Chapter 13

Life is great for you, and it didn't even come at the cost of someone else's detriment, or suffering, it truly is delightful to experience new things, though it won't stop you from performing your Duties as a benefactor of such good fortune. For you already love this World quite a lot, in Fact with it being so beautifully savage, you would have to wonder what kind of Warlord wouldn't cherish such a magnificent Planet. You for one will do anything to purify it as soon as possible, as to bring forth the greatness of this World and all of Humanity on it.

Who knows, mayhaps you will fulfill your Duties and survive at the same time, with how it's going, though you still won't excuse a loss of Determination, for what good is it that there are such beautiful things like Trial by Combat if Scum is still able to hold onto Power in the World. Yes, it truly can't be overstated just how much the small things matter, simply because Human Civilization needs more than the rule of the strong. It certainly still requires the stability drawn from it to properly govern a Human Nation, but there are so many steps down the Social Order that even the greatest Leader will be forced into ruin.

You can imagine quite clearly how some random Peasant never sees his Ruler and only ever interacted with the Nation through the Noble or Knight ruling directly over him, and what Abilities the Lord has at the end of the Day becomes more and more irrelevant the larger the Nation, which is just a waste of Human potential from your Point of View. But the best of the best could create a magnificent Kingdom under the rule of a truly great King, and if they as well have the finest of Subordinates under them a Golden Age is all but guaranteed.

You never understood why it was so hard to understand that one might not be suited for a Position of Power, and that the better you are, the higher you should stand in a properly working World, but that's sadly not how things end up being in most Nations, as you have seen many times. The reason for your contemplation of this matter was your Father, for while you got your Head-pats out of your efforts, you also got another Piece to the Puzzle that is your Father, and you don't like it at all.

For the Effects your Present had on your Father were too great in your Opinion, it was like a few million Gold Coins worth of Ingots actually took a hefty burden off his shoulders, a burden you didn't know was there, which is rather troubling. You're of course pleased that you could do something to help out your Family, but that you overlooked something once more is somewhat annoying, and you decide you will have to put a bit of work in to fix the issue if it's troubling him to such an extent.

And you're sure that you can solve the problem quite easily, seeing as the actual reason for your Father's troubles was dealt with some Years ago, in Fact, you weren't even born when the issue was resolved. Though Rebellions tend to be more problematic when it comes to matters of the aftermath than Wars, so it isn't all that surprising to you, and after you swiftly asked your Mother and Father, as well as the old Man about the Details you know enough to see from where the problem is coming from.

During the last Rebellion in the Westerlands your Father put his Foot down and made sure that no one would ever try to usurp your Families Position again, though in doing so he destroyed two Houses and one of the greatest Defences the Lands of House Lannister had to protect themselves. Which seeing as your Father takes his Duties as the Defender and Warden of the West seriously meant he couldn't let his Lands remain sapped of even the smallest bit of Strength, and so he had to rebuild, and that out of his own Pockets, for demanding Gold from your Vassals to mend Damage you did yourself while you live on a Goldmine isn't something a sane Man would do.

While rebuilding the lost Strength already cost quite a bit of Gold, expanding and fortifying the many Castles strewn all over the Westerlands wasn't the only drain your Family had to suffer, for a new problem came up that made the Situation even worse. The issue in Question were the Mines which exhausted some of the richest Veins, and so until new ones were found came forth with only a fraction of their usual Yield, forcing your Family to tap into the Reserves, which with the taxes of two Houses gone meant that your Father could see the Wealth created over Generations go down by the Day.

All in all, your Father tried to recreate the benefits of a War out of his own Pockets with the expected results, for while losing a few thousand Troops is of little matter to the Westerlands, seeing as they can be replaced in a matter of Weeks, having to do so alone without everyone working as one to win a Conflict is expensive. And while the Damage will be undone in just a few Decades with the Smallfolk being more or less untouched, the expended Reserves needed for a potential War won't be so easily replaced, all things your Father knows, and all things you can help out with.

It's truly astonishing how much a simple attempt to simulate the benefits of War can strain such a strong and wealthy House, or perhaps it's just that Humans under pressure are simply that amazing. From the moment two Nations go at it, it begins, Logistic pressure for one makes a Lord almost immediately consider new or better Roads and larger Warehouses and Barracks, while the pressure of one's Life being at risk makes even the most stingy of People find some way to put another Layer of just about any kind of Defence between them and the Threat. Trying to more or less sell the two Houses as casualties of War and move on improving the Land in a thousand different Places as if one had happened was quite foolhardy of your Father, perhaps if he hadn't put the Rebels down so early he could have saved himself some Gold in the long run.