Cracker

"That's why it's being destroyed"

A letter is sent to the post offices of the Sovereign of Hanseti "To the Hochmeister, I write to you with interest in joining the Teutonic Order. Its legacy precedes itself and to become a Knight of Winter only spoken in legend and mythos would be a great honor. I am but a humble man learning his ways around both the sword and quill in his time in Oren, but I feel I could be a great asset to the Teutonic Order. Notably, in every combat scenario I have partook in, I was outnumbered, but never quite outgunned; a skill I hear which is necessary among all high-ranking Sariants. Regards, Black Barrow" Attached in the envelope is a series of caricatures. Marked on the top of one is "My propaganda abilities"

Me Me

I never asked for this crown. Gold is cold and heavy on the head, but so long as I am the king, I have a duty … If I must sacrifice a ducal title to the flames to save a million from landscarring and noble overpopulation … Sacrifice … is never easy, Tuvya. Or it is no true sacrifice. [teeth grinding intensifies]

"Why do we fight. There is no need to fight"

GM Post In the North... At Harrenhal (Not done yet)

Please don't ever do this again

House Gardener of Highgarden Mern Gardener's disappointment in the Hightower slight was only compounded by the nature of it. Highgarden intrigue is rarely clean, but an old, respected House such as the Hightowers should have had the decency to put politic aside in times of mourning and grief. It was not as though Mern was betrothed to Janna, and even then, how could he chose whom he loved? But the prickly Banfred whom took to imagined slights had not weathered Mern's personal love of the Hightower family. Mern was a learned man and the history and culture of Oldtown and its Septons fascinated him. The Hightowers were renowned for their vigilance and fidelity, and Mern was not to let one sour apple spoil the bunch. Over a long night, King Mern responds to several ravens. The first he addresses is to the Hightowers. A letter is sent to the Durrandons, informing him that his third son, Garth Gardener, was heading to the Stormlands. A letter is sent back to the Reynes, informing that they will consider the match if Lady Myranda is sent to Highgarden and manages to impress Willas, a fickle man whom was known to change his taste in women by the month. In the letter, they inquire why Lady Reyne, whom is in her early 30s, remains unwed. After heeding counsel, the King of the Reach had began a long march to the Harrenhal tourney. Mern summons his vassal-hosts to represent the Reach at Harrenhal; namely Hightower, Redwyne, and Tarly. Mern alone took four thousand of the famous Gardener Knights and two-thousand veteran men-at-arms (heavy infantry). The remainder of his forces stayed at Highgarden, whilst Ser Horas tended to the Reach in his stead. Accompanying the King were his daughter, Alys, and his middle son, Gyles Gardener. The young son of Horas, Leonard Gardener, also came, eager for his witness his first foreign tourney, along with Willas and his bastard Leywin Flowers. Luthor, the crown prince, was not keen on the prospects of condoning the slave-built Harrenhal, even with the High Septon's blessings, and whilst the adventurous Garth protested his father's decision, he was to be sent to the Stormlands instead of Harrenhal to seek court with King Durrandon. Garth is sent with 2,000 Gardener Knights and 2,000 Light Infantry. OOC: House Gardener responds to the Hightower betrothal House Gardener sends Garth Gardener with 3,000 Knights and 2,000 foot to the Stormlands House Gardener responds to the Reyne betrothal King Mern, Princess Alys, Prince Gyles, Willas Gardener, Leonard Gardener, and Leywin Flowers make way to Harrenhall with a host of 4,000 knights and 2,000 heavy infantry

If crayfishchris does not respond to his skype or post either in here or in the RP thread in the next 12 hours, the Lannisters will be open as a House. I'll wait until then before accepting new houses, because I'm sure some of the applicants may want to play as House Lannister. EDIT: Pok will be playing House Lannister with crayfish's absence. I talked to idiotcozzy and he decided to play House Greyjoy

GM In The Vale... In the Riverlands... In the Reach.. By the Blackwater.. In the Westerlands..

OOC: MCNAME: Fat_Paki SKYPENAME: thecrackerjack1234 How Active are you?: Couple hours a day. Do you have teamspeak?: Yeah IC: Name: Kimberly "Kim" Colin Race: Human Age: 18 Experience: Kimberly is a master swordsmen, chef, and trainer. Short Bio: Kimberly was born to Giana and Lydolf Colin, a strong virtous man ready to take on the world. His friends call him "Semi" which always annoys him. He strives to become a knight and be renowned for his power and dexterity.

