11 The new paramount lord
Jon Arryn Pov 2 hours before the negotiation
finally, this war is over, we still have to eliminate the Targaryen on dragonstone island, but, the dilemma of the fleet will be for later, we have no ships while the queen still controls enough ships to prevent us from accessing it.
Lord Hohenzollern had prevented the city from suffering at the hands of the Lannisters, I don't know how he managed to control Tywin, but his men did not commit any acts against the civilian population, they only wiped out the Targaryen supporters, besides protecting Elia martel the most important card to achieve peace with dorne, with her in our control the princes of dorne will be forced to negotiate.
I do not know what Lord Hohenzollern did, but the stories of how he deceived the bannermen of the reach were already spreading, making many lords angry at the lack of honor of the Prussians, I would be the first to accuse him for his dishonorable actions; however, his actions were necessary to win this war.
Arriving at the meeting hall, the supreme septon, king robert and varys the spider were waiting for me, I quickly took a seat and looked at the supreme septon.
''Tell us supreme septon what conflict does the faith of the seven have with lord Hohenzollern?'', I said with a serious tone, looking the supreme septon in the eyes ''those heretics you hired have been extorting all the septs in the reach, threatening to burn them to the ground if we did not deliver our wealth to them'' said the septon with much anger.
Lord Hohenzollern did what, I know that the terms of the contract we made with him gave him the right to plunder, but we didn't know at the time that lord Hohenzollern believed in another faith we thought he was a follower of the faith of the seven, this is serious, both ways, if the faith asks me to break the deal with them, lord Hohenzollern could react violently and with the largest army in the seven kingdoms it would take a long time to expel him.
As I thought about how we should act, Varys spoke up.
''my lords, I fear what the supreme septon says is only half true, my little birds confirm that yes lord Hohenzollern's men did extort money from the septs but only in the northern part of the reach, furthermore it was not a direct order from lord Hohenzollern, what my little birds say is that he ordered the septs not to be touched, it was an independent decision of one of his officers, the man who did the deeds was demoted from his military position, now only occupying a position as leader of a garrison of 20 men'' said Varys with a relaxed tone.
With this new information, I felt more relaxed, Lord Hohenzollern did not perform the acts with his consent, but he insulted the faith just the same.
Looking with a serious face at the supreme septon''well, regardless of who or how the acts against the septon were performed, what does the faith want supreme septon, to forget this little problem between the Prussians and you''I said with a conciliatory tone.
''we want the contract with the crown not to be respected, the duty of the king is to protect the faith and to hand over to him one of the most sacred places of the faith, it would go against what the previous kings promised'' said the supreme septon
''I gave my word to Lord Hohenzollern that every castle he took would be his property'' said Robert.
Why Robert is so hot-blooded and can't think a little more before saying something?, I was too soft with him?, Eddard is so serene why did they come out so different if I educated them in the same way?
''supreme septon, you see the position of the new king is not stable, we need the support of the faith as well as the support of lord Hohenzollern, is it not possible for us to reconcile the differences for the good of the kingdom?'' I said with a friendly tone
''It is not possible, the starry sept cannot be under the protection of someone who does not believe in the faith of the seven'' he said almost shouting ''but if we left the Hightower as guardians of Oldtown would that be enough for you?'', I asked with a serious tone.
The supreme septon became thoughtful and looked at me again.
Yes, but the Hightower will not be strong enough to prevent the Prussians from destroying everything, if they wish, the faith needs a political and military counterweight in the reach against the Prussians, there must be more lords to prevent him from becoming too powerful and trying to convert the righteous faithful of the faith with his corrupt religion'' he said in a serious manner.
Well, we are making progress, at least I have something to bargain with lord Hohenzollern with.
