The Fall of King's Landing
A few centuries after the Targaryens began to rule, they created the Faith Militant. While at first they were not allowed to roam The Hills, Hurricane, The North, The South Bank, or the Iron Islands, as their influence over the kings gradually grew, they grew in power, until finally the king ended the practice of prohibited jurisdictions, and allowed the Faith Militant to roam all of westeros. By this point, only a few Weirwoods remained in the south: the ones in the godswoods of Legacy, Speartusk, and Heldstrong. Even as the Greyjoys and Starks protested, the king refused to rescind the proclamation.
As the Greyjoys and Starks discussed the matter, thousands of ravens were sent between Winterfell and Pyke. The Greyjoys and Starks invited the Ruesyns, Riens, and Bersyns to Pyke to discuss what should be done. Pretty soon, a consensus emerged: those that did not worship the seven were clear targets of the Faith Militant, and given the essentiality of the old gods to the cultures of the lands of the first men, and the drowned god to the ironborn, the Faith Militant must be either restricted or abolished. They all signed a letter to the king asking him to reconsider, which he ignored.
These five houses agreed to meet again in Legacy. House Bersyn of The South Bank had modeled their banner off of the banner of House Ruesyn. In Legacy, the five houses: Stark, Greyjoy, Ruesyn, Bersyn, and Riens, agreed that if the Faith Militant entered any of their domains, they would be met on the battlefield, and if any lord tried to aid the Faith Militant’s attempt at entry, all four other lords would march in aid of their ally. If any Ironborn, Northerners, Southfreemen, Typhites, or Hillmen were detained or imprisoned then the lord closest to the location of their detention would march to free them. The five lords made the agreement known to all, especially the sept.
This was open defiance of the kings orders, and they knew that. The Septurn, however, was outraged! The head of the heptonist religion ordered The Faith to enter the South Bank, and arrest Lord Endrow Bersyn for heresy. The High Priest personally lead the Militant. A decision was made to use subterfuge to gain access to Speartusk. The Faith was to sneek into Lord Bersyn’s castle, and bind the lord and smuggle him out of the castle. Luckilly for the Faith, Speartusk is somewhat near the sea, and they were supposed to take him on a boat back to King’s Landing.
The High Septurn lead a band of 3 of the senior officers of the faith militant through the South Bank. They dressed as commoners, merchants, and since it was somewhat common for goods to be brought through the South Bank to ports closer to Essos, since the winds were, at least then, somewhat unreliable, the common thing to do was to minimise the ammount of time your goods were at sea to diminish the odds of a shipwreck. The Militant had plans to obscure their faces, until they entered the town Zealstop around the castle of the same name.
House Cwynt, the lords of Zealstop, with the sigil of the Auroch, and a banner in style similar to that of their lords, had been charged with checking all men whom entered their land, Quyle, by Endrow Bersyn. One of Alun Cwynt’s guards whose name was Adwyrd, had the leaders of the faith remove the niqabs that had been obscuring their faces. At first the High Septon was worried. What if they were recognised?
He was, after all, the High Septurn. He was in a land just south of King’s Landing! The people here must have seen him! He had, after all, visited all of the septs in the Crownlands. But then he remembered, there were no septs in the South Bank. The building of them was forbidden. The Septon removed the mask. His men did the same. Adwyrd asked some standard questions about what they were doing, and the Septon gave some excuses, and while there was a bit of controversy, Adwyrd was able to get the masks and they were let into Quyle and after resting in an inn in Zealstop, were on their way.
The March of Quyle is shaped like a crescent, going from the sea in the north, to the southern tip of the crownlands in a wide arc. It was at first granted to Jœnythan Bersyn’s right hand man, Daries Cwynt. Its function is to guard Speartusk from intrusion by the crown. It is traditionally the South Bank’s last line of defense, and served greatly when the Stormlands tried to take the South Bank centuries before. House Cwynt is traditionally the right hand man of the Lord of Speartusk, and Endrow when worried about attempts by the Faith Militant, had asked Alun Cwynt to look out for any attack on him by the Faith, and Alun had said “As long as my yellow banners stand, I shall be sure that no harm comes to you, and should I fail, I shall have a knife plunged into my heart for the failure.”
The Septon was able to get to Speartusk unrecognised, and their plot was carried out in the dead of night. Stashing Lord Endrow Bersyn on a wheelbarrow, they carried him to the coast, brought him to a ship, and sailed back to King’s Landing.
