Hi everyone, I'm here today with a little special to keep you updated about my writings!

This is just a mini-series of one-shots involving a game I hold dear to my childhood called "Steambirds" in which you're a pilot of a "Steampunk" plane in an AU of Earth. The game is turn-based and has a soundtrack that was the reason that inspired me to write this. I'm a fan of 'A song of Ice and Fire' specially the Starks so I decided to put an AU in which the North was left independent thanks to some 'unlikely' allies of the Starks. This in turn alters the history of the 'Game of Thrones' forever.

If you like this one-shot, then I will write more! They won't have any chronological order so it can be from any period you would like to see! (Except before the Conquering).

Enjoy!

Chronicle 1: The Steambird against the Dragon, and how that saved the North from bending the knee.


After your sacrifice against the Axis on the invasion of Britain, you expected to wake up in a place where you could finally rest in peace and see the loved ones that departed before you. This was not the case; when you woke up, you see that you're still in your cabin, your plane still flying above a huge sea of clouds and looking good as new, as if it was just rolled out of its factory. You're disoriented but decide to focus and start descending so that you can see any familiar landmarks under the clouds.

Once you pass the barrier made by these, you see yourself flying over a nice green plain with three big rivers flowing through the land. You observe some traces on the ground, as if something big just passed through the place. Hoping that it is something made by civilization, you follow the tracks, and your suspicions are confirmed: the tracks were made by a giant army that was in front of another army. But something odd catches your eye: the two armies are armed with only spears and medieval armor.

Then you hear a big roar of a big beast, and after looking on its direction, you are shocked with an unusual view: there stands a big dragon, black as the night and with the size of two big Behemoths. You see that it is with the army whose flag is a three-headed red dragon sigil over a black circle. You look to the other army and see that their flag had the head of a black wolf over a grey circle. You are suddenly distracted by some shouts coming from below, you look and see that the two armies are nervous: they are pointing their spears and bows at your plane. You aren't bothered by this but then you hear again a big roar and see that the dragon is starting to flap its wings. That only meant one thing: it was coming to get you.

Your hand goes for the thruster and soon enough you push the engine at maximum speed trying to outrun the beast. You look back to see how much advantage you can get when you see that the dragon suddenly stopped his takeoff and crouched again. You're confused about that until you see that a man in black armor and white hair climb into it and taking off for good. You're perplexed, the dragon was domesticated? Then you realize something: if it was domesticated it meant that it will not stop the chase with a few shakes and maneuvers from your plane, the rider will just keep the beast focused and tell it the direction in which you go. You have no other choice but to fight back; you check for your inventory, fortunately your UAM (Unlimited Ammo Machinegun) is still active and the PUG (Power-Up Generator) still works with missiles, boosters and shields. You know that you must win this, seeing how you're going to show to a huge amount of hardened people like you who's the superior race in the sky: the dragon or the steambird?

The answer was coming soon now that you were going head on against the enemy. Before doing the first pass, you analyze the big beast then realize that going head on is a bad idea since his fire-breathing mouth can hit your plane fast and it can be hot enough to melt the engine. Remembering this, you give the plane a sharp turn to the right just a few seconds before a stream of fire went by behind you.

