War of the Usurpers (Lord Tywin's Gift)

The **War of the Usurpers**, also called the **War of Betrayal**, was a civil war fought between three main factions in the Seven Kingdoms - those who supported Prince Rhaegar Targaryen's attempt to force his father Aerys II to abdicate the Iron Throne, the so-called 'Northern Alliance' which supported the young Robert Baratheon's claim to the throne as an anti-Targaryen claimant, and the small faction who supported Aerys II's current reign as King.

## Prelude

### Great Council of Harrenhal

In early 282 AC the Great Council was convened as was previously arranged, all the Great Houses and minor nobility attended and Prince Rhaegar expected his accession to the Iron Throne to come easily.

On the other hand the Northern Alliance, consisting of House Arryn, House Stark and House Tully, wished to push the candidacy of Robert Baratheon, second cousin of Rhaegar. They hoped to use the potential Targaryen split between father and son to push their anti-Targaryen candidate and so gain control over the Seven Kingdom.

The third candidate, Aerys II, was supported initially only by Steffon Beratheon and a handful of minor houses including House Velaryon. The loyalty of Steffon to Aerys frustrated many in the Northern Alliance, but it was a tenuous loyalty as the King had become increasingly aggressive towards his new Hand.

As the council went on the three factions grew further apart as the arguments became more visceral, eventually Steffon Baratheon abandoned the lightly supported Aerys II in favour of his own son.

### Capture of King Aerys II

The Great Council of Harrenhal came to an abrupt end when Aerys II's madness took over after Steffon Baratheon's betrayal and he attempted to arrest all the leaders of the Great Houses and his own son Rhaegar, a move which briefly united the two bickering factions as two members of the Kingsguard defected to Rhaegar and they resisted detention. The defection of Arthur Dayne and Oswell Whent to Rhaegar - their 'True King' - led to the capture of the Mad King when he attempted to flee back to King's Landing. Rhaegar and his companions evaded the King's Party and rode to Maidenpool, managing to use House Mooton's loyalty to take a ship back to Dragonstone before the remaining Kingsguard caught up to them.

## War of the Usurpers

### War in the East

* **Taking of Gulltown**: After a siege, the Vale forces loyal to Lord Jon Arryn launched an assault on the port city. The attack began well for the rebels, the walls of the city were broken and hand-to-hand fighting began. In the midst of the fighting the loyalist Lyn Corbray fought against his liege Lord Jon Arryn, he won the combat and slew the Lord of the Eyrie. Despite the death of Lord Jon Arryn the rebel forces continued and eventually won the assault on the port city, led by Lord Yohn Royce and Ser Elbert Arryn - the new Lord of the Eyrie.

### The Rise of Rhaegar

* **Plot to free King Aerys II**: With the King successfully captured by Prince Rhaegar and held on the island of Dragonstone, the King's party and his remaining loyal Kingsguard hatched a plot to rescue Aerys II and bring him back to King's Landing. The man who led the planning for this escapade was Ser Barristan Selmy who just five years prior had rescued the King from Duskendale. The Velaryon's sent Selmy over to Dragonstone and snuck him in through a secret entrance where he almost succeeded in his mission, but was captured before he could escape the castle.
* **Battle of Blackwater Bay**: After the failure of Aerys factions gamble to rescue the King, Rhaegar needed to take naval control of Blackwater Bay to ensure his planned invasion of the capital King's Landing could go ahead unimpeded. After Lord Paxter Redwyne arrived with the Redwyne fleet and joined the Royal fleet defectors the assault began and it was the largest naval battle of the whole war, some sixty ships sank in the battle of which two-thirds belonged to the Velaryon fleet. Lord Lucerys Velaryon drowned when his flagship sank. The remaining Velaryon's ships defected to Rhaegar after the the new Lord Monford Velaryon declared his allegiance to the Dragon Prince.
* **Capture of King's Landing**: The capture of the city began with Rhaegar's now expanded fleet, led by Paxter Redwyne, sailed from Dragonstone to the capital and engaged with the remaining Royal fleet. The enormous fleet which Rhaegar controlled easily swept aside the few ships which hadn't defected to the Prince's side, and so his army made its way down the Blackwater Bay. Commander Manly Stokeworth and his City Watch defended the King's Gate against the Prince's forces initially, however as the tide of battle quickly went Rhaegar's way the gold cloaks began to either lay down their arms or defect. The ensuing combat ended with few casualties, though the Ser Jaremy Rykker of the Kingsguard was slain in the bloodshed.
* **Drowning of Aerys II Targaryen**: Having captured the capital, Rhaegar decided to move his father back to King's Landing in the hope that he would abdicate once it became clear he had no way of halting Rhaegar's accession. Thus the Mad King was to be brought to King's Landing and imprisoned in the Red Keep, however on the voyage across Blackwater Bay a storm caused the vessel Aerys was travelling on to crash and all onboard drowned, including the King.

### War in the South

The first major theatre in the war away from the Siege of Gulltown and Capture of King's Landing was in the South, not only did the Reach side with Rhaegar I, but some lords of the Stormlands also supported the Silver King against their Baratheon liege lord. Meanwhile Lord Mace Tyrell called up his bannermen to prepare for war against the Baratheon claimant.

