500 BAL: The Arbor, previously an independent realm unto itself, is absorbed into the Reach by a carefully arranged marriage between Houses Gardener (the royal house of the Reach) and Redwyne.
282 AL: Robert's Rebellion begins with the kidnapping (or was it?...) of Lyanna Stark by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. Robert Baratheon, Lord of the Stormlands, rises in rebellion against the Crown, soon joined by Ned Stark of the North (whose father and older brother were killed by Aerys for demanding a fair trial and Lyanna's return) and Hoster Tully of the Riverlands. House Arryn is further pushed into the rebellion when Aerys the Mad demands Lord Jon assist in putting down his old wards, Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon.
Upon receiving word that three of the Royalist Stormlords were trying to muster their strength at Summerhall, the Baratheons hurry to reach the location first and crush each of the Royalist lords in detail as they arrive one after another, winning three battles in one day and flipping the remaining Royalists and neutral lords in the Stormlands to their side. With his own domain secured for sure, Robert marches to war against the Tyrells, who were at this time still loyal to the Dragons.
His advance however ends badly, as the vanguard of the Tyrell army defeats his larger but less-coordinated forces at Ashford thanks to the brilliant leadership of Lord Randyll Tarly. Bloodied and humiliated but still with enough strength left for further pitched battles, Robert withdraws from the Reach and swung north in an attempt to reach the safety of the Riverlands. Elements of the Royal Army, mustered from the Crownlands and Dragonstone and under the personal command of Prince Rhaegar, are detached and sent off to pursue Robert with Rhaegar's old friend Jon Connington assigned to lead them.
The Greyjoys seized the opportunity provided by the chaos of civil strife to declare themselves Kings of Salt and Rock, and to break the Iron Isles free from mainland rule. They inadvertently made enemies of both sides with their reaving ways and refusal to acknowledge either the Dragons nor the Usurpers as their overlords, however. In this early stage of the war, they were able to raid along the entire western coast of the continent as far as Flint's Finger in the North and the Arbor in the south, as well as springing a successful ambush of the bulk of the Lannister fleet in Lannisport.
283 AL: Connington catches up with Robert in the Stoney Sept, but is unwilling to burn the entire town to the ground just to kill one man and instead has the decency to order his soldiers to search the city house-to-house. This proves to be a mistake, as the combined armies of the North and Riverlands sweeps into the city just as the surviving Baratheon troops strike back against the Royalists. Jon Connington still manages to withdraw from the city in good order despite having sustained considerable casualties and facing attacks from three directions, but is sacked and exiled by King Aerys for his failure anyway.
His army replenished by the strength of the North and the Riverlands, Robert marches south to attack King's Landing head-on. Prince Rhaegar, a good part of the Kingsguard and the rest of the Royal Army, including the survivors of Connington's task force, march back to confront him on the banks of the Trident. In the ensuing battle, both sides suffer ghastly losses, and Robert and Rhaegar meet in single combat at the climax of it all. Even as Robert's mighty hammer smashed into Rhaegar's chest with enough force to shake the rubies from his armor, the Crown Prince's blade found its way to the rebel leader's throat; and even as Rhaegar's lifeless form sank into the Trident, Robert lay bleeding to death from a slashed throat. Still, with Jon Arryn and Ned Stark still alive to direct the Rebel forces while the Kingsguard on the Royalist side had all been killed before Rhaegar, the Rebels were able to drive the remaining Royalists from the field.
The Tyrells, unwilling to serve a Mad King who was making preparations to burn his own capital down should the Rebels breach her defenses and seeing their own golden opportunity, struck first. A Tyrell army, supposedly sent to further bolster the Gold Cloaks and the bloodied remains of Rhaegar's army, falls upon the city's shocked garrison once they are within the walls. Aerys attempts to ignite some hidden caches of wildfire within the city, but is slain before he could do so. Rhaegar's wife Elia and children Aegon and Rhaenys are murdered in cold blood within the Red Keep, likely by Tyrell troops. The chaos of the battle allows many Targaryen relatives to escape, however. At the end of the day, the Tyrells hold the capital and still have a mostly-unspent army, in contrast to the bloodied and battered (not to mention disorganized, after Robert's death) Rebel forces and the few remaining Royalists. For that reason, as well as the fact that the Tyrells did at least get rid of the real instigator of the war (Aerys the Mad King), the Rebels would bend the knee to Tyrell when he demanded they kneel or be destroyed by his still (mostly) fresh forces...
