Author Note
It took me ages to write this chapter. I think I'm out of steam for this story, but I will try to carry on if my muse inspires me, she's a fickle mistress.
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ZhaWarudo
Names in game of thrones don't agree with my spell checker.
It isn't that I don't respect Danaerys, it's that I think marriage is a bit of a joke and that weddings are nothing more than women trying to show off to other women.
Cersei is a very unattractive person. I don't mean physically, but since I know what she's done and what she'd willing to do I would find the idea of having sex with her repulsive.
The battle harem is more of an elite unit of body guards than a group of concubines. They are exactly what a Rogue Trader needs and he's got Big E looking out for him so he's not going to fall to Slaanesh just because he has an orgy. That's a real oversimplification of what Slaanesh is about anyway. After all, not every warrior gets the attention of Khorne. Chaos corruption is more complex than that.
Rogue Trader CYOA Story 1
"The God-Emperor lives in the hearts of all men; in the places they travel, the worlds they conquer and the shrines they craft in His holy name. Wherever mankind treads, so too walks the Emperor, ever sheltering Mankind in His divine light" — Missionary Jorus.
Part 14
Army Camp. The Crownlands.
Renly Baratheon the self proclaimed King of Westeros doubted that he was on the right path and not for the first time. It had all seemed so clear to him before the Imperials arrived, once his brother was dead he would rally his allies, gather an army and move to take the throne. Stannis dying had only made things easier as those who served him and still lived came flocking to his banner once he raised it. Well most of them, one of Stannis's most loyal followers had gone after whoever it was who had cleansed the entire island of Dragonstone of human life.
Renly had been eager at the start. With his lover Loras at his side and the might of the Stormlands behind him he'd marched on Kings Landing and no one tried to stop him. Now that he was here and the well guarded walls of the city stood between him and the throne.
The Lannisters had a large army here, many men with red cloaks or gold ones, and they had those guns the Imperials liked to sell. More than enough of them to make Renly pay dearly for taking the city, assuming that the men under his command didn't break due to so many losses.
So he'd decided to siege the city, to cut off its supplies from both land and sea in an attempt to starve the defenders just as Mace Tyrell had tried to do at Storms End during the rebellion, only this time Stannis wasn't around to keep order among the defenders The people of Kings Landing would rebel against their Lannister lords and open the gates to the city for him.
The siege had started well enough, with the Tyrells cutting off reinforcements between Kings Landing and the Westerlands. This meant that the Lannisters here in the crownlands had no way to send an army to meet Renly in the field, at least not any time soon. Alas not everything had gone smoothly, there was a complication.
"Wildfire" said Loras Tyrell.
The young knight was the only member of his House to side with Renly; the rest had made deals with those Imperials. He didn't know what to do about them, other than seek their support once he was king by making some sort of deal, but that was a problem for later for now he had another issue to deal with.
"That is what the message says" replied Renly who had read the letter half a dozen times "The Lannister have a supply of wildfire. Enough to burn down the entire of Kings Landing and while Tywin Lannister would never use it the rest of his family aren't so stable. Cersei is a vindictive bitch and Joffrey is well on the way to becoming the next Mad King".
Loras paced the tent that they used as a command centre.
"These Imperials must be lying" claimed the young knight.
Renly wasn't so sure because to him it seemed as if Lord Thrax didn't need to play such tricks. If the Rogue Trader did cause the New Doom in the lands beyond The Wall and destroy Astaphor then he could destroy Kings Landing if he saw fit to.
If he wanted to take the city he could also do that. He had flying machines, weapons that spat red death and the entire Tyrell army at his command he could crush Renly and the Lannisters. The fact that they hadn't simply stomped the Seven Kingdoms into dust suggested that the Imperials wanted Westeros as intact as possible. If this were true then letting Kings Landing burn down wouldn't make sense.
"I don't think so" said the man who would be king "And really it doesn't change things. We weren't going to attack the city and now we have one more reason not to. We can still starve them out".
Renly could tell that Loras was itching for action but there was no one to fight.
"This might be a Lannister trick" said Brienne of Tarth who was one of Renly's personal guards "Maybe they want people to think they have enough wildfire to destroy the city so that no one will dare attack them".
Renly didn't agree with that.
"If it is not a bluff and I attack then I risk losing the whole city" said the only living Baratheon brother "I won't be king of ashes".
Even Renly didn't want the throne so badly that he would risk the population of Kings Landing. Those lives aside, if the city burned due to his order to attack he'd hated more than the last Targaryen king and his rule would not last long.
"So we just wait?" asked Loras.
Renly understood the source of his lover's foul mood. It galled at him to just sit here and do nothing.
