and one of the greatest geniuses...

"When will I start combat against real opponents?"

After another half an hour of practice, Cersei asked as Maria gave her a small pause in her training.

"You can barely swing the sword and already want to fight against a real opponent?"

Lady Maria Vileblood asked rhetorically as she looked at the young lioness of Westerlands incredulously.

"I don't really know if you are foolish or if you are just arrogant... no matter the reason, you won't be fighting any real opponent, at least for a few weeks, until I deem you prepared enough."

While Maria was a strict trainer, she didn't really agree with the training methods of the Gehrman the First Hunter, whose training method for newcomers was just to arm them with a weapon and order them to slay a few beasts.

"... If you say so..."

Cersei was indeed disappointed by that thing because she wanted to fight against something different than her very own shadow.

"Now, less talking and more practicing..."

Maria then said as they resumed their training for the next one and a half an hour.

***

Several hours later, at 9:00 in the morning, Cainhurst the City of Silver

The branch of the Schola Progenium within the Cainhurst was located at the center of the city in an enormous interbuilding complex that interconnected more than ten buildings together and several other areas.

This, in turn, created an enormous area that was exclusively reserved for the Schola Progenium and its uses.

After finishing the morning exercises with Lady Maria Vileblood, they had breakfast and it was already time for Cersei to attend the first classes within Schola Progenium. She also had the status of Special Student, meaning that she had certain privileges that the normal students didn't have.

Within the Schola Progenium, there were such people, at least a few of them were there each year, that, due to their particular situation, needed special attention or different conditions.

For example, due to this pass, she didn't need to live within the spartan-like dorms of the Schola Progenium and several other things that would be much more annoying to her. She was wearing the set of clothes that was issued as a uniform of the Schola Progenium, which was a rather simple and plain military uniform of grey color.

There were almost no patterns on it, and it was not for her tastes, as she would appreciate something more comfortable and pleasing to the eye. But there was nothing that could be done about it; the only solace was that, at least, the uniforms for the General Forge were a bit nicer compared to the other Forges.

"We have arrived, My Lady."

She heard the voice of the butler of Cainhurst, a personal retainer of Lady Annalise Vileblood who was tasked with guiding her to the Schola Progenium. She had her hair tied in bun, for more practicality for the upcoming tasks.

Cersei then disembarked from the war wagon and headed directly to the Schola Progenium... for several moments, she felt like those who were joining the Maester Order within the Westeros.

Mainly because, within the Westeros, there was not any unified educational institution that would be providing education to the masses and commoners. Now, after living in the Holy Arcadia Empire for some time, she learned the benefits of educated peasants...

For example, some of the greatest technological advances, especially the ones that were related to the popularization of Lacrima Technology, were the work of the people who stemmed from common origins.

Lacrimas were something that was indispensable to the Imperium because they were used practically everywhere. Be it in the civilian or military sector, they tremendously improved the area of communication and many other things.

After she entered the premises of the Schola Progenium, she was welcomed by several members of the staff, who then showed her to her class, which she would be attending for the foreseeable future, depending on her skills and learning speed.

Within the General Forge class, there were only something about fifteen students, which was a lower number compared to the previous years, but the numbers of students within the General Forge were ever fluctuating.

There was never a stable number or one hard constant as the number was constantly changing with each year or even with each month.

Most of the students that were attending here were between fourteen to sixteen years old because the Schola Progenium preferred younger students as they were more moldable for their needs.

And in case of need, they were more prone to brainwashing and ideological indoctrination to the blind loyalty towards the Holy Arcadia Empire and Holy Imperator as easily as it could get.

"Now we have here a new student with a Special Pass that is joining us this bit late... other unnecessary things like introduction could be done later, now sit somewhere in the third row and we will continue."

The almost archaic voice of the old man was heard across the class as Cersei did what the old man said and sat next to one of three girls in the Class. Of fifteen students of the General Forge, there were only three girls, and Cersei even managed to recognize one of them.

Mainly the one to which she sat because she recognized the girl as Lagertha Stark an Russ, sister of the Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ of the Grand Province of Fenris. Actually, even Lagertha recognized the young lioness because they knew each other from the Imperial Palace.

When her brother, the Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ visited the Holy Imperator for the journey to Westeros to meet with his long distant kin of House Stark, they met because she was following Karl even to the official meetings sometimes.

So, from then on, one could say that Cersei made a friend with Lagertha Stark an Russ.

"Now where have we ended... yes, the second resurgence of the Fire..."

Ironically, though, it was the history class...

***

Some Time Later

And thus, the weeks have passed one by one since the moment Cersei started attending the Schola Progenium. Contrary to her initial expectations, the situation was better than she anticipated and what she heard...

She took her classes with relative ease and even started excelling at combat. Her inner desire to be the best of the best was showing itself greatly. She always wanted to hold power, a lot of power and now she was given the path to what she desired.

Naturally, she would never neglect this opportunity and made full use of it and she was making it greatly. Her training with Maria was showing great results, and she even started occasionally sparring with Lagertha.

While Lagertha's combat style was especially barbarous and brutal, mainly due to the fact that she was from the Fenris and was taught the traditional combat style of the Fenrisia. Lagertha was what was called within the Fenris a Shield Maiden.

Her choice of weapon was axe and she was taught the traditional ways of the Berserker, who were the most brutal and barbarous warriors of the Fenris. And naturally, they were also the most feared warriors of the Fenris, as nobody wanted to fight a Berserker in a single combat.

Within the Schola Progenium, she was actually excelling at her subjects and she got acclimatized to the standards of the Schola Progenium relatively fast. She understood that if she wanted to become someone great, then the competition of the Schola Progenium and the General Forge was essential.

Right now, Cersei was sparring against the Lagertha Stark an Russ, or more like she was constantly dodging her strikes. Lagertha was using a huge waraxe as her weapon of choice, while she was using the Blades of Mercy she got from Karl.

She was training in the dual-wield because she felt that it was the right combat style for her, and even Lady Maria commented that she was natural at fighting with the dual-wielding and the Blades of Mercy were ideal weapons for her.

"Can't you stop dodging already?!"

Lagertha almost shouted in frustration as her grey eyes narrowed at her opponent because it was already getting to her nerves. Her opponent didn't even bother fighting back, as she focused solely on dodging and avoiding the blows because Cersei knew that in the direct confrontation, she was losing greatly.

"No... in strength contest, I am losing greatly... even though we are of the same Level, you are strength-oriented and I am speed-oriented, so the logical thing to do is to keep dodging and avoiding the strike."

One of the first lessons she learned with Karl or Maria was that, to be a truly elite warrior there was one crucial aspect that every single elite warrior needed to learn and comprehend.

It was to be perfectly aware of your own weaker sides and strong sides, analyze the opponent you are fighting against, and use the comparison to choose the best combat strategy that is most suitable for the current scenario.

"Ts..."

Lagertha scoffed hearing that as she looked at Cersei before she lunged at her once more, as she gripped her axe and attacked once more.

Lagertha was Cersei's sole training partner aside from Maria, and during the few weeks they were sparring together, both of them managed to get acquainted with each other's fighting style.

"Fucking dammed dancers..."

Lagertha cursed loudly when she noticed that Cersei had dodged another strike of her axe and had appeared behind her as she felt something kicking her at her back. With one powerful kick, she was forced onto the ground as she fell down in a mere moment.

Dancers were often a term for high-speed fighting tears that fought with either swords or daggers and depended on their overwhelmingly higher agility and speed to overpower their enemies.

They were called such because sometimes, when they fought, it reminded the people how professional dancers danced at the theatre, with their exquisite movements and light steps, with every single move containing unprecedented beauty and wonder.

"You were once again blinded by your anger and forgot to take into account my superior speed."

The young lioness said with a somewhat haughty voice as she looked at Lagertha who was panting for breath. Each Professional, even at the same Level had a different predisposition towards various physical aspects, or rather everyone had their weaker and stronger sides.

For example, while both Lagertha and Cersei were at Level 3, Cersie was at least thrice faster than Lagertha. But at the same time, Lagertha was around four times stronger physically than Cersei was.

"Yield?"

Cersei asked as Lagertha nodded slowly because she wasn't in the mood to fight anymore and that their fight had, technically speaking, already ended the moment she was kicked down because if this was the real fight, it would be like her death sentence.

When she was recovering from the kick, Lagertha made a mistake that would probably cost her life in real combat because her recovery time took several more seconds than it normally should.

"Now that it 24:41."

Cersei said as she now obtained another one victory, now having a total of 24 victories and 41 losses against Lagertha Stark an Russ. Both of them sat down on the ground, resting after the hard spar they had, as they were fighting against one another for the past one and a half hours.

Lagertha had overall more victories because she had far more experience when it came to combat. In the end, she started training with weapons when she was five years old and her real training started at eight years old.

Not to mention the combat and battles were in her very own blood. It was something that flowed through her veins and she was natural at that.

"You are getting better and better... maybe soon we can go on some mission to hunt for Danger Beasts or whatever."

Lagertha said because she wanted to go out and fight against some Danger Beasts or perhaps against the Greenskins, Daemons, Heretics or other enemies of the Imperium. Not like she didn't before, because she had her first kill at ten years old approximately.

Norsca Peninsula was a very hard place that bred very harsh people...

"Maybe... Maria said that for me to go out is night impossible right now, and only after I passed her test would I be allowed to undertake some mission that included real combat against enemies."

Because Cersei was the fianceé of the Holy Imperator, no matter how much she wanted and how much she pressed for that, they wouldn't allow her to undertake the mission that included real combat without proper preparations.

And that was up to Lady Maria to see when she was ready, as she was responsible for teaching her the basics. And just for a note, the basics in the vocabulary of the Holy Arcadia Empire was the same as relatively experienced Knights within Westeros and Essos.

Even Lagertha felt a bit jealous that her friend got trained personally by Lady Maria Vileblood of the Astral Clocktower... Lady Maria was one of the idols for countless young women across the whole Holy Arcadia Empire and the lands of the Ancients.

"So... I was wondering to ask..."

Suddenly, Lagertha's tone of voice changed rapidly, as Cersei got a very bad promotion of what was going to follow after.

"Wondering about what?"

She trod carefully on this unexplored territory because she had already several times fallen into Lagertha's traps that were either some crass language teasings or some other inappropriate comments.

"Did Imperator already fucked you? I wonder how big his dick would be..."

And naturally, Lagertha didn't disappoint Cersei a bit with her answer because it was as vulgar and crass as she expected it to be. Now, at the same time, she almost coughed at that because such a conversation...

Was probably highly inappropriate...

"I... this is not really an appropriate topic to be discussed."

Even though Cersei learned that within the Imperium, there were different social norms and not everyone was so uptight, at the same time, she didn't really like to discuss such matters out of loud.

"Why not?... In Fenris, everything is much simpler... if you like someone, you fight and assert the dominance in the relationship and then you fuck, as simple as that."

Lagertha said because she didn't really understand the non-Norscans... it didn't really help that the dwarves were similar in mentality to the Fenrisians. In Lagertha's mind, the topic of relationships were simple; everything was solved with a good fight and good fucking.

"Not everyone is an uncultured brute like you, Lagertha... some people have a certain class."

Lagertha Stark an Russ was the daughter of the former Elector Count of the Fenris and sister of the current Elector Count of the Grand Province of Fenris; thus, her position was even higher than that of the high-ranking nobles with the other parts of the known world.

And yet, she sometimes behaved like a common thug in the undercity.

"What did you say both?! What class? Just a pretense for the fact that you want to ride him to oblivion, at least compared to you I can say something like that out loud."

The young lioness of the Casterly Rock rolled her eyes as she heard her friend's faux anger because she knew that in a certain sense, Lagertha was right?

Certainly, she was, because she wanted to be dominated like Maria was in the bed, she observed them fucking like rabbits for several hours straight and she couldn't help but get moist in between her legs.

"When are the Classes starting again?"

Right now, they were having a break from the Schola Progenium classes for a few days.

While the schedule of the Schola Progenium was strict and harsh, the cadets and students were occasionally getting some mini holidays.

"In three days. And the first day after the end of our free time, we have the first practicals in the survival class..."

It didn't escape Lagertha's attention that when Cersei mentioned the Survival Class words, she was feeling dread passing her.

"Is that fear that I am feeling? Is our little princess feeling the Survival Class?"

Indeed, Cersei was feeling a bit scared of the Survival Class, but not for the Class itself, but she dreaded the feeling that she would be sleeping in the forest... without a proper luxurious bed, without the comfort that she was used to.

In the Survival Class, they would be dropped somewhere in the forest and left to survive on their own for several upcoming days, something that she was dreading dearly.

There would be enemies awaiting them, but for Cersei, the greatest enemy was dirt, cold and other things related to camping outside.

"What? Already thinking about breaking your nail or getting your hair dirty?"

Lagertha mocked her rival/friend because contrary to Cersei's fears about the Survival Class, for Lagertha, it was a piece of cake. In the Grand Province of Fenris, the conditions were harsh and survival skills were imminent to know for every single citizen of the Fenris.

"Shut up, Lagertha... I don't like sleeping on the ground in the freezing nights of Klander, being surrounded by insects and other infernal things. Sorry for it not being my ideal evening..."

Even right now, she was already scheming on how to survive the Survival Class in a more manageable way, but the sole solution that was coming to her was to get help from someone who knew how to survive on their own.

Fortunately, it wasn't really forbidden for the cadets to help each other and work together within the Survival Class, as it was also part of the test.

Just if they decided to work together, they would be tested in a different way compared to those who were working alone.

"If you agree to work with me during the Survival Class, I will in turn, help you with your essays on the topics of the politics of the Imperium, agree?"

Lagertha almost immediately agreed with the suggestion because she hated politics to the core and she preferred to solve her problems with her weapon and fist.

***

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[ATP]

Well,good for Cersei have friends.Well,in a manner of speaking.

 

[Trafford]

"They shall be my finest warriors, these men and women who give of themselves to me. Like clay I shall mold them and in the furnace of war I shall forge them. They shall be of iron will and steely sinew. In great armor I shall clad them and with the mightiest weapons shall they be armed. They will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight them. No Magic shall oppose them as they shall be born of it. The Blood will protect them and aid them in their grand quest. They shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best them in battle. They are my bulwark against the Ruin, Heretics and Terrors of the Old Night. They are the Defenders of the Holy Arcadia Empire and its people. They are Stormcast Eternals, the embodiment of storm and rage...and they shall know no fear."

The Holy Imperator Karl-Franz on the creation of the Stormcast Eternals

***

Codex: Laputa

City Fortress Laputa, the capital of the Grand Province of the Orleáns. Originally Laputa was a simple fortress built with the sole purpose of holding back the immeasurable hordes of the Greenskins living within the Orklands that conducted systematic raids on the province.

As the years flew by, the Laputa Fortress was expanding more and more, and within a few centuries, the rather simple fortress was expanded to become a monstrous City Fortress that was one of the best defensive points across the entire Holy Arcadia Empire.

Laputa is also home to the House Orleáns and it was built by the House Orleáns, who are now the Elector Counts of the Grand Province of the Orleáns.

***

Year 10,280 of Lordranese Callendar, August

Lands of Ancient, Holy Arcadia Empire, Reikland, Anor Londo

Three months have passed since the Great Convention Council of the Holy Arcadia Empire, during which many crucial decisions were made that would affect the Imperium. Be it the establishment of the Stormcast Eternals or the decision to merge the Healing Church under the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder.

The process of emerging the Healing Church into the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder was smooth and done quickly and without many problems. Now, the Holy Imperator obtained even far greater power over the Imperium.

With the direct control of the Healing Church with the Holy Imperator position becoming the highest authority within the Healing Church, none of the Vicars refused, and all of them pledged their allegiance to him.

Because Karl Franz was the chosen one of the Great Ones and bore the rune of the Oedon the Formless God Blood.

Due to that, nobody had any reason to refuse to pledge their allegiance to the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder, and thus, the Healing Church became another branch of Imperator's power.

"Is this the final version?"

Right now, Holy Imperator Karl Franz was talking with the Supreme Patriarch of the Eight Magic Orders and Headmaster of the Byrgenwerth about the Project Stormcast Eternals, which was nearing its end.

"Yes, it is Your Holy Majesty."

Balthasar Gelt was tasked with the leadership of the Project Stormcast Eternals as he was one of the most knowledgeable people about various methods of getting stronger across the Lands of Ancients.

Though overall Project Stormcast Eternals was headed by more or like a council of people from various areas of the Holy Arcadia Empire; among them were several of legendary-like figures like Big Hat Logan or Master Willem.

"And the probability of the success?"

Karl Franz asked because he didn't wish to take chances with the forging of the Stormcast Eternals. The men and women who would be undergoing the Forging Process were something grueling and arduous and on their person, and he didn't wish to send them to death.

All of them were members of the Reiksgarde or Holy Knight Executioners; others were from the Sardaukar or other elite forces of the Holy Arcadia Empire, and the loss of every single one was a significant loss to the Empire.

While in the great scheme of things, it was not, but for the Imperator had a different mindset regarding it... another thing was that most of the people he trained and selected personally.

They were the results of his hard work.

"99%... we took every single precaution method available and are not leaving anything to the coincidence."

Balthasar Gelt said as he passed him several documents about this... Karl Franz skimmed everything with his eyes; it took him only several seconds to read everything, and in the end, after taking everything, he decided to give the Project the green.

"And the Forging... is it prepared?"

According to the Project of Stormcast Eternals, they would be literally forged in a process called "Forging" that would basically create the Stormcast Eternal.

"Yes, it is... unfortunately, it is a one-time use only because we don't have an infinite source of Magic for such tasks as the creation of the Stormcast Eternals. We managed to gather enough Magic escaping from the World Soul."

In that one moment, it felt like the entire world had stopped.

***

MC POV

Hearing what Balthasar Gelt said made me pause in my tracks because harnessing the power of the World-Soul was a hazardous move. In a certain way, we could be all happy that this didn't end with the destruction of considerable parts of the Lordran or other parts of the Azyr.

World-Soul is the name given to the powerful, Nascent Soul of a Titan. The first and most vulnerable stage of a Titan's life, World-Souls, originate as masses of energy spun out into the Great Dark Beyond at the moment of its creation, eventually finding comfort in the warmth of a sun.

In time, a planet coalesces around the newly formed World-Soul, protecting it as it grows.

The Soul slumbers for ages within the planet's fiery core, suffusing the planet with their energies as generations of life live and die upon it before eventually awakening as a living world.

World-Souls only exist within a small number of planets scattered throughout the Great Dark, and every single planet that has a World-Soul will eventually develop into an extremely powerful world with a mighty civilization.

We were treading on thin ice because even the slightest injury to the World-Soul could cause a world-destroying event.

"And the other Titans?"

I asked very carefully about this, almost fearing for the answer, because if the Titans felt something was amiss, then... only the protection of the Great Ones would be able to save the existence of the Azyr.

"Nothing... we even made the ceremony to ask for the permission of the Great Ones for this, and they gave us the answer in a positive manner. If not, nobody would ever allow something like this, the Byrgenwerth still has in its archives the information about the Titans and their power and if they fear that one of their brethren may be endangered, then they would wipe our entire civilization."

Titans were a race of colossal, planet-sized cosmic beings composed of Arcane Magic and the primordial matter from which the Cosmos was born. They roamed across the Cosmos like walking worlds, imbued with the raw power of creation itself.

The Titans used this incredible force to find and awaken others of their kind. Hailing from the far reaches of the cosmos, they shaped and brought life and order to countless worlds across the Great Dark Beyond.

They were described as perfect and majestic beings who are akin to Gods, and the power of the greatest among their kind was said to equal that of the Great Ones apparently.

"Now... it makes sense indeed... why the Ruinious Powers are so adamant about obtaining Azyr for their own devises... the birth of another with the power equaling the Great Four..."

I wasn't really aware of the true state of the World-Soul of the Azyr; I was only told that it existed and it was left at that. It was a secret that was deeply protected by the Byrgenwerth and it was known by only two people of the Imperium.

Only to the Headmaster to the full extent and to me to a certain degree.

"I want to know everything about the state of the World-Soul from now on. I understand that you have been protecting this secret for countless years, but it is also something that I need to take into consideration..."

I said sternly because this was something that could decide the fate of the entire world and attract the attention of the being from the Great Dark Beyond... an attention that we really don't need as we already had enough of it.

"As you wish, Your Holy Majesty. Though I have to warn you beforehand that even within the Byrgenwerth, we don't have a lot of information on the Titans and World-Souls because it is still a very obscure topic even for the Scholars of the Byrgenwerth."

Balthasar Gelt stated almost indifferently because even within the Byrgenwerth, the topic of Titans or World-Souls was something pretty much obscure. The heavy majority of the information gathered about it stemmed from ancient records that were old more than ten thousand years ago.

"When can we start with the first batch of the Stormcast Eternals?"

Sooner or later, there would be a need for the Imperium to search for the resources even in the Great Dark Beyond... but that was hopefully millennia away, but one can never be underprepared for such things.

"In a few days, we would have everything prepared together with the first batch of people... though how many of the Stormcast Eternals do Your Holy Majesty wish to create?"

The Headmaster of the Byrgenwerth asked as he looked at the Holy Imperator.

"4,500 Stormcast Eternals divided into 4 Temples of Reiksgarde Temple, Judiciary Temple, Paladin Temple, and Vindicator Temple."

The overall structure of the Stormcast Eternals would be divided into these four Temples, with each Temple would consist of Chambers with each Chamber consisting of 500 Stormcast Eternals and led by Lord Celestantis.

Subsequently, each Chamber was divided into two Retinues of 250 Stormcast Eternals led by Lord Relictor. Every Retinue was divided into two Sadalities of 125 Stormcast Eternals led by Tribune, and each Sadality was divided into 5 Shield-Companies led by Shield-Captain.

Above all of them were the Temples, each temple led by Lord Celestant Prime, who created the conclave together with four of them and the overall leader of the Stormcast Eternals, the Lord General-Kommandant.

Reiksgarde Temple was essentially the former Reiksgarde tasked with the protection of the Imperial Palace of the Anor Londo. They would be just stronger and more powerful, but their tasks and goals won't change.

Paladin Temple were essentially the former Holy Knigth Executioners of the Healing Church and they would be tasked with the same things as the former Holy Knight Executioners were doing.

Thus combating the forces of Chaos and Ruin across the Lands of Ancients and spreading hope to the people.

And there were two new Temples, the Judicator Temple and the Vindicator Temple.

Vindicator Temple was just a nice name for the assassins that were taken from the Imperial Military Intelligence, as their best ones were conscripted into the Stormcast Eternals and remade to serve the greater purpose.

The Vindicators would be trained in the best assassination techniques of the Imperium and tasked with removing the most powerful and dangerous targets to the stability of the Holy Arcadia Empire out there.

