Hi, I haven't posted an AAR for a while (had a lot of stuff recently), but my exams are closing in, so I thought why not start an AAR (not the smartest tool in the shed). But seriously, my exams will be over in a month or so, so if I start an AAR now then I will be able to dedicate more time to it after exams. It doesn't make much sense, but you're not here to read my life story.
For a while I've been consisdering doing an AAR on House Targaryen from Aegon I 'the Conqueror'. And here it, coincedentally, is.
Aegon’s first move was to rally the Houses between the Stormlands and the Riverlands. Sending his younger sister-wife, Rhaenys, on her dragon Meraxes to rally the Houses Rosby, Darklyn, Staunton, Stokeworth and Thorne to his cause. He promised them under his rule they would no longer be the battlegrounds of the wars between the Seven Kingdoms. The only house to refuse the call to arms was Thorne, bringing Aegon’s army to seven thousand one hundred men.
Aegon landed at what would become King’s Landing with the men from Crab Isle, Driftmark and Dragonstone, before marching north to Rosby to meet with his new vassals’ forces. When he arrived he found four separate hosts, representing each House. They didn’t seem themselves as countrymen, with nothing to unite them but the ambition of a foreign conqueror. Aegon knew he would have to rally them. At Rosby he gave a speech form atop Balerion, aweing all. He promised the soldiers not glory or riches, but peace and prosperity for their lands, and justice on the Kings who had used said lands as their battlegrounds for centuries. This stirred the hearts of the men, and Aegon’s first army was assembled.
By now Harren ‘the Black’, presumably underestimating the strength of this would-be King, had gathered an army of eight thousand six hundred men, under his, Lord Piper’s and Lord Orkmont’s command. They had emerged from the Riverlands and sieged the Antlers. Aegon took his army, led by himself and his sisters, alongside Orys Baratheon and Quenton Qoherys, to meet Harren’s force. The first battle of the conquest was about to begin.
Aegon’s battle plan was simple. He would send his army, led by Orys, out to meet with Harren, and begin to trade archer fire with each other, before sending in Rhaenys and Visenya to attack with their dragons, annihilating the opposing archers while Orys led a charge forward. Hopefully Harren and Orkmont would send their men to charge back, and that would be when Aegon would arrive with Balerion.
The battle began just after dawn. Orys, Qoherys and Lord Stokeworth, representing Aegon’s new vassals, led their men forward to meet with The Ironborn amry. Harren reportedly scoffed at the sight of the army. The archers from both sides soon started firing at the opposing hosts, when Visenya and Rhaenys appeared. The sight of the dragons alone shook Harren’s men, and when the fire descended upon the archers, chaos would have broken out among the ranks if it hadn’t been for Orkmont’s excellent commanding skills. Orkmont and Harren, trying to control the chaos, sent their men to charged Orys’, who charged back. As the armies closed, Aegon appeared.
Whilst Meraxes and Vhagar were both large dragons, they were nothing compared to Balerion ‘the Black Dread’. Aegon swept in from the right, ingulfing ranks upon ranks of men in flames as he flew over Harren’s army. The Iron Isles army collapsed under the flames of all three dragons, who ceased just before Orys’ troops slammed into what remained of the Ironborn host. Just then the reinforcements led by Bracken arrived, which Aegon quickly routed and destroyed with the three dragons. The battle was a complete and utter victory for Aegon, who had only lost five hundred men. Harren had lost nine and a half thousand men.
After crushing Harren’s main host, Aegon set his course for Harrenhal, leading his now confident army. They met with some resistance at Frogpool, where Lord Frey with one thousand three hundred men tried to stop the army, only to be sent scurrying away by dragonflame. Aegon arrived at Harrenhal on the 9th of May, with the only resistance in sight was a three thousand man host content to siege Rook’s Rest to the west.
Aegon landed Balerion just before the main gates of Harrenhal. He had come alone, having sent messengers requesting parley with whoever held Harrenhal in Harren’s absence. Balerion shifted restlessly. Even the colossal dragon was dwarfed by this castle. It was truly an impressive feat. ‘Built by thralls.’ Aegon thought distastefully. ‘When I finish this war with Harren, they shall all be freed, alongside the Riverlands themselves.’ The Riverlords had long suffered under the Ironborn, and no doubt they would be grateful for Aegon’s liberation.
