Darkspear Coup

### Outcome

House Darkspear regains control of the Stepstones,* House Sunfyre given control of Oldstones
* House Pyne exiled from the Stepstones
* the Stepstones join the Verdants in the war with the Lashes

Combatants| Sunfyre Loyalists~* House Sunfyre
* House Pyne
* House Whent
* House Maloris
* House Warden

Commanders| * Lord Rhaegon Sunfyre
* Ser Hollis Pyne
* Lord Daniel Youngflower
* Lord Arthur Whent
* Lord Jaqharys Maloris
* Lord Garahel Warden

## Prelude

> *Daniel: Ideally, this is bloodless and we get you and your father back where you belong.*
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> *Darron: Knowing you, your already prepared for the unideal situation.*
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The Stepstones had been under Sunfyre control for many months, and under him many of the lords were unsatisfied, despite Rhaegon Sunfyre's best efforts to pacify them or win them over but it proved harder then he expected, while he was still in power and tried to reward people the lords knew his acts were unjust in taking the lands and despite his insistence he was in control and not an arm of the Redwater's, Hollis Pyne's elevated status in the realm and Rhaegon's relations with the Redwater's made his claims hard to stand. Not too long after he took control of it he lead the Stepstones into a war with Tyrosh controlled Myr, and though he was successful in winning the battle the results had hurt the Stepstones relations Haywin had worked to gain there and the men were noticeably at odds with many of his decisions. During this many of the lords began to plot against Rhaegon and work in regards to removing him from power and bringing Haywin back to the fray, the most noticeable thing was bringing Darron Darkspear back into the Stepstones as a Squire of a close friend of Haywin, Daniel Youngflower which brought the former prince of the Stepstones back to the lands while Haywin and his daughter and brother remained in Oldstones. Rhaegon felt this was a ploy a way to get intel to and from Haywin without leaving a paper trail but there was little he could do about Darron's inclusion back without causing a stir aside from focusing his spy network on Daniel's forces to try and detect any trickery. This opened up the other conspirator to act in a more blatant manner, Arthur Whent sent letters trying to get aid for there plans starting with his family in the Starkwoods and Wilders. Artos wasn't opposed to the idea but felt it would be bad business to break his promise of alliance to the Stepstones and Zelos had few men to offer and wasnt interested in playing such political games so soon after the Dornish campaign ended and peace needed to be properly established. Arthur also sent letters to many of the other lords, ambigious letters so that if Rhaegon got them he could play the fool and pretend they weren't alluding to treason to gauge how they felt about there current predicament. The contents of these letters are unknown but it seems many of them had there reservations about serving Rhaegon if not all of them, nevertheless it was all he could do just to avoid suspicion with Hollis Pyne visiting every once in awhile, claiming it was to explain why he did what he did and restore any hurt relations but many felt it was a direct show of force that they were being monitiered.

## The Escalation

> *Hollis: Youngflower is in on it, that much is certain. The Whents are a sure bet, given your closeness to the Redwaters.*
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> *Rhaegon: Yet with so few bits of evidence I cant confront him or remove them without weakening myself. No matter these are the kind of games I was built to play, we wont lose so long as we play our cards right.*
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Haywin had made phenomenal progress on Oldstones and making it a castle worthy of a lord given its old position, and how familiar he was with the plot was unknown though Rhaegon spared no expense in getting spies sent to the castle wondering what he might be planning, though many met unfortunate fates traveling two and from the areas at the hands of bandits, which many now believe to be fates befallen them by The Order of the Black Knights though no such direct connection can be made. Rhaegon knew open warfare was a bad option given how his actions had noticeably angered the King last time as he likewise felt the attacks were unjust and unprompted powerplay at the expense of a staunch ally. It seemed to the Sunfyre lord taking the lands had proven more trouble then it was worth and he was the one at the direct relations of it. Rhaegon would make trips to KL hoping to curry favor with the king by growing trade relations and supplies for his campaign, he stopped short of sending men to fight in the war itself since he knew he needed every possible man for any potential issues home and he was unsure just how much power he actually had at the moment. The task at hand required more tact then anything else and while Hollis Pyne and his spies had pinpointed the main perpetrators to be Daniel and Arthur, they didnt have enough to punish them, especially since the Stepstones had so few lords to begin with. Though Rhaegon was making strides with the Wardens who had been telling him how Arthur Whent had been trying to test there loyalty and see where it stood and feeding this information to Rhaegon so he could try and stay one step ahead of the conspirators.

