First of all apologies to the people who like this work/writing and were waiting for an update, classes started for me so I was more focused on that and it got abit busy for me and it still is.
Also went back and edited previous entries such as the age of Elaena Aurion who I realized was much older if she was born at about the same time as Rhaegar. I'll leave the age disparity between her and William up for speculation
I use the 'quotes' to flesh out entries so to speak giving a sort of narrative element
Another thing that i did not really talk about is the Children and the White Walkers, The Children got a bit more proactive in preparing for the Long Night this will become more apparent in the Story proper.
The Gods of Old Valyria
"Thank you Sacred Huntress for a bountiful hunt..." - A common prayer amongst Hunters with Valyrian heritage
" Balerion and Meraxes were furious and let their anger be known" - Sailor from the Avaloni Navy upon finding ironborn shipwrecks not caused by them
"I saw her! The Silver-eyed goddess! she rode a massive wolf and behind her were beasts of all shapes and sizes. Beside her was a massive creature wrapped in chains..." - A supposed witness describing the Wild Hunt, said witness was reported to have died weeks later.
While the Valyrians themselves never truly followed any one religion there was nevertheless a pantheon of gods worshiped long before the freehold was formed. While there was more than a dozen deities there were Six that were primarily worshiped, their names and identities have changed with time but what they stood for never did.
Balerion, the God of the sky, known as 'He who heralds the storm'. The supposed King of the Gods who holds dominion over the sky and the winds.
Meraxes, the wife of Balerion and the Goddess of the Sea often referred to as 'She who shakes the earth'. She holds dominion over the sea and Valyrian sailors often prayed to her and her husband for safe passage. Stormy waters were often attributed to her anger and sailors often prayed to her for mercy when sailing through rough waters
Arrax, Son of Balerion. God of Wisdom and Victory. Among the Dragonlords who worshipped gods he held the strongest following.
Artoras, Sister of Vermithor, Goddess of the Nature referred to as the 'Queen of beasts' and 'She who leads the Wild Hunt'. Among the few gods of the Valyrian Pantheon still worshipped by modern day specifically by the Valyrians in the North. It is said that she heralds the coming of war when her brother Vermithor rides with her.
Vermithor, the God of War and Vengeance, sometimes referred to as 'The Blood-drenched Fury' often deplicted as a beast trapped in chains. Some pray to him for strength.
Morghul, the God of death and the afterlife. The warriors of old who worshipped the pantheon often painted their faces with their own blood with the hope that the god of death would let them survive the battle and live another day. It is said that the Valyrians of Avalon follow this practice before a pitched battle further enforcing the idea that they were savages in the eyes of the Westerosi. Morghul judges the souls of the dead sends them to their proper rest.
A brief extract on the Forces of Westeros
"Impressive…" – Lady Elaena Aurion upon seeing the prowess of the Lannister army on the Iron Isles during the Ironborn Rebellion
"Of the Eight kingdoms, The Westerlands, Avalon and the North maintain standing armies at any given moment" – Grandmaester Pycelle tutoring Princess Myrcella and Prince Tommen
There are three kingdoms that treat soldiery as a profession: Avalon, The North and the Westerlands. While the Vale, Riverlands and Stormlands boast capable warriors and knights, The Westerlands boast the only other professional force in the Eight kingdoms. While lacking the longstanding martial practices and traditions of the Northern Realms, the Westerland army possesses the best training and equipment money can buy. Under Tywin Lannister the army became more formidable as he had whipped it into better shape once he became lord paramount. Their numbers are further bolstered by the traditional feudal levies of the other Lords of the Westerlands.
Most of the Lannister foot-soldiers wear a set of light plate armor not to dissimilar to the armor worn by the Valyrian Legions of old. This has resulted in a durable fighting force that could withstand significant punishment and fight in protracted battles. Unfortunately this makes it more difficult for the infantry formations to maneuver during sudden shifts in battle, compared to the Avaloni Legions who traded protection for better mobility. Nevertheless, the army of the Westerlands is a force to be reckoned with, one that could match the armies other kingdoms blow for blow and only truly rivaled by the Military forces in the North.
