Swine King's Campaign

Combatants| * Swine King Bandits
* House Wilder
* House LittleKnight

Commanders| * Swine King
* Ser Zeto Aros
* Lord Wilfred Littleknight

## Prelude

> *Letters from the Swine King: Westeros had it easy under Bard, he was unambitious unwilling to do more then cause pain, I intend to put my talents to use and make sure that everyone knows who the true king in these lands is. Now and forever.*
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Not much is known about the Swine King, who he was or where he came from, all they knew was that he was dangerous. After the fall of men like Renly's rebels and Bard Koi it was assumed that bandits would lose there power, unfortunately the war of 7 King's had brought many unknown perils to the land before and more bandits seemed to be another side effect of that. the man emerged not too long after making his way in and taking anyone who would Bend the knee to him. As far as he was concerned he was the king of whatever land he loved on at the moment and he wanted everyone to see this. We have no records of any man who worked under him so the stories and information gathered are from survivors or former allies at best.

## Raiding the Crownlands and Riverlands

> *Village Elder: Greetings m'lord we saw you coming and would like to welcome you to are home*
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> *Swine King: Thats Your Grace*
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the Crownlands and the Riverlands were the source of the initial attacks, though many were dismissed as simple bandit attacks they were frequent and extravagant with the man making his presence known with every attack. Refusing to stay in the dark he eventually laid waist to a village near Fairmarket killing the elder and most of the men but keeping a few useful hunters and blacksmiths for himself and the women for his own pleasure. He maintained his presence in the village for a few weeks since none were able to flee where he forced a blacksmith by the name of Derrick to forge for him a makeshift crown before departing, likely knowing that eventually he would be found there and dealt with.

His next major attack was on another larger bandit party that had refused to leave his territory, as told by a survivor who fled the Swine King attacked out of nowhere and caught them in the night, killing over a third while the rest were scattered, eventually Bard forced there leader cristan to kneel and the rest followed slowly he was gaining an army. And he would continue to grow and harass the people in the area while expanding his turf and deaming it his right to hurt and kill as he pleased.

## The Search for Seles Wilder

> *Swine: This land belongs to the Swine king. Bend the knee and you may be shown mercy.*
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> *Lief: Your a King? We seem to be having a lot of those these days.*
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The Swine King got another chance meeting when Lief Wilder was leading the search for his cousin, tracking a suspect Harden in a cabin in the woods they were set upon by the king's forces and he personally killed the bandit himself showing himself to hold no allegiance to the kidnappers or the order in any capacity. Here he threatened to kill Lief and his allies if they didnt bend the knee, and acknowledge him as the owner of the lands. Lief himself attacked him by killing his horse causing enough of a distraction that allowed them to escape from the man but they barely escaped with there lives. When they went to the Flamehearts, the King was long gone for now, though it was soon shown that some of his men lost a fight with the The Order of the Black Knights while the search continued, indicating that they pushed them out of the area but the Swine King was not counted among the fallen nor did the men seem to be of any significance to the King himself. He would remain a thorn in the sides of others for some time after this. Avoiding patrols he couldnt beat and taking ones he could before vanishing into the forests again. Over time it seemed the Swine King had grown bolder as he stop setting his sights on minor things and proceeded to start going for another important thing, castles.

## Siege of Stepsister

> *Kan: The King wont tolerate this, surely you must know these lands are not yours.*
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> *Swine: Of course there mine. If the Brightflames were going to stop me, I'd be stopped already. The gods know who there siding with.*
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Wilfred LittleKnight was not a prominent lord. Squire to the Master of coins and leader of a land with very minimal forces it seemed to be a prominent place for the Swine king to attack. Wilfred was currently with Privat and would soon be heading to Dorne for the Celebrations at Starfall and the forces that garrisoned the castle only numbered 80. As there was a thunderstorm going on at the time, the sentries visibility was hindered, and it seemed most of them might have been falling asleep as most of the area was unmolested and isolated from many of the conflicts that prevailed in the War of the Seven Kings. But what they didnt expect cost them dearly as Goat, said to be a right hand man of the Swine King scaled the walls with a small party that was able to kill most of the sentries befor they could alert the guard and the rest of them opened the door forcing the Swine King in who demanded that they surrender and he'd spare some of them. Though the Littleknight soldiers tried to fight back they were quickly overwhelmed and wisely surrendered before more of them died. in one night the Swine King had swiftly and cruelly captured a castle which he boasted was something not even Bard ever dared to pull off. True to his word he spared the men who surrendered, or half at least as he killed a few he considered too defiant by nature to trust put he appointed others as part of his garrison still and took the rest prisoner.

