u/BackgroundRich7614

In history there were many capable and competent Eastern Romen Rulers equal or greater than their Western European or Muslim counterparts.

However, one lingering perception of Eastern Romen rulership and politics, at least in pop sulture, has been it's legendarily ruthless and cut-throat politics and Emperors.

And while I am sure this has been exaggerated by enlightenment era writers, actions such as the blinding of the Bulgarians don't exactly paint the most "heroic" portrait of Roman rulership.

So what Emperors were, given their time period and the necessities of the job, actually fairly decent people to their subjects and family members.

Being an Emperor precludes anyone from being a saint, but was their ever an Eastern Romen Saladin, Cyrus, Taizong , Frederick the 2nd of the HRE, or Ahsoka.

While it's a commonly held belief that Baelor would have been the greatest king since the conciliator had he been able to sit the Iron Throne, however, what would have actually done policy wise that would have made him a Great King.

We know he is a competent military mind seeing as he helped the Royal Army win the Battle of the Redgrass field, and that he was a lot more charismatic than Maekar, but as seen with Robert Baratheon, Charisma and Martial skill aren't the be-all, end all.

In terms of policy the closest we get is that he wanted to pardon the Blackfyre rebels, which while a sign of mercy is also a point against him as it means he is unlikely to actively try to expand royal power and centralize the realm, which the 7 Kingdoms sorely needs.

Maybe he could build some roads or help fix up Kings Landing, but to be one of the greatest Targaryen King, as people often claim he could have been, you need something more grandiose as a legacy.

What could Baelor Breakspear accomplish that neither his brother Maekar nor his nephew Egg when they sat the throne?

More words have been typed regarding GRRM's issue with finishing the books than what George himself has written at this point, but one factor that has been overlooked is the simple nature of Westeros itself and the themes he wants to portray.

Martin's entire book is pretty much about the dangers of feudalism, the way the great wheel crushes the small folk, and the problem of rulers only accountable through force. A big question in the story and out is how to "reform" the Iron Throne to better help the small folk and prevent the issues that lead to the war of the 5 Kings. Martin also tries to show what a good king would which can be most evidently seen in one Baelor the Breakspear

The problem is, the very natures of Westeros and what it's like, does not allow for that type of reform. Westrous is well behind the centralization and dynamism of the Late Middle Ages Europe it takes inspiration from, being more similar to the fragmented mess that was the early Capetian France.

It lacks a powerful merchant class, guilds, or free cities that can bargain with the nobility (Rich non-nobles were the main drivers of democratization in most early modern nations). The royal Demesne is small, there is no system of independent courts, no small royal bureaucracy aside from the small council, and nothing in the way of financed scientific advancement.

Westeros as it stands has no hope of change or reform without someone deciding to pretty much shatter the current status quo and crush the power of the great noble houses in order to allow for the rise of the merchant and moneyed classes like what happened IRL .

What Westeros needs, isn't a Baelor Breakspear that would just keep things calm and stable, it needs a Tyrant in the classical Greek sense, a powerful autocrat that who could crush the nobility and user in an age of absolutism required for any parliament to not just developed into lords passing laws to squeeze their peasants dry like what happened in Hungary and Poland.

And while GRRM is a great writer, I am unsure if he would want to tell that story since it kind of flies in the face of what he seems to think a great king is like given his writings.

Link to the previous part: Nephilim AU Chapter 3 (Fate of the First Man) Co-authored by the GREAT Windwolf9 : r/OkBuddyHelluvaHotel

Link to Fic on AO3: The Nephilim Au - Chapter 4 - Infernalwriter, Windwolf9 - Hazbin Hotel (Cartoon), Helluva Boss (Web Series) [Archive of Our Own]

At first, there was only inky blackness; then light shone through harshly as yellow eyes with crimson irises slowly opened. The world was awash in dozens of royal crimson curtains, rugs, and pillows. Marble as white and radiant as morning snow formed a dome as large as the Hagia Sophia’s, which held a great crystalline chandelier aloft, made from a million diamonds of every color of the rainbow. Around the room, there were dozens of murals made from the same multicolored diamonds, highlighted by arches of gold, and showing all the great events and battles of the Morningstar Family, from the marriage of Lilith and Lucifer beneath the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil to the birth of Charlotte underneath a solar eclipse. She was in a royal bedroom, her childhood bedroom to be precise.

 

 

Then the memories returned, a trickle of images of what she did when transformed, which soon turned into an unstoppable flood. A sharp pain spiked from every former wound on her body as Charlie, as she suddenly stood up and threw off the heavy blood-red blanket. Her breath was rapid and shallow. Small beads of sweat fell from her forehead. “NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo,” Charlie murmured like the ramblings of an asylum patient.

 

 

The princess didn’t want to believe it; she wanted to think it was all some sort of sick and twisted nightmare. She couldn’t have become that, she couldn’t have done that, it must have been some weird dream after drinking an unlabeled bottle from Husk's bar.

 

 

Yet, when she turned her eyes toward her arm, she saw it covered with a thick layer of golden blood. Her entire body froze with icy dread creeping down her spine. The princess gagged and barely managed to fight back the urge to vomit acid. She hurriedly rushed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

 

 

The heiress found a large sink, carved from a single massive chunk of Black Diamond, a few meters away from the lava bath, and turned it on with full force. Yet, when she tried to wash away the blood from her hand, it didn’t seem to leave, no matter how much she scrubbed or rinsed.