The Longbow was the main armament of the Lannister Archers but like the Legions and armies of the North the crossbow also saw significant use in the Lannister army. The longbow allowed them to outrange most of their enemies The Knights of the westerlands acted as a force of heavy horsemen that led the vanguard of the army.
'They're more Northerner than they are Andal." -Hoster Tully on Houses Mallister and Blackwood
"Good thing they're on our side." - Captain Agathon of the Thirteenth Avaloni Legion after finding the aftermath of an ambush laid by House Blackwood archers during the Ironborn Rebellion
The Riverlands has always been a heavily contested region. As such it is a melting pot of cultures, Andal, First men , Ironborn and in some rare cases Valyrian. Due their stronger ties with Avalon, Houses Mallister and Blackwood lean closer to the first men in terms of culture they even have their own forces organized in a manner akin to the Legions of Avalon and the armies of the North on a smaller scale. Thanks to the prosperity they gained from maintaining ties with Avalon both houses can form at the very least single Legion's worth of men from their holdings without compromising their defenses, this is the result of multiple instances of refugees fleeing from the civil strife in the South.
Due to frequent Ironborn raids, House Mallister boasts a modestly sized fleet of fifteen warships to defend its holdings, this was further bolstered by an additional ten when House Aurion donated ten newly-built brigs to House Mallister years after the Ironborn rebellion. In terms of martial might House Mallister boasts some of the more ferocious warriors of Riverlands, as seen when they beat back the attack on Seaguard despite being outnumbered three to one.
The men under House Blackwood have strong military traditions rooted in Archery. The Raven's Teeth, the personal troops of Brynden Rivers or Lord Bloodraven find their origins as bannermen of House Blackwood, these men while under the command of Lord Bloodraven ended the lives of Daemon Blackfyre and two of his sons. While most of them would follow Brynden into exile to the Wall, a few remained at Raventree hall teaching the next generation of Blackwood Archers. Their skill was such that House Aurion often procured the services of Blackwood archers as both auxilliaries and trainers for their own troops. Very few can match the archers of House Blackwood even the hardened marksmen of the other kingdoms give pause at the idea of facing them.
In terms of land forces both houses took up the practice of forming units of 'riders' much like House Aurion and Stark had. With both houses possessing a sizable number of knights, these riders tend to be better trained compared to their northern cousins who make up for lack of training with experience from Wildling and Pirate raids. The riders are often the first response to bandits and raiders, in most cases they are able to destroy them but in the rare cases that they fail to do so they nevertheless drive them away.
"They are among the few forces that give even the Northerners pause." - Lord Arthur Dayne on the Knights of the Vale and Dornish Infantry
The Avaloni and Northern Knights and riders are considered one of the more formidable forces in the Eight Kingdoms, matched by the heavy Horse of the Westerlands and even that of the Riverlands, and outnumbered by the Knights of the Reach. However the Knights of the Vale are the only group that can well and truly claim themselves to be better that the Northerners in that regard. Their actions in the Andal crusades played no small part in forcing the Legion to slowly shift their infantry combat doctrine to that of an anti-cavalry focus.
The Dornish proved to be a difficult foe during the Rebellion, when the Dornish Phalanx met the Legion Shieldwall neither side were able to gain the advantage. The Dornish favor light armor and spears allowing them to fight for longer compared to the Legionaries of Avalon. This was a distinct advantage in a protracted fight allowing them to keep the northerners at range and run around them in circles, allowing more flexible formations to be utilized compared to the rigid shield walls that the Northerners favored. However, it was somewhat circumvented by the fact that the weaponry of the average legionary was more than capable of sundering or breaking Dornish armor. Despite this they were one of the other reasons that the Legions opted for a more mobile force. Regardless of their disadvantages in a direct confrontation, the flexible Dornish Phalanxes were known to match their enemies blow for blow the Legions were no exception.
