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Author Topic: The Miroslav Dynasty, Paradox Interactive AAR  (Read 22049 times)

Loud Whispers

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Story 2: A Miroslav in King Tommen's Court
« Reply #15 on: November 25, 2017, 08:14:31 am »

Chapter 4: Ambition requires no limits
Better pray for peace in the Seven Kingdoms or start forging those overseas claims, LW.
- Scriver, June 15, 2015

The Iron Bank were by this point a welcome and reliable ally of the Miroslav dynasty.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
They gave us a simple offer: Stake our claim on the Vale and repay the Valeman's debt, in return we would receive the aid of Braavosi gold and mercenaries.
Through continual raids and wars, strikes and sieges to break up the Vale's strength, her armies and her coffers, the Miroslav-Arryn forces were as evenly matched as they had ever been in all history. Still outnumbered 8 to 1 by the Vale's larger forces, the loss of the Eyrie nevertheless gave the Miroslav armies a key logistical point with which to strike the Arryns before they could effectively respond. Having moved their capital to the key stronghold of the Bloody Gate, in a matter of days the stronghold was besieged and it would not be long before its garrison surrendered.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
All efforts by loyal Valemen and Arryn allies failed to recapture the Bloody Gate. Occupying the narrow mountain pass - it didn't matter how much the enemy outnumbered us, for they could not bring their vast armies to bear. Thus with the battle of the Bloody Gate ending in disaster for the Arryns, with an army twice the size of the Miroslav force being routed, all seemed hopeless for the Arryns. To make matters worse, the capture of the patriarch Urlon Arryn decisively crushed the morale of the Arryn family. Threatening to set Urlon Arryn on fire forced the Arryns to surrender - the Miroslavs had at last won.
A delegation was sent to King Tyros Lannister of the Iron Throne, King of all Seven Kingdoms, that the High Lord of Newreach he had subjected to the Lord of the Vale, was now the Lord Paramount of the Vale, protector of the true faith and Warden of the East. The Arryn family was now in ruins.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Lord Paramount Blaz Miroslav the Just would be brought to the capital, King's Landing, to serve the realm as its Lord Treasurer. The confirmation by the King of the Seven Kingdoms dashed the hopes of the Arryns that our glorious conquest would be revoked, that their title would be reclaimed. The Vale now belonged to us.

Amidst all of this, the affair between Blaz and the court's fire priest would end.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
In a strange twist of fate, Lord Yohn II of Runestone had found definitive proof that High Priest Ljudevit was a homosexual. This was absolutely scandalous, and would have been dangerously more so had Lord Yohn continued his investigations and discovered that the man Ljudevit slept with was none other than his liege, Lord Blaz. Thus in a humiliating and public trial, Blaz excoriated Ljudevit, exiling him to the Night's Watch in the far northern expanse. Ljudevit never would reveal who his lover was, the secret died with him, fighting against the White Walkers.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
This business concluded, Blaz resumed bolstering his forces and eliminating the many internal threats within the Vale. He constructed a new Fortress in the Bloody Gate, attempting to make the Vale passes impregnable without his permission. With messengers, spies & merchants finding it increasingly difficult to pass the Vale during winter, amidst all this heightened security, it largely escaped the attention of the Seven Kingdoms that slavery had been reinstated within the Vale. Blaz began waging war on the Lords who still remained defiant, independent within his Realm, eliminating bandits, warlords and mercenary rogues who had been set loose by the previous wars. The defeat of these public enemies at once made Blaz popular, known as the Just, and further bolstered his reserve of slave labour with which to collect masonry, timber and grains for the winter to come. To the noble Arryns, their allies and their loyal Knights, any who fell into Blaz's hands by kidnapping, surrender or war would find themselves sold to slavers in the far east. With the indignity of servitude pressed upon them, they would find their skills & education put to good use by new masters, far away to the East where their claims to the Vale meant nothing anymore.

Times were changing.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Westeros had its first dragon rider, and it seemed clear that the future belonged to the best prepared. While this first dragon-rider was a nobody married to a summer islander baroness of a driftmark Lord, it did signal to the world that it could be done. The dragons could be tamed, could be marshaled. This lowly courtier rode Drogon, the greatest dragon in the world. What great luck the world had, that this lowly courtier was content to fly the world, never once taking land or title to his name. Drogon would not scar the world in pyroclastic destruction whilst he was its master.

By day, Blaz would spend most of his time developing the Vale as a haven of relative prosperity and safety, all the while sending forth his armies to pillage the Riverlands on the pretext of conquering the Stormlands - the allies of the Riverlanders. Of course it was all complete nonsense, Blaz had neither the means nor intention to conquer the Stormlands and simply needed a reason to ensure the Riverlanders were kept weak, their lands continually plagued by war, famine, disease and winter.
When the daylight raids upon the Riverland smallfolk ended, Blaz would have dreams at night, of reigning above wings of flame and ash...

And then it happened.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The Iron Bank of Braavos gave Lord Paramount Blaz of the Vale a familiar offer, an ambition that would shake history.
The Iron Throne's debts were substantial. Lord Blaz would know, having been in charge of its finances as Lord Treasurer. They wanted someone to repay those debts, and with Blaz having a reliable record of repaying the Iron Bank's debts, they wanted to know if Blaz would be interested in a similar offer. More money, more mercenaries - to march on King's Landing and seize all Seven Kingdoms for himself, simply to repay the debts owed to the Iron Bank.

To accept their offer would potentially mean fighting against six of the seven Kingdoms. Yet Blaz wondered, and pondered, and considered, as the Court quarelled:
"We cannot defeat the Iron Throne. While we do nothing, the dogs fight over the scraps and bones of the Seven Kingdoms. Yet once they see a wolf in their midst, the dogs shall at once unite to kill the wolf."
The murmurs of the Court agreed, this was well-put. Blaz stirred, and the Court grew expectantly quiet.
"When we fought the Arryns by what right did we win, so outmatched in strength? By magnanimity, justice, by the Red God's favour perhaps? We were outnumbered 10 to 1. We had no right to win.
Yet I did not fear to march on the Eyrie, and neither did you. Today we sit here in the seat of the Vale, and I ask:
Outnumbered 100 to 1, what difference does it make? Do you still doubt me?"
Silence gripped the Court as the Marshals announced the war.

CABL

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Re: The Miroslav Dynasty, Paradox Interactive AAR
« Reply #16 on: November 25, 2017, 01:57:41 pm »

PTW. Hopefully Blaz will become the King.
Logged
Pounded in the Butt by my own Government... oh wait, that's real life.

Much less active than I used to be on these forums, but I still visit them on occasion. Will probably resume my activity in full once Dwarf Fortress will be released on Steam.

Loud Whispers

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Story 2: A Miroslav in King Tommen's Court
« Reply #17 on: November 28, 2017, 05:18:46 pm »

Chapter 5: I thought this was the Balkans
Better pray for peace in the Seven Kingdoms or start forging those overseas claims, LW.
- Scriver, June 15, 2015

Devastated and exhausted, the Riverlands decided to remain neutral in the Miroslav Rebellion. This left the Miroslavs with the prospect of defeating 5 of the 7 Kingdoms. A daunting task, yes, but we retained the same advantages we held before. If we could end the war quickly, for which our cohesive army could do wonders, we could seize the Iron Throne before the 5 Lords alliance overwhelmed us with their sheer numeric strength. That was also not our only plan.
The first days of war brought calm seas, and on the backs of great carracks a hideous, horrendous host of Reachmen, Northmen, Dornishmen, Crownlanders, Westermen and Stormlanders all arrived 30,000 at a time, forcing their way through the northern valley or launching attacks by sea. The fact that the alliance could send forth an army equal to the size of the entire Miroslav army with such frequency gave their alliance confidence, that we would be subdued before winter worsened. The assembled armies chased after an army of 7,000 men, aiming to deal a critical blow to the pitifully small Miroslav armies. Too late their mistake was realized. 8,000 Miroslav men, 7,000 Rh'ollor fanatics attracted to our holy cause and several thousand sellswords attracted by our pay moved down from our Fortresses in the mountains to block off the Bloody Gate.

