The Dragon and the Direwolf; A CK3; AGOT After Action Report

[Celtic Emporer]

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Preface:
Welcome all! I'm Velvet, and I'll be your narrator for this new After Action Report. This AAR started as me posting images in the CK3 AGOT Discord and, soon after the death of my first character died, I got a wild hair up my bum, so now I want to share it with y'all. I hope you all enjoy my narration of:

The Dragon and the Direwolf
CK3; AGOT Playthrough AAR​

Book One; Defiance and Death

Rhaegar I​

The beginning of the reign of Rhaegar, First of His Name, is a story marked with tragedy. In 277, after many years of tense peace under Aerys II Targaryen, a conflict over the taxation of trade imposed by Hand of the King Tywin Lannister led to the capture of the King by Denys Darklyn, the Lord of Duskendale. Swearing to kill the King, should any attempt to be made to punish him for his crimes, Denys Darklyn demanded a new charter for the taxation of Duskendale. With the King in chains, administration of the realm and negotiations with the rebelling lord fell to the Hand, Lord Tywin Lannister of Casterly Rock. Tywin, known for his brutal destruction of the Reynes and Tarbecks, had no intention of negotiating with the rebel Lord and his co-conspirators, however, and raised the banners to cut them from their castle for good and all.

Joining their forces, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen of Dragonstone rode to the siege camps at Duskendale alongside Ser Barristan, "the Bold," of the Kingsguard. There, Barristan laid out a plan to infiltrate the Dun Fort alone and free the King. Rhaegar, however, refused to grant his assent, as he felt such folly would certainly kill both Barristan and the King. Instead, he argued to call Lord Darklyn's bluff, continuing the siege of the fortress and demanding Denys' surrender.


The Prince's plan, however, turned out to be a failure. Seeing no recourse to escape punishment, Lord Darklyn cut King Aerys' throat, and attempted to escape the Dun Fort disguised as an

elderly woman. He was captured in the attempt, however, and taken to the Prince. There, he spat in the Prince's face, bragging about the death of his Grace the King, and raving about how Tywin had corrupted the realm. Overcome with rage and sorrow, now-King Rhaegar decided to consign Lord Darklyn to death, as well as all his co-conspirators, and every adult man in his house. On the Fourth Moon of the Two-Hundred-Seventy-Seventh year since Aegon's Conquest, Lord Denys Darklyn's head would be struck off by the King's Justice in front of the Great Sept of Baelor.

Beyond the realm of rank tragedy, however, Rhaegar still understood the needs of the realm. As one of his first acts, carried out even before he was to be crowned, the new King proclaimed that a branch of House Darklyn,

House Darke, would take the Darklyn's place as Lords of Duskendale and the Dun Fort, with all it's subjects, incomes, and titles. Furthermore, after rejecting a marriage proposal from the Lord Hand, the King sent a raven to Winterfell. Carried by this raven, was a letter to Rickon Stark. He commanded the Lord of Winterfell to join the Lords of Westeros in attending the coronation of Rhaegar, First of His Name. In return, Rhaegar would grant a boone to the Lord Paramount of the North; a marriage pact with House Targaryen.

Rhaegar would be crowned on Visenya's Hill, of course, by the High Septon. Placing the crown on his brow, the

High Septon proclaimed him Rhaegar, First of His Name, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm. This day would officially mark the beginning of the longest and most prosperous reign in the history of the Seven Kingdoms, the rebirth of the first dragons in over a century, and the restoration of House Targaryen to it's former glory in the form of numbers, wealth, and power.