House Among Chaotic Kingdoms

Votes for this Turn:

A1 - Joffrey - 4

A2 - Hunt - 0

A3 - Study - 2

A4 - Robert - 3

A5 - Theatre - 36

S1 - Wikipedia - 0

S2 - Steam - 32

S3 - Paradox - 8

S4 - World - 5

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Rolls for this Turn:

Personal: Steam Games

Thanks to Yakuza Kiwami (Legacy), Joffrey Baratheon has gained the memories and skills of Kazuma Kiryu.

I’m genuinely not sure if this will make his life better or not, but if nothing else, he just had his one combat weakness, his middling CQC shored up.

If anything, he might be better at CQC than swordsmanship now.

Basically, he’s even more fantastic at combat and has the memories of a master criminal to rely on when he needs them, along with the constant presence of his personal shrink.

Is he more or less sane from this, do you figure?

(Also, to those who don't like how much goes to Joffrey, that was mostly when he was our first major enemy for our faction (the North) to overcome for this quest

This roll actually went to him because he’s our friend and Arya’s betrothed, so he was on the “Allies” list.

From now on, he won't receive any more inconvenient rolls unless/until the plot makes him an enemy again.)

World: Terraria

Thanks to the Eye of Cthulhu, Eyes of Cthulhu will begin spawning occasionally in Essos, with one of the first to spawn being killed by Daenerys Targaryen and her birds, most prominently her Rowlet.

This causes both the Sealord’s gratitude to fall upon House Targaryen, and for her Rowlet to rapidly grow into a Dartrix over the course of this turn.

(So it evolved over the course of a month, thanks to lots of experience, rather than the years that our Poochyena took to become a Mightyena.)

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Story:

By the time the play was finally put together, one thing had become impossible to miss.

Rob and Domeric had become a genuine pair at this point, not in the way that you and Jon fit together by long habit and a hundred shared lessons, but in the way of men who’d found that they each made the other better at something they already loved.

Rob had always had the bigger presence, the easier grin, and the sort of easy confidence that made people look his way without thinking about it, while Domeric brought polish, patience, and a musician’s sense for when to step forward and when to let somebody else have the breath of the room.

Set next to each other, they worked better than either had any right to.

That was part of why Joffrey’s choice surprised everybody so much.

Because he was the highest-ranked person involved, and because the whole play was about one of the old storm kings of his own blood besides, everybody had plainly gone into the thing expecting that he’d take the lead for himself and let the rest of you arrange yourselves around him as best you could.

Instead, with that quiet good humor of his, he’d offered Rob the protagonist’s place as if it had never occurred to him to do anything else, then taken up the role of the tragic villain with a seriousness that made people stop and blink at him for a moment.

As though that weren’t enough, he’d also spent a respectable chunk of his own allowance on better cloth, better paint, better props, and a few pieces of set dressing that made the whole thing look far finer than any play in Winterfell had any business looking.

By the end of that conversation, gratitude toward Joffrey had spread through the little acting troop so fast it might as well have been a summer fire through dry grass.

Rob had clapped him on the shoulder hard enough to make Sansa wince from across the room.

Domeric had thanked him with the easy courtesy that seemed to come naturally to him.

Even you, who’d only been angling for a decent little part and a chance to stay included, had found yourself looking at the prince with fresh appreciation.

It was one thing to be talented, noble, and good at swordplay.

It was another thing entirely to be magnanimous about it.

The play itself was an old Stormlands tale, though a much dramatized one, the sort of story that had likely started as some half-remembered struggle between rival Durandons and then swollen into legend after enough singers, mummers, and proud old lords had each added something to it.

In this version, the old Storm King had died in his bed with age at last catching him, leaving behind a child heir too young to rule and a kingdom suddenly forced to choose between blood, law, and survival.

Joffrey played the dead king’s younger son, a prince named Orren Stormheart in the play, who stepped forward as regent when the marches grew restless, pirates gathered along the coasts, and half the stormlords began demanding a strong hand before the realm broke itself apart.

Rob, meanwhile, played the young king once he’d grown old enough to take up his crown for himself, full of honor, full of earnest conviction, and increasingly haunted by the sense that the uncle who’d saved his kingdom might never willingly give it back.

It was tragic from the beginning, which was part of what made it good.

You’d been given the role of one of Orren’s sworn household men, a captain who served the regent from beginning to end and helped carry the shape of Joffrey’s side of the conflict.

