World Polities at the year 299 AC*

The North

Current ruler: High-Magnar Rickard IV Stark

By far the largest and oldest of the Sunset Kingdoms stretching from the Wall to the Trident, the North is the last of the First Men Kingdoms in Westeros having been the only one to repel the Andal invasions and are the only place where the rites of the Old Gods are dominant.

The rulers of this vast territory are the Starks, an ancient house from the Age of Heroes who have maintained control over the land for so long thanks to an unusually high number of skilled leaders, some ingenious social engineering and strategically placing cadet houses in vital positions of power.

That is not to say that it has not faced problems with cadet rebellions or unworthy rulers but it has thus far managed to keep those under control.

The North also remains one of the most technologically advanced powers in the world thanks to a long-standing policy of encouraging scholarships and attracting artisans from all over the Known worlds in addition to being the most urbanized society in Westeros.

Despised and distrusted by its neighbors for most of its history, the North has adapted by cultivating trade with Essos and the Iron Isles, a strategy that not only saw it become rich as the middleman for any Essosi goods but also left its coastal cities among the most cosmopolitan in the World, the grand city of White Harbour rivaled only by Bravos or Oldtown in its splendor.

Though trade experienced a setback as a result of the fall of Valyria, new trading treaties were quickly established with the Targaryens.

However, in recent years, the North which usually ignored the matters of Southron kingdoms found itself more and more entangled with them under the leadership of Rickard Stark who has started cultivating alliances with the Stormlands, the Westerlands and the Vale by the way of betrothing his eldest children Brandon and Lyanna Stark to Syvellia Arryn and Argalic Duurandon respectively while sending his second son Eddard to foster at Catsterly Rock.

This change in policy was not popular with many of Rickard's lords or even his son Brandon. As the Wolfguard and the Nobles are split between Father and son while rivalries flare-up throughout the Kingdom of Rivers and Snow, many call for a Grand Council to choose a new king, others call for more drastic change.

The Stormlands

Current ruler: Storm-King Steffon Durrandon

The Kingdom of Storms is a kingdom trying to escape stagnation as its once-proud military has suffered many successive defeats in the last century which saw the Stormlands gradually losing territory to its rivals.

The current King Steffon seeks to amend this by rebuilding his realm piece by piece, working to develop its timber industries and forging an alliance with House Stark.

However his heir Argallic cares very little for these matters and his ascension could very well spell the undoing of all of his father's hard work which led some to speculate that the Storm king might seek to choose a worthier heir among his younger sons.

The Westerlands

Current ruler: Tywin I Lannister

The Richest and most defensible of the Sunset Kingdoms, the Westerlands has nevertheless suffered from internal strife for the past two centuries as a result of a series of weak ineffectual Kings of the Rock, culminating in the reign of Tytos Lannister, a timid mand with an exceedingly agreeable disposition, he was easily swindled by even the lowliest of merchants and mocked by his own vassal all while bandits roamed free and Ironborn pirates pillaged with impunity; a symbol of how low the Lions have fallen.

The Downward spiral came to an end, however, with the de-facto ascension of the young Tywin Lannister, first acting in place of his ill father and then as King in his own right. The new King set about immediately restoring Lannister dominance, his efforts most notably including causing the extinction of the Reynes, the Tarbecks and the Westerlings among a dozen other rebellious houses, replacing them with his Lannister cadets in emulation of the Stark model.

His reforms included building up a professional navy and army under his direct control, establishing the Golden Bank of Lannisport (and bringing the city under direct Lannister rule), and establishing a robust civil service and tax collecting ministry.

Now Decades later the Old Lion remains the feard and undisputed ruler of the Westerlands, now more centralized, meritocratic and prosperous than ever before under his efficient but repressive rule. However as he grows older, many lords who chafe under his ruler whisper of rebellion, seeking to regain the rights and privileges or not wanting to be ruled by Tywin's heir, the deformed dwarf Tyrion (who is nevertheless favored by his father over his siblings for his intelligence and competence). Some even say Tywin's other children, Jaime and Ceresi Lannister are plotting to take over themselves.

The Reach

Green-King: Mardinos II Gardener

The Reach one a prosperous and grand realm, it is now a divided land of squabbling city-states, fiefdoms, and mini-kingdoms united only by a loose allegiance to the elected High-King of the Gardeners.

