And The Sky Was Set Ablaze

by Aldon Blackreyne

Westeros and Essos have played a big part in the game of power. But what of Sothoros? What if the houses from the Southern continent decided to make their mark on history. After the Long Night , but before the Andal invasion. A new power arrives in Westeros. They are House Blackreyne, and they have a weapons with wings of their own. MAJOR AU.

8. The Great Slave War

The Great Slaver War

The Doom of Valyria was celebrated by both the Blackreynes and Whitehalls. Now that the dragonlords were no more chaos would envelop Essos. The Doom had left the Nine Free cities on their own, vulnerable and poised for war. They looked at each other eager to expand their power.

In the great plains, another force emerged, The Dothraki. Both Blackreyne and Whitehall considered the Dothraki to be the finest horsemen in the world, as well as the best fighters on horseback. A Dothraki Screamer is one of the only things that could fight and a Whitehall Paladin in single combat and emerge victorious almost every single time. Their Horse Archers were equal to those of the Blackreynes. A Blackreyne horse archer had better aim, but the Dothraki handled their horses better. The dothraki began attacking the various settlements that had been protected by Valyria. Eventually the people fled to the major cities for protection.

After the Doom, the Blackreynes prepared to embark on their most ambitious campaign in their long history. The emancipation of Essos. The Blackreynes began developing relations with some of the free cities namely Qohor, Lys and of course Braavos. They also contacted the trading guilds of Qarth. After ten years of deals, alliances and careful planning, the Blackreynes were ready to put their plan into action. King Jaedus Blackreyne personally led the campaign. He gathered assembled a force of 20,000 men and 400 ships and sailed to Qarth. He also brought in secret, 3 thestrals and 10 shiploads of gold. Along the way they sacked Gorgossos, razing the city and liberating the populace. They slew the half breeds and criminals and slavers and took in the rest.

The Qaathi people had suffered greatly over time, wars with Ghis and Valyria had driven them out of their land until only the city of Qarth remained as their last bastion. Thanks to House Whitehall, Qarth was able to thrive and soon became one of the richest cities in the summer sea. But now the Qartheen practiced slavery and Jaedus intended to teach them humility. When he reached Qarth, He met with Qarths trading guilds, The thirteen, The Ancient Guild of Spicers and the Tourmaline Brotherhood with an offer, he would give them Qarth in exchange for Qarths slaves. The idea of ruling Qarth enticed the Guild leaders. over the next week, Jaedus and the Guilds made preparations for a coup against the Pureborn. Jaedus seized the Pureborn's fleet and armories while the guilds gathered an army. The coup lasted a single night. Jaedus and the guild leaders stormed the Hall of a Thousand Thrones and executed the Pureborn. After dealing with the Pureborn, Jaedus betrayed the Ancient Guild of Spicers to the Thirteen. Jaedus seized all but 100 of the Spicer's ships giving the rest to the Thirteen. After the Thirteen handed over Qarth's slaves, Jaedus, in turn, gave them the Pureborn navy. The Tourmaline Brotherhood had decided to join Jaedus in his campaign, as a reward Jaedus gave then the ships he had taken from the Spicers. With the Brotherhood gone and the Spicers power now in their hands, The Thirteen were now the undisputed rulers of Qarth.

After the coup in Qarth, the Blackreynes and their allies sailed to Slaver's Bay. After sacking New Ghis, Jaedus went to Astapor to buy their infamous unsullied. He wanted to buy them all, but the Good Masters refused even with the considerable fortune Jaedus offered them. So Jaedus showed them one of his thestrals, He claimed they they would be able to breed more of them if they could get purebred horses. The Good Masters stared at the powerful creature with awe and accepted the deal, 20,000 unsullied plus the 4,000 in training. The moment he got his unsullied Jaedus turned on the Good Masters and sacked Astapor. All the male slavers were killed and anything of value was taken. The slaves were liberated but Jaedus did not make a spectacle of it. Jaedus had what he needed and the time had come to accelerate his plan.