It wasn’t the largest role on the field, but it was a solid one, and Joffrey had even taken the trouble to help shape a few of your lines so that they sounded sharper and more natural beside his own.

He’d done it without a shred of condescension, too, which made it easier not to resent how annoyingly good he was at this whole business.

By the time the night of the performance came, the hall had been set better than usual and then a little better than that.

Painted cloth hung behind the makeshift stage to suggest the black stone halls of Storm’s End in ancient days.

Domeric had arranged for storm colored banners and a carved wooden throne that looked impressive enough from a distance, even if it wobbled a bit when somebody leaned too hard on it.

The costumes had also come together far better than anyone expected, with Rob in dark royal colors fit for a young king, and Joffrey dressed in a slightly plainer but heavier look that suited a seasoned regent better than any glittering princeling ever could.

Your own kit was simpler, though the surcoat and sword belt were respectable enough to make you feel properly part of the thing.

Domeric sat slightly off to one side with his harp, and once he began to play the entire mood of the hall shifted.

That was when it really became obvious how much he’d added to the troupe.

Without him, the play would’ve been good.

With him, every scene carried weight it might otherwise have lacked.

His fingers made the opening feel old, almost solemn, as the death of the old king was announced and the realm’s troubles laid out before the audience.

Then the rhythm sharpened as lords argued, armies gathered, and the regent was urged by desperate bannermen and fearful captains to keep the crown upon his brow until the kingdom stood secure.

Joffrey was excellent.

That was the simple truth of it, and there wasn’t much point pretending otherwise.

He played Orren not as some sneering thief grasping for power, but as a man who’d done what seemed necessary and then gone too far to step back cleanly.

At first, his lines came with calm logic.

The realm needed peace.

The coast needed defending.

The boy needed time.

Later, as the young king came of age and the question of surrendering power turned from theory into reality, that calm began to fray around the edges.

Not into madness.

Not into cruelty for its own sake.

Just into the stubborn conviction of a man who’d started by loving his people and ended by convincing himself that nobody else could guard them as well as he could.

That was what made him tragic.

He was wrong.

Everybody watching could see that he was wrong.

But he wasn’t small, and he wasn’t petty, and that made the whole thing hurt more.

Rob met him perfectly.

As the young king, he brought exactly the right kind of force to the role, because he didn’t come across as some boy stamping his feet for a crown he liked the look of.

He played it as duty.

The kingdom was his by right.

The old king had meant the regency to be temporary.

And if law bent every time a powerful man found a noble excuse to keep what wasn’t his, then no inheritance in Westeros would ever mean much again.

He was earnest, indignant, and visibly wounded by the idea that he might have to spill his uncle’s blood to reclaim what should’ve been yielded freely.

Between them, they carried the whole thing.

Your own role came in where it should have, first as the loyal captain helping to steady the regent’s rule, then later as one of the voices arguing that the young king’s claim could no longer be delayed without dishonor.

That had been Joffrey’s suggestion, and it made the part much better.

Instead of being tied only to one side, your role helped show how the whole realm was being pulled in two, with good men trying to serve competing truths and finding that each truth cut the other by the root.

It also gave you a few better scenes, which you’d appreciated immediately and tried not to look too pleased about.

The audience followed it all surprisingly well.

A few of the younger children got lost during the more political stretches, but then Domeric would pluck some harsher note from the harp, Rob would step forward with one of his stronger speeches, or Joffrey would answer him with that grave, restrained intensity of his, and everybody’s attention would snap right back into place.

Even the adults seemed properly drawn in by the time the final act arrived and the old stormlords had split themselves one last time between the crowned nephew and the uncle who still ruled in all but name.

The last confrontation was the best part of the whole play.

There was no cackling villainy in it.

No easy wickedness.

Just a tired regent, a rightful king, and the knowledge that one of them would leave the field alive while the other would be sung about afterward by men who’d never had to make the choices either one of them had.

Domeric’s harp went quieter there, almost thin, like something fraying in the wind.

Rob’s king gave Joffrey’s regent one final chance to yield.

Joffrey’s regent refused, not with hatred, but with the sad certainty of a man who’d crossed too many lines already to pretend there was a road back.

Then came the duel.

Rob won in the end, as the story required, but not cleanly and not triumphantly.