Northern Knights
"Barbarians and Savages playing at Knights," - Lord Mace Tyrell
"Men of character, they've most certainly earned the right to call themselves Knights," - Lord Yohn Royce on the Knightly orders of Avalon and the North
"Only the wolves are howling in the night." - attributed to a Reachmen soldier the night before the Battle of the Trident
Not all knights that came with Rhaena Targaryen chose to serve under House Aurion. After the Order of the Dragonguard was formed some knights chose to pledge allegiance to the Lord's of Winterfell. They formed their own Knightly Order, the Order of the White Wolf. Another order to form or reform in this case was the Order of the Green Hand,The Knights of House Manderly still claim membership of this order, this claim was bolstered by the fact that surviving Order Knights from the Field of Fire fled to White Harbour. Unlike their cousins in Avalon who play a more army-oriented role, The Order of the Green Hand and the Newly formed White-Wolf often patrol the Lands of House Stark as well as act as the Vanguard for armies of their respective liege-lords.
They were formally acknowledged as Knightly Orders in the Aftermath of Robert's Rebellion as both an acknowledgment of their skills and as part of a strategy to truly integrate the North with the rest of the Kingdoms
The Knights of the newly founded order have diligently served House Stark since their founding. After their founding it was said that when they swore their oath under a Heart Tree they were approached by a Child of the Forest. It is not known what had transpired or if it was true to begin with. Nonetheless, since it's founding the Order had found and tamed Direwolves to fight alongside them in battle. The Order's numbers have often been bolstered by the more chivalrous hedge knights who joined seeking camaraderie and a sense of belonging. Often dismissed by others due their stronger ties to the Old gods rather than the Seven, they were often considered by others as Savages posing as knights while others such as the Knights of the Vale consider them worthy peers due to how they carried themselves both on the field and off of it. Regardless, both the Green-hand and White-Wolf Knights are force to be reckoned with even the bravest of warriors give pause to the sight of wolves and knights charging at them.
A brief excerpt on Northern Economics
"Highly self sufficient, they rarely if ever import from us, while we import from them, I have yet to place little birds in their cities because they always seem to find and eliminate them. Or in some cases subvert them..." - Lord Varys reporting to the Small council
"For some reason, the Iron bank does not consider the Northern Realms as part of the Iron Throne, and most likely hope that they would do something about our current situation. " -Lord Baelish, explaining to the Small council on why the Iron Bank informed both House Stark and Aurion of the financial situation.
While coinage is commonly used in the North to acquire goods, it was mostly used the major towns. People in cities such as New Valyria, Dragon's Harbour, Barrowton, and Ironhold often used coin to procure goods in markets. In outlying areas however, barter or trade system was much more common, the road system made it easier for commoners to travel to and from major settlements most of the smallfolk found it easier to acquire goods from their neighbors or nearby villages. In some cases smallfolk from the villages would travel to other villages to barter for goods rather than travel to the cities and towns.
The North is no different, Wintertown, White Harbour and the new settlement on Skagos being the major settlements where coinage was used, the nobles often used barter amongst themselves. With the south essentially being guarded by Avalon, House Stark and their vassals had to worry more about the occasional wildling raid rather than ironborn or pirates, as such they were able to put resources into infrastructural development including the expanding and maintaining of a road system.
An addition source of income was the sailor quarters of the Northern cities. While most visitors in Avalon were prohibited for entering the entire grounds of the city the Sailor's quarter and market districts were open to visitors. The Sailor's quarter was composed of inns, taverns and brothels that catered to travelers. The Market districts in the cities were fairly self explanatory, Smallfolk and craftsmen from all over the North sold market goods in these districts. From food, tools, clothing, trinkets and in rare cases exotic goods such as silk or glass items.
By modern time, it was not strange to find all types of gold coins from the Free cities as there were often travelers from the east that came to visit the cities of the North. The only other reason for the use of coin was to pay 'tribute' or taxes to the iron throne. Avalon has done so only to avoid needless conflict with the south as they would prefer to focus on expanding infrastructure at home than fighting a war because the throne wanted what amounted to pocket change from them. The reason for the low taxation was a combination of both King Robert lowering their taxes as well as the assumption that despite it's military might the North was largely poor in terms of finances.
In terms of supplies, both kingdoms can comfortably feed their people during Winter and have in rare cases exported food to Essos. The Northern realms were never wealthy in the same sense as the nobles of the South, In terms of outright currency most kingdoms bar the Iron Isles can claim to be more "Wealthy" than the Northern Kingdoms. But the Northern kingdoms wealth lay in raw resources, unlike the other kingdoms, the North was largely undeveloped until House Aurion settled in the North. It was only relatively recently that the Northerners could start exploiting said resources compared to the thousands of years House Lannister had been mining the Rock or how the Nobles of the Reach produce large amounts of crops. Where the knights of the South are spending large amounts of gold to procure plate-armor their Northern counterparts find themselves having much easier access to said armor without needing to spend as much.