"What would you have me do?" Renly asked his former squire "Should we lay waste to the crownlands, kill the very people I am supposed to be ruling over. Maybe we should march on the Imperials and fight your family's bannermen, assuming we weren't all slaughtered by the Imperials before we got close enough to start swinging our swords around".
Loras took a deep breath.
"You're right, Your Grace" he said after a few moments "We shouldn't rush into action".
Renly wasn't so sure that his course of action was the correct one. If he didn't have the city under control how could he barter with the Imperials? If they came here to take the city and then took it from the Lannisters then they would put Viserys on the throne. Perhaps if Renly bent the knee and brought the Stormlands into the Imperium he might keep a seat on the Small Council, but what would the Storm Lords think of him? Would they still follow him?
"My lord the Lannisters have sent an emissary, The Imp" said one of the officers.
Renly sighed upon hearing that news. The Lannisters would not stand down and Renly could not withdraw without appearing weak in front of his lords so there was no point in talking and the Dwarf would not make for a good hostage even if Renly was willing to take the Imp as one. Given that he'd come here to talk it would be dishonourable to take the Lannister into custody.
The Baratheon went out to meet the Imp who was being brought to the camp in an elaborate carriage that moved slower than it needed to. It was far too large for the Imp who just looked comical as he tried to avoid falling out of the carriage.
"Let's get this over with," said Renly to Loras and Brienne.
There was some sort of disturbance going on behind the carriage and Renly saw Lancel Lannister, the King's former squire struggling as he tried to get away. He'd been up to something at the back of the carriage and before Renly could ask about what was going on the carriage exploded. Green flames consumed Tyrion Lannister, Lancel Lannister, several guards, while driving Renly, Loras and Brienee to the ground.
Soon the fires began to spread and as Loras saw his lover's broken body lying on the ground he ordered the attack. The Stormlords were shocked by what had just happened and their pride demanded that someone pay for this cowardly action. If only they'd known that there was much wildfire still inside the city.
(Line Break)
Army Camp. The Westerlands.
The Goldroad was a major road in southern Westeros. Beginning at the Lion Gate of King's Landing in the Crownlands, it extends west along the Blackwater Rush and then through a portion of the northern Reach before it takes you to Lannister controlled lands.
This was important because the combined Imperial and Tyrell forces were marching up that road, and doing so slowly so the Westerlands could marshal its defences. I wanted to beat them at their best so as to show them how totally futile it was to resist the Imperium of Man.
"Our scouts report that Ser Kevan Lannister is gathering his fighting men at the castle of Deep Den" I was informed by a vox operator who was taking the reports off the scouts "We don't have exact numbers but we know that they have a lot of Calvary".
The castle of Deep Den guards the Goldroad as it passes through the hills of the Westerlands. The road ends at Lannisport and Casterly Rock, seat of House Lannister, so if we got past Deep Den there wouldn't be much between us and the Lannister's home.
"Then we'll prepare for him to attack" I said "We'll send a few riders ahead and have them pull back to our camp so as to tempt the Lions to attack. Our men are spread out on the Goldroad so we'll look like a tempting target".
Randel Tarley did not agree with me.
"Keven Lannister is an experienced soldier" he warned the rest of the council "He won't come running to us".
The new council was made up of myself as Acting Hand of the King, Viserys as King, Duke Tyrell as Master of Coin, Prince Oberyn as Master of Laws, and Lord Paxtar Redwyne as Master of Ships. They were not a full council and Ranel Tarley was not the Master of anything, rather he would be Duke of the Westerlands once he'd helped us to conquer it as I didn't intend to let the Lannister keep any land once they were captured or killed.
"Then what would you suggest?" I asked "If his force is mostly made up of Calvary then he won't remain on the defensive".
That many horses need a lot of food and having men on horseback isn't a help if you are going to be staying behind some walls.
"The Lannisters are cowards" stated Prince Oberyn.
That seemed to be all he was going to say.
"Ser Keven knows not to let his enemy decide on his course of action" Tarley told me "He will march and meet us on ground he choses".
That made sense and if both armies were equal then it would matter that Ser Kevan got to choose where we fought.
"So we'll march to meet him" decided Viserys Targaryen "We're in no rush".
"My ships will prevent the Lannisters from moving troops via the ocean" Lord Paxtar Redwyne assured us.
A man with a note for me came in and I read it.
"House Blackwood has agreed to our terms" I read out "Should we remove House Tully from power they will take up the mantle of ruling house. However Lord Blackwood wants the Bracken family destroyed and the Freys, he warns that Lord Frey plots against the Imperium".
Viserys was not pleased to hear this.
"Damn traitors," he said.