In their eagerness to assault the Vale before we closed its gates, they had not considered the possibility that the door was left open so we could lock them in. With Winter falling upon the realm tens of thousands died every month from cold, starvation and thirst, the morale of the allied forces maintaining a stiff resolve despite the inescapable siege of such a vast prison. Cornered rats after all, have no shortage of courage.
Their bravery would be needed, the strong mountains of the Vale sending forth fast-moving gales of bone-biting cold, accelerating down and down their steep slopes to a foul maddening howl. The Miroslav forces would on the other hand enjoy the warmth of the Bloody Gate's newly constructed hearths, repelling the allied forces so foolish or desperate enough to attack a Fortress called the Bloody Gate.
With the land passes blocked, the allied Lords sent forth their men to assault all of the Vale's coastal fortresses and cities.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Casualties from these assaults would be so severe that the Crownlanders would swear to this day the ocean seemed a little bit redder than usual. However devastating they were, by losing tens of thousands of men the ports were reopened, thus the allied Lords were able to resupply their forces and so save their men from total annihilation. They continued with their campaign and began making real progress, besieging the entirety of the northern and southeastern coast, during which Blaz played his gambit. While his feudal forces and other allied mercenaries or Red God zealots did their best to stall the siege of the Vale, 10,000 Braavosi mercenaries and 10,000 elite Gusars rode south to the Iron Throne, much faster than any of the Lords' armies could react.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
After intense skirmishing across the Crownlands, 18,000 of those men would reach King's Landing alive.
We needed only to capture the King, whereas to falter would be to surely suffer defeat. Thus, before the siege preparations could be dutifully prepared, the order was given to storm King's Landing. 5,000 enemy soldiers defended the city's walls. Again and again the Braavosi and Serbian troops would be thrown back, and again and again they would assault the walls, daring to explore every forlorn breach. The city was close to crumbling, Blaz's commanders estimated it had enough men and supplies to defend King's Landing for 4 more days before being forced to surrender. Blaz called for 8,000 men on the Bloody Gate to march south and reinforce them for one last assault, but it was too late.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The loyalists of the Reach and Crownlands had remustered 40,000 men between them, all untouched by the horrific winter of the Vale Mountains.
Hearing this news many men of the Miroslav army gave up. They knew they were all going to die. Hope remained that the reinforcements would reach the main siege encampment in time.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
But the reinforcements were also ambushed on the road. Reinforcements would never arrive.
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To make matters even worse all of the forces sent to kill the loyalist armies were likewise caught off guard by the sudden arrival of the Reach host.
These three defeats practically eliminated the Miroslav military overnight. The Crownlander-Reach forces would advance and recapture all of the land lost to the Miroslav campaign until they were at last halted at the Bloody Gate, facing off against the rallied remnants of the defeated armies.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It would be the only thing turning absolute defeat into "merely" a crushing defeat. It was a crushing defeat because we had lost most of our military strength and King Tyros was now in a position to dictate whatever terms he wanted, and after the sheer volumes of Westerosi blood "King" Blaz had sown, there would be no one to call for mercy. But it was not an absolute defeat, because by protecting the Bloody Gate, Blaz had ensured his family would not be captured by the Lannisters. As too much of the Vale had fallen, Blaz would have to surrender, but this small victory meant his family would live on.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Blaz surrendered to King Tyros Lannister, undisputed King of the Iron Throne.
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Blaz was thrown in the dungeon indefinitely.
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The Bloody Gate itself was seized by King Tyros, administered by his agents. Our prison-scheme had now been turned against us, our forces locked within the Vale by the Iron Throne's loyal men.
They had not considered that one of the Gate's Fortresses remained loyal to Blaz.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The Riverlanders, so often abused by the Vale's armies, were likewise given a foothold within the Vale, in addition to lands outside its mountains that once belonged to us. Within the Vale one High Lord was given independence from our suzerainty. The strategy was clear; control the Blood Gate, control the Vale, then divide and rule. With his hand on the Bloody Gate, with a powerful Lord within the Vale and a powerful Lord in the Vale's rear, any future attempts at rebellion would be fighting a two-front war with no way to keep the enemy out.

These problems would have to be solved later, because the most immediate problem was the fact that King Tyros controlled all of the Vale, simply by virtue of holding Lord Paramount Blaz Miroslav prisoner. I did what would guarantee the Miroslav freedom. Either Blaz would die and the Lordship would pass to the next Miroslav, or he would gain freedom and glory. Blaz demanded in full view of the Court a trial by combat. He volunteered to be his own champion. The King respected his demand and selected Ser Randyll to be his champion.

Paxiecrunchle

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Re: The Miroslav Dynasty, Paradox Interactive AAR
« Reply #18 on: December 10, 2017, 08:57:17 pm »

Posting to watch your glorius antics.

Loud Whispers

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Story 2: A Miroslav in King Tommen's Court
« Reply #19 on: December 11, 2017, 07:13:29 pm »

Chapter 6: With great responsibility comes opportunities to get screwed over by power-hungry warlords
Sing me a song of freezinating the peasants and burninating the countryside


Ser Randyll honestly seemed like a mediocre Knight, as far as Knights went at least. Given that the King got to choose from some of the best men in the Realm, this meant that either the best men had deserted him or had died in the Vale. This suited Blaz very well.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Blaz parried Randyll's strike with the pommel of his sword in a dexterous display of swordsmanship - a single misstep would've seen him lose all of his fingers. This daring move however left Randyll wide open for a ruthless offensive.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The Valyrian steel of Titan's spit pierced Ser Randyll's heart, the unnatural weapon making a mockery of his armour.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It was over quickly, to the shock of the entire court. In a matter of seconds Blaz turned from a prisoner to a free man, wiping the blood from his sword with a familiarity which marked the difference between the slain warrior and the living soldier.
Lord Paramount Blaz Miroslav promptly walked on home with a vile, smug grin. The smuggest grin the world had ever seen. Legends speak of how disgusting this smug smile was, such that it would inspire hatred from every single Lord, Lady and courtier who witnessed his trial that day, if you believe the rumours. It was the kind of smugness which made King Tyros question whether it would simply be better to ignore his own law system and kill Blaz then and there.
Blaz would take a ship upon the sea home (for the roads were unsafe), and arrive in the Vale safely. His reasons to triumph soon disintegrated, as he arrived home just in time to witness his son's demise. Poor, little Ivan.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
This death left Blaz looking more dour, moreso than he already seemed to his courtiers. Heavy expressions beset his countenance, depression upon him.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
King Tyros Lannister demonstrated extreme magnanimity after Blaz's legal victory, extending an olive branch of cooperation to him. Reconciliation would have brought with it peace, and this was a very noble gesture from King Tyros Lannister in the face of both sides' extensive losses. The olive branch came in the form of a special title, King Tyros would declare Lord Blaz the Protector of the East, the Supreme Commander of all Westerosi forces defending against foreign invaders in the East. This solidified Blaz's position as ruler of the Vale, placing a great deal of trust in him (especially as one so fond of inviting foreign invaders to Westeros, to then be tasked with defending against them would be like tasking a caught poacher to protect the eagle reserves).

The Westerosi have a few serious taboos. For example, the murder of family is known as Kin-slaying, and those who break this taboo are forever stained with the dishonour of a kinslayer. That is a very bad one, with another being the breaking of guest right. Any guest under your roof who has eaten from your hospitality is under your protection, and if you murder them, you are cursed by the gods and man wherever you go in the seven Kingdoms. Another would be to break truces. Lord Blaz would do the latter, once more rebelling, in contravention with one of the most serious taboos in Westeros. Lord Paramount Blaz rejected King Tyros's appointment, declaring that he was not the mere warden of the East, he was the King of the Vale itself, rejecting all subservience to the Iron Throne.
Blaz strategized: This war would be considerably easier to win, as instead of having to strike for the Iron Throne in a risky gambit, this time all he had to do to win was defend the Mountains of the Vale. This in turn required only the solving of four issues to guarantee victory. The first was the elimination of the traitors within the Vale, still loyal to the old order of the Arryns and the Iron Throne. The second was the securing of the Southern Valley against the inevitable invasion from Dornish Marines. The third was the securing of the Northern mountain pass, the fourth the capturing of the Bloody Gate. Upon the shock eve of war, the Miroslav armies once more took the initiative. An army of 11,000 levies and slave-soldier conscripts secured the northern valley against enemy intrusion, a contingent of gusars was sufficient to hold the bloody gate against any number of enemies, while a mixed force of Rh'ollor fanatics and gusars hunted down Dornishmen and traitors alike. It was a terrible sight on the coast. Heavy Rh'ollor infantry crashing upon the enemy, routing them, only to have the survivors run down by light serbian cavalry, leaving no survivors.
The Serbs struck while their forces were replenished (enough). The Iron Throne however was still bankrupt, still pressured by the Iron Bank, with all of the Kingdoms bar the Riverlands and Vale devastated by the previous wars. Despite fierce efforts to stop the Miroslav family, any successes made by the Iron Throne could not be developed further.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The Westerlands and Reach armies got the closest to taking the Vale of any of the coalition's forces, but their efforts to unite with the traitors within the Vale were hampered by infighting, the winter, and their inability to break past the gusars in the Bloody Gate, led by Blaz Miroslav himself. The sight of the Iron Throne's troops killing each other over their Lords' squabbles hilariously indicated the strength of our opposition. Nevertheless, the coalition still stood great chances of winning if they had received the support of the Iron Throne's forces. King Tyros would instead set his side backwards several leaps.
King Tyros was facing a bit of a serious conundrum. He could not allow Blaz to carve off his own personal Kingdom, or else more would follow suit, eroding the central authority of the Iron Throne. He could send forth his troops to aid in the Lords' alliance against the Miroslavs, but the Crownlands was short of manpower, and he lacked the gold to ensure his troops wouldn't desert, revolt or form bandit groups throughout the Kingdom. He heeded a radical suggestion to end the war by taming a dragon, using its power to bring the Seven Kingdoms to heel.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Unfortunately his attempt to tame the dragon resulted in it eating him.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
This left a new King, King Rupert Lannister. A letter sent to Blaz Miroslav announcing this received a simple reply: "He is no King of mine."
King Rupert Lannister was a decent King, who tried helping all. This meant that instead of sending all of his forces to aid the Lannister family and his friends retake the Vale from the Miroslavs, he sent half to fight the Miroslavs, with the other half going to the Wall to aid the Night's Watch repel the armies of the dead. Blaz had been building up his forces to aid the Night's Watch, but realized at once if he instead withheld his forces, the burden of defence would rest entirely upon the Iron Throne and leave the realm ripe for conquest and consolidation! What's more, if he weakened the Seven Kingdoms, the White Walkers would grow stronger, and the armies of the dead would wipe out all of his enemies permanently!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
And that's how the Serbs became independent. Many Lords were still in open rebellion against the Vale, the Iron Throne still held Lords loyal to them, but a Miroslav power was officially independent.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Around this time the omnicidal embodiment of Russian Winter also took a third of the wall, the armies of the dead spilling forth to kill the living and add them to their ranks. The Night's Watch desperately appealed for help and the Iron Throne sent more and more men to fend off the dead. In its weakened state the foreign powers across the sea gave no mercy to the Kingdom.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The Pentoshi from across the narrow sea were the first to attack, the Pentoshi looking for an easy city to strengthen their hold upon Westerosi trade. This galvanized the entire Kingdom (sans Ironborn and Serbs), launching all of the Kingdoms back into exhausting war, providing the chaos needed for the Serbs to break the truce again and begin reclaiming the Vale. The Miroslav objectives were simple, reclaim the Bloody Gate as priority #1, interrupt the train of reinforcements heading North as #2. The secondary objective would ensure the Wall didn't have enough men to defend the Seven Kingdoms, ensuring the White Walkers broke through and were capable of enacting unending slaughter upon the Seven Kingdoms.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The war for the the Bloody Gate, the war against the Pentoshi and the war against the Undead would cost the realm dearly. But the winter of discontent would not end there.
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The Myreneese would also invade, resulting in a bankrupt iron throne, out of soldiers, being invaded by two merchant republics and serbs and omnicidal frost demons (not serbs).