 

 

“Why won’t it go away!?” the princess growled as she redoubled her efforts, using soap to get the monument to sin off her hands, but yet again, her hands remained stained with gold. She tried again and again to wash it away, and still her hands were caked in blood despite all logic as she felt her frustration building like an active volcano.

 

 

It finally erupted when the princess snapped and smashed the diamond sink to pieces out of wrath with prodigious strength. Charlie closed her eyes and took deep breaths, trying to calm her mind to figure out a way to remove the blood, yet when she opened her eyes once more, her hands were as clean as a polished pearl. The blood, it seems, was just a figment of her imagination and guilt.

 

 

“I am not going insane, I am not going insane, I am not going insane, I am not going insane, I am not going insane.” The heiress repeatedly muttered the mantra, not fully believing it, when she heard a knock at the door.

 

 

“Charlie,” the familiar voice of her love reached out. “Are you alright? I heard something breaking."

 

 

“Yeah, I am fine, love.” Charlie lied through her teeth.

 

 

“Let's talk,” Vaggie declared, leaving no room for discussion, and Charlie relented as she slowly opened the door and walked with Vaggie back to the giant royal bed to have the much-needed chat.

 

 

There was a long, pregnant silence between the two of them until Charlie finally broke the quiet. “So, how is everyone else doing, and how long was I out?” She inquired with soft concern.

 

 

“It’s been about a month, and everyone is doing fine,” Vaggie reassured Charlie. “Your dad’s been letting us stay in the royal palace while you recover. He also rebuilt the Hazbin Hotel bigger and better than ever before, though it's now in a section of the city that wasn't turned into a blighted wasteland. Even Alastor was allowed in, so long as he didn’t cause any trouble.”

 

 

“That’s … good.” Charlie sighed as silence once again fell over the room, a reminder that Vaggie had witnessed what she had done, only further souring her mood.

 

 

After a tense few minutes, the princess spoke once more. “Vaggie, I know you and the rest of my friends are probably disgusted and terrified at what I became. You don’t have to pretend to love a monster. You’ll still get paid and have a roof over your head if you want to leave.” Charlie said, looking away sadly so as not to have to bear seeing her love go, while her eyes became watery.

 

 

What Charlie didn’t expect was Vaggie ambushing her with a surprise hug, with tears running down her face. “You’re the best person I know, but you can be such a fucking moron sometimes,” Vaggie declared, not letting Charlie go.

 

 

“But how? I turned into that horrible beast and brutally killed someone; how can you still love me after that!” Charlie said, completely bewildered as tears ran down her own face now.

 

 

“It was fucking Adam, he deserved a WAY more painful end than you gave him, and Lute too, after that bitch spat on my mercy,” Vaggie said heatedly as she ended the hug.

 

 

“But wasn’t that the whole reason you started to hate Adam, because he was a killer?” Charlie asked. “Didn’t I become just as bad as him?”

 

 

“Hell no!” Vaggie said as she grabbed onto Charlie's shoulders. “Listen to me, love, you and Adam are nothing alike. That pig killed millions for a sick, incel-like pleasure, because he got cucked by your dad. That version of you killed to protect her friends and defend her kingdom. When I looked into her eyes, I didn’t see genocidal sadism; I saw protective, righteous fury.” Vaggie declared, punctuating the last three words for emphasis.

 

 

“You aren’t even mad that the creature I became murdered all those exorcists with glee,” Charlie asked as she tilted her head in confusion.

 

 

“Of course not, they all made their choice. Any one of them could have chosen to defect or rebel as I did, but they didn’t. As far as I am concerned, they can all rot in the abyss.” Vaggie scoffed.

 

 

“I guess that makes sense.” Charlie sighed. “But how can you ever feel safe around me again? What if I lose control and turn into that ravenous beast?” Charlie asked with a concerned voice.

 

 

“You have a far too low opinion of yourself. Lucifer already told me, a Nephilim's True Demon Form only amplifies the Nephilim's baser desires, it doesn’t make them evil. Plus, I would be more than inclined to sate such a ravenous beast.” Vaggie said, with a raised eyebrow and a sultry voice.

 

 

The princess's face went from the color of porcelain to a tomato as she understood what her lover meant. “Vaggie, what…. wait, are… do you want to... do you seriously find me attractive like that?” Charlie stutters incoherently.

 

 

“Don’t get me wrong, you are very pretty, but your Nephilim form is on a different level, 13 feet of pure muscle, along with curves that rival your mother. Not to mention your more dominant and forceful personality when you transform.” Vaggie said as she bit her lip.

 

 

“Moving on before you start talking like Angel Dust. Are you sure things will be all right? We beat Adam, but now I have to deal with an uncontrollable split personality, all of us nearly died, Heaven laughed in my face, we haven’t had a single redeemed soul, and Sir Pentious…” Charlie stopped herself as her eyes became watery again.

 

 

“Listen, hon,” Vaggie said as she slowly wiped away her lover's tears for her. “I know things look uncertain right now, but if I know anything about us, it’s that we will find a way to persevere, together,” Vaggie said as the former exorcists and the archdemon melted into each other's embrace.