I figured otherwise. The Blackwoods of Raventree Hall simply wanted to make sure that no noble house in the Riverlands could challenge them. As for the Freys they would have to be destroyed because they would do something stupid sooner or later that made a mess.
"Lord Frey wouldn't dare offend the Imperium unless he had some way of deflecting the blame" I said "He's not a brave man, but nor can he be trusted. Perhaps we should take the Twins and hand them over to someone more loyal to the crown. No doubt Lord Blackwood has someone in mind".
There were no protests against this idea. No one liked the Freys.
"If we want to ensure that The North doesn't interfere then taking The Twins makes sense" said Lord Tarley "They couldn't move an army into the Riverlands without crossing at the Twins".
The North had made no sign that it was preparing to move its armies, but that could change even with our treaty if House Tully was removed from power since Lord Stark had married a Tully.
"I can be there in a few hours" I said.
Lord Mace coughed to get everyone's attention.
"Is it wise to divide our forces?" he asked.
He had a point. Even with my ability to move troops around quickly with my support ships I didn't want my attention divided. I was getting ahead of myself.
"You're right Duke Mace" I said "We can worry about the Riverlands once the Westerlands are secure".
Then we could turn our eye towards The Vale or the Crownlands.
"My lords we have news from Kings Landing" said the Vox operator.
Since my scouts had radios they were able to keep us informed with the latest news.
"We don't have all the details, but someone just tried to kill Lord Renly and now his men are attacking Kings Landing" we were told "There was an explosion of some kind and then the Storm Lords began attacking the city".
Well that was going to be a bloodbath.
"We need to get to Kings Landing," stated Viserys "We need to march now".
That wouldn't be wise and I wasn't the only one who thought so.
"If we turn around then Kevan Lannister will charge our rear" Tarley warned.
I also had concerns.
"We don't want to be there if the Wildfire ignites" I said.
There wasn't anything we could do to stop the fighting so we might as well let it play out.
"We can move part of the army towards Kings Landing" I was now saying "I'll send men via shuttle to secure a location in the Crownlands for more men to be transported. We'll need to divide our forces and keep marching into the Westerlands. I can give you more guns and men to help with that".
Viserys was now pacing the tense.
"If the city burns we need to be there to help with the recovery" he said.
He understood the value of winning hearts and minds. If he turned up with help the smallfolk would see him as a hero rather than just the son of the Mad King.
"And of course to salvage anything left of the Red Keep" he added.
If the Iron Throne got melted in the fires then I'd have to get a new one. That wouldn't be too bad, but the Iron Throne was a symbol of power so I'd rather it remain intact.
"Duke Mace, Lord Tarely '' I said while standing up "The king and I must go to find out what is happening over in Kings Landing. I'm sure that you can handle things here".
Well Tarley could and I had good Imperial Guard officers here.
"I'll come with you" decided Prince Oberyn "Seeing King Landing burn will be an interesting site".
Lord Paxtar Redwyne chose to remain here.
(Line Break)
The Red Keep. Kings Landing.
Madness and stupidity
Tywin Lannister often had those words on his mind even before his fool of a daughter had gotten into her head to murder her younger brother while also taking out Renly. The old lion didn't care much that his dwarf son was dead, assuming that he was, it was more about how Cersei had gone about it. She'd risked too much.
Losing Jamie had unsettled her and while she'd become more and more unstable since then she still held a lot of power as the former queen. Cersei had been able to spend many years bringing the capital under her control, at least to some extent, and she'd used her influence to obtain the services of the alchemist guild.
Like many Tywin had never held much faith in the alchemist guild, seeing them as relics of times past when the dragons still ruled, now he wished that he'd paid them more attention as even from the throne room he could hear the screams as fires consumed the city. These infernos had started because of the damn wildfire.
Ironically it was Tyrion who had tried to warn his father about Cersei's plans, but Tywin had paid the Imp very little attention and kept the dwarf busy, thinking that his youngest child needed to be kept out of trouble. If only he had listened then perhaps this massive disaster could have been averted.
It was too late now. Upon seeing Renly killed the enemy hadn't scattered; they'd attacked recklessly and the gates may have held if not for the use of wildfire. Now as the city burned Renly's army must be burning with it. There was no way to know for sure as Tywin had ordered the Red Keep sealed up and none of the screams told them much other than that the city was in chaos.
Tywin found it very worrying that his eldest grandson seemed to be pleased by the insanity going on outside his home. The old lion might have considered having the boy removed from power if not for the fact that the Lannister family was unlikely to remain in power for much longer.