When Joffrey fell, he did it with enough dignity and hurt that the whole hall went still for a heartbeat before anybody remembered that this was still a play and nobody had actually died.

That silence was probably the best compliment any of you could’ve hoped for.

Then the room erupted.

Applause, laughter, voices, approval from every side, and a great booming burst of praise from King Robert loud enough to shake the rafters a little.

He was especially proud of Joffrey, that much anyone with eyes could see, and he made no effort at all to hide it.

He laughed, clapped his son hard across the back, praised Rob as well, and then started recounting bits of the performance back at people in a tone that suggested he’d enjoyed himself immensely.

There was no stiffness in him then, no crown first and man second, just a father pleased with his boy and a lord delighted by a good story done well.

Watching him, it wasn’t hard to see where Joffrey got his likability from.

That same warmth was there.

That same easy ability to make a room lean toward him without seeming to demand it.

Joffrey was quieter and far more polished, but the root of it looked awfully similar all the same.

The rest of the hall was just as pleased.

Uncle Ned looked quietly satisfied in the way he did when things had gone better than expected, and he didn’t mean to make a great show of it.

Sansa had clearly enjoyed herself, both because the play had been genuinely good and because she’d always liked seeing people succeed at something they cared about.

Arya, for her part, seemed particularly delighted by the tragic duel at the end, though whether that was for the emotional weight of it or simply because two people with swords had gone at each other in front of a crowd was harder to say.

Even Aunt Catelyn, though more reserved than the rest, seemed pleased enough by how polished the whole thing had been.

And really, polished was the word for it.

Not perfect.

Not some miracle fit for the king’s own court in full splendor.

But polished in a real and honest way, the kind that only came from months of growing skill, better friendships, and people deciding to take each other seriously.

Rob and Domeric had become something like the spine of the troupe.

Joffrey had elevated the whole effort simply by being willing to be generous with both rank and coin.

And you, though still playing a lesser role than some of the others, had been there in the thick of it all the same and felt no shame in that at all.

If anything, the whole thing left you feeling a little proud.

Not just because the play had gone well, though it had.

Not just because your lines had landed, though they had.

But because for one evening at least, with royals in Winterfell and half the castle walking on eggshells from the weight of it all, something had been made that was simply good.

Good in the plain human sense.

A story well told.

A hall brought together.

A prince choosing grace when everybody expected vanity.

And a memory that, by the look of the room afterward, nobody there would be forgetting anytime soon.

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Skills:

Combat:

(9) Westerosi CQC - 45/100 (+20) (Talented In North)

(6) Westerosi Swordsmanship - 95/100 (+10)

(10) Northern Archery - 5/200 (+15) (Skilled) ←

(6) Northern Equestrianism - 90/100 (+10) (Knack)

(10) Heavy Armour - 15/200 (+30) (Prodigious)

Diplomacy:

(9) Interpersonal Communication - 10/100 (+50) (Skilled) ←

(4) Public Speaking - 15/100 (+50) (Skilled) ←

(11) Management - 170/300 (+30) (Prodigious)

(5) Stewardship - 17/100 (+7) (Knack)

(4) Northern Law - 97/100 (+7) (Knack)

(4) Westerosi Law - 87/100 (+7) (Knack)

Language:

(8) Common Speaking - 65/100 (+25) (Knack)

(8) Old Tongue Speaking - 70/100 (+15) (Knack)

(7) Valyrian Speaking - 10/100 (+15) (Knack) ←

(6) Common Reading - 85/100 (+10)

(4) Westerosi Runes - 30/100 (+10)

(6) Valyrian Reading - 20/100 (+10)

Scholarly: (Knack in North)

(7) Math(s) - 65/100 (+10)

(8) Accounts - 80/100 (+30) (Prodigious)

(9) Northern History - 30/100 (+15) (Knack)

(6) Westerosi History - 65/100 (+10)

(7) Northern Peoples - 20/100 (+10)

(5) Westerosi Peoples - 45/100 (+10)

Leisure: (Knack in North)

(8) Northern Hunting - 65/100 (+10)

(5) Fishing - 8/100 (+8) ←

(4) Swimming - 43/100 (+8)

(2) Seacraft - 63/100 (+8)

(4) Climbing - 73/100 (+8) (Skilled In North)

(3) Acting (Lying Convincingly) - 100/100 (+56)

(10) Herbology - 30/200 (+40) (Prodigious) ←

War:

(7) Strategy - 75/100 (+25) (Prodigious)

(2) Castrametation - 10/100 (+0)

(2) Poliorcetics - 10/100 (+0)

(1) Fleetcraft - 10/100 (+0)

(1) Battlewise (coup d’œil) - 10/100 (+0)

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Earning: 5

Spending: 0

Banked: 34

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Rolls for Next Turn:

T5 = Power/Skill for a Prominent Figure

L4 = Just what's described

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Voting:

Main Actions: The Royal Family is leaving next Turn. What will you do?

