Extract from The Steel Falcon written by Maester Toman 1922 AC

Jon Arryn is considered today to be an example of the ideal feudal lord. Wise, just, honourable and above all loyal of course if Roberts rebellion had turned out differently then he'd almost certainly be remembered as a scheming, power-grabbing traitor. However, this is not the time for speculation nor is this Jon's story all that truly need be known is that Jon Arryn was by all accounts a fine Lord and an able administrator as shown during his tenure as Hand of the King for Robert I Baratheon who could be seen as his one true weakness his fondness for his children and former wards seemed to cause him difficulty as shown by the great debt caused incurred by the realm under his watch and his wife's well documented treatment of his younger son.

Regardless, despite his apparent success for much of his time alive there was one area in which the lord did not excel. The most important duty of a landed man of his time Jon Arryn had little luck fathering heirs. Lord Arryn had three wives' in his long life and yet his first two didn't bless him with any living children. Following the death of his second wife Jon seemed content for many years to allow succession to fall to his brother and then later nephew upon his death. He did not remarry.

It is hard to imagine what went through Lord Arryn's mind when the raven came from the king in 282 AC. King Aerys II Targaryen who history would go on to condemn as the mad king had executed Lord Rickard Stark, his son and heir Brandon and Jon's own heir his nephew Elbert Arryn and now demanded the heads of Lord Arryn's wards Robert Baratheon already Lord paramount of the Stormlands and Eddard Stark who was now with his brother and father's death lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North.

Lord Arryn who must have been furious at the news raised his banners in revolt beginning what would become known as Robert's Rebellion. Which has been repeatedly detailed else by other works and so won't be summarised here.

For the sake of this work the key aspect to take from the rebellion lies with House Tully, Brandon Stark had been betrothed to marry Catelyn Tully Lord Tully's daughter. To bring the Tully's and he Riverland's into the rebellion the new Lord Stark married his brothers intended and Jon Arryn married her sister Lady Lysa.

By some twist of fate this timing was fortunate as shortly after Lord Arryn's remaining cousin and heir was slain at the battle of the bells leaving house Arryn without any heir. This was not to last shortly after Lord's Arryn and Stark would receive news after they had marched to war both Tully sisters had become heavy with child.

Neither new parent had yet to return when 9 months later barely weeks apart young lords Robb Stark and Jasper Arryn heirs, to the North and Vale were born.

The children both spent their earliest months in Riverrun with their mothers while the rebellion concluded King Robert slew Prince Rhaegar Targaryen at the trident and King Aerys died at the hand of Ser Jaime Lannister of his own Kingsgaurd.

They two cousins would finally split apart following the end of the war, Robb would return north with his father and brother Jon Snow while Jasper would head south to King's Landing along with his mother to be with his father Lord Arryn having just been appointed as hand of the king.

Jasper Arryn spent his earliest years in the famed capital growing up under the watchful eye of both his parents and the realm. From a young age it was clear that the young lord was exceptional his maids, and staff often noted that the babe seemed more aware of his surroundings then others his age would be and this was further proven by him achieving milestones at an exceptionally young age with a thirst for learning of the world around him.

As his personality developed it became clear that Jasper was a child that any lord would be proud of a fact that Lord Arryn never failed to make clear to all those that asked. He grew quickly and developed the sense of honour and chivalry that the Knights of the vale were famed for, from every possible view point the boy seemed to be the perfect example of a highborn man to be.

His skill at arms was also notable for his age while still only a child his potential talent was called upon several times by his tutors which naturally included some of the greatest Knights of the Realm the Kingsguard. The attention on jasper only seemed to dim when the Kings own children and hires and then his own younger brother Robert Arryn were born before quickly returning once it became clear that none of the blond children matched him in talent.

The first major event in Jaspers life came when he had reached eight namedays during this year 289 AC House Greyjoy revolted against the Iron Throne and in the ensuring conflict Lord Stannis Baratheon of Dragonstone earned distinction for his defeat of the iron fleet.

Fearing that all the praise and eyes of the realm in his heir would cause the boy to become arrogant or conceited Lord Arryn arranged for Jasper to squire hoping that the Lords dedication and fierce appreciation for duty would rub off on the boy.