The Lord of Lannister didn't know why the Imperials had turned against his family. Things between House Lannister and House Thrax seemed to have been going well and then Cersei had decided to have the Starks seized while Lord Thrax was meeting Lord Stark. Clearly something had gone wrong that day as the Imperials were supporting their enemies.
Tywin felt for certain that the Imperials would soon seize control of Kings Landing and the Red Keep with the aid of The Reach. Lord Thrax would be able to place his puppet king on the throne. He would marry the Targaryen to House Tyrells blooming rose and control the Seven Kingdoms. Without the Lannisters no other House would be able to stand up the Imperials. It was unlikely that any of them would try.
It had all seemed so simple not so long ago. Robert would drink and whore himself into an early grave, Joffery would take the throne, and Tywin as Hand of the King would find a way to get Jaime to become Lord of Casterly Rock. Even when the Imperials had appeared it seemed as if House Lannister would benefit. Yet Lord Thrax had clearly deemed them unworthy of any alliance.
"My lord the Imperials are here!" yelled out Ser Barristan.
Given the chaos in the city it seemed impossible that those outsiders could have made their way to the keep unless they'd made use of the secret tunnels. Tywin had known that leaving the known ones unblocked could be dangerous, but he'd wanted an escape route for himself and his family in case things went wrong and it wouldn't have made a big difference if he had ordered the known about passages blocked because there were others.
As for how the Imperials knew about the passages well they would have their own spies and possibly some magic of theirs would tell them of such things.
"Drive them out!" yelled Joffrey "Kill the traitors".
While Tywin had kept most of the firearms here they had limited ammo and the Imperials had much better weapons, and they'd have much more experience using such weapons in battle.
"No, we must surrender," said the oldest Lannister.
His spoiled grandson naturally took this as a sign of betrayal and ordered the guards to seize the Hand of the King; only they did nothing since they knew who really commanded them. Tywin had made sure to fill the Red Keep with men he knew were dependable. They all had rifles while the Kings Guard only had ceremonial sidearms and swords.
"Father we can't!" protested his fool of a daughter.
He turned to face Cersei and Joffrey.
"If we fight we'll all be killed and then what?" he asked "If we surrender and bend the knee we may yet keep the Westerlands".
Tywin knew that this was only a chance to live past this day. Viserys would accuse him of having his niece and nephew murdered, and while this was true there was no actual evidence and the Lord of Lions could demand trial by combat to prove his innocence. He would request that both champions be of Westeros and worshippers of The Seven. Should he fail then he would plead to be allowed to take The Black and he would plead mercy for his grandchildren. Something of House Lannister would survive.
"Come on Joffrey we're leaving" said Cersei "Your grandfather may have given up the fight, but we can regroup, go to Casterly Rock and meet with my Uncle Kevan".
Tywin knew that the fighting was over.
"Seize them" he ordered "No one is to leave".
Joffrey screamed like a child having a tantrum.
"I AM THE KING!"
The Hand lost his temper.
"You are a spoiled brat!" he shouted "You are not fit to rule. As Hand of the King am I declaring myself regent until a proper surrender can be arranged".
As much as their sheer stupidity annoyed him, the old lion would not let them go off and get themselves killed.
"You'd never make it out of the city" he said in a calmer voice "If the fires didn't kill you a mob would. They know who to blame for the flames that are destroying their homes".
Cersei looked to be considering that, but Joffrey simply fumed and looked ready to start throwing things. Tywin knew that he'd have to tell the Imperials that the boy had gone mad under the pressure of rulership at such a young age. Hopefully they had some mercy in them.
(Line Break)
The Red Keep. Kings Landing.
"It is time to take my throne!" Viserys Targaryen.
As he spoke the main doors to the throne room were blasted off their hinges thanks to the efforts of my battle harem who soon poured into the room to find that no one was resisting our occupation and they looked ready to surrender. Much to the disappointment of the Red Viper of Dorne.
We'd taken our time securing the Red Keep just in encase there were stashes of wildfire around. The Lannister men had either surrendered, run or died rather pointlessly when they tried to fight, but only a few of them had been so desperate enough to try killing my people.
So far my minions had found no traces of wildfire so I figured that Cersei wasn't yet mad enough to blow herself up or not crazy enough to try planting the stuff with her father around. It was a little surprising that she'd gotten any at all given who was really in charge around here until I took over. Perhaps the old lion had too much on his plate.
"Kill them all!" a voice yelled.
Well almost everyone and thankfully no one listened to the evil boy. The guards made no move to obey their leader, not even the Kings Guard
"Get off my throne!" Viserys ordered.
