The Century of Blood, the IV ASOIAF game Sign-Up Topic and Rules thread

[leonardothered]

THE CENTURY OF BLOOD

Valyria's flame has burned out and its nine daughters have quarreled for the better part of the last century. Its first, Volantis has established a hegemony(termed the Empire of New Valyria) over several of the free cities, directly controlling Myr and Lys and growing fingers of influence all across Essos. They are led by their triarchs, Nyessos Qoherys, Horonno Maegyr, and Doniphos Paenymion, all of whom are "Tigers", though there is support for the "Elephants" ideas of power consolidation now that Volantene borders have grown so broad.

In Westeros, Argilac Durrandon, the Storm King, has recently killed the King of the Reach Garse Gardener, firmly ending the war between him and the Greenhand's descendants. Having thrown off a Dornish invasion twenty years previous, headed by Meriah Martell who is now growing into an old woman at age 70(called the Yellow Toad by her detractors), he is one of the shrewdest and most able kings in the realm, though the power of Harren the Black constantly threatens his rule. If not for the immense castle Harren is currently constructing, he would be one of the next likliest conquests, who currently holds the Riverlands firmly in his grasp and rules from Seagard to Rosby and Duskendale.

In the Reach King Mern is seeing to the wounds of his country, while Loren Lannister remains a firm bulwark against Ironborn expansion into the West. Torrhen Stark has braved another winter but already it rears its ugly head once more. He has managed to keep the North out of recent wars and thusly is one of the strongest kings in Westeros. In the Vale the King is a babe in arms, thusly his mother Sharra Arryn rules after the recent death of her husband, a young and beautiful woman of rare foresight and charm, preferring diplomacy over the warlike predations of the other kingdoms.

Aegon Targaryen, a young man at the age of 17 lords over the isle of Dragonstone, the seat of the last dragonlords remaining in the world. His forebears were made offers to rule in Volantis as emperors of New Valyria but refused, instead preferring isolation and reigning over their small island domains. As the last true scions of Old Valyria, they are the heirs to its legacy-if they have the will to claim it...

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Set ten years before what would have been Aegon's Conquest, the world is in a turbulent time with many kings ruling in Westeros and both it and Essos in a near constant state of war. The stage has been set, and thusly we introduce our players:

The Empire of New Valyria, led by the Tiger Triarchs of Volantis: Dereich
Argilac Durrandon, the Storm King: Garlan Gunter
Torrhen Stark, the King of Winter: Governor Blair
Mern Gardener, King of the Reach: Swedge
Loren Lannister, King of the Westerlands: Lumine
Meria Martell, Princess of Dorne
Harren the Black, King of the Iron Islands: Enduro
Aegon Targaryen, Lord of Dragonstone: Weyfield
Sharra Arryn, Queen Regent of the Vale: Elmo


(Still working on a better map)

There are other possible players such as Ghiscari slave cities, any of the other free cities(except for Myr and Lys at start), House Tully (and other strong lesser houses such as Hightower or lords of crackclaw point), along with numerous others but these seemed a good starting point.

We will have to do some doctoring in regards to houses as there are sparse details about exact family trees, which is part of why I picked this era since it gives a degree of freedom. We don't know much of anything about Torrhen Stark's sons or his daughter for example, only his brother Brandon Snow. The Gardeners are decently documented as are the Lannisters, though there will doubtless be a large number of Lannisters rolling around at this point.

[leonardothered]

A broad overview of military potential and state of armies at the start of the game. Because of the constant warring, all powers have at least a decent sized standing army, with some truly large such as Volantis. All Westerosi powers will grow levy potential from remaining at peace for a duration

EMPIRE OF NEW VALYRIA
60,000 slave soldiers with a capacity to introduce 50,000 more at need
10,000 Sellswords broken amongst three companies
4,000 men of the noble guard in the black walls of Old Volantis
8,000 Myrish Conscripts
6,000 Lysene Conscripts
750 warships of varying sizes
1000 trade ships

THE STORMLANDS
34,000 to be levied
2,000 Royal guard

THE REACH
28,000 to be levied(this number will grow as the game goes on and the Reach recovers from war)
1,800 Oldtown City Watch
2,500 Royal guard
100 War Galleys
400 Trade ships

THE ROCK
34,000 to be levied
1500 Lannisport City Watch
2,000 Royal Guard
50 War Galleys