Over the next few months, Jaedus cut a bloody path through Slaver's Bay, sacking every city in his path, Yunkai, Meereen, Tolos, Elyria, Mantarys. In Mantarys Jaedus just razed the city of monsters unable to comprehend why such people could exist. After Slaver's Bay, Jaedus headed north and started sacking the free cities he wasn't allied with, Norvos, Pentos, Myr, and Tyrosh. He even sacked the Volantene towns of Volon Therys, Valysar and Selhorys. With each city he sacked his wealth grew, as well as his army and fleet. He also looted weapons with which he could arm his freemen. Horses, crops and livestock were taken to feed his people. In Volantis, the Tiger cloaks launched an uprising which led to the release of Volantis' slaves. The escapees quickly joined Jaedus. After capturing Tyrosh, Jaedus began sending his ships full of freed slaves to the Stepstones, those that wished to fight with him stayed.

Jaedus' army was made up of a huge diversity of warriors, divided into two parts, the Warband and the Free Company. The Warband is comprised of his professional soldiers, Arnorians, Unsullied, Water Dancers, Norvosi Axemen, and Pit Fighters. The Free Company is made up of thousands of freemen that had no training in arms. To solve this Jaedus assigned his heavy Infantry to oversee their training. The ability to unite so many different languages and different cultures was a testament to Jaedus' charisma.

The Blackreynes had chosen the perfect time for their campaign, The free cities minus Volantis and Braavos were still recovering from the aftermath of the doom, without the dragonlords to govern them, they had started to succumb to in-fighting. With the obvious exception of Braavos, the free cities had always relied heavily on slaves for labor as well as their army. Now the slaves were the enemy and they had no dragons to bring them down. The Blackreynes did just as well in choosing their allies. Braavos, Qohor, and Lys were among the richest cities in Essos and each had unique talents, Braavosi had ships and the Iron Bank, Qohor had sorcery and smithery and Lys had beauty. Jaedus felt that the world lacked beauty which is the reason he chose to leave it be. It was also the fact that he was married to Lyra of the powerful Rogare Family. In addition to the cities, the Blackreynes also allied with the Lhazareen. The Lhazareen were peaceful shepherds and many wished to escape the Dothraki's warpath. This remnant joined Jaedus with the promise of a new life safe from Dothraki.

But no war ever went smoothly. Jaedus' actions had earned him many enemies and they were about to gather to stop Jaedus once and for all. Jaedus had always made it a point to move quickly. In his haste he failed to thoroughly crush those he conquered. The first city was Qarth, not all the Pureborn had died during the coup. Three surviving Pureborn gained back control of the Civic Guard and overthrew the Ancient Guild of Spicers. Once they gained back control of Qarth, the Pureborn began contacting the other cities that had felt Jaedus' sword, every single one answered. The Qartheen army sailed to Slaver's Bay were they met with the remnants of the Slave Masters from each of the cities. They were also joined by the survivors of Gorgossos. Jaedus had taken the bulk of their wealth, but not all of it. They extracted their secret reserves to hire sellswords and negotiated with Dothraki. Khal Varro led a Khalasar with 50,000 screamers. From all across Essos Jaedus' enemies began raising armies to face him, they even recruited free citizens to fight. They all gathered in Volantis to make a stand. They selected Belicho a Triarch of Volantis to lead their army.

Jaedus army was enormous, his personal army consisted of 12,000 Rangers, 6,000 Warriors, and 2,000 Horse Archers. The army he had gathered from Essos had 20,000 Unsullied, 20,000 Norvosi Axemen, 20,000 Bravos, 20,000 Tiger Cloaks, 2,000 Pit fighters and 8,000 Qohorik Hunters. To combat the Dothraki he enlisted the help of Khal Mengo who had 40,000 Horsemen. The rest of Jaedus' army was 200,000 freemen determined to fight for their freedom. This gave him a combined strength of 350,000 men.