And finally, there was the Judicator Temple. If I should describe it somehow, I would say it was something akin to an internal police that should be helping secure the internal security of the Imperium. Their main task would be hunting the Heretics and Rogues of the Imperium and putting them down.

"That is certainly a number, Your Holy Majesty."

I could swear that I heard a bit of fear in his voice because the force that I was building was something that would essentially make the rule of my Dynasty eternal. Because every single Stormcast Eternal would be ageless due to the special Forging and binding to the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder.

And I can even understand it from a certain point of view... it was logical because the Stormcast Eternals would become the eternal symbol of the unrivaled might of the Imperial House.

But alas... there is nothing they can do about that...

"And who shall be leading this glorious organization, Your Holy Majesty?"

Indeed... who, but I have one person in my mind who would be perfect for the position for such arduous and important taks. There was nobody who was more suitable to become Lord General-Kommandant of the Stormcast Eternals.

"It would be Maria, naturally... who else would I entrust it?"

Indeed, Lady Maria Vileblood was the best choice for the position of the Lord General-Kommandant of the Stormcast Eternals, and she was also the person whom I trusted the most with the responsibility and power.

Not to mention, I wanted for the position to remain within the family, as they liked to say, because it was the safest solution that I could come up with.

Even though the chance of betrayal was zero due to the binding to the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder, I still wanted Maria to take some important role within the wheels of the Imperium.

She had been long enough avoiding the responsibility and playing around; now it was time to change it. Mainly for the fact it would create a bad image for the Imperial House if one of the future Empresses was playing around and hunting the Beasts.

Even though the job of the Hunter was prestigious, there would still be voices of discontent among some of the nobility who would be talking behind our backs. And I was leading the example, so my wives needed to follow in this example.

Because...

If the King doesn't move, then his subjects won't follow.

"Then let us start, Headmaster Gelt. Let us start..."

I muttered quietly... there was a lot of work to be done.

***

3rd POV

Several Days Later, Dungeons beneath the Imperial Palace of Anor Londo.

The Imperial Palace complex was divided into two security perimeters, which essentially function as separate urban regions, the Outer and Inner Palaces, both of which were marked by countless defenses, defensive weapon systems or Magic Towers.

To cross from the Outer Palace into the Inner Palace one needed to pass through the Ultimate Gate of the Ultimate Wall that separated the two palaces. Then one needed to pass the Eternity Gate that led to the heart of the Inner Palace, the Sanctus Imperialis.

And from the Sanctus Imperials one would find a hidden way to the Dungeons underneath the Imperial Palace. The Vaults of Rython, were a particularly sequestered and forbidden subdivision of the deep levels below the Imperial Palace complex on Terra.

It was here where the specialized Shield Host of the Reiksagarde, known as the Shadowkeepers, stand eternal vigilance over rune-locked portals which contain terrible things locked away for all time -- eldritch terrors from the depths of Age of Ancients that could annihilate the Imperium and probably the entire Known World.

It was here where the process of the Forging of the Stormcast Eternals would be taking place, in the most secure place within the whole Holy Arcadia Empire.

There were several people present or rather too many people present, as there were two thousand people present. The Forging of the Stormcast Eternals wouldn't be done in one go because that could very well paralyze some of the structures of the Holy Arcadia Empire.

Not to mention, the newly forged Stormcast Eternals would need some time to adjust to their new strength and power, master the skills they obtain and many others. The approximate time would be around one or two weeks; fortunately, it was only this little due to the enhanced learning capabilities of the Stormcast Eternals.

"It looks rather imposing, don't you think?"

Karl Franz heard a voice belonging to the Atreus Atreides, who standing next to the Imperator; the tone of his voice was more casual compared to the formal tone when they were on public occasions.

Atreus Atreides was one of the few people that Karl Franz could call friend, a former gladiator slave within the grand arenas who rose to the position of the highest prominence within the Imperium.

"Yes, it is... how are the soldiers feeling?"

The Holy Imperator looked at the men and women from the various units of the Holy Arcadia Empire who were collected to undergo the process of Forging.

"Nervous, some are excited and eager... some are reciting the Litany over and over... but overall the morale is high."

Atreus Atreides answered; he was already informed that he would basically keep his position, just his title would change to the Lord Celestant Prime of the Reiksgarde Temple. The sole change would be the fact that he would be answering to the Lord General-Kommandant who would be Lady Maria Vileblood.

"That's good then..."

Karl Franz looked at the men and women, sons and daughters of the Imperium that would soon become the very first Stormcast Eternals, his bulwark in the war against the Ruinious Powers, against the Heretic, Mutant and Traitor, against the Greenskins or those from the Great Dark Beyond.

Soon enough, the process of the Forging would start, and it essentially consisted of several Phases that would all happen within a very short time, one after another. The first thing that would happen would be strengthening the overall physique with the Winds of Magic that were directly harnessed from the World-Soul.

This would then allow the Runemasters to inscribe the Stormcast Runic Set on their bodies, which consisted of 7 Runes. Usually, the progress of adding Runes to the body depended on the unique qualities of the body and typically, it corresponded to the Level of the person.

The top-notch Runemasters of the Holy Arcadia Empire were working day and night on the creation of the Stormcast Runic Set that would be able to fit the needs of the Stormcast Eternals perfectly.

Naturally, the Stormcast Runic Set had four variations, depending on the Temple to which one would belong. While the Stormcast Runic Sets of the four Temples were relatively similar to each other, but they still differentiated in certain aspects.

After the Runes were inscribed on their bodies, they would rank the special concoction of the Old Blood and the Grail Essence and be infused with another wave of the Magic from the World-Soul together with the Holy Empowerment of the Great Ones like the current Holy Knight Executioners of the Healing Church got.

It was a mixture of various methods of strengthening across the Holy Arcadia Empire into one, with the hope and aim of creating standardized Level 4 elite soldiers. Naturally, those who are more talented or stronger would become Level 5 elites of the Stormcast Eternals, who would take the leadership roles.

There was even anticipation of the birth of a new Level 6 Professionals among the Stormcast Eternals in the next decade or so.

This should create the strongest warriors to be ever created in the Lands of Ancients.

Obviously, the strain on the Imperial Treasury and even the personal finances of the Imperial House were enormously staggering.

"We can start."

When the order was given, the process of the Forging was given, and everyone who participated in the creation of the Stormcast Eternals hoped it would be successful because the consequences would be dire if it were not.

A tremendous amount of resources was invested into the creation and establishment of the Stormcast Eternals, and a lot of elite soldiers were and high-profile people were participating in the Forging.

Soon enough, the process was starting as the Source of the tremendous Magical Power that was congregated within a crystalline shape in the middle of the enormous underground room in this part of Vaults of Rhytor started shining in bright purple color and penetrating the enviroment.

'Then only the finishing training and I will have a fanatically loyal force at my disposal... now as the Head of the Healing Church and representative of the Great Ones on the Material Plane, I can use this to deepen their loyalty and fanaticism...'

The Holy Imperator observed everything happening as the first steps in the creation of the Stormcast Eternals were taken. But that was for much later because he would need to find a suitable group of people that would become a new Temple...

He wanted to create death commandos that would be even more fanatical and loyal than the ordinary Stormcast Eternals, somebody that would become his sword in the darkness, even darker than the Vindicare Temple or the Shadowkeepers of the Reiksgarede Temple that guarded the Dunngeos beneath the Imperial Palace.

The Vaults of Rhyton.

After the first Phase was finished without a hitch, as was expected, countless Runemasters that were collected from all corners of the Holy Arcadia Empire started inscribing the Stormcast Runic Sets on the future Stormcast Eternals.

Inscribing the Stormcast Runic Set took much longer than he anticipated because no matter how skilled the Runemasters were, there were still too few of them and there were more than two thousand people waiting for their Stormcast Runic Set.

One by one, the initiates of the Stormcast Eternals were awaiting for their Stormcast Runic Set, depending on which Temple they belonged to.

Fortunately, as they were strengthened by the Winds of Magic directly harnessed from the World-Soul, the process of inscription of the Runic Sets went without many problems.

It just took several hours because while the Runemasters were working fast, they needed to handle the entire operation with meticulous care, not to make any mistakes, as even a single mistake could lead to severe injury and more serious cases, even in irreversible damage to the people.

Runes were always tricky things and only the most competent and powerful would be dealing with them. Contrary to other types of equipment, like swords and shields, the Runes were not purely external influences on the body of a person.

No... they were something in between the Internal and External concepts.

While they were fundamentally some sort of external tool when they were crafted and created by the Runemaster, the very own second, they were inscribed on the person, the Rune Bearer as they were called, they would become their very own part.

The Runes would then fuse with the Rune Bearer, becoming the complete extension and part of the person. Some Runes, the most powerful and rare of their kind, the ones with the Growth Aspect that could grow in power alongside the Rune Bearer, would evolve, but the time passed.

But the Imperium had the best Runemasters available participating in this process, the elites of the elites and people that crafted the Stormcast Runic Sets for all four Temples of the Stormcast Eternals.

So they progressed at a steady pace, and within six or seven hours, the process of the Runic Inscription was finished and went without a single complication. Sometimes, it was pretty hard to understand how much time had passed in the dungeons beneath the Imperial Palace.

"The Runic Inscription has finished, Your Holy Majesty. They can drink the Ashen Concotion to blend all of the types into one perfectly."

The Ashen Concoction was an essential part of the Forging Process.

The Ashen Concoction was a special blend of the Old Blood, Grail Essence that was used by the Brettonians to create the Grail Knights.

Naturally, this Ashen Concoction also contained the Seed of Holy Empowerment that was a method of the Healing Church in creating the Holy Knight Executioners of the Healing Church.

After they drank the Ashen Concoction, it would perfectly blend together various powers within their body, create one singular method for them and most importantly, permanently fuse the Stormcast Runic Sets with their bodies and Soul, and evolving the Stormcast Runic Set.

Allowing the Stormcast Runic Set to obtain the Growth Element would allow the Stormcast Eternals to progress much faster.

This method was mainly chosen for the simple fact that if the person didn't achieve some sort of balance between various methods of strengthening, it could be detrimental to their future growth.

The Grown Element for the Stormcast Runc Sets was also crucial for the future because there would be several of the Stormcast Eternals that could outgrow their Runic Sets, and creating every single Stormcast Runic Set with the Growth Element installed would probably consume resources of the entire Imperium.

One needed to know when creating a Runes with the Growth Element it required a tremendous amount of resources; such a thing was not taken lightly because the Growth Element was indeed something that only top-notch Rune Masters of the Imperium could achieve.

And even they would consume a tremendous amount of resources to create a single Rune with such a thing; that was the reason why all Runes with the Growth Elemenet were always outrageously pricy.

For this reason, they chose to have Ashen Concoction as the evolving factor within the entire Forging Process.

"You can start with the Ashen Concoction and prepare the Winds of Magic during the process... it should greatly ease the burn on their person."

When they drank the Ashen Concoction, it would fundamentally remodel their bodies and souls, and the more Magic they had in their disposition, the safer the process would be and they even may reap some benefits from it.

Fortunately, they harvested a lot of it from the World-Soul, so it was relatively okey and safe to use it in this way. The Ashen Concoction was relatively dangerous if Karl Franz had to admit it; it was pretty much dangerous due to the power it held deep within.

That was one of the reasons why Karl Franz was very curious and also nervous about the Ashen Concoction, but most importantly he was also wary of it and knew its dangers. When the initiates of the Stormcast Eternals started drinking the Ashen Concoction one by one, they were undergoing the final parts of their ascension.

The ones that were undergoing the procedure right now were the common members of the former Reiksgarde, Holy Knight Executioners of the Healing Church, Grail Knights of the Brettonia, Magic Knights or Sardaukar...

The majority if not all of them were at Level 3 in terms of physique. This was chosen purposely because they needed to convert the ordinary members and the officers and elites of the former organizations that already stood on Level 4 would undergo the Forging Process at a later date.

Those would require a far more careful and delicate approach... and that was not talking about the commanders and leaders of the former organizations. Even the former commanders of these organizations would undergo the Forging Process because they would be leading their respective Temples.

It was already affirmed that Atreus Atreides, former commander of the Reiksgarde, would command the Reiksgarde Temple, Ludwig the Holy Blade former commander of the Holy Kniught Executioners of the Healing Church, would command the Paladin Temple.

For the Judicator Temple, Karl Franz chose Gurney Halleck, a man of very interesting origins, because he was one of the most famous gladiators of the Holy Arcadia Empire for most of his life before he was taken in by the House Atreides as the leader of their armed forces.

And for the Vindicare Temple, he actually made an interesting choice because he chose the Ciaran, female commander of the 2nd Legion of the Silver Knights because there was no one better suitable for the position of the Lord Celestant Prime of the Vindicare Temple.

"It is a beautiful sight... this growth of power... and also the intoxicating feeling..."

Karl Franz stated as he observed the first batch of the Stormcast Eternals being born in the Holy Arcadia Empire and that would walk the Lands of Ancient Lords. They would be their greatest defenders and strongest conquerors.

They would be the bulwark against the terror and hope of the people of the Imperium.

***

MC POV

Several days later after the Forging of the Stormcast Eternals, the Imperial Palace of the Anor Londo.

One report after another flowed into my solar, especially those about the progress of the new Stormcast Eternals and the progress.

Because the Stormcast Eternals were a mish-mash of several elite units of the Holy Arcadia Empire, they needed to be brought onto the standardized combat style and other, many, many things.

Now, most of them were learning the fighting methods of the Sardaukar, which was regarded as one of the best, if not the best, within the Lands of the Ancient Lords. The swordmasters of the Sardaukar were legends of their own and it was of utmost importance for the Stormcast Eternals to learn the standards of the Gianz Swordsmanship.

After several weeks, the remaining people would undergo the Forging to become the Stormcast Eternals, mainly the ones that were destined to become the members of the Vindicare Temple, as those were chosen mainly from the Vampires due to their racial abilities and affinities for the Darkness and Shadows.

"What is this?"

I asked as several letters with the mark of the Landsraad landed on my table.

"It's the summons for the Landsraad, Your Holy Majesty... apparently there are several important disputes between the members of the Imperial Nobility and the High Chancellor wants to have Your Holy Majesty present during the meeting."

The butler that brought the summons answered as I visibly cringed because I could see what these things were about. Once again, there would be nobles squabbling for the territories and fighting with each other.

My presence within the Landsraad would ensure that everyone behaved like cadet progenas of the Schola Progenium.

"What's this about this time that important that I need to be present?"

One of the reasons why I even established the Landsraad was to not deal with idiotic things like hearing out petitioners at the court. One of the most annoying activities that could happen to the monarch and I wanted to avoid dealing with it.

But not every time I could really avoid it.

"There are only three things, Your Holy Majesty... the first is that, during the excavations at the World's Edge Mountains, the excavators found a legacy of the some faction that dwelled in the Necromancy and other branches of Magic of similar origin, this created a conflict between the Viceroy House Necrarch that is actually this time backed by Elector Count Draculya-Tepes and entirety of the Sylvania and Byrgenwerth, more precisely the Amethyst Order."

I frowned a bit hearing this, but I could see that this was a relatively serious dispute between them because the combined might of the Sylvania was one of the best among the Grand Provinces and they could collectively pressure even the Byrgenwerth to a certain degree.

"And the next two?"

Hopefully, the next two won't be as severe as these ones.

"Territorial dispute between the Dwarves as it seems, the Wildhammer Tribe is having a conflict with the Longbeard Clan over the new loges of the several precious metals that were found on the edge of their territories. And the last one is more like the personal feud between two chambers of commerce; both want to obtain the exclusive rights for the voyages to Westeros but were denied by CHOAM..."

My head hurts just by thinking about it... like they said, one was better than another and there was even conflict between the dwarves.

Though it must be pretty serious, if they had already passed it to the Landsraad, normally, the Council of Three Hammers or the Conclave of the Forge would resolve all of these matters between the dwarven clans.

They had the highest autonomy within the Imperium.

***

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[ATP]

Pity,i prefered Saudarkars as their name.Well,it is your story,so they could be Eternal.
Dwarf and undead frudges - good,your MC need to work sometimes.I hope,that they would found Queen Khalida one day !

P.S It is not important now - but,later you must decide what exactly dwell in Stygoi,Kadath and ruin city of Sothorys - GRRM never mentioned it,so you could made it Chaos or something else.But - your MC need real enemies,becouse not only Targs,but also Others would not live long here.

Cardossa - still yellow Emperor used blood magic,it is probably Chaos.
Leng - aliens living in hidden city could be actually not bad.

Well,that would be almost all - i only say once more,then there is still no elves here.So,made them where they fit your story best.
Especially,that they could deliver third waifu for your MC !

 

[Trafford]

Pity,i prefered Saudarkars as their name.Well,it is your story,so they could be Eternal.
Dwarf and undead frudges - good,your MC need to work sometimes.I hope,that they would found Queen Khalida one day !

P.S It is not important now - but,later you must decide what exactly dwell in Stygoi,Kadath and ruin city of Sothorys - GRRM never mentioned it,so you could made it Chaos or something else.But - your MC need real enemies,becouse not only Targs,but also Others would not live long here.

Cardossa - still yellow Emperor used blood magic,it is probably Chaos.
Leng - aliens living in hidden city could be actually not bad.

Well,that would be almost all - i only say once more,then there is still no elves here.So,made them where they fit your story best.
Especially,that they could deliver third waifu for your MC !

Click to shrink...

1st The things that dwell in the Sothoryos and beyond the Bone Mountains would be decided at the later that, when it would be relevant, probably in the Volume 3 and at the later ones.

2nd Others would be not in my fanfics, instead of them, as this fanfic already has some certain degree of the Warcraft Elements, I have decided to make use of the Lich King and Scourge, that would be indeed fitting enemy, one that could threaten the entire world. For the note, there are several such beings in the Known World that could be considered as World Ending Threats, including the Red God R'hollor

3rd Actually, about Elves that is rather tricky question, because I am right now either considering implementing elements from the Warhammer Fantasy or Warcraft, though for the time being I am leaning more towards the High Elves from the Warcraft... either it would be Sylvanas Windrunner or Alleria Windrunner, though I have been also thinking a bout using Night Elves and Shandris Feathermoon or If I feel especially suicidal, then Queen Azshara of the Highborne / Kaldorei...

Though, the last one would be probably the hardest and yet most interesting for me to write... still in the process of deciding, each of the choices had their pros and cons...

 

[ATP]

1st The things that dwell in the Sothoryos and beyond the Bone Mountains would be decided at the later that, when it would be relevant, probably in the Volume 3 and at the later ones.

2nd Others would be not in my fanfics, instead of them, as this fanfic already has some certain degree of the Warcraft Elements, I have decided to make use of the Lich King and Scourge, that would be indeed fitting enemy, one that could threaten the entire world. For the note, there are several such beings in the Known World that could be considered as World Ending Threats, including the Red God R'hollor

3rd Actually, about Elves that is rather tricky question, because I am right now either considering implementing elements from the Warhammer Fantasy or Warcraft, though for the time being I am leaning more towards the High Elves from the Warcraft... either it would be Sylvanas Windrunner or Alleria Windrunner, though I have been also thinking a bout using Night Elves and Shandris Feathermoon or If I feel especially suicidal, then Queen Azshara of the Highborne / Kaldorei...

Though, the last one would be probably the hardest and yet most interesting for me to write... still in the process of deciding, each of the choices had their pros and cons...

Click to shrink...

1.I could wait! but,whatever they be,made them strong enough to be reliable enemies,not some weaklings !
2.Good idea,and about red god - considering baby scrificies,it is rather red demon.
3.Good,High Elves from WF are too pridefull for my taste.But - what about undead Queen Khalida?
Here:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...usg=AOvVaw23jMxI7NqurprBqRs6qL4b&opi=89978449

and,as additional enemy,you could add "i do not bow" Settra,too !

 

[Trafford]

Codex: The City of Gods as the Holy City of the Holy Arcadia Empire

Anor Londo, the City of Gods, is ruled by The Holy Imperator personally and the Imperial House. The City of Gods was built by Lord of Cinder and Sunlight, Lord Gwyn, in the first Age of Lordran; till this day, it remains the most important place within the Lordran and is the symbol of power and majesties of the Imperial House and Holy Imperator.

***

I literarily spent several hours studying the case of the conflict between the Wildhammer Dwarves of the Aerial Peak and the Longbeard Clan of the Erebor, the Lonely Mountain.

And naturally, as it was almost a tradition when it came to the dwarves, there was a lot of cursing and alcohol involved in everything. Basically, the entire premise was that, not really far from the Lonely Mountain Erebor, there were small hills named Iron Hills.

It was a distance of around 300km, so it was rather close to the Erebor, but at the same time, it was also on the borders of the territory belonging to the Aerial Peak under the Wildhammer Clan.

Within the Iron Hills, there were evidently huge lodges of special Iron Ore that was stronger than the average Iron Ore, and the dwarves attributed it to the Great Resurgence of the Magic.

Now, the deal was Erebor pressed its claim on the Iron Hills, and the Patriarch of the Longbeard Clan even sent part of their army and countless dwarves to make their stand and outôost.

But the same thing was done by the Wildhammer Clan of the Aerial Peak, who said that the Iron Hills are part of the mountain range that falls under the jurisdiction of the Aerial Peak; even technically speaking, it were not the mountains, just the hills.

This showed the political division between the dwarves, as it was clear that the Longbeard Clan was aiming for the position on the Council of Three Hammers during the Conclave of the Forge.

As the Bronzebeard Clan was still untouchable, there were only two suitable targets for the Longbeard Clan to compete with. One of them was the Dark Iron Clan of the Shadowforge and the second was the Wildhammer Clan of the Aerial Peak.

It seemed that the Longbeards have, in the end, chosen the Wildhammer Clan, though that sounded logical because the Dark Iron Clan has rather a close relationship with the Sorcderes of the Sylvania and some of the Magic Orders of the Byrgenwerth.

And back to the topic...

When the dwarves started squabbling about who was right and who was wrong, it grew to a series of duels and competitions between them, but the tension were rising to the point where Magni Bronzebeard, leader of the Council of Three Hammers and Elector Count of Khaz-Modan tried to mediate the situation.

Unfortunately, it was futile because even he, due to their traditions, couldn't really force them to back down, so the sole thing he could do was ask the Landsraad to solve the situation.

My head was hurting just as I was thinking about this, but in the end, I was leaning more toward the Longbeard Clan. Just for political reasons, it would be a good opportunity to bring the three Clans on the edge because, among all of the dwarven clans, their position was almost unshakable.

Be it the Bronzebeard Clan, Dark Iron Clan or Wildhammer Clan, their position within the dwarven Clan was getting too strong, so it would be most productive to undermine their growing position subtly.

