Men(and women) are forgetful creatures, they forget their past decisions, the bounty of peace and the misery of war once many a year passes. It was this forgetfulness which allowed the realm to split into two in the latter years of King viserys reign. Green men and women who had known only peace and plenty were more than willing to throw it all away in order to see their own factions dragon crowned. Not realising the value of stability and order.

But Lord Gyles Gardener did, he was over 70 years, an exceptionally long lived man who knew just how important maintaining order was, was one of the few lords who could knew just how devastating dragons could be, for he remembered the carnage caused by Maegor the Cruel during the Faith rebellion. It was with this in mind that Lord Gyles began drafting plans after the Tourney at Kings Landing in 111AC. He knew from the reports he received that the two factions which had emerged, the greens and the blacks, would one day, one day soon come to war. For neither Princess Rhaenyra and Queen Alicent would back down and each would also have many warmongering counsellors, chief amongst them The Sea snake Corlys Velaryon whose son was to marry Rhaenyra and the Hand of the King Otto Hightower.

Gyles however had to be very careful, for he knew many of his bannermen, not just the Hightowers, would fight even if he ordered them not to do so. As such Garth knew he had to ensure enough of his principal bannermen would support him when the time came. To this effect Gyles married off or betrothed his granddaughters to the heirs of Houses Florent, Oakheart, Osgrey and rowan. All powerful houses. Unfortunately for Gyles though the main problem would be the fact that while his strength was concentrated in the northern reach it was the southern reach which would face the bulk of the fighting.

The dornish houses along with House Tarly who would likely support Princess Rhaenyra would fight with the forces of Houses Hightower and Redwyne. Such fighting would also affect the reach proper i.e. the lands directly ruled by House Gardener. Further concerns came to Gyles in the form of the Ironborn who would surely use any opportunity such as this to reave and plunder the Reach.

Therefore in 113 AC Lord Gyles ordered the construction of the Keep of Seagarden at the mouth of the river Mander and began assembling a fleet there, it consisted both of trade ship and more importantly war ships which while were not that large in number were enough to fight off any raids along the western coast of the reach. Lord Gyles also began improving and expanding the bridges and roads built by his father and grandfather which were now to be extended to each and every keep, town, and village, publicly these actions were taken to aid trade but in reality, it was to ensure that Highgarden could move its forces quickly to every corner of the reach if need be. Gyles also turned down offers made by the Hand and the princess offering him and his family important posts, knowing that doing so would drag them into the conflict to come and that it was better to stay out of it.

Yet for all his preparation and fears the peace continued for more than a decade, the war which Lord Gyles feared imminent turned out to be rather slow in arriving, the children of Viserys grew and soon began to have their own children. Laenor Velaryon married Rhaenyra who had three children, all sired by Harwin strong of course even if one couldn't say so in front of the king. Eventually Laenor died, murdered in spice town, leading to Rhaenyra marrying her uncle Daemon. Viserys eldest son Aegon also grew up in this time and married Helena, his sister and sired three children by her.

However while war had been averted for a time by king Viserys who would not tolerate fighting in the court, it was now destined to come for the Royal family itself was undoubtedly split and ready to fight. Most worryingly, more and more people were also noticing the fact that war was inevitable and had begun preparation, chief among them Dalton Greyjoy, who had just recently become lord of the Iron Islands at a young age. His accession to the seastone chair made Gyles thankful he had fortified the western coast as from the reports he received Dalton Greyjoy was a monster like his ancestors.

And so it was one calm day in 129 AC that Queen Alicent was informed by a servant of the death of her husband King Viserys.

The Dance of the Dragons Had Begun.

For Lord Gyles the news that the war had begun came as all dread news comes, in the claw of a raven. The now Dowager Queen Alicent had sent a letter to Gyles informing him of her husband's death and in it tried to use his marriage to her aunt Alyssa to have him swear fealty to her son Aegon who was now to be crowned Aegon II.

Lord Gyles upon reading the letter sent his own missives to all his allies, demanding that they prepare their armies as planned. He also sent word to the master at both Seagarden and Northgarden to be on the watch for any armies or fleets which may use this time to prey upon the reach. At first the war was one of words as each side took time to prepare Hosts the size unseen for three generation. Soon word came of King Aegon's II Coronation, of the Vale, the Riverlands and Dorne Declaring for Rhaenyra and the battle of Harrenhal, the blacks clearly had the momentum and it seemed for a short time that a long war might be averted completely. However word then came of the death of prince Lucerys at the hands of Aemond Targaryen. This event truly marked the beginning of the fighting and when the war truly began.