Fancying himself king he made one of his commanders, a man named Monfred as the Lord of Stepsister and spent roughly a month lording over the castle, and actually subjecting his subjects to his 'rule' before he was approached by another party who actually offered to pay for his men services. The Swine King accepted and took his men to Dorne where he would see his plan through.

## Griften's Folly

> *Robb: Ive been hunting down bandits relentlessly for as long as I could. Theres only so much ground I can cover in Westeros*
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> *Artos: Indeed, much of the land we've covered as seen some fighting but none of the leaders have been there still they dont have unlimited men we'll find them eventually.*
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Ser Robb Griften had been a thorn in there sides since he started his personal hunt for Aegon Jadefyre. Wanting to avenge his 'marriage' to Seles Wilder, during this he had killed a few of the Swine King's men something that the man himself was made aware of, so when he heard the offer to deal with him the King was all too eager to avenge those losses. Traveling to Dorne with a small party he was soon overlooking Starfall for the celebrations until Robb had gone out to ride a bit with his horse, here he was quickly set upon by the King's men who dragged him off before anyone noticed and killed his horse, much to Robb's horror. Soon after a party was sent to save him once his kidnapping was discovered but the men had cleverly escaped into the land and were never caught. Robb has no record of where he was sent just that when he was able to see again he was on a small boat, restrained. Here the Swine King took great pleasure in detailing what he had in mind for him and how he enjoyed the look of anguish on his face when Robb's horse died, though Robb remained defiant the Swine King refused to kill him noting that he got more money to send him to Aegon alive, and thus Robb was brought to him completely intact and breathing though rather badly beaten. Robb's issues would only get worse as Aegon would soon take his hand, forever crippling the promising knight who's life had mostly been warfare.

## Retaking Stepsister

> *Wilfred: Face me in single combat. We'll decide the lordship of this castle the proper way.*
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> *Monfred: Ha! I accept, you win we'll surrender the castle to you, I win and theres one less noble in the world.*
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While the bandits were in Dorne they couldnt resist sending a taunting letter to Wilfed LittleKnight about the fall of his castle. When he got word of it he panicked and left the feast immediately. Taking his men with him. Though there was a problem, he only had 10 with him and the number of Bandits still there was uncertain. Still Will didnt feel deterred by this nor did he go to Lord Privat for help, instead marching up to the castle and demanding a fight of single combat. Monfred who had been left in charge still saw the man and found the challenge ridiculous. Wilfred was not a very skilled fighter, determined, strategic, and cautious but his skill at arms was not a strong point, so Monfred apparently felt confident in his chances. Leaving the safety of the castle to face him head on. It was his mistake. Though Wilfred was a man willing to face on the worst he could he wasnt about to show honor and mercy to men who had little honor themselves and instead hit Monfred with a crossbow, then finishing him off. Wilfred then moved onto the castle itself where the bandits demanded he be killed..but they were ignored when the Littleknight garrison soldiers attacked the bandits at the command of there real Lord. They tried to fight but they were outnumbered and caught off guard, quickly killed to the last man willing to fight.

Will had taken back his castle and the two month rule of the Swine King over Stepsister was ended. Its unknown how the bandit king handled the loss but he never again made an attempt at the castle. Instead he remained in hiding working with Aegon or by himself until the War broke out where the Swine King aligned himself with Haywin Darkspear in his rebellion. Though he never interacted with the King himself, instead making deals with the Black Knight forces who claimed that Haywin would help secure any of the land he took during the war. Its unknown how much Haywin actually knew of this alliance or if he had any intention of honor the deal his men were giving him but regardless he still agreed to help. The bandit King was ultimately just a pawn of the more dangerous and clever King of the Stepstones.

