Land of the King
Chapter 46: Concordat of Stars
It is better to make friends then enemies.
4003 E.L
In the past few months, letters had been dispatched across Westeros. Ravens had gone to Winterfell, Falconrest, the Nightfort, and other important strongholds in the realms of the North, the Vale, and the Watch. The letters bore official invites to a meeting that King Aragorn of Arnor was hosting in the Arnorian city of Osgiliath.
Though the letters held no hint that attendance at this meeting was mandatory, one did not simply ignore invites from the king of the most powerful country in Westeros and perhaps the world. All of them recognized the invites for what they truly were. Summons to a meeting to decide the future of the whole continent. Absence would be unwise.
To that end, the Kings of the North and the Vale, King Benjen Stark and King Edric Arryn, along with Lord Commander Artos of the Night's Watch had taken ship, setting sail from their respective ports of Barrowton, Gulltown, and Westport for the city of Osgiliath alongside some of their most powerful and influential vassals.
The Citadel of the Stars was built upstream on the Trident River at the confluence of the Three Forks of the mighty Trident. It was the primary city of Siriand and the means by which the Kings of Arnor controlled the river and the two Great Canals connected to its waters.
As the northernmost major city in Arnor controlled by the Royal House and located in a central location, it had been decided to hold the meeting there so as to make it easier for the envoys to reach.
Aragorn, First of His Name, stood on the balcony of the Dome of Stars overlooking the river as he watched the ships carrying the delegations from the Watch and the North sail down the river.
The vessels flew the plain black charge of the Night's Watch and the running grey direwolf of Winterfell though not only those sigils flew. The rusted crown of Dustin, the horse of Ryswell, and the fish of Fisher, flew as well, accompanying their liege, as did the Karstark sun and the Greystark sword.
House Arryn and their vassals had arrived two days prior and it was Aragorn's job to ensure the two rival kingdoms could reconcile. It had been an ambition of his for many years now to see the entirety of Westeros south of the Wall united under a joint alliance with Arnor at its head. Many would no doubt criticise his project as a means to diplomatically assert Arnorian hegemony and Aragorn would not deny that, in private at least. Yet he honestly believed that this alliance would be the perfect means to bring a lasting peace and order to Westeros, something that Arnor desperately needed if they were to face their rivals.
It had been the ambition and desire of every Arnorian king since Arvegil the Great to one day reclaim their lost territories and exact their vengeance on the accursed Valyrians. Time had dulled the memory of that ancient loss for all but the Dúnedain and even the dragonlords themselves no longer believed Arnor would one day counterattack. And that would be their downfall.
The longevity of the Arnorians allowed them to plan on a scale unimaginable to all other nations. His great-grandfather, Arahael had subdued the Corsairs and brought an end to the legacy of the Kin-Strife, though the deed had soured his relationship with his mother, one that was never fully healed, not until the woman had been on her deathbed. His grandfather Aranuir had crushed the Andal threat and his father Aravir had reclaimed Dorne, securing their supply lines and removing a thorn in their back.
The North, the Vale, and the Watch were friendly to Arnor at the moment, yet lesser men were fickle and there was little guarantee that their descendants would be allies of Arnor as well, especially the Vale, where memories of the Aranuir's war and the centuries-old Treaty of Gulltown remained.
If Arnor was to bring down the greatest enemy they had ever fought, they could not afford to have their backs unguarded. One way or another, all of Westeros had to answer to Annúminas.
That evening, Aragorn feasted his guests of honour in the great hall of the palace. He made small talk with them, inquiring after their families and of the issues each realm faced. King Edric of the Vale also privately submitted a request to renegotiate the terms of the Treaty of Gulltown, which Aragorn promised to consider.
"King Aragorn, I must say that Osgiliath is a sight to see indeed. If even one of the lesser cities of your kingdom puts any in my own to shame, I can hardly imagine what Annúminas the Golden would be like," King Benjen complimented.
"You flatter me King Benjen. You are more than welcome to visit the Tower of the West should you decide to stay longer in Arnor," Aragorn replied graciously.
"Unfortunately there are matters in Winterfell that required attending to. I fear tarrying too much in Arnor would be unwise. Us Starks do not do well in the south, it's too hot. Why I had almost thought I would melt when I arrived yesterday!" the Northman said with a booming laugh.
Aragorn looked whimsical then, "Ah yes the burden of responsibility, I too harbour a desire to lay eyes upon Winterfell again. Tell me has it changed very much since the rule of your grandfather?"
King Benjen looked stunned for a moment, being very blatantly reminded of the longevity of the Arnorian king and some would say it was a subtle statement of power and superiority on the part of Aragorn.
