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Readers who enjoy the premise of a strong main character like Ei will definitely like my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
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The Kingdom of the North
120 YA / 120 AC
Winterfell
The times were dire for the North. So much so, Arthos had no choice but to summon his lords in the middle of the winter. The people of his kingdom were resilient in the face of hardship.
It did not mean they wanted to traverse all the distance to Winterfell in the dead of winter.
"My lords, welcome to Winterfell. We have much to discuss," he said to the nobles assembled around the table. Warm drinks and food had been served to raise their spirits.
Clearing his throat, he got to the matter at hand. He knew they were all too tired from the journey for niceties. "I am sure you have received word of what happened in the Kingdom of the Rock, or should I say, the new Western Prefecture of the Storm Kingdom."
There were murmurs of acknowledgement across the table, but the Lord of Greywater Watch spoke clearly. "We have, Your Grace."
"The former king, Aldrec, saw that his kingdom could not stand the wondrous machines of Argella Durrandon," Arthos added.
"It pains me to admit, but he was correct, Your Grace. My sons saw those trains firsthand. If Queen Argella builds the railways across her kingdom, the trade alone would increase like nothing seen before," the Lord of Whiteharbor said. Trade was the lifeblood of any kingdom. The North, being the largest, least populated, and most barren of the former seven petty kingdoms, required constant trade of foodstuffs to exist.
"The smallfolk in her cities and towns live better than some of our lords do," Lord Bolton said, his lifeless gray eyes glancing at Lord Umber.
The Lord of the Last Heart scowled back.
"The North, for all its immense size, has always been cold and poor," Arthos admitted, feeling the words tie into a knot in his throat. "We have endured for eight thousand years; however, the people want more. At the rate we are losing the smallfolk, we will have to tend to what farms and livestock we have."
Forbidding the smallfolk from leaving the land would no doubt lead to revolts, as it had in the Vale. Any rebellion would only lead to more deaths.
"What do you propose, Your Grace?" Lord Glover asked. The old man was too weary to beat around the bush.
Arthos gazed across the table at each of his lords. "That we bend the knee to Argella Durrandon. That is the only way for us to live rather than just survive."
If they could even survive, that is.
"Should any wish to oppose this, speak now," he said with a steady voice.
The North could not handle infighting between nobles, especially in winter. He would release any lord foolish enough to resist; he would release them of their oaths. When they died of the cold, he would take their lands.
Fortunately, none rose in defiance.
"Then it is agreed." Arthos let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "I shall write the letter and ask for an audience."
He had expected some of the more prideful lords to at least grumble. The winter had no place for it.
Lord Umber lowered his head. He tried to hide his scowl, but the edge of his lips curled downwards.
Lord Mormont had sent his youngest son, as every able body had to fight the wildlings. The boy looked more hopeful than the rest of the lords. Bear Island suffered more than most in the winter. The wildlings made it worse.
One highborn he expected to prove troublesome was Lord Bolton, yet the man did not seem concerned with the decision. House Bolton was loyal when watched, dangerous when not. He would see if the man would be so blatant under the watchful eye of a god.
Arthos only hoped that he was making the correct choice.
—
Storm's End
Ei scanned the map before her. The nobles of the Western Prefecture were having a difficult time with the multitude of changes being implemented. The rights of the people regardless of birth, applications of laws on fair pay, education, judgement and punishment of criminals, and more.
The terrain extended the time it would usually take to pave roads. The canal, however, was a lifeline. The materials, workers, and tools were transported to Lannisport first. Using the existing roads, they worked towards the border. The land connection would be established faster by working on both sides.
Once the railway was built, bringing the Western Prefecture to the standards would accelerate.
"I was thinking. Most of Dorne is a desert. It makes everything more difficult. Why don't we do something about that as well?" Saiguu said. They were gathered over the map of the continent, each person working on something different.
Her job was to oversee logistics and the state of the trade routes.
"Aren't we focusing on the Western Prefecture?" Kage asked, dragging a finger over the map. "Let's leave it for later."
The Dorne Prefecture did not suffer from anything, except for the natural desert. It was possible to turn that desert into a lush forest, but there was no need as of yet.