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All the great houses on the eve of the victorious war for the Bloody Gate. Ryswell are the descendents of Petyr Baelish (who was prolific in expanding his domain far beyond the legal boundaries of the Riverlands), Lannisters, Karstarks, Tarlys, Martells and Pykes are still old houses who have remained/become big guys, House Arryn, Stark, Targaeryan, Tyrell, Baratheon and Tully were all wiped out/rendered insignificant in the struggles. Payne and Swann were relatively insignificant houses that climbed to the top, while Ryswell piggy backed off of Littlefinger and Miroslav appeared out of the bloom to remove Andals from the premises. Converting to Rh'ollor meant that taking over houses through intrigue and marriage was out of the question until the great houses could be reeducated to the fire god. Likewise, subverting merchant republics was nigh-impossible without first destroying them and turning them into Lordships.
Thus Blaz decided: the only way is war; current objective: Take King's Landing. The goal was not to become King of the Seven Kingdoms, but to get ships to take Dragonstone (and thus stand more of a chance of taking a dragon).

By this point Blaz Miroslav was hated all across the land (except within the loyalist Vale, where the Rh'ollor minority fervently defended him against the Iron Throne, which still worshiped the Seven and the Old Gods). Add that to Blaz's reputation for being a treacherous, traitorous, ruthless, conniving and ambitions Warlord with a religious fascination for setting people on fire, it seemed apparent that nobody would want to be his friend. King Rupert Lannister absolutely despised Blaz, yet Blaz figured that it didn't matter how despised he was. If he could damage the Seven Kingdoms to the point where the armies of the dead, the White Walkers with their unnatural winter, were laying siege to Winterfell, there would be nothing the Iron Throne could do to break the Bloody Gate. Furthermore, plans to spread the Miroslav family further east or south were being formulated, with proposals to even set up a colony, if it meant having a place to relocate should the armies of the White Walkers get out of hand and jeopardize the Vale. Somewhere nice in the sun, with mango juice and guavas, far away from Winter.

Such thoughts would be put to the side when Blaz's curious stone egg hatched, revealing a little dragon he called Spyrax.

Loud Whispers

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Re: The Miroslav Dynasty, Paradox Interactive AAR
« Reply #20 on: December 21, 2017, 04:12:15 pm »

Chapter 7: The Seven years war to break the Seven Kingdoms
'I think the Serbs may honestly at this point be responsible for more deaths than the genocidal frost demons.'
- An observation, June 2015

Lord Blaz Miroslav's ascension to King Blaz Miroslav of the Mountain and Vale gave King Rupert Lannister no shortage of headaches or problems, inspiring a deep hatred within his heart. He and his father before him had been utterly betrayed and backstabbed at every turn by the Miroslav dynasty, the very rule of the Iron Throne challenged, threatening to tear the realm further apart. If the Iron Islanders and the Vale could declare themselves Kings, launch attacks, raids and invite foreign warriors & mercenaries to Westeros, how long would it take for the rest of the Lords to arm themselves and split the realm into feuding realms of warlords?
While the Iron Islanders were significant, they could be ignored as inconsequential in the face of more pressing threats. The Vale however, as large, fertile and strategically important as it was - simply could not be allowed to remain hostile to the Iron Throne's interests. The Lannisters knew that for as long as the Miroslavs remained in power over the Vale, the Rh'ollori faith would continue to spread, rebels would continue to find support & warbands would continue to arrive from across the narrow sea.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The first spark of the Seven Years war was the invasion of the hill-tribe clansmen. The tribes of the hills couldn't tell the difference between their previous Valemen enemies or the Serbians, both Valemen Knights and Gusars rode horses into battle. The hill tribes had in the following decades raided the Vale's villages with impunity, seeing little serious resistance - thus did not fear the armies marching to face them.
Blaz personally led a contingent of Knights and Gusars into the forest to eliminate the hill tribes attacking the villagers. There the enemy Chief was located and bravely, the Chief charged through Blaz's bodyguard to slay him.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The barbaric challenger was large, furious and strong, but no match for Blaz's skill. Before the chief could finish shouting his name, he was killed.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Without their leader the surviving hill tribesmen retreated, harried by the cavalry all the way. The success would be briefly celebrated, as King Rupert Lannister seized the opportunity posed by the hill tribe invasion to launch his own invasion of the Vale. Thus before the hill tribe invasion could be entirely eliminated, the gusars were recalled to face the Iron Throne. The hill-tribes would recover to continue raiding the villages and progress to even raiding the cities of the Vale.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The Lannisters commanded 90,000 soldiers. Despite the vastly larger size of Rupert's Kingdoms, his lands were exhausted and his subordinates disloyal. The Vale Kingdom's smaller size did not stop it from fielding an army of 40,000 soldiers, the hyper-militiarized, well-led and well-provisioned mountain Kingdom still seemed tough. Furthermore, while many of those soldiers were slave-soldiers or mercenaries whose loyalties were dubious, they were effective for their simple purpose of obstructing strategic passes or raiding enemy towns. Blaz's own well-drilled levies were trustworthy and effective, while the elite cavalry gusars and knights formed the backbone of the army flanks and the religious fanatics of rh'ollor welcome & disciplined help. All of these forces, both the disciplined army core, the irregulars and undisciplined conscripts or mercs, everyone was mobilized for war.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
King Rupert Lannister's declaration united the remaining Kingdoms together under one common banner, brought together by their common purpose against the villainy of the Miroslav dynasty. The first action was fought between the Riverlanders and the Vale, with the Riverlanders rushing to be the first through the mountains. At the northgate and the scorched vale pass no Riverlander troops passed, all being deterred or repelled.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The successes at the gates were all for nought, as while the bulk of the Serb forces mustered within the mountains of the Vale, tens of thousands of the Iron Throne's soldiers amassed on the beaches of the Vale. Thousands of the Miroslav forces were slaughtered. The Vale Kingdom's reliance on mercenary sellswords and slaves within their army backfired horrendously. With over half of the Vale's army comprised of these two core elements... There was reason to be worried. The slaves, while numerous were fickle in combat, while the mercenaries were likely to flee the moment they came face to face with 40,000 screaming Dornish pikemen, Crownland men of war and the finest thundering Knights of the Stormlands and Reach. Once the casualties started piling Blaz would have to rely more and more upon his core levies, loyal bannermen and fanatics, forces he could not afford to lose. King Blaz pulled his elite force of 10,000 gusars from the bloody gate down the mountain side to march upon the host the Crownlanders had assembled. At this point there was little use in guarding the mountain passes, all of Westeros was empty of men and all the men attacking the Vale.

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Flying on the back of the adolescent dragon Spyrax, King Blaz and his retinue of gusars gave one hell of a showing to the invaders, routing an enemy force twice as large with a devastating charge. Despite this victory, the enemy host remained intact and less than half the gusars had survived the charge. Defeat had been delayed, but not by much time. Soon the Crownland armies regrouped from their defeat and mustered up for battle once more. 30,000 Crownlanders marched upon King Blaz and his surviving host of 4,800 elite cavalry, seeking to put an end to the Miroslav rebellion once and for all. King Blaz's most loyal retinue prepared themselves for death.
The armies arrayed themselves at dawn for battle. The Miroslav forces had at their command 100 assorted infantry and light cavalry, 4,800 heavy cavalry, King Blaz astride the young dragon Spyrax facing off against 30,000 Crownlanders, fielding thousands of Knights, Hedge Knights, light cavalry, tens of thousands of heavy-infantry, Dornish pikemen and light infantry, commanded by the best Lords of War King Rupert could command. The Miroslav infantry skirmished with the Crownlanders and were wiped out to the last man, the gusars charged and the dragon spyrax roared as King Blaz and his men attacked the Crownlander host.

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So began the dance of dragons. King Rupert unveiled a shocking surprise, as under his command was the Knight, the one called Ser Raynor, who had unexpectedly tamed a wild dragon called Drakaryx. King Blaz had barely an instant of a moment to register this fact when Drakaryx descended from the sun and clouds to tear Spyrax apart. Ser Raynor was brave, fighting with Dracaryx as one. The dragon Dracaryx was far larger and older than Spyrax, Spyrax was one of the world's youngest dragons - just barely old enough to be worthy of frontline fighting.

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Ser Raynor and Dracaryx swooped from the heavens to break Spyrax, to search and destroy the younger dragon honourably and win. To seek fame, glory and victory, to kill the dreaded Serbic foe once and for all. The first dive failed, three times again and again Dracaryx diving into Spyrax, the younger dragon just barely evading its elder's strikes.

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The fourth time Dracaryx attacked, Spyrax had learned. Blaz and Spyrax flew up to meet their rivals in the sky, relentlessly attacking Raynor in Drakaryx's moment of ascent, forcing the dragon to stall in the air and plummet to the ground. Stunned, Spyrax rushed in to secure the kill.

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Reacting quickly, Raynor led Dracaryx out of Spyrax's fire and claws. Despite their escape, one thing had been clarified. This dance of dragons was between two equals, whatever the size and age of both dragons. The fight resumed throughout the day for hours, neither side finding a weakness or lapse in the other. Below the skies, mesmerized, the armies of the Iron Throne and the mountain Kingdom battled, enraptured at the scale of this legendary duel.