Endrow awoke in a cell. He tried to climb out, but atop the skylight were bars. Endrow was them brought before the High Septon. Endrow asked to be able to send a raven home. He wrote to Alun to send 4 ravens, one to Pyke, one to Winterfell, one to Heldstrong, and one to Legacy informing them of his capture, and then to raise an army to take King’s Landing. After this, Endrow asked to be permitted to confess before the whole of the city. The Septon severely underestimated Endrow. Things did not go as planned. Endrow did say he had denied the existance of the Seven, but also that he was right, and that he hadn’t sinned since the gods that he had sinned against didn’t even exist.
Alun had recieved Endrow’s raven, and was distraught. He had followed Endrow’s instructions, but felt responsible. He had to do something. He had sworn to suicide if he failed, and he had. But if he was dead, Alun reasoned, he was of no use to his lord, and Endrow clearly wanted him alive. He had heard of a legend, the legend of the creation of the White Walkers. He wondered what the Children of the Forest could do for him...
Alun entered the godswood of Zealstop. It was one of the few godswood where the Children lived. Alun consulted with them often, and now he was going to ask for one final gift. He asked to be changed, to have a magic placed on him similar to, yet different from the magic of the White Walkers. Alun stood by the Weirwood, and a dagger of dragonglass was plunged into his heart, and he became a creature of the wind, a gale that could blow down the Faith militant. Alun left Bersyn
The four lords met in Heldstrong. Alun Cwynt refused invitation. It was decided that the Ironborn would sail around to attack from the seas, and the other three would converge on King’s Landing. The ironborn departed the next day. They carried many supplies. Lord Stark raised an army in the north to march down the King’s Road, and Jeysan Rien called his army to march south on King’s landing. Teimathy Bersyn, Endrow’s eldest son, was left in charge of the South Bank.
*Lord Tommis Tully’s eldest trueborn son, Tristifer Tully was promised, and had wed Teilyr Blackwood in Raventree Hall under their then still living godswood.
As the Greyjoys and Starks discussed the matter, thousands of ravens were sent between Winterfell and Pyke. The Greyjoys and Starks invited the Ruesyns, Riens, and Bersyns to Pyke to discuss what should be done. Pretty soon, a consensus emerged: those that did not worship the seven were clear targets of the Faith Militant, and given the essentiality of the old gods to the cultures of the lands of the first men, and the drowned god to the ironborn, the Faith Militant must be either restricted or abolished. They all signed a letter to the king asking him to reconsider, which he ignored.
These five houses agreed to meet again in Legacy. House Bersyn of The South Bank had modeled their banner off of the banner of House Ruesyn. In Legacy, the five houses: Stark, Greyjoy, Ruesyn, Bersyn, and Riens, agreed that if the Faith Militant entered any of their domains, they would be met on the battlefield, and if any lord tried to aid the Faith Militant’s attempt at entry, all four other lords would march in aid of their ally. If any Ironborn, Northerners, Southfreemen, Typhites, or Hillmen were detained or imprisoned then the lord closest to the location of their detention would march to free them. The five lords made the agreement known to all, especially the sept.
This was open defiance of the kings orders, and they knew that. The Septurn, however, was outraged! The head of the heptonist religion ordered The Faith to enter the South Bank, and arrest Lord Endrow Bersyn for heresy. The High Priest personally lead the Militant. A decision was made to use subterfuge to gain access to Speartusk. The Faith was to sneek into Lord Bersyn’s castle, and bind the lord and smuggle him out of the castle. Luckilly for the Faith, Speartusk is somewhat near the sea, and they were supposed to take him on a boat back to King’s Landing.
The High Septurn lead a band of 3 of the senior officers of the faith militant through the South Bank. They dressed as commoners, merchants, and since it was somewhat common for goods to be brought through the South Bank to ports closer to Essos, since the winds were, at least then, somewhat unreliable, the common thing to do was to minimise the ammount of time your goods were at sea to diminish the odds of a shipwreck. The Militant had plans to obscure their faces, until they entered the town Zealstop around the castle of the same name.
House Cwynt, the lords of Zealstop, with the sigil of the Auroch, and a banner in style similar to that of their lords, had been charged with checking all men whom entered their land, Quyle, by Endrow Bersyn. One of Alun Cwynt’s guards whose name was Adwyrd, had the leaders of the faith remove the niqabs that had been obscuring their faces. At first the High Septon was worried. What if they were recognised?
