AN - Do not own GOT. If I did neither the Jon nor Robb will die. Do not own HP. If I did Harry will not end up with that red head fan girl. No Oedipus complex.
Harold Gryffindor
I was really happy to leave on my adventure to find what is there in sunset sea. The new ship Voyager is filled with many provisions for the trip. The ship is exploded magically for storage and living space. The crew is little over a hundred includes many groups. There are archers, Rangers, foot soldiers, scholars and many more. Most importantly I have my new "Wife" with me. He is one of the 4 new clones. The plan is to return with me de-aged as my own son. My wife will be "dead" due to some reason. And the clone acts as my wife will become the new Lord Gryffindor.
We had no idea what's there and no way of knowing. Regardless of my magical powers, my senses cannot be used to search for hundreds of kilometers. Because of that I bought 2 wargs that can skin change to birds. Every day they fly above and look for any land.
About a month later we found small group of islands. Well actually its one big island and many small islands and islets. We first sailed around the island to find a natural harbor. Once found we anchored the ship and stepped into the island. From what I could sense there is no human life. Same cannot be said about the wild life. Apart from some bays and outward points, the island seems to be of a perfect circular shape. If my calculation based on the time it took to sail around is correct, it has area around 1800 sqkm. Our wargs scouted and found a perfect spot to camp.
As much as I was excited to find this tropical gem, it was nothing on how I felt when I found coconut. This is the first time I saw coconut in this world. it was a lot different than the coconut trees from my old world. For one they are short, the tallest was about 15 feet tall. But they had enough fruit in them indicating they are fully matured. And they have survived the winter which is impossible the trees from my old world. I assume they have adapted and evolved. Few kilometers inland we found few king coconut trees as well.
I have lived in south/south East Asia for many years and grew to like the curries they made with coconut. Now I can have them again. There are other uses of the tree like oil, ropes and many other things.
Coconut is not the only thing I discovered. I found many tropical plants I recognized from old world. They are not exactly the same but close enough. The island is very fertile. It is very much possible the island was formed by a volcanic eruption. For the moment I found no evidence. The highest point of the island is a mountain range in the north from where many rivers flow. We spent few months exploring the island which is now named "Griffin Island."
Upon close inspection we found several human skeletons or parts of them. And then we found ship wrecks as well. No one actually is capable of traveling to this island safely from the known world. The speed of the ships and their dependability on rowing or wind doesn't allow them to sail unknown waters for long. They need constant resupply from ports and they always sail close to the shore. A ship cannot really store enough food and water for such a long trip. Very few ships traveled to Volantis before I started trading and westerosi ships as far as Qarth or Jade gate is unheard of. Because of this, the island can become a safe heaven. I have been trying to increase the number of armed men but I was unable to give an excuse if someone asks. I didn't want to get the attention of the mad king with Lannister whispering in his ear. So I have little over thousand unsullied in the process of becoming Spartans hidden away in an island near old Valyria. But it is bit risky as anyone can find out anytime. With this island, not only I can hide them safely but also I have a place to give some of my mad scientist brothers to conduct their experiments.
I will have to have more than soldiers to sustain the island. Farmers and many other men will need to be relocated. Well we are in no hurry. I will have to discuss with others about this. Once we have mapped the island properly and explored it, we left it looking for more. Before leaving I set a beacon so that folks back in London know where we have been. This place will appear in the map.
Griffin Island is located south east of London approximately parallel to Riverlands. Our next leg of the trip took us further south east of Griffin island. about another month's voyage took us to another land.
This unlike before is not an island from what our wargs told us. It is a continent. It took us a month to sail around. The continent is as big as the North. Unlike the griffin island, it had humans. There were some settlements near the coastlines and I am sure the humongous ship gave them a fright. Once we complete our round and had a crude map of the continent, I sneaked into one of the settlement and downloaded the knowledge of who seemed to be their leader.
From what I could find, these men are much similar to the native Indians when the Europeans arrived in Americas. The similarities stopped at their level of development. These men and women look nothing like red Indians. For one they are dark skinned like the summer islanders although you can easily recognize if you put them together. Summer islanders are darker compared to these men.
They do not iron, bronze or steel. Their tools are made of wood and stone. They know how to farm and have domesticated animals. Their main crops are corn, pumpkin and beans which is grown all together. In addition their plate is supplemented by potatoes, fruit, meat, fish and mushrooms.
It took us a long time to win their trust. These people are jealously guard their environment. I asked the chief's blessing to explore further inland. He reluctantly agreed after I requested his men to teach us the ways of the trees and rivers. Our explorations were joined by some of his men to make sure we do not anger the thousands of gods resides in the trees and rivers.
We set camp on a bank of a river one day after traveling upwards a river for many days. We are on our way to meet another clan who lives near a lake according to our guide.
"So what do you think of these lands ?" my 'Wife' Helena asked while having our dinner consist of smoked fish and some fruit the guide showed us.
"I think they should be left alone as much as possible. I don't want to do what Europeans did to America. I am not saying just leave and forget. These lands have too many resources to ignore. But we have to be careful." I told her.