Accepted, though starting military strength will be 3,000 light infantry. Wildling/barbarian military mechanics are as follows Wildlings can only amass light infantry until they conquer a stronghold. They start with 12k Light Infantry, and have no levy cap. Wildling light infantry are only 0.75x as strong though. Every 48 hours, their troop numbers rise or lower on a range from -3k to 5k men depending on rolls. In the case of the Burned Men, your troop numbers start at 3,000 infantry and will raise between -1k to 3k every 48 hours. Burned Men make no gold; however, they can rob and pillage surrounding strongholds. Specialty of Burned Man Wildlings is that they can attack mountains and terrains without the opposing party having a damage buff and deal 1.5x (tho this is nerfed by 0.75x for wildlings in general) damage in the mountains, offense or defense.

Yup, apply ahead, the more the merrier.

At the moment, we are only taking Houses or barbarians. Mercenaries are more or less RP'd by the GMs. Also people should try to sign up as bannerhouses to the current houses that have 0-1 bannerhouses.

GM (@Draeris) (@Hiebe;) (@Eddywilson2;) ______ House Gardener of Highgarden While the Gardeners were renowned for their wild debauchery and excess, the day was solemn in Highgarden as sept bells rang to indicate a death in the royal family. Queen Margaery Gardener, born to House Redwynne, had died after a long struggle with pneumonia. Loved by the smallfolk and bearer of four royal children to the crown, her passing was met with great remorse and sadness among the commoners and nobility alike. Every Reachmen noble from The Arbor to the Grassy Vale was in attendance to honor the deceased queen, and heading the procession was none other than the King of the Reach, Mern IX. King Mern IX had ascended to the throne at the age of thirty-one; from there, his sole goal had been to strengthen the Andal line, unify the Reach, and insure that the Lord of Highgarden would stand paramount among any noble in the seven kingdoms. He rectified his father's strained relationships with their various vassal Houses through strong marriage alliances and assumed a more dominant role in Highgarden politik by having the burgeoning Tyrell House act solely as stewards instead of hands of the realm. His first ten years of rule had been marked with distinct domestic reform, and now it was time for the Reach to look outwards to the rest of the realm. Mern grieved the loss of his lady wife, but he knew that he could languish in sorrow on his own time. At the center keep of the Highgarden Palace, he and three of his most valuable lords had taken to council, in order to discuss the progression of the realm. Mern ended the meeting with a resounding speech to his lords-in-council. "The time has come for the Reach to do its duty for their realm around it; to civilize those whom lack the chivalry of the Andals and the righteousness of the Seven. The reachmen are the paragons of the Andalian civilization and House Gardener the Hand which guides them. Summon your levies, raise your ships, and muster your men. See to it to secure critical alliances. Our enemies will see to think we are but a pack of gallant oafs drinking away our coin and eating away our troubles. Let them underestimate the Kingdom of the Rose and Reach, and let them realize of which Hand guides the realm. For Highgarden, for the Gardeners, for the reach." As dusk settles, King Mern spends the night in correspondence with the foreign lords of Westeroes. He responds curtly to the letter from House Royce of the Runestones. " To the High Lords of Runestone, the Righteous House of Royce, The House Gardener is most interested in trading with the Royces of Runestone. The Vale and Reach are both composed of men most attuned to their Andal heritage and the righteous chivalry of our traditions and heritage and it would be in the Seven's best interest to work together in a prosperous union. Mayhaps even a union of matrimony with a House of the Reach?" He responds with a courteous letter containing typical Gardener pomp to the Storm King, indicating that he has two younger sons whom could be eligible for Lady Durrandon. King Mern contemplates deeply whether to have his House attend the Great Tourney of Harrenhal. His stomach turns at the thought of condoning a tournament built on the back of enslaved rivermen and riverlords of the Seven; yet the honor of Gardener tradition implores him to attend to champion the chivalry of the Reach and inspire the oppressed riverlanders. He asks Lord Redwyne, Lord Tarly, and the High Septon of Oldtown for council regarding the matter. King Mern has a letter sent to the Eyrie for the hands of King Ronnel "To those High as Honor, the Arryns of the Eyrie, "The House of Gardener would like to propose a marriage between its youngest daughter and the standing Lord of the Eyrie, King Ronnel the First, and cement an alliance against wayward barbarians and defilers of Westeroes. Together, our houses would be bound strong and champion the honor, chivalry, and spirit of our Andal forefathers." Mern orders his steward and castellan, Ser Harlan Tyrell, to raise the forces of Highgarden. He allots four-hundred hands out of his 1,400 treasury to go towards the mustering of fresh troops, and one-hundred dragons hands a potential outpost along the Roseroad to increase trade, in particular with the Valesmen. Mern sends a 100 hands to the Most Devout for the good will of his deceased wife. ____ OOC: Actions taken in this post Passing of King Mern's wife. Commands to House Redwyne, House Tarly, and House Hightower to raise their forces and train extra troops. Accepting the House Royce trade agreements and offering a potential House alliance with a House of the Reach. Response to House Durrandon indicating that House Gardener has two non-heir sons eligible for wedding. Request to House Redywyne, House Tarly, and the Most Devout for advise regarding the Harrenhal Tourney Letter to House Arryn offering a marriage. 400 Gold Spent Mustering 1,000 Heavy Infantry Troops 100 Gold Spent on Economic Improvements 100 Gold sent to the Most Devout/High Septon Remaining Treasury: 800 Dragons House Gardener members King Mern IX [unwed, Age 41] Crown Prince Luthor[unwed, age 23] Prince Gyles [unwed, age 20] Prince Garth [unwed, age 19] Princess Alys [unwed, age 16] Willas Gardener, Brother to Mern [unwed, Age 37] Leywin Flowers [unwed, age 16] Roslin Flowers [unwed, 10] Horas Gardener, Brother to Mern [Wed to Sharlee Tarly, Age 35] Sofia Gardener [unwed, 15] Leonard Gardener [unwed, 12] Elyn Gardener [unwed, 10]