If not, it would become a serious problem for the Imperium because the dwarves are often the sole suppliers of the wargear and it would be a bad thing to let them be controlled by just three of them.

Naturally, there was also a Gnomeregan, but the Gnomes had rather a unique position within the Imperium because they were technically speaking a City State, something like the Free Cities in Essos.

With their High Thinker having the position of City Lord that was equivalent to the Viceroy.

It reminded me of cartel agreements on the Earth or some merchants getting together to squeeze as many benefits as possible.

Naturally, I wasn't a single one who was aware of this fact because, with the case, there was also an analysis of the case attached and a written recommendation for my decision by the High Chancellor, where he suggested favoring the Longbeard Clan.

However, at the same time, it needed to be done subtly so as not to create any suspicion from the disputed parties.

The other two cases that would be presented at the Landsraad were not as problematic as the first one, at least to a certain degree. The personal feud between some chambers of commerce would be solved rather quickly because I would just give it to one of mine and be done with it if they couldn't behave.

And the last one was another pain in the ass that I wanted to have nothing to do with because I had my share of squabbles and conflicts between the various magic organizations and it was always a nightmare.

Those fanatical researchers of Magic and pursuers of the depths of Arcane were sometimes even more zealous than the most fanatical priests and worshippers of the Healing Church.

The meeting of the Landsraad about these topics would be tomorrow and unfortunately, once again such a thing would take up probably the entire day if it went without a hitch and complications.

So I was already counting on the next two days or so, maybe even more sitting within the Landsraad and listening to the arguments, insults, curses and gods know what more...

Thought a certain part of me was eager for the new form of entertainment that it would provide me because sometimes it was funny to see them fighting for the things. Sometimes, they were literarily fighting for things, as most conflicts within the Holy Arcadia Empire were resolved through duels and fights.

"Now this is done... I can finally have some time of peace and move on convincing Maria to take the position of Lord General-Kommandant of the Stormcast Eternals..."

I muttered, but before that, I would go tend a Deathclaw for some time and take him on a flight. My most loyal companion, the Griffon Deathclaw, must be a bit bored because it has been some time since we have been flying over the Reikland.

***

3rd POV

Landsraad, Anor Londo, Holy Arcadia Empire, Lands of Ancient Lordran

The administrative building where the Landsraad was located was bustling once again with people, but this time, most of the attendees were not the Imperial Nobles themselves but rather the representatives of the Noble Houses and other members of the Landsraad.

Because this wasn't one of the more important meetings of the Landsraad but rather one that was more or like the standard ones, not many of the Imperial Nobles attended personally.

The personal attendance was as usual, mostly from the Reikland, some from the Klandor, Fenris, Bretonnia, and Faelor. The ones that came personally were from the Khaz-Modan as all of the Dwarven Clans were in full attendance and also all of the Noble Houses of the Sylvania were also present.

However, that was natural because there were cases presented before the Landsraad, so their attendance was necessary. The dwarves were already arguing because, among their forty Dwarven Clans that were part of the Conclave of Forge, there were already factions.

Some supported the Longbeard Clan, some supported the Wildhammer Clan and some were neutral and didn't care about the situation that was present and just came to enjoy the show.

"Order!"

"Order!"

The High Chancellor Luca Brewster shouted when the members of the Landsraad were chattering with each other, as the entire place was getting noisy with how many people were already present.

"Now that we have all calmed down, we can start with the program and first voting. The program shall be as follows. 1st point of the program is the territorial dispute between the Longbeard Clan and Wildhammer Clan over the territory known as Iron Hills within the Grand Province of Khaz-Modan."

The High Chancellor Luca Brewster started reading the point of the program of the Landsraad meeting. The very moment he read the 1st point on the program, the Dwarves started screaming at each other because some were supporting one side and others were supporting the other side.

"Order!"

"Order!"

"Order!"

After he said the word "Order" thrice, the entire Landsraad slowly quieted down as the High Chancellor of the Imperium proceeded to read the other two points on the program. Karl Franz sat on his throne with a bored look as he oversaw the meeting from the highest place within the Landsraad.

"The 2nd point of the meeting is to decide the ownership of the legacy of great necromancer Dracheis that was found within the ruins of the castle during the expedition into the World Edge Mountains. This dispute is between the Viceroy House Necrarch of the Sylvania and the Amethyst Order of the Eight Order of Magic of the Byrgenwerth. On the down note, both Byrgenwerth and Elector Count House Draculya-Tepes have backed up their subjects."

Viceroy of the House Necrarch looked at the representative of the Amethyst Order with a daring look as his pale white skin almost reflected light and his red eyes shone dangerously.

Dracheis was a legendary necromancer who terrorized the areas that are today known as Sylvania and Klandor and even often wandered into the Dark Lands. He was one of the very few necromancers that had raised several Level 7 Undead a long time ago, but as it goes, he was too defeated and killed.

Most shockingly, the one who killed one of the greatest necromancers was a rather ordinary man of faith who took the opportunity when the Dracheis were terrorizing some of the settlements with a smaller contingent of the Undead.

"And the last point, the 3rd in the row, is the dispute over the right to conduct the voyages into the Westeros."

This was another lucrative topic for countless merchants that wanted to do business, as the continent of Westeros was opening an entirely new market and if the Westeros were making them salvitate over it, then Essos was making them go mad.

Essos was big as several Grand Provinces together and the market there was enormous, as it was potential for the business. So, nobody was surprised that the merchants and other business organizations wanted to obtain their share there.

Naturally, nobody could compete with CHOAM because everyone knew that CHOAM would be the first one to obtain market share and several other companies were under the most important figures within the wider Imperium.

No, what was important for them, was the fact that they wanted to fight for the scraps that won't be taken by CHOAM or other import high-profile figures within the Imperium.

At the same time, some were already deeply distraught about the Golden Circle Company that was established by the Holy Imperiator's newest fianceé, who would be dealing with the beauty products.

"Let us proceed to the voting on the program of today's meeting of the Landsraad."

After a lengthy reading of the entire program and everything around that, the reading was done as the High Chancellor, Luca Brewster opened the voting about today's proceedings, which passed with 1,000:0 in favor of today's program.

"Now that the program for today's meeting of the Landsraad has passed with the 1,000:0 we can proceed to the first topic of today's meeting. The territorial dispute between the Longbeard Clan and Wildhammer Clan over the territory known as Iron Hills within the Grand Province of Khaz-Modan. Now I will ask for the representatives of the Longbeard Clan and Wildhammer Clan to step forward. I will ask for the representative of the Bronzebeard Clan to pass the analysis of the conflict to the High Council of the Landsraad."

When the High Chancellor Luca Brewster asked for the representatives, three dwarves stepped forward, with two were going to the podiums, where they would be presenting their case, while another one was heading before the High Council with a stack of papers and one Lacrima.

For the next ten minutes, there was silence within the Landsraad as the members of the High Council, under the leadership of the High Chancellor were, reviewed the documentation that was passed to them, and they also watched the content on Lacrima crystal.

"The High Council of the Landsraad can say, it had reviewed the documentation presented by the Bronzebeard Clan and Dark Iron Clan that was collected as a third observer in regard to the territorial dispute."

The High Chancellor said as he put down his glasses and looked at the two dwarves that were standing in front of the podium, facing the members of the High Council and the Holy Imperator himself.

"Representative of the Longbeard Clan, Patriarch Durin Longbeard, step forward."

After he said that, the dwarf with greyish-black hair stepped forward to present his case before the Landsraad.

"Honorable High Council of the Landsraad and Honorable Members of the Landraad. A grave harm and injustice has happened to the Longbeard Clan by those bastards of Wildhmamer yar telling you!"

When it came to the dwarves, everyone already gotten used to their language and thus, people tended to ignore the crass language, members of the High Council included.

"Wer were the first at the Iron Hills and then those fucker's came and took the Iron Hills and we even had there our fortress built at that place."

Everyone was listening attentively before the representative of the Wildhammer Clan, who was also the High Thane of the Wildhammer Clan of the Aerial Peak Falstad Wildmamer, was about to burst in anger.


Falstad Wildhammer was a typical dwarf with a bald head with, sole hair tied to a ponytail and a long ginger beard. He also had several blue tribal tattoos over his face and arms and also under his entire body.

"What did ya said, yu fricking goat fucker! Iron Hills are under the jurisdiction of the Aerial Peak and if yar have a problem with that say it to my axe!"

High Thane of the Wildhammer Clan Falstad Wildhammer shouted at the Patriarch of the Longbeard Clan During Longbeard.

"Shut up ya shamanistic fool! Yor axe will either shatter in my hammer as everything that trash like you forge."

It seemed that the drama in this place was beginning faster than everyone could anticipate because it had been only a few minutes and they already started shouting at one another and trading insults.

Some members of the Landsraad who came here just for the drama were already enjoying the show greatly because it was a good show. Naturally, it seemed that right now, Falstad Wilhammer was about to attack outright because the worst of the worst insults one can say to a dwarf was an insult to his craft.

Such insults were often met with swift retaliation in the form of life-and-death duels.

But to the expectations of the many present here, there was nothing, but that was also understandable because attacking anyone within the premises of the Landsraad would be a grave offense.

Perhaps only Elector Counts would be fined with some fine, that would still hurt their pockets a bit, but for them, who were maximally on the standing of the Viceroy in the case of the Wildhammer Clan and Baron in the case of Longbeard Clan, the consequences were something that they couldn't really bear lightly.

"High Thane Falstad Wildhammer, according to the investigations conducted by the Conclave of Forge, Bronzebeard Clan and Dark Iron Clan it is indeed true that the Longbeard Clan built the fortress before the Wildhammer Clan arrived at the Iron Hills... according to the territorial division between the Clans of Khaz-Modan, area of the Iron Hills belong to the unclaimed territories of the Khaz-Modan."

High Chancellor then turned his sight at the High Thane of the Wildhammer Clan as he stated these, things. In fact, most of the higher-ups within the Imperium knew that this was rather a grey area, and neither the Wildhammer Clan nor the Longbeard Clan were right in their statements.

In truth, even though the area of the Iron Hills was the so-called terra nullius, they were as close to the jurisdiction of the Wildhammer Clan as they were to the Longbeard Clan.

Terrae nullius were territories that were unclaimed and nobody ruled them; it essentially meant no state or power had sovereignty over the territory and nobody applied their jurisdiction to rule it.

Even within the Lordran, there were not many of such places and they could be counted on one hand, if we are not including the World Edge Mountains, Orklands, Badlands of Stormwind and Dark Lands that were beyond the World Edge Mountains.

Some were like this only from the perspective of the Holy Arcadia Empire because some were already occupied by Orks, Barbarians, Daemons, Heretics and so on, but the Imperials saw not as legitimate rulers and just as empty territories taken from them by hostile force.

Technically speaking, both of the Clans had an almost equal claim on it, with the Wildhammer Clan maybe a bit higher, as they were much older and were living there for longer than the Longbeard Clan.

Erebor was created only two hundred years ago and it was finished around fifty years ago, so the Wildhammer of the Aerial Peak had the better claim on the Iron Hills to a certain degree.

But everyone could see that it was a sham because there was no way that the Iron Hills would be left to the Wildhammer Clan because the Imperium didn't like the prospects of the cartel agreements on the business with weapons and armor between the three strongest dwarven clans.

While it wasn't that much touching the Imperial House and the Imperium itself, another problem were the ordinary citizens and Lesser Noble Houses that would suffer greatly from such things, as they would need to pay more for the crucial war equipment.

Even the Elector Counts, depending on the Grand Province they ruled and their personal strength, would may be in a disadvantageous position when it came to the negotiation with the Council of Three Hammers in regard to bigger shipments of wargear.

The proceedings in this case went on for some time and after another hour of curses, insults, and presenting evidence and arguments, the High Chancellor said that the High Council needed to discuss the things among themselves to make the final decision.

After ten minutes of discussion over that matter, the High Chancellor Luca Brewster stepped forward to read the Imperial Decree that was signed by the Holy Imperator himself, giving the situation an entirely new level of legitimacy.

"In the case of a territorial dispute between the Longbeard Clan of Erebor and Wildhammer Clan of Aerial Peak over the disputed territory of the Iron Hills and surrounding areas, the High Council has decided as follows under the approval of the authority of Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder. The High Council acknowledges the situation as pressing and serious and the claims of both Clans. At the same time, due to the first occupation by the Longbeard Clan, the Iron Hills themselves would belong to the Longbeard Clan of dwarves. At the same time, to not offense and harm to the Wildhammer Clan of the Aerial Peak, the Longbeard Clan is forbidden to expand outside of the border of the Iron Hills and the High Council of the Landsraad affirms the jurisdiction over the surrounding areas of the Iron Hills eastwards. By the Will of his Holy Imperial Majesty, Karl Franz I. Holswig-Schliestein von Reikland de Anor and High Council of the Landsraad of the Holy Arcadia Empire."

The High Chancellor Luca Brewster read the lengthy announcement of the High Council of the Landsaar that was also given form of the Imperial Decree, as both Patriarch of the Longbeard Clan and High Thane of the Wildhammer Clan were rather satisfied with the outcome.

At least to the extent they could be, because some more politically apt, could see the balance was greatly leaning toward the Longbeard Clan of Erebor. They obtained the Iron Hills, something they wanted from the start.

While they lost the surrounding areas and were forbidden to expand from the Iron Hills, that was a small price to pay for the greater one.

The surrounding areas of the Iron Hills didn't hold much value, aside from some security purposes and expansion wasn't in the plan because with the addition of the Iron Hills the dwarves of Erebor had more than enough space for now and near or far future.

"Now, I call forward Melkihor Necrarch Viceroy of the House Necrarch of the Sylvania and Viggo Hexensohn Magister of the Amethyst Order of the Eight Orders of Magic of the Byrgenwerth."

Now the time for the next case was coming; another two people exacted their places with the dwarves at the podium. One of them was a typical gloomy-looking necromancer whose black hood was covering his entire face, while another one was a vampire aristocrat in fancy clothes, pale bluish skin, and a bald head.

"The case present, according to all available information that was presented to the Landsraad, House Necrarch financed and conducted the expedition into the World Edge Mountain for the excavation and archeological works. During this concrete expedition, they managed to find the old headquarters of the Cult of Rot which was headed by ancient necromancer Dracheis, and obtained the legacy. On the contrary, the Amethyst Order is accusing the House Necrarch that they stole the information from the Amethyst Order and are demanding the Legacy of Dracheis and Cult of Rot."

Excavations and archeological expeditions were very common across the Lands of Ancients, some of the braver ones were venturing to the World Edge Mountains and there was also a good deal of people that dwelled in the Dark Lands of Ruin...

There were many legacies and powerful artifacts hidden across the Lands of Ancients, as these lands hid many things; some deepest secrets and mysteries are yet to be discovered and thus many were searching for them.

"Magister Viggo Hexensohn of the Amethyst Order, as you have brought the case before the Landsraad, you have the first word."

High Chancellor then looked at the Magister of the Amethyst Order who then stepped forward to present his case.

"Your Excellency, the Amethyst Order has been serving the Imperium for centuries and dealing with the Undead and has been the loyal subject of the Imperium. The information about the Legacy of the Cult of Rot has been within our archives for decades and just one year before the expedition into the World Edge Mountains by the House Necrarch it went missing together with the maps and also the penetrator of the incident, one of the librarians that were working in the secret Archive. The Amethyst Order has also presented the proof of this fact to the High Council of Landsraad and we are asking for nothing more than that, what is rightfully belonging to the Amethyst Order. If it was not for our research and efforts, then the Necrarchs would have never found the hidden headquarters of the Cult of Rot within the World Edge Mountains on their first try."

With that being said, the Magister Viggo Hexensohn of the Amethyst Order stepped down from the speech desk and returned to the podium, as his every movement was observed by everyone within the Landsraad.

Especially the Supreme Patriarch of the Eight Magic Orders and Headmaster of the Byrgenwerth Balthasar Gelt and Elector Count of the Sylvania Vladislaus Draculya-Tepes.

Both of these men were being here as support for their respective subjects, though this was also the real reason why this situation was brought in front of the Landsraad. Without the support of the Supreme Patriarch and Elector Count, they would be forced to solve it somehow by themselves, but this changed the situation entirely.

"We have heard the Magister Viggo Hexensohn of the Amethyst Order, now I call for the Viceroy of the House Necrarch, Melkihor Necrarch to make his case."

The next person to step in front of the speech desk was the Viceroy Necrarch who was holding his cane while he adjusted his suit a bit.

"Honorable members of the Landsraad. I thank you for the opportunity to clean the suspicion about this matter and the lies that are being told about the Expedition and slander toward the House Necrarch by the Magister Viggo Hexensohn of the Amethyst Order. On the first note, I want to say that the information about the headquarters of the Cult of Rot originated from the ancestral records of the House Necrarch from approximately two thousand years ago and most importantly... Amethyst Order couldn't present the solid evidence that their map and information about the Cult of Rot disappeared from the library and neither could they prove that they were stolen and that the stolen records were passed to the House Necrarch."

Viceroy Melkihor Necrarch explained the situation as the High Chancellor and several members of the High Council of the Landsraad raised their brows hearing that because that was indeed a possibility.

In the end, the Amethyst Order didn't have solid proof that the records about the Cult of Rot that according to their words led to the Legacy of the Cult of Rot were indeed stolen by one of their traitors and were then passed to the House Necrarch.

The burden of proof to prove this lay within the Magister Viggo Hexensohn of the Amethyst Order and he didn't do so. At the same time, many could see the Magister Viggo Hexensohn of the Amethyst Order shift in his place uncomfortably.

Simultaneously, Melkihor Necrarch shot a challenging look toward the Magister Viggo Hexensohn who was right now pretty much unsure of what to say. They had crafted some solid accusations toward the House Necrarch, but they lacked some solid proof.

They had some indirect proofs and statements that created some image about the situation, and with a great deal of luck, they could win, but at the same time, if the High Council of the Landsraad was strict on this matter, without solid proof, it would be hard.

"Magister Viggo Hexensohn is the statement of the Viceroy House Necrarch truth?"

High Chancellor then looked at the Magister of the Amethyst Order.

"Your Excellency, the records of the Cult of Rot were missing approximately one year before the start of the Expedition, something that never happened before and neither the House Necrarch deny the accusations entirely because to our knowledge they also don't have proof of origin of their so-called records of the Cult of Rot."

Hearing the answer, several members of the High Council whispered something between each other before one of them started writing something. He then subsequently took out a piece of parchment paper.

"But this is not entirely true, Magister, because before the proceedings started, the House Necrarch presented to the Landsraad their own written records of the Cult of Rot by Norgul Necrarch from 2,122 years ago, and the authenticity of the documents have been proved."

One of the members of the High Council said as Magister's expression visibly shifted, while Melkihor Necrarch revealed a victorious expression because this went well with their statements that the Amethyst Order was making use of their incompetence to obtain the legacy of Cult of Rot and necromancer Dracheis.

"Honorable members of the Landsraad and High Council, Your Holy Majesty Imperator, the situation is clearly as follows. Some 'expert' from the Amethyst Order lost the records of the Cult of Rot and when they found out about it and found about our expedition into the World Edge Mountains, the Amethyst Order decided to make use of the situation to get their hands on the Legacy."

Indeed, as many of the members of the Landsraad heard about this, it made sense to them because it was a plausible theory.

Magister Viggo Hexensoh of the Amethyst Order grits his teeth because he suspected that this might be lost cause and that the Amethyst Order would lose access to the Legacy. Time has passed, and soon enough the members of the High Council have reached the decision.

"Due to the inability of the Amethyst Order to present solid proof to the High Council of the Landsraad about the situation and due to the fact that the House Necrarch presented the solid proof of their origin, the Legacy of the Cult of Rot and Necromancer Dracheis by default falls to the House Necrarch."

If there was one thing that the Amethyst Order didn't count with it were the records of the House Necrarch.

Without them, they predicted that the case would end in favor of neither and that the House Necrarch would be forced to share at least part of the Legacy with the Amethyst Order because they wouldn't be able to prove the origin of their own research and information about the locations of the headquarters of the Cult of Rot.

In the background, Karl Franz was already tired because he had been sitting here for more than five hours, listening to the issues, boring things and some useless things in his opinion.

"Now on the last point of the meeting of the Landsraad... petition signed by several chambers of commerce about opening the public voyages to the Westeros and at the later date to the Essos. I now call for the representative Bertram Honigmann."

Bertram Honigmann was a middle-aged man with rather an average appearance, clothed in a luxurious outfit as he stepped forward and went to the speech desk to make his case in front of the Landsraad.

"Honorable members of the Landsraad, continents of Westeros and Essos represented unprecedented and enormous business opportunities for the various chambers of commerce to make money and enrich the whole Holy Arcadia Empthe time span that reason, I beseech the honorable members of the Landraad to lift the ban on traveling and allow for private corporations to operate within the Westeros and Essos without the interference of the CHOAM."

Bertram Honigmann presented his case with the elegance and eloquence of the merchants and businessmen.

In the end, this one was relatively simple because the Landsraad decided to lift the ban in timepsan of one year, which was more than enough for the petitioners of the merchants and chambers of commerce.

***

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[ATP]

Why only on one year? Monopoly always fuck economy.

 

[Trafford]

Year 280 AC of Westerosi Callendar, August

Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, Westerlands, Casterley's Rock

Indeed, as most of the leadership among the House Lannister predicted, soon after the news about the Imperial Delegation arriving at the shores of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, there was only so long that they could hold the Mad King on bay.

It took a long time for the members of the Small Council and the Crown Prince to calm down the raging King, who was spouting nonsense about treason and other accusations.

In the end, it only resulted in Lord Tywin Lannister stepping down as the Hand of the King on his own, but that was still the best outcome that was possible.

It was way better than the possible civil war because the outcome of it would be rather... uncertain, one could say in the most diplomatic way.

After he stepped down from his position as the Hand of the King, Lewyn Martell uncle of the Elia Martel, was named as the new Hand of the King.

In truth, Tywin Lannister himself planned to step down in the near future, so the situation that happened with the mad king wasn't entirely bad because he was forced to step down so he could make use of it to obtain some benefits from it.

From that day on, the Westerlands have mostly closed its borders and kept to themselves, but everyone could see the increasing tension between the various kingdoms of the Westeros.

And one could also see the increasing division between them as various power blocks started appearing within Westeros because of the rule of the Mad King Aerys II. Targaryen.

North was becoming a block on their own, as it grew more and more isolated from the rest of the Seven Kingdoms, though there existed some sort of pseudo-block of the Seven Kingdoms with the Vale of Arryn and Stormlands, mainly through the person of John Arryn, Warden of the Vale.

Westerlands was entering a new age of isolation and a closer relationship with the Empire from beyond the Sunset Sea, which was making everyone nervous and scared because many could see the dangers of it.