This elective monarchy came about as a result of a grand rebellion against House Gardener (caused by several military disasters) led by the Florents , Hightowers, and Tarlys which would see the ancient decadent rulers of Highgarden forced to make several concessions to their vassals if they wanted to maintain any sort of kingship over them.

Oldtown remains the largest city in the Reach and the richest, its newfound freedom allowing its trade to blossom and for them to build a mighty merchant navy and build a fleet to protect their mercantile interests.

Brightower, Hornhill, the Arbor, and many other regions are functionally their own kingdoms in all but name, being kept from independence only by not wanting to lose valuable trade rights or lose the ability to influence the overall politics of the Reach.

The Gardeners themselves are largely impotent outside their direct fiefdoms those this might not last long as the newest unlikely ruler Argos chosen as a compromise candidate seeks to regain some measure of his house's former glory, supported by his goodmother Olenna Redwyn and his new wife Margery.

The Vale

Current Ruler: Falcon-King Jon XI Arryn

The once-mighty kingdom of house Arryn is now a shadow of its former glory as years of incompetent rule has left its finances in disarray, its military weak and control over its lands lax.

The new King Jon Arryn did little to change that in his first years of rule and only began attempting to remedy these problems in his old age after having a change of heart, he now seeks to reclaim the Kingdom's strength at any cost, even doing the unthinkable and forging a possible marriage alliance with House Stark, the Arryns' most bitter rivals.

However, this has led to disobedience from his vassals especially as their lands remained threatened by the Mountain confederacy; a tribal alliance of Hill Clans who seek to reclaim the Vale for the First Men.

Whether or not the Old Falcon can save the Vale remains to be seen though he at least has a competent aide in the form of his Finance minister Petyr Baelish

Dorne

Current Ruler

East : Prince Doran I Martell

West: N/A

Dorne remains divided to East and West; the East prosperous and increasingly more green thanks to long-term waterworks projects and the West ever fractious and warring as its deliberately kept weak by its Reach benefactors.

The two halves of Dorne are now unrecognizable to each other with the East being Rhoynish in language, traditions and religions all while becoming more and more mercantile while the West still holds on strongly to its martial Andal hertiage.

One thing has remained consistent though, the desire of each side to reclaim their "rightful" lands from the other and though the East made some successes , their gains would inevitably be rolled back as the Western kings set aside their differences against a common enemy.

This might not remain so for long however as Doran Martell, a sickly but shrewd man has forged an alliance between Dorne and the Westerlands by wedding his sister Elia to Tyrion Lannister and some say this marriage alliance is a prelude to his larger ambitions.

Allenlands

Current Ruler: N/A

The lands conquered by the reformer Allen are currently facing a crisis of centuries of stable rule as Targaryen forces from the isle of Dragonstone continue encroaching on their territory with the realm powerless to do much about it in fear of provoking the Targaryens.

Combining this with a succession crisis as the last of Allen's line died without heirs, it seems that the youngest kingdom of Westeros may be forever young.

The Kingdom of the Isles (Iron Islands)

Current Ruler: Haigon II Hoare

Under the reign of the Hoares, the Iron Isles has experienced a long age of prosperity as the Ironborn learned to put their seafaring and fighting skills to good use, acting as sell sails for merchant fleets across the narrow and sunset sea all while engaging in extensive trade themselves, acting as the link between Northern and Southron markets.

This is not say that the Iron Isles did not engage in war at times, far from it they were more than happy to participate in the various southern wars of conquest, in most cases acting as kingmakers (for a price of course) and in some cases are hired by the various Essosi powers to act as deniable proxies.

The Ironborn would expand their dominion to include the Shield Islands (renamed into the Haris Isles in honor of the King who took them from the disunited Reachmen) and the Stepstones after which the Kingdom was renamed into the Kingdom of the Isles.

Though Thralldom and the practice of taking Salt Wives remain the former is being increasingly phased out as the mines of the Isles are increasingly depleted and the latter has become less sexual slavery and more akin to having a high-class mistress.

However, not all are glad with these new changes, as traditionalist Drowned men remain a constant thorn in the regime's side despite the latter's best attempts to stamp them out for inciting insurrections and rabble-rousing.

