The Dance of the Dragons had devastated westeros. Its fields were burnt, its families broken and its people lay dead by the hundreds of thousands. After the fighting had mostly died down word had arrived from Kings Landing, Aegon II was dead and his nephew Aegon III was now the new king. It seemed that Corlys velaryon had been named hand of the King and as his first act called for a great council at the red keep.
And so in the first month of the 131st year of Aegon's conquest Lord Gyles Gardener left for Kings landing with 3000 men. There, at the great council of 131 AC a new order and peace was formed. Over 40 lords and heirs were betroth to the daughters of their opponents, chief amongst them was the betrothal of Young King Aegon to Jaehaera Targaryen the only surviving child of Aegon II. Furthermore, over the heavy protest of the dornish and some of the more fanatical black supporters the ruling of the Great Council of 101 AC was held to be the undisputed law of the land. The throne would not be allowed to be claimed by a woman if a male heir existed. Furthermore, a council of seven regents was to govern until the king was of age, with Lord Corlys also serving as Hand of the King. A bitter ending to a bitter war, difficult to accept even though it was necessary.
After this the great council was disbanded and the lord returned home. In the ensuing years while the city of kings landing itself was a place of great politicking as the regents and their supporters tried to gain influence and power the rest of westeros was quiet, not peaceful. For the people wanted simply to rebuild their lives, the realm had seen the consequences of fracturing and fighting and they wanted to put all of it behind them. And so began the reign of Aegon III. When he came of age he made his brother Prince Viserys, who previously had been held captives by lysene merchant-pirates, the hand of the king and together they worked to maintain the peace. Aegon III also refused to commit to any grand works or adventures, for he had little energy or enthusiasm. In the end Aegon perfectly encapsulated the Targaryen dynasty after the dance especially when the last dragon died, broken kings ruling a broken realm, who while healing very slowly would never be as great as they could be.
It was also during his reign that lord Gyles finally passed away, known as the old Gardener after his death, Lord Gyles became the first Gardener to have lived past 100 years, a feat matched by few men. He was succeeded by his great grandson Mern the rock.
Mern earned his name during the dance of the dragons, and it stood as testament to both his immense strength and also his stubbornness, for once mern decided on a course of action the seven themselves had to intervene to change his mind. Mern's reign despite his war like nature was mostly peaceful, the bloodlust having been spent completely in the dance. As such the warrior lord spent most of his time overseeing the rebuilding of the reach, a task it is said he found intolerable. His greatest joy in his duties as such became the hunting down of the bandits who had emerged in the chaos following the dance. Mern also wished to go to Essos to fight in the Horse-River wars, however was persuaded otherwise as he had at the time no heir or wife. In the end Mern decided to marry Sarah Oakheart the eldest daughter of Lord Oakheart, who bore him a son whom he named Garth after his father.
As they years pass king Aegon grows weaker and dies after 26 years on the throne in 157 AC. His eldest son Daeron takes the throne and is crowned Daeron the First. King Daeron is everything his father is not, he is energetic, charming, intelligent and bold. Despite being of Queen Jaehaera's womb and as such the direct heir to Aegon II, Daeron always was closer to his father and like him felt the loss of Queen Rhaenyra keenly, even though he never met her. With this in mind along with the urge for adventure strong in his veins Daeron gathered his lords in the red keep in 158 AC and announced the war for which he is known, The Iron throne would Conquer the Stepstones.
From the very onset of his declaration Daeron had many opponent chief amongst them was his uncle and Hand of the King Prince Viserys. Viserys felt that a war would be pointless and unsuccessful, after all his own father daemon had attempted to conquer the Stepstones with dragons and he failed despite. What chance did Daeron have? To this Daeron replied, "You have a dragon, he stands in front of you".
Daeron spent over a year planning and preparing for his war and so in 159 AC set out to conquer the isle's. The War of the Stepstones lasted about 2 years, during which many battles both on land and sea were fought for the islands were home to many cut throat pirated who took to attacking and harassing Daeron in order to protect their ports and strongholds. Despite this however Daeron succeeded and by 161 AC the last pirate had been executed, with the islands divided between both the brothers and second sons of prominent lords as well as warriors who had proved both valiant or performed great deeds. Despite this however peace was elusive for the Tyrosh, Myr and Lys had once again banded together under the banner of the three daughters to combat Daeron's armies. Many of the magisters had also lost great sums of money when the pirates they sponsored were killed and wanted vengeance, and so the second war of the Stepstones was fought. This war was much more brutal than the first, however it was also shorter. For none of the three cities was truly skilled at war and they had been dependent on sell swords and slave guards for too long. As such by the end of 162 AC Daeron had conquered the second kingdom of the three Daughters. Knowing that his grip on power was weak however Daeron knew he had to tip the balance of power in his favour. And so, he wrote the most consequential decree of his reign.