“Who are you?” Demanded a voice from the ramparts. Aegon looked up to see a man dressed in simple yet expensive looking plate armour, decorated with only a few emblems of House Hoare’s sigil. He was pudgy looking, from what Aegon could see, but held himself proudly.
“I am King Aegon Targaryen of Westeros. I demand you submit this castle to me and swear me an oath of loyalty. If not I shall take this castle within the day.” Aegon announced, booming with an authorative tone.
The man on the walls laughed. “You may have defeated my father’s host in battle, upstart. But you could never take Harrenhal. It could resist one hundred thousand men, and you have less than ten thousand. I, Prince Harwyn of the Iron Isles, reject your offer.”
“I advise you to reconsider. While my men may be few, I have Balerion here. Walls mean nothing to a dragon.” Harwyn eyed the dragon cautiously.
“These walls are made from stone, foreigner. Stone doesn’t burn. Bring your dragon here again, Targaryen, and I shall shoot it down from the sky. Now go!” Aegon nodded, before spurring the dragon and flying off.
Aegon waited until evening for a surrender from the Prince, but he never got one. Sighing, not wishing to destroy one of the greatest castles in the realm, he mounted Balerion. He soared up into the dusk sky, speeding towards Harrenhal. The castle got closer and closer.
‘And now it ends.’ He thought sadly.
Aegon kicked Balerion into dropping down and opening his maw. A stream of flame shot out, ingulfing one of the towers. Men screamed below. Balerion continued to burn the castle. Scorpion bolts flew past, the occasionally one bouncing off the dragon’s thick scales. Aegon watched and guided Balerion over the castle. After half an hour, the smoke was thick and the damage was done. Aegon decided enough was enough and flew back to his army.
Despite the burning of Harrenhal being so devastated, Prince Harwyn and his brothers escaped dying like their garrison. Thanks to Harwyn’s paranoia, the brothers had left soon after Aegon’s visit, leaving a reaving captain in command. But their survival meant little. Harren’s armies were defeated, his castle in ruins and occupied by the Targaryen forces. Soon after the burning of Harrenhal, King Harren came to Aegon, and bent the knee.
The first of the Seven Kingdoms had fallen. After accepting Hoare’s oath of fealty, Aegon sent a raven to the Strom King, Argilac the Arrogant. The Stormlands would be the next target of the conquest. Aegon had a personal history with Argilac. They had fought side by side once, against Volantis, but after Argilac refusing Orys Baratheons’ hand in marriage to his daughter, Aegon had decided the man’s vanity and foolishness had gone on long enough.
Aegon sent word to all the Riverlords, telling them from this day forth they no longer served under the Iron Islands, but him instead. In response, led by Lords Edmyn Tully and Deremond Darry, the lords of the Riverlands raised their banners in the name of Aegon Targaryen, marching towards Harrenhal.
After amassing a host of seventeen thousand, Aegon and his sisters marched south, to meet Argilac in battle. Aegon had also sent ravens demanding the lords of Crackclaw Point to swear him fealty. All but the Whispers had done so. In response to the Whispers insolence, Aegon gave Orys Barathepn, Quenton Qoherys and Lord Stokeworth four thousand two hundred men, to go conquer the Whispers.
After a month of marching south, Aegon reached the border of the Stormlands, arriving at Langward Hall. He was set to be caught between two Stormlands armies, both numbering twelve thousand. In response Aegon struck at one of the armies first, at Bronzegate. However, soon after the battle started, the other army marched in behind them.
The battle of Bronzegate was the largest battle of the conquest seen so far, with other forty thousand men involved in the fighting. Argilac’s army, the one attacked by Aegon, had set up an impressive defensive line, while the reinforcing army was set to come in from behind. Aegon, in response to this, left a third of his army with Rhaenys to hold off the reinforcing army, while he, Visenya and the remaining two thirds attacked Argilac’s force. The two armies met in combat as the dragons soared above.
The battle may have gone on for much longer, if it hadn’t been for chance. Argilac was famous for his pride and confidence, which had earned him his moniker ‘the Arrogant’. He wore shining gold-gilded armour, decorated with elaborate stag antlers, wielding a hammer. He often led his knights into the thickest of the fighting, a quality Aegon could admire. Yet this set him out as a target.
