In my last entry, I blogged about my multiple quests to save the North as Roose Bolton in the Game of Thrones mod for Crusader Kings II at the start of a Clash of Kings. Those games while being failures have manifested in my current ongoing game. Upon the start of A Clash of Kings, I (currently Roose Bolton) married Alys Karstark & plotted to kill her imprisoned brother Harrion Karstark. Upon the assignation of her brother during the war, Alys becomes heir to Karhold, and our only child Halys heir to Karhold. Knowing the invasion of the Iron Islands was impending the North during it's war with the Iron Throne, marriage was arranged between my bastard Ramsay & Asha Greyjoy. After the marriage, this caused Balon to pull back his forces & allowed Robb Stark the time to finally broker a deal with The Vale & House Baratheon to ally against the Iron Throne.

While the Clash of Kings was won by the North,Robb dies in the last battle in poetic fashion despite victory. The war having lasted for a long time he fostered five children, all girls. My new liege, Maege Stark 'The Howling' is young & The North become unstable after the war. During this period of post war reconstruction Roose Bolton lives a long life but eventually he dies, & I take control of Ramsay who is now Highlord of The Dreadfort. Ramsay like in the show & the books is a villainous character, & even while I'm controlling his person I can't stop him from bedding with other women & causing my beautifully strong wife Asha Greyjoy to hate me with all her heart. Having never fostered a child, I divorced Asha while she was still of childbearing age & waited until one of my vassals or my brother poisoned me from how unpopular I was. The night after making my half brother my cup-bearer Ramsay is poisoned & Halys assumes control of the Dreadfort & Karhold. In that same month my liege asks me to crush Hornwood for treachery against her liege. Now an adult & wonderful steward, Halys Bolton with the combined forces of Dreadfort & Karhold easily crush Hornwood absorbing it as a vassal. Little does Lady Maege know that their treachery was a fabrication planted by Ramsay during his reign of villainy.

Skilled in the art of war & intrigue, Halys combines these skill traits to shift the balance of power in the north while staying popular unlike his older half brother before him. Marrying Cassana Flint gives Halys wife weak claim to The Neck. During this expansion, my prestige skyrockets only increasing my general popularity among the Seven Kingdoms.

Right as my expansion ends, The Lannisters and Martell decide to ally in an attempt to take back the Iron Throne. With a Stag currently on The Throne, this war does not last long. During this war I notice the Master of Coin for the Iron Throne is unmarried & a wealthy lord of a lot of land. My mother still of child bearing age, asks to marry & I successfully tie our houses with the Iron Throne.

With my mother having been remarried lord of The Crossing, and my consistent expansions. Our family brings the North a much more consistent balance of power in the region easily crushing any bickering among kingdoms for our liege. This stability that I bring the North allows me to build my relationships with my Lords & neighbors as I constantly spend coin to shower them with gift while taking time to upgrade my cities & castles along the way. My bastard half brother the only one in my kingdom who hates me gives up at some point & asks to take The Black. With him out of my way I spend the rest of the time allotted in life on ensuring my legacy. Betrothing my children to powerful houses & ensuring stability for the region by arranging marriages between important houses. Maege first husband having died in battle, I brokered a marriage between my liege & Lord Byron 'The Laughing Falcon' of The Vale ensuring a lasting strong alliance.

As the years roll on, the Baratheons who won the Throne find themselves seceded by a weaker house by the laws of succession from the unpopular House Mallister through laws of Cognatic Succession. This marriage to a weak house sends the Seven Kingdoms back into a state of violence & leads to Queen Pia of The Iron Throne receiving a swift death by rabble. The Mallister's much like The Frey, have a deep pull of relatives to put on the Throne. Her younger brother, eventually dies after being poisoned. The North, The Vale & Lannisters tired of a weak house on the Throne declare a war of independence, which fails but ends with two more Mallister's dying while in combat. Eventually the deep pool of relatives is exhausted & the last of the Mallisters sit upon the Iron Throne. King Damon & Princess Leana, his only heir, are sacrificed to the Old Gods ending House Mallister. With nobody on the Iron Throne, the Baratheons use a strong claim to take back the Throne with King Durran 'the Bewitched' who ends up being a great warrior.

King Durran's rule would outlast the entirety of the prior usurper house but it would not be without challenge. My Liege among others namely the Lannisters would challenge the crown in small flare up wars, eventually forcing the King to institute limited crown authority which ended the hostilities for a short period. During this time Hayls had me in a state of panic, having expanded greatly during my reign, all I had now to do was ensure my legacy. My first three children having died stillborns, this sent me & my loving wife into a state of depression where a decade passes with no more children. In my 40's though, my friends sense that I'm stressed & they throw lavish parties for me sending me into a state of hedonism. This period of satyrism in the life of Hayls proved exactly what I needed to ensure my legacy, because in the span of less than four years I birth four children to ensure my legacy.