Lord Jaspers time spent on Dragonstone would reveal that his father had been right in part. The child was not at ease at the dour castle and it was clear that the lack of respect given to him based upon his station and talent was strange to the young lord who had been showed in praise his whole life. He also appeared at odds with Lord Stannis. Jasper appeared fond of luxurious living and the frugal Lords way of life did not seem to agree with him. He was also noted for disliking his fosters insistence and requirement for him to attend regular and ever advancing lessons used to having succeeded with little effort up to this point.

Despite these differences the Arryn heir dutifully if not reluctantly fulfilled all that was required off him under Lord Stannis spending six years severing under him at both Dragonstone and King's Landing when his duties as master of ships called him to the capital.

It was clear however that Lord Jasper felt constricted under Lord Stannis and so endeavoured to escape his grasp as soon as possible. In 295 AC when jasper had seen four and ten namedays Lord Tywin Lannister hosted a tourney in the Westerlands which all the small council of the realm attended brining along with them their households.

The main spectacle of the tournament was a mystery Knight clad in plain armour who made it to the semi-finals besting several Frey's Ser Meryn Trant and Garlen Tyrell before being unhoused by Lord Yohn Royce. When unmasked the mystery Knight was shown before all the realms mightiest to be none other then the young Arryn heir. Lord Royce his father's vassal was astonished at the show of skill by his liege's son skill and with the general agreement of many present and Lord Stannis knighted him on the spot. Jasper was now Ser Jasper Arryn heir to the Vale.

With his father's permission Ser Jasper asked Lord Stannis for permission to leave his service and travel to the vale with Lord Yohn where he would learn to rule his people under both Lord Royce and his cousin Lord Nestor who had been serving as high steward of the Vale while Lord Arryn had been in the capital.

The plan was that over the following two years Ser Jasper would learn the vale from its lords and the manner of ruling before taking over officially as his father's regent upon turning six and ten.

As a more widely read man would know this would never come to pass within a year after assuming control of the Vale Lord Arryn would come down with a so-called sickness in the capital. The raven would have barley have had the chance to make it to the Eyrie before Jon Arryn died after having near seventy name days upon the earth.

The death did not come as a shock on account of the late lord Arryn's advanced age and Ser now Lord Jaspers time in the Vale had endeared his new vassals to their lord meaning that the transfer of power was smooth enough for Lord Jasper to feel confident in leaving his new seat behind to journey to king's Landing to both collect his fathers bones and to swear his fealty to King Robert who had himself returned to the capital at around the same time following the courts trip to Winterfell to recruit Lord Stark as Jon Arryns replacement for the office of hand.

Lord Jasper did not stay long in the capital and aside from reaffirming his houses fealty it was also noted that he spent some time talking to Lord Stark as well as discovering that his mother had already left to return to the Vale during his absence taking his fathers bone with her. After barely a week in the capital Lord Jasper or rather Lord Arryn set out to return to the Vale.

Lord Stark served as Hand of the King for approximately nine moons in 298 and 299 AC and the actions of Lord Arryn during this time especially when taken in tandem with the actions of lords Stannis and Renly Baratheon have suggested that he was on some level aware of what was to come.

Firstly during his return to the Vale Lord Arryn detoured to the place of his birth and his maternal home land Riverrun where he spent several weeks with both his uncle Ser Edmure Tully and his grandfather Lord Hoster Tully during this time they discussed aspects of rulership and military matters as well as strengthen their bonds as family. This in addition to Lord Arryn's demonstration of his physical skills helped make an impression on the Riverlords that would later come to aid him.

He also began to increase his correspondence with his cousin Lord Robb Stark who was acting as lord of Winterfell in his father absence. While the two had always keep in contact as was proper they now had an easy common ground to discourse over surviving letters between the two seem to show Lord Jasper taking Robb under his wing and offering to him advice in ruling despite the similarity in age Robb actually being the elder by a few months it is clear that Lord Arryn was the mentor and that the relationship was not entirely equal. Young Robb seemed to have been aware of this and took the lifeline offered to him apparently unprepared for rule by Eddard Stark. It has been suggested by Lord Arryn's larger critics that this was intentional on his part as a plan to bind the North to the Vale. His noticeable flattering of Lord Stark and his known value of honour as a standard by which to rule.

