Chapter 1: The Heir to Riverrun (Edited: 26th April 2023)

(Riverrun, The Trident, The Riverlands, Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, Westeros, GoT Universe)

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(Year 271 AC)

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(Axel Tully POV)

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The year was 271 AC, and for five years, The boy known as Axel Tully was heir apparent to the Trident. You know reincarnating into Westeros wasn't a bad thing, but did whatever or whoever reincarnated him really have to put him into House Tully.

What was the saying? About the Hand of the King? The King Shits, and the Hand wipes? Well, the same could be said for the Riverlands.

But Axel, with his photographic memory and meta-knowledge, not to mention knowledge. About a large number of subjects, subjects such as Metallurgy, Farming, and Architecture. Which was actually funny, because as far as his past lives' education went, he'd grown up with a family who made their living in either Building/Architecture or Farming, Metallurgy and History were big deals for him as was gaming, soccer, and game of thrones.

Speaking of which, he wanted to create a new history of the Riverlands and to do that he had to be very clear and very thorough. Starting with the fortification and thoroughly planned out building of the Riverlands.

Every Major Bannerman would boast something critical to the future that Axel imagined. The Mallister's of Seagard would receive the first Military Academy of Westeros and the Blackwood's would be in charge of the Riverlands Arsenal and Crown Armories. The Bracken's would be given the job of forging and maintaining Weapons and Armours through Forges and Blacksmiths. The Piper's would be given the job of training and arming the best archers in the Riverlands, all of whom would be given Goldenheart Bows and inducted into the Personal Combat Force of Axel.

The Darry's after being brought to heel, would be charged with training and breeding the best Mounts in the Riverlands, as well as teaching the best riders. The Whent's would be given the job of producing a suitable summer and Winter Chateau, while the Vance's of Wayfarers Rest would be in charge of the Siege Works. Meanwhile the Frey's would be relegated to tax men.

Speaking of those weasel's though, he'd need to remember to have Lord Walder and a large portion of his brood offed. The women would be saved, but with the exception of Stevron, Stevron's offspring, Merrett and his cunts, Lothar, Olyvar, and Emmon and his brood, they remaining rats would all die.

Of course, these plans could only be fully realized post rebellion and if he convinced his father to step down.

Now Axel cared little for the Iron Throne, even less for who's ass sat on it, and he dreamed of a future without it. His two dreams were.

Number one, independence and Number Two, A Crown!

But of course, dreams and desires were often unobtainable in Westeros.

Ideally if Robert Baratheon expected his support in the Rebellion, he must grant the Riverlands their Independence and recognize Axel as a Sovereign Monarch.

Axel would also get to keep any territory he conquered, which was why he wanted to cut a path through the Reach to Highgarden and take it as a Vassal, and thus vassalizing the entire reach.

Which led into the important matter of Daenerys, Viserys would be allowed to fuck off for knows where, but Daenerys, Elia and Rhaenys would be split up and kept alive. Rhaenys and Elia would be kept in Dorne, but Dany would be raised by him and marry his future son.

His second and third sons would likely marry Rhaenys and Arianne Martell respectively. This cemented Dorne to him through two alliances and debts of gratitude and life.

Allowing him to have essentially become someone far too important to risk angering as he held the kingdom of food and flowers and kingdom of sand and citrus.

And this gave him control over Westeros's first, second, and third biggest producers of food. Meaning that if he played his cards right and played them well, when the death of Jon Arryn occurred, he would be perfectly positioned and poised to strike. Because he would be the one to rescue Ned Stark, Sansa, etc.

By doing that, he would be able to leverage Ned into backing the restoration of a Tully-Controlled Targaryen Dynasty.

What was more was he hoped to utilize the Greyjoy Rebellion to a) murder Euron Greyjoy, and b) get his hands on two things of immeasurable value.... Red Rain and Nightfall, those Two Swords would become Tully Relic's.

Now on the one hand it could be argued that in the first place the dream was just that, a dream. But here's the thing, becoming a monarch outside of the Iron Throne, but within Westeros allowed him to do two things. As a monarch, he could more easily...what was the word? Well, whatever it was, it didn't matter.

And the reason for that was, because for all that it would mean, it was simply a dream. The Riverlands was essentially a Buffer Kingdom for North, Vale, Westerlands, Reach, and Crownlands to shit on.

And while the possibilities of not being constrained by the Iron Throne, included that he would be able to make better use of resources. Such being that to start with, and before he began to truly fortify and build, he needed to expand the resources and profits of the Riverlands.

