Raventree Hall, a year later, 235 BC.

Huginn hopped down from his shoulder and turned his head from the letter in front of him, his sharp eyes turning towards Lucas as though looking for a reaction from his bonded. Lucas himself was lost in thought because of the letter on his desk. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he turned to his raven.

"Get your brothers and their masters and my wife." He told the raven. The Ravens bonded to his family were incredibly smart and could communicate with each other, and very quickly, they had realised they could use their ravens to fetch each other. He and his wife had, and though she did not have one, the ravens very quickly learned to obey the stern woman and did her bidding nearly as much as their bond mates. Each Blackwood held a unique bond with their raven, and they seemed to communicate to their bondmate. The ravens, by listening and watching, and the Blackwoods were able to make out how their ravens felt or thought about what they were saying by listing to their caws and sounds and watching their body language. However, his younger son's one seemed to be just as bright as his bondmate and had already learned enough words to have a conversation on the level of about a four-year-old. It was pretty disturbing to watch even for him and certainly disturbed the non-Blackwood who witnessed it.

His raven, Huginn, named after one of Odin's raven whose name meant thought in Norse, seemed to give a slight nod and flew off to do as bid, leaving Lucas to ponder their bonds with the ravens. He knew he was from an old bloodline, stretching back as far as the Starks to the Wolfswood of the North and the age of Heroes in the south, and in cannon, he knew that the Blackwood produced at least one, though likely a lot more, wargs. Perhaps their bonds were a more passive form of warging that allowed him and his children to bond with a single animal. Though blood raven, whose mother was a Blackwood, was a powerful greenseer and the three-eyed raven himself, for God's sake. That led him to believe that his family had at least some dormant warging ability that would reveal itself in other members of his family in due course. He thought only his daughter showed the potential for having the ability right now. However, she was still too young for him to be sure, even if she seemed to have the deepest bond with her raven.

His thoughts were halted by the sound of the door to his chambers being opened, and he looked up to see one of the royal guards holding up the door for his wife and two sons. He nodded at the guard, who bowed and left to return to his post. His wife walked over behind the desk and sat on the edge of his chair, leaning over to give him a peck on the cheek as his two sons took the two chairs on the other side of the desk as their ravens all flew in the windows to land on their bonded shoulder. However, Huginn took the shoulder closest to his wife to get some attention and pets from her, cunning bastard he was.

"What did you want for, father?" Asked Louis while Brynden just waited, knowing his brother would ask any question he could think of anyway. While his wife was already reading the letter on his desk unashamedly, knowing he would not be annoyed.

"It's written in the ruins of the first men, my ruin reading isn't perfect, but I can understand it well enough." She said, handing it over to Louis, who began to read it allowed for his brother's sake and to correct any mistakes either his mother or father had made. The boy was brilliant and had demanded his education be expanded past the standard basic runes that most older families taught their children, something both his parents had eagerly encouraged.

"To King Lucas 'the Great'

Blackwood, King of the Trident and Lord of Raventree Hall.

I, Lord Robar Royce, Lord of Runestone, am contacting you regarding a critical and secretive matter. Hence the runic writing, I do not wish for the tin men to find this letter.

Since the coming of the Tin men, the First Men of the Vale, have as you are no doubt aware, rebelled and rose against them in failed attempts to drive them out. However, over the past thousand years, more and more of the first men houses have been thoroughly Andalised; they have forgotten their ways and are now the twigs that keep the Falcons nest secure. However, there are those of us that still hold to the old ways and the God's in secret. The houses of Royce, Waynwood, Hunter, Belmore, and Redfort have not forgotten our ways. We are as such, obviously, against any war with our cousins in the Riverlands. That being said, alone, we do not have the power nor the might to rise successfully against our liege, nor are we willing to stab him and his men as they sleep like cowards. We will, however, be amiable to abstain from sending our main force to join the hosts of the tin men as they arch out the Bloody gate due to the 'threat' the Riverland navy and mountain clans pose to our keeps. In return for this boon, the first men of the Vale would rule once more, the Old Gods would return to the fore of the Vale, and your eastern border would be secure. Should you wish for it, my eldest son is of an age with your daughter, and I would be more than happy to have your daughter as the next queen of the Vale alongside my son. "

"That… is a lot to take in," Brynden said, and Lucas could practically see his eldest child's mind whirling with countless futures, reasons, possibilities, and outcomes. "It could be a trap, made by the Arryns."