And naturally, then there was were the last two remaining power blocks within the Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros. One of them were the reavers of the Iron Islands who were once again alone as they always were.

And the last power block was the so-called Royal Faction which consisted of the Crownlands directly under the rule of the Targaryen and the Lordship of Dragonstone, together with the support of their in-laws of Martels of Dorne, Kingdom of Reach, and Riverlands.

Those who were most politically apt could see that this was a tickling bomb, especially after Lord Rickard Stark decided to call off any further engagement with the Tullys of the Riverlands and the betrothal between his Heir Brandon Stark and eldest daughter of Hoster Tully was annulled.

It was clear that John Arryn was trying to create something that could rival the Royal Faction in case the mand king went entirely out of control and the nation developed into a full-scale civil war.

From that perspective, his moves of fostering the second son of Lord Rickard Stark and also the Heir of the Stormlands, Robert Baratheon, made sense.

Meanwhile, the Lannisters of the Westerlands were slowly growing in power because after they had established a standing military, Tywin obtained the means to solidify his control over the nobles completely.

After he stripped all of his vassals of the right to call levies, some tried to not so subtly protest, but they were swiftly disposed of and now, the Westerlands had five fewer Noble Houses.

And in their places, he raised the two most loyal cutthroats, and three members of the House Lannister were awarded the former holds of the extinguished noble houses.

From then on, nobody dared to say a single word about it anymore.

But not everything was just positive because there were also some problems that the Westerlands were facing, which was the increasing danger from the Greenskisn that took hold within the mountains and hills of the Westerlands.

"Have we found their headquarters?"

For the past few weeks, the scouts of the army were searching for the headquarters of the Orkish Klan that appeared within the Westerlands. Just a few days after the Greenskisn were first sighed, they were already raiding villages, which prompted Tywin to increase the patrols over the Westerlands.

At first, he even managed to strike a deal with the Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides, who sent a few hundred of his Silver Knights to help the Westerosi to search for the Greenskins and to search for their holds.

"Yes, right now General Greiss is creating the battle strategy for the siege of the headquarters of the Klan; there should be something between 20,000 to 25,000 Greenskins... which is a rather outrageous number considering the situation in the Westeros right now."

Kevan Lannister acted as the liaison between the administration of the Casterly Rock and the Army that was seated within the Castemere that was currently undergoing renovations, but large parts were already used by the army.

"That is certainly more than were initial anticipations..."

Indeed, it seemed that the Greenskins were a bit overpopulated within the Westerlands; it seemed that they had given them a lot of time and now they were a bit overpopulated. Yet, at the same time, they at least were mostly Gretchen, some goblins and ordinary Boyz.

"Yes, it is, but we have the support of the Silver Knights and even some of the Wizards said that they would support us and the Chapter Master would also send a good number of the Silver Knights with us, perhaps even participate in the expedition to destroy the Greenskins."

Kevan Lannister said as he was sitting together with his eldest brother in his solar. During the time, they had a good encounter with the Greenskins and many of their soldiers, and they learned that dealing with the Grentchen or Goblins was relatively easy.

They were practically weaker than trainer adult human soldiers, so killing the Grentchen and Goblins wasn't that big of a problem. When it came to the Ork Boyz, it was rather problematic because Orks were innately stronger than humans, but Orks within the Westeralnds were even in a poorer state than those in the Lordran.

As the Greenskins were never known for their crafting abilities and capability to create things, they were fighting mostly with the scraps that they found, pillaged or scavaged and it was no different within the Westeros.

"We need to root them out before they start building some fortifications in the mountains; then it would be a nightmare to push them out of there."

Fortunately, as they were right, the Orks didn't build anything beyond some primitive wooden palisades and tents, but when their population got enough resources and numbers, they could build fortifications from stone and metal.

Even though it was mostly patched up together and looked terrible, when it counted with the terrain it was located, then the problem was significant because the rocky terrain would be greatly easing them to do so.

"We would be ready to march on them in a few days according to General Greiss."

Tywin then wrote something on the paper before he finished with all of the paperwork for the day.

"And the next things? What is the situation in the other Kingdoms?"

Initially, he wouldn't really believe if someone told him that the Seven Kingdoms were facing the possibility of a rebellion, but now, as more and more time passed, it seemed increasingly possible.

"As expected... with the recent happenings, the King has gone entirely mad, and only last week he wanted to declare Westerlands and North traitors at least three times or four, but he was held back by the Small Council and the Crown Prince. His mood is getting worse and worse and he is getting increasingly paranoid and burning people with the Wildfire as capital punishment."

Many things were happening in Westeros since the first contact with the Holy Arcadia Empire and after Lord Ornstein met with Lord Stark.

"In the end, it was only a matter of time... Targaryens never unified Westeros, they left the former Kings too much authority and right, everyone has their own armies and basically do what they want. When they still controlled Wyverns, it didn't really represent a problem due to the lack of Magic and means of combating them on the larger scale..."

Tywin said as he looked through the window and Kevan couldn't help but agree with him. The gravest mistake that the Targaryens made was that they never unified the Westeros. Every single Lord Paramount had their own armies and they were basically kings on their own.

However, at the same time, Aegon the Conqueror didn't have the resources to do so because he was just lucky to conquer Westeros; everyone put down their weapons and his rule was stable and unstable at the same time.

"There is also another interesting thing to report brother."

But now that the Magic was returning back, it brought with it countless challenges and opportunities.

"What is it this time?"

There were too many things happening in the past months and weeks, and it was already getting annoying that something was constantly happening.

"The Wizards have confirmed that the Magic has officially started recovering within the Westeros and it seems that the news is now spreading through the Westeros. We have noticed that there have been several attacks on the Septs of the Faith of Seven, mainly on those that were holding some forbidden books and there are right now many Lords who are seeking the knowledge about Magic."

Something like this didn't really surprise him because Faith of Seven was someone who was destroying any mentions of Magic within Westeros for centuries, for many, many centuries, but many of the things they confiscated were not destroyed but rather stored.

"And that is not all... it seems that the return of Magic is prompting some of the Lords to become pretty much rebellious... exactly as the Imperator predicted."

This made Tywin raise his brow hearing that because this was pretty interesting news.

"Who exactly?"

The House, Lannister wanted to make use of this fact to increase his power and, at the same time, to weaken his potential rivals to a great degree. He was warned by the Imperator that those who didn't grasp the Magic would lose forever and either fall into obscurity or be extinguished.

"Hightowers of the Oldtown are showing some weird movements..."

The Hightowers were always the one House within the Reach that had too much influence, and due to their close relationship with the Maester Order of the Citadel, which was headquartered within the Oldtown, they were also the best-informed ones.

Tywin, in all of his experience and knowledge, didn't doubt for even a second that the House Hightower didn't have very significant influence within the Maester Order.

He even predicted that Heads of the House Hightower may be even one of the decision makers within the Maester Order, but that was just his own speculation.

If there was someone who would be creating a mess within the Kingdom of Reach, then it would be the Hightowers because the moment the House Tyrrel got weaker, then they would jump at the opportunity to plunge them down.

In the end, House Tyrrell were just upstarts with no history to tell in the eyes of many and it was one of the most foolish decisions of the Aegon Conqueror to give the Tyrells former castellans of the High Garden, Lordship over the entire Kingdom of Reach.

And the same thing could be said about the House Tully in the Riverlands. The return of Magic told many who were living on borrowed time, and Tywin knew that chances were slim for them to turn the tides.

But for now, his main aim was the Riverlands because from all of the Kingdoms in Westeros, it was the weakest one and at the same time, it was destined to fall sooner or later, thus it would be the most prudent to take the planning for the future expansion of the Westerlands.

"Hypothetically speaking, if the rebellion happened in Westeros, what are the chances of the Riverlands remaining loyal to the Iron Throne? I would say that they are at the 100%..."

Compared to the Kingdom of Reach which had a few powerful Noble Houses that would create a problem when it came to the expansion of the territory, the Riverlands had none and their military potential was poor.

"And due to that, if the potential rebellion broke out we can take some of the border territories from the Riverlands and merge them into the Westerlands."

After the Aegon's Conquest, it was night impossible to obtain more territories for the Kingdoms of the Seven Kingdoms because it would be breaking the King's Peace. Even during the previous military engagements within the Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros, it wasn't possible.

"There have been already thoughts about that... the stance of the North would be most probably neutrality over the matter if they are not included."

Indeed in this one, Tywin thought that Kevan was right because Northmen would not intervene in what they called Southern Politics. They never did and when they did it was only when there was no other solution.

They were pretty isolated from the rest of the Seven Kingdoms as they greatly disdained politics and other things, mainly the backstabbing that was rather common within the South.

One could say that the North was a "Kingdom" within the Kingdom.

"No matter the end of the rebellion, the one who will be seated on the Throne will be either weakened or weak and the rule would be unstable, giving us a greater leverage against the Iron Throne."

If the Rebellion erupted within the Seven Kingdoms, then there were two possible scenarios that could happen.

Either the rebels won, which would then create the question on who would rule and with that, and there was very high certainty that the new ruler of the Seven Kingdoms would have a very weak grip on the nation as a whole.

Or the Iron Throne won, but considering the current division of the Nobles and other factors that Tywin was accounting for, it left there a high possibility that, even though the Iron Throne would win, they would be greatly weakened.

***

Six Days Later, Somewhere at the Pendric Hills

The gathering point for the Lannister army was not far from the Ashemark, as they identified the headquarters of the Greenkins to be at the Nun's Deep at the Pendric Hills.

Nun's Deep was a newly discovered and established mine, that wasn't even fully operational; it was only a place that was designed to be transformed into a mine and thus nobody thought about it as a possible headquarters of the Greenskins.

Even though they were brutes, some of them had rather strong gifts for cunning and it seemed that the Boss of the Klan was relatively smart of the Orkish standards at least, because he had chosen a suitable base for his Klan.

Not far from the Ahsemark, close to the Thumblestone River, approximately only a few tens kilometers from the Nun's Deep the Lannister Army was gathering.

There were thousands of them, all of them being clad in the signature red armors, looking more like standardized military compared to the previous appearance of the conscripted peasants and Household Guards of various Noble Houses.

Yet the most eye-catching were only two units within the military camp.

One of them were hundreds of silver armored knights that were in their own part of the camp; they were either practicing their stances and sparring or standing vigil as any proper Imperial Knight of the Holy Arcadia Empire would be.

The second one were heavily armored troops clad in red armor with a golden pattern of Lion, also known as the Red Guards and even the Knights of the Westerlands that were grouped together into the Golden Lion Knights led by Kevan Lannister personally.

The Red Guards and Golden Lion Knights were the core of the Lannister Army of the Westerlands. Together with the Silver Knight Order, they would be the core of the invasion force against the Orks.

Naturally, after the Magic started returning to the Westeros, the people were already feeling it, especially those who had some dormant Magical Blood flowing through their veins.

There were also a good number of Level 1s according to the Imperial Classification within the Golden Lion Knights and there were also a few within the Red Guards. And naturally, that was not counting the mercenaries from the Lands of Ancients that became part of the Lannister Army.

Everybody was rather nervous about the incoming assault on the holds of the Greenskins, something that even the commanders of the army were aware of, but the presence of the Silver Knights and Priests of the Healing Church was tremendously boosting morale.

After several weeks, the Faith of the Great Ones and the authority of the Healing Church was spreading like wildfire within the Westerlands. After the events that took place at the Lannisport were witnessed by countless people, commoners began to change their Faith massively.

The Septs began to disappear, the Septons were often chased off or were even killed in some cases, as this was certainly causing the headache to the Tywin Lannister and apparently the High Septon was furious about this.

To the point where he went to petition the King to do something with it, but this was the situation where the King's madness finally brought something positive when Aerys II. sent High Septon away and threatened to burn him with fire if he bothered him again.

So much for the Defender of Faith in the real action, yet there were not many things that could be done about the situation truthfully.

But such was the danger of the religion; it only required a little to take root within someplace and once it took root, it was almost impossible to dispose of. And now that the Healing Church has taken root within Westeros, they would never leave willingly.

Not like somebody could force them as they were technically speaking part of the Holy Arcadia Empire, so an attack against the Healing Church would be an attack on the nation on itself.

"Has the Greenskins noticed us?"

Within the command tent where the provisionary headquarters of their army that was tasked with the extermination of the Greenskins.

Within the commanding tent, aside from the official leader who was Tywn Lannister, were his brother Kevan Lannister, Reban Greiss, a few of his officers and several Silver Knight Order Officers together with the Agamemnon Atreides.

Surprisingly there were also several Priests of the Healing Church present in case shamans and someone with a connection to the Green Gods appeared, so they could be ready to combat them.

And there were also a few Battle Wizards that remained within the Westerlands after the Imperial Delegation departed back to the Lordran. The Wizards would be playing a crucial role in combating the Shamans of the Greenskins and their Magicians, or if they were none, then they would be tasked with the Control of the Battlefield.

"Unsure; we are rather far away from their position, but it is possible that they have some scouts within the area... we can't notice every single Gretchen and Goblins, as we don't have enough scouts."

General Reban Greiss said, but in his opinion, they would be able to approach closely to the Nun's Deep a lot without being noticed by the Greenskins. Every meter they managed to approach the Nun's Deep unnoticed was increasing their chances for a successful ambush.

"We managed to confirm that the majority of the Greenskins within the Nun's Deep are Gretchen and Goblins, with approximately around 30% of the Klan are Orks, which is greatly playing straight into our cards."

Then General Reban Greiss read the latest reports about the Orkish Klan that was residing within the Pendric Hills. This was a very good piece of news because their number was too high and they were outnumbered.

Even with the addition of the Silver Knights, because Agamemnon Atreides mobilized 1,000 Silver Knights for this operation, something that was relatively a grey zone from the perspective of the Imperial Law.

Still, if they considered the worst variant, then 30% of the overall number would be approximately something around 9,000 Ork Boyz, which was a lot... very lot, considering the individual physical strength of one Ork was superior to that of the human.

"Fighting within the mines would be sure death... we need to lure them out or force them to fight us on the plains before the mine."

Tywin remarked as he looked over the battle plans and everyone agreed with him, because nobody wanted to commence the true siege and enter the Nun's Deep to fight the Orks there.

"Yes... we have prepared several plans to lure the Orks out from the Nun's Deep; hopefully, we will succeed with the first method because the other ones are more costly on time, which would be against us in the combat engagement."

General Reban Greiss was well acquainted with combating the Greenskins because one of the most common contracts for the mercenaries and Free Companies within the Holy Arcadia Empire was the fight against the Greenskins.

So most mercenaries had plenty of experience with the Greenskins and knew their weak and strong sides. Due to this, he didn't have much problems when formulating strategies against the Greenskins, as he knew where to strike.

"Considering the number of the Gretchen and Goblins they have among their numbers, we can await perhaps even some more advanced fortification for their kind, as much as they could get for the Greenkin standards."

If there were some subspecies of the Greenskins that even knew to build something, then it were naturally the Gretchen and Goblins. Even though from the viewpoint of more advanced civilizations, it was primitive, for the Greenskins, it was pretty advanced.

Orks were never known for their capabilities to build something. Actually, they were only known for their capability of destruction and slaughter. It was what they were, but there was a semblance of balance in everything, it seemed, and even the Greenskins had some in their own kind.

"So we can await traps... a lot of traps and their typical mashed-up barriers and other things to prevent us from advancing. With that, entering the mine without killing the Boss and Nobz is no, no..."

General Greiss said quietly because the most common strategy of Gretchen and Goblin was building traps. As both of these subspecies of the Greenskins were much smaller and weaker than their larger and angrier cousins, they reveled in deception and sneakiness, never fighting head-on with their enemy and preferring to use underhanded tactics.

That was the reason why he would rather deal with the Orks only, compared to the Gretchin or Goblins, because while weaker they may be, they were problematic to deal with, especially if the terrain was favorable to them.

And Goblins thrived within the mountain areas, especially underground, where there were dark, many tunnels, paths, various subterranean spaces and so on. Some scholars from the Imperial Universities would even argue that it was their natural habitat just because of how efficient they were within these places.

"The area in front of the Nun's Deep is rather suitable for combat, but we need to create portable walls to stop the mad charge of the Orks in case they already had Squigs."

A Squig was short for "Squiggly Beast". It is the simplest known form of Orkoid life. There are many types of Squig, each generally filling some functional or utilitarian role in the Ork ecosystem.

The Squid's primary purposes were mainly two.

One of them was the primary source of the Ork's food, much like herd animals were for the humans or other more civilized species. The second one, some variants of the Squigs were bred for the war; they could become nightmares on the battlefield if left unchecked.

There are many types of Squigs, but each can be generalized into a single variety, such as edible, musical, hair, medical, parasite-hunting, face-eaters, pet, buzzing and paint Squigs.

Some, like the face-eater types, are little more than snapping, fanged mouths on legs.

Squigs naturally grow and breed within the cesspits of Ork settlements, subsisting on Ork refuse. Tending the Squigs is the duty of the low-caste Orkoids known as Snotlings, whose social standing within the Greenskins was even lower than that of the Gretchin or Goblins.

"That is indeed a great possibility... there are too many of them, so the chances that they already bred a good number of Attack Squigs is very high."

Attack Squigs are one of the most common types of Squig. An Attack Squig is a bouncing ball of claws and razor-sharp teeth, with immense variations in morphology between individuals, with some having horns and a devil-like tail, while others are single-eyed or single-nosed creatures.

Gretchin use them as both a food source if the Squig doesn't eat them first or as a weapon of war, pushing herds of them into the enemy. Orks like to keep them as pets, and sometimes even as weapons as well.

Basically, the Squids were the weapon on their own, as they were pretty hard to kill and were powerful creatures. The Attack Squig was the most common variant that the Orks were using in combat, so it was very unprobable that with their presence number, they didn't have any Squigs.

"Then we shall fish all of the remaining preparations and start the assault, as we still have some surprise on our side."

There were several methods of dealing with the Squids that the Imperium developed over the centuries, such as fighting against the Green Menace. One of the more primitive methods and also it was one of the first ones to be developed, was to use the Barriers to stop their charge.

They would build a portable shield wall that would be etched onto the ground, inscribed with strengthening runes and with holes for the spears that would strike at the weak points of the Squigs when they are charging.


One of the weakest points was naturally their neck, as it was the softest place within their body and it was often not well protected from potential harm. While this method wasn't the best one, as some more experienced Orks and Bosses could find their way around it with strategy as much as it hurt to say that in the same sentence, it was the best one that they had.

Normally, the Imperium was dealing with the Squids purely either through the usage of Magic or Artillery Bombardment from some of their weapons, but those options were not really available for the Westeros and everyone knew it would be a very long time till they would be.

***

Several kilometers away from the Nun's Deep, Pendrick Hills, Westerlands.

Several hours later, the Ork extermination army finally arrived not that far from the Nun's Deep, when their enormous march was finally being noticed by the Orkish scouts that were all around the nearby areas.

In they couldn't commence the surprise attack, but that was something that nobody even anticipated, so they were pretty much lucky that they managed to approach this far without rousing a suspicion.

When they were far enough from the place, as they started moving themselves into the battle formation while keeping the portable shield walls hidden, as they planned to use them in a moment of surprise.

With a single spell from a Wizards, it was pretty easy to keep them hidden from the sight of the Orks unless they sent some Sorcerers or Shamans to scout the area personally, but that will not happen.

Usually, Shamans and Sorcerers had one of the highest social standing within any organization unit of the Greenskins, so they would never lower themselves to an inferior activity that was normally reserved only for the Gretchin or Goblins.

The one fascinating about the Greenskins was that they entire society was strictly hierarchical and organized. Every single Greenskins had someplace on that Hierarchy and normally speaking, when they were somewhere, they could almost never move to other places within the already mentioned Hierarchy.

Stratified society at its best.

But that was also playing to their advantage right now...

"We should make our stand here..."

General Reban Greiss dismounted from his horse, together with other leaders of the expedition army. The place here was suitable to fight against the Greenskins, so they started getting into the formation and laying down the equipment they brought with them.

"We should also start luring the Greenskins out from the Nun's Deep."

This concrete activity was left to lure the Greenskins out, which would be done in a more traditional way. All that was needed to be done was to issue a formal challenge to the Orks, and due to how their society functioned, they would not be able to refuse the challenge.

The greatest cowardice and disgrace for the Ork was not fighting, something like that was completely unacceptable and if the Boss refused the challenge, then even his own authority within the Klan could be challenged by someone else.

In regard to this method, there was a very low possibility of the method not working properly as it should be extremely low or null, so there would be hopefully no need to result in the other methods of "smoking out" the Orks from the mine.

After approximately one hour, everyone could see movements taking place in the distance as the Orks have mobilized to their limits and were already marching on them with great speed and ferocity found.

***

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[ATP]

Tywin forbid nobles from making levies,when he had orcs on his territory? IS HE IDIOT ?

 

[Trafford]

Tywin forbid nobles from making levies,when he had orcs on his territory? IS HE IDIOT ?

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Yeah, cause untrained peasants would be a great addition against the Greenskins who wage war since they are born... they would just create chaos on the battlefield... waging battles is Westeros is mostly done through charging ahead and who has more numbers or luck wins...

 

[ATP]

Yeah, cause untrained peasants would be a great addition against the Greenskins who wage war since they are born... they would just create chaos on the battlefield... waging battles is Westeros is mostly done through charging ahead and who has more numbers or luck wins...

Click to shrink...

Against average goblins? they would be fine.Not worst then Bretonnian mens-at-arms or archers.
Tywin just killed unknown number of peasants,becouse now they could not defend themselves.But,since he was idiot in canon/murdering Ellia and her daughter/ he could be idiot here,too.

 

[Trafford]

Against average goblins? they would be fine.Not worst then Bretonnian mens-at-arms or archers.
Tywin just killed unknown number of peasants,becouse now they could not defend themselves.But,since he was idiot in canon/murdering Ellia and her daughter/ he could be idiot here,too.

Click to shrink...

There are no peasants in this fight; not even a single one is fighting in the battle against the Orks... And comparison with the Bretonnains is stupid, because even Bretonian levies had more combat experiences than some house guards of Noble Houses of the Westeros, because wars and conflicts within the Westeros are rare, while in the Bretonnia and Old World they are common as breathing

 

[ATP]

There are no peasants in this fight; not even a single one is fighting in the battle against the Orks... And comparison with the Bretonnains is stupid, because even Bretonian levies had more combat experiences than some house guards of Noble Houses of the Westeros, because wars and conflicts within the Westeros are rare, while in the Bretonnia and Old World they are common as breathing

Click to shrink...

Bretonnian peasants could fight average goblins - so here,with weaker orcs,westerlans peasants would do the same.Tywin just killed peasants in region attacked by orks becouse...well,he was idiot in canon,so why not here,too?