As mentioned before there were brief periods where Northern weapons and plate armor found its way South to be sold, further padding the coffers of both Northern Kingdoms, but aside from those goods the Northerners traded luxury goods in the South. One of Avalon's major exports was tree syrup, a form of sugar derived from tree sap. The many varieties of Ale and Mead from the Lands of House Stark often found their way down south and became a popular alcoholic spirits amongst the smallfolk due to its taste and cheap price. Another item that provides profit is the high quality leather that the north Exports. Most of the leather comes from the Auroch herds that dot the North, the best comes from House Bolton in the North.
An excerpt on Veteran soldiers.
"You won't find many of them around now but some these soldiers have been around since the War of the Ninepenny kings. Instead of living a peaceful life after completing their service they chose the re-enlist into my father's command. I don't think I could find better soldiers than them I doubt our casualties would have been so low were they not present. So I would be a bit more careful with what you say Ser Jaime. After all, they are old men in a profession were most men die young." - Lady Elaena Aurion to Ser Jaime Lannister after he disparages them as old men long past their prime.
"They grew old for a reason and I would not be one to offend them." - Lord William Aurion on Veteran Legionaries
Due to it's stronger sense of militarism Avalon has many commoners who choose the life of a soldier. A rare few of these veterans have been around since the time of the Ninepenny kings serving under Daemon Aurion. One such example is Axell Falker who served in fifth Legion, A veteran soldier he returned to service at the request of Daemon's son William, and still serves as one of his senior officers. In modern times only a few veterans from that time such as Falker chose to return to service under House Aurion with most staying in retirement or even joining the militia as captains.
During the war of the Ninepenny kings the Eleventh Legion of Avalon was decimated during the battle on the Stepstones near the end of the war. Aelyx Aurion had decided to dissolve the legion, its banners were stowed away, those who remained were merged with the other legions and it's name recorded for posterity. A replacement Legion would not be formed for a long time until after an Ironborn raid on Stony shore almost twenty years later.
Many of the surviving Militia from those battles had chosen to leave Stony Shore, these were the men who had repelled the raiders and whom William Aurion fought beside at a young age. Many of these men would go on to join the newly forming Thirteenth legion, this legion was stationed at Moat Cailin and it's command was handed over to William when he assumed the lordship of Moat Cailin at the age of fifteen.
These men would fight beside him during both Robert's rebellion as well as the Ironborn rebellion. They fought at the battles at Summerhall, distinguishing themselves much like how the Dauntless had distinguished themselves. The Thirteenth formed the rear guard during the Battle at Ashford and were in the thick of the fighting during the Battle of the Bells. From there they were reinforced and marched into the Reach and besieged several castles under the Aurion siblings, they were then marched to a crossing at the River Mander, where judicious use of terrain allowed them to hold off a force that was more than thrice their number.
The riders and knights of the Thirteenth were the core of the force that accompanied William Aurion to the Trident. After the battle and due to injuries leaving Lord Aurion incapacitated and despite being exhausted they had ridden with Ser Arthur Dayne to King's Landing only to find the city being sacked by Lannister forces. Acting quickly, Arthur ordered them to storm the city and subdue the Lannister force sacking it. by the time they had subdued most of them it had too late, the damage was done and what remained of the royal family had murdered on the orders of Tywin Lannister.
After the rebellion they would not face another major conflict til almost five years later when the Iron Island's rebelled. The thirteenth was once again the core force under William Aurion's command. For the first time in history the Iron Islands had been invaded by the Northerners. Under Lord Aurion they would attack several of the Islands, the castles that resisted were put to the torch with the defenders who were still trapped in them. During the attack on the Pyke the the tenth and thirteenth legions were the first to land with Robert Baratheon, Jaime Lannister, Elaena Aurion and Eddard Stark following suit. With both forces attacking most of the defenders were driven back into the castle. After the Greyjoy Rebellion had ended most of the mustered legions were discharged and placed on reserve with the exception of Several among them the Thirteenth.
