The Book of Baelish - A Westeros Mod AAR

[CCA]

"Whatever you do, make sure your hands are clean." - Petyr Baelish

This was inspired by the excellent AAR "A Conspiracy of Ravens" (http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...steros-Mod-AAR)

I haven't quite decided what form this AAR will take, but I'm leaning towards a mixture of narration and storybook. Screenshots will be included.


1. Prologue

Petyr

Please don't hurt him, he's only a boy.

The words ran around Petyr's head as he lay bleeding in the waters of the Trident. It took every ounce of his remaining strenght to open his eyes and see Cat's eyes. But they weren't looking at him with a look of love or admiration or even love. Those warm green eyes met his with pity. And that hurt worse than the gashing wound that went from his collarbone right down to his belly. The world turned to black.

Darrin

Petyr's father glanced at the still form of his son, who trashed around in a high fever. The circumstances of his son getting to that way still surprized him. For Petyr, even as a boy - had never been one for sword-fighting and he had even scorned at the old tales of chivalry and honour and bravery that many son's of knight's were devouring at that age. That his son had bled - and nearly died - and could still die for love and all the idea his son had scorned was surprising to Darrin. It reminded him of Petyr's mother Alayne, she was a noblewoman too - and Darrin had also fought for love for her hand. Unlike Petyr, he succeeded and Alayne ran away with him, until she found that all he could offer was a few stony acres of rocks and sheep. Then she had abandoned him, but not before delivering him his first born son. Darrin turned away from his son and below the old flint tower that he had made his 'court' - he was still greatful for all this - in a time of war and strife, men of great ambition and ability could rise to become Lords - and even Kings - as the Targaryan household had many years before. Darrin knew that he was no such person, but he knew that his son could bring power and glory to the House Baelish. Unlike the Targaryan's however, the Baelish household did not have dragons. Darrin didn't care - what the Targaryan's had made with the fire of dragon was now crumbling away under the steel and iron of men. The Seven Kingdoms was in rebellion against the Iron Throne. The world was being consumed in a storm of swords.

[ZwolscheStudent]

I feel honoured and intrigued! Let's see if Petyr can rise higher than he did in my game.

Subscribed!

[vanin]

Aren't Catelyn's eyes blue?

Still subscribed! Littlefinger is one of my favourite characters from the books, will be interesting to see what you can come up with - the Baelish family isn't exactly prominent at the start of the game.

[Lord Blekinge]

Littlefinger's rise to greatness, sounds intriguing.

[Knight Errant]

I'm subscribed already. So far you've got me intrigued; I can't wait to see how far you go with this!

[Andrzej I]

Hear, hear. Subscribed and looking forward to seeing how House Baelish does.

[CCA]

Chapter I: Rumours of Ash and Fire

Petyr

Petyr had never liked Newton. Even as a child the dullness of the gray rocks and the over powering smell of manure climbed up and clung onto even the old flint tower which was the seat of his father's 'court.' He remembered how the Tully sisters, Lisa and Cat had turned their nose up at him the first day he was fostered onto the Tully household. Cat had pitied him then, and she undoubtedly pitied him now. He put aside such thoughts and looked out onto the stony fields. He needed a much vaster and richer realm than this if he was to win over Cat and win the respect of people. But how? Even before he asked the question, Petyr already knew the answer. It didn't matter how much gold he had or how high honours his name was worth. What mattered were titles and the land that were associated with them. Gold and honour mattered, yes - but at the end of the day, your worth was decided by the estates you held. By that standard, Petyr and the Baelish household was worth very little indeed. So Petyr needed land. But where would he find such lands? Petyr had poured over the maps of Westeros, the Eyrie was closed off to him, save for the lands occupied by the savage hilltribes. But those lands were already promised and under the nominal authority of a fellow vassal to Lord Arryn. No, Petyr had spent weeks since his duel obsessively scanning the map and piecing it together with the information in his mind. The only place where Petyr could take as his own was the Island of Skagos.



There were scant things that any man - learned or unlearned, knew about Skagos. It was whispered that the fiercely savage islanders engaged in cannibalism and rode unicorns and that the chief among them bore the noble name "Magnar." Skagos had declared it's independence from Winterfell and the Starks at the beginning of the Rebellion, the Starks had much more important things to deal with than to crush a small rebellion on what many viewed as worthless rock. Petyr smiled. He had found the place where he would make his mark. On paper, he would have no trouble justifying the invasion and seizure of the island - the people there were viewed as little more than wildling savages. But a larger war was being fought in the south. He needed to link it to the war with the Targaryens, that would be easy enough to do. There were other rumours about the island, that sometimes the rocks glowed red hot and poured fire into the sea and the rocks turned so hot they would melt and pour into the sea. Those rumours were whispered often enough, but Petyr wanted to add another verse to those rumours - he would add to the whispers that the Targaryens were breeding dragons on the island and using the fires to bring petrified dragon eggs back to life. It would be simple enough to pay men to whisper such tales in crodwed inns and taverns, to buy the songs and poems of poor bards and singers. With the buzzing of the commoners reaching the ears of the high and the mighty, the seeds would be planted. The next stage of the deception would be the escalate such rumours, pay silver to sailors who passed the Isle of Skagos to whisper tales of ash and fire in the taverns. The final stage would for Pety to directly convey such rumours to his father and also his love, Lysa who would whisper it in the ear of her husband, Jon Arryn. They would then come to him and he would beg permission to lead a 'scouting expedition' to find out whether rumours of such activities were true.

Petyr knew his father would agree. His father was a warrior at heart and he would be so proud of his little Petyr finally leading men in his first battle. Lysa would ensure that her nearly senile husband would comply. Petyr allowed himself a smile. He could see the pieces ahead of him and what moves they were likely to play. It only remained to be seen whether Petyr was right and they would play it.

Darrin

Darrin glanced at the face of his old friend and liege Jon Arryn - it was old and weary - as if the burdens of war had aged him even more. Jon had always been a vigorous man, and he was still vigorous enough to ride, but there was some burden on him now that never was.

"...If the rumours are true and that the Targaryens are returning dragons to the earth, then the war is lost and this rebellion was a folly..." Jon intoned slowly, leading to silence in the Eyrie.

"...Step forward Lord Baelish..." Jon intoned again, recognizing Darrin's lifted hand.


"My liege. My son vouches for the truth of these rumours. He begs leave to lead a small scouting party of men to investigate the rumours and bring back word. He says he is prepared to finance it with his own money and using hired sellswords." said Darrin. The Eyrie broke into a flurry of whispers.

"And do you support your son's actions, Lord Baelish?" Queried Jon.

"Yes, my liege. It is high time that my son is bloodied in combat, this mission may also be of vital importance to the war." Darrin replied honestly.


"Then let it be so. Let it be known that I, Jon Arryn, Protector of the Vale and Lord of Eyrie grant leave to Petyr Baelish to take a small scouting party to investigate the strange events in Skagos..." Darrin saw Lysa Arryn whisper something in Jon's ear.


"...and that he is authorized to take any steps he feels necessary to protect the Vale. May he go with the blessings of the Seven. So it has been said. Let it be done."


The meeting drew to a close.