"What if we provide them with tools to farm better. That will increase their food production. Then the griffin island can trade with them for food." She told me.
"That's not a bad idea. I am sure we will plenty of things to trade."
Next day we had a biggest surprise we had on this trip. Our guide asked if we are ok to do a little detour to show us "Shining Cave" he found on one of his hunting trips. We agreed and followed him. What we found left us utterly speechless.
"Is that Gold ?" Helena asked as soon as she found her voice.
"Fuck me !" and I found my voice too. The cave was full of gold ore.
It took us many more months to explore the continent. Thanks to our wargs, we have very good maps of the continent now. Many names were suggested for the continent but my preference was 'Occasus' meaning Sunset in Latin. From what we could see, the lands had a population of somewhere around 200,000 divided by hundreds of clans. We met quite a few clans. The gold deposit belonged to the first clan we made contact with. We managed to negotiate an agreement with them for the mining rights and future crop trade.
It has been over a year since we left London when things changed dramatically. One evening one of my men came to see me.
"My Lord there is a ship sailing towards us." He said.
"A ship ?"
"Yes my Lord. A Ship with our sigil and with the same speed as Voyager."
Ohh this can't be good.
Grant Gryffindor
Harry thinks being the lord Gryffindor is difficult. Try being the mayor of London. Especially on winter. Despite my protests he appointed me the temporary lord. I can understand why he did so. Since I am the older of his two younger brothers, I am his heir by law. Understanding him is one thing but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Thankfully I have my kin to help me out.
Couple of months later there was an invitation for a tourney from Lord Whent. My eyes almost popped out when I saw the prize money for the events. I was not aware that they are quite that wealthy. I didn't care much really about it since its not like I am hearting for coin. Besides North didn't really care much about these southern tomfooleries.
Surprising everyone, Lord Rickard decided to attend the event. That and the large sum of money offered as prizes made many northerners wanting to attend. What was more surprising was the king's decision to attend. I sent a token amount of men with Lord Rickard to represent London under the command of Liam and told them to keep their head down. We do not want the king's attention on us.
Unfortunately everything didn't go a smooth as I hoped for. The crown prince insulted the North, Stroemlands and the Dorne with his actions. The idiot after winning the tournament names Lyanna Stark as the queen of love and beauty. He did this while his wife is in attendance to a lady who is already betrothed to another. It was a miracle nothing more happened as I am well aware of Brandon's temper and Lord Robert is not the most patient man I have heard.
We all thought the scandalous incident will remain what it is and things will go back to normal. Unfortunately it was just the beginning. Few months later I have heard the Crown prince's kidnapping of Lyanna. The war is inevitable. I called my kin for a conference who lived in London, Marsh Town or Plymouth.
"So what do we gonna do ?" I asked once all gathered in the map room in Moat Cailin castle.
"First we need to decide if we need to send for Harry." Lucas said.
"Can we do that ? I mean how are we going to find him ?" Rowena asked.
"If I am not mistaken, the ship yard in Plymouth is in the process of making another Voyager class ship right ?" Lily asked Taylor who is the commander of eastern fleet.
"Yes it is scheduled to launch in a month but I can get more resources allocated and finish it in a week." He replied.
"Do it Taylor. Harry will kill us all if we didn't send him a message. I don't think finding him will be very difficult. We know the general location thanks to the beacon. Let's hope he hasn't moved from his second location. Chris how is our military strength?"
"We can call the 1,500 reserves from Origo. It will take about a month to get them here. We have about 2000 here including city guards. We can easily add another 1500 -2000 from civilians if needed." He answered.
"The whole point of having a permanent army is not to have the civilian go to war. Recruit 1,500 civilians and start training them. Get them ready to take over city guards. We will not call the civilians to the war unless we really need them. Call the reserves and have them camp at Plymouth. What about our fleet Taylor, Kellan?"
"We have 7 battle ships including my flagship. We can refit some of the trade ships if needed." Kellan told us.
"Have 5 smaller trade ships refit. If the battle fleet had to move, there is no one between us and the Ironborn. How about East Coast Taylor ?"
"I have 15 battle ships including the flagship. We can also get trade ships refit for battle."
"Have 15 trade ships refit and send 5 to Kellan. Do not send any trade ship beyond Volantis for the moment. We might need them." Taylor nodded.
The discussions went on and on about other preparations like supply chains, healers, medicine, weapon and armor and so on.
Things unfortunately went from bad to worse as the news of Brandon's and Rickard's execution came. I sent a message to Ned who was in Vale to stay put as I am sending couple of ships and 500 men to escort him to North. It was a good foresight as the Gulltown rebelled and stayed loyal to the crown the city was attacked from two sides with our troops and Lord Arryn's men. The battle was quick and resulted in rebel's victory. The war is officially on.
Eddard 'Ned' Stark
I remember the first time I saw the repaired Moat Cailin castle and the new city London. That was about a year before the last winter. My father insisted I attend the feast. Upon seeing the repaired castle, I realized why my father had the new lord in high regards and why my brother was gushing about his new friend. Lord Grant who is the brother of lord Gryffindor told me that his brother is away and a messenger was already sent for his return. His cousin, Chris then explained the preparation they have already made. Despite everything I can't say I am not impressed.
