PROLOGUE: THE FALL OF HOUSE TARGARYEN

280 AC: ROBERT'S REBELLION

To begin studying the rise and reign of Emperor Viserys "The Great" one must go back to the past during Robert's Rebellion. As every schoolchild will tell you, good king Aerys "The Just" was deposed by the unruly nobles in a large conspiracy that manifested itself as Robert's Rebellion. They slandered the king with the nickname "The Mad King" after murdering his daughter-in-law Princess Elia and his grandchildren Prince Aegon and Princess Rhaenys in cold blood. The rebel forces would have captured and brutally murdered Prince Viserys and the infant Princess Daenerys as well had it not been for the valor of Ser Willem Darry and his fellow Targaryen loyalists. Though the names of these heroes are lost to time their bravery and patriotism haven't been forgotten.

The seeds of the rebellion first began many years ago with the various Lords of the realm conspiring against the crown after the subsequent loss of the Targaryen Dragons. This left the Crown in a very weakened position where it was now dependent on the goodwill of its vassal lords for governance of the realm. While this wasn't apparent at first, events such as the various Blackfyre Rebellions did much to erode the Crown's remaining powers. This was formalized under the reign of King Aegon V whose charter granted more rights and legal protections to the smallfolk. However many nobles opposed it and in many parts of the country, the law was not enforced and was ultimately was repealed by the Hand of the King Tywin Lannister under King Aerys II. To rectify this problem king Aegon V tried in vain to rebirth the Dragons using the last of the Targaryen eggs at Summerhall, but this ended in disaster for the Targaryens. However other historians like that of Archmaester Marwyn the Mage suggest that the fire and the loss of the Targaryen Dragons was the result of a Grand Conspiracy by the Maesters and noble houses after the Dance to eliminate all magic and to prevent the Targaryens from taking the nobles' power. Though there is no real evidence to prove this, the idea of a conspiracy is repeated frequently enough in other texts to give this some credibility. The actions of Emperor Viserys after he took the throne seem to suggest that he believed this. After all why else would he break the power of the old nobles so thoroughly in what he dubbed the "feudal order" with his re-organization of the realm and his infamous Storming of the Citadel?

The actual genesis of the rebellion began at the infamous Tourney of Harrenhall. Various nobles under prince Rhaegar "the fool" planned to form an informal Great Council to overthrow good King Aerys II. Tywin Lannister the king's former friend was consumed by ambition and seeked to put a puppet on the throne through Rhaegar, and sought to marry his daughter Cersei to him. This way he could rule via proxy through his grandchildren and shape the realm as he wished. Meanwhile the Tullys, the Baratheon, and Arynns all formed a coalition of their own which was strong enough to oppose the Crown's laws, or even depose the king as what happened during Robert's Rebellion. Thanks to the efforts of Varys the Eunuch, the Master of Whisperers at the time, King Aerys foiled their plot by making a surprise appearance at the Tourney. To make matters worse Prince Rhaegar the fool that he was, crowned Lyanna Stark his Queen of Love and Beauty shaming his wife Elia Martell. He then gallivanted off with her for a year while the realm burned from the resulting civil war and anarchy.

Though one must be wary of reading the sources produced during the Ususper's during the interregnum when the throne was vacant. Those stories often portray King Aerys as a madman prone to emotional outburst and wildly unrealistic grand plans that he grew disinterested in. This was wholly untrue and has been debunked as propaganda by which the Usurper wanted to legitimize himself. Aerys's subsequent justification for the execution of the traitor Lords Rickard and Brandon Stark is valid as Bradon Stark was seen publicly storming the capital with an armed force searching and openly professing his intent to murder the Crown Prince. One must also note that Emperor Viserys' later building projects such as The Great Canal, The Dornish Aqueducts, and the Renovation of King's Landing were all ideas whose origin was from King Aerys' unrealized plans that were blocked by the traitor Tywin Lannister and cut short by his assasination at the hands of rebel forces in 281 AC.

The last hope for the Targaryen loyalists was crushed when Crown Prince Rhaegar was slain by the usurper Robert Baratheon. In a fury he caved in Rhaegar's chest with his war-hammer and upon seeing their leader slain, the Royal Army lost their morale and its forces were scattered and defeated. This left the capital undefended and wide open for the Baratheon forces. Although Prince Viserys and the pregnant Queen Rhaella were quickly whisked to Dragonstone, King Aerys kept Aegon and Elia by his side in a desperate attempt to rally whatever support he could from Dorne to save his throne and his House. Tywin Lannister host arrived at the gates of the city feigning loyalty. And Aerys desperate for a solution opened the gates to a man he called his friend for decades who repayed that trust and all those years of royal patronage by sacking the King's City and allying with his enemies.

Many years after the sack and the Targaryen Restoration, Emperor Viserys's men discovered old containers of wildfire beneath the city. Those hostile to the Targaryens use this as evidence to slander King Aerys II referencing the false Knight Jaime Lannister's account detailing how King Aerys' supposed plans to burn the city with everyone in it to spite the Usurper Robert Baratheon. This again should be rejected as Ser Jaime is The Kingslayer who killed the King he was sworn to protect, and stood idly by while Princess Elia and her children were butchered by the Mountain and Amory Lorch. This same man is also the one who in his unholy coupling with Cersei Lannister his sister, sired Joffrey Waters whose tyranny unleashed a second Civil War that left the realm in such a ruin that it took near two decades for the realm to recover. The general academic consensus on the Wildfire of Kings Landing was planted by King Aerys so that he could enact a scorched earth campaign. Aerys plan most likely included evacuating his loyal out of the city through Maegor's secret passageways under the city to find refuge in the countryside while Aerys could gather his court, his large treasury, and the Royal fleet and flee to Dorne to rally support from Prince Doran and the Tyrells. Later investigations by his majesty have confirmed this theory as many of the older caches of wildfire were beneath key bits of infrastructure in the city while the more recent caches near city population centers were commissioned by the Tyrant Lady Cersei Lannister. King Aerys most likely intended to use these controlled fires to buy time for him and his subjects to escape while the rebels are bogged down. But alas the King was betrayed leaving Prince Viserys and Queen Rhaella alone.

Once the rebel fleet landed the Royal Garrison defected and Prince Viserys was forced to flee with his infant sister to Braavos where he lived in virtual poverty looking after his sister while avoiding the Usurper's assassins. When they sought refuge among the "Daughters of the Valyria" they were kept as curiosities or were openly mocked as being a Beggar King and Queen. In fact after Princess Daenerys was married off to a Dothraki horselord many assumed that the sun had finally set on the Targaryens. In fact the sheer circumstances of their return to power would have been unbelievable to Aegon the Conqueror himself at the time, but as history shows us the the Targaryens returned with a vengeance crushing all those who dared challenge and slight the Dragon with fire and blood.