Now the chase begins, and you see that you have the advantage. The dragon is bigger and heavier, meaning that it will have a bad time following closely your plane, even with the help of the rider; there is your key to victory, you need to tire the dragon as soon as possible and then fill it with bullets until it goes down. You start by zigzagging, hoping to bait the rider into thinking you're flying predictably left and right. He bites the hook and in one moment orders his dragon to fire flames, making it gain speed. You do a sharp turn upwards while slowing down, and soon enough the dragon is now in front of you but just as soon as it turns around by hovering you go into a steep dive. The other two follow you behind thinking they can get you, surely the looping move you suddenly do makes them reconsider about your level as a threat. Now that you got the dragon in sight, you take the opportunity and press the trigger. The bullets hit true in the left wing of the dragon which releases a huge roar of pain. It seems that it got pissed along with the rider who is now sending glares of pure hate and fury at you. You read his mind and do a 180 turn just at the same moment the dragon stops and hovers its head to shoot at you. You activate the shield and get out of the flames arc of fire, getting hit in a few places but with the damage nullified. You decide to let the two foes chase you to exhaust their extra energy gained by the fury and start flying near the treetops. That's when you see that the rest of the people have been watching with amazement along with fear the entire fight, but now that you're going straight to them, fear and panic starts to affect them. You eventually realize that the dragon can be very unpredictable even with allies, so you direct your plane towards the rivers. The dragon follows closely behind, still spitting flames anytime it has the chance and the chase becomes dangerous as you get your plane close to the water level, in order to nullify the dragon's aim. The rider sees through your tactic and makes his dragon shoot the water in front of your plane. Giant streams of boiling water rise in front of you soon enough, and you desperately try to avoid them yet a few of those huge pillars of water are starting to choke your plane and you realize that you need to gain altitude before you're forced to crash. The dragon seeks the opportunity and shoots a stream of fire you're unable to avoid.

Fortunately, you predicted their tactic and activated the shield in time, nullifying all damage while maneuvering your way out of the flames. The rider was shocked in the few glimpses you managed to look at him, seems that he expected you to perish in the flames. The shock gives you enough time to perform a three-sixty maneuver, firing your guns blindly. You hear two screams, one belonging to the creature because of its heavy growls; it's the other scream that surprises you. The dragon started flying forward, not doing any other combat maneuver which leaves you confused, and you fly your plane to their side soon after. What you see clarifies your doubts: one of the bullets hit the inner joint muscle of the dragon's left wing which seems to affect the dragons flying capability. Then you check on the rider and see that two of the bullets went through the armor in his left arm and left shoulder. He is bleeding a stream and you know that if he doesn't land soon to close his wounds, he is going to die. Even so, it seems he still has more strength left in him because he turns to see you, his purple eyes watching you with fury and disdain. He unsheathes his sword and attempts to use his left hand to throw it at you… but the blood loss catches fast to him and soon enough he looks surprised of the sudden weakness. That's when he gives you a look that you know well. It's the look of the first defeat of a soldier that has never seen a defeat, you have met some aces during the invasion with those same looks the expressed everything when they realized their lives have been condemned by you: grief, sadness, realization, devastation, and regret. He sheaths his sword and gives a last look of acknowledgement at you before he closes his eyes, seemingly waiting for your judgement… which surprises him when you slide your cabin and use a makeshift megaphone yelling: "Steady your dragon and land! I will see you on the ground!" You salute him and then fly away back to the field of the two armies.

You see in the distance that the dragon, although wounded, manages to land back on the side of its army. Later, you spot one long trail of clear grass, flat enough to land without damaging the wheels. You approach it slowly and as steadily as you can. 50 meters, 40 meters, 30, 20, 10… a hard shake surprises you and your plane jumps upwards before you regain control of it and, thankfully, land without causing more damage. It rolls a few more meters before it stops, and you turn off the engine. Taking off your flying cap and googles, you arm yourself with the M1 Garand in the back part along with your M1941 side-arm ready at the moment and pull out a white handkerchief and tie it to the rifle barrel in an attempt to make a makeshift white flag, hoping that these guys know about the parlay protocol. Some time later, you see two groups of riders gallop forward towards you, one coming from the group of the wolves and another one coming from the group of the dragons.

In front of the latter group are two white-haired female beauties of similar features launching death glares at you. Seeing their armour and emblems along their crown, you theorized they were with the rider you just shot down (and hoped you haven't killed). The group of the wolves had a man of black hair and a grim look that spoke volumes about him being an experienced ruler and a lord who cared a lot for his town. He was also wearing a crown made of ice (neat) and shooting you glares but of the kind that were based on uncertainty and concern. You also noticed that both of their escorts were approaching you with weapons drawn, clearly shaken and suspicious of your plane. You can't blame them of that, they just saw a little piece of metal scrap dominate a huge dragon of black menancing scales and fire as hot as the flames of an industrial furnace in front of their eyes and basically claiming the title of the "King of the Sky". Once both groups surrounded you and your plane, their leaders dismounted and soon walked towards you, keeping their sight focused on you at all times.