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In the final bout Drakaryx made one mistake, rising to blast Spyrax with flame and so incinerate Blaz. Spyrax dived headlong into Drakaryx, sending him crashing to the ground. Spyrax did not let go, tearing into the older dragon, ripping Ser Raynor apart, digging his claws and jaws into the softer underside of Drakaryx, bringing his interior organs out to see the light of day. The Crownland host was silent, tentative, gazing at the Warlord and his infernal dragon standing triumphant over the corpse of their hero.

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Yet King Blaz and Spyrax were alone. By the time the dance of dragons had concluded, Blaz saw the last charge of the gusars end. Every last rider had died in the charge, and Spyrax was simply too young to fight the Crownlander army alone. Blaz's most loyal men fought to the end, and now he had to leave their bodies behind, flying to the Eyrie with only Spyrax with him.
At the capital, King Blaz sent agents, diplomats and messengers to contemplate or discover any avenue for victory. With his elite bodyguard entirely eliminated, most of his mercenaries disbanded or fled, his slave armies routed and only his personal levies intact, direct combat with the Iron Throne could not be won without additional help. The slaver cities in the East had no Unsullied soldiers for sale. The Golden Company of mercenaries believed King Blaz was wasting their time and not worth fighting for. The Iron Bank offered help under punishing conditions, which could not be accepted. Blaz had no allies, had scant few surviving troops, and despite the Vale possessing Spyrax - the dragon was simply nowhere near enough to compensate for the overwhelming superiority or momentum of the Iron Throne's hosts.

Thus with grim certainty, Blaz mustered House Miroslav's household guards, the levies, the remnants and so prepared for one last battle.

Loud Whispers

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Re: The Miroslav Dynasty, Paradox Interactive AAR
« Reply #21 on: December 22, 2017, 10:22:09 am »

Chapter 8: Son I am disappoint
WHAT ARE YOU DOING SON. STOP SON. YOU ARE NOT SON, SON.


When I say King Blaz mustered his forces for one last fight, it's worth noting how long that process took. For messengers to travel and relay orders, for all the troops - some of which were demoralized or scattered about the Vale, all of this took days to weeks. Nevertheless it had been achieved. The battle of Creek Castle occurred in Hearts Home, King Blaz attacking the Riverlanders host just as they were crossing the river into the mountain valley. This effectively split the Riverlander host in two and forced them to fight on a narrow front, robbing the Riverlanders of their numerical advantage. Spyrax burnt a swathe through the enemy, but the enemy held firm and the Miroslav forces were faltering - a fact made worse by the severe shortage of Lords and Officers in the Miroslav army. Most capable generals in the Miroslav army had at this point been slain in combat, leaving the army reliant upon hired hedge Knights for officers; rogue Knights wandering the land serving in exchange for cash.
The Iron Throne had been wounded by Winter and sieges, but now this didn't matter. If they could rout and eliminate this surviving force, there would be no more house guards, levies, mercenaries, slaves or red god fanatics, it would be over for good. The bloody gates would be open and the reinforcements from the Iron Throne and its Lord Paramounts would pour in to finish the job with total, absolute victory.

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The battle would last for four months. The armies would face off against one another, re-positioning, resting, attacking and scheming, all along the creek during that awful blizzard. That grim baleful blizzard, in which thousands of men were fighting every day, with neither achieving decisive victory... It was conflict with no end in sight. Even as it seemed one side was at last finished, reinforcements would pour in and join the encampments on the river. At times both flanks of the Miroslav army would peel away in fright, with only the Household guard and King Blaz remaining firm in the centre, awaiting the constant influx of reinforcements. The Miroslav coffers and manpower were scraping bottom barrel in a hope to outlast the enemy's superior numbers, to use their poor strategic position to turn the tide at this creek.

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In one particularly memorable instance, the Marshal returned to the battlefield with just 60 Hedge Knights in tow. Such small bands of men would be considered utterly irrelevant to the outcome of the battle under normal circumstances, but now the serbian forces searched high and low for every spare mercenary or levy not yet utilized - no matter how small the contribution, and the arrival of the 60 hedge Knights was viewed as if they were righteous saviours. Many of the previously unknown Knights served as commanders, fighting and dying on the battlefield to win high glories and honours.

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By the end of the fourth month the left flank faltered and Blaz was surrounded, but it seemed apparent too that despite this, despite months of fighting, the battle could be won. The banners of the regional Lords were called upon to send everyone they could in a last ditch effort to turn the battle. With the arrival of 5,500 demoralized but well-equipped and completely fresh troops at the rear of the Iron Throne's coalition army, the remaining soldiers of the Iron Throne were at last forced to retreat.

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In the end both forces suffered immensely. Of the 40,000 men who fought in the battle of Creek Castle, 5000 emerged alive. Notably the Miroslavs lost 14 generals in this one combat action. This battle was arguably more important than the battle between King Blaz and Ser Raynor in the last charge of the gusars. The Riverlands, the Stormlands, the Dornish, the Crownlands and the Reacher Lords - they were exhausted now, their forces drained of their manpower. Much of the Miroslav army was at this point sent back to rest and guard the Fortresses, with the Miroslav armies raiding isolated units of the Iron Throne while retreating in the face of larger hosts. With the morale and manpower of the Iron Throne shattered at Creek Castle, the Lord Paramounts didn't believe they could win against the serbians anymore. While they certainly still could have won, it would have involved assaulting the Fortresses of the Vale, which while they attempted to do so - was promptly proven to be incredibly bloody, leaving their forces vulnerable to counter-attack by the recovering Vale forces. It was a tense waiting game by this point of the war. King Blaz had spent a lot of money fortifying the Vale, and was carefully maintaining his coffers and the loyalty of his men & mercenaries through means the Westerosi considered illegal and dishonourable.
Normally under Westerosi custom, captured Knights would be treated fairly (though not necessarily nicely), and would be returned to their side upon pay ing a ransom fee. In this way they were allowed to return and fight for their side while the enemy gained an advantage and incentive to not murder their captured prisoners. However the Vale had legalized slavery. More specifically, slavery was legal only for those captured in war, and as the King was the only authority capable of declaring war, effectively slavery was legal for the King and illegal for everyone else under him - which really was the best of both worlds, as it allowed Blaz to work with the wealthy slaver princes of the East, raise extortionate taxes upon farming/mine estates run by slaves, and easily the best option was to sell captured commanders to the eastern princes. Every commander captured fetched a high price on the slaver markets for their skills in combat or leading armies, enriching King Blaz's coffers while denying the Iron Throne and its Lords their family members and warriors. This was the same strategy used against the Arryns, but now on a far, far larger scale. Whole noble houses were eliminated overnight, scattered across the Eastern continent, sold into slavery under the warring princes of the East.

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Others were simply executed, causing turmoil within the ranks of the enemy. Daughters and Sons fought with one another to claim the empty thrones of their slain fathers, like the Lord of the Westerlands here, Lord Paramount Melwyn Payne who was captured and executed by holy fire, his High Lordship passing to his younger brother. Lord Melwyn Payne was by all accounts a decent person, thus his death greatly divided the Westerlands, with few capable of living up to the standards of kindness, justice, honesty and patience he set.

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I don't even know what the Lannisters were doing bringing an 8 year old to a warzone, but Lord Rupert Lannister was also executed after being captured.

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The most interesting commander captured was also an incredibly unexpected one. It was none other than Lord Hugh Arryn, son of the last Lord Paramount Arryn of the Vale, pretender to the Lordship of the Vale and exile in the court of King's Landing. Lord Hugh was the hero of his own story. When the Arryns were cast out from the Eyrie, he was a young man, training to be a capable leader, as the brother of Urlon Arryn. He fought against the Miroslavs every step of the way, but fled as most of his family was wiped out. He made his way in exile, traveling the Seven Kingdoms, finding his way into the court of King's Landing. There he was awarded his own castle out of service to the Lannisters, pledging loyalty to them, never forgetting his claim to the Vale. A bold cavalry commander, a brave Knight and an attractive, charismatic leader, he had a lot in common with Blaz. If he had inherited the Vale, perhaps the Arryns would never have been exiled. At age 50, it was deemed improper to sell him into slavery, especially since there was still a small chance he could sire a son who would one day come back with an army from the East to reclaim his birthright - better to just execute him. Thus he was honourably executed with holy fire, which Blaz prayed would end the house of Arryn once and for all. King Rupert Lannister had assembled all of the Miroslav's enemies to fight against them, and this refreshingly meant most of the Miroslav's enemies were now slaves in the far east or ashes in the fields, with the exception of one captured noble boy who made a good impression on his captors and was adopted and educated in Serbian culture & Rh'ollorian faith. The future looked brighter!

Amidst all of this tense fighting, siege, army positioning and provisioning, Blaz did not notice his son and heir Prince Vojislav causing problems.

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It was during the battle of Creek Castle when Vojislav hatched his own dragon, called Goldfyre. This was an immense surprise, but a greatly welcome one too. It suggested to Blaz that the succession would be in good hands, backed by dragonfire. Blaz could not be happier that Voijslav was achieving great things at such a young age, but...

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Blaz was preoccupied with the battle of Creek Castle, but when he discovered Vojislav had allowed Goldfyre to escape, his fury was inconsolable. That failure, that waste of space, that thing who was not worthy to be Miroslav, a pathetic and useless drunkard whore warmer... The savage humiliation Lord Vojislav received at the hand of his father, the lashing so furious drove him into eager hands and words. These agents told Vojislav of how it was not his fault, of how he did his best, held his Fortresses against enemy siege, hatched Goldfyre and could perhaps one day recapture him, these people suggested that perhaps he find a Lord more appreciative of his talents.
Vojislav was shocked. They suggested treason, against his father?!

...Then again. They suggested treason against his father.