"Not that much. There have been some expansions here and there but for the most part it has remained unchanged I believe," King Benjen answered, having seemingly recovered from his prior dilemma.
Aragorn turned his attention to the Lord Commander of the Watch then, who was interestingly not a Dúnadan. Though the Arnorians did not join the Watch in the numbers they once did, any Arnorian member was almost guaranteed to be a high ranking officer or elite soldier. The number of non-Dúnedain Lord Commanders of the Night's Watch since Cirion could be counted on one hand. To have been elected instead of those veteran members spoke highly indeed of Lord Commander Artos.
"Lord Commander, I understand that you chose to attend my meeting over your ranging. I'm honoured by your decision. If you don't mind my asking, how goes the expansion of the Watch into the furthest reaches of the north?" Aragorn inquired.
"It is proceeding well Your Majesty. We already have outposts in various places north of the Wall and Hardhome, the closest thing the wildlings have to a town, has accepted our overlordship and protection. I do believe that the wildlings have been effectively eliminated as a threat to the more civilised parts of the continent. In fact, I am pleased to announce that not a single wildling raid has passed the Wall in the past three hundred years," the Lord Commander stated.
There was a small round of applause at his statement.
"Having said that however, I must confess that ruling the wildlings is much harder than we expected. They know the lands beyond the wall better than we do and many still refuse to submit to our oversight. There have been proposals to establish an official academy of skinchangers in the Watch to make up for this," he continued.
"Now that is an excellent idea. Perhaps I should do the same? Yet I find that skinchangers are hardly common, even amongst the First Men, compared to the numbers that they are found in Arnor," King Benjen said.
"Our people have a greater predilection towards the higher mysteries, you could say King Benjen," Aragorn said in reply.
King Edric of the Vale looked rather uncomfortable at the current discussion. It was to be expected after all as followers of his religion had brutally persecuted skinchangers for generations. The head of the Faith of the Seven, the High Septon, had also attended alongside King Edric and both men were wisely keeping their mouths shut.
It was another of Aragorn's schemes. Though he doubted they could fully settle the religious differences of the three kingdoms, he hoped that some semblance of tolerance and cooperation could be developed.
Even after all these years, the Northmen persisted in worshipping the Old Gods and their weirwoods despite repeated Arnorian attempts to make them see that the Old 'Gods' were merely the Maiar servants of the one true god.
Despite the heretical beliefs of the Northmen, however the two religions and kingdoms had co-existed peacefully for millennia. The same however could not be said for the fanatic Andals and their Faith of the Seven who had cut down and burned almost every weirwood tree in the Vale along with brutally persecuting religious dissidents and zealously attempting to spread their religion to the other kingdoms by force.
There were centuries of bad blood between Arnor and the North and their Andal neighbours in the Vale. Aragorn took some solace in the fact that it had not been since the reign of his grandfather that those tensions had flared up and that was solely due to the iron grip that Arnor had had the Vale in for centuries under the Treaty of Gulltown.
Loath as he was to surrender even a fraction of the power Arnor enjoyed over the Valemen, Aragorn knew that he had no choice but to do so and fully reconcile with them lest they become a second Dorne when the eventual war with Valyria came.
The next day, Aragorn took his seat at the grand assembly that had been prepared for the meeting.
Seated in the congregations were high ranking Arnorian nobles and military officers and diplomats alongside their counterparts from the two other kingdoms and the Night's Watch.
As the presiding leader of the convention and the host of the meeting, it was the role of Aragorn to speak first.
"As some of you may have guessed, I have called this council to propose the formation of a grand alliance, one that would encompass and bind the entirety of Westeros south of the Gift in a mutual defense pact and a treaty to give aid to the Watch. It is the hope of Arnor that this alliance will bring a complete end to the chaos of warfare on this continent and allow us to turn our eyes to foes beyond."
Aragorn did not mention any names but all in attendance could guess at the enemy he was referring to. Though centuries had passed since the Rape of Lys, the grudge Arnor had for Valyria could not be underestimated and anyone who said they had no fear of the dragonlords would be a liar.
That being said, many did not approve of the idea of placing themselves in an even tighter alliance with Arnor.
Lord Vance from the Vale stepped up and asked, "How are we to know that this alliance is not simply a means by which Arnor, as the undoubted senior partner, will puppet the other constituents?" Who is to say we will not be dragged into war with the dragonlords and sent to die on the frontlines in the place of Arnorian soldiers?"
