This article covers the current situation in King’s Landing, and is intended to give players an idea of what the roleplay there might be like.

The Young Dragon is dead. The war is lost, and Dorne has slipped from the grasp of the Iron Throne. Many famous names fought against the rebel Dornishmen, and some have fallen in it. More than that, lords, knights, less famous men, have died in their hundreds, in their thousands. They say Daeron II spent 10,000 lives to conquer Dorne, but the sands have soaked up the blood of more than 30,000 in the four years of the long defeat.

Baelor set out to make peace, leading the hostages back to Dorne, and peace seemed to be made: he agreed to betroth his young cousin Prince Daeron to Prince Marence’s daughter, and certain other agreements were made. But a belligerent Dornish lord, Lord Wyl, did not support it. Given Prince Aemon the Dragonknight as a prisoner by Prince Marence, rather than treating him honorably, he placed him in a cage exposed to the elements, and set it above a pit of vipers. When King Baelor came to the Boneway, Wyl refused to see the Dragonknight removed from the cage, and left Baelor to take care of it all alone. The pious young king trusted in his faith, and walked barefoot into the pit. He was bitten half a dozen times, but he freed his cousin, who carried him to safety. Despite the venom, Baelor lived, though it was a near thing and months later he still recovers at Storm’s End.

In this time, Prince Viserys has sat the throne as Hand of the King, ruling in Baelor’s stead, and ruling well. But troubles loom, from feuding lords in the Reach and Crackclaw Point to notorious reavers of the Iron Islands breaking a pact with Highgarden and having resumed raiding and piracy along the coast. Pirates have become more of an issue, as well, straying up from the Stepstones to disrupt trade, while there are outlaws in the kingswood who are attempting to take up the mantle of the Starveling. The times are uneasy, as the court awaits the king’s return, and some see a time when shows of piety may raise one up higher than shows of skill or prowess or wisdom.