The Third Clash

The Third Clash was a conflict between the great houses nineteen years after the decisive victory of Stannis Baratheon II and Beric Dondarrion II at the end of the Second Clash in Riverrun.

#### Prelude

The nineteen years of peace brought on by the king Stannis II was, according to some, no true peace. The Riverlands were appeased to much in their beliefs, allowing the remnants of the Trident Union to grow and spread to other kingdoms. Most noticeably in the Crownlands where their ideology proved popular among the smallfolk and peasantry of King's Landing. Alot of bitterness and resentment towards Stannis could still be felt in the North amongst the Bolton Banditry, a once proud house now conveniently deemed traitors. Traitors that were in direct opposition to the newly established joined Kingdoms of the North and Iron Islands, a combination which would make any Southern Lord rest uneasy in the night. Maesters speculate it was this hazardous situation which formed a giant unrest in the Southern Kingdoms which led to, unorthodox methods, in dealing with ones enemies in the war to come.

#### Participants

Urri Greyjoy

Oberyn II Martell

Danney II Lannister

Juon Dondarrion

#### Conflict at the Edges

When King Stannis Baratheon II died, the first conflict was found at the very edges of Westerosi civilisation. The lord of the Reach had been importing draconic artefacts for almost a decade, stockpiling them with the eventual goal of hatching the dragon egg that had once belonged to Lord Haatack Stark.

However, Urri Greyjoy of the Iron Islands and North and Juon Dondarrion of the Stormlands caught wind of this plan, and intercepted the transportation of Dragoncaller, a giant horn crucial to the hatching of the egg. This was blamed on pirates, but absolutely no-one actually believed this. A seething Lord of the Reach couldn't find the actual culprits though and for most of the conflict, the horn remained in the Winterfell Crypts with Lord Urri.

#### The United Westerosi Merchant Company

At the start of his Reign, King Stannis II founded the UWMC to consolidate all westerosi colonies and overseas posessions. The profit generated from this was meant to offset the budged deficit that the Iron Bank was owed. However, the company was personally owned by the King. When the king died, all great lords began buying up stock in the company, leading to an economic arms race for all of the land the Crown owned in Essos. The primary winners of this economic showdown were the Riverlands, the Westerlands and the Vale who all ended up with significant shares in this company.

#### The Great Uprising

The Lord of the Vale was a pious man, and preached hard against all the heathens and heretics that infested the seven kingdoms. One of these speeches took a turn for the worst when the Sept of Baelor, newly rebuilt by Stannis Baratheon II, was blown up by the lord of the Stormlands with all occupants. This caused significant casualties, burned down a third of King's Landing but also archieved their main goal: to kill the lord of the Vale. However, this public execution of their spiritual paragon was greatly upsetting to the citizens of King's Landing. They rose up in rebellion against the Great Lords, who were to blame for this mess in their eyes. The lords were forced to flee the capital, and many raised their banners in order to supress this rebellion. Instead, the Lord of the Stormlands and the Lord of the Westerlands decided to cooperate with the Lord of the Reach to satisfy the people. More than 6 million breads and ten thousand gold dragons were spent to pacify and arm the rebels, who were transformed into a neutral militia to protect king's landing from foreign invaders.

#### Last of the Dragons

One would be forgiven to think that with the Dragoncaller Horn safely stored and hidden in Winterfell, this would mean the end of a dragon summoning. As is usually the case with history, this could not be further from the truth. Urri Greyjoy, made Lord of a vast kingdom at only the age of 14, had a fascination with dragons like all young children do. Going against the warnings of all his advisors, the horn was retrieved from the Crypts and send directly to the Lord of the Reach, which by now had come into possession of all the needed items for his ritual.

With all the artefacts in place, the lord of the Reach made for Summerhall to enact the ritual. However, Juon Dondarrion had seen this coming and had prepared: The entirety of Summerhall had been trapped with a giant cashe of Wildfyre. Any ritual fire, no matter how controlled, would inevetibly spark a giant blaze. Once more, Summerhall was consumed in fire, ash and blood. But, it wasn't in vain. While the Lord of the Reach had died in the trap, an infant dragon had emerged from the ashes. Until this day, it roams the mountains and terrorizes all smallfolk in its path.

#### Last stand in the Vale

The son of the Lord of the Vale wouldn't give up so easily however, and he raised his flag in rebellion. The lords of Westeros decided to crush this rebellion and mustered an enormous force if no less than 60,000 troops and 4,000 ships to destroy the opposing 12,000 troops and small fleet that the Vale posessed. This came to a head in Gulltown, which had been fortified by the Lord of the Vale. For every casualty the Knights of the Vale took down two or three enemies, but it woudn't matter. With 20,000 bodies dead on the beach and the riotous peasants from King's Landing taking the Eyerie, the uprising was decisively crushed. The new King and Queen: Juon Dondarrion and the Lady of Dorne, decided to leave the commonfolk in charge, seriously destabilizing the region and adding to the influence the peasantry was building in Westeros.

#### Aftermath

The conflict had so many different events and world changing incidents that it is known by the Maesters and other historians as the Clash of Chaos. Many elements and details from the previous Clash would find their way back into this chaotic time period, like the joined Kingdom of the Iron Islands and the North and Lord Haatack Stark's dragon egg. Old ideologies which can be traced back to the First Clash became popular again aswell.

With the dragons reborn in the Stormlands and a large influence from the commonfolk in the Riverlands, Vale and Crownlands, it remains to be seen how the Great Houses of Westeros will fare in the wars to come.

#### Memes

As usual, the Maesters of the Citadel created many memes to remember this historic event. They are as follows: