To Blacken The Reach

[Velasco]

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon sat in his office on the Sea Dragon Tower, pouring over war reports and missives from all over the Seven Realms. The Northmen had come south and the Riverlanders were launching a full blown invasion of the Westerlands, with Arryn help. In the Reach Lord Tarly had crushed the Hightowers and Grimms in turn, but found himself stranded surrounded by enemies, while the Tyrells sat with a fat force oppressing Tumbleton, dangerously close to the capital.

It was a dangerous time, an uneasy time, and a single event could change the outcome of the entire war.

Aemond at least had to die. If that wretch died, well...Helaena was young and nubile, and she and Jace had exchanged a few looks here and there. It wasn't entirely out of the question, and it'd give us Oldtown and much of the Reach...but Aemond must die first.

And so he ruffled further through the papers, sighing as he caught sight of another small stack laid to his side by his trusted servant, Ser Olaf of the Stone Drum. Ser Olaf's services were increasingly indispensable, with the newly-made knight serving the Prince in several capacities. The Reach...Oakheart had joined the Tyrells, Tumbleton had fallen, the Rowans were stuck on the wrong side of Highgarden. Only Florent and Merryweather remained neutral, explainable enough to Jace's mind: the Florents had their hereditary, historic feud with the Tyrells, and the Merryweathers were Footly's immediate neighbours. They had no reason to sit a Hightower scion on the Iron Throne...but to strike out for the Black cause was not the safest course they could undertake.

Neutrality, however, would not save them when his mother's dominion was consolidated and the stewards made an account of all who had failed to march for their Queen. Inaction in this case was much the same as contrary action, Jace reasoned, though Florent and Merryweather's inaction was all the same lucrative in that it deprived of the Tyrells of ten, fifteen thousand men easily.

We need those men.

The hot wax cooling down already, Jace stamped down his seal hard and fast on both in quick succession. He would send ravens calling upon Lord Florent of Brightwater Keep and Lord Merryweather of Longtable to break their neutrality and strike up their bannermen in the name of his mother, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals, Rhoynar and the First Men. In so doing they would spare the Reach the worst, stalling the possibility of a Hightower dominance and joining such brave men as Tarly and Footly.

--

To Lord Alestar Florent of Brightwater Keep,

My Lord, greetings.

I pray this letter finds you and yours safe and sound. I write to you with some urgency, and pray you will not begrudge me my poor penmanship. You will have heard how my mother's army have crushed the Greens outside King's Landing, how the false King has been cut down and his cause now centered on a six year old child held by the Tyrells and Hightowers. No doubt you have also heard how your notorious nephew Ser Garlan Tarly availed himself mightily in the Battle at Darkdell, even as your goodbrother Lord Tarly's army crushed the Hightowers and Grimms in turn. Now the Hightower men are either dead or injured, no doubt leaving their house in disarray, even as sons of House Grimm have been captured at both Darkdell and King's Landing. My mother sits the Iron Throne and commands the North, the Riverlands and the Vale; negotiations have begun with the Lannisters and Lord Michael Baratheon was so terribly wounded that his men had to beat back a hasty retreat to the Stormlands. The war makes its way to the Reach, where your nephew stands first and foremost as champion of my mother's just and righteous cause.

You may rest assured I seek only what is right, and no harm shall be done to Lord Lyonel or the lords of the Reach, save against those who stand against us the battle field and are cut down in rebellion.

I ask you to stand beside him and prevent the submersion of Horn Hill and the Reach under a wave of Hightower oppression, abetted most curiously by the Tyrells, which would mean not only the death of your nephew but great injury to House Florent's current status as one of the chief lords of the Mander. As ratification of the friendship I propose between us, I offer a marriage between House Targaryen and House Florent, to bind us in kinship and perpetual alliance.

By his own hand, Prince Jacaerys of Dragonstone, Heir to the Iron Throne.

--

To Lord Merryweather of Longtable,

My Lord, greetings.