More worryingly is a commander of an Iron Company, Euron of House Greyjoy swearing off all aligence to the Salt Throne and going rogue with his entire Iron company in tow, the last any have seen of them is their ships heading to the Smoking Sea.

The Targaryen Freehold

Current ruler" Emperor Rheagar I

No. of Dragons in possession: 45 with 12 eggs

Rising from the ashes of the Valyrian Freehold, the dominion of the Targaryens is by far the largest in the known world save perhaps Yi-Ti.

Forged by Aegon the conquerer in the fires of the Century of Blood, the sprawling state extends from Volantis to the Dothraki sea and everything between, ruling over a dozen or so peoples united only in their allegiance to the Dragon emperors (and if not that then fear of the fire breathing lizards at their disposal) which the Targaryens manage by allowing them some measure of autonomy and freedom of religion in return for their absolute loyalty when called, which is helped by the fact the Freehold had rebuilt many roads, towns and cities left devastated in the wake of the original's fall.

The Freehold's capital is in Volantis where the Targaryens and the scions of the Old blood rule behind the Black gates though their interests are not united as it may seem at times. In there the Trgaeyens have amassed the greatest collection of tomes on Magic and the Valyrian ways which seems to have served them well in keeping their Dragons alive and healthy

The freehold's power has waxed and waned over the centuries from the illustrious reigns of Aegon I, Maegor I and Rhaenyra I to the disasters such as the rule of Aneys III, Baleor I and Areys II

The new Emperor Rheagar came to power in a bloodless coup in which his mad father was deposed and he was quickly acclaimed emperor by the Old Families. He would spend much of his time stabilizing the realm devestated by his father's madness.

Once he was done however the newest Dragon emperor turned his attentions West.

The Neo-Ghiscari empire

Ruler: N/A (All constituent cities are ruled by oligarchies)

The Ghiscari Empire is not so much an empire than it is a haphazard attempt at recreating the glory of Old Ghis brought on by fear of Aegon's conquest.

The truth was that Aegon did not plan on incorporating New Ghis or any of the Slaver cities into his dominion, his forces stretched out as they were already, especially dealing with the Dothraki in the Far East.

At the time however, the slaver cities feared for their independence (especially Yunkai and Meeren which lacked anything resembling a standing army) and thus all agreed to a military alliance that came to include New Ghis and in which it came to dominate thanks to its legions (though Astapor claimed their unsullied to be equal or even superior to the New Ghisi legions they were was nothing but their word to go on).

However, this alliance has proven quite impotent for the most part as Emperor Drakarion I dragon supported forces managed to conquer Meeren and Yunkai with relative ease only being stopped from advancing further by his untimely demise.

Now only a rump state that exists only because the Freehold hasn't gotten around to conquering yet, and between the infighting and suffering from near-constant slave rebellions, its not a matter of if but when the empire will fall.

The Free City of Bravos

The last major Power in Essos not broken under the heel of the Targaryens, the Bravosi peoples have experienced a period of anxiety and siege mentality as it now faced a massive slaveholding superpower that could burn it to the ground on a whim and although the Faceless men provided some measure of deterring them, the assassins were not always reliable due to their strange ways.

Thus though Bravos continued to trade with the new Valyrian empire it also sought to expand and (in ironically Valyrian fashion) began establishing various colonies across the last unclaimed territories in the Known World; from Southorys and the Basiliek isles, to the coasts of the Dothraki sea and some say even in the lands Beyond the Wall and distant Yi-Ti. They have also forged strong alliances with Ibb and the Summer Isles and traded as far as Leng and Asshai it is said.

The colonies have been for the most part successful ventures with a few horrible exceptions.

Though officially at peace with the Targaryens, a cold war is waged between the two nations only prevented from turning hot by the fact that the Bravosi knew they would eventually lose against the continent-spanning freehold and that the Targaryens understood that a war with Bravos would at best end in a pyrrhic victory.

As the year 301 AC approaches it seems that the world is at a tipping point and amid all this, Jon Nightstark heir to a recent cadet house pays a visit to the Wall to confirm rumors that have been spreading about a wildling invasion unlike any seen before.

*After Conquest

A/N : And with that this fic ends at last, after three long years. It has been quite a ride and I am glad with how it turned out. Now you are probably wondering if there will be a sequel to which the answer is : Maybe but don't get your hopes up. If you have any questions you have the next to week to ask in the reviews.