As Lord Gyles deployed his forces he tried his best to maintain order within the reach, a noble if futile goal, for soon the southern reach was engulfed in the fighting as the Tarly's, Beesbury's and the stony dornish began their invasion of Oldtown, trying to cut off House Hightower's strength from the fighting. In the Northeast House Osgrey had to fight off raids from the riverlords who were trying to stop the food barges and carts from reaching Kings Landing in a bid to starve out the greens.

Despite this the fighting was still limited. This changed when word came from Kings Landing, it seemed that the Blacks in a bid for vengeance had hired 2 criminals to kill prince Jaehaerys to avenge prince Lucerys. This act lead to the greens to go on the offensive. Ser Criston Cole, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and the new Hand of the King then sacks Duskendale while the Arbor fleet burns attacks and burns three towers, hellholt and Starfall.

At rook's rest a terrible battle takes place between the greens and the blacks. In the aftermath, King Aegon is greatly wounded while fighting princess Rhaenys, wife of the Sea snake. but not before killing her, depriving the blacks of one of their most important leaders. Furthermore, the greens invite the Kingdom of the three daughters into the conflict by promising them vengeance against Daemon Targaryen, Rhaenyra's husband and the sea snake who were hated by the three daughters due to Daemon and the Sea Snakes attempts to carve their own kingdom from the Stepstones many years ago.

As the fighting, continued Prince Aemond, younger brother of King Aegon II, took control from his brother who was too injured to fight any longer. His first act was to take his dragon Vhagar south to the Stormlands where he burned the dornish host which had come north to support Rhaenyra. While a century ago the dornish could resist the dragons in their deserts, now in the open fields of the Stormlands they were defenceless, and if to prove that Aemond burnt their host, the massacre by Blackhaven as it was known saw over 5000 dornish troops burning, and thousands more being injured and fleeing, this battle saw Dorne being knocked out of the war for the time being, for they could no longer assemble hosts large enough to properly invade either the Stormlands or the reach any longer. After retreating they held Dorne in Rhaenyra's name and began raiding the dornish marshes in the Stormlands and attempting to sack Oldtown.

As Aemond brought stability to the Stormlands the Black Factions Crown Prince Jacaerys, Eldest son of Rhaenyra, summoned the dragon seed. These were till then ordinary people who had dragon blood flowing through their veins due to their parents being whores or simply men or women who caught the eyes of the Targaryens. He promised those who could tame one of the wild dragons present on Dragonstone great riches and titles. Many tried and died for their efforts, but some succeeded. And so, in the end this exercise gave the Blacks four more dragons to use.

In the reach this news was greeted by joy and despair depending which side the person receiving the news was on. However, for House Gardener the news brought a rather large headache. This was as Dalton Greyjoy upon hearing of four new dragon riders joining the black faction and declared for Rhaenyra, he then took his fleet and decided to begin reaving along the reach and Westerlands coast. While the Gardener and Redwyne Fleets could hold him off for the time, the same could not be said of the Westerlands who saw Lannisport and other towns sacked. The reach's situation while not as bad was not good either. The fighting in the south was taking its toll and with the Greens demanding that the Redwynes protect Oldtown, it seemed that House gardener could not presume to maintain its current fleet protecting the reach.

Furthermore, the fighting in the upper reach was growing more and more intense as both the blacks and the greens tried to seize control of the land either to secure or deny the flow of grain to the crownlands. As such more and more troops were to be committed in the north.

As the new year, dawned westeros, barring the north which had stayed neutral, was in chaos. The greens were once again clearly on the defensive against Rhaenyra's forces but they however managed to score two significant victories, for their overtures to the three daughters had borne fruit. When it's fleet was in the process of breaking the blockade on the gullet they could not only killed prince Jacaerys but also sack both spice town and high tide. Despite this devastating blow though the fighting only became more intense. Knowing that the reach had to be made secure before it completely fell to anarchy however, Gyles began to plot.

From his reports over the years Garth knew that the Queen Helena was a very motherly and caring woman. Lord Gyles therefore wrote her a letter outlining the situation in the reach. He knew that while it was said that the queen had lost all energy after the death of her son, such women could be very fierce when it came to protecting the children they still had and so he informed her that if the situation got worse his priority would be to restore order rather than protect the food shipments to Kings landing, he also told her of how her Hightower kin were as such surrounded. In the ending of the letter he added an innocent line about how she should not worry though, for Oldtown despite being surrounded was rather secure especially the Hightower itself which was more secure that Kings landing considering that the Blacks had no influence in Oldtown.

As Gyles expected word came that Queen Helena had taken off with her two children upon Dreamfyre, her dragon, and made way to Oldtown. Upon reaching Oldtown and ensuring her children were to be kept safe at the Hightower Helena then flew up the Honeywine river where she with her brother Daeron burnt the black hosts at the battle of the Honeywine. This meant that in a single battle the greens had achieved a massive victory in the reach. The green army could now use the road system to march north and aid their other forces.