He was, after all, the High Septurn. He was in a land just south of King’s Landing! The people here must have seen him! He had, after all, visited all of the septs in the Crownlands. But then he remembered, there were no septs in the South Bank. The building of them was forbidden. The Septon removed the mask. His men did the same. Adwyrd asked some standard questions about what they were doing, and the Septon gave some excuses, and while there was a bit of controversy, Adwyrd was able to get the masks and they were let into Quyle and after resting in an inn in Zealstop, were on their way.
The March of Quyle is shaped like a crescent, going from the sea in the north, to the southern tip of the crownlands in a wide arc. It was at first granted to Jœnythan Bersyn’s right hand man, Daries Cwynt. Its function is to guard Speartusk from intrusion by the crown. It is traditionally the South Bank’s last line of defense, and served greatly when the Stormlands tried to take the South Bank centuries before. House Cwynt is traditionally the right hand man of the Lord of Speartusk, and Endrow when worried about attempts by the Faith Militant, had asked Alun Cwynt to look out for any attack on him by the Faith, and Alun had said “As long as my yellow banners stand, I shall be sure that no harm comes to you, and should I fail, I shall have a knife plunged into my heart for the failure.”
The Septon was able to get to Speartusk unrecognised, and their plot was carried out in the dead of night. Stashing Lord Endrow Bersyn on a wheelbarrow, they carried him to the coast, brought him to a ship, and sailed back to King’s Landing.
Endrow awoke in a cell. He tried to climb out, but atop the skylight were bars. Endrow was them brought before the High Septon. Endrow asked to be able to send a raven home. He wrote to Alun to send 4 ravens, one to Pyke, one to Winterfell, one to Heldstrong, and one to Legacy informing them of his capture, and then to raise an army to take King’s Landing. After this, Endrow asked to be permitted to confess before the whole of the city. The Septon severely underestimated Endrow. Things did not go as planned. Endrow did say he had denied the existance of the Seven, but also that he was right, and that he hadn’t sinned since the gods that he had sinned against didn’t even exist.
Alun had recieved Endrow’s raven, and was distraught. He had followed Endrow’s instructions, but felt responsible. He had to do something. He had sworn to suicide if he failed, and he had. But if he was dead, Alun reasoned, he was of no use to his lord, and Endrow clearly wanted him alive. He had heard of a legend, the legend of the creation of the White Walkers. He wondered what the Children of the Forest could do for him...
Alun entered the godswood of Zealstop. It was one of the few godswood where the Children lived. Alun consulted with them often, and now he was going to ask for one final gift. He asked to be changed, to have a magic placed on him similar to, yet different from the magic of the White Walkers. Alun stood by the Weirwood, and a dagger of dragonglass was plunged into his heart, and he became a creature of the wind, a gale that could blow down the Faith militant. Alun left Bersyn
The four lords met in Heldstrong. Alun Cwynt refused invitation. It was decided that the Ironborn would sail around to attack from the seas, and the other three would converge on King’s Landing. The ironborn departed the next day. They carried many supplies. Lord Stark raised an army in the north to march down the King’s Road, and Jeysan Rien called his army to march south on King’s landing. Teimathy Bersyn, Endrow’s eldest son, was left in charge of the South Bank.
This march through the Kingsroad was surprisingly unopposed by the Riverlords, since the Lord Paramount of the Riverlands was at the time Tommis the Tolerant. Tommis was known throughout the kingdoms for his moderation, and if anything, was sympathetic towards the cause of the rebellion*. He had supported the ban on the Faith entering areas of nonbelief, while he opposed the south bank’s radical stance against heptonism, he was even more so against the kidnapping of their lord -- Endrow Bersyn. In fact, while Tommis’s eldest trueborn son, then 19 year old lord Tristifer Tully, who had converted to the Old Gods, urged him to join the rebellion, Lord Tommis refused, and instead chose tilted neutrality.
As the armies were marching south, Alun Cwynt Was training with the Children. He learned to control his new powers. On Lord Bersyn’s trial by combat, Alun Cwynt rode to King’s Landing. He was to represent Endrow in the trial. Endrow would have chosen him regardless, but Alun rode to be chosen. The power of the old gods flowed through him, and he was going to destroy the new god’s champion. Lord Cwynt met with Lord Bersyn and offered his service. Lord Bersyn accepted.
