Tradition and ceremonies

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-Pov of Jon arryn eighth moon 286 AC

The young Prussian lord surveyed everyone present, keeping his face serene as the eyes of the lords of the Seven Kingdoms stared at him intently.

Lord Hohenzollern placed his scepter and orb on his chair, which had a specific place to set these items, and clasped his hands together.

"My esteemed guests, I am pleased to have all of you here, under my roof. I sincerely hope that you can set aside your enmities and intrigues during the course of this event, so that you may enjoy the moment... Eat and drink as much as you desire, let nothing limit you. Enjoy my hospitality for honoring me with your presence... King Robert, would you do me the honor of opening the first bottle?" Lord Hohenzollern said in a loud and firm tone that was clearly heard throughout the silent hall.

Almost like lightning, Robert grabbed a beautifully adorned bottle that a Prussian servant had brought him while the Prussian lord was speaking, and uncorked it, creating a sound that echoed throughout the hall.

In an instant, many doors began to open, through which an army of servants entered, carrying hundreds of silver trays laden with food and bottles of liquor, which were quickly distributed among all the guests.

Without much delay, several servants brought in enormous statues made of ice, as well as large quantities of ice that were cut into small cubes to facilitate their use in cooling drinks.

Finally, several glass containers filled with the most expensive and exotic spices that could be found in the Seven Kingdoms were placed so that anyone could further season their food, although it was already perfectly cooked and seasoned.

For almost twenty minutes, the sea of servants went in and out of the hall with empty or full trays to continue their work of feeding an army of nobles, many of whom had never been able to afford something so exotic. Some unfortunate behaviors were observed among some lords, such as hoarding the spices for themselves or simply storing them, as even if those containers disappeared, the Prussian servants would replace them in a few minutes.

However, on the Prussian side, there was also a noble acting a bit out of place: the one-eyed noble sitting across from me had his dog in a chair, where he had placed a plate of roasted meat, though without anything extra. His dog was eating with us.

I would have said something to the noble, but Robert was also feeding the dog and loved that it was so well-trained.

A loud, dry thud given with a heavy steel object caught everyone's attention, bringing it back to the Prussian lord, and the multiple voices and laughter slowly stopped as we all looked at the host of the banquet.

"I hope the food is to your liking. Seeing that many of you have satisfied your hunger, allow me to say a few words," said Lord Hohenzollern in the common tongue.

After saying this, Lord Hohenzollern began to speak in his native language, which I was already learning, but I couldn't understand someone who spoke it natively. When he finished, he cleared his throat.

"My honorable guests, as you all know, I was not born in your lands. To many of you, if not all, I am an invader, something many will never let me forget, being the most common way in which many of you have treated me, unlike how I have treated you. But I will take advantage of this peaceful moment to remind you all that we are all part of the Seven Kingdoms. I know that all of you have made your own contributions to help maintain the stability of the Seven Kingdoms… just as I have."

"We all know the honorable history of my betrothed's family and their loyal and stable governance throughout much of the history of the Seven Kingdoms, providing the necessary grain for the terrible and long winters… little compared to what I have done for the realm."

"When I encountered the people of The Reach, they were merely farmers wearing furs or garments of terrible quality, barely able to defend themselves from pirate attacks or raids from the south. Under my rule, they began to live in cities with good laws and customs, establishing a strong defense of the south, and finally expanding the farmlands, achieving record harvests one after another and putting the mines to work. The pirates, who used to terrorize all the coastal lords, a problem that has been eliminated, are now in the mines or rowing on ships that are hunting their comrades."

"All this for the good and stability of the Seven Kingdoms. The trade routes to Essos are safe for the wealth of all of you: the treasures of Pentos, the riches of Braavos, the jewels of Volantis, within reach of all those who wish to enrich themselves. But everything I have done for the realm and for you always seems to be received bitterly… AS IF EVERYONE FORGETS THAT WE HAVE AN ENEMY!"

"YES, AND YOU ALL KNOW WHO IT IS!... That enemy knows us and fears us… Only as long as we remain united will their madness never again tread on the Seven Kingdoms. Just beware of their puppets among us, waiting for their moment to stab us in the back. Know them, spite them, give them no succor or shelter. Only then will we maintain what we have worked so hard for," said Lord Hohenzollern in a more aggressive tone, reproaching several, though he never named them.

A deathly silence dominated the great hall after Lord Hohenzollern's words.

"That being said, please, continue while we also initiate a noble tradition… Those who wish to pay homage, please," said the young Prussian in a calm tone.

I looked at the one-eyed noble for some explanation,just in case it is very different from what I am thinking , and he returned my gaze with his good eye.

"Homage is the most common way to gain our lord's recognition—a gift of gold, jewels, historical or religious objects, or something obtained by right of conquest, is given to our Prussian lord at these gatherings that are held every ten or twenty years. If your gift is good, you could obtain prestigious positions, permissions to have more soldiers in your personal forces, gifts of soldiers, lands, or the granting of titles. The other option is to attract attention on the battlefield through meritocratic promotion," said the one-eyed man as he looked at his lord.

"Gift soldiers?" asked Robert after wiping his mouth following a long swig of beer.

"That's right, our lord trains soldiers in the usual way, except that they are paid two or three times more, as they cannot obtain promotions and, sooner or later, must move on to their new lord. Normally, the number of soldiers you can have under your command, who are not part of the Prussian army, is determined by your noble rank, and new nobles are given these soldiers, along with gold to pay their salaries for a few months, or a few dozen soldiers are given to your sons so they can start practicing their command skills from an early age," responded the noble as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I see... Jon, what did we bring Wilhelm?" Robert asked, looking at the long line forming.