The slaves in the Kingdom of the three Daughters were to be freed, and settled as free men in the disputed lands. In one brilliant stroke Daeron had gained armies of loyal supporters, broken the power of the magisters and had silenced complaints from detractors by tying his war with the westerosi hatred for slavery. Daeron remained in Essos for the next year overseeing the new order dreaming of further conquest but alas it was not meant to be.
For one day, a squire from the Stormlands found the young king in bed with... company. Hardly a matter for controversy or comment if not for the fact Daeron's lover had a cock rather than a cunt. The uproar and outrage was immediate, and in a grave betrayal was led by Daeron's younger brother Baelor, a devout man who had trained to become a Septon all his life.
This backlash by the faith also had deeper consequences, the most noticeable being the fact that Daeron expelled all the septons and septas from the three daughters. These men and women had come along with the army hoping to spread the Seven Pointed Star in Essos, however once they turned against Daeron he had them sent back, lest they lead a rebellion against him. This meant that the faith never got the chance to establish a foothold in Essos.
In 164 Ac while Daeron was returning to westeros in order to ensure continued support for his rule, his ship was caught in a terrible storm killing the king and many other important lords. Furthermore, using the death of the Daeron as an opportunity the magisters of the three Daughters rebelled, though their attempts to restore the old order of slavery failed as they faced a potentially massive uprising from the former slaves who outnumbered the freemen three to one. As such the magisters attempts were only partially successful as while the three daughters successfully broke with the iron throne, they became a freehold devoid of slavery rather than reverting to their previous form, with the powers of the magisters checked by elected archons. Over time the Kingdom of the Three Daughter became one of the most powerful entities of the known world, with Large Navies, Massive armies and Great wealth, especially as the disputed lands had once again become the prosperous lands. The Kingdom of the Three Daughters also abhorred slavery and its practise, even in the form of bondsman, had led to many rich magisters and their families torn to shreds by the people on the street. As such its emergence also marked the decline in slavery in Essos, a phenomena which was also caused due to the Horse-River Wars
In westeros the death of Daeron and the news of the rebellion was met with shock. Many lords and knights wanted Baelor to reconquer the three daughters using the Stepstones which had remained under the Iron thrones control as a base. Baelor however rejected this and preferred to maintain peace and to focus his attention closer to home.
His rule marked an increase in the influence of the faith and is perhaps most remembered for the scandals of Daena the Defiant and the building of the Great Sept of Baelor. Many of the foundations of what would be the Blackfyre rebellions would also be established in Baelor reign.
Baelor died in 171 AC after seven years on the throne, a symbolic length for an otherwise symbolic and empty reign. He was succeeded by his uncle Prince, now King Viserys, the man who had otherwise been ruling the realm in all but name for 30 years. Viserys reign was short lasting barley a year, despite this viserys achieved much, he signed agreements with the free cities to increase trade, sent the royal fleet to fight of corsairs from the basilisk isle's and reformed and updated king Jaehaery's code of law.
Despite all these works Viserys is still mostly remembered for fathering his son and heir who would rule westeros for the next decade and almost bring it to its knees. This man was Aegon IV also known as Aegon the Unworthy.
Aegon IV was lustful, greedy, vain and corrupt. And it was during his reign and misrule that the Targaryens truly lost most of their absolute authority. The most prominent of these was the ability of grant charters and tax deeds, a right by which the Targaryens kings had kept ambitious and potentially treacherous lords and vassals from growing too powerful.
It is said that when rumours spread of the king's fickle nature, Lord Mason Mallister used flattery, lysene wines and whores to convince the king to grant a city charter for seaguard. Something that the Mallister's had been after for centuries but had always been prevented from receiving by more intelligent kings. This charter not only greatly upset the balance of power in the Riverland's but also began an endless stream of lords who would give the king gifts and exotic pleasure whether they be from food, drink or whores in return for increased powers. And it was not just small lords, Lord Garth, son of Lord Mern Gardener was at the start of the kings reign constantly at the Red keep, trading coin and exotic goods for power and more autonomy.
For the first few years Aegon's misrule while harmful was manageable. Yes the lords had more power but they were now also more loyal to the king who gave them the power. The upset balance of power also prevented conflict for each lord was too busy trying to win the kings favour to bother fighting or raising armies. The realm for all its corruption was stable and at peace.
Things began to change however by the time Aegon recognised his bastard son by Princess Daena, Daemon Waters who later grew up to become Daemon Blackfyre. Suddenly it seemed more and more royal bastards began appearing, each holding both the dragons blood along with that of other noble houses, and each was an insult to some noble lord or another. Furthermore, while Kings Baelor and Viserys had left a full treasury King Aegon had drained it, his gifts and expenditure meaning that the realm, despite having its highest income ever recorded, was in growing amounts of debt. All these problems were compounded by the fact that a growing split was occurring at the royal court. King Aegon's son Daeron was growing increasing vocal and critical of his father's misrule. He also had strong support from Dorne due to his marriage to princess Mariah of House Martell, a marriage which while made due to love also fulfilled the promise of the ancient treaty between the Martells and the Targaryens which ended the wars of conquest.