* **Battles at Summerhall**: Three lords had agreed to gather at Summerhall to launch a siege against their liege, Lord Steffon Baratheon, as they remained loyal to the Targaryen dynasty. The Lord Paramount and his son the claimant to the throne, Ser Robert Baratheon, were informed of the incoming attack by Ser Richard Lonmouth, former ally of King Rhaegar I. Robert and his host fell upon the lords one after the other over the course of a day in which three battles took place, defeating all the rebellious lords and befriending them in the process.
* **Battle of Ashford**: After securing the support of the rebellious lords at Summerhall Robert went west. hoping to capture Ashford and thus secure the western flank of the Stormlands. Though it wasn't a large battle it proved key to ensuring the Reach could move into the Stormlands as Robert lost to Lord Randyll Tarly. Following the battle Robert escaped and moved most of his troops on a forced march north in order to link up with Northern and Eyrie forces.
* **Battle of Storm's End**: After winning at Ashford, Lord Mace Tyrell moved the overwhelming bulk of his host to Storm's End to siege the Baratheon's centre of power. At the castle was an army led by Lord Steffon Baratheon, who had been training a new force in preparation for the possible Tyrell advance. The troops clashed in a bloody battle which saw the Reachmen crush the Stormlanders under the command of Randyll Tarly, though Lord Mace Tyrell claimed it as his own. During the battle Lord Steffon was slain at the hands of Lord Randyll who was wielding the Valyrian steel sword of his house - Heartsbane.
* **Siege of Storm's End**: The death of Lord Steffon Baratheon forced much of the army he had been training to retreat behind the walls of Storm's End, where Steffon's second son Stannis was now in command against the besieging forces. The siege would last most of the remainder of the war as Lord Mace Tyrell would keep the vast majority of his army in the Stormlands, avoiding the fighting to the north.

### War in the Riverlands

As the Stormlands faced its own infighting the Lannister's to the West began making moves to formally join the war, Lord Tywin Lannister has his brother Ser Tygett Lannister and various bannermen raise their forces to prepare for an invasion of the Riverlands, with his son Ser Jaime Lannister joining them. Though the Riverlands are technically neutral, they've marriage arrangements with two of the main players in the war - Catelyn Tully to Brandon Stark, and Lysa Tully to Elbert Arryn. As the Lannister's muster their forces the Tully's react in kind, raising their own host and sending troops along the river road to defend against Westerland forces that may fight through the Golden Tooth.

* **Battle of the Golden Tooth**: The Lannister invasion of the Riverlands opened with Ser Tygett Lannister descending on the defending Tully forces with 20,000 men. He easily broke the defending troops under Lord's Vance and Piper, killing Vance in the process and forcing Piper back to Riverrun with Lannister forces hot on his heels.
* **Battle of Riverrun**: The Lannister forces under Ser Tygett Lannister descended upon the Tully forces massed at Riverrun, led by Lord Hoster Tully himself alongside Riverrun's master-at-arms, Ser Desmond Grell. The battle was a decisive victory for the Lannister's, however Lord Tully was able to retreat into Riverrun with his troops, thus forcing his opponents to lay siege to the fortress. Meanwhile a sizeable section of the army had left prior to the battle led by Ser Brynden Tully, hoping to travel to Harrenhal and wait for allied forces.
* **Escape to The Twins**: As the Tully forces led by Ser Brynden Tully that had left Riverrun made their way to Harrenhal where they hoped to hole up as they waited for the Stark and Arryn armies, Lord Walter Whent denied them access to the castle. House Whent had declared for the Dragon Prince and wouldn't host an enemy force, despite four of the company being the children of Lord Hoster Tully and his wife, Minisa Whent. To avoid being trapped by Lannister forces coming from the South the Blackfish was forced to march his troops northwards, towards The Twins, home of House Frey.

### The Wolf and the Lion

The Tully army under Ser Brynden Tully escaped northwards and met the vanguard of the Stark forces led by Lord Rickard Stark and his son Brandon Stark at The Twins, home of House Frey. With the Kingsroad cut off by loyalist forces the only chance the Northern Alliance had of relieving the siege on Riverrun and winning the rebellion would be to go through The Twins. However Lord Walder Frey had refused to take up arms after his liege Lord Hoster Tully called his bannermen, and now refused to allow the Stark host through without a deal being struck. In exchange for the crossing and support of House Frey the Northern Alliance made a deal in which Lord Rickard Stark agreed to take on two of Walder Frey's grandchildren on as squires, while also most controversially betrothing the heir to Riverrun, Edmure Tully to a daughter of Walder Frey, Morya Frey, and the second son of Lord Rickard Stark, Eddard, being married to Maegelle Frey. Simultaneously Brandon Stark married his betrothed Catelyn Stark.

* **Second Battle of Riverrun**: The large bulk of the Stark force, now bolstered with Frey and Mallister forces, marches down from the Twins. The army's process is noted by scouts who give Ser Tygett Lannister, the commander of the forces besieging Riverrun, information on the army's movements. Though he is outnumbered and can't rely on his brother, Lord Tywin Lannister, who's forces are holed up in Harrenhal preparing for an assault from the Vale, Tygett has time to build effective defences and wait. The ensuing conflict was a bloody one, though most of the bloodshed came from the rebel's forces, primary amongst the deaths being Brandon Stark, heir to Winterfell, slain by Ser Rupert Brax during a last ditch attempt to avoid disaster on the battlefield.
* **Battle of Saltpans**: To the East, as Lord Tywin Lannister had surmised, the Vale forces had united under the new Lord Elbert Arryn. The new lord had a fire to him similar to that of his close friend Brandon Stark, and he marched through the Mountains of the Moon on the high road, seeking to lay siege to the Lannister forces holed up in Harrenhal. He hoped Stark victories at the Green Fork and Riverrun would allow him to gain ground, though the failures of the rebels became imminently clear when he was met on the road near to Saltpans by loyalist forces. The proceeding battle was a bloody one in which Tywin Lannister preyed on Elbert's relative lack of battle experience and ensnared him, defeating the Vale forces and pressing them to retreat back to the mountains. Lord Elbert Arryn was slain in the battle by Ser Gregor Clegane, thus a distant Arryn cousin, Ser Denys Arryn, became the new Lord of the Eyrie, though the young man had been captured in the battle.