Picture a Westeros where Aegon's Conquest still happens...but it's of Essos. To further explain, and following in the vein of 'alternate history' starts like the Blackfyre game we just played, (I'll admit I was inspired by a playthrough where I had Aegon attack Essos instead of Westeros in the AGOT mod for CK2  ) imagine Westeros at 0 BL. In this universe Aegon, for whatever reason, decides 'let's not go to Westeros, 'tis a silly place' and instead goes off to forge a Valyrian Empire in his people's home-continent to the east. West of the Narrow Sea, a generational struggle can now reach its crescendo without his interference shaking up the entire continent: that of Argilac the Arrogant, the old but still mighty Storm King, and Harren the Black, King of the Isles & Rivers and the worst and most far-reaching tyrant the continent has known up to that point. Two generations earlier, Harren's grandfather Harwyn Hardhand had seized the Riverlands from Argilac's own grandpa, the Storm King Arrec, with the aid of a bunch of Riverlords who were useful idiots that served him under the mistaken notion that he'd restore their independence; and one generation earlier, Harren's father Halleck held the Riverlands against & eventually killed Argilac's own father, Arlan V. Throughout their lifetimes, Harren's been busy raiding the borders & shores of the Storm Kingdom (as well as those of his other neighbors) for thralls to work on his greatest project - Harrenhal, an icon of House Hoare's new status as a continental powerhouse.
But Argilac, who took the throne as a boy and immediately fended off a Dornish invasion before spending most of his reign at war with one power or another, has gotten fed up with this and seeks to break Harren's power. His attempt to broker an alliance with Aegon of Dragonstone fell through for some reason (perhaps Aegon still offends him by offering to marry his bastard half-brother Orys to Argilac's only child and heiress Argella, but Argilac has the grace to send his envoy away un-mutilated to not give him a casus belli), but still he's determined to fight Harren, avenge his father & grandfather, and reclaim the Trident for the Stag. Caught between both juggernauts of men lie the Riverlanders themselves, whose last native King of the Trident and his entire family were struck down by Argilac's ancestor Arlan III ~350-300 years ago, but who might still be looking to free themselves from both the Ironmen & the Stormlanders under a new King of the Trident or by dividing the land back up into numerous petty-kingdoms.
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The map would comprise three regions: the Stormlands, the Riverlands, and the Crownlands, although the latter was technically not its own separate region yet - it's still divided between the former two. However, the only playable King at the start of the game would be Argilac himself. Harren would best serve as an NPC central antagonist for everyone to focus on as a common enemy, I'd think, plus making him playable means the Iron Isles would have to be opened up as well. The advantages to this start in my opinion are:
- A little more variety available to players than a strictly single-kingdom start. However, there's not so much open ground that either the Storm Kingdom or the Riverlands should be half-empty either.
- Only one dedicated head-honcho figure needed at least at the start, in Argilac himself since Harren's an NPC, essentially filling in the role of the King in the North in Pontifex's proposal.
- As mentioned above, Harren is a central antagonist who can draw everyone's fire and keep the game focused early on as its 'stage one final boss' of sorts. Basically everyone hates him - Argilac for screwing the Durrandons over several times and occupying a title he believes to be rightly his, the native Riverlords for being an oppressive tyrant and all-around evil. His only really loyal supporters are his own Ironborn, the rest of the Rivermen could care less if he got roasted by a dragon (as actually happened in canon) or gets his chest caved in by Argilac.
- The potential for post-Harren struggles: can Argilac complete his ancestor's work and reclaim the Riverlands from the Twins to the Blackwater Rush for House Durrandon? Can the Riverlords re-assert their independence or will they be content to serve under a less awful foreign overlord than Harren? Will a claimant belonging to one of the old royal dynasties of the Riverlands (Fisher, Mudd, Justman and Teague) re-emerge to complicate matters, or even more than one? For that matter, can they work together to achieve whatever goal it is they're after or will they be undone by internecine fighting? Argilac's own succession isn't totally secure, as his only child and heir is a woman (Argella), and the Durrandons have at least one male-line cadet branch (House Bolling, I think) lying around, as well. And for an extreme circumstance, the NPC Westerlands and the Reach (who have an alliance at this point in time) could invade to either ensure he doesn't secure the Riverlands for the Storm Kingdom, to carve out chunks of an independent Riverlands for themselves, or to take advantage of a war between Argilac & the Riverlords.
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Originally Posted by LillyanaKabal