''well let's say I can get the Prussians to agree to this, which nobles will we leave to counterbalance the power of the Prussian lord? I said in a questioning tone
''2/3 of the reach at least'' said the septon ''that's too much, they will never accept, we can try to keep the lords south of the Highgarden and the tarly, it should be enough to give resistance to the Prussians if they go mad, so we can gather enough forces to help them in this hypothetical case'''
The septon showed a grim face the whole time,''fine, but we also want compensation for what was extorted, about 20 million golden dragons,10 times more than what they took''he said calmly.
''again my lords the supreme septon is telling half-truths, according to my little birds the Prussians only plundered around, 300000 golden dragons from the northern septs.
The septon glared at varys for highlighting his lies for the second time.
''why don't you remove the eunuch from this meeting?'', asked the septon ''I only see it in the interest of the kingdom and your decision to lie may lead to the Prussians rebelling against the crown'' finished Varys in a friendly tone.
I coughed to turn my attention back to me''well how about the sum of 3 million golden dragons 10 times what the Prussians extorted?'', I said in a questioning tone
''the faith is fine with that amount of compensation'' said the supreme septon.
After that, we agreed on the parameters that we would offer to lord Hohenzollern, leaving the bannermen south of the Highgarden territories, the economic compensation and that lord Hohenzollern would not try to impose his faith by force on the inhabitants of the reach.
The supreme septon left the room with a pleased face, we had managed to calm the faith, but now we should try to calm lord hohenzoller, if half of the stories are true, his armies are invincible, and he is a military genius who does not care about honor to win battles.
''thank you Varys, without you the septon could have influenced me to punish lord hohenzoller with his lies'' I said to the master of whispers ''my only interest is the good of the realm'' said the spider.
We ended the meeting and the first to leave was Robert, it seems that all this discussion gave him the appetite to drink and sleep with a beautiful servant, now I will have to look for him to negotiate with Lord hohenzollern.
Friedrich Wilhelm POV 2 days later
finally, after this war I will be able to give my men the rest they deserve, most of the men following me are veterans since the beginning of the religious war, almost 22 years of uninterrupted service, mostly men who are 40 or approaching 50 years old and another group of soldiers who only have 2 years or less of service from the new recruits I acquired to take the war south, but now with all the Targaryen forces destroyed at least on the ground, I could begin to demobilize my forces in the future
I had already sent letters to my commanders and which territories belong to us, to be on alert, it is likely that the former owners will not take kindly to losing their ancestral possessions and may become the notorious robber barons.
Furthermore, I have sent back all my men to the reach territories, except for the Teutonic knights who will accompany me until I finish all the necessary protocols, although the delivery of the title paramount lord of the reach had already happened Robert insisted that I should attend a banquet where he would officially name me in front of all the lords with my newly acquired title.
But the administration of my new fiefdoms will have to wait because now it is time to perform this social act that will recognize my formal dominion over the conquered territories.
I was putting on the best garments I possessed, as well as some medals of military merits, while the Teutons will accompany me with your typical black on white tabard and a white cloak.
arriving to the great hall finally my arrival was announced, luckily it was only my title as lord because if they had to announce my German titles it would take about 3 minutes for them to name them all
''Lord Friedrich Wilhelm Von Hohenzollern'' said the herald.
I walked forward, followed by my Teutonic knights who were looking everywhere for dangers, when finally I came to see Robert sitting on the iron throne.
When finally Robert stood up and spoke
''I greet you my honored guests, you may have all wondered why you are here today, here is why'' he said as he pointed at me ''Lord hohenzollern our loyal supporter against the forces of the mad king, after much debate and long consideration, I Robert Baratheon the King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, bestow the title of paramount lord of the reach on Lord Friedrich Wilhelm Von Hohenzollern as well as the title of guardian of the south''said robert with a tone of dignity.
When I finished my official appointment as paramount lord, the whispers began, probably things related to my actions in the war or other things.
Finally, Robert started the banquet, and he invited me to eat with him.