To that end, Beekeeping and maybe more husbandry and farming depending on the terrain involved. But a big focus would be on lumber and hunting game, expanding and building a thriving economy without destroying the ecosystem and expending the natural resources within a few generations.

Furs, skins, meats, and lumber would have to become a staple of the economy. With the Reach in his pocket, he would be able to build a veritable empire out of grains, furs, skins, leathers, meats, and lumber. And with the Dornish backing him, he could supplement that source of wealth with the citrus and other foods and items produced in Dorne.

That would have been critical to his long-term goals of supplanting the Lannister's as the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros richest and most powerful House. Because of what the position that such a status meant to the rest of the Nobility it would only prove to be of further benefit. And if Ned Stark wouldn't join him.... then there were alternatives.

Then again there was the argument that as a new and Independent Kingdom his dreams and goals would be hamstrung by Catelyn and Lysa marrying Ned and Jon Arryn because of their firm loyalty to Robert as well as the Lannister's own power and influence, but both men would have to remember that outside of White Harbor and Gulltown, they had no means of fighting a war without crossing through his lands, his kingdom.

Furthermore, if it all went to plan and the Reach fell into his grasp, then they would need also remember if they ever wanted to be feed outside of their own supplies which wouldn't last a few years at most.... well, then they had best not offend him, blood ties or not.

If he was honest, Axel knew that that kind of a dream probably wouldn't occur in his lifetime, if it ever did.

Didn't mean he could not pave the way for the possibility of it though.

So, building up the economy and facilitating civilization and technological advancements would happen in his lifetime. It was just the matter of resources and capability that would detract.

To start with he'd need to innovate improvements to the Metalworking of Westeros, and that would probably help the most in the long run. But this meant he needed shit tons of coin.

Another reason that recognizing the infeasibility of long-term independence for the Riverlands was unsustainable was brought up by his goal of further development. The Riverlands rivers were not an external defense, they were primarily in the central area of the Riverlands, so short of recreating the Great Wall of China and having the Manpower to defend it, he had few options to defend his would-be kingdom. But this could be used as an advantage, the wetlands for example would be useful for farming and pasturing and could even be used as a place to train troops effectively. The pasturing could also be used for raising horses, the grounds fertility and a carefully controlled diet should cover an initial and steep difficulty in improving cavalry mounts.

He could make use of different breeds from the various regions, but he'd need to be careful where he raised them and how soon he tried to breed them. Now, realistically horses could be breed at three years old give or take six or seven months. But that wasn't a good idea unless the horse came from the heavens because training often took a lifetime. So, his best option was to take advantage of diet, terrain advantages for training, and location of raising. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to go robbing, and steal some of Aerys mounts during the war, the King's stables were traditionally a good place for high-quality mounts to be found, and if part of his negotiation with Robert was to be appointed to the Small Council as Master of Ships or Laws as well as his Master of Horse, he could easily smuggle a few mounts out and build up his breeding females with better stock.

In the end this was all strictly theoretical for the moment, but it was worth remembering....

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(POV Shift: Hoster Tully)

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Hoster was very busy, and as always Little Cat found a to distract him. Except this time was different, apparently Little Axe was locked in his room and well, Cat being the big sister she was, was worried about her brother.

They were one year apart, but Catelyn doted on her brother like a mother and her first child.

The sudden shift in her brother scared the young Cat, but Hoster knew better than most of the wisdom in his son's eyes. Hoster had read the stories of men and women touched by the Seven with memories and intuitions not their own. Thus it came to be that Hoster wrote to the High Septon and Citadel requesting they determine if his son was one such person.

He had not yet heard back, but if his Son was among the blessed, then at least seven Archmaester's and the Most Devout would be on their way to determine the truth.

This was a big deal, blessed children were typically a once in a century thing, the first person deemed to be blessed in the post-AC era had been King Jaehaerys I, the one after him had been Baelor I, and the one after him had been Daeron II. If Axel was the Fourth, then the omens were good and House Tully would be on the rise.

Even so, given his sons age, it was time to begin the physical and martial training. Which meant calling on Brynden.

The man left a bad taste in his mouth, and not because of their disagreement's. No what actually left the bad taste in his gums was the insistence of Brynden calling himself Blackfish and using a heraldry that reflected it. Such was a practice of Knighted Bastards and Landed second sons.

Still, Brynden was the best Swordsman born in the Riverlands and still alive, after Ser's Jonothor Darry and Oswell Whent. If Axel proved talented enough he might just raise the matter to one of them about taking his son as a Squire.

But that was a matter for another time.

It was time to have his brother pay a visit to his nephew.

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(POV Shift: Brynden ''Blackfish'' Tully)

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Hoster called on him.