Over time as Aegon found it harder to quieten his son and more and more people began turning against the unworthy king, Aegon never one to care about others began slandering his by now deceased wife and son by loudly accusing Daeron to be the bastard son of his brother Aemon the Dragonknight rather than his blood.
Aegon the Unworthy's latter reign was marked by its un-remarkableness. While the realm bled money, and drowned in vice and corruption nothing of note occurred but wreckage the king had wilfully brought on the realm. The last year of Aegon's reign was marked by death, an autumn sickness had spread throughout the realm and many lords and smallfolk had succumbed to it, in the end it seemed even the king. But many stated that to the contrary the king's death was a result of his gluttony and love of wine.
And so, would have ended the reign of Aegon IV, in decadence and sin. He would not have been loved but also not hated either for it not for one decision, one decision which would wreck war and misery for generations. On his deathbed, King Aegon IV legitimised all his bastards.
When Daeron ascended to the throne in 184 AC, the realm was in bad need of repair. The reign of Aegon IV had wrecked many of its institutions, it was in debt and few of its offices were held by lord capable of willing to do their jobs.
Daeron knowing that he alone could not fix this began calling upon dornish lords and ladies who he knew due to his marriage with his wife would be loyal to him. Also important for Daeron was that since Dorne had taken steps to isolate itself for the past few years these nobles were not tainted by his father's reign.
While this did help repair the harm to the realm it caused problems of their own. Queen Mariah was not a good or loved woman. She was in fact rather rude and condescending to non dornish Lords and she used her position as queen to promote her own supporters to every position she could. This made Daeron rather unpopular with the nobles, who felt that Daeron was no more than a Martell puppet. These concerns about the influence of the dornish were compounded by two factors one was the fact that Daeron's heir Baelor looked more dornish than valyrian and second was that Daeron married his sister Daenerys to Prince Maron Martell, his good brother without even considering any other offer for her hand.
Further trouble came for Daeron in 187 AC when Lord Garth came to Kings Landing after his father, Lord Mern Gardener had died hunting bandits in the red mountains. Not only did queen Mariah refuse to wear proper attire for the sombre occasion she also insulted Lord Garth and his family, so angered she was about the supposed insult Lord mern had paid to Dorne by entering its lands armed, without permission. This caused Lord Garth to storm out of the red keep in anger, since that day relations between Highgarden and the Crown were actively hostile for a long time.
While these events were occurring however the realm was prospering, after proper administration returned westeros once again flourished after its decline under Aegon IV. As the years of peace passed however a new threat emerged. Whispers soon filled the realm that Daemon Blackfyre, Legitimized son of Aegon IV and Princess Daena the Defiant as well as the holder of Aegon the Conquerors Valyrian steel blade Blackfyre, was planning to usurp the crown.
At first these were dismissed, but soon they grew and grew, after all they were very credible, who couldn't remember King Aegon denouncing Daeron? And why did he legitimise his bastards if he had trueborn sons? Others simply resented what they saw as a dornish takeover of the throne and wanted that influence gone. In the taverns singers sang of Daemon preparing to fight for the hand of princess Daenerys his one true love ignoring the inconvenient facts, as singers are inclined to do, that both Daemon and Daenerys had happy marriages and many children.
This continued until one day king Daeron sent guards to arrest Daemon for treason. What caused this action by the king is still unknown but what is known is that this was the immediate trigger for the Blackfyre rebellion.
As armies were assembled across westeros to fight, Lord Garth Gardener, also known as garth the peaceful declared that no house of the reach would be allowed to take up arms and that the Reach would remain neutral in this war. Lord Garth also ensured the obedience of his lords by insisting that they each give up hostages until the rebellion ended. While Garths decision was unpopular with lords who wished to fight and win glory it was welcomed by the smallfolk who wished to have nothing to do with the war.
House Gardener's decision of Neutrality also inspired the Lannister's to do the same for they too had no love for Daeron and would not be upset to see his line fall. These decisions quickly tilted the war in favour of Daemon for the strongest lords of the seven kingdoms were no longer against him, also King Daeron was now forced to be even more depended upon his wife's family convincing more people to the Blackfyre accusation of Daeron being no more than a Martell puppet.
The Blackfyre rebellion, which was mostly fought in the Riverland's, continued for 6 moons until its climax in the battle of the Redgrass field. Here despite Daemons host beating that of King Daeron, the rebellion was lost when Brynden rivers or bloodraven, half-brother of both King Daeron and Daemon shot and killed Daemon via an arrow. This caused the victorious Blackfyre army to descend into chaos with most deciding to flee fearing for their own life. Upon seeing their army flee, Daemons sons and their core supporters fled westeros to Tyrosh, In the Kingdom of the Three Daughters, and vowed to return and win the throne they deemed rightfully theirs.
Knowing that the loyalists were in a weak position king Daeron traded pardons for peace and ended the First Blackfyre rebellion. However, the troubles for the crown were just beginning.