Despite the destruction caused by Jaedus' warpath, Belicho manage to muster a considerable force of 200,000 men. Qarth and Volantis were able to field 40,000 each. The other cities made contributions of their own, 10,000 from New Ghis, 10,000 Meereenese, 3,000 Yunkai'i, 2,000 Astapori, 10,000 Tyroshi, 10,000 Myrmen, 10,000 Norvosi, 10,000 Pentosi, 1,000 Elyrians, 1,000 from Tolosi, 1,000 Volon Therians, 1,000 Valysarens, 1,000 Selhorians, and Khal Varro's 50,000 Dothraki.

The two armies met at Volon Therys just north of Volantis, this battle would determine the fate of Essos. Jaedus had his army arranged in two formations. His Free Company were set up in a crescent formation with the belly of the crest facing the Belicho's army. His left flank was protected by the Rhoyne while the right wing was where his Warband was formed up.

Belicho's plan was to engage Jaedus forces in the front while Khal Varro destroyed their flank. Unfortunately, Khal Varro was stalled by Khal Mengo's own Khalasar as well as Jaedus' Horse Archers.

As the two sides clashed the right of Jaedus' Free Company fell back giving more ground to the enemy. As the Free Company gave way, Jeadus' Warband hammered at Belicho's left wing. The free company gave more and more ground, this encouraged Belicho to commit more troops to the center of the Blackreyne line. While the right of the free company faltered the left firm. The free company committed more troops to their left weakening the right. The Warband's skill in arms enabled them to completely shatter Belicho's left wing. Now they turned their attention on attacking Belicho's vulnerable flank. The Blackreyne line had transformed into a V with the Warband attacking the left while the Free Company attacked the right flank. Belicho's army had been forced into a wedge and was being attacked on two sides.

As the infantry engaged, the two Khalasars were locked in a vicious fight. Here the two sides were evenly matched. Khal Varro's army may have been larger and had the support of slaver heavy horse but Khal Mengo had the help of Blackreyne Horse Archers. Jaedus and Mengo's horse archers worked together picking off Varro's screamers. A Blackreyne horse ASrcher usually had two quivers with 30 arrows each. Since Dothraki wore no armor, Blackreynes bows had no trouble finding their marks. When Varro sent a number of his screamers at them, they would wheel their horses around But as they rode away, the Blackreynes would turn their bodies around and fire arrows behind them like the Dothraki are able to do. First, they took out Varro's own horse archers before targeting the screamers. Varros and Mengo came face to face the two khals fought viciously exchanging multiple wounds. Mengo finally got hold of Varro and tore his throat out with his bare hands. With the death of their Khal Varros, his blood riders and all his relations, the rest of his Khalasar surrendered cutting off their braids and laying them at the feat of the victorious Mengo. When they saw Varro's Khalasar defeated. The slaver cavalry turned and fled rather than face a Dothraki.

With the slaver's horse broken Mengo was now free to complete Jaedus' trap. Mengo's riders rode around to Belicho's rear and began to hack it to pieces. Beligho's army was now completely surrounded, he could only watch as the wedge that was his army gradually got smaller and smaller. Eventually the slaver army surrendered. Of the 200,000 men that mede up the slaver's army only 157,000 layed dead. The survivors included 30,000 of Khal Varro's Khalasar and 13,000 slaver soldiers. Jaedus had lost over 100,000 men but the day was theirs.

After the Battle of Volon Therys, the Triarch of Volantis sent an emissary to negotiate a treaty. Jaedus sent his terms, two-thirds of Volantis' gold, ships and livestock and in return, the Triarch would be allowed to keep their power. It was a heavy price but in exchange for their lives, it was worth the cost. Later Jaedus sacked Qarth for its involvement. After that Great Slaver War had come to an end 102 years before Aegon's Landing

The Golden Age

The Great Slaver War changed Essos. The slave trade had been all but destroyed. With the loss of their armies and much of their gold left the slaver Cities crippled militarily and financially. This left them vulnerable to Blackreyne's allies. Braavos seized Pentos, Andalos and the Golden Fields, Qohor conquered Norvos and Lorath, and Lys took Myr, and the dDisputed lands. Volantis, the only slaver city that remained intact turned east to the other cities that felt Jaedus' wrath. With just 10,000 men Triarch Horonno quickly conquered Slaver's Bay. The nine free cities became the four Free States.