In the aftermath of these conflicts the Thirteenth became Avalon's most famous (or infamous when it came to certain nobles) military force. The Thirteenth Legion is along side the First, Ninth and Tenth are the only active legions in Avalon, with the others placed under reserve. While somewhat forgotten by the South in the past ten years the active legions are constantly training and patrolling the lands, hunting bandits and pirates alongside the Militia. Ready to fight the moment their sworn lords call them to arms.
A brief entry on Legion Heraldry
"Whenever the Silver Blue banners of Avalon and the Grey White Banners of the North came down south, the the realm bled." - Maester Yandel, the first line of The Military Histories of Westeros in the chapter covering the Dance of Dragons
Though under the banner of House Aurion, some of the legions identify themselves with different banners. When House Aurion first landed they brought eight legions with them. Their heraldry was largely similar a silver dragon on blue banner along with the Valyrian symbol for each number with the shape of the dragon looking different on each banner. When new legions were formed a divergence in heraldry formed. After the fleet was rebuilt, new legions had to be formed to act as additional infantry for the ships. These legions were dedicated to naval warfare and served as soldiers and sailors for the Avalon Navy. The symbol of their banners was the trident. It was homage the Meraxes, Valyrian God of the sea. Another example of heraldry divergence was the Thirteenth legion, the banner was a darker shade of blue and instead of Dragons the banner bore silver combatant Mabari on midnight blue.
Another Excerpt on Horses
"Not only do they have their own breed of hounds, they breed their own horses and the horses are as stubborn as they are!" -Lyanna Stark to her brother's after she returned from a visit to her betrothed's home
"What in the Seven Hells…" – Jon Arryn, Upon finding injured Aurion warhorses the aftermath of the battle at the Trident still standing despite their injuries
"Nothing makes you shit yourself more than the sight of Northern Cavalry charging at you," - Unknown knight of the Reach reflecting on the Rebellion
While the majority of Nobles in Avalon are reliant on House Ryswell for horses, House Aurion favored a small degree of self-suffiency. As a result they devoted some resources to the breeding of their own horses, they never made it a priority until Baelon Aurion, son of Rhaenyra chose to prioritize animal husbandry. Having brought many horses with them from their exodus, Horse breeding was not a lofty ambition it was an achievable goal, though many of their original horses died out from exposure to the cold temperatures of the north. The few that did survive were able to breed with the hardier steeds of the North. The more common color of their coats at the time were either black or dark grey. Baelon was able to raise a large herd of horses mostly Coursers. It is said that Baelon Aurion had used blood magic in an attempt to make a stronger breed of war horse like how his ancestors had supposedly done as well with the Mabari. Like them, there was no record that indicated the veracity of this claim. What is certain was that Baelon did endeavor to breed better horses and succeeded.
While not as large as destriers found in the south, these horses were still bigger than the coursers that were often found in the North. Due to who bred them they were originally referred to as Aurion Charger's by both the subjects of Avalon as well as their Northern neighbors. When ridden by knights these horses were often equipped with light plate or chainmail for extra protection and were surprisingly fast despite this and were known to move ever faster without it. Riders of the Legion's directly under House Aurion were known to ride these steeds without giving them armor. At the battle of the Trident a number of knights and riders directly under House Aurion fell in battle. In the aftermath most of the war horses the knights were riding had survived, it was reported that the horses were injured yet standing as if they we unaffected. Closer inspection of the horses revealed dents and rends in the armor of the warhorses as well as arrows and cuts on their bodies, yet they still stood as if completely unaffected by their own injuries. Seeing this resulted in coining a new name for the Aurion Chargers coined by Jon Arryn, Ironbred Horses. they were often referred to as such due to their distinctive darker coats and their ability to withstand significant punishment.
Similar observations were noted during the Ironborn Rebellion. This resulted in numerous inquiries by the crown and the other great houses. Some of these inquiries were offers to purchase Ironbred horses, or attempts to seize them for themselves. All of them were rebuffed not even the friendship between the King and the ruling members of the House was enough for them to consider handing over their own horses to the South. There were several attempts to poach said horses, said poachers were caught, promptly executed or left to die in the swamps of the Neck. Whatever methods used to breed horses have been kept a secret from the rest of Westeros and all attempts to procure them had been met with failure.