"Just an idea for the future," she said. Overseeing logistics on that blasted wasteland was no easy task.
Chiyo snapped her finger, rummaging through the drawers. She pulled out two blueprints, laying them on the table. "Speaking of ideas, the Academy proposed new machines to clear the rough terrain of the Western Prefecture."
Proposals such as these usually would go through the relevant ministry. Chiyo was making rounds in the academy when she saw them. Her offer to directly take the blueprints to Ei was irresistible for the researchers.
Ei took the blueprints. The first one was half the size of a train wagon. There was a curved, thick blade at the end. The machine needed a large engine to function, but it should be doable.
The other machine was similar in make but had a long arm with a clawed bucket at the hand for digging. The arm operated through cables and winches. Both machines would fit the terrain of the West well.
However, it would take time to build and test them. They wouldn't be ready for the initial work, but for later expansions, they definitely would be welcome additions.
"Spare whatever funds are necessary," Ei ordered, handing the blueprints back.
There was a knock on the door. "Enter," she ordered.
A messenger entered, bowing. He straightened up and held out a letter.
She took the letter and dismissed the man.
Saiguu began to cackle at seeing the direwolf sigil pressed to the wax. "A couple months early, and I would have been right."
She knew without a doubt it was a letter of submission by the King in the North.
Chiyo huffed. "Yes, good for you." Late or not, Saiguu was right again. Which grated on her nerves.
"Does it say what Saiguu believes it does?" Sasayuri, the voice of reason, asked.
"Yes," Ei said, laying the letter on the table. "Arthos Starks wants the North to become a part of the kingdom."
"Guess the winter is really harsh this time," Chiyo said. The Starks and the North were content to keep out otherwise.
"The timing isn't good. We are currently occupied with the Western Prefecture. The conditions in the North are harsher. The Neck is mostly a swamp, and they have only one port. Unless we drain the swamp, land access will be immensely difficult for large groups," Kage summarized the situation.
"We can't drain the swamps. The elevation is too low," Chiyo said. Even though it wasn't her field of expertise, she had managed to pick a thing or two when it came to building a kingdom.
"Then we build over it," Ei replied. "Stone causeways with ditches alongside. We also build tunnels under the roads so they don't collapse."
"It would be expensive. The previous studies on the North weren't complete or very comprehensive. They may not even have the resources to cover the cost," Kage said.
"It is not about the cost. If Arthos Stark wants to bend the knee, it's because his lands are suffering."
The Vale and the Kingdom of the Rock did not become a part of the Storm Kingdom because they were opportunistic. They did so because of desperation. Arthos Stark was no different in that regard.
"I just mean we have to be careful so the situation doesn't turn into a gold sink."
Ei smiled at the puppet. "I know you mean well."
Though, perhaps she should not call Kage a puppet anymore. With Saiguu's meddling, she had grown beyond being her shadow.
Saiguu cleared her throat. "This would increase the administrative work by a lot. North is what? Half as large as the entire kingdom? Maybe even more. It will be a logistical nightmare."
"Which means we will have to work rather than leave everything to the cabinet," Sasayuri said. The Ministry of Defence had the least amount of work concerning the newest parts of the kingdom. She could afford to work on the matter of the North.
"Well, does anyone have a prior engagement?" Ei asked. Her friends shook their heads, except for Saiguu, who just groaned.
"Then we work."
—
In the last month of the hundred and twentieth year of ascendancy, the King in the North, Arthos Stark, followed former king Aldrec Lannister's lead. He brought his nobles to Storm's End, surrendered his crown, and swore fealty to the God-Queen.
Before he even reached the port of Storm's End, the effects of the winter on the North began to lessen. By the time he returned with shipments of foodstuffs, the sun was peeking between the clouds.
The citizens of the kingdom began to celebrate the unification of the continent, even though no official announcement has been made.
The royal family and Her Excellency were too occupied with the North. The current workforce was mostly moved to the Western Prefecture. They could not be called back for the North.
Transporting the shipped grain all across the Northern Prefecture was not easily done without proper roads. A radical solution came from the Goddess of Life, Kitsune Saiguu. The kingdom might have more than enough food to feed the North, but it did not mean anything if the people could not reach it.