 

[Trafford]

The Orks that were charging at the forces of the Westerland Army that were mixed with the forces of the Imperium, namely the Silver Knights that were present holding the ground, were riding the Squigs.


Indeed, as was predicted by the higher-ups of the Westerland Army, the Orks were using the traditional Squig charging tactics as the first one against them, which was playing exactly into their trap.


Orks were not much known for their cunning, so when they were provoked and challenged to the "WAAAGH!" they didn't think for a second before the Boss of the Klan ordered an unconditional full-scale attack.


The Squigs were powerful when charging, but there were many methods to deal with them, even right now within Westeros, which had very limited means. Approximately four thousand Squigs were charging at the positions of the Westerland Army with great speed and calling for the "WAAAGH!".


When they were almost in front of the first ranks of the Westerland Army, mainly consisting of Shield Bearers and Silver Knights, General Greiss gave the order, as the concealment of the Shield-Walls fell off, and just a few meters away from the charging Squig Cavallery huge Shield-Wall installed in the earth appeared.


The events that followed soon could be described as extremely fast because, in the same moment after the Shield Wall appeared and the Squigs hastily started stopping just a half a meter from the Shield Wall to not crash into it, the Knights and Soldiers behind the Shield Wall started using very long spears and stabbing them into their necks.


This was the moment when the hell broke out because the Squigs used by the Orkish Klan within the Westerlands didn't have armor for the Squigs, something which was standard for those within the Lands of Ancients.


That was the reason why this strategy would be considered as obsolete within the Lordran and it would be rarely used, as the Orks would be already prepared for the eventuality and would armor their Squigs as much as possible.


While the creatures themselves were rather powerful and had thick skin, but the greatest vulnerability of the Squigs was the soft skin underneath their neck that could be pierced with little to no effort if one had a good weapon and was deadly for them.


Deadly, like instantly dead on the spot.


And thus, the soldiers and knights of the Westerland Army started striking the Squigs with the spears through the holes within the Shield Walls, as each spear was held and pushed by several men at the same time, giving it far greater striking power.


Unfortunately for the Orks, because the rest of the Klan was still relatively far away and they were the Vanguard, once their attack failed, their instantly grew disorganized and there was panic on the battlefield, and the entire chain of command fell apart.


With just a first wave of the attacks, hundreds of the Squigs were killed as their bodies were piling up, and not even moments later, the Crossbowmen of the Westerland Army started shooting off the remaining ones that were in a safe distance.


Naturally, the crossbows that they were using were not ordinary ones but were of dwarven craft, all of them being mechanical crossbows; while older models, it was still enough for them to deal with a few poorly armored Greenskins.


The dwarven mechanical crossbows had far greater penetrating power and were reloading much faster than the ordinary crossbow, which took some time to reload properly. Of course, the dwarves were selling only some of their older models, not the new ones, even though there were rumors of fully automated crossbows being developed.


These weapons were part of the investment that Tywin Lannister made in the modernization of their army because there was a need to obtain new equipment for the soldiers, as many of the old methods were becoming entirely obsolete or would be in the near future.


Fortunately, the House Lannister was right enough to afford it, but he also pressured his vassals to finance part of the expenses because while the House Lannister had absolute control over the Westerland Army, the army was also tasked with the protection of the entire territory of the Westerlands.


When the crossbowmen started firing from the crossbows, the bolts were skewering through the ranks of the Greenskins and killing one Ork after another, together with their Squigs, and in combination with the soldiers at the frontlines striking them with their spears, the numbers of the Vanguard were quickly dwindling.


And very quickly.


Just ten minutes after the start of the battle, the entire Vanguard consisting of approximately 4,000 Attack Squig Riders was decimated to a mere tens that managed to survive the onslaught because they were out of the range of the crossbow.


This was the effect of the well-planned strategy and superior equipment that the Westerland Army prepared for the incoming Ork Vanguard. The dwarvish crossbows showed their power right from the start because the armor of trash quality couldn't stop the superior power of the dwarven bolts.


For the note, the Vanguard among the Greenskins was always one of the strongest units within the Klanz or any other unit of the Greenskin society because only the strongest and bravest of the Orks were allowed to become members of the Vanguard.


Even owning a Squig was something like a personal statute of the individual Ork, for comparison, albeit a relatively poor one, was that the ones that were killed right now were somehow equivalent to the human knights.


Being a Squig Rider was a thing of prestige, honor and strength within the Orkish Klan; something like that was a great matter. So, the loss of most of them was a great loss for the Klan, something that General Reban Greiss was observing with keen interest and a satisfied smile.


***


Command Center of the Westerland Army


Meanwhile, a bit distance from the battlefield, on a small hill, there was a command tent where the higher-ups of the Westerland Army were commanding the entire operation through the Couriers and Lacrimas to pass messages.


When the Lacrimas were discovered within several minutes, directly owned by the House Lannister and one mine that was previously owned by some small noble house, but that one went extinct from the "Orks".


The Lacrimas were strategic resources within the Imperium, as they had countless uses and Tywin managed to pay some of the Wizards to create basic communication toolls from the Lacrimas that were distributed between the strategic holds of the House Lannister.


Even right now, the commanding officers have some of the Lacrimas for better communication between the various parts of the Westerland Army that were participating in the attack on the Nun's Deep.


It was already paying off greatly because they were able to transmit the information directly from the frontlines to the command tent. And the timely exchange of information in real-time was something of utmost importance.


"The Vanguard of the Orks has been completely eliminated... albeit with great luck because the Orks didn't anticipate that the natives of the new continent would know methods of combating them effectively... still, how did they manage to get here?"


This was a little question that was bugging him for a while because he didn't really understand how the Greenksins managed to get from the Lordran to the Westeros, but the most plausible theory was that some Orks from the Orklands in the Lordran wanted to invade the Imperial Territories through the ocean, but for lost on the sea.


"With the Vanguard extinguished, Lord Tywin, the Orks will start charging with everything they have and they will try to overwhelm the Shield-Wall with the sheer numbers... of course, that is unless they don't have some siege weapons or enough Magic Users."


General Reban Greiss then turned to the Lord Paramount of the West, who was standing next to him, donned in the red-golden armor of the dwarven craft, made by the blacksmiths that the House Lannister hired to create personalized weapons and armors for them.


"And the chance of them having something like that?"


The Lord of the Casterly Rock asked as he looked at his general of the Westerland Army because it was still possible that the Orks had some kind of siege engines or something, but for Reban Greiss, the possibility was very low.


"Not really probable... if they indeed had some kind of siege engines, then we would have seen them from the start and due to the situation with the Magic on the Westeros, I don't really think that they would have a lot of Magic Users, so coupled with the number of the Battle Wizards and Assassins we are safe."


In the Lands of the Ancient Lords, one of the most common ways to combat Magic, without obviously using the Magic itself, was the good old assassination. Yes, the assassins were the bane of the Battle Wizards or Scholar Mages alike because it was one of the most common methods on how to deal with them.


Most commonly, when there were large-scale battles, taking out Magic Users from the other side was essential because powerful Wizards, Sorcerers and Magicians could do the "Control of the Battlefield", something that could be highly destructive for the other side without means to protect itself.


So, one of the oldest methods when it came to dealing with the Magic Users on the battlefield during the conflict was just simply to assassinate them. For that reason, the Imperium had squads of Assassins in every single military unit.


"We will send out Lord's Blades to root out the Shamans and Magic Users among the Greenskins to free our own Wizards."


This time, it was Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides who voiced his thoughts because they didn't have a lot of Battle Wizards and Magic Users overall on their side, and every single one of them would be indispensable to do Battlefield Control due to the sheer disparity within the numbers against the Orks.


2nd Legion of the Silver Knight Order were the Assassin Legion, specifically training in the arts of the assassination and its members were often chosen for the hardest assassination mission together with the people from the Imperial Military Intelligence Department.


"There should be only a few Shamans and Magic Users within the Orkish Klan of this size; they should be hiding somewhere at the ends of the horde, probably protected by some of the Nobz."


General Reban Greiss stated that, as he had his own great deal of experiences with the Orks and the Greenskins, so he knew how they fought and thought under the presumption that they were actually using their brain.


"That would present no problem... my assassins are far more capable than dealing with a few Nobz that are standing guard, not to mention, these may be even weaker than the Nobz within the Lordran due to the lower concentration of the Magic in the Westeros."


Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides then took out his personal communication Lacrima to relay back the orders about the assassination of the Shamans and Magic Users within the Orkish Klan.


It wasn't that surprising to actually see Nobz protecting someone else aside from the Boss because when the Nobz were not attending to the Boss of the Klan or Tribe, they were then tasked with the protection of their Shamans and Magicians, as those were essential for the tribe to function.


Most of those who commanded the Magic couldn't often protect themselves against the sudden assassination, so the common practice was to guard them. If they were killed before the battle started by a dagger to back, then it would be a great shame and loss.


Even within the formations of the Imperium, Wizard and co were constantly protected by strong Knigths, while some Wizards had even their own guards that were pledged to them personally, like their personal bodyguards.


Even the fledgling Westerland Army was employing the same methods when it came to protecting their own Battle Wizards, as they were surrounded by a whole bunch of Silver Knights participating in invasion.


"I would be taking my strongest men to take care of the Boss and the highest ranking Nobz; once they are dead, most of the army will fall apart."


Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides then said after they agreed on the rest of the matters.


Naturally, General Reban Greiss agreed with the strategy because this would be the fastest method of ending the conflict, because once the Boss was dead, then practically everything was done, as the Greenskins without Boss would swiftly turn one on another.


Such was their fundamental nature because only the authority of their Boss was keeping the Klan or any other organization unit of the Greenskins together as one whole entity, and without the Boss, it would fall apart.


The rest of the people gathered within the Command Tent of the Westerlandese Army would remain here to relay the orders, including Lord Tywin Lannister and also General Reban Greiss, whose years of direct combat had ended the moment he was appointed as General.


Something that he also partially wished for because it would bring him solace and, on top of everything he already spent too long as a mercenary risking his very own life in the most dangerous encounters, so it was time just to command troops from a safe distance.


Not to mention, according to his deal with the Lord Paramount of the West, he will get Noble Status comparable to the most powerful vassals of the Lion Lord of the Casterley Rock once he created a powerful and functioning standing military for the House Lannister.


And also obtained some glory and gains with the said army, so he had many reasons to remain alive so that he could create his own Noble House. Something that was very appealing to the seasoned mercenary from the Lordran because it would be much easier done within Westeros than in the Lordran.


Mainly because within Westeros there were zero to none competition, while within the Lands of Ancients, there were people competing for promotions to the Imperial Nobility right and left, and there were countless of them.,


***


Frontlines, Near the Nun's Deep


The Greenskins were approaching the battle formations of the Westerlandese Army; the orders were already relayed through the Lacrimas, as everyone was in the highest state of alertness and ready for combat.


Those who stood on the frontlines were the most nervous because they would be meeting head-on the core forces of the Greenskins that were right now even angrier than before after the loss of the Vanguard Force of the Attack Squigs Riders.


In the Orkish Kultur, when there was loss, it wasn't a loss because of WAAAGH! never ended until one side still breathed air and lived, so they right now, needed to dispose of all of the enemies to avenge the honor.


Still, this time the situation was a bit different because the moment of surprise was already gone and Greenskins now knew that the enemies were employing the shield-walls to hold down their advance.


Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides arrived at the battlefield from the Commnad Center as fast as possible together with his personal guards, who were the strongest Knights of the Silver Knight Order that were left behind by the Imperium within the lands of Westeros.


He too looked at the incoming horde of the Greenskins with wariness and even saw there several Shamans and Magic Users that were being protected by the Nobz as they predicted during their strategy meeting.


Meanwhile, in the shadows, the assassins of the Lord's Blades towards Shamans and Magic Users of the Greenskins, carrying out their orders to assassinate the Shamans and Magic Users of the Orkish Klan.


While the Orks protected their Shamans and Magic Users well for the standards of their own capabilities, but unfortunately, it was not enough to protect them from the well-experienced assassins of the Lord's Blades the 2nd Legion of the Silver Knights.


The Orkish Shamans and Magic Users were assassinated one by one, as the Lord's Blades trained personally by Ciaran, one of the most fearsome assassins that ever walked through the Lands of the Ancient Lords, someone who lived even during the age when Lord Gwyn walked the ground among the mortals.


So, she had perfected the art of assassinations to the extremes, becoming one of the greatest arts that ever existed, and it was then passed to her very own Legion of the Silver Knights.


When the Lord's Blades passed through the Geenskins and started assassinating the Shamans and Magic Users of the Greenskins, hell broke because the Shamans and Magic Users were the most powerful weapons that their Klan had.


Now all of them were one by one, being stabbed to death or decapitated, dying in sort of being the target of the assassinations. The Nobz that were tasked with the protection of the Shamans and Magic Users couldn't really protect them; sometimes they were assassinated together with their target of protection.


The assassins of the Lord's Blades were powerful and precise; there was nobody that was left for the accident, as they were very effective in their actions against the Greenskins as they killed the majority of the Shamans and Magic Users within a very short time.


Just in a few blinks of an eye, they managed to kill approximately 90% of all Shamans and Magic Users on the side of the Greenskins. In regard of the future prospects of the Battle, this greatly weakened the Greenskins Horde and for their chances looked bleak.


Yet, at the same time, the Orks never quit from the battle and they never ran from the battle they fought until their last dying breath for the ideals and concepts of the WAAAGH!, so they would never retreat even though now they lost all of their magic support.


While all of this was happening on the backlines of the Orkish Horde, this left more space for the Battle Wizards and Priests of the Healing Church who were on the side of the Westerland Army to act.


In split of a moment, all of them started casting their Spells, be it the Divine Spells of the Clergy of the Healing Church that was casting the Blessings on the soldiers, basically something that one may call "buffs" and the Battle Wizards were preparing their own spells.


Mainly to cut down the numbers of the Greenskins, which happened not even seconds later because as experienced Battle Wizards lived to the standards, they released their fire elementary spells as enormous flames appeared high in the sky and started bringing down parts of the charging Orkish Horde.


When it came to the Orks, the most effective Magic against them was actually Lore of Fire or Lore of Heaven, naturally then also Freezing them up to the block of ice, helped too, but nothing was as effective as good old fire.


Because the Orks were organisms that defied common sense itself, they were pretty hard to kill, and as they were half-fungus and half-humanoid, killing them entirely without them reproducing or releasing spores, only fire was that effective.


And the most effective was actually the Chaos Fire Sorcerery which was like the nemesis of the entire Greenskins species. Chaos Fire was something that was directly feeding on the very own essence of the Greenskins Species, thus they were the most apt when dealing with the Orks within the Lands of Ancients.


Even though some parts of the battlefield were lit on fire, it didn't at all stop the Greenskins from charging at their positions because the Orks continued their mad charge toward the battle formations of the Westerlandese Army.


But the results of the Wizards attacking with their Magic against the Greenskins paid off greatly because they managed to cut down their numbers by a great margin with this one, as the Magic proved to be very effective against the Greenskins.


The fire was still burning on the battlefield; the Orks clashed against the Westerlandese Army on the Shield-Walls, as the huge towering figures of the Orks started slashing and hacking with their weapons on the Shield-Walls.


Moment by moment, more and more Greenskins were dying at the Shield-Walls because the previous strategy against the Squig Vanguard was also working against the Greenskins en masse, but at the same time, it was also evident that the soldiers of the Westerlandese Army was being pushed back.


While the Greenskins were dying from being under the attacks from the Crossbowmen, it was also evident that their mad-like attacks on the Shield-Walls were working too well, as they were either pushing them back or causing the Shield-Walls to crack in several places.


But even that didn't really represent much of a problem yet, because the soldiers on the front lines were the strongest ones of the entire army and had the best equipment available; aside from that, there were also plenty of the Silver Knights of the Silver Knight Order present behind the Shield-Walls who would be taking care of the strongest and most powerful Orks.


Average Ork was Level 1 being in terms of physical strength, which meant, translated to the human language, was around the peak of the very Human Limit of strength. That was also the standard of the average Silver Knight.


Obviously, even though the Ork were physically far superior to the humans, that didn't mean that even ordinary human without any particular strength cannot kill an adult Ork warrior.


Everything that one needed was just superior equipment and some experience or knowledge on where to strike the Ork. And obviously, the Westerlandese Army was also trained on how to fight against the Greenskins.


They were taught where were their weak spots, where to attack when one was fighting against the Orks and what were their strongest sides. What to not do during the combat and what to do.


So when the Greenskins broke through the Shield-Wall and started pouring into the battle formations of the Westerlandese Army, the soldiers reacted accordingly as they put up their shields and entered the phalanx formation.


With their swords in their hands, they started striking the tendons of the Ork warriors at their legs, or striking their necks that were not well protected, basically repeating the strategy with the Squigs.


When the tendons of the Ork were cut, the Ork would fall on the ground for several seconds because their regeneration was really frightening and such small injuries would be healed within a short time, if given time to recuperate.


But during the time they were on the ground, the soldiers were using it to slit their throats, pierce their skulls or outright decapitate them, as that was the surest way to kill them.


Fortunately enough, there were no Gretchen and Goblins this time around or they were not on the battlefield yet, because those little cretins were always a pain in the ass to deal with. Whiole not particularly strong; they were pretty cunning and could wreak havoc in their lines.


The Orks were the ones that were hurrying to the combat most, leaving the Gretchen and Goblins far behind them, and due to the Magic Spells that were released by the Battle Wizards of the Army, there were almost none remaining.


The uncontrollable fires and flames that descended on the battlefield burned down the majority of the Gretchen and Goblins. While these little cousins of the bigger and angrier Orks were much weaker, their use in large-scale battles was evident, as their sole purpose was to wreak havoc.


Something that would be warmly welcomed in the present situation with the Westerlandese Army because, from the moment they transitioned to the phalanx formations from holding the Shield-Walls, they started slowly cutting down the numbers of the Greenskins present.


The shields that they were using were of the dwarven-made craft and were extremely sturdy and powerful; they even had some very basic runes inscribed on them, which allowed them to interconnect with each other, making the phalanx harder to break through.


***


Meanwhile, on another part of the battlefield, several tens of Silver Knights was tearing their way through the hordes of the Greenskins, slaughtering them as they were advancing toward their target, which was the Ork Boss of this particular Klan.


Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides was someone who was at the peak of Level 3 in terms of physical prowess, he was still a bit inferior to the Ork Boss who was also a the peak of Level 3, but his physical prowess was still much higher.


The Ork Boss was a towering creature, much higher than the rest of the Orks, even much higher than that of the other Nobz. And that was something to say because Nobz already were higher than the ordinary Orks, as the Nobz were the best that the Orkind could offer.


His towering figure was eclipsing all other Orks on the battlefield, clearly signifying that he was the Boss of all of the Orks that were present, holding his choppa in his right hand as he cleaved in half one of the more unfortunate Silver Knights that was unlucky to approach him.


Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides was from his four years of training in the art of war and combat, something that was to be expected from the House Atreides, as they prided themselves in being masterful warriors and also loyal to their duties.


As were their motto: "We are House Atreides, there is no call we do not answer, there is no fate we would betray."


So he knew very well that this was his duty and his obligation to carry out. Not to mention that the House Atreides ruled the Grand Province of Caladan, which was bordering with the Grand Province of Orleáns, which was under constant attacks from the Greenskins.


Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides was one of the swordmasters of the Sardau Sword Style and was regarded as the youngest prodigy to reach the rank of the master with the Sardau Sword School; not only that, but he also mastered the Ginaz Sword School to a great degree.


Since a young age, he was training with the best sword masters of the Sardaukar who were present within the entire Sardaukar and were the pride and power of the Grand Province of Caladan.


Agamemnon Atreides readied his sword as he looked at the Ork Boss who was signaling his challenge for the single combat duel, which he accepted, as the rest of the Greenskisn and also the personal entourage of the Agamemnon Atreides made a place for them to fight.


Both Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides and Ork Boss of this unknown Klan clashed in the first exchange, as the Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides was a bit pushed back by the fearsome physical power of the Ork Boss, who was now going all out, empowered by the collective consciousness of the entire Klan.


At the same time, Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides was "buffed" by the Blessings of the Great Ones that were cast on him by the Priests of the Healing Church several moments prior he departed to slay the Boss.


While the Ork Boss was physically clearly superior and was winning the exchanges of pure power, at the same time, he was also much slower than smaller Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides, who was more agile and faster.


Agamemnon Atreides combined two schools of swordsmanship masterfully, as he focused purely the speed and stamina. He knew that in terms of pure physical strength, he was losing to the Ork Boss, thus he knew that the strategy that he needed to employ needed to be different.


He chose to utilize his speed to the greatest extent possible to outmaneuver the Ork Boss which was working wonderfully, as the Ork Boss couldn't really keep up with the movements and Speed overall with the Chapter Master of the Silver Knight Order.


Each strike that Agamemnon Atreides executed was aimed at slowing down the humongous Ork that was towering over the Chapter Master, as the Ork Boss had around four meters and something, together with his enormous choppa, he was a force of nature by definition.


Still, while the extraordinary strength was something, it was utterly futile if he couldn't even hit his opponent because every single time the Ork Boss was close to hitting Agamemnon Atreides, he missed and the Chapter Master of Silver Knights used the opportunity to strike back.


After five minutes or so, the board was becoming different because the entire body of the Ork Boss was full of injuries that were healing at a relatively slow rate due to the special weapon that the commander of the Silver Knights was using.


Naturally, the sword he was using was an heirloom of the House Atreides, a very powerful sentient Magic Sword, something that even the fabled regeneration ability of the Greenskins couldn't really ignore and the Ork Boss was getting slower and sluggier in his movements.


Meanwhile, the duel of the two was taking place; the rest of the Nobz that acted as the personal entourage of the Boss, the highest caste of the Klan was getting killed one by one by the Silver Knights that Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides brought with him.


All Silver Knights were experts at dealing with the Green Scourge; their movements were precise and sharp, always aiming to kill the creature as fast as possible, utilizing their weak spots to send them to the eternal warground.


Or so the Orks believed.


As the Ork Boss slashed his enormous choppa at the Chapter Master's head, Agamemnon Atreides flipped backward, as he took out a secondary smaller sword that he had attached to his leg, and threw it directly at the Ork Boss's neck, piercing through.


The humongous creature roared in pain as its neck was pierced because this was a fatal and severe injury.


Using the opportunity when the Ork Boss attempted to draw out the sword from his neck, Agamemnon Atreides rushed at the enemy, delivering a swift kick to the sword still stabbed in his neck, burying it even deeper in his flesh.


Simultaneously, he used his main sword to deliver a deep stab into his skull, piercing through the brain of the enormous Ork, effectively killing the foe.


***


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[Trafford]

After the Ork Boss of the Klan was slain in single combat by Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides of the Silver Knights Order, enormous panic went through the entire battlefield.