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King Rupert Lannister got the last laugh. King Blaz's joy in his victory turned to sour plum and ashes when he read a letter from Lord Vojislav, addressed from the Stormlands. He had moved to the Stormlands to take up his new award as the most excellent High Lord of Shipbreaker bay, and was now counting down the days until his father died and he could inherit the Vale, returning it to the most loyal service of the Iron Throne, destroying all pretensions to claiming a Kingdom of the Vale.

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A Miroslav in King Tommen's Court
« Reply #22 on: December 22, 2017, 01:04:51 pm »

Chapter 9: THE DEVIL WILL BE MY CONCUBINE
'That was... something. I don't know what that is, but it is impressive either way.'
- Teneb, June 2016

Blaz was furious. He also accepted that perhaps, he had been a little too harsh on his son, but it was too late to take back these words. The barbarian hill tribe invasion (which had survived the 7 years war), thus presented an opportunity to let off some steam. The first thing Blaz did after the war was finally destroy the hill tribe army. With this task easily completed by his army of scarred veterans, he set about assessing the damage.
The elite gusars were gone. He could begin replacing them, but that would drain the coffers of gold, gold which would not be able to be spent on mercenaries and fanatics in an emergency. His son & heir was now a loyal servant of the enemy, a crushing diplomatic defeat which he had no clue how to undo at all. Much of the Vale was dead and it would take time to retrain the levies to a proficient standard.

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Some good news came from the North: Winter was coming. The armies of the dead were marching south and the Iron Throne was sending its forces north to repel the frosty legions of the devil's offal. This would tie up a lot of the Iron Throne's forces, which would be sorely tested, because after the casualties incurred in the 7 years war and the decapitation of the Westerosi leadership, one of the ambitious upstarts had reassessed their contributions to the war effort. The Night's Watch were still, barely alive, far north, trying to escape the White Walkers.

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Lord Paramount Alyn Tarly realized now the Reach had the largest army in the realm, larger than any two of the Seven Kingdoms armies put together, and so he launched his bid to become King of all the Kingdoms. With support from the Stormlands, this was now the most dangerous attempt at taking the Iron Throne from the Lannister dynasty the last two generations of Lannisters had ever seen. Amidst this chaos there were proposals to invade Shipbreaker Bay and so recapture Vojislav, but there was no guarantee that Vojislav would not run further West into the Lannister homelands. Thus King Blaz was forced to do what he had to do.

Once upon a time, the Braavosi bank paid Blaz to go to war for the Iron Throne, giving him a claim on the Seven Kingdoms.

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This was a claim that was not yet forgotten.


The Iron Throne was not in such good shape after the seven years war, namely beca-
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The White Walkers set up a merchant republic?!! What the fuck?

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Oh wait nah, the Republic broke apart and reverted to several little genocidal hordes, and one really big one. Everything seems in order.

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It seems the White Walkers' experiment in merchantry didn't end well. I honestly can't imagine why humans would be scared to trade with the beings whose end goal was to kill their entire people and resurrect them as walking frosty corpses.

That oddity aside, King Blaz declared war upon the Iron Throne as the Stormlanders and Reach battled the Iron Throne's forces elsewhere. The Vale did not have any troops to spare, thus King Blaz devised a devious stratagem. He would travel covertly by sea and sneak into Blackwater Bay, with a mere 20 men, concealing the dragon Spyrax within. While Blaz did not make it into the city, he made it outside its walls, setting the city's exterior ablaze. The approach to King's Landing was boosted by the surprising defection of many Lords throughout the realm, with the Lord of Rosby and Lord of Dragonstone both joining King Blaz, with Rosby and Dragonstone being some of the key Fortresses protecting King's Landing.

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Elsewhere the Reachmen & Stormlanders fought against the Crownlanders, Riverlanders and Westermen, with the Dornish remaining aloof while the Northmen fought to the death against the White Walkers. No one paid much attention to King Blaz, as even with the defections of petty Lords, his forces were so battered he was considered to be a non-contender by the major houses. King Rupert Lannister certainly believed it was a joke when the Lord of Rosby & Dragonstone believed they could take King's Landing with the help of a mere 20 good men; all of that changed when King Blaz and Spyrax wiped out all of the Lannister guardsmen on the banks, single-handedly laying siege to Kings' Landing.

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While more warbands joined the Rosby & Dragonstone forces, it was still not enough to successfully siege King's Landing. The enemy garrisons were too large, thus King Blaz had to scorch King's Landing to weaken the garrisons. Thousands burned alive, and in a cruel irony, thousands more fled the city inferno only to freeze to death in the cold. The burning went on and on, with King Rupert Lannister observing from the Red Keep the wasting of his people. Attempting to redeem the House Lannister, attempting to save his Kingdom, King Rupert heroically led his men on the front lines against Spyrax. He would see King's Landing saved.

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But instead died trying, incinerated for his heroism. While he survived the encounter with Spyrax, the wounds he received had mortally wounded him. The walls were broken, the garrison on the brink of surrender. King's Landing could likely hold for a mere few more days against King Blaz and his allied warbands, days away from putting himself on the Iron Throne and restoring a sort of peace to the realm. News that King Rupert was injured and being transported out of the city sent the allied forces into a frenzy, knowing full well that to capture Rupert would mean the war would be over.

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They escaped the Miroslav allied forces, only for the Kingsguard to end up encountering the armies of the pretender, Alyn Tyrell. Fighting to the last to save their burnt and dying King, King Rupert Lannister would be captured and forced to abdicate in favour of Alyn Tyrell, now King Alyn Tyrell, King of the Seven Kingdoms. King Blaz intended to continue with the siege and place himself on the Iron Throne, but with King Rupert's abdication and Alyn's vast armies, the allied Lords switched allegiances. King Alyn promised clemency to those who would submit, and extermination to those who continued to aid the traitor, Blaz Miroslav.

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Blaz was confused one morning, waking to find his own camps on fire, his own former allies shouting "CAPTURE THE TRAITOR BLAZ MIROSLAV." Fully two-thirds of his own forces defected, joining the cause of King Alyn Tarly. In an instant King Blaz found himself surrounded by fire, ice, and thousands of soldiers and smallfolk he'd just spent the last few weeks burning, the arrows falling from the skies upon his men.

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He and his gusars fought their way out of the trap, a rearguard of brave loyalists perishing to the last, slaughtered by the fickle Lords as King Blaz fed north with haste. In a hilarious twist of fate, it seemed many of the Lords now viewed King Alyn Tarly as a worse usurper than King Blaz. King Alyn had extorted and usurped the throne from the beloved Rupert Lannister on Rupert's deathbed, whilst Blaz was safe from incrimination on the basis of his failed bid at hegemony having yielded no success. Many of the Lords who loved Rupert now backed Blaz, angered at Alyn and seeing their enemy's enemy as their friend.

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And for the first time ever, a Lord Paramount had declared their support for King Blaz. Lord Paramount Meliana Karstark would be halted from marching south however:

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With the White Walker invasion taking its toll upon the North, there was simply no sane way to send troops south when an existential crisis existed in the North. Yet Blaz appreciated the symbolic gesture of support, as it certainly indicated good prospects for a long term weakening of the Iron Throne.

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While King Alyn Tarly was coronated, King Blaz was making it safely home. Once home, King Baz joined the head of his column - 16,000 men strong, levies replenished after 2 years of rest from the 7 years war. King Alyn mustered his forces from the reach, weary from their battles with King Rupert, fortifying King's Landing should Blaz attempt an assault.

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King Blaz lay waste to King's Landing for a second time. The Reachmen were desperate to stop the Valemen from taking King's Landing, assaulting the serbian and valeman forces with ferocious disregard for their own lives.

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They were even willing to fight outnumbered against the dragon and the warlord. They fought like men who sincerely believed defeat was not an option, thus every time they were routed they charged once more into the fray again, and again, and again until they were utterly ruined as a cohesive fighting force. In the comfort of a likely victory, I began to inspect as to why so many Lords were now declaring their support for Blaz Miroslav, where before their predecessors were only enemies.

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Lord Paramount Meliana Karstark of the North did not mind that King Blaz worshiped the Red God, she herself was a recent convert to the faith of the Seven from the old pagan faith of the North. And why should Meliana not support Blaz? Both were just rulers, enforcing justice in these times of chaos. Both were charismatic leaders, brave warriors, and there was something attractive about the handsome and fashionable Knight. As old as he was, his scarred and muscly frame remained impressive.

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Such charms would also inspire many men to follow him instead of Alyn Tarly. The sheer beauty and justice of King Blaz was inspiring devotion in those too young to remember his crimes, whose fresh eyes saw only the beauty of a hero.

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Surprisingly Prince Vojislav joined the Vale's forces. He attempted to redeem himself, leading his forces to attack the northern rebels in Oldtown, who fought against Meliana and Blaz. In the battles against the Oldtown northerners, Prince Vojislav would be slain.

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The High Septon would be captured, dying in the dungeons of King Blaz, shaking the faith of the Seven's resolve.

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Towards the final stages of the campaign, enough small Lords were declaring their support for King Blaz that the Reach's numerical superiority began to erode. With even small Reacher Lords and Dornish Lords throwing their support for Blaz, and the Stormlanders of Shipbreaker bay providing 5,000 men, King Blaz was receiving reinforcements he desperately needed whilst the Tyrell armies only dwindled in number.

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They arrived in time to fight the Tyrell's last, desperate engagement at the dragon gate. True to its name, Spyrax soared and flamed the Tyrell army, naming the dragon gate well.