10 minutes passed where I was perplexed to see how Robert ate and drank without stopping, when Lord Arryn called my attention
''Lord Hohenzollern I have a question for you, many lords have asked me if I could ask you if you are interested in any marriage, since all attempts to reach you end with a ''polite'' rejection by your knights''' said Lord Arryn kindly.
20 YEARS OF WAR, how is it possible that your people could withstand so much,'' shouted Lord Arryn.
When Jon Arryn said this, the music stopped and also all the nearby lords began to be interested in the conversation he was having with the king.
''willpower and fear, if we lost, years of religious repression awaited us, where we would be hunted for our beliefs, no one wanted to surrender, and the war continues, until finally, we managed to win, but at a high cost, the men that accompany me mostly are the veterans of those campaigns with some new recruits that were good enough to try to repair the professional army of Prussia'' I said with a calm tone
''that explains why you are so proficient in leading armies, you have many battles of experience even more than most in this room'' said Hoster Tully approaching the table.
After that many lords approached, and we shared personal battle experiences, Robert seemed to love the fact that he could recount his deeds in war, everyone was happy at this moment Robert has an aura of leadership that changes people.
Finally, as the feast was ending I was preparing to return to my room to get some sleep, tomorrow we had a meeting on how to proceed with the Targaryen threat at dragonstone.
After resting from last night's banquet I got up and put on my clothes and left for the small council, although I am not a member, they wanted to have me around for my military opinion.
I saw King Robert, Jon Arryn, Barristan Selmy and what I believe to be Stannis, the king's brother.
King Robert looks like he was hung over from the inhuman amount of wine he consumed yesterday, but he was the one leading the meeting anyway.
''we need to get ships to conquer dragonstone every day that passes while those dragons are still alive, weakens my government'' Robert said while clenching his fist tightly.
''we don't have the ships and creating a fleet takes time, besides all the competent sailors were in the royal fleet'' Stannis said with a serious tone, showing no emotion on his face
''Lord Hohenzollern wish to add something?'' Lord Arryn asked, hoping he would give a solution''well if it is about naval tactics, you are looking at the wrong man, but about how to get a fleet, we have a way to get one with the Redwine their fleet is intact and traveling from Arbor to the capital will only take a moon or two, in that time we could try to build some ships to try to defeat the Targaryen fleet''I said as I looked at a crude map of the king's landing bay
''how many ships can the king's landing arsenal produce'', I asked Lord Arryn ''I'm not sure but a war galley every 15 days'', Lord Arryn said doubtfully.
''that long?, if they have standardized parts, a war galley should be able to be assembled every 3 days'' I said with a questioning tone ''war galleys don't have standardization, they are made to specific order and some are made bigger or smaller depending on the need of the fleet'' said Stannis.
''this shit is getting us nowhere, I'm out of here'' said Robert getting up angrily and leaving the council.
''I'm sorry, my lords, for the king's actions, he's a bit stressed about not being able to put down the Targaryen resistance at dragonstone,'' said Jon Arryn.
''his anger is understandable, his sworn enemies are 1 or 2 days away and he can't do anything to eliminate them, it's not like we can do anything about it either, ships don't grow on trees, even if they are made from them'' I said getting up from my chair.
''lord Arryn, is my presence in the capital necessary, I wish to return to the reach as soon as possible'' I asked Jon Arryn ''there are some banquets that Robert wishes to organize and a tournament in the future, but I understand your concern I recommend that you leave as soon as possible, before the king decides to have another banquet and asks you to tell his war stories again.
With the permission of the king's hand I withdrew from the small council, quickly to my knights to leave for our new home of HighGarden that we will have to rebuild a little, since we went too far with the siege of its walls.
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guys question of the day, I would like to have an opinion on how much technology to use in the story, to use the 1630's technology or a little more preserving the medieval or going to a little more modern technology like 1840-90 with or without preserving the medieval theme.
The other thing I should add is a romantic relationship?, this is something I haven't considered, since I don't have experience doing it (neither writing, this is my first story).