"It could be, but would Lord Royce have gone through the effort of writing that entire thing in the ruins of the first men to lure us into a false sense of security. To me, that speaks of a man who desperately does not want his plots discovered." Lara argued.

"You're both right, but we lose nothing by agreeing to it once we don't rely on them too heavily and use discretion when dealing with them." Said Louis.

"Agreed, keep them at arm's length but accommodate for them rebelling in our plan," Lara said, and Brynden nodded in agreement.

"And what about his offer of a marriage alliance?" Lucas asked them.

"Sara is too young yet." Argued Lara.

"Now she is, yes, but we are not talking about marrying her now mother; having our blood on the throne of the Vale would be a huge boon and would secure two of our borders for at least two generations." Argued Louis.

"But the Royce's new power would need to be checked before they look further afield in the future, fighting wars in the name of their half Blackwood heir," Brynden said. "Give the sisters to the North."

"It's not an awful lot, but it is a power play and will remind them who's in charge." Agreed Louis. "Though I don't like marrying my sister off to a Valeman, even one from a firstmen house."

"I agree, and a case could very easily be made for marrying her into the Riverlands; stability of the realm is, after all, far more important than alliances outside of it. But this is a very reasonable alliance, one I do not think we could reject." Stated Brynden.

"I don't like it, but fine, but not until she is six and ten," Lara said sternly, and Lucas nodded quickly. He would not dream of marrying his daughter to someone at such a young age.

"Perhaps the young Royce could be fostered here after the war," Lucas suggested, and his wife nodded at that, comforted that she would at least get to know the boy who would marry her only daughter.

"If that's all, I was just about to go riding with Sara," Lara said, standing up and giving both her sons a peck on the cheeks as she left while the two of them stayed seated. Both of them shared glances at each other. A look Lucas recognised well from his days with his cousin.

"What did you two want to talk about?" He asked them, cutting in on their silent argument. The two shared one more glance before Louis spoke.

"We both have something we want to do." He said.

"And do you need to ask these things alone, or can your brother stay?"

"He can stay." Said Louis, and Brynden nodded in agreement.

"Go on then; what did you want to ask?" He said, speaking to his younger and more talkative son first.

"As you know, I have always loved books and learning. But I have already read every book there is to read in the library, and there is nothing left for Maester Nelson to teach me… I want to go to the university, to learn and study as much as I wish. In the future, I want to expand it into something more, something that can break the monopoly of the Hightower controlled Citadel and help to develop the Kingdom as a whole, to continue the work you have done." Louis said, "I want to transform it from the small and insignificant thing it is now into a great, unbiased centre of learning."

Lucas listened to his son as he spoke passionately for the next minute or so, explaining why he wanted to go, why he should be allowed to go and what he wanted to do there. He sat back further in his seat and sighed tiredly, rubbing his eyes as he thought about it. His son was a smart boy he knew, far smarter than anyone Lucas had ever met in either of his lives, but still, he was just a boy. Twelve years old.

"Louis… you're a child… as smart as you are, and as much as I know your value, you deserve a childhood, and besides, there is absolutely no way your mother would allow you to go," Lucas said. His son was about to open his mouth to argue, but Lucas held up a hand to stop him. "When you turn sixteen, I will allow you to go if it is still what you wish and in the meantime… I have been thinking about hiring some instructors and learned men from Essos to teach you and your siblings should they wish it, more advanced subjects." He said, and his son nodded happily while Brynden nodded as well though Lucas knew he was happy as well from the gleam of excitement in his blue-grey eyes. "But, You will marry as well, Louis, with your sister likely being betrothed to the Royce boy. You and your brother will need to marry Riverlander girls, your brother has already agreed to this, and a match is being arranged with the Mooton for their daughter Alys. You will need to think of another one."

His son just nodded at that; despite the rumours, some might say that his son was a homosexual or sword swallower as it was called here his son was not, not that Lucas would have a problem with it if he were once he married anyway to secure an alliance and help his brother.

"Is that all then, Louis? Are we agreed?" Lucas asked.

"Yes, Father." Louis agreed.