THE VALE
32,000 to be levied
1000 Gulltown City Watch
1,800 Royal Guard
25 War Galleys

DORNE
20,000 to be levied
400 Plankytown watchmen
1400 Royal Guard

THE IRON ISLES
50,000 to be levied(18,000 from the Isles, 32,000 from the Riverlands and Crownlands holdings)
10,000 work slaves
3,000 Royal Guard
200 War Galleys
500 Longships

THE NORTH
38,000 to be levied
800 White Harbor city watch
2,500 Royal Guard
50 merchant ships galleys

DRAGONSTONE
1600 men to be levied(800 from Dragonstone, 400 from Driftmark, 200 from Claw Isle)
150 Noble Guard
40 War Galleys

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Baseline numbers, may be adjusted before game start.

[leonardothered]

Reserved

[leonardothered]

As a final note, Volantis and Aegon are a bit more touchy in regards to newer players. We need experienced people in these roles, so veterans of multiple games is what we're looking for at first.

[leonardothered]

Players added and also made a few changes in army sizes after consulting with a few folks over at westeros.org

[leonardothered]

The dragons are a huge advantage, can they be a bit deported for this game?

The Aegon we see during this game is inexperienced and a deal younger than the conqueror who forged the Iron Throne. You also have to remember that he lost a dragon during the conquest and was nearly killed a few times and never actually conquered Dorne; one of the reasons we chose this time period was so Aegon wouldn't be so hands in the air awesome, so I wouldn't worry too much. However like every iteration of this game, people are going to die by the bunches so be ready for that. I am making assassinations pretty difficult this go around, and they'll require more planning and such if you want them to be successful.

I'd actually say of all the commanders in this era, Argilac and Harren are probably the most experienced and I'd personally be much more afraid facing them on the battlefield. Torrhen Stark and Loren Lannister are probably up there as well

[leonardothered]

A proposal for a map:

Sweeet, added

[leonardothered]

This is difficult....it'd be good to have a Free City player, but its hard to see how Volantis will have on the Seven Kingdoms for a long time....I think it'd basically be like someone playing Dany while she's in Slaver's Bay.

So for the time being I think I'll go for House Gardener and the Reach. If we get, say, another Free Cities player or an Aegon I may switch over.

We have an Aegon

Volantis is the big power house early on. Part of the fun will be seeing the decisions they make and they'll dictate the first part of the game I reckon

[leonardothered]

Assume that's a no to the Night's Watch then! Bit of a shame, I thought they could be an interesting underdog with scheming potential, but I do like the Arrogant One and am v happy with him (or pretty Sharra)...

PS Is the map showing up invisible to everyone else?

Well I want to try and full up the main positions first, then we can think about secondary factions. Historically the brother's of the night's watch have been pretty good about not interfering with the realm

Also Dereich needs to make a decision still but he claimed House Gardener firsf

[leonardothered]

Hopefully we get someone for Dorne by tomorrow night, but as of now I'm setting time aside for that. Soooooon

[leonardothered]

No one wants to be the Yellow Toad! How shallow we all are...

I think it has more to do With age than anything

[leonardothered]

Just got home from work, starting work on the first turn. It's a busy week for me but hopefully I have it up by Friday night

[leonardothered]

Currently neck deep in family trees with no end in sight lol...

I'll have to roll for most vassal houses once the occasion comes up, it'd be impossible to try and generate 20 different vassal houses.

[leonardothered]

VOLANTIS

Horonno Maegyr(51): 1 son and 3 daughters, also a sister
Horonno has been elected triarch 20 times running, and much of Volantis’ recent conquest can be attributed to him. He is an affable man but also quick to take offense and his temper can be fierce to behold; he is the best military mind among the tigers. 1st triarch, he is recently widowed

Nyessos Vhassar(29): 3 sons and 2 brothers
Quiet by nature, a man gifted with numbers and the richest of the tigers as he is a primary purveyor of slave soldiers. 2nd triarch

Doniphos Paenymion(34): 4 sons and 2 daughters
A loyal man, but not particularly strong willed. He tends to follow the lead of Horonno, and is a skilled orator. 3rd triarch

Vaeron Velon(36): 2 sons and 3 daughters
Vaeron would be quite rich if not for his deep investments into spies, assassins, and the criminal underworld. Poor in gold but rich in knowledge