A1 - Train in the yard with Arya and Joffery one last time.

A2 - Go on one last Hunt with Jon and Sansa.

A3 - Learn a final lesson from Tyrion with Sansa and Myrcella.

A4 - Go on the last Quick Wolfswood Hunt with your Uncle Ned, Bobby B., and Jon

Personal Rolls Sources:

S1 - Wikipedia (On Cooldown 2/2)

S2 - Steam Games (On Cooldown 1/2)

S3 - Paradox Wiki's (D30)

S4 - World Rolls List (D12)

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Information:

1 - Reputations as of Chapter 50 (In order of best to least.)

Sansa - BFF

Jon - BFF

Arya - Lifelong Friends (+)

Ned - Lifelong Friends

Joffrey - Close Friends (+)

Yara - Friends (+)

Rob - Friends

Bobby B. - Friends

Domeric - Friends (-)

Tyrion - Friendly

Myrcella - Friendly

Theon - Friendly (-)

Tommen - Ok (+)

Cersei - Ok (-)

Cat - Neutral (-/+)

(Fine → Ok → Good → Friendly → Friends → Close Friends → Lifelong Friends → BFF’s)

(+) Means we’re one “+” with that person from it going up a rank.

(-) Means we’re one “-” with that person from it going down a rank.

2 - Thanks for the varied responses to the question from last chapter.

The first thing worth clearing up is that the question was never meant to ask you all to pre-pick a side.

The point was to see whether either possible route would be horrendously unpopular, and at this point, the answer’s pretty clearly no.

What that discussion showed is that Joffrey’s got a solid amount of support, even if that support’s far from universal, and most people dislike the Lannisters.

While Stannis is respected, but he isn’t drawing the same kind of enthusiasm, and a lot of people made the completely fair point that his route’s one this fandom’s already walked through over and over again for years.

So there isn’t some hidden push happening here.

There’s no plan to drag the quest toward one claimant or the other.

What’s much more likely is that events are going to break fast, and that’s what’ll decide the direction things go.

The other thing I want to be very clear about is Bobby B.

He’s in better shape than canon King Robert, sure, but that doesn’t make him safe in the long term.

He spent years wrecking his body, and while he’s got the magical ability to know when something’s poisoned, he’s also constantly poisoning himself with alcohol anyway.

It genuinely wouldn’t be difficult to kill him, especially with how battered his liver’s got to be by now.

And when that happens, the question isn’t going to be who’s the better man, or who’s more justified, or who’d make the better king.

The question’s going to be who moves first.

The opening burst of chaos after Robert dies is going to matter more than abstract merit ever will, because Ned’s far too straightforward to seize the initiative.

That means whoever reaches him first, frames the situation first, and gets their case in front of him first is very likely to be the side the Starks support at the start of the War.

3 - What's with Next Turn?

Next turn is the packing up, and figuring out where people are going turn.

That’ll happen regardless, so it’s just a question of what we want a short blurb about before the chapter gets to the “who goes where?” part.

Don't expect anything too long or detailed from the options, just something quick about what we do and who we bond with on the last day with some of these people.

Similar thing with the gifts.

There are multiple points to get through, so any gift giving will mostly just be a bit on the end of the “last day with X” part, rather than a whole chapter leading up to it, like with the Arya and Yara necklaces.

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Write-In/Questions:

1 - What should we buy and who should we buy it for? (Remember Synergies)

Examples:

(2R) A Stag Pendant Joffrey

(4R) A Wolf & Stag pendant Joffrey and Arya

(2R) Some Crownlander food for the Royal Family.

(2R) Some Veil-style food for Ned and the King.

(2R) Some Westerlands food for the Queen and Tyrion.

(6R) Hire a beekeeper for Long Lake.

(14R) Buy 7 Small statues of Cat’s Gods.

(20R) Buy a Horse for Jon