To make matters worse the War broke out and Rhaegon started to lose more control of the situation once the V-L war reached there lands, Arthur Whent and Daniel pledged there blades to the cause as were many others before Rhaegon stamped it out, he was caught in a issues of allegiance as he owed the Verdants, but he was married to the Redwater's who had backed the Lashes and thus declared neutrality was there way, anything else was treason, Garahel Warden was the first to back the plan and travelled to Sunstone as an act of goodwill, to signify that the Warden's would never act In the interest of anything else but the Stepstones which Rhaegon appreciated, even more so when he offered to act as a hostage to assure none of his family would act behind him. Daniel who knew he had Darron Darkspear to look after capitulated and stayed neutral but Arthur Whent not a man known for being the most cautious of people, refused pointing out that he had allegiances in the war as well mainly to the Starkwoods, and that he wasnt betraying the Stepstones by fighting. This put Rhaegon in a tough situation as while it was true to an extent, mainly the extent that he wasnt acting traitorous by assisting the Verdants, Sunfyre allies and the Starkwoods by extension, his in-laws there was some middle ground mainly that Rhaegon was an ally of the Redwaters who backed the Lashes, and a s a Sunfyre vassal that made him an ally of the Redwater as well, but that was middle ground Rhaegon was hesitant to press him on simply for the bad precedent it set. Rhaegon knew he had been dealing with accusations of being a Redwater toady for awhile, and his biggest ally in the region Hollis was a Redwater ally, to try and press Arthur on this would open the floodgates of him being nothing more then there pawn even more, after so much work went into closing it and Rhaegon started to feel thats exactly what Arthur wanted him to do. Rhaegon wasn't a novice and he found a way around it, allowing Hollis to fight for the Lashes which put him in direct confrontation with Arthur when the two were on opposite sides during the March to Castamere which the Lashes won, during which Hollis goaded Arthur into trying to attack him which Arthur did in a foolish act that gave Rhaegon all the precedent he needed. Declaring that no Stepstone lords should fight one another he demanded that Arthur Whent and Hollis Pyne come to his keep to address what happened and talk to him directly, it took both of them out of the war, and would likely lead to something he could use to put a lasting punishment on Arthur that allowed him to stymie the Lord's actions and defiance. It looked like a death sentence for Arthur and Daniel quickly moved out to meet them there as well seemingly hoping to appeal to Rhaegon for mercy on his behalf, Lord Maloris, a friend of Daniel also moved out to help him bringing some of his best men with him since he was aware things could go wrong, unknown to all of them Haywin Darkspear had taken a route from Oldstones to Dorne and was closing in on the Stepstones around this time for an at the time unknown purpose.

## The Coup

> *Rhaegon: You thought you could be smart and help hurt my in-laws and that you would walk away unscatched? The Redwaters will win this war like they do every other and then what will you have to show for your actions?*
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> *Arthur: If the Gods are good. I'll have a Lord I can follow. Garahel! Now!*
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With all the pieces set Daniel Youngflower, Arthur Whent, Jaqharys Maloris, Garahel Warden and Hollis Pyne had come to Sunstone to meet with Rhaegon who ordered all of the lords to his chamber's where his crossbow men loomed over all and the matter of the V-L war was to be discussed. The other lords such as the Lightingfyres, House Harris, House Tullius, and House Ryndhill were absent or working on tasks assigned by Rhaegon himself to keep them busy. Daniel had come to apologize for the acts Arthur had done and pledged for a lenient punishment, Rhaegon only promised he would be as lenient as was deserved as he needed to remind people they couldnt just act without him, then demanded Arthur and Hollis explain themselves. Arthur justified his actions by his allegeince to the Starkwoods, and his desire to see the Stepstones integrated into the mainlands better by backing a Sunfyre friend in the Verdants. Hollis backed his own reasons up, saying he wanted to protect there interests with the redwater's and how the Lashes were in the right, and that backing the Verdant's was foolish. He and Rhaegon also countered Arthur's argument claiming that he was acting more in spite of his duties to fight the Redwater's and added he took the first possible chance to try and kill Hollis during the war, rather then defend the Verdant's interests. To humble the Whent lord he was forced to apologize to Hollis and then was made to kneel in front of Rhaegon who demanded he remind everyone here who he owed allegiance to. Arthur did apologize to Hollis and then kneel but stopped mid pledge to Rhaegon seemingly unable to act on it, which only made his situation worse as Rhaegon reminded him how his actions would cost his house if he couldnt act as it was only by his mercy the Redwater's hadn't cast him out yet, at this Arthur spat pointing out it wasnt by his mercy but by the deal Haywin made Rhaegon accept after his betrayal of his kingdom, here Arthur laid out all of his negative feelings for his Liege lord and his actions and how he was done toing the line. Rhaegon was unfazed by the insults and pleased with the results as it gave him all the justification he needed to accuse Arthur of definitive treason, as he reprimanded him for his actions once again though he realized the extent of the trap he had really walked into when Arthur called for Garahel to act and his men emerged from there hiding places having somehow gotten up to where Rhaegon's crossbow men were and either subdued or killed them.