Due to the fact that even most of the Nobz were killed either by the assassins of the Lord's Blades or the entourage of the Chapter Master, among them were also surprisingly even the Ork Champions of the Klan.


This obviously meant that all of the higher leadership of the Klan was effectively dead and there won't be any new Boss for a foreseeable time. With the death of the majority of Nobz and even the Champions, there was no one suitable to take over the leadership of the Klan.


So the Greenskins did what they were best at and started fighting among each other for the position of leadership, and some smarter Orks even started escaping from the battlefield itself.


This was rather typical behavior from the Greenskisn, as there was no one who told them what to do.


They started doing what they wanted, and the factionalism within the Klan began to show as some of the Orks had bigger authority than the others and started fighting for the leadership the moment when the Boss was killed.


After the death of the Boss and subsequent chaos that erupted among the ranks of the Greenskins, the battle continued rather fast when the Orks started fighting among each other, or the ones with more brains started escaping as quickly as possible.


The Westerlandese Army didn't pursue them all but instead focused on the surrounding Greenksins that remained on the battlefield rather than focusing on a few tens or hundreds that were already far away, and on top of that, the Westerlandese Army lacked cavalry.


After several more minutes, they managed to completely cut out the path of the retreat for the Greenskins and started systematically slaughtering them one by one. The process was relatively short because the Orks, who were already fighting among each other, were caught in a brutal ambush by the Westerlandese Army.


After half an hour, the entire Orkish Horde was completely exterminated, aside from the few hundred Greenskins that managed to escape before the onslaught could take place. After the battle ended, the soldiers of the Westerlandese Army started collecting their dead or taking out the valuables from the Greenskins.


Even though the Orks didn't have much of it, they still had a lot of weapons and armor or other things that could be melted down and used once more.


So it would be foolish just to let them there; after the armor and weapon and other equipment were collected from the corpses of the Greenskins, the Battle Wizards started burning them down.


This was a rather standard procedure of cleaning up after the battle of the Greenskins to prevent their fungoid part from releasing the spores that would sooner or later create another generation of the Orks and Greenskins.


So, that was a big no-no.


For that reason, the Battle Wizards were burning the bodies of the Greenskins and the Priests of the Healing Church were casting purifying spells on the entire area.


If they did it this way, they would basically prevent any other Greenskins from releasing the spores that would then take root and create new generations of the Greenskins at a later date.


Even in the Lordran, there were always burning down everything related to the Greenskins because that was the surest and fastest way to destroy the spores that the Greenskins were releasing when they died.


This was the reason why they were so hard to kill permanently. If they didn't burn them down, then sooner or later, this entire place would become paradise for the Greenskins, as the spores that the Orks released upon their death would then create a new Orks.


And in this cycle, the Orks were going over and over and over. For example, they were so resilient that even burning them right now would probably kill only something between 95% and 98% of the spores that they have released.


To completely annihilate them with the success rate of 100% would require either Chaos Fire Sorcery, something that wasn't present right now within the Westeros or for the Battle Wizard to have a specialized Spell against the Greenskins.


But such Wizards were relatively rare, and they also needed to be powerful enough to cast such powerful Spells.


While the Battle Wizards present within the Westeros that were left here by the Imperium were powerful, but they were not powerful enough nor skilled enough to cast such complicated Spells that especially targeted the Ork Spores.


Still, once the Orks appeared in some place, it was sure that they would return once, as they were almost impossible to get completely rid of. Such was the fundamental truth when it came to the Greenskins.


The soldiers of the Westerlandese Army were cleaning the battlefield, collecting corpses, weapons, armors, equipment or searching for anything valuable that may hide beneath.


Meanwhile, part of the Army was cleaning up the battlefield, and another part of the Army headed directly to the Nun's Deep because that place was the headquarters of the Greenskins within the Westerlands.


They needed to completely clean that place and also to discover the reason why the Orks chose the Nun's Deep as their headquarters. If there was one constant about the Greenksins, was the fact, that they rarely chose their dwellings randomly.


Most usually, they chose the places of their dwelling, in the areas that were very rich in Magic or there was something that was luring the Greenskins to said place, so this made many people curious.


As the first ones to enter the Nun's Deep were the assassins of the Lord's Blades to scout the area, but everyone predicted that the Greenskins left there only minor numbers to keep some things and primitive machinery functioning.


And as they predicted, the Nun's Deep was armed only with a minimal number of the Greenskins, predominantly the Ork Boss left behind some ordinary Boyz and a lot of Gretchin, but the Gretchin were right now in the process of abandoning the entire Nun's Deep if possible.


As they were more intelligent, so they decided to pack up their things and escape to some other parts of the land from the humans. The remaining Ork Boyz were swiftly disposed of, mainly by the assassins of the Lord's Blades, as there were not many Ork Boyz in the first place within the Nun's Deep itself.


Still, the entire process of cleaning out the Nun's Deep would take several days at best because the entire place was deep and there were a lot of underground spaces, tunnels and places that all needed to be searched through and through and then purified.


For the next ten days or so, the soldiers of the Westerlandese Army, Silver Knights, Battle Wizards and even the Priests of the Healing Church were searching through the Nun's Deep.


They needed to go through every single tunnel and search through every single nook and cranny of the place; they even brought some dwarven explorers that arrived from the Lordran to explore and map the entire Nun's Deep.


Dismantling the fortifications and other construct that the Greenkins built within the Nun's Deep took several days, as they needed to dismantle everything and then burn it down.


Aside from that, the Priests of the Healing Church were working non-stop on purifying the entire cavern system from the Green Taint that was left there by the Orks, something that needed to be done to prevent the residual spores from creating a new generation of Orks.


They also found out the reason why the Orkish Klan chose the Nun's Deep for their headquarters, as the dwarves discovered an entire plethora of ores that were extremely rich in Magic and there was even a vein of Lacrimas.


This was the reason that was luring the Greenskins into the Nun's Deep en masse and why they had chosen this place.


This was also an extraordinary discovery because aside from the several gold veins that were present, they had no access to another vein of Lacrimas and other things that would be used to enrich the Westerlands.


The Lord Paramount of the West was certainly pleased with this new development and with the end of the entire situation with the Greenskins. Naturally, they needed to pay the deceased soldiers compensation for their families; that would not be a small sum to pay.


From the 15,000 Soldiers of the Westerland Army, they suffered the loss of around 2,500, which was relatively a lot, but at the same time, it was not considering the number of their foes and their personal strength.


Naturally, they managed to get this kind of good results only thanks to the fact that they had Battle Wizards and Silver Knights on their side, coupled with the superior strategy and tactics that they displayed during the battle.


Obviously, the Silver Knights had the fewest losses due to the fact that they were the strongest troops on the battlefield, coupled with their vastly superior armor, which ensured that their lives were protected well during the combat.


Still, the performance of the standing Army of the Westerlands was very satisfactory, even though for their first opponent, they got Orks, which was rather unfair for the newly trained professional soldiery that barely finished the basic training or not.


But those who survived would create the core of the Army, as the Lord of the Westerlands planned to establish a standing army of 50,000 at least. The Westerlands itself had a population of a few million and in the turbulent times that were coming, having such a large military wasn't that big a deal.


Tywin Lannister already took several examples from the Lordran how the Provincial Armies and their own Imperial Army functioned and how it was able to make some money for its own expenses.


Part of it would be covered by the Nobles, as even their own lands would be protected by the standing military; part would be made by the commissions, as he would allow the Nobles, Village Chiefs, or any notable individual within the Westerlands to issue military related commissions to the Army, which would create another source of income.


Coupled with several other factors, the topic of financing the standing professional military of the Westerlands ceased to be a problem after a few short moments and a couple of reforms; in truth, it was a pretty easy thing to solve.


***


Somewhere on the Sunset Sea, near the Continent of Westeros


The ships that were bearing the sigils of the Holy Arcadia Empire that were sailing to Westeros were rare, as it was a time when the contact between two land points was just now being established.


Nevertheless, within the Sunset Seat, there were three battleships that were sailing towards the shores of the Seven Kingdoms, bearing the sigil of the Imperium of Lordran, but beneath them, there was one more symbol.


It was a blue-gray symbol of a wolf head on the yellow field, signifying the Elector Counts of the Grand Province of Fenris, the Hosue Stark an Russ.


On the command deck of the biggest battleship, a young-looking woman was standing and staring at the distant horizon, awaiting the sight of the land. She was a stunningly beautiful woman, but with a warrior-like aura, with the clothing she wore only affirming her entire visage.


She wore leather armor made from the furs and leather of powerful Danger Beasts native to the Grand Province of Fenris. Around her neck, he had a cape made from the fur of Asura Bear and a fur collar to keep her warm in the cold winds that were slashing at the ships.


She had long blonde hair, but on the right side of her head, she had shaved off her head; instead, she had several runes inscribed there together with one rune of arrow-like appearance on her forehead reaching in between her eyes.


Her steel-grey eyes were piercing through everyone like the sharpest sword or steel.


"You should go sleep, Astrid... we would be spending more time on the sea; the captain said that we should arrive in a few days at best."


Her father, Leman Stark an Russ, was the epitome of a traditional Fenrisian warrior; he was a huge, bulky man, wearing very similar clothes to that of Astrid; his stern expression was never changing, always the stoical cold one as he constantly observed everything that was happening around him.


"I am not that tired, father... and I am certainly not Ysgramor, who would drink for the whole night and then sleep like a killed bear."


Compared to her brother, Astrid was a far more responsible person than Ysgramor.


Even though when it came to combat skills and being a warrior, Ysgramor was a peerless warrior of his own generation and one of the best that the Grand Province of Fenris ever produced.


But like many Fenrisians and many Dwarves, Ysgramor loved mead, ale and beer too much, so he was often drinking together with other like-minded Fenrisians and Dwarves that were living within the Grand Province of Fenris.


Ysgramor was also a so-called problematic child of the Elector Count of Fenris, a rather very problematic child, as he always got into fights with other people and he even got into a few street brawls or fights in the inns.


"Why must we go all around the Westeros and not directly into the Moat Cailin?"


When the Imperials first landed at the shores of Westeros, obviously, one of the first things that they obtained were the maps and other things that were showcasing the landmass of Westeros, so when this information was passed back home, the Fenrisian delegation new exactly how to go.


Unfrutnaly for them, while they could go to the Lannisport, the Elector Count Leman Russ an Stark, who was personally present at the delegation to meet their supposedly long estranged kin, ordered them to sail directly to the North.


One of the more problematic aspects was that, from this side of Westeros, which was bordering with the Sunset Sea, there were no ports within the North of the Seven Kingdoms capable of accommodating their enormous battleships.


Their obvious choice was the White Harbor port, and for that, they needed to sail around the whole of Westeros, pass through the Stepstones, and cross the Narrow Sea, finally arriving at the White Harbor.


From there on, they would be directly going to the Winterfell that was built by their ancestor Bran the Builder, the founder of the House Stark.


"Why did the Imperator order us to depart to his forsaken land in the first place?"


Astrid asked as she was staring into the horizon, her mood plummeting after finding out that they would be spending more time on the ships than it was healthy.


"Everything that the Imperator does has a reason. And why, right now the Westeros and Essos are barren wasteland in terms of Magic and even more precious crucial resources for the Lordran, that it only a temporary matter. Due to the Magic Resurgence, Westeros and Essos would benefit tremendously from the Magic Resurgence and they would become essential points of interest for the Holy Arcadia Empire."


While Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ looked like typical Fenrisian brutes, he was in fact very apt politically and very skilled person in these areas. He knew very well what was going on in the head of the Imperator and what the Imperator was watching with all of this scheming.


"And aside from that, our utmost mission is to secure that the Westeros won't become a danger to the interests and sovereignty of the Holy Arcadia Empire."


While the Holy Arcadia Empire had a tremendously large territory and many, many resources, if there was one thing that they were severely lacking, it was the population. Compared to the enormous size of their territories, then their population was severely lacking, as it was very low.


The continent of Lordran was enormous, bigger than the entire Westeros and Essos together, and the territories of the Holy Arcadia Empire spanned approximately 60% of the entire Lordran, but at the same time, according to the last count of population, they had only something around 40 million citizens.


So, for such an enormous country, it had a very low population and they were often constrained by this fact alone, as it slowed down the expansion of the nation, as they just didn't have enough people.


At the same time, Westeros, with a much, much, much smaller territory, had an overall population that probably matched that of the Holy Arcadia Empire.


Some of the higher-ups of the Imperial Administration were growing increasingly paranoid with the Resurgence of the Magic.


Some of the War Hawks were considering the scenario of someone truly unifying Westeros under one centralized government and, with some centuries of development, may create a nation that could endanger the supremacy of the Holy Arcadia Empire on a global scale.


So, the best strategy was to destroy the threat before it could even be realized, something that the Imperium was right now attempting to do. It was also the common strategy of the Imperial Military Intelligence and other specialized organizations within the Imperium.


If they managed to pull out the North of the Seven Kingdoms firmly on the side of the Imperium, then together with the Westerlands, that would be two Kingdoms that would be opposed to any kind of centralized unification that may or may not take place in the future.


"So because some bureaucrats and Generals in the Imperial Military are growing increasingly paranoid, we are going to do their dirty job?"


Astrid asked as she pondered over the words of her father for some time.


"Essentially, yes, but we are also tasked with leading a partial expedition to the Lands of Always Winter and getting into touch with the Knight-Kommandant of Silver Knights Ornstein and transporting as much of local wildlife and plants as possible to the Fenris. If possible, then we are also to negotiate with the locals about relocating."


As the Elector Count of Grand Province, Leman Stark an Russ was informed about several threat that were spotted and noted down within the new continents, more throughroughly than the others.


And within the depths of the Lands of Always Winter, there was a very high probability of a Grand Necromancer or Lich King residing there.


So, it would do good prevention to take everything that could be taken from the True North and certain areas of the Lands of Always Winter before it became part of the Undead Scourge.


***


One Week Later, Stepstones, Narrow Sea


The three battleships sailed under the flags of the Imperium and Elector Count House of Starn an Russ of the Grand Province of Fenris.


The journey took longer to reach this point because while they were approaching Westeros, they were met with bad weather and seastorm, which significantly slowed down their traveling speed.


Only after the storm had passed could they sail at their full speed; thus their entire journey was prolonged by a great deal. Not many of the Lordranians like the seas too much; perhaps it was related to their history of never using it too much, aside from fishing.


Or from the old legends about the Kos, something that only a few of the oldest and most veteran Hunters of the Workshop remembered till this day, as it happened too long ago, but the horrors of it still pursued many rather vividly.


Nevertheless, they now entered the Narrow Sea, which was, according to all the information gathered, a den of pirates and buccaneers that were mainly residing within the Stepstones; having managed to avoid the Ironborn, they would not be lucky twice in a row.


The Stepstones are a chain of islands between the southern narrow sea and the northwestern Summer Sea.


The islands are east of Dorne in Westeros and west of the Disputed Lands in Essos, the Disputed Lands were essentially a no-man zone that was contested by the Free Cities of Myr, Lys and Tyrosh.


In and of themselves, this small chain of rocky islands is worthless - however, the major sea lanes between the narrow sea and the Summer Sea have to pass through the straits between the Stepstones, making them strategically very important.


All the sea trade to the east coast of Westeros and to five out of nine of the Free Cities has to pass through the Stepstones to reach the other major markets of the world. Due to this fact, the Stepstones were one of the most strategic and crucial places within the Narrow Sea.


There are a little over a dozen islands in the Stepstones, along with smaller islets. Bloodstone was the largest island and at several points in history, has been the unofficial capital of larger pirate fiefdoms that have risen in the chain.


Other known islands are Grey Gallows and Torturer's Deep; the rest of the islands were not particularly named and were just known as islands because nobody really bothered to name the smallest islands of the 14 of them.


The Free City of Tyrosh is located on the northernmost island in the chain, just off the coast of mainland Essos, but it usually isn't considered politically part of "the Stepstones" and its lawless pirate enclaves.


Still, for the Fenrisians, some pirates were not really threat, as they would be massacred in whatever numbers they came, unless they had an overwhelming numerical advantage.


Fenrisians had only three battleships that were armed with cannons and some of the new weapons that came straight from the dwarven forges and in terms of warriors they had only a few hundred of them.


So, unless they encountered a pirate fleet number of several thousand at least, they were good to go. With the canons that was essentially unknown concepts within the Westeros and Essos, they had a great element of surprise on their side and they would use it to their maximal advantage.


Elector Count Leman Russ an Stark was standing on the helm of the capital ship of their delegation as he looked over the Stepstones. One of the missions that was directly ordered to him by the Divine Throne was to carry out a preliminary survey of the Stepstones.


While the Imperium wasn't really known for seafaring, some of the Fenrisian Tribes had a long tradition of building small boats and conducting raids on the different parts of the Lordran.


Of course that was already a long part of the history, but they had more experiences with the seafaring and with naval warfare and defense than anyone other within the present Holy Arcadia Empire.


"It indeed has a good strategic advantage..."


The Elector Count then heard the voice of his son, who had an uncanny strong appearance to him, showing the strong genes of the lineage, while Astrid took more from her mother in terms of appearance.


Compared to the two huge men, she was indeed a petite woman, but she also could throw a pretty powerful punch.


"Yes... it is highly possible that in the near future, the Imperium will aim to secure control over the Stepstones. It would allow us to have a foothold in a crucial place if we want to pursue trade with Westeros and Essos. At the same time, it also has a good location for creating a strong influence over the area."


Leman Russ an Stark new that once the situation within the territories of the Holy Arcadia Empire stabilized enough, namely the situation with the Children of Bul-Khatos was resolved and the situation with the Orklands and so on...


Then the Imperium would be able to send more forces into the wider world and once the MIlitary Reform was completely finished and executed, then their hands would be much more free and the room for maneuvers would be expanded several times over.


And just as they were entering the area of the Stepstones, from a distance, they saw incoming several ships, more than forty of the, but many of them were in a relatively poor state...


Most of the pirate ships were not even properly taken care of or were already damaged galleys from the previous engagements that they survived. Compared to the battleships of the Imperium, even the biggest warships that the pirates controlled looked pretty small and terrible.


Meanwhile from the distance, more ships appeared, but it seemed just simple boats that were accompanying the galleys that were sailing towards the Stepstones. From how it looked, it seemed that it was the pirate fleet that was returning home from raiding and reaving...


"Prepare for the engagement; aim to disable the ships, not sink them down!"


Elector Count Leman Russ an Stark shouted the orders, as everyone then started running here and there around the entire ship. The crew that was on the ships was mainly consisting of the private soldiers of the House Stark an Russ and experienced sailors of the Imperium.


While the ships of the Imperium were normally armed with the canons, they were also armed with several weapons that were designed to immobilize the ships instead of sinking them down.


Even the canons could be used to immobilize the hostile ships, by aiming the cannons at the sails and masts that were basically behind the ship's ability to move forward. When those things were destroyed, then the ship couldn't really move...


There were even scorpions that were firing chain arrows that would then envelope around the poles of the ship and bring them down. Just moments later, after Elector Count issued orders, the sailors started firing from the canons at the boats.


The Elector Count of the Grand Province of Fenris wanted to raid the raiders... this came from the minds of the Fenrisians, who were very conservative with their resources and also, they used every opportunity to obtain the resources.


And what was better than obtaining the resources from the raiders?


Such a case was rare within the Lordran because there were not many bandits or brigands actually within the lands of the Imperium. Of course, there were some, but those were always swiftly taken care of.


Hundreds of cannons fired at once, and everyone in the entire surrounding could hear the thunderous sound of the cannons firing as they literarily rained at the boats that were accompanying the pirate fleet.


One by one the boats started sinking down, as they were used only to transport the pirates, from what the scouts saw. So Elector Count Leman Russ an Stark didn't really care about them and they would be better dead.


The sole thing he cared about were the galleys and war galleys that were part of the pirate fleet, which was right now returning to the Stepstones.


Another reason why he ordered the attack on the pirates was he could see that most of his men were already getting too bored and Fenrisians were rather combat breeds; they hated boredom and having no one to fight and kill.


So, this would be all his warriors to release some steam, including his son and daughter, who were already ready for the combat. Ysgramor already took out his enormous runic waraxe Wuuthrad, while Astrid, like most of the shield-maidens, was armed traditional longsword and shield.


They would be leading the soldiers and private household guards to fight against the pirates during the boarding operations.


When the Imperator himself was ambushed by the Ironborn, they got enough information about the tactics and fighting style of the pirates and reavers, even from the Euron Greyjoy himself, after he was captured.


On the other hand, they also got the information that the Ironborn were basically the elites of elites among the pirates and rest of the pirates that was plundering around the Narrow Sea and other seas of the Essos were far, far, far, far, far worse.


Many times, they didn't even have basic equipment and were not even armed properly... that wasn't even talking about their ability to fight.


Many were not trained, as they were mostly petty thieves or criminals, some of them were killers and cutthroats and only a very small part of the entire pirate population were former soldiers or fighters.


So nobody really cared about a bunch of pirates and the soldiers were instead pretty eager for the upcoming confrontation, as the pirate fleet was one by one immobilized by the precise firing from the cannons and scorpions.


Soon enough, everyone saw the three battleships ramming into the galleys of the pirates, as the soldiers of the House Stark an Russ started the boarding operations towards the pirates galleys.


When it came to the fight itself against the scums of the sea, it was relatively short-lived because the private soldiers and household guards of the House Stark an Russ were all powerful warriors on their own; most of them were physically strong as peak Level 1 and many were at the Level 2.


The Rune Knights of the Hosue Stark an Russ were comparable to the Level 3, so it was a pure massacre the moment the fight started. When the Fenrisians boarded the private galley, it didn't take them long to conduct a slaughter on the ship.


As survivalists, many pirates were, when they noticed these phenomena, many pirates, even from different ships, hearing the screams and pleas for mercy, started abandoning their ships and jumping into the sea.


This was their last effort to save their very own lives.


Leman Stark an Russ as the leader of the Fenrisians took personally charge and as one Level 5 powerhouse, he was like death god incarnate on the battlefield, as he alone cleaned several ships from the pirates in a few moments.


***


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[ATP]

Thanks for chapter !
Standing Westerlands army - good idea,but when Tywin do not let people defend themselves,it would made him hated by everybody.

Russ sailing North - why to Manderlys? there was another harbours,and Mormont island would be better.They could go to smaller ships there and sail North.

Political plan to remove North and Westerlands from Westeros - add Dorne ,Arbor and fake vikings,and you would succed.

 

[Trafford]

The pirates that were part of the pirate fleet, which was returning back to the Stepstones, were not really a problem to deal with. While they were numerous, like really numerous, they were all about quantity rather than quality.


