Blood of Dragons

In the days following the marriage of Prince Daeron Targaryen to Princess Mariah Nymeros Martell, King Baelor and Prince Maron, both, have busied themselves with matters that have interested them. Between audiences, councils, sermons, and entertainments, both men have been busy. King Baelor, a septon in his own right, was greatly moved by sermons made by Sunspear's septons preaching reconciliation and forgiveness on the anniversary of the Submission of Sunspear. So much so, in fact, that he personally carried out acts of reconciliation, meeting privily with Ser Mavros Uller and Prince Rhodry…

The realms rejoiced at the marriage of Prince Daeron to Princess Mariah, as King Baelor officiated and administered the vows. After the melee born in violence, tensions had eased somewhat, and while still there were incidents of old feuds and old blood causing fresh troubles, none of them were serious enough to cause lasting turmoil. Instead, the court and the shadow city were consumed with the entertainments prepared by Prince Maron in the days leading to the marriage, from a horse race won by the bastard daughter of Ser Mavros Uller to a pageant featuring fantastical scenes of ancient heroes…

With the wedding of Princess Mariah to Prince Daeron fast approaching, there have been incidents that have raised concerns whether the guests that accompanied the northern wedding party would be able to survive their visit to Sunspear. Tense meetings, a few beatings, and even a suspect death or two have made the lords and knights in King Baelor's company all the sharper with their Dornish hosts. And the Dornish hosts have wondered much the same. A particularly dangerous incident in the practice yards of the Old Palace, involving Princess Mariah's uncle Rhodry Nymeros Martell, brought matters…

It had not even needed the landing at the Planky Town for the royal wedding party to learn that there was a new Prince of Dorne: a Lysene ship on its way back to its home port shared the news as it passed, and there was much wonder and surprise. King Baelor led the day's prayers with a benediction for young Prince Maron, and for his ailing father Prince Marence, as Viserys and others of his councillors quietly convened to discuss the matter. The next day, the fleet under Lord Velaryon's command arrived at Planky Town, bearing peace when once his ships had brought war. Disgorging the royal…

Near a fortnight since the royal fleet set sail from King's Landing with the most precious of cargoes: princes and a king, to make a marriage to bring lasting peace to the Seven Kingdoms and Dorne. The journey, in the wake of he High Septon's death, has been marked by the septon-king Baelor leading daily services aboard the royal ship in honor of the Voice of the Seven on Earth's passing. The winds and seas have been kind, and the fleet has journeyed far as it passed the easternmost point of Cape Wrath. In King's Landing, the Most Devout mourn the High Septon, to be sure... but they are also…

The High Septon, Father of the Faithful and the Voice of the Seven on Earth, has been called to sit at the Father's right hand in the golden hall which is his abode among the heavens. Knowing the end was coming, he had made peace with his time being done and instead spent his last hours with the king. Baelor prayed over him and gave him a benediction through tears, and swore he would do as the High Septon asked of him. The old High Septon, his spirit strong though his body was failing, extracted three promises from the king. The first was the simplest: Ser Peron the Pious was called so that he…

The marriage of Prince Rhodry Nymeros Martell to Tanyth Toland, a bare month before the more notable marriage of his niece Princess Mariah to Prince Daeron Targaryen, was a surprise to many. The announcement of the betrothal had been surprise enough, but the saga of it -- with the prince's disappearance across the narrow sea, only to return with not one but two women in his company -- made many doubt the two would ever swear the holy vows. And indeed, while the Braavosi woman he brought back with him has been most in the company of the orphans of the Greenblood due to the promise of a good…

The High Septon is on his death bed. Maesters have been sent to his side, even the Grand Maester at the request of King Baelor, and all agree that age and the ailments that come with them have taken their toll; the Seven are calling one of their own home at last, to sit among the just in the Father's golden halls with all those who have come before. The Most Devout have gathered, and prayers from septas, poor brothers, and more can be heard in septs throughout the city. Baelor himself has taken to spending much of his days and nights at the High Septon's side, reading to him from the…

The first reports to come to Sunspear was a swift raven dispatched from the Planky Town, of fishermen reporting the sighting of three galleys bearing the sword-and-falling-star of the Daynes... and above them, the sun-and-spear of Dorne. The ships approached from the west, coming to the end of their journey from Starfall. The castellan of the citadel at the Planky Town had already had an honor guard from the Old Palace garrisoned and ready to ask as escort, while the orphans of the Greenblood flocked with their poleboats about the quays where the Prince of Dorne, Marence Nymeros Martell, would…

The realm has known peace -- only some trouble on the Stepstones, put to an end by Lord Velaryon and Dornish allies, was of any real note -- in the last year, and some see this as a sign of the divine influence of the Seven smiling down on the reign of pious King Baelor. There are those smallfolk who have taken to calling him Baelor the Blessed, for the winter had been mild south of the Neck and few have suffered hunger from it. Singers tell of the king's miracles, and of the greatness of the sept rising on Visenya's Hill to glorify the gods. If they forget to tell overmuch of Baelor's more…

With Princess Daena safely under lock-and-key in the Maidenvault once more, King Baelor's most urgent prayers were answered... but as he kept to the sept, to pray at all hours for his sister's safe return, the rest of the court was not still in its labors. The small council met more than once, the Hand speaking for his nephew the king, as decisions great and small were made. Word filtered through the court that one topic the small council has turned its hand to ever since Princess Daena's recovery is the naming of a seventh White Sword after years of only six Kingsguard knights. Baelor, some…

Princess Daena has been found (some might say that stating she was captured would be more honestly put) in Duskendale after having escaped the Maidenvault, and thence the royal city. Word from Duskendale -- where a royal galley was already waiting to bring her back if she happened to go to the seat of House Darklyn in search of a ship to take her away from those who pursused her -- was bare regarding the details save to say that she was unharmed and would be placed on said galley forthwith with an added escort of Darklyn knights as well as the Kingsguard knight and his company of men-at-arms…

The royal fleet under command of Lord Alyn Velaryon has returned, and received a welcome befitting heroes following their victory -- alongside Dornish allies, admittedly -- against the Free City of Pentos on the Stepstones. The city waited ever since word reached King's Landing that they had won their victory, and even more so when word came from Sunspear that Oakenfist and his ships had weighed anchor and begun the long journey back from Dorne to the city. The king himself was there to await his cousin and the captains, lords, and knights of his fleet. Embracing, the septon-king then spoke a…

In Sunspear, the victorious commanders of the combined fleet and army which saw victory on the Stepstones were feted at the command of the Lord Protector of Dorne. Lord Velaryon, Prince Rhodry, and more attended the feast in the Sandship... but it must be said the crowd was thin, with the hall only half-filled. Ser Quinlan Qorgyle, the Lord Protector, carried on as if the feast was was packed to the rafters, and spent much time conversion with Oakenfist. The news from the Stepstones was largely to the good: though there were some lamentable losses, Pentos had ceded its control of the…

The ruse to draw out the Unsullied was a success, as the bulk of the Dornish force -- strengthened by heavy horse under the command of Ser Sarmion Baratheon, the Stormbreaker -- drove into Bloodstone to threaten a fortress and the Pentoshi sellswords and slave-soldiers moved into pursuit. Little did the magisters of Pentos know, however, that this was an elaborate trap. The outriders ahead of the Pentoshi column sent no word of trouble... but they were sellswords, and their company had been suborned with chests of coin by Ser Laurent Dalt, the Keeper of the Sandship. When the column passed…