Myrcella I's reign: Part 1

Part 1 of the Dance of the Three Stags:

In any case, after Princes Joffrey and Tommen died by falling down the stairs, Queen Cersei Lannister fell into depression, eventually withdrawing from public life(this is hand wavy, will probably revise later). Ser Jaime Lannister, meanwhile, became closer and closer to his niece Crown Princess Myrcella, who was made Crown Princess at the proclamation of Robert Baratheon. Robert's decree, however, was met with opposition from his brothers Renly and Stannis, who cited the Dance of Dragons as precedent for brothers succeeding before daughters.

In 298 AC, in the aftermath of the death of former Hand of the King Jon Arryn, Eddard Stark was named the Hand of the King, and his son Robb was betrothed to Myrcella(it was agreed that their firstborn would inherit the Iron Throne while the second would get the North). Additionally, Brandon Stark would head south to train as a knight. He would ultimately squire with Ser Barristan Selmy.

Eddard Stark's first priority as Hand was to investigate the murder of Jon Arryn, with the help of Tyrion Lannister, who had returned from the Wall after accompanying Jon Snow there. They quickly discovered the culpability of Petyr Baelish, who conspired with Lysa Arryn. While Baelish was arrested and executed, Lysa raised her banners in rebellion, accusing the Lannisters of the assassination.

The rebellion might have been a footnote in history, if not for the events of the next week. King Robert, hunting a boar, was killed by it. While future investigations would reveal the culpability of the Master of Whispers Varys, who sought to destabilize the realm in order to put Aegon Blackfyre in charge, Hand of the King Eddard and acting regent Tyrion Lannister blamed the Baratheon brothers, while Stannis and Renly blamed the Lannisters. Stannis declared himself King at the end of 298 AC, while Renly also did so with the support of the Tyrells.

The war began with regent Tywin Lannister moving his armies into the Reach; one was led by Tywin himself while the other was led by Ser Jaime Lannister. Tywin, however, would meet his match in the form of Reacher commander Randyll Tarly. At the Battle of Old Oak Tarly crushed Tywin's host, killing 5,000 and sending the rest scattering back to the Westerlands, impossible to organize. Tywin himself was killed, surrounded by Tarly's men and hacked down. In response, Jaime withdrew his army to defend the Westerlands.

Eddard Stark, meanwhile, sent Ravens to Winterfell, where his son Robb called the banners and moved south. One contingent under Roose Bolton was to move into the Vale and assist Lord Royce, the leader of a coalition of lords who had declared for Myrcella. The other was to reinforce King's Landing. While they were delayed by the stubborn Walder Frey, the Northmen were marching south.

In response to Tarly's victory at Old Oak, Renly instructed him to march into the West and put it to the torch. As 299 dawned Tarly smashed a new Lannister host being trained by Ser Stafford Lannister, while Kevan Lannister was declared acting Warden of the West due to (no longer acting) Refent Tyrion had a prior commitment. That commitment entailed the production of wildfire to defend King's Landing against the armies of Stannis or Renly. While Eddard Stark protested, he eventually realized the military use of wildfire and acceded to Tyrion's program. Renly Baratheon, meanwhile, marched on King's Landing with a host of 50,000 Reachmen and Stormlanders, sending 10,000 Reachers under Garlan Tyrell to crush his brother Stannis(accomplished in a few weeks, with Stannis dying in battle) while the remaining 40,000 razed the Westerlands under Tarly.

Meanwhile, Balon Greyjoy prepared to avenge his defeat ten years ago. While avenging his defeat by the North was tempting, the Westerlands were simply too attractive of a target. Ironically, Theon Greyjoy arrived with a message from Robb Stark asking Balon to declare for Myrcella a few days after the longships set sail for Fair Isle. The Ironborn would rape the West for the next year, until a dramatic shift would change their strategy.

With Stannis retreating to Dragonstone and Tywin Lannister dead, Renly Baratheon marched on King's Landing. He began to besiege it in the middle of the year, and Paxter Redwyne(whose sons had escaped King's Landing) sent his fleet to attack the Blackwater. While half of it was destroyed by wildfire, the other half was able to begin ferrying soldiers across the bay. Lords Tyrell led the Reach assault on the Dragon Gate, while Garlan Tyrell attacked from the sea. A charge led by Ser Barristan Selmy blunted Loras's assault(and Barristan the Bold himself killed the Knight of Flowers) while the Gold Cloaks desperately defended the Lion Gate from Garlan. In this they recieved a morale boost from the oresecence of Myrcella herself, who, despite hardly being a warrior, at least stood near the front lines. The battle was decided by the arrival of Jaime Lannister's host, which combined with that of Robb Stark's to hit the besieges from behind. By the end of the day it was clear Remly had lost the battle, but he was able to retreat with his host still largely intact and he himself in a fury over the death of Loras. Myrcella(who would ultimately come to be known as "the Antlered Doe") had won the battle, but the war was not over.