The fight that followed broke out a in blur almost too fast for Rhaegon to comprehend before he knew it his men were fighting and being shot at by the Warden soldiers who had taken the positions of his crossbowmen and the lords besides Hollis had all turned against him, and he was soon fighting his way out alongside Rhaegon. Rhaegon was quick to act and his men just as quick or else he would have been caught easily but the man had been surprised and the battle quickly turned against him as he tried to fight and flee from his own castle or at least from the enemies that had taken residence in it. His army was either not present or on patrol and only his garrison forces were available at the time of the coup preventing him from being able to overwhelm the attackers as he fled and was able to lock himself in his chambers where his Golden Wing elite guards could help him defend the last bits of castle not taken by the enemy, Hollis was captured in the fighting but the rest of his forces couldnt fully assemble to him as The Warden troops warned them that pushing in came at the risk of getting there lord killed. To make matters worse Darron Darkspear and a familiar face Haywin arrived soon after with the might of the Youngflower forces and some Whent's a large enough host to fight Rhaegon's forces, while House Pyne's troops were forced to stay back or risk there lord being killed. In this situation Rhaegon quickly went over the odds in his head and bitterly realized that with no Redwater support incoming due to the war, his only guaranteed ally in the hands of the enemy and his castle likely to be surrounded by the army of his conspirators that he had been beaten but refusing to look weak even now he wanted a parley with Haywin to renegotiate there deal they made months ago. Haywin knowing the odds were in his favor and not wanting to start his return to the Stepstones in the death of many men and lords accepted and met Rhaegon.

## Negotiations

> *Rhaegon: Never did I imagine a man like you could inspire such loyatly*
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> *Haywin: Of course you couldn't. You think too lowly of anybody to assume they could possibly ever be truly loyal.*
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Rhaegon and Haywin were mostly cordial to each other as the reports go, though the occasional jab was present they discussed the terms of the trade rather well. Haywin would become the Lord Paramount of the Stepstones in Rhaegon's place and his castle Bloodstone which had once been set to be given to someone else would become the capital of the Region again. The exchange as for the land in the Riverlands Oldstones which Rhaegon refused to cede control to the Haywin without gaining, though Hayin was much more willing to part with it then he expected, the obvious rule being that some of its current income would still go to Haywin. Furthing this Hollis Pyne was to be exiled from the lands permanently which Hollis accepted with unexpected grace, he knew it was coming when the coup happened and he wasnt interested in giving his enemies the satisfaction of seeing him beg or complain, as soon as he got home he told his men they were leaving and they did where he set sail for the Riverlands to put his loyalty where it had ultimately always been back under his friend Jory where he offered to help him again during the war with the Verdant's. Haywin offered high praise to his loyal houses, and especially thanking the Warden's who have the fewest men of any house in the islands yet through the most behind the initial coup, though he made Daniel Youngflower the High Admiral of the Stepstones again as they were the strongest house besides his own and he had long since viewed Daniel as a son.

## Aftermath

> *Daniel: My lord..what is your first move now that you are rightfully where you belong.*
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> *Haywin: Mobilize the army. Rhaegon may have had compunctions about who to fight for in the Verdant-Lash war but I do not. Let us show the mainlander's just how powerful a united Stepstones really is. and show the Verdant's what having me as a friend brings them.*
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Haywin wasted little time using his newfound position to his advantage declaring he was backing the Verdant's in the war he ordered his available men to make way for Castle Lash where he intended to end the war. He gave command of these troops to Daniel himself while he stayed to get positioned back on Bloodstone, and he gave Garahel the task of recruiting sellswords if needed, mostly to keep him out of harm's way after all he risked in his bold play agaisnt the Sunfyre's. He brought the rest of the lords who didn't actively work in the coup but were assisting in other ways and rewarded them for there services before assigning them tasks to help establish his presence on the land, mainly in trying to foster better relations with the Free Cities that had faltered under Rhaegon. He was soon greeted with good news of his men's success in the The Battle of Castle Lash and ending the war then and there, bringing more prestige to his name and region, after taking the rewards offered by his good friend Daemon Verdant Haywin brought all of his lords for a feast to raise everyone's spirits and usher in a new age that would be coming soon with the start of a new year.

Unfortunately it would be the final year of Haywin's life, his time in exile from the lands he made a kingdom had affected him greatly, his demand of loyalty grown more important and his distaste for the mainland as a whole especially after the tourney at Oldstones where he watched Jory try and hurt a political enemy at his own castle had made him grow weary of serving the Brightflames as vassals, though his love for Rhaenys Brightflame remained and when her life was in danger in A Cornered Viper he was quick to act, but it was soon clear his love and devotion was to the Stepstones first and foremost and it was this mindset, however justified it may have been that lead to his inevitable end in the Darkspear Rebellion.