Commanding Aegon’s original host while the King was in the air was Lord Tristan of Duskendale, holding the cnetr of the battle. His bravery had been noted by Aegon, who had left in charge in Stokeworth’s and Orys’ absence. However, he too led his armies from the front, and he and Srgilac met in combat. Both men were past their prime, but the Storm King’s strength was infamous.
The two met in a ferocious fight, despite not being particularly skilled warriors, with Argilac questioning why Tristan would serve a foreign warlord. Tristan replied that Aegon would bring peace to his lands, which had been caught in Argilac’s wars for too long. Argilac, growing impatient, finished the man with a crushing blow the lord’s chest. He watched as the enemy lines around him broke, and then heard the flap of wings. Visenya had been watching from above, waiting. As soon as she saw Tristan fall, she dropped down and landed. Vhagar, despite being the smallest of the three dragons was still a massive beast and opened its mouth, consuming Argilac and his men in flame.
The death of their King routed the Stormlands army. After hearing the news, the second army fell apart as well. In the aftermath, Argilac’s former vassals all came to Aegon, and bent the knee one by one. Aegon rode to Storm’s End, to find the garrison had already surrendered, offering Argella, Argilac’s daughter, to the King.
Aegon was lord of the Stormlands, a rich prize he could have kept. But Aegon felt there was a man who deserved Storm’s End, the Stormlands and its princess. He wrote a letter to Orys Baratheon, legitimising him and naming Lord Orys Baratheon of the Stormlands.
With the Stormlands and the Iron Isles conquered, the other Kings of Westeros were starting to notice a threat in the Targaryen conqueror. No doubt, Aegon thought, his next target would be a tougher quandary. The most powerful of the Kingdoms would fall next. Aegon Targaryen set his eyes on the Reach…
For a while I've been consisdering doing an AAR on House Targaryen from Aegon I 'the Conqueror'. And here it, coincedentally, is.
A LINE OF FIRE AND BLOOD
KING AEGON I
Chapter 1: The Start of a Kingdom
Aegon Targaryen looked across the waters of Dragonstone, towards the coast of Westeros. His right hand rested on the pommel of Blackfyre, the point on the blade digging into the ground. The wind swept his hair back. He watched as seven ravens flew away from the island. Each one bore only six words; ‘There will be only one king.’ The Kingdoms of Westeros had squabbled long enough. Aegon would unite them, through fire and blood, like his ancestors from Valyria had done long ago. His war of conquest started today, and the first Kingdom to fall would be the Iron Isles.KING AEGON I
Chapter 1: The Start of a Kingdom
*****
Aegon’s first move was to rally the Houses between the Stormlands and the Riverlands. Sending his younger sister-wife, Rhaenys, on her dragon Meraxes to rally the Houses Rosby, Darklyn, Staunton, Stokeworth and Thorne to his cause. He promised them under his rule they would no longer be the battlegrounds of the wars between the Seven Kingdoms. The only house to refuse the call to arms was Thorne, bringing Aegon’s army to seven thousand one hundred men.
Aegon landed at what would become King’s Landing with the men from Crab Isle, Driftmark and Dragonstone, before marching north to Rosby to meet with his new vassals’ forces. When he arrived he found four separate hosts, representing each House. They didn’t seem themselves as countrymen, with nothing to unite them but the ambition of a foreign conqueror. Aegon knew he would have to rally them. At Rosby he gave a speech form atop Balerion, aweing all. He promised the soldiers not glory or riches, but peace and prosperity for their lands, and justice on the Kings who had used said lands as their battlegrounds for centuries. This stirred the hearts of the men, and Aegon’s first army was assembled.
By now Harren ‘the Black’, presumably underestimating the strength of this would-be King, had gathered an army of eight thousand six hundred men, under his, Lord Piper’s and Lord Orkmont’s command. They had emerged from the Riverlands and sieged the Antlers. Aegon took his army, led by himself and his sisters, alongside Orys Baratheon and Quenton Qoherys, to meet Harren’s force. The first battle of the conquest was about to begin.