Working with Her Excellency, she created a miracle of immense power.
—
Essos
In Essos, the unification of Westeros was seen as nothing more than a matter of time. The High Archon Aerys, who had forged an alliance with Kandac, began to reconsider his approach. His advisors, and soon-to-be sister-wife, had insisted for days on avoiding a war with the Storm King.
He might have been blinded by his desire for vengeance, but the people around him were not.
Aerys, upon realizing that the power of Argella Durrandon and that of her companions outstripped the artifacts possessed by Kandac. He still took them for storage in the vaults beneath his palace.
Considering how quickly her kingdom changed, a confrontation between the empire and the kingdom would be inevitable. The Valyrian Empire would either defeat the Storm Kingdom or bend the knee to survive.
Admitting that their rival was better at everything only stoked his fury.
Swallowing his bruised pride, Aerys began to work. The Storm Kingdom refused to sell their solar engines. What he needed was a way of creating similar machines. To that end, he sent observers to Westeros.
Learning how the machines were created would be preferable, but he knew it was close to impossible. Sorcery, the kind none had ever seen in Essos, was at work.
Instead, he ordered the observers to learn how the Storm Kingdom functioned. Starting from the Academy, to ministries, and everything else.
His empire had plenty of scholars, yet they tended to leave for the Academy of Transience. If Aerys wanted an academy in the empire, he had to convince them to stay with more than words or threats.
An idea came to him when Aerys witnessed several Yi-Ti traders visiting Volantis. Several nobles tried to pry secrets from them, yet they all met with failures. The reason behind it, he came to learn, was simple.
The Yi-Ti saw the rest of them as uncultured savages. They were not worth the secrets, no matter the wealth offered in return.
Which led Aerys to implement a new idea. The cities of the empire, before it was formed, were filled with prideful people. Each saw their own city as the greatest and refused to concede.
No matter how false it was, the people preferred to believe the idea that the city they lived in was the greatest, because it was theirs.
Gathering hundreds of scholars across the empire, Aerys gave a fiery speech. With the assistance of his advisers and sister, he appealed to a side of the people they didn't know they had.
The empire was great because it had equally great people. People that had brilliant minds to work and create without the need for Westeros.
He knew it was a lie, but in time, it might just become the truth.
His speech worked. The lack of kinship between different cities slowly eroded, leaving its place to a brotherhood. Instead of seeing cities fighting to see who was the greatest, they began to see the empire fighting against the kingdom.
They would defend and improve the land they were born on, just as the Westerosi barbarians had done.
The nationalistic fever led to a decrease in imports from Westeros. It was not to the point of dampening trade in great quantities but gave the empire space to breathe.
Scholars from Essos retracted their application letters to the Academy of Transience. Hundreds of them gathered to found the Imperial Scholarly Foundation. In time, it would lead to the creation of Scholar's Rest of Pentos, a contemporary of the Academy of Transience.
Aerys had unknowingly created something that would keep the empire together through hardships and good times.
On Westeros, Argella Durrandon received a report on the events on Essos. She listened, gave a short comment that boiled down to how it didn't matter, and continued to work. The Targaryens could play whatever games they wanted. As long as there was no attack on her lands in any way, shape, or form, she did not care.
Even the little coup in Kandac that Aerys had assisted did not matter, nor the artifacts he took. Her Baleful Omen peered into their true nature long before the High Archon took them. The Kandaci might believe they were tools of great power, but she knew better.
Or rather, they were tools of great power for the Kandaci. To her, they were no different than toys.
The loss of scholars from Essos was perhaps the only true damage done to the kingdom. However, even that was more of a mere splinter in flesh than anything else.
Busy with her work as she was, Ei did not spare any more thoughts for the Valyrian Empire.
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Notes: If you enjoyed how Ei does not care about Essos because they are so irrelevant, feel free to check how the protagonist of my original story, Arrival, doesn't care about the leaders of his world either.
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In the next chapter:
The House of the Dragon was in a crisis.
A plague had swept through the empire. For the common man, it did nothing more than cause runny noses. Those of Valyrian descent suffered heavier. Coughs, labored breathings, and fevers, which had led to deaths in some cases.
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