It seemed that the Fenrisian delegation probably intercepted the pirates' main fleet within the Stepstones. This was undoubtedly a great irony or perhaps a great piece of luck...


The pirates were often doing such raids when they invaded and raided something en masse, which wasn't very common for them because it was pretty much dangerous. There were a lot of risks when doing something like this because there were not many targets in the first place that they could attack.


Most probably some Free City or any other settlement, so such large-scale mobilization could be caught on, and the information could spread among the Free Cities and nobles of the Westeros that also may be raided.


In such large-scale raids, the risks were often equal to the opportunities because such a large fleet of pirates would be able to plunder the city more thoroughly and take from there everything possible.


So, there was a possibility of considerable loot for the Fenrisians when they observed the pirate fleet returning back to the Stepstones. So, they could at least obtain some gold from it and kill some pirates, so it was a rather win-to-win situation.


When the Elector Count Leman Russ an Stark joined the fight, the battle took a quick pace because having someone at Level 5 on the battlefield turned the entire battlefield into chaos, as hundreds of pirates were killed within mere moments.


Leman Russ an Stark, armed with twin enormous axes that could be used by any other man, as two-handed weapons, but for the Elector Count of House Stark an Russ were holding one in each of his hands as he cleaved through the hordes of the pirates that were present.


No matter how much the pirates pleased for mercy or surrender, death was the only thing that awaited them. Within the lands of the Imperium, there existed no room for mercy for pirates, bandits and brigands.


No matter the reason or the act itself, once they were proven to be guilty, then death was the sole thing that awaited them. So the Fenrisians killed all of them, carrying out bloody slaughter upon the pirate fleet, which was immobilized by them.


The entire process took something around one hour, as they needed to move from one ship to another, and because there were many pirates, it took them some time to clear out all of forty or something ships.


Naturally, when they massacred around half of the ships, the pirates started escaping and jumping into the waters of the sea en masse, but even that wasn't really helping them much because they were often shot by the gunmen that were present on the battleships of the Fenrisians.


After the pirates were all killed and the ships were secured, the Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ ordered the soldiers and sailors to search through the ships. It didn't take long for his suspicions to be true, as they started bringing chests filled with gold, rare metals, weird objects, and some luxury products.


The same reports were heard from the other ships, as almost every ship had some degree of wealth upon it. It was logical because this pirate fleet was, in fact, a congregation of several pirate groups.


Each of the individual ships didn't have a lot, in fact, but when they were pooled together, it created a lot of wealth, actually enough even for some of the nobles of the Imperium interested in the things that were present.


"What should we do with ships?"


After some time, he heard his daughter ask when she arrived on the same galley as he was.


"Has everything been transported into the battleships?"


Astrid nodded her head because she was in charge of the logistics; compared to her brother, she had more brains than brawls, and that was something needed in situations like these when someone was needed to carry out administrative duties.


She was very good at that; what she was lacking in brute strength and almost heaven-defying battle instincts of her brother, she was greatly making up for with her sharp analytical mind and cunning approach to things.


"Yes... they must have raided several settlements and cities, probably even some of the Free Cities, because they had a lot of gold, most probably as a ransom for not attacking the Free City."


This was common practice among the Free Cities within the Essos.


When Dothraki or anyone else wanted to attack the Free Cities, they would at first ask for the ransom, and the Free Cities would happily pay the ransom so that they wouldn't be attacked.


For the Fenrisians, this was an utter disgrace, and they would abhor such methods. For the Fenrisians, there was nothing more disgraceful than not fighting the enemy that is before the gates.


"Hmm... how much is there?"


For the Elector Count Leman Russ an Stark, this was just an abysmal amount of wealth, but as the saying goes in the Lordran, everything counts...


"Probably enough for even Viceroy Houses to live comfortably for one or two years..."


This was already a significant amount of money, even for the Elector Count Houses, or at least some of them, because some Elector Count Hosues are richer than others. It greatly varied, as some Houses are far more invested in the business than others.


"That is a rather good amount... who would thought that the pirates would be so rich? We never obtain such an amount from bandits or bringats; they barely had a few Crowns on them."


Because within the borders of the Holy Arcadia Empire, practically everyone knew how to fight in and everyone was qualified to be soldiers, it was hard for the bandits and brigands to make any living.


From the notes that they confiscated from the pirates, they found out that the pirate fleet was a combination of several pirate fleets that were operating with the Stepstones as they created some sort of coalition so they could go and plunder en masse.


They were plundering around the Summer Isles, which was a large archipelago of around fifty islands or so that were located south of Westeros and Essos and west of Sothoryos and Naath.


The Summer Isles were relatively large and prosperous regions, with a lot of trade and production of luxuries. Aside from that, the pirates were also plundering the island of Naath and even some places and locations that were around the Basilisks Islands.


"Order soldiers to sink all of the ships, and we will continue sailing toward the White Harbor."


After the orders were issued, everyone went to carry them out. Soon enough the battleships of the House Stark an Russ started sinking down one pirate ship after another, which was solved with one shot from a cannon.


When the entire pirate fleet of the pirates was burned down, the battleships of the House Stark an Russ continued toward the White Harbor.


"Father, we have also found these..."


When they were already back in the quarters of the Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ, Astrid passed her father a stack of documents that were basically proving the connection between the three Free Cities of Lys, Tyrosh and Myr with the countless pirates.


Aside from them, there were also some connections with the Volantis and Slaver's Bay cities of Astapor, Mereen and Yunkai together in vague support of the New Ghis. The real problem of the pirates of the Stepstones was that their existence was related to the collective support of many, many powerful players of the Essos.


"Hmm..."


Leman Russ an Stark knew that in the future the Imperium would pursue the interests within the Stepstones, but right now as they were, it would mean a clash against the coalition of several factions within the most powerful Free Cities that were supporting the existence of the pirates.


Especially the Lys, Tyrosh, and Myr, who invested tremendous resources into the existence of the pirates. Nobody wanted the Stepstones to belong to a single faction because it would mean that somebody controlled large parts of the Narrow Sea.


"For now, it won't be a problem, but in the near future, without a strong navy, we would not be able to control the sea paths between the Lordran, Westeros, Essos, Sothoryos, and Ulthos..."


It would require significant manpower even for the Holy Arcadia Empire to control the Stepstones, especially in the new environment when the Magic Resurgence took place and the lands of Essos were experiencing progress even more intensively than that of the Westeros.


Still, the benefits would be tremendous, but for that, they would need at first to build, an appropriately strong Navy. The Imperium already predicted that the cannons would sooner or later spread into the lands of Westeros and Essos.


This meant that the Lordran would, sooner or later, lose the greatest advantage, which was having a technology that nobody else had. Naturally, they would still have better and more powerful canons and methods of defending against them, but if the other had the


"Are the Stepstones truly that important for the Imperium?"


Astrid asked when she heard her father speaking.


"In fact, yes... it is a strategic location that would give the Imperium significant influence within the Essos and Westeros and would be helpful to many of our plans."


***


Several days later, near the White Harbor, The North of the Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros.


It took the battleships of the Elector Count House Stark an Russ to reach their final destination, which was the White Harbor.


White Harbor was a harbor city in the North that contained the New Castle, the seat of House Manderly. Located southeast of Winterfell, it is the largest settlement North of the Neck but the smallest among the five major cities of Westeros.


White Harbor is the North's primary trade port, and it was overall the biggest port within the North of the Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros. Its location on the mouth of the White Knife provides opportunities for trade further North.


Due to its location, White Harbor has more contact with southern Westeros and has a mixed population, and there are more Knights and followers of the Faith of the Seven in the city than anywhere else in the North.


There were some followers of the Old Gods in White Harbor, but most followed the Seven, but this started changing rapidly with the Resurgence of the Magic, when the Faith of Seven was being rapidly suppressed by the North upon the order of the Lord of Winterfell, Lord Rickard Stark.


While the House Manderly were not really delighted about this situation, there was nothing that they could do and at the same time, they knew how to adapt to the changing times.


So when the North entered another wave of isolation, they knew how to change and adapt... it was either to go with the flow or to die.


Between 1,000 BC and 600 BC, House Manderly was driven into exile from the Mander in southern Westeros by Lord Lorimar Peake during the reign of Perceon III Gardener, King of the Reach.


The Starks welcomed the Manderlys to the North and accepted oaths of fealty from them in the Wolf's Den, giving them the ancient castle and the surrounding lands. This led to the creation of White Harbor around the Wolf's Den.


"They are already awaiting us, father."


Astrid stood together with her father on the deck of the ship as they observed the pristine white walls of the White Harbor, after which the port city was actually named. Because when the Imperials first arrived at the shores of Westeros, they sent a delegation to Winterfell.


So they were already aware that someone from the Holy Arcadia Empire was coming to visit them, and they were already informed that it were also the descendants of the Bran the Shipwright that sailed across the Sunset Sea, only never to return.


"I know... don't you find this rather poetic, Astrid?"


Among the two children of the Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ, it was clear, that his daughter would be his Heir with the probably of 100%.


Not only even, in his opinion, his son Ysgramor would be pretty much poor of choice, he wasn't suited to be a polician or administrator and he would not do well for the continuous growth of the House Stark an Russ of the Grand Province of Fenris.


Not to mention that somebody as Ysgramor Star an Russ would never be approved by the Holy Imperator due to his inability to effectively manage the Grand Province itself or even the Household matters.


And in the first place, Ysgramor was not even interested in being the Elector Count; for him, it was just useless bother and even to join the delegation, the Elector Count of Fenris put a lot of effort into dragging his son here.


Or else, he would be in the underground and fighting the Skavenblight who were now overpopulated and having conflicts with the dwarves. The followers of the Great Horned Rat were proved to be a serious problem that they were now dealing with.


It was evident to everyone who knew about the situation within the Grand Province of Fenris that Astrid Stark an Russ would be the new Elector Count or rather, Elector Countess in this case, somewhere in the near future.


There were already talks of the Leman Stark an Russ wanting to retire, but nothing was set in stone yet.


And unfortunately, there were not many people that could take the mantle from him. His eldest son Ragnar Stark an Russ was a notorious troublemaker, similar to the Ysgramor, who would also create more bad than good.


While the fact that he married someone like Beye Orleáns was a good thing, but from the start, it was clear that Rangar would never be interested in anything beyond warfare, and being ruler of the Grand Province within the Imperium wasn't just about smashing skulls and chopping up enemies.


He found his purpose in serving in the military and was aiming to become one of the commanders among the Stormcast Eternals that should be founded right now within the lands of the Lordran.


***


Meanwhile, at the port of the White Harbor.


Several people were waiting there for the huge battleships with the sigil of what they had been informed, belonging to the foreign nation known as the Holy Arcadia Empire and smaller sigils of one of the aristocratic houses of the Imperium.


Interestingly enough, the sigil that belonged to the Aristocratic House of the Imperium was a wolf, reminiscent of that of the House Stark, albeit a bit different. In charge of the entire endeavor of the Northmen was the Lord of the House Manderly, Lord Wyman Manderly.


He was a man in his forties with pale blue eyes and a beard. He wore rich clothing, including a velvet blue-green doublet embroidered with golden thread. A golden trident pins his mantle to his shoulder.


It was clear that he was growing more and more because he was getting fatter with each year that passed; soon enough, after maybe ten more years, he wouldn't even be able to ride a horse or fight properly.


Yet at the same time, he was a pretty shrewd, calculating, and intelligent man who was using his head more than he was using his fists.


"Has everything been prepared as I instructed?"


He asked in a severe voice, which was relatively unbefitting the amicable personality that he had, as he looked at his oldest son, who was accompanying him.


It was an order from Lord Rickard Stark personally and something that must be carried out in utmost honor for the people who were going to visit the North.


House Manderly were one of the staunchest followers of the House Stark, even if they were of different Faith and perhaps even different origins from the start, but now, they were one of the most loyal vassals of the North.


"Yes... everything done as was instructed by the Lord Stark, father..."


Wylis Manderly is a knight of House Manderly. He was the eldest son and heir of Wyman Manderly, Lord of White Harbor; he was bald and had a bushy walrus mustache that covered his mouth.


Like his father, he was also showing signs of getting fatter, but on a much lower scale compared to his father.


"Splendid... remember the instruction that the Lord Stark passed to us..."


Lord Wyman Manderly looked into the distance as the battleships were approaching the port city of the White Harbor. He could see that the ships were humongous and despite their huge size, they were rather fast, faster than they should be.


As the House Manderly was in control of the White Harbor for a very long time already, they became the North's foremost experts on the topic of shipwrighting and shipbuilding, sailing and everything related to the sea and sailing.


'They must be using some alternative means of sailing... this is not under normal conditions and in the first place this should not be natural. Such huge ships would normally be sailing slower than turtles, yet these are as fast as the fastest galley of Braavos.'


He knew that right now, the world was getting chaotic and everyone wanted to obtain as many advantages for themselves as possible. And the House Manderly was not any different from all other Noble Houses within the Westeros or Essos.


'Not to mention, they must have crossed through the Stepstones and right now the pirates were on the great raiding, so crossing over it would be very dangerous even for a proper fleet... while the pirates are poor fighters, they knew the naval warfare very well...'


As he pondered over the warships of the Holy Arcadia Empire, he noticed that all three of them were already entering the port and from the close, they were even bigger than from the distance.


Soon enough, after they approached enough, they started getting on the smaller boats because the warships of the Imperials were so huge that they couldn't really get into the port properly.


White Harbor didn't have large enough equipment for the warship to arrive and for the people to disembark from the warship effectively and safely. Lord Wyman Manderly saw several smaller boats approaching the shores of the White Harbor.


There were more than ten of them, and all of them were full of soldiers, armed to the teeth, wearing furs, capes and armor. While it seemed like ordinary and average clothing, the discerning eyes of the Lord of the White Harbor could see that they were of the best quality...


When the boats entered the port itself, one of the boats, went to the place where the delegation of the House Manderly was waiting for them and people started disembarking from it.


From the boat, he saw several very tall, gruff-looking men armed with waraxes, shields and wearing armors. All of their clothing was made from leather and fur, combined with some metal plates and chainmal in several places.


'That should be their leader... probably some sort of the higher Nobility of the Imperium.'


When he saw Leman Stark an Russ to disembark from the boat, he instinctively knew that they belonged to the higher caste of people. Even though the Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ looked more like a berserker and warrior than the highest-ranking aristocrat, he still had that air of nobility and prestige.


The same thing went for his daughter Astrid Stark an Russ and even his youngest son Ysgramor Stark an Russ. Both children of the Elector Count of the Grand Province of Fenris had an air of elegance despite their warrior appearance.


"Welcome to the lands of the Westeros, honored delegation from the lands of beyond the sunset sea."


Lord Wyman Manderly stated most diplomatically in the Old Tongue, something that he had been informed beforehand as to which language to use.


Within the Imperium, there were many languages being used, aside from the Lordranese, but basically, some of the Grand Provinces had their own languages. Within the Fenris, due to the heritage of the Fenrisians and their partial origin that was being traced to the first men, they were also using the Old Tongue.


Even though most of the people who were using the Old Tongue belonged to the higher castes of the Grand Province of Fenris.


Mainly the nobles of the Fenris, who had the origin of the First Men were using the Old Tongue as their secondary language.


"Well met... Lord Manderly... name is Leman Stark an Russ, Elector Count of the Grand Province of Fernis of the Holy Arcadia Empire, a descendant of the Leman Russ the Wolf King of Fenris and Brandon Stark the Shipwright the King of Winter of North of Westeros."


When the Elector Count Stark an Russ introduced him, many people reined in their surprise because the Northemen were very well educated in the history of the North. Even though the House Manderly was originally from the Kingdom of Reach, they were also acclimatized to this.


They recognized the name of Brandon Stark the Shipwright, who was one of the most famous explorers, King of the Winter and North, from several thousand years ago. When he was getting older, he passed the crown to his son and sailed with several ships to the Sunset Sea in an attempt to find out what was behind the Sunset Sea.


It was still shocking to hear that he apparently survived the entire endeavor and even managed to arrive at the continent that lay behind the Sunset Sea. Not only did he survive, he even managed to find his own lineage at the Lands of the Ancient Lords.


"It my utmost honor to host you at my castle, Lord Elector Count."


Wyman Manderly knew that the Elector Count must be some sort of higher aristocratic rank within the Holy Arcadia Empire or so he suspected from all of the years of his experiences with diplomacy, scheming and people overall.


"Cut the crap with the polite bullshit and bring us somewhere to eat and drink."


Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ also weren't the epitome of noble behavior, but that was the thing that was common for most, if not all, Fenrisians of the Grand Province Fenris.


Ironically, though, it was natural for most of the Northmen; they were also not very fond of the false politeness and politics that was taking place everywhere else around the Known World of Azyr.


It wasn't very popular among the nobles of the North and similarly, even among the nobles of the Holy Arcadia Empire, it was very similar to that of the Northemen.


Seeing that the delegation of the Imperium were not really like he imagined, so he relaxed a bit because he feared that he would need to entertain some stuck-up nobles from the foreign nation.


"Of course, of course. How many would be joining you we?"


After hearing that, Lord Manderly motioned for the Lord Elector Count to follow after him as they were heading toward the castle.


"Only a few tens of people, mostly the Household Guards and a few people that are following into the delegation, including my daughter and youngest son."


Soon enough, Lord Wyman Manderly saw a young-looking woman clad in the same outfit as her father as she was shouting something at the man who looked very much like the Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ.


"Stop complaining and behave according to your status Ysgramor already!"


Astrid was beginning to lose her cool when she was arguing with her brother, as Ysgramor wanted to go directly to the Lands of the Always Winter to search for powerful enemies to fight.


Something that was unacceptable because he needed to be present at the meeting in the Winterfell.


Even though it was evidently clear that Ysgramor was here just for that purpose, as he was an excellent tracker and beast tamer, it would look poor on the House Stark an Russ if one of their most prominent members didn't even bother with the other diplomatic steps and courtesies.


Even Ragnar, if not even a bit interested in things boring like politics, had at least so much tact that no matter how much he hated the gatherings and things like that, he would at least attend them.


Still, it wasn't any better sometimes because he would then erupt and create conflicts with the people around him or get into fights and brawls.


Yet, Astrid just couldn't let her brother to wander where he wanted and to do as he wished; she knew that even her father knew that and everyone else knew that. This was a form of protocol and diplomacy, even though the terms were a bit alien to most of the Fenrisians.


There were a few of the enlightened ones that were aware of their weight and purpose, so Astrid needed to make sure that her brother remained part of the delegation for the whole duration and that he didn't disappear to somewhere...


***


White Harbor, New Castle


Not creatively enough, as it seemed, the main seat of the House Manderly was named as the New Castle, which was pretty bad name in Astrid's mind as they were led into the castle itself...


The New Castle was reminiscent of Dunstonbury, the Manderlys' seat from when they lived along the Mander in the Reach. The pale castle was built atop a hill rising above White Harbor's white walls, and the merman sigil of House Manderly flies from its towers.


There was a clear view of both of the city's harbors from the hilltop, which gave the entire keep not only the strategic location and position but at the same time, also making the entire far more beautiful with the view of the Narrow Sea and panorama of the city.


The broad stepped Castle Stair was a white stone street that ran from the ancient Wolf's Den up the hill to the New Castle. The white stone was something akin to a trademark of the House Manderly, and if Astrid had to guess, it was some kind of marble but more durable and denser than ordinary marble.


The Manderlys decorated their hallways with faded banners, broken shields and rusted swords from ancient victories, and wooden figures from the prows of ships.


The Merman's Court is the great hall where the Manderlys hold court, while two mermen made of marble stood outside the hall's door, like ever-vigilant eternal guardians of the halls.


The large and airy chambers of the castle are finely furnished. The room which secretly leads to the Castle Stair passage has wooden beams and walls of lath and plaster.


It contained a Myrish carpet on the floor, beeswax candles on a table, and a sheepskin map of the North hanging on a wall. The overall state of the decorations was subtly showed the wealth of the House Manderyl that was generated through operating the port and large trade fleet.


Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ sat down at the designed spot, with his daughter Astrid sitting next to his right and Ysgramor to his left, albeit pretty much reluctantly, as he was showing his displeasure at the entire endeavor.


Together with them, several people sat down, as they were of the Wolf Guard, the closest companions of the Elector Count of the Grand Province of Fenris and at the same time, they were also the most senior members of the entire war machine of the Fenris and entire Administration of the Grand Province.


There were even a few Wizards and Sorcerers among them who had distinguished spot and place among the delegation to Westeros. And of course, there were members of the clergy of the Healing Church as they were ever present.


"You must have a long journey behind you, Lord Elector Count from the far distance of beyond the Sunset Sea, so allow me to hold a feast for you and for the arrival of the descends of the King of Winter back to the homelands."


Lord Wyman Manderly said as he welcomed the guests from afar, while the rest of his Household started bringing food for the guests, making a note that more food would be needed.


"And I thank you for your gracious and warm welcome. These two are my daughter and son. Astrid Stark an Russ and Ysgramor Stark an Russ..."


Elector Count of the Grand Province of Fenris stated as he looked at the Lord of the House Manderly and White Harbor that was hosting them a feast, while also introducing his children that were accompanying him to this entire ordeal.


From there on the rest of the feast that the Lord of the House Manderly prepared for the delegation of the Imperium went on smoothly, without much complications, aside from Ysgramor challenging the local nobles to the games of drinking.


Which they naturally lost, of course, but aside from that, it ended pretty well, probably better than anyone could even anticipate. Fortunately enough, Ysgramor didn't create any other mess or problems, and there were not any fights during the feast.


When they were carrying out the talks, it was mostly the Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ talking together with his daughter Astrid because they were the most politically apt from the entire delegation, so they were carrying out the conversation.


The rest of the Imperial delegation were either eating or drinking with no care about the rest of the world.


They would be spending the night at the White Harbor, before departing to the Winterfell to meet with the Lord Stark and then forward to the Lands of the Always Winter, which was one of the true goals of the Imperial Delegation.


As was decreed by the Holy Imperator.


***


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[Jason Wu]

I find Brandon the Shipwright stories to be fairly interesting

 

[ATP]

Waste of time.No matter how small was Stark harbours on other shore,they still could take small delegation.They should be arleady in Winterfall.
P.S Astrid would be future Elector - so,she could not marry any northern.Or could she?

And Brandon here would certainly not be wasted on Tully.

Manderly - it would be funny,if they have real mermen cousins still living in sea....


All citizens in Empire armed - it seems,that Emperor there could not play tyrant,even if he wonted.Becouse he would fight army of RL Wilhelm Tells then.

Stepstone coalition supporting pirates - Empire could deal with them later.They do not have enough dakka to become danger.

 

[Trafford]

North of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, Next Day, October of 280 AC of Westerosi Callendar / Year 10,280 - October of the Imperial Lordranese Callendar


Surprisingly enough, the Winterfell wasn't apparently that far from the White Harbor, as it would take them only a few days to reach the Winterfell. Even though the continent of Westeros wasn't really big from the viewpoint of the Lordranians, it was still a huge landmass.