In truth, breeding the horses was easy but training such horses was both time consuming and extremely difficult. Despite this, House Aurion has given these impressive steeds away, but only to close friends, loyal subjects and allies of their house. It is known that House Dayne of Stony shore were given several for studs as well as briefly provided with Trainers, improving the quality of the Horses House Dayne had at it's disposal. Veteran riders of the Legion's directly under House Aurion were occasionally given Ironbred horses after their first steeds had perished, if said riders had finished the entirety of their service they were often being allowed to keep their ownership of said horses after their service had ended.
Travelling Fast
"We rode to the Trident, He drove us like a man possessed..." - Lady Alysanne Tallhart on William Aurion's Ride to the Trident
"How did they do it? It would take a month to get from Riverrun to Stoney Sept yet Eddard Stark and Elaena Aurion managed to move their troops there in half that time..." - Ser Oswell Whent during a Royal war council.
While the secrets of Ravenry were cracked by the scholars long ago, the Northern realms devised alternative channels of communication. The lynch-pin of this was the road systems. In the North a number of camps were established to house Horses along the roads. The messengers and couriers would travel to these camps switching horses as they went along allowing them cover well over thirty miles a day. This system provided an additional method of communication as not all Nobles had access to ravens.
Eddard Stark used this system as a basis for rapid deployment and transport during Robert's Rebellion allowing him to cover a months worth of travel in half the time, This allowed him and Elaena Aurion to arrive at Stoney Sept to reinforce Robert Baratheon during the Battle of the Bells. William Aurion had used a similar method on a much larger scale during his ride to the Trident allowing him to cut a three week long journey down to a week and a half by moving horses and captured horses to various camps on they way there ahead of time.
The effect of Refugees on the North
During the Dance of Dragons, many smallfolk fled the south. With most if not all of the southern kingdoms involved in the dance, most of the smallfolk chose to flee north. the Ruling houses of the two northern kingdoms would accept these people into their lands. When the civil war had ended some chose to return home, but most chose to stay in the North. While the land itself was somewhat cold and harsh the ruling houses of the North provided stability. The most the smallfolk had to fear was the occasional pirate raid and wild animals compared to the many roving bands of Broken men in the South, while they would be eliminated by the Southern lords returning from war most were not willing to risk it. This also occurred during the Blackfyre rebellions when a number of smallfolk conscripts who supported their lords for Daemon Blackfyre's claim fled North with their families. Another example of this occurring was after the defiance of Duskendale when many of the smallfolk in the crownlands fled from King Aerys Targaryen's descent into madness.
These sudden growths in population were both a curse in the short term and a boon in the long term. The influx of refugees put a significant strain on Winter supplies and for the first time in a long time food was somewhat scarce in the North and the original campsites for the refugees were not enough to protect them from the cold. Adding to that fact was that most of the refugees were worshippers of the Faith of the Seven, a large number had converted to worship of the old gods and began following the practices of the Northerners whereas the rest continued their worship of the Seven via the newly forming clergy in Avalon. The goods news was that the additional smallfolk provided additional manpower in the North, using supplies and coin as payment the labor forces for a number of infrastructural projects was increased resulting in the completion of a number of projects that would have taken longer to complete. Another boon was that thanks to improved living conditions in Avalon and the North many of them would survive the winters and cause a population boom in the Northern Realms years later.
The Mystery of the Child Prodigy in the Citadel
About three years before the Rebellion, the people of Oldtown were talking about the genius acolyte of the Citadel. Surprisingly he had first made a link of Black Iron, followed by two links of Valyrian Steel, and a link of silver. He promptly made two links of Yellow-gold. In the span of a year he had made more varying from bronze to Iron to additonal links in Valyrian Steel. His instructors hailed him as a genius just a little over a year during his time he had managed to complete twelve links.
Some were suspicious, where did he come from? He possessed an expertise that was not commonly associated with acolytes of the Citadel, In terms of appearance he could have been described as a Valyrian were it not for his Coal black hair. Many assumed he either a child from Dragonstone or an unacknowledged bastard of House Targaryen. The suspicion was abated when he claimed his name was Jaehaerys Snow, claiming to be an unacknowledged bastard of minor house in Avalon. Regardless Acolyte Jaehaerys was slated to become the youngest to achieve the title of Maester and was known as a wonder child due to his age.