"You have a secret army hidden somewhere?" I asked when he told me about the reserve.
"Yes. Your father predicted a conflict. He and my lord cousin made preparations. Neck and the moat Cailin is the choke point for north. No army can march further north without taking the castle. We couldn't raise an army openly your father told us to do it in secret and hide them. We were planning to bring them and hide them with mountain clans and Crannogmen. Nobody really care about those two groups." He explained.
"Very well. I need to leave for Winterfell."
"I will arrange it my lord."
It took couple of months but slowly the northern army was gathered at Moat Cailin. Lord Gryffindor was there just in time.
"My lord. I am very glad I could be here before you went south to war." he said.
"I am glad you could make it lord Gryffindor. My brother bragged about your skills in any weapon you touch. I am glad to have you with us." I told him.
"Your father gave me something Lord Stark." He said giving me an envelope.
"What is it ?" I asked looking at the sealed envelope.
"I do not know. He told me to give you this in case he…" he didn't continue.
"I will leave you alone Lord Stark." He said with a bow and left.
With a shaky hand I opened the envelope to find a letter written.
Harold Gryffindor
"Do you think it will have any effect ?"
Grant and I were walking back from lord Starks room. The lords gathered were given rooms at the castle.
"I hope so. The letter is a very good forgery. I made sure to include things only those two would know. So there is no reason for him to be suspicious." I answered him.
Lord Stark spent majority of his life in Vale. He doesn't really know much about the North, it's people, their hopes and fears. Vale is where the Andals made their mark. It's the origin of the Seven. I do not want him to bring those ideals to the North. I will not let him spread that bastardized version of Christianity. It is as corrupt as what is was in my old world around the Middle Ages. If we have to choose a religion, I will happily worship trees than a religion like the seven. So I made a clever forgery; a letter from lord Rickard to Ned. I hope that will help to diminish whatever he feels for the seven.
Couple of days later we had all the lords of north present and lord Stark called for a meeting. I offered a room large enough to accommodate all. from what I could see and feel the letter definitely made an impact on Ned. When the iron is hot enough, you should use the hammer.
"Lord Stark, my lords if I may ?" Ned nodded and I continued.
"My lords, why are we engaging on this war I ask you. It is true our liege lord and his heir were brutally murdered. Are we doing this to avenge them?"
"Of course we are. What else ?" shouted Mors Umber.
"If it is the case there is no need to march south. Order me lord Stark I will kill the mad king and the crown prince when I find him. I will find Lyanna as well." I replied.
"If you are worried about the fact that mad king call for your head lord Stark, I assure you no army will pass moat Cailin. This I swear on my life and lives of all my kin. No enemy fleet will win any battle in narrow sea or sunset sea. This as well I swear."
"Lets forget about the reasons and say we went south. Let's say We kill thousands of men. Thousands of our men die in battle. We kill the mad king and his son. We rescue Lyanna. Then what ? who is going to sit on the iron throne ? The queen ?"
"My lords I am not saying we shouldn't go to war. But do not delude yourselves that we do this in memory of Lords Rickard and Brandon. We are doing this to eradicate one dynasty and replace it with another. So I ask you what is in for us ?"
No one spoke a word.
"What has the iron throne ever done for the North since King stark bent the knee? The North has been insulted and neglected at best. I say we demand few things for our support."
Ned was anything but happy but to my delight the other lords nodded in agreement.
"What would you have us demand Lord Gryffindor?" Ned asked breaking the silence.
"The biggest thing I want to demand is help in maintaining the wall."
"Starks have managed the wall without any help for 8000 years." Ned protested.
"Yes well have you seen the sorry state it is in?" I asked a little irritated.
"I have been sending my men on temporary 6 month missions to the wall to help the night's watch. I have been sending food, weapons and other resources. Do you know how many castles along the wall are still standing? I am sorry my lord if things continue the way it is there will be no nights watch or a wall for that matter to manage. The wall protects all southern kingdoms, not just us. Why should we be the only one to finance it?"
"He speaks the truth lord stark." Mors Umber added.
"He has been helping the nights watch and it definitely helped with the attacks. But it still not enough. The wall is 300 miles long. Only 3 castles left standing." He elaborated.
"Very well. I am sure Robert will agree to this. Anything else?" Ned asked looking at me.
"I would say ask for a seat in his small council but I assume you will be given a seat anyway lord Stark."
"I have no plans to stay in capital. But I will have him give a seat to a northern lord." Ned told us.
"Last thing I would want to ask is royal permission to form an order of knights. Many of our brave men don't have the chance to become a knight just because they do not follow the Seven. If we establish our own order our young men can become knights and earn the respect."
"I don't see anything wrong with that. I ask you my lords; let me speak to Robert about this myself. It will sound better if they come from me and as a request." Ned said. And we agreed.
AN - Still looking for a Beta. Please IM if you like to help. Thanks all for the reviews and PM.