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Long live the King! Long live the King! With the routing of the Tyrell army at the dragon gate, taking the Iron Throne was as simple as walking into King's Landing and beginning the coronation ceremony. It was over. King Blaz was now King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, King of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm. The Iron Islanders were still independent, and somehow amidst the wars for the Throne, the Westerlands and Riverlands had already attained independence. King Blaz was no fool, and knew at once that his powerful subjects would all seek to take the Iron Throne. Thus he granted the Reacher Lords independence, the Dornish Lords independence and continued to dismantle the Seven Kingdoms, waiting for the right time to set the North and Stormlands free. He would make Seven Kings and Queens out of the Seven Lord Paramounts. As independent monarchs it would be considerably harder for them to claim the Iron Throne, as it would be the throne of a foreign King. Blaz would also not have to worry about their backstabbing antics, as the Lords would instead have to worry about protecting their own crowns. It would keep the Seven Kingdoms divided, so the White Walkers could continue eliminating all of Blaz's enemies, and when the time was ripe for reconquest - he had the legal right to reunite the Seven Kingdoms, by whatever means necessary.

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Lord Meliana Karstark at once petitioned the Iron Throne for support, as the armies of the dead were overwhelming. The Iron Throne didn't send anyone North, there was no use in doing so. While it may seem cold, there was a logic behind it. King Blaz lacked in money & manpower, sending his armies North would result in the loss of both in significant numbers before a single battle took place, with a march through the long winter being a painful thing. Once at the North, what could he do with his surviving armies? The North was a large frozen expanse of snow, the armies of the dead vastly outnumbered his own men, they would be surrounded and slaughtered. Thus the only logical thing to do was guard the Vale, holding the mountain passes, where the armies of the dead could not surround the valemen forces. Occupying the Neck would have stopped the White Walkers from making it South, but by this point the Neck was ruled by the Riverlanders, and so Blaz thought it best to let them die first. Anyways, Blaz was certain the White Walkers couldn't make is past the Neck, with or without Iron Throne intervention.

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The armies of the dead proved him wrong when they assaulted the northern valley pass at Stonekyme. Blaz was prepared; he had mustered 22,000 levies and mercenaries, led by Dornish spear captains. Their task was simple: hold the pass, and let no dead through. By the end of the battle the armies of the dead retreated into the North, curiously giving up the attack despite 10,000 of their number remaining. King Blaz was confused and arrived to inspect his armies, only to receive news that his forces had captured one of the White Walkers (at great expense in life). One of the sorcererous, murderous, fiendish ice-demon things had been captured!

Now it is worth mentioning there was a little tradition started by Blaz's father, Lord Vojislav, and continued by himself. In order to really infuriate the White Walkers and ensure their attacks on the Iron Throne were encouraged, the White Walkers were sent insults every now and then, delivered via raven. Lord Vojislav called them craven, cowards and shriveling fools, and after this insult the White Walkers broke through the great Wall of the Night's Watch. What was more insulting than calling the immortal frost demon enemy, the incarnation of death and winter, cowards?

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King Blaz knew: It was to make Death his concubine.

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This continued for a long while through the long winter, the long night was dark and full of terrors. The fell White Walker, the slayer of all life, was subjected to King Blaz's mighty, supernaturally hardened Valyran steel all throughout the night. A few old men and women to this day still scare their children with the mere insinuations of what went on in Blaz's dungeon to the captured White Walker. The White Walkers had never shown any hatred to any humans they had killed before, but Blaz was an exception. King Blaz was a man unique in Westeros, for being the only man hated by every single White Walker.
Decades later, long after King Blaz had died, a group of White Walkers would successfully break into the Vale and free their comrade under the reign of King Nikodim Miroslav. Unlike Blaz, Nikodim was no deviant, and did not make a saltwife of the White Walker. Yet the damage had been done. When the imprisoned White Walker finally regained his freedom in the daring jailbreak, returning home to the northern wastelands of ice and dead men, the King of the long Night found an all too human shiver crawling up his inhuman spine. If a White Walker could cry, the frozen rivers would run freely once more.
The White Walkers sent their legions of the dead to kill every living thing left in the world. But deep down, King Blaz knew they knew. The Serbians were ready to fuck death, and they were going in dry.

Loud Whispers

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Re: A Miroslav in King Tommen's Court
« Reply #23 on: January 10, 2018, 12:15:20 pm »

Chapter 10: No Summer for Old Serbian Homosexual Warlords
'Yes Nikodom is where shit gets real. It DEFINITELY wasn't when Blaz had an affair with the chilled undead.'
- Urist McScoopbeard, June 2015

The Seven Kingdoms were decreasing in number. Owing to the successes of the Serbs & White Walkers, there now remained only 3 Kingdoms in total. Yet the spirit of jolly cooperation between the two forces of nature would naturally clash, as Serb and White Walker contested for control over the Seven Kingdoms. The White Walkers however possessed the limitless hordes of the death which gave them significant material advantages, thus the Miroslav strategy was to simply sit by and fortify whilst the White Walkers slowly annihilated the races of man living North of the Neck. This strategy ensured the White Walkers could never quite win their invasion (for the Northmen were resilient, and the main strength of the Iron Throne unbroken), yet it also meant the White Walkers weren't going to lose any time soon either. Worse still, every town and city the White Walkers took, was another source of undead hordes which would inevitably all march south upon the completion of their Northern campaign.

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Realizing that there would be no help arriving from the Southern Kingdoms, Lady Meliana Karstark took the defence of the north into her own hands, rapidly centralizing all authority under herself. She would form the nucleus of Northern efforts to keep the White Walkers at bay, which suited King Blaz just fine. Consequently it also reset all the warscore, meaning the White Walkers had to reoccupy the North all over again, as the morale of the northern soldiers were boosted to righteous levels of furor. This meant the White Walkers could finally be engaged in battle by Miroslav forces.

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Whilst the Northmen held themselves up in tough Forts, marshes, mountains and islands, hoping to hold back the neverending hosts of former countrymen rattling their bones at the gates, the undead began to look to the south for slaughter. Upon receiving news of an undead host marching south, Blaz raised a large army of mercenaries, Rh'ollor fanatics and a few levies, over 22,000 in total to stave off the dead at the mountain pass.

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20,000 dead soldiers marched to meet 22,000 assorted feudal levies, zealots, mercenaries and slave-soldiers; a core of 13,200 pikemen and heavy infantry determined to hold the line against the onslaught of dead peasants.

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The Mercenary Captains led the detachments of Blaz's forces with heroic and legendary skill. First the horse archers, light infantry and archers skirmished with the enemy, seeking to eliminate the White Walkers. Volley after volley of arrows fell upon the undead, but their forces pressed forwards ignoring every casualty. The Horse Archers broke off in retreat, the Light Infantry withdrew into friendly lines, the archers were overrun, losing half of their number to the clawing dead. The White Walkers sought to surround and overwhelm the Miroslav host, but was thwarted by the terrain. Unable to break the Miroslav lines, the White Walkers retreated with half of their undead host alive - of the cavalry sent to harry and raid the undead host, most returned, but of the 8 Knights present for the battle, only 1 survived.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The Knights died securing a precious prize: A captured enemy commander, a White Walker in the flesh. This one would go into the dungeons of Blaz, sparking the infamous legend. Moreover, important lessons were learned. The undead were mostly poorly equipped corpses of peasants, yet had overrun professional armies in droves for two reasons. The first was that Generals who lacked Valyrian steel weapons were prone to being killed before their men by White Walkers, breaking the morale of their forces. In the ensuing rout the undead would tear the fleeing survivors apart, breaking the strength of even the largest of fighting forces. The second was that although the undead were light troops - they were dead. The dead did not fear the arrow or the blade, and would willingly charge into the enemy until they or the enemy broke. More often than not, this suicidal charge would break the enemy, unless the enemy were able to locate advantageous terrain to funnel the dead.

Fresh from this victory, Blaz sent forth his mercenaries to drive the undead out of the North. This liberation was much welcomed by Meliana Karstark, who saw her people delivered from the brink of extinction. News of the undead armies collapsing and retreating brought cheers throughout the land, and thus King Blaz disbanded his armies and gave Lady Meliana Karstark independence as reward for her efforts despite all of her protests that the undead threat was not at all over, and that the Seven Kingdoms needed to strike together to deliver one last blow against the White Walkers. Blaz had other matters to attend to however, so after giving the Crannog swampmen independence, Blaz delved into the horrors of democracy.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
A grand council of all major Lords was assembled to elect the future leader after King Blaz died. Under primogeniture succession laws, the crown would pass to King Blaz's grandson through his firstborn son, which meant by default Prince Nikodim was heir apparent. There was nothing necessarily wrong with Nikodim, he was just very young and Blaz was very old. There was a risk that should Blaz die, Nikodim would be too young to inherit Spyrax and so Spyrax would fly away freely. Ultimately King Blaz favoured Prince Mislav Miroslav, his secondborn son. He inherited his father's good looks, was a skilled warrior at the age of 13, squired for his father and was just in judgement and gregarious by nature - perfect.
The ballots were cast by all the Lords still subjects of the Iron Throne, and after endorsing Prince Mislav, King Blaz expected everyone of his bannermen to follow suit.
The results were announced:
Prince Nikodim Miroslav, 4 votes.
Prince Mislav Miroslav, 5 votes!
Ser Barth Miroslav, 45 votes. King Blaz was furious, he had not realized people were allowed to vote against the King. King Blaz mused that democracy was truly a woeful machine, one unlikely to ever catch on. Ser Barth was a baron of the House of Miroslav, whose only notable features were his baldness, inability to offend and venerable age. Nevertheless, Blaz licked his wounds and considered that it could've gone worse. Ser Barth was after all a competent fighter, one who could realistically keep Spyrax from flying away and going feral. To console Prince Mislav from his deprived inheritance and to make use of such a valuable scion, King Blaz made Prince Mislav the Lord Paramount of the Vale. This matter thus painfully settled, Westeros returned to its usual schedule of noble nobles desperately trying to hold onto the old honourable world (which wasn't actually all that honourable) against an onslaught of pure Miroslav. Most notably the Lord Commander of the King's Guard, an old chap called Urlon, challenged Blaz Miroslav to a 'friendly' duel.