Part 2 of the Dance of the Three Stags:

Despite the Royalist victory on the Blackwater, the war was why no means decided. Reny Baratheon still led a massive host of 45,000 men that currently made camp in the Kingswood, and were poised to threaten the Capitol. Meanwhile, Randyll Tarly still commanded a large army in the Westerlands, around 40,000 strong. While the Riverlands, North, and the remnants of the Westerlands could match that number, the war remained in the balance. Additionally, as Renly Baratheon began his march on King's Landing the Ironborn began to besiege Casterly Rock, after taking Fair Isle and Lannisport. Finally, a week after the battle the garrison of the Eyrie surrendered Lysa Arryn to the Northern-Valemen army led by Roose Bolton besieging the castle. Yohn Royce was declared regent until Robert Arryn reached majority, and Lisa would be tried and executed for her crimes. Most importantly, Roose Bolton's 15,000 men were now free to deploy against Renly. The war truly hung in the balance.

Reny Baratheon was not a great general, but even he knew that to assault King's Landing now would be suicide; the enemy forces had a numerical parity with his host. With this in mind, he ordered Randyll Tarly to link up with his army; with 85,000 men he could besiege King's Landing and starve out the defenders. Tarly had a different motive; by threatening to join his men to Renly he knew he could force an open battle with the Northern and Riverlander forces, a battle he was confident he could win. When Tarly began marching in the last months of 299, the Royalists knew the need to prevent him from linking up. Like Tarly, Robb Stark believed he could win; both men were now being hailed as the greatest military minds of the age. Robb also surmised, and the small council agreed with him, that Tarly did not know that Roose Bolton was marching south, as he was leaving his army dangerously exposed. Thus, Robb decided to lure Tarly into a trap where his own army would be defeated after Bolton reinforced the royalists.

An army of 30,000 departed King's Landing, equally Northerners, Riverlanders, and Westermen; Robb Stark had supreme command but Jaime Lannister headed the Westerners and Brendan Tully led the Rivermen. They met Tarly's army at the Gold Road; Robb moved his army to a hill to defend against the Reacher onslaught, with Pikemen at the foothills. This forced Tarly to fight the Royalist cavalry head on, which resulted in a stalemate which persisted until Roose Bolton arrived the next day, after which Robb and Roose smashed the Reacher host. Randyll Tarly, arguably the greatest general in the war, was cut down by a Bolton man at arms. It was not a flawless victory for the Royalists, however. Jaime Lannister was mortally wounded, and rushed home to meet with the Queen. What he told her in her personal chambers remains a mystery, but what is known is the when she exited her chambers after a few hours Ser Jaime Lannister was dead.

(Aside: meanwhile, around this time, the Wildling host of Mance Rayder was smashed by Northern troops, sent by Robb Stark to help his supposed brother Jon Snow)

For Renly, the battle was a disaster. He had lost his best general (and one of his only good ones) and could no longer seriously threaten King's Landing. His best hope was to retreat into the Stormlands, where the weather could delay any invading army, and score a victory there. Thus, he retreated from the Kingswood, dividing his force in two, one half under Garlan Tyrell and one under him personally. His(or rather, Garlan's) plan was to lure the enemy deep into the Stormlands and have one army cut them off. However, developments in the Iron Islands would swiftly thwart even this plan.

In the beginning of 300 AC, as the Royalists began to chase Renly into the Stormlands, and sent the Western host now under Kevan Lannister to relieve Casterly Rock, Balon Greyjoy fell off a bridge. Almost immediately, his exiled brother Euron landed on Pyke and declared himself King(as Balon's son Theon was fighting with the Royalists he was declared a traitor). Euron's brother Aaron called for a Kingsmoot, but Euron won, imprisoning Aeron and forcing Balon's daughter Asha to flee. Euron and his brother Victarion then attacked the Reach, swiftly seizing the Shield Islands and threatening Oldtown and even Highgarden. This prompted Mace Tyrell to send half of his forces back to defend Highgarden, bringing Renly's army down to a mere 30,000. The pretender, once so regal and magnificent, had been deeply affected already by the death of his best friend Loras Tyrell. Now, however, he appears to have seen that the war was lost, and cracked under the pressure, locking himself in his chambers in Storm's End. He never left. The Eunuch Varys, in an attempt to destabilize the Seven kingdoms further for the arrival of Aegon Blackfyre, had Renly killed.

Varys next turned his attention to Myrcella, who was about to be formally wed to Robb Stark. At the "White Wedding" Varys attempted to poison the Queen and the Young Wolf, but was discovered due to the intervention of Tyrion Lannister. Tyrion had previously ordered the assassination of Renly, with which Varys was fine with complying; it suited him just fine if the Stormlords and Reachers hated Myrcella as the murderer of their beloved King. This did work, largely; with the death of Renly, Myrcella was unambiguously the legitimate heir to the throne... unless...

Unless the supposed son of a beloved Prince survived. Unless he had the most famous mercenary company in the world at his back. Unless Aegon Blackfyre landed in Westeros.

Myrcella I had weathered the storm of the Dance of the Three Stags, and yet now she faced two new threats in the form of Aegon Blackfyre and Euron Greyjoy. Westeros could not be peaceful quite yet.