Sfter the battle od Volon Therys, Khal Mengo rode back intent on uniting the dothraki under him. Since Varro had been his greatest rival, their was little to stop him. Jaedus had gifted the Khal with a Valyrian steel Arakh, which Mengo used to deadly effect. One by one he slew the other Khals in battle until he was able to unite the Dothraki people into a single gigantic Khalasar.

Withhis people united Mengo now waged war against the Sarnori. The Tall Men of the north had a formidable army and would of been able to easily stop Mengo's warpath had they been united. Unfortunately, the Sarnori didn't understand the concept of unity and their own petty rivalries proved to be the undoing of their people. One by One Mengo sacked and razed the great cities of Sarnor. By the time the Sarnori decided to finally band together, it was too late. Their kingdom had been too weakened and Mengo's army was as fresh as ever. Sarnor's fate was sealed in the Field of Crows, when Mengo's son Moro led 100,000 Dothraki against 150,000 Sarnori under King Mazor Alexi. Moro himself slew the Sarnori king and crushed his army. The battle had come at the cost of 20,000 of Moroo's horsemen. The Field of Crows marked the end of the Sarnori. The remnants numbering only 20,000 fled to Saath the only city still standing.

After defeating the Sarnori Moro now turned his attention to the Four Free States in what became known as the War in the Plains. Leaning from the Sarnori's lack of unity, Braavos, Qohor, Lys and Volantis forged a pact known as the Four Brothers against the nomadic horde. This war would last for years, outlasting Moro and his successor Khal Horro. The War of the plain came to an end when Khal Horro was slain by First Sword of Braavos Elyo Grivas. After Khal Horro's death the dothraki went back to their old ways and split into a dozen different Khalasar. The Dothraki's reign of terror had finally ended.

House Whitehall gained much power after the Doom and the Great Slaver War. After Jaedus razed Qarth, The Pureborn had been all but wiped out. Without the Pureborn or the Trading guilds, the city was now completely leaderless. This made it ripe for the taking to anyone who wished. Someone did just that Prince Eckthelon Whitehall came to Qarth with an army. Ecktheon knew that Qarths position as the gateway to commerce between eastern and western Essos made it valuable to his house. The Qartheen didn't put up a fight when he took rulership for himself. His family took the Civic Guard and the Trading fleet for themselves. This led to the creation of a new branch House Whitehall of Qarth.

Ever since the Fall of the Sea Green Emporers, Yi Ti had been on a steady decline, it's power was beginning to dwindle thanks to the inept Yellow Emporers. Eventually, this led Yi Ti into a war with Alvion. Alvion wouldn't have dared wared with Yi-Ti during the reign of the Sea-Greens but the Yellows were a different matter. House Whitehall won easily and Yi Ti was forced to give up a great portion of its kingdom including the Five Forts. Now Yi-Ti's kingdom was a quadrilateral stretch of territory with Yi-Ti's four major cities forming the corners.

House Whitehill was not the only one to rise in power. After the war, Jaedus Blackreyne finally completed his exodus, delivering the last of the freed slaves to the Stepstones. It is estimated that over 4 million slaves had been liberated and they now huddled in the archipelago wondering what would happen to them. The Blackreyne's plan was not merely to free slaves. After the success of Braavos, they decided to do the same thing on a far larger scale. Namely, create a nation out of the Stepstones by using liberated slaves. They decided that The Vault on Bloodstone would become the seat of power for the new nation As slaves were already skilled laborers, there was no need to train them. Due to the fact that there were slaves for every form of work from soldiers to teachers, the Blackreynes had all the building blocks necessary to built a functioning, well-rounded society. One of the main obstacles was the diversity of the avoid confusion and unnecessary confrontation, The Blackreyenes kept them working with their own people. The teachers from Meereen would teach these people common tongue to maintain order.