"Good, now Brynden. What do you have to ask me?" Lucas said, turning his attention to his older son. Lucas looked his son over once more, and he felt like he was looking at his fourteen-year-old self again. Brynden shared the same eyes as all his siblings, vivid blue and metallic grey mixed in a transfixing way. His face was angular like his fathers and had the same noble look about it though it was slightly more narrow, and he had inherited his mothers more stern resting face. He wore his raven black hair at a medium length, the curly locks framing his face though they were not long enough to get in the way or be used against him in a fight, a thing that was surprisingly common when someone lost their helmet. His body was another place that differed from his father, though still not greatly, where Lucas was more skinny yet still powerful enough. His son was more muscular and slightly taller; he was by no means bulky or huge he was well built and strong but still fast and agile like his father. And while Brynden would perhaps not be the swordsman his father was, very few could be, he was not a mile off, still better by far than most boys his age. He was equally deadly with a bow, a lance, an axe, and a spear.

He was clever, cunning and observative and took great interest in warfare and history, which was heavily encouraged by Lucas. He would never have the raw brainpower nor the ability to process and memorise information like his brother; he had more than enough brainpower to rule the Kingdom effectively. He was mighty proud of his eldest son, and though he wished his son was able to enjoy himself outside the company of those who were closest to him, he knew Brynden was by no means miserable or unnecessarily cold.

"I want to expand upon the standing army." His eldest said, simple and to the point as always.

"How?" Responded Lucas in the same manner.

"A ranger corps." Brynden said, pouring himself a glass of liquor which Lucas allowed but declined one for himself, motioning for his son to continue Brynden sipped his drink and did so. "An elite force, Longbowmen for the most part though they will also be capable with the sword. They will be trained in sabotage, infiltration, mapping, tracking, investigation, interrogation, assassination, kidnapping, forging and scouting. They will be mounted on light horses that the corps will be charged with breeding and training…." For the next twenty minutes, the two of them, with some input from Louis, discussed in-depth the training, role, use and organisation of this unit, until by the end they had gone through ten sheets of parchment until they had one they were happy with which ended up looking like this.

Skills.

Infiltration: A ranger should be able to break in and out of even the hardest to reach places.

Stealth: A ranger would be trained rigorously in camouflage and stealth to be completely undetectable by either animal or human.

Archery- Master Longbowmen capable of shooting much faster, further, accurate and for longer periods of time than even the professional longbowmen of the Blackwood Army.

Tactics and Planning: A ranger should be able to identify important locations, supplies, tactics, pathways and positions that could be used in a battle, and they should be able to command a small force of men effectively in battle or raids.

Close combat: A ranger should be proficient in armed and unarmed close combat with a throwing knife and an axe.

Horse-riding: Rangers should be able to ride for long periods of time, and each of them will own their own horse reared and trained for their line of work. Likely to be a mix of the Dornish sand steed and the Riverlander stallion to combine the raw power of the stallion and the endurance and swiftness of the sand steed. These horses will be bred and trained by the Rangers.

Fitness: They should be highly fit and be able to take the demands of the job.

Espionage and assassination: Rangers should be capable of forging signatures, seals and stamps; they should be able to pick locks, pickpocket, gather information and assassinate targets.

Tracking and scouting: Rangers should be able to track individuals, armies, animals or anything else across large distances over any terrain in any weather. They should be proficient scouts and be able to find out the makeup, numbers, morale and destination of an army and use their skill in tactics to predict what they might do next and potentially sabotage supplies, morale, information, tactics and anything else they might be asked to do.

Ravenry: Rangers should be able to send messages to their commanding officer or King from wherever they are stationed.

Training: Rangers will be allowed and expected to take an apprentice that they are expected to train for five years or until their master deems them ready. They will be regularly assessed at an annual gathering, and if they pass the first assessment, they are given their first raven's feather. Over the five years, they are given more and more responsibilities and may even go on missions on their own if deemed ready and are given a white raven feather. Should they reach sixty, they are required to retire and are given a steel arrow, a lifelong pension and a house in Ravensnest should they wish it.

Ranger Leadership: Rangers will be led by the Ranger Commandant, chosen by their fellow rangers with his approval. The Commandant doesn't go on missions; rather, he oversees the assignments and missions of the Rangers while also reporting to the Blackwood king directly.

