The Second Clash

The Second Clash was much deadlier than the first, with a more decisive outcome. It was the prelude to the reign of King Stannis II, who reigned for nineteen years.

#### Prelude

The prelude to this deadly war was the weak reign of Jon Arryn II, who left the Vale in the hands of a minor branch of house Arryn. With his weak military power, the other houses increasingly mobilised against his reign, all of which culminated in the fall of the crusaderstates and Trident Union, and the assassination of Jon Arryn II.

#### Participants

- Jon Arryn III for the vale

- Balon Greyjoy II for the Iron Islands

- Haatack Stark for the North

- Lady Agnes Tully for the Riverlands

- Stannis Baratheon II for the Stormlands

- Bronn II for the reach

- Danny Lannister for the Westerlands

- Dramary Nymeros Martell for Dorne

#### The Clash

The second clash was marked by the bloodiest war on Westerosi soil since the Great War and the War of the Five Kings. More than 34,000 men died in arms, a blow to Westerosi society that it almost couldn't recover from.

The second clash started at the death of Jon Arryn II, when the Great Council needed to find a replacement but was found ineffective at making any decisions. They left the Crownlands ungovernd, which meant that individual prosperity prospered in the Captiol. This also meant that the wealth gap between the enriched merchants and the urban poor grew, something which Lord Bronn II took advantage of by feeding and sheltering the poor. This effort went largely unnoticed by the other lords, but made him a popular figure in King's landing. In the end, Lord Bronn II even became the new High Septon. The only decision the council made after a full week of debate was the splitting of the Royal Fleet.

The council proceeded to invite every lord and lady to a council, but failed to choose a new king. The other lords and ladies, angered by the incredible inefficiency of the council, decided to take the choosing of a king in their own hands. They followed Lord Haatack Stark, who promised to hatch his Dragon Egg and rule Westeros from the skies once again. When he found out he needed the Death of Dragons, the horn Dragonbinder and a weirwood from the Isle of Gods, he decided to take them by force. This way, a pro-council and anti-council faction formed. The pro-council faction was made up of the Stormlands, the Riverlands, the Reach and the Vale. All the other kingdoms united against them in the anti-council alliance. They tried to take the initiative by mobilizing and staging a false flag attack in the Westerlands, but this was discovered by the spies of Lord Arryn. The mobilisation angered the pro-council forces, and the false flag attack was the last straw. For these reasons, they mobilized and declared an embargo against the Westerlands. The anti-council forces refused to embargo the Westerlands, which led to a causus belli for the pro-council forces. This was enough for the pro-council forces, who declared war on the anti-council alliance.

#### The fighting begins

The war started with the Starks marching south and threatening the Twins, which was protected by Lady Agnes of Riverrun. The armies stayed their blades, and tried to outmaneuver each other. This didn't deliver any significant results though. Dorne mobilised on the border forts at the Prince's pass and the boneway, and had a staredown with the Baratheon army. The Westerlands and Reach clashed at the border, which resulted in a siege at Old Oak. This siege was broken by Westerlands reinforcements. The battle at Old Oak left more than ten thousand troops dead, and showed that this new war would be even more deadly than the last slaughter in the Riverlands.

#### The Bolton Betrayal

The Starks came into significant trouble when a mysterious plage, identified by Maesters as COVID-19, struck the Stark Army and eliminated the great Lord Haatack Stark. The Boltons also turned their cloacks, and joined the Pro-Council forces. They occupied Moat Calin with 2500 men, and struck forth into the North, sieging down a lot of the Stark support. This was supplemented with the Knights of the Vale, who navally invaded Oldcastle and tried to take the Northern Captiol. With Lord Stark dead, his only heir, his daughter, was married to Lord Balon Greyjoy. This way, all the Stark lands and armies were put under his control. He raised an army of 7500 men and destroyed any Bolton presence outside of Moat Calin. Unfortunately, the southern end of the Neck was secured by the Pro-Coalition forces, which made a siege of Moat Calin costly and nearly impossible. In the end, the Ironborn forces chased the Knights of the Vale out of the North, but not after they had taken Winterfell.

#### The Stormlands march forth

The Westerlands kept mobilizing more men and kept smashing all enemies who opposed him. This came to a head when they gained Ironborn support and utterly destroyed the large Reach fleet at the coast of Oldtown. It was an extraordinary defeat for the Reach, as lord Bronn II lost his entire force without inflicting anything near significant casualties. Next to this, his naval commander an daughter was killed when Ironborn boarded her ship and threw her overboard in her full plate armor, sinking her ship on top of her. This forced the Reach to capitulate, and sue for peace. This peace let the Anti-coalition forces use Randyll Tarly, the legendary Reach general. At this point, anyone might be forgiven for thinking that the Anti-Coalition forces would win the war. However, two key events avoided this desasterous outcome. First, Lord Stannis II struck a deal with the Iron Bank, who supplied him with money and mercenaries at extraordinary rates. He then marched his new army away from dorne, into the Riverlands. Secondly, a trio of Vale spies murdered Randyll Tarly before he could help the anti-council forces. The extra forces from the Stormlands smashed the Starks south of Moat Calin, and then marched south to decimate the Westerland forces. These had taken Riverrun, the captial of the Riverlands. A combined Vale-Riverlands-Stormlands army of more than 30.000 men marched against the Westerlands forces, who numbered over 20.000. This might have been a siege of one of the biggest castles in Westeros, but it at the last moment the guerillia general Beric Dondarrion threw open the gates, letting the Pro-Coalition forces in. This meant that any defensive advantages were lost, and the battle was the end of the Westerlands army.

#### The war ends

After the second siege of Riverrun, the anti-coalition forces capitulated. The North was burning wreck, and the Westerlands was finally out of reseves, getting pushed back on every front. The Iron Islands saw most of it's land power obliterated, and Dorne couldn't make up for the losses the others were suffering. In the end, they decided that the war was over, and signed a peace deal with the Pro-Coalition forces. They proclaimed lord Stannis II king, which was accepted by the coalition. How the new king would deal with his tremendous debt to the Iron Bank or the North, which was promised to more than one party, would be a question only time can answer.

#### Memes

As usual, the Maesters took it upon themselves to make memes from this beautiful piece of history