War of the Burning Brand

**The War of the Burning Brand** was a conflict from 354 - 357AC, though some maesters date it's beginnings as far back as 352 AC. It came to a head at the end of autumn, and ended mere weeks before winter. In it, Arrec of the Burning Brand, a veteran from the War of the Exile, raided and looted across borders, defeating armies and burning villages, until he and his bandit army were finally put to the sword in early 357AC.

## Background

The roots for this conflict can be found six years earlier, when Aurion the Exile and his army of bandits, brigands, and sellswords crossed the Narrow Sea to claim his birthright. Though they were defeated, many found themselves unable to return to their homeland due to the sinking or theft of their vessels. As the Wall was not a promising option, these soldiers then fell to crime, turning the lands between the Riverlands and the Reach into a hotbed of banditry.

In 348 AC rumors spread of a bandit king in the foothills of the Westerland mountains. Patrols along the border had increased dramatically over the years, but they were ineffective, only able to respond to bandit attacks long after they had occurred and the perpetrators escaped.

For years rumors spread, growing and growing, of a bandit king of increasing strength. On a fateful day in 352, a routine southron border patrol stumbles upon a huge, well worn fortification southwest of the headwaters of the Blackwater. Made of palisade and rough hewn stone, it is obviously no lord's keep - but in fact a bandit stronghold. The patrol falls back to their masters, and a month later returns in force.

The small army is defeated, ambushed in the foothills and all but entirely exterminated. Word spreads quickly of the assault, and as autumn has just begun, many nearby lords fear a powerful bandit could easily ruin their last few crops. They plead with their liege lords to send more men, but the final stages of the Crisis of the Nettle's Bounty draws the eyes of most lords west.

The bandits grow In the foothills, absorbing every other group in the region, before the **Sack of Stoney Sept** in late 354AC. Finally their leader reveals himself - Arrec of the Burning Brand, once-Commander of the Long Lances, and crowns himself King Arrec of the Blackwater.

## The Course of the War

### Raiding in Force

Arrec's men immediately begin to raid both north and south of the border in force, swatting aside the meager patrols in place there. When faced with an army mightier than they, Arrec's men would flee across the border again, into opposing territory. With tenison still high from the Crisis of the Nettle's Bounty, neither kingdom dared disregard the other's borders, and so for a time, Arrec thrived.

For half a year Arrec raided as he willed, every village near Stoney Sept prey to his followers. They swelled in number, more veterens from theWar of the Exile flocking to his cause, even as common criminals and desperate peasants took up arms beside him. With winter so near upon them, no lord dared abandon his fields for long enough to put down the threat, and so King Brandon XI of Winterfell and King Beric I of King's Landing decided to work together.

### The Call

They summoned volunteers from across the realm - any man willing to take up arms and earn his knighthood on the field of battle. Men, knights, and nobles from across the realm gathered, and together they advanced upon the bandits that plagued their lands.

### The Burning of the Brand

The Northern host swept down upon Stoney Sept, retaking it for the Riverlands in the **Liberation of Stoney Sept**. The south marched through the foothills of the Westerland mountains to fall upon the nameless stronghold in the **Assault on the Mountain**, tearing it's palisades and mortarless walls down upon the bodies of the slain. Arrec, however, had not been found on either site. He and a large majority of his men fled westward, hoping to escape with their lives.

They did not. In 357AC, the Northern host descended from the north, as the forces of the Crown advanced from the south. The heights of the Westerland mountains pierced the sky on the western flank, and Arrec and his army made their stand betwixt them all, in the **Battle of the Brand**. There King Arrec was slain by Alan Tarly, his army broken, and the threat to the kingdoms put to rest.

## Aftermath

Winter arrived mere weeks after the Battle of the Brand, and most lords returned to their homes. The bandits and brigands that had plagued Westeros greatly for the past decade had been dispersed or slain, finally returning to normal levels. The Kingdom of the North and Kingdom of the Iron Throne parted ways, a mutual victory under their belt helping to smooth over the previous two Crises in the minds of some, while in the minds of others, served only to prove that Westeros was stronger united.

The perceived unpreparedness of the Kingdom of the Iron Throne spurred the establishment of a Master of War, thereby increasing the number of Small Councilors to eight. A Selmy was named the first Master of War.