In the Vale itself Lord Arryn gathered a court of young lords and heirs to attend him in the Eyrie and arranged a hunt. Seen semi-frequently during the Andal rule of the Vale when the mountain clans become to confident in their aggression the King and later lord of the Vale would launch small scale campaigns to attempt to trim them down to size.

What Lord Arryn did could hardly be called a small-scale campaign.

Perhaps a better description would be several simultaneous campaign's in a speech given to his lords he denounced the unholy and abhorrent practises of the clans describing their recent increase in scale and vowing as many as his ancestors had to wipe this stain out.

What followed could be called a massacre over the course of six moons it has been estimated that six tenth of the mountain clans had been wiped from the earth with large amounts of clans disappearing off the face of the earth.

The remaining clans forced deep into the mountains would not be a threat for over half a century. It is estimated that the campaign killed approximately Eight thousand men. Singers began appearing across the seven kingdoms exalting the story as a young lord fighting against evil an approach soon picked up on by the faith ever eager for a chance to attack the reputation of the first men decedents.

The campaign led to a surge in the reputation of Lord Arryn across Westeros and before long he became known by another name. For the rest of his life Lord Jaspers steadfast will and actions earned him title and renown as the Steel Falcon.

While the campaign at face seems to be a just one and there is no denying that it was when analysed in depth it is not hard to draw a deeper conclusion from the young lords' actions.

Lord Arryn was training his army.

To explain this point, it is important first to explain the military system of the Vale during the late third century AC. While most of the Westeros systems had very similar lay outs of feudal obligations there were differences between each of them. The Riverlands as an example can raise about forty-five thousand men of which about thirty-five thousand are infantry your typical peasant levy and another ten thousand are men at arms who served full time in a martial capacity normally as guards and often deployed as cavalry but still low born all the same.

The Vale on the other hand had a key difference while they could raise a similar number of men they composition is vastly different twenty-five thousand were the standard levy and another ten thousand were men at arms it was the final then thousand that earned the vale its reputation. The knights of the vale as they were known were approximately ten thousand strong landless knights of houses sworn to the lordly and knightly houses of the Vale for generations. Trained from birth as warriors they were essentially a standing army of highly competent forces unmatched in number of armed knights in any other kingdom besides the Reach.

It should not be said that this was some form of great force however, if that were so the Kings of mountain and Vale would have conquered the other kingdoms long before the dragons arrived. The maintenance of that many Knights is expediently expensive all while the vast majority are all well trained at most times there is simply not enough house and equipment for all of them year-round. Rather in times of war the Knights would be equipped then demobilised when peace was achieved. This meant that unless war was predicted well in advance it would be near impossible to deploy more than thirty or forty percent of the Knights immediately.

The mountain clan campaign gave Lord Arryn the chance to mobilise the Knights without drawing suspicious and is a large factor in determining that he had some form of foreknowledge of the wars that were to come. In addition it also gave him the chance to bloody his men while all of the kingdoms had men who had seen war with the two rebellions both in living memory many of those armies had aged out of service having his men with combat experience even if the extent was just ridding down savages was a notable advantage.

The campaign is considered a great victory today and a sound showing of strategy. The mountain clans did not move in bulk so Lord Arryn did not need vast forces so began his campaign even as the Knights were mobilising. He also had the advantage that unlike traditional warfare the clans had no holdfasts or castles to occupy rather his stratagem was smile elimination of the enemy. He deployed the Knights in small mounted groups all across the Vale and mountains of the moon at any place where rumours of clan activity were sighted. The Knights would hunt down the clansmen like game and once defeated would interrogate the survivors to find the location of more clansmen which would lead to more in a repeating cycle. The Knights themselves were in near constant rotation allowing the vast majority of the Vale's finest to experience war.

Following his own personal part in the conflict Lord Arryn returned to the Eyrie a hero with a loyal and strong force at his beck and call at least for several months until he would no longer be able to reasonable justify the cost of maintaining the force.

It was perhaps lucky then that it was not 2 months later when his aunt Catelyn Stark arrived in his court with a captured Tyrion Lannister.