Unfortunately, tragedy struck, a fire broke out in the chamber where the young acolyte was once more delving into the higher mysteries. When the fire was put out they could not find a trace of him only the glass candle which was ablaze...
The Sacred Five Noble Houses of Valyria
"No noble dare oppress the commoners of Tyria, lest Aurion's wrath come down on them like the fury of an avenging god."-a roughly translated Extract from the Histories of the Dragonlords of the Valyrian Freehold the rest of the passages on House Aurion were too damaged to be translated. Translated by Archmaester Marwyn
While the leadership of the Freehold was often contested by the two-score Dragonlord houses of Valyria, there were a few who were considered above the others, the five founding houses. While originally they were not necessarily "houses" in the traditional sense they had the influence and resources to help Lady Valyria found the freehold. The Five were: Valtheos, Araelor, Taellarys ,Taennaris and Aurion. Lady Valyria had convinced both Lord and Valtheos and Araelor to join her cause, and brought the other houses to heel either by convincing them or putting them to the sword. At the time many of Lady Valyria's allies had tried to convince her to attack Tyria.
The main reason for this suggestion was that despite the land itself being relatively harsher living environment and filled with a large number of natural predators it was still resource rich territory and had arable land. Lord Taennaris had removed such thoughts when he reminded the other lords that the Aurions of Tyria had beaten back the Ghiscari Empire who had brought the dreaded Lockstep Legions against them. He pointed out that even now they would have lost had they fought the empire. There were many stories about the rulers of Tyria, that they counted finest warriors of the Peninsula in their ranks, of the dreaded hounds that live in their territory and how they commanded loyalty and absolute obedience from the beasts, how they could wield magic as easily as wielded weapons. If anything, learning more about the rulers of Tyria had convinced Lady Valyria that they should be made allies and that fighting them would have been detrimental to her ambitions.
When Lady Aurion was planning and expedition into the Fourteen Flames when Lady Valyria had arrived to try and convince the Tyrian's to join her cause. Valaena Aurion was the last of the Five to be convinced and this was shortly after She and Lady Valyria had found Dragon eggs in the Fourteen Flames.
As one of the 'Five' House Aurion faced less scrutiny from their detractors compared to the other houses. Privately among the five they were held in high regard for aiding Lady Valyria in finding the dragon eggs and in front of their other peers they were praised for ensuring the might of the Freehold through the formations of the Legions. such was their prestige that their 'eccentricities' were usually ignored. Several Dragonlord houses had rose to prominence at their behest, House Belaerys is one such example. In rare cases they have shown that they could tear those houses down if they so desired, and it was known that if the Lord or Lady Aurion had desired a Dragonlord house stripped of their titles the other Four would acquiesce to their demands.
It occurred to me after I had written the bit on Northern Knights that there was a Knightly order not to dissimilar in terms of aesthetic and style in Warhammer Fantasy, by then I had already written it and saw no point in changing it.
I concede that one part about travel might not be realistic, but I kinda gave up after seeing confusing time scales while watching Game of Thrones again (looking at when Jon went to Dragonstone, back to the wall and how Daenerys cam to save him) This was partially inspired by the Roman courier system or Cursus Publicus on a much larger scale.
The Valyrian Pantheon has very little written on it, for example Balerion, Vhagar and Meraxes were the names of three Valyrian Gods. What they represent is unknown so i chose to fill in the blanks. I used the Greek pantheon as point of reference to make this. On a related note in this AU, Balerion is known to the Ironborn but he is simply referred to as the Storm God.
I should have said this a long time ago but the number of soldiers in a legion vary, they can be higher or lower, likewise the number 60,000 is more of an average rather than a specific in the sense that when they 'reactivate' a legion they may not necessarily get all of the soldiers immediately, they can range from 3000 to 5000 when reformed. Some legions would be considered 'over-strength' legions, like the ninth and tenth which act as a marine force for the navy which means they can range from 5000 - 7000 at any given time, this may be overly detailed but i'm putting it in anyways.
Now admittedly I won't be updating anytime soon, but I will be revising all of my entries.