The Martells of Dorne, furious at the murder of their sister Elia and her children by the Tyrell troops, refused to bend the knee to kingslayers and oathbreakers however, and proclaimed Aerys's three-year-old surviving son Viserys, then residing on Dragonstone with what little remained of the Targaryen Loyalist forces, the rightful King of the Seven Kingdoms as Viserys Targaryen, Third of his Name. The Tyrells, of course, were more than happy to continue the war in the name of their own King.
After a few months of maneuvers and marches, the newly-christened Royal (Tyrell) armies began to invade Dorne. The first wave, marching from Highgarden itself and joined by Tarly men from Horn Hill, tried to push through the mountainous Prince's Pass, but were repulsed by the determined Dornish defenders and the rough terrain.
Meanwhile further west, the Iron Fleet is smashed by the combined might of the Reach, the Rock and the Riverlands off the coast of
Seagard; days later, the Tyrells sprang their little 'surprise' for the Targaryens and demanded the Greyjoys bend the knee alongside the other Great Houses, which the stubborn Ironmen refused to do. Needless to say, an amphibious invasion of the Iron Isles proper was scheduled to finally put down the Greyjoy Rebellion. Once they were able to actually land troops on the Iron Isles, the mainland forces easily overpowered the severely outnumbered ground garrisons of the Isle houses. Blacktyde and Orkmont were occupied by the Riverlands, Harlaw was taken in a coordinated amphibious invasion involving 10,000 Westermen and what was left of the Lannister fleet, and the rest of the Iron Isles were stormed by the Reach's forces. Pyke fell last of all, and the Greyjoys finally bent the knee to mainlanders once again, albeit with much reluctance and gritting of teeth. This victory helped the Tyrells consolidate their position as Kings of the Seven Kingdoms.
284 AL: The second Tyrell overland invasion of Dorne is launched, this time drawing on the men of Brightwater Keep, Honeyholt, Three Towers and Uplands, and attempting to invade Dorne through the western mountains. They too fail, lured into a chain of mountain ambushes that thin their numbers before finally being driven back in disorder by the massed Dornish forces. Lord Florent, their commander, returns in utter disgrace.
The third Tyrell overland invasion later this year, now combining Reach and Stormlands forces and trying to barrel through the Boneway in the east, still fails. The 20,000-strong Reach-Stormlands host under Lord Fell is held at bay by 1,000 Dornishmen in the narrow, mountainous pass, and withdraw after Lord Fell is killed. The Tyrells decide to forgo any further overland invasions of Dorne at this point, and turn to other ways of cracking their southern enemy's defenses.
An amphibious attack against Starfall fails, as while the Reach fleet is able to bowl over its puny Dornish counterpart with ease, the Royal troops are unable to finish the job and die like dogs before the coastal defenses of Starfall. Many Royalist soldiers perish at the business end of
Dawn, House Dayne's ancestral weapon.
After these defeats, the Tyrells are openly mocked by their bannermen and especially the Great Lords who had only bent the knee before them a year ago.
285 AL: The Tyrells turn the tables at last. The Reach fleet sails along the Dornish coast and up the Brimstone River, blowing away
House Uller's river fleet in the process, and land a considerable Reach army to attack Hellholt. The city falls by storm shortly afterward.
Almost simultaneously, Royal forces from the eastern Reach and the Stormlands storm The Tor by sea, burning & looting the port and castle town while
House Jordayne cowered in their keep. These two victories help restore confidence in the Tyrells.
The Tyrell King threatens to fight along the Dornish coast, to sail up the Greenblood and to burn down Sunspear with all the hosts and fleets of Westeros behind him if Dorne does not negotiate. Prince Doran does exactly that, and after a lengthy negotiation process, a duel is arranged between Oberyn Martell and Maynard Oakheart, the knight who had brutally killed Elia Martell and her children in King's Landing two years ago. At the height of the duel, Oberyn stabs Maynard with a poisoned spear, leaving him to die in utter agony over many days. Furthermore, the late Kingsguard Lewyn Martell's remains are sent back to Dorne.
Seemingly satisfied with these results, Prince Doran agrees to stand down. Dorne rejoins the Seven Kingdoms, ending the War of the Usurper (AKA Robert's Rebellion, AKA War of Tyrell Treachery).
The Iron Isles are restored one by one to Greyjoy dominion.
[POLL] Game of Thrones Background Proposal
Originally Posted by Barry Goldwater
500 BAL: The Arbor, previously an independent realm unto itself, is absorbed into the Reach by a carefully arranged marriage between Houses Gardener (the royal house of the Reach) and Redwyne.