Meanwhile, Lord Shean Ruesyn had reached King’s Landing, and had effectively been charging taxes on all food entering King’s Landing while waiting for the Northerners to get there. It had rained quite a lot in the Riverlands, and the mud was holding up both Jeysan and the North. Shean had seen Alun enter for the trial of Lord Bersyn, and this would be an issue. They did not want this to go to trial. If it did, it would mean the end of their faith as gradual encroachment caused them to die out. Luckily, the Ironborn had found something else to fight for.
When the ironborn had set out, they hadn’t quite gotten enough supplies, and were forced to dock at dragonstone. Word of this rebellion had reached the Prince of Dragonstone, and he saw it as an opportunity. He decided to meet with the Lord of the Iron Islands, and offer them a deal: support him as king, and he would disband the Faith Militant. Ravens were sent to the others, and they accepted. The perpose had shifted: to overthrow the monarch. However, since most things would remain the same, none of the lords really cared.
Back in the South Bank, the Lord is absent, and Lord Teimathy rules in his father’s absence. Teimathy believed that the new gods existed, and blamed them for his father’s abduction. Teimathy was unaware of the other lords plans, since they had assumed that Cwynt had been running things in Endrow’s absence, rather than having a shard of obsidian plunged into his heart. Teimathy first learned of the rebellion of the eighth when reports reached him of Shean Ruesyn’s army marching on king’s landing through his territory. Upon hearing this, Lord Teimathy Bersyn raised an army and rode on King’s Landing, leading it seated upon his mammoth.
By the time lord Teimathy Bersyn had been able to marshall the army of south bank, the banners of Winterfell and Heldstrong were already in the crownlands. The lords Tully did not particularly like a force allied with the Ironborn, since house Hoare, when they ruled from Harrenhal had attempted to push worship of the drowned god upon the riverlands, yet they knew that the allience between the Ironborn, and worshipers of the old gods meant that the ironborn would not be allowed to control the riverlands. There was no way that the remaining first men would allow High Heart to be ruled by the ironborn, yet still, there was resistance in the riverlands. The Faith Militant was very popular amongst the lower classes, and this meant that the long supply lines up the kingsroad all the way to the wall were subject to constant guerilla attacks. This further slowed their advance
About 4 months after the rebellion began, the Northern and Hill troops finally converged on King’s Landing, and having finished negotiations with the king’s brother, landed in blackwater harbor. The siege went like usual, the attackers tried to break down the walls, but they held, and the defenders shot arrows, etc. The attackers made little progress against the defenders, but the attackers’ numbers were thinning, but a few weeks into the siege, King’s Landing was running out of food. Attempts were made to gain food. The king considered flying out on dragonback to retrieve food, but in flying upward out of the city, he would be vulnerable to attacks from the archers. Using the tunnels would alert the attackers to a way into the city, and if they got in, the city watch alone consisted only of hundereds, and the forces of 2 kingdoms combined, plus the south bank, hurricane, and the massive forces of house Rien, alleged to be larger than that of house Arryn itself. If the attackers were able to enter King’s Landing, the city would fall within hours.
Around this time, Lord Teimathy Bersyn decided to ride his mammoth across the Blackwater Rush, and to the river gate. Lord Teimathy’s mammoth’s tusks hit the gate and it splintered at the site of impact. The mammoth kept pushing, and the gate began to crack, and Teimathy had his mammoth push further, and a chunk of the wooden gate, large enough for the mammoth, and the army of the 5 lords to enter the city. As fighting filled the streets, the gold cloaks all fell or surrendered. The Red Keep, however, remained intact.
When the king heard the cracking of the gate he had ran, and brought his dragon to the red keep. By this time, the dragons’ wingspans were only 12 feet, so, while it could carry the king farely well, it also could fit in the tunnels through which the monarchy would flee, and take the rose road to Oldtown. In his absence, the invading army took to the septs and massacred the septons, burning them all to the ground. Lord Bersyn participated in this, while Lord Shean Ruesyn protested, despite having his troops round up all of the blacksmiths and take them back to legacy. Steivan Rien flew onto a balcony of the Red Keep, and ran and threw open the gates, and sacked it with his army. Houses Ruesyn looted the blacksmithies and was able to secure a few valyrian steel blades, as was house Rien. In camp afterwards, Steivan Rien and Shean Ruesyn had the blacksmiths make the lord of the hills many valyrian steel arrows.
*Lord Tommis Tully’s eldest trueborn son, Tristifer Tully was promised, and had wed Teilyr Blackwood in Raventree Hall under their then still living godswood.
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