The Blackreynes colonized the Stepstones in the same way they did with the Iron Islands started building the settlements on each island. Naturally, the larger islands had larger and more settlements. They started with port cities and fishing villages before moving on to inland settlements. On the 8 larger Islands the cities were as big as Tyrosh while the smaller islands the city was as small as White Harbor. The Stepstones were considerably more fertile than the Iron Islands and the larger islands were able to have farming communes. As with Blackreyne tradition, all these settlements were fortified. Once the settlements were established, each one elected a Warden from among their own to govern the settlement. The Wardens would then answer to the Lord of the Isle. The Vault was renamed Arnor after the Blackreyne homeland and became their new Seat of Power. The work was long and bitter but when it was all completed the result was worth all their toil.

Tyrosh was the cultural and trading center for the Isles but it was Torturer's Deep that became the capitol city of the Sentinal Isles. Torturer's Deep was larger than Tyrosh and the Gateway to Arnor. It was bitter work but once it was done the Sentinel Isles became as prosperous as the Iron Islands. This prompted people to call it the Iron Islands of the Narrow Sea. This in turn encouraged House Blackreyne to rename the Stepstones to the Sentinal Isles. House Blackreyne of the Sentinal Isles. The freemen hailed the Blackreynes as their saviors and Statues were built for every Blackreyne and their wives that ruled the Stepstones since. A common phrase among them would be "Under Jaedus Our Judicator."

After the Great Slaver War House Blackreyne had reached the apex of its power. Their control over the stepstones gave them undisputed control over trade between Essos and Westeros. This Century would be forever known as the golden age of the Blackreyne Dynasty. Never in their history would the Blackreynes possess more territory, people or ships than in this age of glory.

It should be noted about two falsehoods in history. One was that all but the Targaryen dragon's died during the doom, the truth could not be more different. While many of the dragons did die or flee with Vildegrad after the doom many others did survive. The reason these survivors were never seen can be summed up in two words, Blackreyne and Whitehall. After the doom, both houses were thrilled seeing an opportunity. They didn't want to risk any Valyrian claiming the surviving dragons so the two houses orchestrated The Great Dragon Hunt. Riders on Thestrals and Pegasus' flew across Essos killing every dragon they could find. They made a sport of it to see who could kill the most dragons. Jaedus' grandson Dev would personally kill four particular dragons, these dragons happened to belong to House Targaryen of Dragonstone, the siblings of the only survivor Balerion. Eckthelon Whitehall would slay five dragons himself.

The other falsehood was that the secrets to valyrian steel were lost with Valyria, this also was not true. Valyrian steel has existed long before Valyria. In Sothoros is was called Stygian Steal. To make Valyrian steel one needed three things, dragon's blood, magic and Tartarus Iron. Just as you need Iron to make steel so must you have Tartarus Iron to make Valyrian steel. Tartarus Iron is ore from the deepest depths of the earth. The only time it can be acquired is when volcanos spit it out during an eruption. This was why Valyrian's had so much of it as the fourteen flames released it almost daily. Usually you would wait for the lava to dry up and cool before dissecting it for the metal inside. But in the fourteen flames lava flowed endlessly like a river. So Valyrians used magic to extract the metal. Once the metal is extracted, metalworkers then mixed the Tartarus Iron with dragon's blood then woven with magic. With the composition fixed, the steel is now forged into whatever was required from weapons to jewelry. For Valyrian steel swords a special step was required. In order to ensure the blade stayed forever sharp and never needed cleaning, the blades are placed on the spires of towers to be struck by lightning.

Qohor is the only place a substitute for Valyrian steel can be found. While Qohorik blades are indeed stronger and sharper than any other on earth it is still can never hold a candle to True Valyrian steel.

Though Dev's rule would be a short but peaceful one. During his reign, Dev would sire nine children Dalton, Tyron, Ciron, Jangus, Malgus, Cora, Tara, Veiga and Daala. Unfortunately, a peaceful reign could not be said for his son. When Dalton Blackreyne became the Trident King his great test would come from the east, bearing red and black colors, draconic, three-headed.

Author's note: Next time Enter House Targaryen.