Even though it kind of unnerves you that any reaction from your side could meant the rest of the group using their blades against you, you hold your ground and met them with the same intensity, maybe even more than you expected, considering how they recoiled a little before regaining their postures. Remembering military protocol, you stood firm and saluted which in turn made them look curious at you. It was at that point that you remembered that medieval lords "military salute" is actually by bending the knee. However, modern military pride and training does not allow you to comply with that protocol so you finally speak, praying that they understand your language: "Lords and Ladies, 1st. Lieutenant (Your name and your first name) of the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom!" You then make a reverence to them and await their reactions. On the back of your head, you could say that you have just altered something important...


That day would later become known in the history of Westeros as the "Duel of the sky rulers", which would mark the end of the dragon's millennia of dominance over the skies, along new shifts on the balances of power. Thanks to the apparition of the "Steambird ace rider", king Torrhen Stark managed to preserve the North's independence from the Targaryen rule without fear of bleeding dry his kingdom. With the Targaryen supporters and their army shocked to the core after witnessing the air duel between their king and the pilot, the Starks managed to convince them to sign a truce for the moment, as they also didn't trust the pilot yet and both forces agreed to take him under arrest along his metal contraption known as an "airplane", the Starks offering themselves to keep him in custody first. The Targaryens agreed, hoping that it would buy enough time for Balerion and Aegon to recover and soon, both armies withdrew from the Trident, the pilot and his airplane going North. However, the pilot soon proved to be a honorable, kind, and interesting fellow towards the northmen. He told of his story to them, talked, drinked, trained and helped them through the winter that came that year and soon gained the sympathy and praise of most of the commoners and lords of the North. He also had a great amount of battle experience and creativity that King Torrhen soon realized that having an honorable fellow like him as an ally rather than a hostage would actually keep the Targaryens in check and also help the North in the long way. So, with the approval of most of the Northern lords, he soon knighted him, linking the pilot to house Stark. And just in time...

The temporary truce that came from the "Duel of the sky rulers" was coming to a close. The Targaryens had been busy consolidating their conquest with most of the work being done by Queen Visenya and Queen Rhaenys, since Aegon's wounds proved to take more time to heal. He eventually recovered though, and soon they were making plans to proceed towards Dorne once the truce had ended but when the Targaryen queens heard of the "Steambird ace rider" knighthood done by the King of the North, they were displeased of it. Against Aegon's wishes to avoid conflict against the pilot, the two queens went personally towards the North and challenged the pilot into another "air duel", this time with their rides Vhagar and Meraxes. They would fight for the North's independence so the pilot accepted the challenge, even if he knew that the odds were against him this time.

However it soon turned out that two dragons were still no match against one "Steambird". No one knows what exactly happened during that duel, some rumours saying about how another "Steambird rider" joined the duel and helped out balance the battle, but in the end, the pilot proved its superiority over the dragons once again. Accepting defeat, the Targaryens signed the "Treaty of the Broken Wings" with the Starks, in which the North was recognized as an independent kingdom from the Targaryen's rule meaning that whatever events happened in the southern kingdoms will be of no interest of the Northern ones. Many would have expected the treaty to become harsh on the defeated Targaryens but to everyone's surprise, the ace pilot was a humble and understandable man. He praised the queens for their skill and determination and became a simple friend of theirs. The queens would lather comment on how his friendship methods were 'odd' but meaningfull and returned home satisfied.

After securing the North's future, King Torrhen would lather grant the "Steambird ace rider" lordship over the lands of Moat Cailin. The pilot would later rename it "Praefectus city" after "renovating" the decaying fortress. His house became the now famous and legendary "House Steambird", which still keeps up to its motto: "Rising into skies unknown".

To be continued...


So, did you like it? Wanna see more of how it changes the Game of Thrones we know and love about? Give a review indicating which scene you would like to see next and thanks for reading!