Ranger roles and facts-

Rangers will be used to report on and keep tabs on the nobility, assessing loyalty, ability and readiness for war. Rangers will gather annually in times of peace, held in complete secrecy; it is restricted to only the Rangers and the direct royal family. Rangers should shroud themselves in mystery, and use rumours to spread that they use magic to complete their missions. Rangers will wear highly camouflaged cloaks of tight wool covering their face and offer protection from the weather. They are used in times of war to scout, sabotage or lead raids or other missions. Used to maintain order and peace in the Kingdom Used to assassinate or capture important targets. Used to gather intelligence and information for the King. Rangers horses will be highly trained, and the owner must know the name of the horse to ride it. The ranger must speak the horse's name before riding it, or it will buck the rider violently. Horses will be fit and able to run long distances as needed. Nobles are forbidden from joining.

"That is a lot," Louis said after they had finished.

"Aye… how are we going to start training them without masters to teach them? How many of them will there be?" Asked Lucas off his son.

"We will pick the best 2,000 archers in the standing army and whittle them down to 800 of the best. From there we will train them intensively, hire trainers from all over Westeros and across the narrow sea to instruct them and then choose the best 150, from there we can begin to expand it in the future to a size of about 700" Brynden said.

"It will be expensive and will take a long time… but I believe it could be worth it. You will be in charge of this, Brynden, and I expect you to take a large hand in organising and controlling it." Lucas said to his son, and Brynden broke out in a rare large smile, a happy grin appearing on his face.

—-

Deep in the Whispering Wood, A year later. 234 BC

Brynden sat atop his horse as on either side of him, the remaining 400 men of what had once been 2,000 longbowmen were being drilled mercilessly by their instructors; most of them were Essosi while others were the best of the Ravens or the royal guard. Currently, the men were being forced to hold up a heavy pole over their heads. It was the last trial before the next 100 would be sent away, leaving only 300, and after that, it was the last stage before the final 150 were picked to be fully instructed to become the first-ever Blackwood Rangers.

"Keep going, lads! You are the strongest, the best of two thousand of the best archers in the known world!" Brynden shouted as another man dropped his pole. This was the last test of the trial, which had also included tests on tracking, scouting, assassination, archery, wrestling, riding, camouflage and infiltration. More in depth than the first few trials which had just included the more basic things that would not give away the more secretive aspects of what they were doing, things like archery, riding, wrestling and scouting. And now, these men were the ones that remained. One hundred of them would walk away with thirty silver pieces for their troubles and a place in his or his father's retinues if they wanted it, which they would accept, no doubt; such a thing was a great opportunity and honour. It would also serve the purpose of keeping them quiet and giving him and his father good men in their ranks.

Ten minutes later, the last man dropped his pole, and the men gave tired rounds of applause for their collective efforts.

"Well done, men, each of you has earned your place here, and each of you showed how during this trial. However, we can only take 300 of you, and 100 of you will not be advancing to the next stage. However, you will not go home empty-handed; all of you performed these past few weeks admirably, and those that go home will be awarded thirty silver pieces and a place in either me, my father or brothers retinues should you wish for it." Brynden spoke, allowing some pride to leak into his usually calm and unemotional voice. "You may all retire to your tents now, take the rest of the night off but don't venture beyond the boundaries of the training area. Your instructors and I will retire to discuss which of you will stay and which of you will go. As always, come to one of us if you do not wish to advance further."

After that, the head instructors, specially chosen by him and his father, gathered in the command tent of the training area to pick which of these men would advance. It was a brutal process, even the smallest of mistakes or character faults were taken into account, and only perfection was accepted at this stage. After two hours of a thorough examination of results and character, they had their next 300 men. The next day the rejected men were given their silver and a place in the guard should they wish it, and unsurprisingly most, though not all, of course, accepted. These men were assigned to their respective royal and the next day left to take up their posts. They were leaving behind the last 300.

"The last 300… Each of you will now be given a location you are expected to go to. You will be released one at a time, five minutes apart and are expected to work alone to get there with nothing but the clothes on you and your bow and four arrows. It will likely take you a week or so; patrols have been sent out to try and find you. You are not, under any circumstance, to fight your way out or away from this patrol or any of your fellow competitors. This is a survival and stealth test, not a combat one. Are we clear?" He called, getting nods and sounds of agreement. "Good, first man up is Benjicot of Muddy Hall." He shouted, reading the first name off the list; the man was given a longbow and a knife and was given the name of the location and a very rough map. Five minutes later, the next man was released.