This was a bold provocation, sheer, total and utter disrespect for the King. The King's bodyguard, challenging the King to a duel?!
Granted, the King didn't really show much respect to the Kingdoms outside of the Vale and Crownlands either, but that still didn't change the fact that Urlon was insulting the King of the Andals and the First Men, the Rhoynar and the Serbs, dragon rider and fucker of white walkers and the most destructive force currently alive during the Long Night 2 Serbian boogaloo.

But Urlon did not merely hate Blaz for all the other reasons everyone else did, there's some more history involved. When the Miroslavs rose to power, it was not a bloodless coup. The Arryns had their lands taken, were exiled, their supporters killed and if they weren't exiled, they were sold to the Qohori as troop commanders or sent to be court eunuchs in the Celestial Palaces of Yiti... Or just set on fire. Mildly interesting is that the Arryn's seemed to have a genetic disposition to being handsome as fuck.
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Commander Hugh Arryn was famed for his handsomeness.
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And Commander Urlon Arryn was himself famed for his handsomeness. The Miroslavs had some notable handsome members in their family like Prince Mislav and King Blaz, but the Arryns had handsome folk everywhere. They would have made good stock for assimilation into the Miroslav family, but alas, they were Arryns, who despised the Miroslav family with an undying passion.

Commander Urlon Arryn was perhaps one who hated them the most. Urlon Arryn had been heir to the Lord Paramount of the Vale once, the Patriarch of the Arryn family, the power behind the throne of his incapable father. It was Urlon Arryn who lost the Battle of the Bloody Gate and got himself captured, it was Urlon Arryn whose defeat ended up forcing his father's surrender, it was Urlon Arryn whose failure destroyed the Arryn family. Much of the Arryn family was scatted throughout the Seven Kingdoms or disappeared in the East, ending up on slave markets in distant lands. Urlon Arryn and Hugh Arryn would remain, stalwart reminders of their family's claim. That is until the Seven Years war, when Hugh Arryn was captured and incinerated by King Blaz, thus leaving Urlon Arryn the last living Arryn claimant to the Vale. That was until he joined the Kingsguard of King Tyros Lannister, joining the Kingsguard, forsaking his claims, all to avenge his family and destroy the traitors who had undone everything his family built. King Blaz could respect that, and accepted the duel.
Blaz and Urlon were both old men, grey-haired in their fifties. Yet constant fighting and life on the Campaign had kept them fit, though Urlon was noticeably walking with a limp caused by a serious injury yet to fully heal, and had gained weight where Blaz had not. Despite his injury and age, Urlon remained one of the greatest swordsmen in Westeros, and had singular focus on ending Blaz. He was owed at least one chance to let the Arryn family die with pride.

Urlon used a two-handed greatsword, Blaz used Titan's spit, a Valyrian steel longsword. It was to be a "friendly duel," as the court watched, some knowing and others ignorant of what was to occur. Urlon raised his greatsword to strike Blaz, he was parried but the counter attack failed to connect, Urlon stepping out of reach. Blaz pursued his attack with vigour and Urlon skillfully replied with strikes of his own, these were the warriors who in their youth had dominated battlefields. Blaz raised his guard high and Urlon lunged forwards at Blaz's midsection with such speed as he hoped Blaz could not match; too late he realized Blaz was inviting such a lunge, sidestepping him, kicking his injured leg. Old wounds and old pains were reawakened as Blaz circled around Urlon, the dullest of courtiers at last realizing the enormity of this duel. Placing his weight on one good knee, Urlon was unable to keep up with Blaz for much longer.

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Blaz at last demolished Urlon's defence, driving his Valyrian steel sword through him with all his might, leaving him bleeding to death on the floor. He died of his wounds minutes later. The Court was left uneased and disquieted by this fight.
Around this time the independent North was crumbling to a renewed White Walker offensive. Pleasingly, due to the Westerlands having a county in the North, the entirety of the Westerlands was also subjected to damaging incursions by large bands of undead.
While the White Walkers had been defeated once, and were destroying King Blaz's enemies in accordance with his plan, King Blaz had a slight fear that the White Walkers could not be permanently stopped. The wars for dawn - where the Night's Watch called upon all of the southern Kings to set aside their political intrigues to unite for the good of all, failed. The Nights Watch's calls went unheeded by all except the Karstarks. The Night's Watch fell.
If the White Walkers could not be permanently defeated, then it would only be a matter of time before even the Vale and Crownlands fell, and all of the Seven Kingdoms (except perhaps the Ironborn) would be lost. Whether the White Walkers could cross the narrow sea or southern seas was another issue entirely. It was assumed they couldn't, but even so, there was one land in particular of extreme value.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
King Blaz turned his sights on the Summer Islands. The Summer Islands were separated by a large expanse of ocean between Westeros and the Summer Islands, meaning White Walkers would have a hell of a hard time getting there. In addition, it was the only place where (as the name suggested) it was always Summer. Elsewhere the world was consumed by bitter and unnatural Winter, a cold frost starving all and freezing the rest. If worst came to worse, it would be a vital refuge for the Miroslav family should everything fall to the dead.
Politically the Summer Islands were divided between numerous rulers, all scheming to ensure no Lord attained hegemony over all the islands. The balance of power was thoroughly broken with the announced arrival of the Iron Throne's invasion, with a Dragon King at its head.

Two of the Summer Islander Lords joined the Iron Throne, the rest resisted fiercely. The tribes, High Lordships, Princedoms (and even a Merchant Republic) set aside their differences to defend against their new mutual enemy, if not as allies, then at the least with a truce. Transporting troops from Westeros to the Summer Islands was a bit of a logistical nightmare, thus King Blaz sent some troops from the Vale to support the efforts of the two Summer Islander High Lords who had joined the Iron Throne, joining forces with their 5,000 man strong host. Landing on the northernmost island, island after island was conquered and seized, placed in the hands of more loyal Summer Islanders. It was believed that this would be a quick campaign, as with each conquest the number of Summer Islanders added to the army increased. Yet despite nominally conquering the Summer Islands, King Blaz discovered that the loyal Lords he was installing to rule the Islands on his behalf were being murdered, conquered and raided by the Summer Islanders who still resisted. Given that much of the Summer Islanders were capable of preserving their sizeable forces deep within jungles and mountain valleys, Summer Islanders who willingly joined the Iron Throne then faced the prospect of having their Lordship usurped from within or without by Summer Islanders hostile to the Iron Throne, always at the cost of their life. Eventually the troops lost to attrition and Summer Islander attacks on supporters warranted more troops from King's Landing being sent to reinforce the Campaign, as the "victory" over the islands was not translating into a unified and loyal feudal Kingdom.

Unexpectedly Ser Barth died, and days later, King Blaz died.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The dragon Spyrax flew into a rage at the death of his master, fleeing to Dragonstone.
This left Prince Nikodim as the heir to the Iron Throne at age 11: The old King is dead, Long live King Nikodim Miroslav.

Loud Whispers

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Re: The Miroslav Dynasty, Paradox Interactive AAR
« Reply #24 on: March 30, 2020, 10:57:43 am »

Chapter 11: Winter for Vale and Riverlands
What the fuck was that? - Zrk2, June 2015

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Everywhere across the Seven Kingdoms, ancient houses tumbled down into obscurity and abandonment. The Baratheons died with the last of their bastards and brothers, leaving the Stormlands open to inheritance by the second largest and oldest house there - House Swann. The Swanns wasted no time in legitimising their rule by declaring themselves the continuation of the ancient Storm Kings - successully waging a campaign against the Martells, ending that ancient House with the union of Dorne & Storm. The Martells had ruled Dorne since the landing of Nymeria - and as enduring as they had been, they were exterminated in a series of months.

In the Vale, the courtiers smelled weakness. Spyrax the dragon had flown away in rage, whilst the terrifying King Blaz lay dead and buried. For the first time ever, open rebellion unfolded.
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The rebels were led by Lady Aelinor of Dragonstone, who sought to break free from the Iron Throne's rule. Assuming weakness in the 11 year old King, Aelinor soon discovered that Nikodim was not lacking in marshals, generals and advisors - nor in heavy cavalry, nor the will to use them. Lord Paramount Mislav Miroslav of the Vale was with his nephew, as was King Adrian Miroslav of the Summer Islands. Family unity is as always, the ultimate currency in times of chaos. To let the rebels break free with dragonstone would be strategically intolerable, especially as dragonstone was a central hive for all escaped dragons. The rebellion didn't last long enough to truly be considered a civil war; King Nikodim stormed the rebel Fortresses in King's Landing, seizing Aelinor's family as hostages. King Blaz had been wise to keep his enemies close.

Having defeated the rebellion, Nikodim demanded that all of the remaining rebels surrender themselves and be imprisoned. They despised Nikodim largely as a legacy of King Blaz's reign, to let them continue to serve would just result in a rebellion again. King Nikodim's advisors mused it was better to have one rebellion now than later, during a white walker invasion. With internal stability issues resolved, King Nikodim turned his attention to the north. There was something very wrong with the state of the North.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It was full of dead people. Walking, murderous, dead people.

To my amazement Lady Meliana Karstark was still leading the defence of the North, though she herself was trapped in the Skaagosi Island and her only loyal supporters still alive were far south in the marshes.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The White Walker advance continued unopposed until they broke past the neck, unbottling the horrible hordes of undead into the Riverlands, Vale and Westerlands. When the White Walkers attacked the Vale, King Nikodim marched an army of 18,000 to the Neck to halt their advance and save the realms of men.

At Greywater Watch, King Nikodim's army set up their fortified camps, the bitter winter taking the lives of many before the first undead appeared over the horizon.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
22,000 undead crashed upon Nikodim's army like an ocean cresting the shore, but still the heavy infantry held the line and the gusars ran down the undead flanks, tearing apart the fragile hordes. Amidst the din and carnage the winter's howl grew unnaturally louder, and at the age of 17 King Nikodim slew his way through the undead to find himself alone.