All during this time Alys Karstark, my mother, is living now in the Riverlands schemes to kill the last of the Karstarks to ensure our legacy. Despite being loved by Arthor Karstark with a maximum opinion allotted, Halys agrees to the plot & helps to assassinate Arthor along with his wife & child by smothering them all with pillows. Shortly after these plots, Hayls having lived a long life hair begins to grey & his intense period of hedonism takes it's toll on the lord, sending him into a period of sickness where he would eventually die. My eldest son, still a boy now inherits the high lordship of Karhold & continues on the work of his father. Domeric Bolton, having been schooled in court, had an incredibly high diplomatic rating & even at only the age of 8 his stewardship rating was more impressive than his father. This combinations of skills was unlike anything the Dreadfort or Karhold prior to had prior to his coronation & would allow Domeric to betroth himself to Maege Starks eldest daughter Arya, also eldest sister to the heir to the Vale. His wife also schooled at court would have a very high intrigue, later in life becoming his Master of Wispers. These combinations of traits would prove a highly productive combination in their marriage. Despite the marriage being highly calculated in ensuring the peace & prosperity of the realm, the two fell in love as soon as Arya became of child bearing age.

During this period of transition, other houses noticing the balance of power in the North shifting toward Karhold, began plotting against me. My cousin, a Flint having lordship over the Neck found himself poisoned & his four year old son inheriting lordship over The Neck. His son a weak sickly boy was far too weak to inherit such an important title. Being the kind lord that I was I offered to transfer Lonely Hills to the boys holdings in exchange for Greywater's Watch, the lordship of The Neck, but the boy had other ideas. More Flint than Bolton at this point, the boy declared independence with the Flints at his side sending my realm into a state of rebellion. This being the exact opportunity I needed, as my brother recently betrothed to an important Lannister/Tyrell was unlanded which gave me the chance to give him Greywater's Watch upon victory. Due to the ways the walls were split at The Neck, this rebellion took longer to put down than it should due having to split my forces as to trap the rebels from retreating.

Despite my efforts to ensure my brother's legacy, Martyn Bolton was preoccupied with his other matters having fallen in love with one of my courtiers. Fearing retribution from Lannisters & Tyrells, Domeric plotted to assassinate Martyn's lover along with the child they had together. In a stroke of good luck, it seemed no one else all the Seven Kingdoms wanted this relationship to go on further as the plot success of staying undisclosed peaked at around 4800%. Although Martyn shamed his wife, she continued her duty to her husband & continued producing children, ensuring our line together. After a few proxy wars House Baratheon & Lannister put aside their difference opting for peace as Baratheon joined houses on the Throne with House Dalt of Lemonwood, proud & strong vassals to the Dorne(now long intermixed family & allies to the Lannisters). This period brings peace to the Seven Kingdoms, and during this period Domeric is able to build many improvements to his region while showering his friends with gifts to ensure their loyalty. As his prestige grew this allowed Domeric to betroth his eldest son Donnel with King Humfrey of the Iron Throne's eldest daughter Mary.

Lord Domeric lived a long and happy life during the middle period of his life, but during a rebellion The Vale was in danger of having it's lord lose his high lordship. Fearing a hit to both their houses prestige, Lord Domeric assisted his cousin in bringing down the rebellion handily but during the battle Lord Domeric now an old man suffered a fatal wound. Young Donnel now a young man, inherited the high-lordship of Karhold & seeking to ensure The Vale from further rebellions, Donnel was betrothed to his cousin Randa eldest daughter of The Vale. Schooling his son in the art of warfare, Lord Domeric foresaw the peace between the Baratheons & Lannisters not lasting & realized that the best chances of ensuring his line was to have a great commander secede him. This is exactly what happened. King Humfrey is killed on the Throne & Lemonwood inherits the Throne through his son. Seeing this as their opportunity, Lord Joanna of House Lannister a strong commander in her own right seeks to lay claim to the Throne & the Seven Kingdoms is sent back into a state of War. Many options are presented to Lord Donnel, with three daughters but no sons but still young, it will be to know what he should do. One enticing option presented to him, the Lannisters need troops & Donnel has them. Does he betroth Joanna's eldest son to his eldest daughter with a matrilineal marriage? This would allow the Lannisters just enough troops to take the Iron Throne & Donnel's heir would inherit Castery Rock through right of succession. What side will the Baratheons fall on? High Garden?

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