"My lords i am touched by the gentleness and chivalry you treated my dear cousin with , allow me to return the favour " King Draeken Stark, the Burner

"The Riverlands once rivaled the Reach itself in its prosperity. How far we have fallen" Lord Kevan Bracken after the battle of the blood river

"Burn it, BURN IT ALL" The Burner during the burning of the tooth

The descendants of the the Hungry Wolf inherited the largest kingdom in Westeros encompassing the entirety of the North, Riverlands, parts of the Westerlands and the future Dragonlands, but conquest was but a part of empire building and (as the Starks found out ) the easiest one at that.

The first king of Rivers and Ice was eldest son of the Theon, Marden Stark and his reign of fifty years was prosperous and passed mostly without incident. Grain and food brought from the Riverlands and gold from the golden tooth brought prosperity to the North and in turn the Riverlands benefited greatly from agricultural techniques introduced by the northerners such as crop rotation. Trade from the narrow sea flourished as ports were built on the mouth of the blackwater.

However the new king would still feel the effects of his father's brutal campaigns, many riverlords who bent the knee to escape Theon's wrath , resented the rule of the of the northern "wildlings " and sought to bring about to an independent Riverlands.

In that they would find allies in the Lannisters, who sought to reclaim their lost territories and the Starry Sept backed by the Reach, which by now had realised it would never defeat the Starks through strength in arms.

However there wasn't much they would be able to do in the reign of King Marden himself for the Wolf King had proven himself to be excellent in the art of ruling and had gained popular support in both the North and the conquered territories. He was nicknamed the 'Southern Wolf' for spending most of his reign away from Winterfell and south of the Neck to consolidate the Stark's new holdings.

His alliance with the Hoares had also proved to be an effective deterrent.

But when the king died after ruling for fifty years, the wannabe insurgents would find their chance in his young heir, king Brandon. The young prince was by all accounts intelligent yet not skilled in fighting and in many ways too naive and idealistic to handle the more shady aspects of ruling.

Luckily for him, his legitimized bastard sister , princess Elynia Stark, the shadow wolf, had proved to be more than adept in that task and for the first seven years of his reign peace endured despite the best efforts of dissidents.

The reign of Brandon was marked by finishing the northern canals whose construction had begun during his father's reign. The canals would bring traders from essos and the eastern merchants brought not only exotic goods but also brought new ideas, technologies and faiths into Westeros.

This however proves to be the perfect pretext for rebellion the lords of the Trident were looking for as they claimed that the northerners intended for the these foreign barbarians to replace the people of the trident and destroy the enlightened ways of Westeros.

The emergence of bastard faiths only served to reinforce that claim and allow the Faith of the Seven to rally people to its banner from everywhere from the Vale to the remaining holdouts in the Trident. It was not long before revolt spread throughout Stark lands south of the Neck and armies from other kingdoms started masquerading as raiders began to raid the land.

Still King Brandon still saw there was a chance for peace and sought to parley with the disgruntled lordlings , taking heavy guard with him. Under the banner of truce the king met with the riverlords but this proved to be a trap , and the king was killed in the ambush despite the best efforts of his sworn swords. And so began the years of terror.

The princess, now queen sent to Winterfell for aid. Her cousin Draeken Stark gathered the greatest army in a century and marched to save the queen but he was too late.

Riverfell, the Stark capital in the south was besieged by the rebel forces. Loyalist forces in the South were already stretched thin due to raider forces on the border and the Lannister army moving to reclaim the golden tooth so there was no army available to lift the siege

Faced with this, half of the garrison mutinied and after a bloodbath gained control of the castle and surrendered it to the rebels. The queen had tried to flee but was captured and handed over .

The tortures suffered by queen Elynia became the thing legends, with what she truly suffered at the hands of her captors either exaggerated or downplayed depending on who you ask. Though from the descriptions of septon Anord of the queen's walk of shame throughout the Riverlands, that the part concerning dogs chewing on her breasts was accurate.

When news of this reached the now king Draeken, the new monarch (already known for his aggressive nature ) was enraged at the death of his family. Though he would have liked nothing more than to reclaim the Stark holdings in their name, the arrival of fresh faith militant forces from all corners of Westeros and the temporary alliance between the Gardeners and Lannisters meant that such a task was unlikely to succeed and even if it did it would be costly and phyrric at best. So the new king decided that if the Starks could not benefit from these lands, then the dogs who killed his family won't either. His decision would prove to be critical to the history of the Kingdoms.

And so in front of his new subjects, the Stark swore that the Riverlords would drown in blood and ash; beginning what would be later known as the desolation of the RIverlands.

A/N : IT LIVES. Sorry for any grammar mistakes, still can't find any beta readers, not any good ones at least.