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The cold chilled him more than anything else he could recall; colder than the Winters at the Eyrie, colder than the love of his parents, it was an unnatural freeze breeze. As soon as he had noticed this, the wind stopped, leaving him standing amidst an unusual silence.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The White Walker startled him with a vicious ambush, on reflex King Nikodim struck the enemy with his Valyrian steel, leaving the thing to die shrieking from the burn of this ancient magic. With its loud death the pell mell battle returned with all its vicious glory, as Nikodim rallied his men to shatter the leaderless rabble. To kill a White Walker at age 17 was no easy feat, but there was no time to celebrate as thousands of his men had still perished to the unnatural winter & the limitless hordes of the damned.
Time and time again the undead hosts crashed into the Serbian forces, unable to dislodge them from the narrow impasse of Greywater Watch where their overwhelming numbers counted for nothing. The battle was going well, the forces of the dead proving to be no equal of well-fed heavily armoured Serbs.

King Nikodim was fighting in the thick of the battle when he noticed a chaotic panic rise in the rear ranks of his legions. Something had gone terribly wrong.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Another undead host appeared from the south. They had already crossed the Neck, and had been summoned back to ambush the Serbian forces.
Now fighting the undead on all sides, the Serbian armies began to rout. King Nikodim however did not give up; he had his own tricks and reserves to reveal.

Dragons.

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Dragons in the plural.
A west-Valryan baroness called Lady Arianne tamed none other than Drogon, the largest of the three dragons hatched by Danaerys Stormborn Targaeryan. King Nikodim had retamed the Serbian-born Spyrax, who at this point was half the size of Drogon - still gargantuan, and still a dragon, nevertheless. The dragons lay waste to much of the undead hordes but, surrounded on two fronts, the Serbian army was trapped. Lady Arianne held the rear while King Blaz held the vanguard for as long as they could. Spyrax set fire to all of the White Walkers, but had to retreat when he was maimed by one of them. With the retreat of Spyrax, Drogon soon followed - Fighting bravely, all of the Serbian ground commanders & soldiers were killed in action by white walkers.

King Nikodim mustered up a new army, composed of some levies, Rh'ollor fanatics (those guys are honestly so useful it pleased me deeply) and 5,000 elite Gusars (notably, it took a whole generation to recover half of what was lost in the seven years war). While the White Walkers marched unopposed through the Riverlands, slaughtering the fisherfolk, making incursions into the Westerland frontier - a horde of 12,000 undead led by their white walker generals lay siege to northern mountain pass into the Vale. Spyrax did not recover from his maiming, leaving Nikodim grounded.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Over 15,000 Serbs and Myrmen shattered the undead host in the battle of Stonekyme, with only Lady Arianne and Drogon for fire support. Strike one horde down and another reappears - 10,000 more marched upon the Serbs and they were killed too in the battle of Potterby.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Fighting with growing confidence in their abilities, the Iron Throne's commanders were nevertheless disturbed how each victory placed no meaningful dent in the Wintery Hell. Every time they annihilated one horde, another would immediately appear. At this rate there would be no survival possible, the Iron Throne simply wouldn't be able to endure its victories more than the White Walkers could their defeats.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Death had arrived. True to their worst predictions, a host of 40,000 undead crashed upon the Serbian host, routing it. Fewer than half escaped alive and planned to use the Iron Fleet to bid a hasty retreat.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
As long as they could reach the ports before the undead besieged it, everyone could be extracted and reunite with reinforcements. However, the rout took time, and pursued by 35,000 undead - they had no means of stopping a second host of 27,000 undead from securing the port.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Once more the entire sum total of the army was annihilated in a brief battle, bathed in immolating fire and biting frost. This devastating defeat caused King Nikodim to descend to greater depths of desperation. He had troops and gold in reserve, but it was all being wasted against the limitless dead. He needed a dragon.
« Last Edit: March 30, 2020, 11:04:07 am by Loud Whispers »
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EuchreJack

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Re: The Miroslav Dynasty, Paradox Interactive AAR
« Reply #25 on: March 30, 2020, 06:31:31 pm »

Wow, that is depressing.  Building to a heroic climax hopefully?

Loud Whispers

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Re: The Miroslav Dynasty, Paradox Interactive AAR
« Reply #26 on: April 03, 2020, 12:37:49 pm »

Chapter 12: Everything changed when the Aztecs attacked
"No. Fucking Words. [...] This is where you've sunk to. You are the bad guy. [...]
When you play the game of thrones, you win, or the serbians come." - Dorsidorf, Jun 18 2015


There was one dragon roosting nearby, Anogaron, the son of Spyrax. A fairly young dragon, not too large, Nikodim approached it with caution and respect.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Though the dragon wasn't much larger than a donkey, it was still capable of causing a great deal of damage to an equally young King. Perhaps he made a mistep, or perhaps Anogaron was too immature, because the startled Anogaron belched a stream of dragonfire at King Nikodim, nearly killing him outright. Anogaron flew away in panic whilst Nikidom retreated, attended to by his court doctor.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Nikodim wold recover, but the situation was growing direr by the moment. With every day the undead advanced deeper into the vale, whilst the Riverlanders and Westerlanders were also losing their wars for survival.

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With half of the Vale occupied, King Nikodim had one last chance. He took 2,700 men with him to Claw Isle, where the other two dragons descended from Danaerys resided. Their names were Viserion and Rhaegal. They were in their eighties, and were fucking massive. If Nikodim failed here, he would die, the Vale would be lost and the plan was for his regent to fuck off ignominiously & expediently to Dragonstone and the Summer Islands with what remained of the surviving Miroslav clan.

With some trepidation, the dragons and Nikodim waited. Observing one another. The winter winds made the only noise as the King and the dragons judged one another on Claw Isle. Viserion was the first to move, the mad white drake who had gained lingering insanity over the years. Nikodim did not flinch as Viserion towered over him with its mad and imposing size - and then sat by him. They sat together, the dragon and the King, until only the two remained. Rhaegal departed, and Viserion accepted Nikodim.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Grabbing Viserion by the horns, Nikodim clambered aboard this living engine of war and rallied his hosts with renewed zealous fury. A new host was raised from King's Landing and the High Lords of Rosby & Dragonstone, led by Lady Arianne and King Nikodim. Between them both they commanded Drogon the Black, the largest dragon in the world and a terrible foe to face - and Viserion the Mad, a white dragon who fought with lunatic abandon.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Their host sailed with haste to the Vale, where Mislav Miroslav was holding out against the White Walkers in the siege of Newkeep.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The battle of Wickby would commence, with the two great dragons razing the undead to the ground like wheat before a forest fire. Fewer and fewer White Walkers dared to face the dragons, and what ones which did face Drogon & Viserion were noticeably more incompetent at directing the undead hordes.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The horde was halved, but this was still not entirely enough. The army split into two, one led by Arianne holding the mountain pass while the other liberated the occupied lands and tried to find survivors. King Nikodim led this army, searching for his uncle. When his forces broke through the siege of Newkeep, Nikodim was heartbroken - his uncle had already since died in the defence of the Vale.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Yet more undead, of larger mass and quantity appeared, leaving no time to mourn. This prompted a tactical withdrawal from the Serbians, who waited for the white walkers to split into two hordes - one going down into the Riverlands to harry the Ryswells, the other fighting for the Vale.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
This Valeward host was destroyed, and the Miroslavs captured another white walker. This one was experimented on, with King Nikodim doing everything he could to ruin the White Walker's health to actually try and test the limits of White Walker durability. Torture, throwing them in oubliette, depriving them of food and water did very little in the way of killing them. It seemed only dragonfire and valyrian steel had much of an effect on them. King Nikodim concluded they were functionally immortal, in need of no food, drink or warmth - the ultimate campaign soldiers.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The next hordes forced their way through the depleted Crownlander forces, pushing back a furious and inconsolable Nikodim.

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This paved the way for tens of thousands more undead. King Nikodim mobilized everything he had left; every last levy, militia, zealot, gusar, Knight and slave-soldier he could find. The entirety of his spirit was honed to the eradication of Winter, and Viserion resonated his rider's maniacal fury.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The first step of Nikodim's plan was to have 15,000 Summer Islanders land above the Neck, cutting off undead reinforcements from reaching the south. The southern contingents meanwhile used this time to scour the land of undead, even marching into the Riverlands to liberate the beleaguered Ryswell's and their subjects so that all Westerosi coudl better defend themselves from the dread dead legions.

At last repulsed from the Vale, the White Walkers redoubled their efforts on annihilating the Riverlands and the Westerlands. In the North, Meliana Karstark was on her last legs, and would not survive for much longer.
Using this brief respite to reconsolidate his forces and prepare for a Northward campaign, King Nikodim marshaled his elite forces for a new war for the dawn. He had to save the realms of men or this realm would be lost to the undead.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Everything changed when the Aztecs attacked.

Wow, that is depressing.  Building to a heroic climax hopefully?
...Not...Quite...

EuchreJack

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Re: The Miroslav Dynasty, Paradox Interactive AAR
« Reply #27 on: April 06, 2020, 10:07:48 pm »

So now we swear oaths of vassalage with the Aztecs, and let them deal with the zombies.  If only I didn't know how useless lieges were in protecting me in Crusader Kings...

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Re: The Miroslav Dynasty, Paradox Interactive AAR
« Reply #28 on: May 07, 2020, 08:01:27 am »



Great read! Did you just pick this up after two years' hiatus?
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Loud Whispers

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Re: The Miroslav Dynasty, Paradox Interactive AAR
« Reply #29 on: May 10, 2020, 05:25:04 pm »

Great read! Did you just pick this up after two years' hiatus?
Yep! Though this is a rewrite of what I did even more years ago. I don't have a lot of free time most of the time, so I do what I can when I can
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