However, while most of the army along with Daeron marched north queen Helena flew west, meeting with the redwynes fleet who had docked next to Crakehall. From there Helena Gathered an army to deal with Dalton Greyjoy for when word had arrived that lord Lannister and his host were killed in the Riverlands the red kraken had decided to reave and plunder the Westerlands at his leisure.

Once the Army was gathered Queen Helena Marched along the ocean road to Lannisport, burning any Ironborn in her path, freeing any and all of their captives and restoring order. Within a week Helena's army were welcomed by cheering crowds at Lannisport. However, this victory was muted by the fact that in that time Kings Landing had been captured, with her grandfather Ser Otto along with many supporter beheaded. Worse was the fact that while her children were safe in Oldtown her mother was a prisoner while her husband Aegon was missing, presumed dead.

The next morning an angry Helena and a large army composed of revenge seeking Westermen set off to burn the iron islands in vengeance. Learning the lessons of Queen Rhaenys and prince Jacaerys Helena rained fire from high above not letting the red kraken's arrows or scorpions reach her. Soon Helena's army had reached the iron islands where they went upon a terrible rampage, all Ironborn men, women and children were slaughtered while Helena set their keeps, towns, villages and forests aflame.

The soldiers also freed all the thralls and saltwives the Ironborn had imprisoned. Helena upon seeing the conditions these men and women were forced to live in was enraged and so not only did she order all the drowned priests to be killed, she also armed the thralls and Saltwives allowing them to take all the vengeance their hearts desired upon their captors. This action lead to thousands upon thousands of Ironborn dying as their former slaves-in-all-but-name began hunting their masters in an almost religious zeal. This along with the carnage caused by the soldiers and Dreamfyre meant that when Helena left the islands about three moons later the Ironborn were a shadow of their past selves.

During this time, the butchers ball had occurred in the Riverland's, where the blacks had ambushed the forces lead by Ser Criston Cole. The event lead to the demise of the green army in the Riverland's and the death of Ser Criston Cole on the hands of the riverlords. Furthermore, the blacks were soon able to consolidate their hold on the Riverland's despite Aemond terrorising the area. This along with the blacks hold on the crownlands the meant that the greens no longer held any kingdom but the Westerlands and iron islands in their entirety. For the dornish had raised another host composed of the scattered remains of the previous one and had begun to slowly march through the Stormlands with the goal of taking Storms End.

However, despite these setbacks the greens were gaining momentum, the Green army of the reach was quickly making its way up the garden road which connected Highgarden and Kings Landing. They also scored victory after victory from Bitterbridge on defeating the last remnants of the black army of the reach as they kept fleeing on the sight of Daeron's dragon. Knowing this Rhaenyra sent two of the dragonseeds Ulf the White and Hugh Hammer to tumbleton where they were to meet up with the approaching black army and push back the greens.

It was this time that Wallace Goodshield the lord of Tumbleton evacuated the town, sending its people along with all their food and valuables into the mountain to protect them from what was likely to be the fiercest battle in the reach. A wise move by Lord Wallace for in the ensuing battle Tumbleton was completely burned but not in the manner he expected.

This was as while Rhaenyra's army was larger and had one more dragon than the green side, the greens had their own advantages. For one unlike the blacks who had no access to food and were weak and hungry since the townsfolk had fled into the mountains, the greens were well fed. More importantly though was the fact that the two dragon seeds had betrayed Rhaenyra and had changed allegiance to the green, burning the black armies. This led to the First Battle of Tumbleton being a complete disaster for the Blacks.

Though their luck held out and the greens refused to march on as the leaders of the army were divided on how to proceed. The blacks luck also allowed a massive victory, as on a cloudy day while prince Aemond was flying over the god's eye he was surprised by Daemon who was able to catch him by surprise. In this time, Daemon and his dragon were able to strike a killing blow on Vhagar, plunging Aemond to his death. This loss meant that one of the most feared dragons and one of the best warriors of the green faction was dead. Upon hearing the news Queen Rhaenyra held a feast to celebrate. However soon a grave problem would begin hounding her.

In the reach, Lord Gyles Had finally restored stability. His armies now controlled all the lands barring Oldtown. The fighting had been ended and each house both small and big had been forced to give up hostages to ensure their compliance, again barring House Hightower. It was now that the white ravens of the citadel arrived announcing the coming of Autumn, knowing that the fighting had depleted the Reach's storages Lord Gyles forbade any and all selling of grain to any other kingdom. This led to food shortage throughout westeros as there was little food anywhere for any food which was not ravaged by the war had been sent to aid it, as such even the Vale of Dorne had little food stored.