But rather than their usual debates, he informed him of the request to determine if Axel was one of the Blessed. Oh and that it was time to begin training him.

Coming to his nephews room, Brynden knocked on it.

The door cracked open to reveal his nephew peering out at him.

''Is Catelyn out there?'' Asks Axel.

''Should she be?'' Asks Brynden.

''She's been bothering me for an hour, there's only so many times I can be polite before I start swearing at her.'' Says Axel, causing Brynden some small amusement.

''It is time to begin your martial Training, come with me.'' Says Brynden, as he idly glances at some of his nephews drawings. Their crudely drawn, typical for a child of five years.

And yet...

Brynden, who fought in the War of the Ninepenny Kings, recognized what essentially had been drawn, and knew if further refined, the damage that could be inflicted. This was a drawing of an unseen Siege Engine. Pocketing it out of sight of his Nephew, Brynden resolves to hand it to Hoster when he gets the next opportunity to do so.

Mayhaps, just maybe, Hoster was correct in his suspicions.

This would be an interesting lesson.

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(POV Shift: Hoster Tully)

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Hoster, together with Little Cat, was observing Axel's first lesson in arms, and was quite pleased.

Axel, a boy of five ignored Brynden, some small amusement there, but it was what followed that impressed him.

Axel showed immense promise, already understanding basic maneuvers and stance, as well as how to parry, dodge, and strike fast or strike hard. What also stood out was that he showed a proficiency with daggers, bows, and the Spear. But more than that was the fact he didn't really have a dominant hand, he did tend to favour his left a little bit more than his right, but he was no less skilled in wielding right than left.

If this kind of promise proved to be actual talent, as opposed to simple luck or skill, and showed ample enough improvement over the next few years, he would write Lord-Commander Hightower asking for Ser Jonothor or Ser Oswell to take his boy on as their Squire.

As a Squire, a boy who gets Knighted gains a measure of prestige from he who knighted them. Thus, being Knighted by a King or member of the Kingsguard, was a highly prestigious honor. Furthermore, if it was accepted, then it meant that Axel would be, firstly in close proximity to the other Knights of the Kingsguard, improving the boys skills if they helped train him. And secondly, he would be near Prince Rhaegar, having the future Lord Paramount of The Trident practically grow up alongside The next King?

Call Hoster greedy if you must, but on top of his son's potential status as the Fourth Blessed, a Knight of Ser Jonothor and/or Ser Oswell's strength and skill training his boy, followed by close proximity to Prince Rhaegar? And if Axel did well enough, a small council position is not out of the realm of possibility. Every man worth their salt, hopes to be named Hand of The King. But Hoster, despite that hope would be content for his son and heir to serve as Master of Laws, Ships, or Coin. Those Positions tended to have the longest serving members, and least risk amount of risk involved.

And more than a few had gone on to become Hand of The King....

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(POV Shift: Catelyn Tully)

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Axel was avoiding her.

Her little brother had started hiding away from her, locking her out of his room, not speaking to her as much as before and just outright telling her to leave him alone.

Catelyn was confused, but after his training with Uncle Brynden, he would be tired, meaning that Catelyn had an opportunity to corner her brother and get some answers from him.

Why was he cutting her out of their life? Was the first of their House Words not Family? So why was her brother, her family, cutting her out of his life? Catelyn loved her brother, but she needed to know.

Picking up her skirts Catelyn excuses herself to do just that. Axel Tully would giver some answers!!!

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(POV Shift: Brynden "Blackfish" Tully)

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Walking up to his brother, Brynden says nothing for a nice long moment. Before letting it a sigh.

''You might be right about him. In more ways than one. I found this in his room. It's crude, but if the design is refined it could kill a garrison of men in any siege.'' Says Brynden as he hands his nephews drawing to Hoster.

''I'll write them again, and this time, I'll send it by both Rider and Raven. So pick your best Rider and take the fastest horse and send them first to King's Landing and Baelor's Sept, and then send them to the Citadel at Oldtown. As for Axel, take him hunting. Let him get used to death through small victories first.'' Says Hoster.

''Aye, alright.'' Says Bryndrn as he watches Catelyn chase after her brother, all the while trying not to trip over her skirts, nor get them dirty.

''For what it's worth, Hos, regardless of whether or not Axel is blessed, he'll have my blade and my council for as long as he needs it.'' Says Brynden.

''I know, so long as you don't talk him out of a profitable marriage with an old, wealth, and powerful House. Your hard enough to deal with.'' Says Hoster as Bynden snorts.

''Don't tempt me brother, I just might.'' Says Brynden, but there's no real heat to it, mostly just amusement.

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