Aegon’s battle plan was simple. He would send his army, led by Orys, out to meet with Harren, and begin to trade archer fire with each other, before sending in Rhaenys and Visenya to attack with their dragons, annihilating the opposing archers while Orys led a charge forward. Hopefully Harren and Orkmont would send their men to charge back, and that would be when Aegon would arrive with Balerion.
The battle began just after dawn. Orys, Qoherys and Lord Stokeworth, representing Aegon’s new vassals, led their men forward to meet with The Ironborn amry. Harren reportedly scoffed at the sight of the army. The archers from both sides soon started firing at the opposing hosts, when Visenya and Rhaenys appeared. The sight of the dragons alone shook Harren’s men, and when the fire descended upon the archers, chaos would have broken out among the ranks if it hadn’t been for Orkmont’s excellent commanding skills. Orkmont and Harren, trying to control the chaos, sent their men to charged Orys’, who charged back. As the armies closed, Aegon appeared.
Whilst Meraxes and Vhagar were both large dragons, they were nothing compared to Balerion ‘the Black Dread’. Aegon swept in from the right, ingulfing ranks upon ranks of men in flames as he flew over Harren’s army. The Iron Isles army collapsed under the flames of all three dragons, who ceased just before Orys’ troops slammed into what remained of the Ironborn host. Just then the reinforcements led by Bracken arrived, which Aegon quickly routed and destroyed with the three dragons. The battle was a complete and utter victory for Aegon, who had only lost five hundred men. Harren had lost nine and a half thousand men.
After crushing Harren’s main host, Aegon set his course for Harrenhal, leading his now confident army. They met with some resistance at Frogpool, where Lord Frey with one thousand three hundred men tried to stop the army, only to be sent scurrying away by dragonflame. Aegon arrived at Harrenhal on the 9th of May, with the only resistance in sight was a three thousand man host content to siege Rook’s Rest to the west.
*****
Aegon landed Balerion just before the main gates of Harrenhal. He had come alone, having sent messengers requesting parley with whoever held Harrenhal in Harren’s absence. Balerion shifted restlessly. Even the colossal dragon was dwarfed by this castle. It was truly an impressive feat. ‘Built by thralls.’ Aegon thought distastefully. ‘When I finish this war with Harren, they shall all be freed, alongside the Riverlands themselves.’ The Riverlords had long suffered under the Ironborn, and no doubt they would be grateful for Aegon’s liberation.
“Who are you?” Demanded a voice from the ramparts. Aegon looked up to see a man dressed in simple yet expensive looking plate armour, decorated with only a few emblems of House Hoare’s sigil. He was pudgy looking, from what Aegon could see, but held himself proudly.
“I am King Aegon Targaryen of Westeros. I demand you submit this castle to me and swear me an oath of loyalty. If not I shall take this castle within the day.” Aegon announced, booming with an authorative tone.
The man on the walls laughed. “You may have defeated my father’s host in battle, upstart. But you could never take Harrenhal. It could resist one hundred thousand men, and you have less than ten thousand. I, Prince Harwyn of the Iron Isles, reject your offer.”
“I advise you to reconsider. While my men may be few, I have Balerion here. Walls mean nothing to a dragon.” Harwyn eyed the dragon cautiously.
“These walls are made from stone, foreigner. Stone doesn’t burn. Bring your dragon here again, Targaryen, and I shall shoot it down from the sky. Now go!” Aegon nodded, before spurring the dragon and flying off.
Aegon waited until evening for a surrender from the Prince, but he never got one. Sighing, not wishing to destroy one of the greatest castles in the realm, he mounted Balerion. He soared up into the dusk sky, speeding towards Harrenhal. The castle got closer and closer.
‘And now it ends.’ He thought sadly.
Aegon kicked Balerion into dropping down and opening his maw. A stream of flame shot out, ingulfing one of the towers. Men screamed below. Balerion continued to burn the castle. Scorpion bolts flew past, the occasionally one bouncing off the dragon’s thick scales. Aegon watched and guided Balerion over the castle. After half an hour, the smoke was thick and the damage was done. Aegon decided enough was enough and flew back to his army.