## Ambush at the Twins

> *Marq: Ive heard of the Swine King, and the Order has plagued the Riverlands for some time. But this attack was a joint effort, which must mean there might be more of them.*
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> *Jory: Bard Koi and Renly's Rebels were bad enough, These men have devastated so much and have more resources at there disposal. How do things manage to get worse no matter what we do?*
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Working in tangent with each other the Swine King priotized keeping the redwaters from helping King's Landing which Haywin's forces would be coming down on soon enough. Since the Brightflame forces were mostly tied up in the North Daeron appointed Jory and Robin to pull there men back and help protect the realm from this new threat. It was on there way down they planned to stop at the Redwater seat in the Twins resupply before making there track to the city, but they were stopped by the Bandit army that harassed them and hit them with various sneak attacks on there way to the Twins. the Swine King took it a step further attacking he village knowing that Jory would rush to help the smallfolk there, which Jory did and lead to him nearly dying when he met more resistance then he expected, even for someone as skilled as him. Thankfully some of his loyal Red star elite soldiers were there with him helping him turn the tide and force the attackers to leave but the damage was done. The Order was able to destroy most of the supplies and kill quite a few of the Redwater men, not enough to stop the Redwaters but enough that it would keep them from leaving anytime soon, far too late to help the city.

Though this was the only success the alliance found. The Swine King proved unpredictable in his actions and rather then maintain order and cooperation he went on his own again, trying to find a chance to do something else. This left the Order to face the brunt of an angered Redwater host, though Jory would have certaintly hoped to get his hands on the bandit King as well he would never get the chance to, and instead spent the rest of the war destroying the Black Knights to the last man, and by the end he had made sure they were completely defeated. The Order tried to contact the Swine King for help but he had another matter on his mind, claiming a new castle for himself.

## Siege of Wild's Den

> *Swine: You've had your chance to surrender peacefully now I will take what is mine and kill any who raise a hand against me, and a few who dont.*
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> *Zeto: You'll take nothing. If you attack this castle your aspirations will end by the sword.*
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Like the last castle he took the Lord of Wild's Den, Zelos Wilder was not at the castle when the Swine King set his sights on it. Instead he sent the Bulk of his army and the more experienced forces to help save King's Landing and fight in the war, this left the Master-at-arms Zeto Aros with the garrison forces, though it numbered 500 men most of them were green boys who had seen little training and had never seen combat, whereas the Swine King had well over a thousand men, all who had at least seen a few battles. Needless to say the bandit King had relatively good place to be confident that even agaisnt an experienced commander like Zeto he had a good chance of taking the castle. Fortunately Zeto had help, as even though many of soldiers were fighting either to defeat the Darkspears or Take the North some movement and well placed letters gave room for some reserve forces to come in at the right time to assist them at the eve of the battle.

The Swine King attacked up front having ladders capable of scaling the walls, Zeto lead the men in trying to keep them at bay firing arrows at the enemy as they approached, the castles natural defenses were holding but the numbers were still there until reinforcements arrived as many prime Wilder allies showed up to assist and attacked the Swine King's forces at the rear, one of them was the crippled but determined Robb Griften who charged at the King himself looking to avenge his kidnapping and repay the Wilders for all they had done for him. Though injured he still gave a good fight before being knocked down by the bandit leader. The Swine King got too confident and as he prepared to finish him he opened himself to a counter allowing Robb to eventually catch him in the side and then take his head off ending the man's life and path of destruction. The rest of the bandits started to flee being almost cut off before the last of his commanders Goat lead a pack of roughly 200 out of harms way, but the majority of the Swine King's forces were dead and dealt with and his campaign was officially over.

## Aftermath

> *Robb: His kind will never roam the Riverlands again, I can guarantee that much.*
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> *Jory: Maybe but we thought the same before and the world proved us wrong. These wars are draining us and driving the realm apart when unification should be the goal. People like the Swine King merely take advantage of the chaos to give the worst of us or the easily misguided an outlet.*
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The Wine King's remnants didnt last long under Goat, though he was dangerous the losses had hurt there man power and supplies and soon they ended being killed off as well by Addam Griften leader of the Ghost men and family to Robb Griften. But even then his impact was felt more many years, the fear he caused among smallfolks bred to resentment of those who had failed to protect them but still desired to see them fight in there wars. Thus more problems arised and some places saw more bandit attacks, though none of the magnitude of Bard or Swine for some time, his tactics would soon find some emulation in another offender in the next Vulture King who years down the line would cause havoc in the Stormlands, Reach and Dornish Marches before braving the takeover of castles himself. Though his death did bring comfort to many and for a time some level of stability could be achieved but the trials that followed were made harder due to the actions of men like him.