An- Thanks for all the reviews and interactions this story has been getting, I appreciate it all. Sorry that this chapters a bit late, Thanks to DrkMidget for Betaing this chapter, I really appreciate it. This chapter might seem a bit uneventful but build up is important. Sorry this is a bit late and in the future Chapters will be once maybe twice a week, quality over quantity after all.

Reviews.

Thank you all again for the reviews, I really appreciate all of them, I feel like my writing has come on leaps and bounds since the first few chapters and that is mostly down to your advice and suggestions which I hugely appreciate and thank you for. I'd like to touch on some more general things that have come up a few times before going into the more individual and less frequent ones. I'll try to answer them all but If I miss yours please send me a DM and i'll probably answer your question.

Ravens, Direwolves and Warging- First of all to Kuman who pointed out the symbolic relationship between wolves and ravens in the wild and how fitting it is that the Starks and Blackwoods are allies in this story as well as the houses associated with those animals I would like to say thank you, I was aware that Ravens and Wolves often worked together in the wild, indeed ravens are called wolf birds in some cultures, I had not thought of the appliance in my own story so thank you very much. As for the warg bonds with the Ravens, as hinted at in this chapter there will be Blackwoods with the ability, both the Blackwood and Stark lines produced the most potent wargs and greenseers in cannon in the form of Blood Raven and Bran Stark and Lucas's children and all their descendants will have Blackwood and Stark blood so it makes sense that they will have the ability. Though none of Lucas, Brynden or Louis wil have it and I am still uncertain as to whether or not I should give it to Sara in the future there will be characters who have it. As for Greenseeing… perhaps though at most only a single character.

After Lucas's death?- It is my intention to continue this story until we get to canon! Main events like Aegon's conquest, the Dance of Dragons and the first Blackfyre rebellions will all have one of Lucas's descendants who we follow as a MC. They will not be as detailed as Lucas is nor will they be him reborn or another SI, they will just be people and descendants of him. In the years where we do not follow a character there will be a brief rundown on the rule of every Blackwood leader and the main things that happened during their rule. I have three stories planned for this AU though maybe they will all just be one. First is this one which will follow the lives of Lucas, Brynden and the King who will rule during the conquest. Second will be the Targaryen rule spanning three hundred or so years yet with only three MC descendants at different times and the rest being from the perspective of a history book. The last book will contain the canon universe starting from somewhere around the last Blackfyre Rebellion until we catch up with the books, there will be Three separate MC's there, one would be about Tywins age, another around Robert's age and one around Rob's age. That is my plan, let me know if you have any suggestions.

The AU- Before setting out to write this I think I had vastly underestimated how difficult it would be. Very little is known about this time period and what is known is not information I have inside my head like the times of the books, though that has changed since I started this. Keeping track of characters, all of which are completely new, new names, new personalities, new actions, is very hard. I often find myself having to scroll through my story to try and find the name of a Lord or family member of a character because frankly I have just made so many and I cant keep track of them all. This might result in a few mistakes, main ones from the top of my head being completely forgetting I had given Lucas a daughter around a year younger than Brynden who I have since removed from existence, sorry about that, and renaming the Mallister cadet house from Malmen, what was I thinking? To Adler, which in German means eagle… for obvious reasons. Again I apologise for this but it's damn hard considering nearly everything I write has to be able to apply to cannon but also fit the world I am building. Corrections for my mistakes are hugely welcome like lilabennet who pointed out Mellisa having been forgotten about

Other things- Things like the High council, the faith and the university and technology will all be done in the coming chapters, right now Lucas is preparing for war and things such as that are merely at the back of his mind. Keep the suggestions coming and if I like them I will absolutely apply them as I have with things like the Rangers etc. The capital…. Now this is a thing I have been humming and hawing about for a while. I think it makes sense that in the future the capital will be moved to the centre of his kingdom, which uncoincidentally is also the location of Ravensnest, the town at the confluence of the trident where I have been giving little details about throughout the story. In my opinion the capital will be moved there eventually, but not by Lucas, what I think would happen is that gradually the town will gain more and more importance and as such more and more attention from the Blackwoods that eventually they will move the capital to there. I think that makes the most sense for me personally but let me know as its something I am still in two minds about. The borders- Borders will be fortified, but only where it is needed, if Lucas was to go ahead and build a load of defences against the reachmen right away it would be taken as a sign of aggression and so Lucas is well aware he needs to do it gradually, how I was going to do it across such a long border I wasn't sure about but Czs has given me some great ideas that I will likely use in the future so thanks.