*****
Despite the burning of Harrenhal being so devastated, Prince Harwyn and his brothers escaped dying like their garrison. Thanks to Harwyn’s paranoia, the brothers had left soon after Aegon’s visit, leaving a reaving captain in command. But their survival meant little. Harren’s armies were defeated, his castle in ruins and occupied by the Targaryen forces. Soon after the burning of Harrenhal, King Harren came to Aegon, and bent the knee.
The first of the Seven Kingdoms had fallen. After accepting Hoare’s oath of fealty, Aegon sent a raven to the Strom King, Argilac the Arrogant. The Stormlands would be the next target of the conquest. Aegon had a personal history with Argilac. They had fought side by side once, against Volantis, but after Argilac refusing Orys Baratheons’ hand in marriage to his daughter, Aegon had decided the man’s vanity and foolishness had gone on long enough.
Aegon sent word to all the Riverlords, telling them from this day forth they no longer served under the Iron Islands, but him instead. In response, led by Lords Edmyn Tully and Deremond Darry, the lords of the Riverlands raised their banners in the name of Aegon Targaryen, marching towards Harrenhal.
After amassing a host of seventeen thousand, Aegon and his sisters marched south, to meet Argilac in battle. Aegon had also sent ravens demanding the lords of Crackclaw Point to swear him fealty. All but the Whispers had done so. In response to the Whispers insolence, Aegon gave Orys Barathepn, Quenton Qoherys and Lord Stokeworth four thousand two hundred men, to go conquer the Whispers.
After a month of marching south, Aegon reached the border of the Stormlands, arriving at Langward Hall. He was set to be caught between two Stormlands armies, both numbering twelve thousand. In response Aegon struck at one of the armies first, at Bronzegate. However, soon after the battle started, the other army marched in behind them.
The battle of Bronzegate was the largest battle of the conquest seen so far, with other forty thousand men involved in the fighting. Argilac’s army, the one attacked by Aegon, had set up an impressive defensive line, while the reinforcing army was set to come in from behind. Aegon, in response to this, left a third of his army with Rhaenys to hold off the reinforcing army, while he, Visenya and the remaining two thirds attacked Argilac’s force. The two armies met in combat as the dragons soared above.
The battle may have gone on for much longer, if it hadn’t been for chance. Argilac was famous for his pride and confidence, which had earned him his moniker ‘the Arrogant’. He wore shining gold-gilded armour, decorated with elaborate stag antlers, wielding a hammer. He often led his knights into the thickest of the fighting, a quality Aegon could admire. Yet this set him out as a target.
Commanding Aegon’s original host while the King was in the air was Lord Tristan of Duskendale, holding the cnetr of the battle. His bravery had been noted by Aegon, who had left in charge in Stokeworth’s and Orys’ absence. However, he too led his armies from the front, and he and Srgilac met in combat. Both men were past their prime, but the Storm King’s strength was infamous.
The two met in a ferocious fight, despite not being particularly skilled warriors, with Argilac questioning why Tristan would serve a foreign warlord. Tristan replied that Aegon would bring peace to his lands, which had been caught in Argilac’s wars for too long. Argilac, growing impatient, finished the man with a crushing blow the lord’s chest. He watched as the enemy lines around him broke, and then heard the flap of wings. Visenya had been watching from above, waiting. As soon as she saw Tristan fall, she dropped down and landed. Vhagar, despite being the smallest of the three dragons was still a massive beast and opened its mouth, consuming Argilac and his men in flame.
The death of their King routed the Stormlands army. After hearing the news, the second army fell apart as well. In the aftermath, Argilac’s former vassals all came to Aegon, and bent the knee one by one. Aegon rode to Storm’s End, to find the garrison had already surrendered, offering Argella, Argilac’s daughter, to the King.
Aegon was lord of the Stormlands, a rich prize he could have kept. But Aegon felt there was a man who deserved Storm’s End, the Stormlands and its princess. He wrote a letter to Orys Baratheon, legitimising him and naming Lord Orys Baratheon of the Stormlands.
With the Stormlands and the Iron Isles conquered, the other Kings of Westeros were starting to notice a threat in the Targaryen conqueror. No doubt, Aegon thought, his next target would be a tougher quandary. The most powerful of the Kingdoms would fall next. Aegon Targaryen set his eyes on the Reach…
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