The North of the Westeros was as big as the rest of the Seven Kingdoms combined into one, making it the largest of the Seven Kingdoms. Unfortunately enough for the Northmen, it was also the most undeveloped place within the Westeros.


It was a region that was a sovereign nation ruled by the Kings in the North or, as they were also called, the Kings of Winter before the Ageon's Conquest. Yet, with the disappearance of the Magic and oversized Wyverns that the House Targaryen controlled, resistance was futile.


The largest region of the Seven Kingdoms, the dominion of House Stark, extends from the border of the New Gift, which is controlled by the Night's Watch, to the southern edge of the Neck far to the South.


The region is sparsely populated, with vast wilderness, rising moorlands, high plains, forests, pine-covered hills and snow-capped mountains, speckled with tiny villages and holdfasts.


The cold North is much less fertile than provinces in southern Westeros. Its harsh climate was deadly in winter and occasionally, it snowed even in summer. For the Fenrisians that were passing through it, it was no different than the climate at home, maybe even a little bit warmer.


The North has two major land barriers: the Wall to the North, which was considered one of the Wonders of the Known World, and the Neck to the South. The North is bound on each side by major seas, the Shivering Sea to the east and the Sunset Sea to the west.


The Fenrisians were using the typical war wagons of the Imperium as means for their transportation because they were not only for the transportation itself, but they were also warmachines in times of need.


And aside from that, they could be used in every environment, including the extremely cold and freezing one of the Lands of the Always Winter.


For their tasks in the Lands of the Always Winter, they ended up being prepared and as the entire place was or would soon be the domain of a powerful Lich, then nothing could be left to the accident.


They were very well prepared for the Lands of the Always Winter, because Ornstein had already carried out the reconnaissance of the terrain and knew how dangerous the Lands of the Always Winter were.


The environment there was far colder than the average Fenrisian weather and in the core areas, where Ornstein only briefly went, were as cold as the Deep Winter of the Lordran, probably even colder due to the presence of Lich or something unnatural was lowering the temperature in that place.


Even though Ornstein was at Level 6, he didn't dare to enter the territory of whatever dwelled within the depths of the Lands of the Always Winter without proper preparations and equipment.


It was too dangerous and something that he didn't wish to risk his life for. The sources from the Imperial Military Intelligence were already telling that the Lands of the Always Winter were home to a very mighty Lich King.


That was a very dangerous thing because Liches of the highest order were frightening enemies, as were the Necromancers of the highest order.


They were the ones who could unleash unparalleled destruction and scourge on the enemies they had chosen, and there were only a few who could resist them in such situations.


The Holy Arcadia Empire still vividly remembered some of the most terrifying Undead and Necromancers that were a source of the most powerful Undead Scourtges that ever graced the Lands of the Ancient Lords.


During their relatively long journey from the White Harbor to the Winterfell, everyone was spending their time differently.


Ysgramor was on a different warwagon together with several captains of the Winter Wolf Knight Order, preparing his weapons for an inevitable fight and battle that was about to come.


Astrid was reading a book in her warwagon that she was sharing together with her father, who was sleeping on the upper floor of the warwagon. Their warwagons were a bit more luxurious, considering the fact that they belonged to the highest-ranked aristocracy of the Imperium.


She loved reading; it was one of the things that helped her relax and made her mind at peace.


Not to mention, since her childhood, she had a keen interest in knowledge and being educated, that was also the reason why she completed several extended courses within the Schola Progenium with honors.


Not only that, but she also completed her education at the Diesdorf Military College, which provided the best education in terms of cultivating the officers for the military.


Astrid was very well capable of commanding large-scale armies, and within the Fenris, she was often in charge of conquests of the Provincial Army against the forces of Ruin, Greenskisn and other dangers to the Fenris and Imperium.


Aside from that, she also attended Jade College of Magic, which taught Druidism and also got apprenticeships from some of the most powerful Cryomancer Sorcerers within the Lordran.


And that everything only fifty or so years of her life, as she was the youngest child of her father. That was also one of the reasons why she was chosen to be the Heir Apparent for the House Stark an Russ and the sovereignty of the Grand Province of Fenris.


'The coldness that is in the environment of the North is pretty similar to that of the Lordran during the Winter... but the place for sure is poor...'


Astrid thought as she looked through the window of the luxuriously made warwagon, which was warm filled with cushions and fur.


The constant cold and the iron grip of winter set apart the Northerners from the people of the Kingdoms south of the Neck. The North's terrain and climate do not easily yield the necessities of daily life.


Some Northmen live in remote, distant areas where they act as little more than clans and tribes. These remote folk, such as the Crannogmen, the Northern Mountain Clans, and the Skagosi, are still vassals of the Starks, however, and are allowed to maintain their own ways and traditions as long as they remain loyal to Winterfell.


From what Astrid saw and heard, coupled with the intelligence reports from the Imperial Military Intelligence, she knew that the North was the poorest area of the Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros.


She didn't know if it was just stagnation or neglect; from what she saw, the Northw wasn't doing bad or good... they were just stagnating, having problems with the food and other necessities that were constantly being repeated in cycles.


Countless places within the North certainly contained precious ores and metals; the richness that the North had was something that hadn't been touched by anyone in millennia and it seemed that nobody would even think about it.


But it wasn't really that weird if one thought about it more deeply.


Before the Seven Kingdoms were unified as one, then each individual Kingdom was probably more developed than right now. To create one coherent nation or at least some cheap imitation of it, Targaryens wanted to make the individual nations within Westeros depend on each other.


Which was, in Astrid's eyes, good strategy and utter foolishness at the same time. While this strategy indeed guaranteed some sort of internal stability between the conquered nations, because each nation would be depending on the other one for their very own survival, it also destroyed their future.


Due to this, there existed many means to prevent them from developing because if they developed too much, they would stop being that dependent on the others, which would then lead to growing internal struggles and instability.


So, the best course of action was for everyone to remain stagnant and to do nothing.


Through this method, Targaryens managed to induct a state onto the Westeros over the course of three hundred years, that every kingdom that strived for independence would face many problems.


Be it economic, trade, societal or political and many others that the ones that wanted to be independent would need to resolve.


Yet, the price for this state, where nobody wanted to really separate and remain as part of the nation, where the binding element was the existence of the Iron Throne and its Wyvern by extension, was the development of the Westeros as whole.


This only showed Astrid that Targaryens were shit at ruling and politics, but that was also playing into their advantages.


"You are still reading?"


Even though Leman Stark an Russ knew that his daughter was smart, he was sometimes in pure wonder that when she wasn't training or attending to her duties, she would be constantly reading books.


"Yes... it is interesting and you can learn a lot."


Astrid said absentmindedly to her father, who then sat opposite to her, on the leather sofa that was empty. As this was the warwagon was for the Elector Count of the Holy Arcadia Empire, there were tons of luxuries installed within the warwagon.


"Whatever makes you happy... at least you are using your time better than your brother combined."


Still that made him wonder, with how smart and dedicated she was, if she would ever marry... to preserve the Lineage of the House Stark an Russ; there were already Ragnar who sired some progeny, Ysgramor was still right now unmarried just like Astrid was.


Though with their long lives, it wasn't that much of a problem; in the end, they would live for several centuries at least, and if they reached the standards of Level 5 in their Old Blood, then they would stop aging entirely.


But that was a thought for the future still.


"How far are we from the Winterfell?"


Elector Count of the Grand Province of Fenris asked after some time observing the North before releasing a disappointed sigh at the situation that the North was in.


The conditions were terrible and from a few villages he saw, the state was terrible, poor and neglected.


Within the Fenris, even the most remote villages looked much better because every single village within the Fenris and not only the Fenris but the whole Imperium must meet the Settlement Standards Act that was passed by the Landsraad around two hundred years ago.


According to the Settlement Standards Act, every single village must have proper fortifications, walls, village militia, living standards and every other thing. Compared to it, the villages in the North looked more or like prison camps.


"Evidently only a few hours..."


Astrid answered as she then returned to reading her book. They were on the King's Road for several past hours, which was, as it apparently seemed sole Road that was connecting at least the majority of the Seven Kingdoms together.


And yet, it looked even worse than roads of the 3rd grade within the Holy Arcadia Empire.


"Then we shall see... Astrid, when we arrive at the Winterfell, you will be together with me, be in charge of negotiations and everything that requires official representation of the Imperium."


Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ stated as he looked at his daughter because he wanted her to lead parts of the negotiations and diplomacy because she would be far more useful there...


She was his Heir Apparent, so it would've been inappropriate to leave her in charge of some negotiations.


"And the Knight-Kommandant of Silver Knights Dragon Slayer Ornstein would be also present or not?"


If they were going to the Lands of the Always Winter and behind the Wall, having somebody at Level 6 would be a great assurance for them. Even though she trusted the strength of her father, he was still Level 5 in the end.


And if the things about the Lich King were indeed true, then the situation was grave and having somebody at Level 6 would give them another layer of protection.


"Yes... according to the orders from the Imperator, the Knight-Kommandant of Silver Knights is to accompany us into the True North and Lands of the Always Winter. Right now, he should be waiting for us either at the True North or at the Winterfell."


That was indeed a very positive piece of news that somebody as powerful as Ornstein would provide an extra layer of security to their expedition.


At least, in case they were attacked, they would have a good chance of survival with someone as powerful as Ornstein.


***


Winterfell, North, Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros.


The Winterfell was an ancestral castle and seat of power of the House of Stark for several millennia already. It was also considered as capital of the North for more than eight millennia already.


It is in the center of the northernmost province of the Seven Kingdoms, on the Kingsroad that runs from Storm's End to the Wall. It was situated at the eastern edge of the Wolfswood, north of the western branch of the White Knife and Castle Cerwyn.


Winterfell is south of the northern mountains and southwest of Long Lake, 482 kilometers southeast of Deepwood Motte.


Winterfell was a huge castle complex spanning several acres and encircled by two massive granite walls. There is a village outside, the Winter Town, even though right now, it already started showing the sights of the city.


From the time Lord Rickard Stark met with the Knight-Kommandant of Silver Knights Ornstein the Dragon Slayer, the Starks released the coffers and started making massive investments into the North, something that should have been done a long time ago.


During the millenias that the Starks have been ruling the Winterfell, they gathered enormous wealth, mainly because they were never spending the money on luxuries or other unnecessary things that they didn't really need.


Winterfell has been built around an ancient Godswood and over natural hot springs. The water is piped through walls and chambers to heat them, making Winterfell more comfortable than other castles during the harsh northern winters.


Inside the walls, the complex was composed of dozens of courtyards and small open spaces. Weapons training and practice take place in those yards. The Inner Ward is a second, much older open space in the castle where archery practice takes place.


Inside Winterfell stands the Inner Castle, which contains the Great Keep and the Great Hall. Winterfell's towers and halls have diamond-shaped window panes.


Winterfell is a huge castle complex spanning several acres, defended by two massive walls of grey granite with a wide moat between them. The Outer Wall was around 25 meters high, while the Inner Wall was more than 30 meters high.


Around the walls, there were several Guard Towers and Watchtowers; there were also Gurd Turrents on the Outer Wall and more than thirty watch turrets on the crenelated Inner Walls.


The great main gates have a gatehouse made of two huge crenelated bulwarks that flanked the arched gate and a drawbridge that opens into the market square of the Winter Town.


When the warwagons of the Fenrisian delegation were approaching the Winterfell, the Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ felt a weird nostalgic feeling when he first set his sight at the walls of the Winterfell.


"See this... this is where our ancestor lived and ruled, Astrid."


For someone who was descended from the Lineage of the House Stark, they only knew about the glory and wonder of the Winterfell from the writings of their ancestors.


Even Astrid got more curious about Winterfell, while Ysgramor didn't really care much about the heritage of his ancestors.


He was more or like, the rest of the common Fenrisians, who had the worship and respect aspects, but it wasn't really something that he was passionate about. Astrid was meanwhile more curious about the history of this place and also its dormant Magic that was right now in the process of awakening.


The Winterfell was built by the founder of the House Stark, Bran the Builder who built many wonders throughout the continent of Westeros, including the Wall that separated the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros from the Lands of the Always Winter.


And naturally, as the future seat of his House, Bran the Builder chose the most suitable spot to build the Winterfell, which was the location where several Leylines were crossed, meaning that the concentration of Magic during the ancient times must have been extremely high within the areas of the Winterfell.


Now, with the Resurgence of the Magic, everything was awakening and the environment was reverting to what it was once long ago. All of the lost glory and wonders would soon appear all over the Westeros and Essos.


"I can sense tremendous Magic from it, father..."


Astrid stated quietly as she looked at the tall walls of the Winterfell, while her father, Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ nodded in agreement. With his senses being even more accurate than those of his daughter, he could see and sense the overwhelming Magic dwelling beneath the Winterfell.


"Yes... it should be built on the Dragon Veins... rather fascinating and they seem to be in the awakening process. In a few years, this place would be filled with Magic and maybe in a few centuries, it would not lose to the density of Magic within some more Magic-poor regions of the Lordran."


Dragon Veins were the source of the Magic; among the Leylines, the Dragon Veins were the ones that contained the most Magic and were something akin to the root of the Leylines.


Across every continent, there were only a few of the Dragon Veins, as they were pretty rare thing to see. And it also took a very long time, in a very Magic-rich environment for the ordinary Leylines to somehow evolve into the Dragon Veins.


So, hearing this, even Astrid was surprised to hear that the Winterfell was built on the Dragon Veins; such a thing was rare... very, very rare.


While in the Lordran, the Dragon Veins were not as rare as they were within the other continents; even Elector Counts and High Lord Magistrates would get involved in fighting for the Dragon Veins to claim that part of the land as their own.


The last time the Dragon Vein was discovered, it was around fifty years ago and it was claimed by retired veteran Hunter of the Old Workshop who built there a training dojo and small castle for him and his descendants.


As the Hunter was at the advanced stages of Level 6 and had pretty powerful abilities, nobody really dared to continue squabbling with Van Helsing over a plot of land where the castle was built.


***


Winterfell, North of the Seven Kingdoms of the Westeros


On one of the watchtowers of the Winterfell, there was a man watching the panorama of the city. He was observing the panorama of the Winter Town and the surrounding areas of the Winterfell as if he were waiting for something to come.


Lord Rickard Stark was the current Lord of the Winterfell, Warden of the North and Head of the House of Stark. He looked like many of the Northmen, with a long beard and hair, wearing fur armor to keep him warm in this cold environment.


"They are here..."


He said quietly, because the recent events have been too shocking. Many had speculated for too long that something existed beyond the Sunset Sea, and not the speculations were proved to be true when an entire enormous continent existed beyond the Sunset Sea.


And it was filled with horrors and beings from the worst nightmares, filled with more wars and slaughter than the continent of Essos could ever be.


It was a land filled with Magic and wonders, with being extremely powerful and mighty, and at the same time, also nations whose might eclipsed even that of the Valyrian Freehold during the peak of their glory.


Certainly, it was a shocking piece of news, but what was even more shocking to hear was the fact that apparently, they had distant brethren bearing the same name Stark within the Lands of the Ancient Lords.


It seemed that Brandon the Shipwright who sailed to distant shores of the Lordran, managed to arrive and even founded his own Lineage at that place. He met with one of the higher-ups of the nation that called itself the Holy Arcadia Empire and that ruled large parts of the Lands of the Ancient Lords.


Knight-Kommandant of Silver Knight Order, Ornstein arrived at the Winterfell some time ago, only shortly after the Imperial Delegation from the Imperium left the Westerlands back to the homeland.


When he arrived at the gates of the Winterfell, he had a long discussion with the Knight-Kommandant of Silver Knights and it was time of revelation of many things.


In the end, Lord Rickard Stark was informed that there was a high possibility of the Imperium sending a separate delegation to the North of Seven Kingdoms.


Upon hearing what was happening in the world, Lord Stark readily agreed to meet with the Imperial delegation, who would be members of the House Stark an Russ as they were called within the Imperium.


With the Resurgence of the Magic, he knew that the times were changing, nobody knew if for better or for worse, but one thing was certain.


That nothing will be the same as it once was.


He knew that if the Magic truly returned at full force and the environment reverted to that of the Age of Ancients, then it would create unprecedented levels of chaos and war within Westeros and Essos.


"My Lord, the delegation is heading towards the Winterfell; they have already passed through the Winter Town."


As he heard the Winterfell's Castellan saying that, he nodded as they departed to meet the long distant kin of the House Stark.


Somehow he felt that this meeting would result in an entirely new chapter in the history of the House Stark.


Unlike his predecessors, he was politically far more apt; he knew that to revitalize the North, there was a need to have a good relationship with the Southern Kingdoms; that was the reason why he agreed to arrange marriages for his eldest son and daughter to the south.


But now, after hearing everything that was happening and that would probably happen, he was reconsidering the entire situation.


Depending on how the situation, he would need to change his standing.


Though right now, one thing was certain that the marriage between House Stark and House Tully would never happen.


According to the Imperials, if what they told about the Magic Resurgence, those with weak Magical Lineages would perish in this turmoil that was coming for them.


***


Gates of Winterfell


Meanwhile down in front of the gates of the Winterfell, the warwagons that were carrying the delegation from Imperium stopped and Fenrisians started disembarking the warwagons.


Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ looked at the gates of the Winterfell, which was also the ancestral seat of his own ancestors. His children soon enough followed suit as Astrid and Ysgramor exited the warwagons and adjusted their clothes to look more representative.


Even Ysgramor under the stern gaze of his father, attempted to look more dignified, even though he didn't really wish to look that way. But he knew that right now, it was not time to test the boundaries of his father and his patience.


"Behave Ysgramor... I don't want any shameful behavior from you this time."


Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ stated sternly as he looked at his youngest son.


Soon enough, from the gates of the Winterfell, several people appeared, one of them having a stronger resemblance to the Elector Count himself. Indeed, it was undeniable that both of the Houses, House Stark and House Stark an Russ were indeed having the same Lineage.


For several first seconds, nobody really said anything, as the Imperials were looking at the Westerosi and the Westerosi were looking at the Imperials.


"I am glad to welcome our distant kin back to the ancestral seat of the House Stark."


It was evident that neither the Norhemen of the Westeros were really keen on theatrical gestures, something that the Fenrisians gladly appreciated because it was just a waste of time for them.


"And we are glad to see the ancestral seat of our Ancestors."


Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ stated back, as he then shook hands with the Lord Rickard Stark. Ironically though, the moment their meeting was taking place, it started snowing, which was the most poetic thing.


It was clear that a snowstorm was coming, as the environment of the North was getting colder and colder, with the emerging Resurgence of the Magic and also the Magic leaking from the Lands of the Always Winter.


"This is my daughter and also Heir Apparent, Astrid Stark an Russ and this is my youngest son, Ysgramor Stark an Russ."


Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ introduced both of his children, though it was clear that the more important of the two was Astrid. She was, in the end, introduced as the Heir Apparent to the Elector Count House Stark an Russ of the Grand Province of Fenris.


This made Lord Stark raise his brow when he observed the young-looking woman, she didn't look older than twenty or so, but at the same time, she had an aura of a very sharp warrior and killer around her.


It seemed that the information that he was told about the Imperium was true, and women had far better social standing with the Holy Arcadia Empire than they had in Westeros or Essos or anywhere in the known world.


"Should we go inside? It is getting colder and colder these past days..."


Lord Rickard Stark stated as he then led the guests from the Lands of the Ancient Lords to the Great Hall of the Winterfell.


Right now, the Winterfell was mostly devoid of the people, as his youngest son Benjen was at the Moat Cailin, his second son Eddard Stark was at the Eyrie and his oldest son was hunting for the bandits and brigands that were reported some time ago.


Though, Brandon would return sometime later...


Soon enough they arrived at the Great Hall


The Great Hall has grey stone walls and tall narrow windows. Its wide doors made of oak and iron open to the castle yard, and the lord's door at the rear leads to a dimly lit gallery. The hall has a pitched roof, and its rafters have been stained by centuries of smoke.


The Great Hall of Winterfell contains the high seat of the old Kings of the North, but it wasn't the legendary Throne of Winter. Many of the artifacts that belonged to the ancient Kings of Winter were lost after the Targaryens conquered the North.


The seat's cold stone has been polished by the many Lords who have sat upon it, and its massive arms are decorated with the carved heads of snarling direwolves.


The Great Hall can seat five hundred people and it was very large; perhaps if it was filled to the limits, then it would be able to house even six hundred or so.


One arrangement is for eight long rows of trestle tables, four to each side of the central aisle. Everyone seated around, with the Knights of the Winter Wolf Knights and other prominent members of the administration of the Grand Province of the Fenris.


"I must apologize to the Elector Count that nobody from my Household is currently at the Winterfell, aside from Lyanna, my daughter and third child."


Lord Rickard Stark stated, but Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ didn't mind too much because they would be staying at the Winterfell for some time.


"Where is Knight-Kommandant of Silver Knights?"


Elector Count Leman Stark an Russ asked because he didn't notice Ornstein within the Winterfell and he also didn't sense his aura.


"Out, together with my oldest hunting for the bandits and brigands... for past months, everyone is getting restless within the Westeros; it seemed that the Resurgence of the Magic has been making many people in power very nervous and some are eager for a more aggressive approach."


In the Westeros, there was a constant problem with the bandits and brigands that were plundering and attacking anything and everyone they saw around. And now, with the turmoil that was happening, the situation was getting worse and worse.


And with the Westerlands hammering down on the banditry and brigands, like never before, the many of the bandits and brigands that were active within the Westerlands escaped to the different Kingdoms.


A lot of them went for the Reach and Riverlands.


One was the biggest of the Seven Kingdoms and another one was the weakest of the Seven Kingdoms without any real defense and soldiers. Even the noble houses were extremely weak and practically useless, with no real might.


And thus, a lot of them managed to get into the North, somehow, as the bandits always managed to find their way.


However, because the North had been implementing some reforms, many were similar to the ones that were being implemented within the Westerlands. This was decided by Lord Rickard Stark after he met with the Knight-Kommandant of the Silver Knight Order and had an in-depth discussion with him.


Because of the long rule of the Stark and their veneration among the noble houses of the North, Lord Stark didn't encounter any significant resistance from his own vassals when he was talking about the creation of the standing military.


Even though House Bolton raised some questions about such a decision, as the descendants of the Red Kings were constantly clashing with those of the Kings of Winter, but House Bolton didn't exist anymore.


***


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[ATP]

Good,but how they survive in Land of always Winter? our Lich friend do not even need to engage them,only freeze to death and blind with snow.

P.S Why Aerys do not go ballistic yet over some foreigners makinbg deals with HIS Lords ?