I pray this letter finds you and yours safe and sound. I write to you with some urgency, and pray you will not begrudge me my poor penmanship. You will have heard how your neighbour Lord Footly has been thrown under lock and key and his ancestral seat violently assailed at the womanish wiles of Lady Alla Tyrell, who acted most treacherously. Affecting neutrality she sent her men to brutally butcher the good men of Tumbleton, all the while preparing to throw in her lot with the usurpers. It is clear she has no sense of honour or dignity, having forgotten that every man obeys obedience to his Queen first, and Paramount second. She has committed crimes beyond count, and your neighbours have paid the price.

But now, the tide turns. The false King Aegon has been cut down and the tattered remains of his army fled to the Stormlands, Lord Michael Baratheon horrifically wounded I'm told. The Greens now seek to crown a child of merely six years old, whose heir shall either by Lord Tyrell or Aemond One-Eye. How much more oppressive and violent shall Lady Tyrell be if she sit her son on the throne? And what worse than to sit the One-Eye upon the throne, a madman and kinslayer, Maegor come again, who counts it a victory that he slew my twelve year old brother, a mere child, who came unaccompanied and unarmed as an envoy to Baratheon's hall. The Seven have smiled upon us and the Greens are being paid back in full for their treachery. King's Landing is ours, the Red Keep is my mother's home and even as we speak she claims another of the great dragons upon dragonmont. The Green fleet at King's Landing has been captured and Arryn, Tully and Stark alike bend the knee to my mother. Already the Lannisters waver, entertaining negotiations with us, and the Hightowers have been so brutally pummeled by Lord Tarly that it would not be surprising should they seek a way out of the war sooner rather than later.

Thus I write to you, convoking you to do what is right, to avenge the men of Tumbleton and cut short this unholy alliance of Tyrell and Hightower to usurp the throne. Acclaim my mother as Queen and make common cause with your neighbours Rowan and Footly, good honest men. As proof of my consideration for House Merryweather's prestigious lineage and strategic location I propose a marriage between Targaryen and Merryweather, and favour at court by way of seats on the Council or the Queensguard should you so desire.

By his own hand, Prince Jacaerys of Dragonstone, Heir to the Iron Throne.

----

Prince Jacaerys Velaryon has +4 Charisma (+3 Trait, +1 Orator) and +5 convincing AI to do anything (+4 Perfumes, +1 Furs). The marriages being offered a non-specific, like the canon Pact of Ice and Fire, though it wouldn't escape Florent and Merryweather attention that Prince Aegon and Prince Viserys are approaching adolescence and unpromised to anyone.

[Lucius Malfoy]

Roll Modifiers:
- 2 for Tyrell's stance towards the Greens
- 2 for Aegon II's forged letter of Daemon's intentions
+9 for Jace's traits

Roll Range: 10/20
Modified Range: 15/20 (1 - 15, agreed with Jace. 16 - 20, do not agree)

Florent's Result: 20
Merryweather's Result: 19

Neither Florent nor Merryweather are convinced of Jace's intentions. The shadow of Aegon II's forged letter has made them weary of Daemon and those of the Blacks. Both respond to Jace with negative responses, refusing to betray their overlord for vague promises and unclear end to this war. Their intentions shall remain as they have been so far.

OOC: I feel that, in these cases, Jace does not have the power to propose marriage (unless he is offering himself directly) or to promise positions to persons. He is after all an heir with the real power in the hands of Lucian Arryn, Corlys Velaryon, Daemon Targaryen and his mother, Rhaenyra. Its Daemon and Rhaenyra who would make the decisions on who gets what.

[Velasco]

OOC: He is an heir who shall soon sit the Iron Throne and who has been acting with plenipotentiary powers negotiating deals on his mother's behalf in the North and Riverlands. The Florents and Merryweathers have no reason to suspect they'd be the special cases where Jace is acting without power - as the future King, he can make good on his promises better than the soon-to-be-dead Corlys and Daemon, for example.