Of trees and stars
The war of faiths pt 1
"One must be a great idiot to bow to a tree " the High Septon "the river one " to a captured Green sword
"One must be a greater idiot to bow to the statues he made " said to be the Green sword's rebuttal
"Old Gods , New Gods why not both " anyomyous Riverlander
"It was so much easier when we just had trees " King Oreins Durrandon
"The Gods I know wouldn't stand to such an atrocity " a septon upon seeing a first men village in the aftermath of a faith militant purge . The septon was executed later on charges of heresy
When the Andals came into Westeros, they didn't just bring steel and blood (though they undoubtedly brought those in plenty as well). They also brought a new type of war , wars that were fought with prayer and books instead of swords and the battlefields were the hearts and minds of the Westerosi.
While the North was successful in fending off the Andals, the other kingdoms weren't so fortunate and the victorious Andals started cutting down heartrees as false idols and killing the children of the forest and giants as demons . What's worse is that many of the first men joined them ; abandoning the old gods they had followed for so long and betraying their fellows who stuck to the Old Gods ; even houses like the Gardeners, who had styled themselves to be the rightful high kings of all First Men in Westeros due to their supposed descent from Garth Greenhand (who they claimed was the First King in Westeros) and the Lannisters . Both Houses allowing the Andals into their lands and marrying their daughters.
Needles to say those who refused to follow the Seven were slaughtered, their wives and daughters raped and even their children weren't spared . The septons even claimed that every poor fellow could kill ten 'heathens' to earn his way to the seven heavens and the more faithless he (or she ) kills the higher he ascends they claimed.
With all the manner of atrocities visited upon their followers it was only a matter of time before the Old Gods or rather their priests retaliated . The green men surged forward from their Isle of Faces and every corner of Westeros; riding their infamous war elk whose horns are said to be able to pierce steel armour like leather and wielding artefacts said to be infused with the power of the gods themselves.
At first their effect was rather limited, as for all their power the green men weren't a large order and thus lacked the numbers to face the faith militant head on, so instead they resorted to more shrewd methods of warfare. Patrols of faith militant soldiers would disappear only to be found in the morning, hanging from the septs; a blood stained smile on their faces. Villages would be attacked by massive wolf packs that left devastation wherever they went and those lords who betrayed their oaths to the gods would often meet truly horrific ends (The lord of the extinct house Raemis for example was found in his bead devoured alive by maggots).
As word of their deeds spread across the continent, people started to pledge themselves to the cause of the Old Gods cause, rallying around the Green men to form the Green Swords , a group dedicated to aiding the priests of the nameless gods (though that's the one thing everyone agreed on, for in everything else from methods of warfare to ideology differed between each warband).
Now with thousands of troops under their banner the Green Men , they could finally challenge the Faith militant head on , starting the wars of faiths which would last for centuries , starting with the battle of the saltpans where an army of Green Swords clashed with a much larger Faith militant force . Most details of the battle are lost to us, such as the number of combatants , some say the Swords were outnumbered 5 to 1 , though more modest accounts place it at 1: 1: 1.5 in favour of the bearers of the seven stars .
What is widely known though is the outcome, for faith militant were slaughtered and the traumatised survivors retreated. Legend says that phenomenal Packs of Direwolves were unleashed , scaring the horses of the warriors sons while flocks of birds swarmed anyone who had the seven pointed stars carved into the all the while the Green Swords charged , heralded by Elk Calvary that crushed any foot soldier who dared stand in its way. Alongside them fought bears , shadow cats, lion lizards and some even say a giant .
The war of the sword and star (the first phase in the wars of the faith) was a conflict that while primarily fought in the Riverlands and the then nameless crownlands as to avoid antagonising any of the major kingdoms (though that did not stop them from supporting one side or the other) influenced every region in Westeros. While most of the battles went in the favour of those carrying the Hearttree banners that was only in the presence of the Green Men, without the tree priests the battles tended to be more evenly matched.
The first war ended when Theon Stark conquered the Riverlands and Crownlands burning every sept he could find and feeding septons to his Direwolf . However despite his best efforts Theon never completely stamped out the faith of the seven in his kingdom and his heirs were content to let peaceful septons and septas preach and build septs in the land (for a fee of course ) and ironically under the reign of the Starks, the two faiths coexisted peacefully. It was at this time that the first "bastard faiths" were born.
These religions born out of a mixture of both Andal and First Men faiths but were close to neither spread across the wartorn Riverlands like a plague and their numbers would increase when King Brandon Stark finished the famous Northern Canals bringing in the faith of the Drowned God and the religions of Essos and beyond into Westeros.
As for the Green Men , they retreated back to the Isle of Faces and the Green Swords disbanded though they would see resurgences during the Storm Wars and the reigns of Maegor and Baelor the Fanatic.
A/N : Finally this chapter was a bitch to write , between my exams, the writers block and personal problems but I finished it , enjoy and tell me what you think.
PRAISE THE MAKER OF STARS