"Silverware and silk clothes, although it seems he won't need the clothes if he can afford such attire," I replied, noticing the fine garments of the Prussian lord.

"Ha, ha, ha, my lord didn't pay a single coin for these clothes... they are an inheritance from his grandfather; he only had to adjust them a bit. For us for us, who have this information, our lord dresses with austerity without appearing so," said the noble, knowing exactly what had crossed my mind.

As the banquet continued and the servants appeared everywhere again, replenishing food, spices, drinks, and ice, and bringing rare dishes of Prussian origin, everyone was very attentive to the gifts given to Lord Hohenzollern.

It was quite common for the Prussian lord to be gifted swords and armor, as well as small chests of gold and silver. The Prussian lord responded with thanks and moved on to the next, and from what I understood, it didn't particularly interest him.

The moment I saw the Prussian lord's eyes widen was when a group of Prussian nobles presented him with a nail. From what I could gather, it was supposedly one of the nails used to crucify the one said to be the savior of the Protestants, and it had been given to one of the nobles' relatives when he attended as a crusader to a ruler of an empire. It was a religious artifact of great value, so much so that this gift was handed to Lord Hohenzollern for him to observe. The Prussian lord rose from his throne and, with the sword that had been given to him, bestowed a title on the noble who presented the gift, along with a good number of soldiers and a substantial amount of gold.

The nail was carefully stored, and everything proceeded normally until a wolf-head figure appeared with a book and three boxes that were handed over to Lord Hohenzollern's knights.

The Prussian lord read the book, and I saw him smile, and a quill wrote something in the book while they opened the boxes for him to see what was inside.

Although I couldn't see what was in the boxes, observing Janna Tyrell's pale face and her attempt to stifle a gasp made it obvious what was inside those boxes.

The book was returned, and Lord Hohenzollern spoke with it in his tongue when finally, the wolf-head figure knelt to give thanks.

For nearly an hour, everything continued normally with the gifts. Another notable item was a mechanism similar to the clock towers found in all Prussian cities but small enough to fit in a pocket. The noble was rewarded with a huge amount of gold for it, but nothing more.

When it was finally the turn of the one at the end of the long line, he had a smile full of arrogance, something rare among the Prussians.

He approached his lord carrying three swords covered by a cloth over his arms and knelt before his lord, presenting them.

When one of the knights removed the cloth, the distinctive pattern of Valyrian steel was revealed.

In a matter of seconds, the festive atmosphere came to a halt, and everyone stared at the gift that had been presented. Even Robert regained some sobriety upon seeing the swords.

Just by looking around, I saw two completely different reactions: the Prussians smiling, admiring the gift, and on the other side, faces full of envy, gazing with desire at the gift the Prussian lord had just received.

The gift was examined by the Prussian lord, who took the three swords with a smile, then appeared pensive.

When he ordered the noble to kneel, the noble requested that any reward in his name be given to his father, the leader of his house, who was called from his place and also had to kneel before the Prussian lord.

He was granted the title of Graf, a generous amount of gold, two thousand men for his new guard, and, to everyone's surprise, he returned one of the Valyrian steel swords to the one who had given it.

Father and son were smiling, but for some reason, the son was laughing like a maniac.

After this ceremony, the Prussian lord joined us for a meal, and we went to the tournaments that were taking place.

It was no surprise to anyone that the Prussians won the multiple tournaments, and this time many Teutonic knights, who were personal guards of Lord Hohenzollern, participated, as good as Charles or even slightly better.

In the melee tournament, the exiled noble's cousin fought against Charles, who controlled the fight at all times until Charles switched weapons, as the other knight was superior with the sword.

Days passed, and the banquets continued, even in the city streets, as the people were also celebrating their lord's marriage. Flags with the Prussian lord's heraldry waved in every house in the cities.

The few days when Robert was sober had passed, and it was common to find him drunk everywhere. For some reason, Cersei tried to spend a lot of time with the Prussian lord. Perhaps Lord Tywin wanted to end the conflict with the Prussian lord by using his daughter to send messages.

The tournament winners became rich men overnight, although many were Teutonic knights who had taken vows of poverty, and I doubt they can make use of their newfound wealth.

The food never ran out, even when the last day of the banquets arrived, everything remained completely abundant.

Finally, the wedding ceremony began, and like on the first day of the banquets, the Prussian lord and his bride wore those extravagant clothes. We went to the cathedral, which had a beautiful design, where many of the windows had religious designs.

After a short ceremony, Lord Hohenzollern was officially married.

For the first time, I saw the look of disappointment on the faces of the Prussian nobles when news came that struck them harder than one of Robert's war hammers.

Their lord decided to break a tradition of noble marriages from where they came, which consisted of the presence of witnesses on the first night of the newlyweds. That was very strange, and I could understand why perhaps Lord Hohenzollern preferred to avoid following the tradition.

But something that not even the powerful Prussian lord could avoid was the presence of the bodyguards.

He explained to me that these bodyguards were chosen by his father so they would never leave him alone in a room, and he had to do the same with his son, a "necrocracy," as Lord Hohenzollern said, and not even he could bend that law.

But demonstrating his cunning, or a way of always circumventing the rules, his bridal chamber was enormous; his bodyguards were in the room but hidden behind heavy curtains. Thus, the marriage was consummated.

'I wish the disappointments Robert gives me were only of this kind.'

When everything was over, all the noble houses returned to their homes. We did the same afterward, although I had plans to return earlier, but I had to stay until the end to avoid offending the Prussian lord, who preferred to consummate his marriage on the last day to force us all to stay.

When we return to King's Landing, a sea of paperwork awaits me, in addition to trying to resolve the legal problems with the powerful lords.

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Give me your power stones

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I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.

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