King Edric, who greatly desired the alliance, looked disapprovingly at his vassal but King Aragorn was not angered and simply smiled as he responded, "Hence the strictly defensive nature of the pact. Should any of the three kingdoms start a war with a foreign power without sufficient provocation, it would not be legally binding for the other two to come to their aid. Furthermore, the Kingdom of Arnor hardly needs to resort to diplomacy to puppet the Vale when we could have simply annexed the territory outright centuries ago and could still do so today if we wished,"
Lord Vance was placated by the words of King Aragorn until his last line which angered him, "Is that a threat Your Majesty?"
"Lord Vance, desist from this immediately!" Edric Arryn commanded, afraid that his alliance would be ruined by a hotheaded vassal.
Aragorn replied calmly, "No my lord of Vance, merely a recognition of fact. I do believe that you should obey your liege's command now."
As the eyes of the assembly turned to him, Lord Vance sheepishly realised that he had made a fool of himself and sat down in disgrace.
"Any further issues to raise? Or shall we move on to discussing the terms of the alliance?" Aragorn inquired, daring anyone else to challenge him.
Satisfied that none were doing so, the King summoned his scribes and began the negotiations.
"You asked to see me in private King Aragorn?" Edric Arryn said as he entered his solar.
"Ahh, King Edric. Please, we are in private now, do call me by my first name, I insist," Aragorn said warmly.
"Only if you do the same then."
Aragorn smirked, "Very well then Edric. I asked to see you privately to discuss what could be done to make the High Septon see reason. Frankly I do not think that there could ever be true peace between the Vale and Arnor so long as the Faith of the Seven continues stirring up anti-Arnor religious sentiments in your kingdom, no matter what is written in the treaty for the alliance. And I am afraid that so long as Arnor has reason to believe that the Vale might possibly renege on its part in the alliance in the name of religion, a renegotiation of the Treaty of Gulltown would be impossible."
"I understand Aragorn. Rest assured, the High Septon will see reason with my convincing. If possible could you attend the religious meeting tomorrow to present your proposals to him? I am of the understanding that the chief religious authorities of all three kingdoms are assembling tomorrow to discuss a possible syncretisation."
"Of course."
The treaty had at long last been finalised. It had been months of negotiation, bargaining, and arguing, but finally the three kingdoms and the Night's Watch had come to a consensus and had written out a treaty agreeable to all parties.
Per the terms of the treaty, known already as the Concordat of the Stars, the Kingdoms of Arnor, the North, and the Vale, formally allied with each other in the mutual defense pact of the treaty known as the Alliance of the Three Kingdoms. Per the terms of the alliance, direct military aid from allied kingdoms was only legally required in the case that one of the allies was attacked or provoked by a foreign power.
In the case of one of the allies being the aggressor in their war, military aid by the remaining two allies was not needed until the territories of their ally were being outright invaded by said foreign power.
The territories that the allies were legally bound to defend was officially set as all three nations recognised the territorial sovereignty of the maximum extent of each kingdom's existing borders.
Expansion to the territories that the allies were legally obligated to defend required unanimous consent by the three partners of the alliance. This clause was added on the request of the North and Vale who feared being drawn into future wars between Arnor and whatever foreign power they decided to war with unnecessarily as the increasing militarism and imperialism of Arnor against not only Valyria but other regions such as the Summer Isles were well known.
The historic Treaty of Gulltown between Arnor and the Vale was renegotiated and incorporated into the Concordat. Under the renegotiated terms, the Kingdom of the Vale was allowed to once more have a navy larger than twenty warships and the Gulltown Concession was returned to the Vale. However, the Arnorian Navy retained the right to harbour their ships in Gulltown and part of the Concession was retained as a military base for this purpose.
Furthermore, to settle existing religious differences, the religious authorities officially recognised the religions of the kingdoms as being related and able to peacefully coexist. Attempts at full syncretisation had failed, mostly due to the High Septon being unwilling to give up his power and the Northmen refusing to stop worshipping the weirwoods, yet various theological councils eventually concluded that the religions were not inherently incompatible. Thus the Concordat also contained an official Edict of Toleration that allowed followers of any of the three religions to live in peace unmolested in any of the three kingdoms.
There were several signatories of the Concordat, most notably King Benjen Stark of the North and King Edric Arryn of the Vale and some of their most prominent vassals as well as the High Septon. For the Arnorian part of the treaty however, only Aragorn signed, representing the absolute spiritual and temporal power he held over the Kingdom of Arnor.
As he put his quill to the treaty and signed his name, Aragorn could not help but feel a sense of triumph. The Concordat of Stars and the alliance it founded would be his legacy and he would forever be remembered for it.