With this soon starvation began besieging the rest of the kingdoms, barring the Westerlands where lady Johana Lannister, who was ruling as regent for her son, had negotiated a trade deal to ensure food supply with the pentoshi. However, the rest of the kingdoms who did not have the deep gold and silver mines of the Westerlands would have to do without.

This of course meant that it was the Blacks and their supporters who would go hungry the most, turning many of the smallfolk against Rhaenyra's cause. The Blacks were further weakened by the loss of nettles who had fled after Rhaenyra demanded her head to prevent another betrayal. Also Helena had finally landed back onto the mainland after her battle in the iron islands. She along with the thralls, saltwives and soldiers landed at seaguard where lord Mallister bent the knee but refused to allow her people into the town declaring his own people needed to be protected by him first. Helena then moved inland, distributing the freed people into villages and hamlets which they came upon, other left to return to their original homes with some seizing ships and coin to pay in order to cross the narrow sea.

As Helena conquered the Riverland's the second battle of Tumbleton took place, Unlike the first battle this was a disaster for the green camp. In the dark of night Ser Addam Velaryon attacked the green camp, killing prince Daeron in fire along with causing chaos amongst the green ranks. In the fighting the two Dragonseed were also killed, however their dragons survived and ripped Ser Addam and his dragon to pieces. The Dragon Silverwing then turned upon any and all in its path, killing thousands. The Carnage of Tumbleton as it's called was one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Its most accurate source is the book "Tumbleton Burns" by Lord Wallace Goodshield who watched the carnage from both afar using a sea glass and by collecting testimonies of the survivors who remained at tumbleton when the war ended.

Despite the technical victory of the blacks at the second battle of tumbleton the situation looked bleak, for after the battle had ended an army led by lord Rowan had arrived and seized all weapons, expelling any of the rivermen and ending the War in the reach. While this meant that they no longer had to worry about a major portion of westeros, it also meant that they had no way of reaching Oldtown allowing the Hightowers and the greens a safe spot to recuperate. Meanwhile Helena Targaryen had taken the upper Riverland's which at the time were the main food producers for the blacks as the lower Riverland's had burnt.

Rhaenyra then decided to consolidate her power, she recalled Joffrey, her third son from the vale and began gathering her armies. News then came from Oldtown that prince Maelor was dead, he had apparently died while trying to fly and had jumped out a window. Maelor's death threw Helena into a rage, and she began burning any and all keeps controlled by the blacks. Knowing that the vale supported Rhaenyra Helena flew over the bloody gate and set the Vale alight. The Gates of the Moon, Runestone, Old Anchor, gulltown none were spared. Helena's terror as it was called only ended when daemon confronted her in the Battle by the Giant's Lance, which lead to both Helena and Daemon along with their dragons dying.

With their deaths, the war began coming to a close. For by now the smallfolk had gotten tired of all the fighting. When word arrived, that Daemon was dead and that Lord Borros Baratheon was gathering a host to march on the city a panic broke out. Many of the people of Kings Landing were refugees and were tired of fleeing and of sleeping hungry.

As such soon riots broke out, so large that the goldcloaks could not contain them. After some three days of rioting the people of Kings landing stormed the dragon pit ,on the orders of a mad Septon by the name of Shepard who preached that the dragons were evil and the source of their misery, and were on a mission to kill all the dragons within. However despite the dragon's fire, the rioters were too large in numbers and soon the dragon pit collapsed killing both dragon and smallfolk. Among the dead was Rhaenyra's son Joffrey who had tried to save the dragons. After this episode Rhaenyra, who grieved the loss of yet another son, and her councillors believed the city to be lost and fled the next day through the dragon gate.

Rhaenyra then made her way to Dragonstone where she was captured by Aegon the Second who had been hiding in the castle since the fall of Kings landing. Aegon had Rhaenyra fed to his dragon Sunfyre an event he made Rhaenyra's son Aegon the younger watch. The death of Rhaenyra should have ended the black cause however they persevered, believing that despite Rhaenyra's death victory was close.

Soon after Aegon made his way back to Kings Landing, where the army of Lord Borros had restored order to the city. However, victory was still not in their grasp as both the dornish host as well as the Rivermen were advancing on the city. The Final Battle was yet to come. Worried about the two hosts meeting, lord Borros took his host to meet the rivermen on the Kingsroad, It would have been an easy victory for the Stag lord if not for the fact that the dornish who had been marching at full pace ever since news of the riots reached them and were able to join the final battle, trapping lord Borros and defeating him at the battle of the Kingsroad. Soon after the Black host found the gates of Kings landing open, the King Aegon II dead by poison and Rhaenyra's son Aegon sitting upon the iron throne with lord Corlys Velaryon the sea snake by his side wearing the badge of the hand of the king

The Black Faction had won and the Dance of the Dragons over, But at what Price?