-snip, double post-

With the Wildlings, I don't think the number matters too much because they are very primitive and their whole strategy is zerg-rush. I'd basically go with something anywhere between 3-10x the Night's Watch numbers. However, Night's Watch numbers at this time were at around 10,000; the Game of Thrones mod just has them lowered for some reason. Up to the GM for whichever he prefers.

By using the Game of Thrones CK2 Mod, I found what are fairly lore-credible military strength numbers for various Houses that people have applied as so far. Some are a bit unauthentic due to balancing for CK2 (Night's Watch is a prime example) but its something to examine. This will help us balance things once the RP begins since some numbers are a bit off (I personally used my application numbers from post Crowned-Stag instead of accounting for the fact this is 300 years earlier, and thus much lower populations + worse military technology). I'll be editing this listing with new applicants as time goes on. Houses in the Reach Gardener - 33k men, 108 ships Redwyne - 5k men, 88 ships Hightower - 6k men, 33 ships Tarly - 4k men Houses in Dorne Martell - 18k men Houses in Stormlands Durrendon - 21k men, 5 ships Houses in the Vale Arryn - 16k men, 2 ships Sunderland -1k men (I'd bump this up to 3-5k just to match other vassal houses) Houses in the Westerlands Lannisters - 30k men, 40 ships Reynes - 7k men Houses in the Iron Islands/Riverlands Hoare - 27k men, 170 ships Mudd - 4k men Houses at Clackclaw Point United Clackclaw Houses - 5k men Houses in the North Stark - 23k men Bolton - 4k men Karstark - 3k men Night's Watch - 1k men (should be 10k by lore standards) Faith Militant - 10k men We can balance it out to make it more fun for the RPers but I think our numbers as a whole should follow a similar pattern; for example, Reach Houses may have high numbers but they also border the most provinces and have the least defense while the Vale and Dorne are both well protected with multiple natural defenses to compensate for their low numbers. We should also add a money factor into the game to account for sellswords, building fleets, purchasing rations to avoid attrition, naval blockades, upkeep of military forces, mustering levies, and other fun factors. I also think any new applicants should apply as vassal Houses to help balance things out. They are enough Reach houses, for example.

Also, we should get someone to play as House Darklyn; they are the last independent petty kings and I believe they rule over the Crownlands + Dragonstone. It'd be a shame to leave that region vacant when it is independent. EDIT: Just checked on the CK2 Game of Thrones Mod and realized that Darklyn's aren't independent at this period. The Houses of Crackclaw Point are though, so someone should consider playing one of those!

Application; OOC; Forum name: Cracker Skype (can be PMed to me if you wish): thecrackerjack1234 IC: House/Faction: House Gardener Starting military strength (keep it reasonable): 80k in the landforce total; 45k men-at-arms, 25k Reach Cavalry, 5k Reach Knights. Over 200 warships, though I'll gladly edit and coordinate numbers with others.

What kind of rhetoric is that? He's punishing people whom struck him and have defied their superiors consistently; that's no indication of lunacy.

But the only people he wishes to remove are Lucienists who were never under the Kingdom in the first place and he wishes to remove them for abandoning the war cause and attacking him during court! That sounds something a good king would do.

Crackerjacking intensifies...

At least when I played IG, each of those nations had extreme discrepancies in, as you said, values, approaches, and motives. Salvus was a multi-racial peaceful kingdom which aspired to act as a model of virtue, Renatus was your generic medieval kingdom plagued with scorn from the world, and Hanseti was an overzealous society bound by law and tradition. I'm sure there's some parallel here (zealot Hanseti = zealot High Elves, accepting peace aspiring kingdom = accepting peace aspiring wood elves, and scorned Renatus = scorned dark elves (unfairly so, to be fair) and as a human player who played throughout that unification process I don't see Malinor being an impossible entity to create.