STARK

Torrhen Stark(33), married to Lyarra Stark(31)
Jojen Stark (16)
Brandon Stark(14)
Brandon Snow(27)

DURRANDON

Argilac Durrandon(47), widowed
Argella Durrandon(26)

ARRYN

Sharra Arryn(27), widowed
Ronnel Arryn(2)
Jonos Arryn(1)

GARDENER

Mern Gardener(37), married to Elise Hightower(34)
Edmund Gardener(20), married to Melessa Redwyne(17)
-Garth Gardener(2), Edmund’s son
Gawen Gardener(17)

LANNISTER

Loren Lannister(24), married to Sheira Crakehall(21)
Tyrion Lannister(21), brother
Joy Lannister(26), sister
Tommen Lannister(2), son


HOARE

Harren the Black(58), widowed
Harwyn Hoare(29), widowed
Halleck Hoare(27), married to Asha Farwynd(24)
-Aeron Hoare(6)
Hable Hoare(23)
Heerow Hoare(19)

TARGARYEN

Aegon Targaryen(17)
Visenya Targaryen(19)
Rhaenys Targaryen(15)

===

Some more work to do, but this is what I have so far.

[leonardothered]

Argella Durrandon should be younger I reckon and maybe 2-3 years off of Argilac, but Harren should be pretty close. Argilac won the war as a boy and 20 years later beheaded the king of the Reach, but there's nothing to suggest that happened in the last decade. Part of the reason the Reach's numbers are low atm is that something must have weakened them to the point that Argilac felt his lands were secure enough to cross the narrow sea with a host and go to war against Volantis. My thinking is there is probably more civil war in the Reach than any other kingdom of this period. Him and Harren are both described as older in the world book and the timeline makes sense

Harren likely spent the first few years of his kingship reaving and fighting some small wars before embarking on his ambitious project, or like Dereich said may not have inherited the throne all that young

[leonardothered]

Excellent, all the Kings are in place!

No objections on the Lannisters on my behalf, but I was curious, Leonardo, did you get Joy Lannister and Shiera Crakehall from the Crusader Kings 2 Mod? (Also, a minor doubt, why is Joy so old and yet unmarried?)

Actually I made up shiera crakehall i thought but it may be a subconscious nab haha.
I generated some of the people like that using dice so I mostly just used ck2 to help with names and didn't want to push two players together in alliance from the start

[leonardothered]

I have a wedding tomorrow night and I'm seeing Paul McCartney saturday, so im looking to get things done Friday or saturday

And same, very much looking forward to how things go down

[leonardothered]

Well my nephew is now in town. All in all not a good weekend for getting first turn ready. Going to try and get some more details ready so people can begin planning their first moves

[leonardothered]

Never mind, expect the turn tonight. I am over halfway done!

The army update will need to wait but this will get things started and give you guys something to chew on

[leonardothered]

Whew

Please don't post in the main thread, use this one for discussion and such as we have done before, it's good to get the ball rolling finally

If anyone has questions or possible corrections, let me know!

[leonardothered]

Excellent!

Two questions:

Turns will begin on a six month period (Early/Late), right? (if so, I fully agree with that)

I'd like to begin writing a POV on Casterly Rock to introduce Loren, would it be okay for me to invent the names (and some personalities) of some Lannister vassals and the Casterly Rock household?

By all means, give it a whirl

[leonardothered]

Updated with armies and dispositions

Shoot a message if you have any questions, and remember to include me in your messages

The turn will likely end Friday night at some point depending on what my schedule looks like. I'm going for weekly updates as the weekends are when I'm free, is that alright with everyone?

[leonardothered]

That was my thinking as well. During wartime the mid turn update will be more extensive, or we can switch to 4)3 month turns. Id like to see Harrenhal completed at one point

[leonardothered]

And on that note, mid turn will come to a close on Wednesday. Any pressing updates that would have occurred during the first 3 months will be there, though I imagine those will be few and far in between.

[leonardothered]

I suggest people get turn orders in as soon as possible, honestly. It will help with the flow and so I can get things ready faster; ideally I can end the new turn/midturn and begin the next immediately instead of having a big space between the two

Obviously life intervenes and we can always change schedule if need be or go late, but I'm trying to give consistency aal degree of expectation

Changes to a turn are much easier than having to break it down piece by piece