Standing there with his magical armour and sword the Targaryen looked to be a true king. Most of that was the work of myself, some medical treatment and the tutors. Between us we'd somehow managed to make a man out of him, maybe even a somewhat decent king, not that I had high hopes of that, but he'd be a figurehead with my people doing the actual ruling behind the scenes.
"Joffrey come over here" insisted the mad boy's mother.
He didn't listen.
"Kill these traitors!" the boy commanded.
None of us had ever been loyal to him so we were not traitors.
"Fight me yourself" demanded Viserys "Prove you are a king".
To my complete lack of surprise Joffrey did not jump at the chance to show everyone he had more courage than a mouse.
"Some lion he turned out to be," the Prince of Dorne joked.
Viserys marched forward until Ser Barristan got in his way.
"Your Grace he's just a child, spare him" he said.
I guess Ser Barristan hadn't been retired in this timeline.
"Get out of my way traitor" Viserys ordered "I will have my throne".
I knew that I needed to take control of this situation.
"Perhaps we should have the Lannisters taken into custody, Your Majesty" I advised "I understand your desire to reclaim your family's birthright, but we should have a few trials before you execute anyone".
Killing an insane teenager is not the best way to start a reign.
"We need to call in the regiment and try to get these fires out" I was now saying "You won't be king for long if the Red Keep burns down".
That seemed to get the Targaryen's attention.
"Quite right my Lord Hand" he agreed. "Guards secure these traitors in the dungeons. I'll deal with them once the city is secure".
Viserys took his father's seat, the Iron Throne, which was really just a monstrosity of spikes, jagged edges and twisted metal. The throne was constructed by Aegon I Targaryen from the melted, twisted, beaten, and broken blades surrendered by his enemies, or wrenched from the hands of the dying.
"Contact the Major" I ordered one of the officers who was with me, ``I'm going to need every guardsman she can spare to bring order to this city".
The Imperial Guard don't just protect or conquer whole planets, they are capable of much more, they can be a peacekeeping force and if needs be they can perform other roles. They would aid in trying to restore this city although I would need more than labours. Since the city would need to be quickly rebuilt, we'd set up refugee camps nearby and get the Ad-Mech to construct new buildings as quickly as possible. Which they could by destroying ruined buildings and recycling the materials.
Plus the armies of the Stormlords might still be an issue. A strong Guard presence would be required to make sure that they didn't try to seize what was left of Kings Landing for themselves once the fires started to burn out.
Long term restoration wasn't my concern, I just required the government centre somewhat functioning while I brought the rest of the kingdoms under the control of Imperium via the rule of House Targaryen.
"Hopefully the Keep will remain intact" I said to my Brother-In-Law as he began to look around the throne room "We'll need to keep as much of the infrastructure here intact as possible".
Viserys had other concerns.
"The skulls should be here" he complained "Did the Usurper have them ground into dust as I feared?".
As a matter of fact he hadn't.
"No, Majesty, they are stored on one of the lower levels" I told him "We almost passed them by on the way up here".
We'd taken a different passage than the one I'd used to get the Starks to safety. There were quite a few old tunnels down there.
"I'll have them brought up before the wedding" I promised.
Marriage meant little to me, but in this time of confusion and change the people would respond well to a royal marriage as it promised future stability. Plus I planned to import lots of good food for the celebrations. A party in a refugee camp might seem like a silly idea, but it was all bread and circuses, a distraction, a way to make the new regime seem better than the old one.
"Yes I suppose I'll have to marry" said Viserys "Have her push out a few heirs for me".
Political alliances and the production of heirs was the point of marriage in this world. Marrying for love was a fairy tale for children, maybe not for the smallfolk, but I only cared about them to the point of not having mobs that wanted to kill me. Hence the need for importing food and the distraction of a royal wedding.
"Your Majesty, you'll need to name your kingsguard" I reminded the king. "I suggest having a tourney as soon as possible so you can select worthy knights and show the Seven Kingdoms that you care for its traditions. I'll sponsor the event and provide the prizes".
I might need to rummage around the ruins of Valyeria some more for some sword that I could offer up as a prize along with cool stuff made by the Ad-Mech. But that could wait a few weeks as I was going to be focused on getting the city into something close to working order before anything else. Then there were the other kingdoms to consider.
"Very good my Lord Hand" said the king "But before anything else, we should clear out as much of the Keep of Lannister lackies and start bringing in our people".
By our people he meant Imperials who I would have supported his rule and some natives who had agreed to serve their new ruler.
"And don't forget the trails," said Viserys.
Yes we would need someone to blame for all of this and the Lannister would be good for that. A few public trials where I'd have Jaime confess his adultery and the people would eat it up. Some heads would roll and Viserys would be seen as a just monarch who punishes the guilty. All part of my plan.