r/TheCitadel

I'm looking for stories where everyone knows Jon is Rhaegar's bastard, Rhaegar wins and survives,

Say Melisandre succeeded in burning Edric Storm/Gentry Waters, was warned by fire Davos would intervene, and got Stannis to keep Davos in the dark about the idea, and he only realize it when he hear the forbidden barbecue screaming.

Now, if we assume that worked, and Stannis got a stone dragon, how would things play out?

What would change if Elia had twins instead of Aegon? It was hard to tell how many children a woman was pregnant with in those days. Plus, Elia was in frail health. They could easily think Elia was carrying only one child then discover the truth when the babies are born.

We know Rhaegar is already in Dorne with Lyanna at this time. Lord Commander Gerold Hightower arrives at the Tower of Joy. He informs Rheagar that Prince Aegon and Princess Visenya were born silver-haired and purple-eyed, hale and hearty. The prophecy has come true - Rhaegar has fathered the three heads of the dragon.

Now what?

What does this do to Rhaegar's idea of Ice and Fire?

What happens to Lyanna? Is she pregnant at this point?

What happens with the war? Has Jon Arryn raised his banner?

What other ramifications are there to consider?

I think that Jon's best ships are the most underrated and underutilised ones. Jon/Mya Stone, for example, or Jon/Ygritte which despite being canon is hardly used in the fandom. Jon/Val also doesn't get a lot of attention.

Sansa and Daenaerys get practically all of the attention, and Margaery Tyrell is in a distant, distant third.

Jon/Alys Karstark is one such ship that I believe would be super interesting to read a fic for.

They have some chemistry in canon, they canonically shared a dance when they were younger that you could use as a small divergence point, Rickard wanted a match between Alys and Robb that you could shift into 'Alys and a Stark', and it also keeps Jon in the North instead of sending him south to be King, as many fics do.

But what circumstances could lead to them marrying?

One that I'm almost certain would do it would be if Jon was named Jon Stark. In practically every way, Jon was a twin to Robb in canon. They always had each other, they had the same education, the same training. If Jon had the Stark name, a match with Alys would work.

However, I can't think of any particular reason why Ned would ask for legitimisation outside of dire circumstances, which would change the world far too much; an injury to himself, for example, or losing Robb, or something similar.

Are there any reasons why Ned would name him a Stark that don't involve massive change or danger to his family?

Canonically, as well, Ned wasn't the sort to seek out betrothals - at least, until Robert came north for Sansa. Robb's hand wasn't promised to anybody, so what could be a reason that he would start seeking betrothal agreements?

Another option, in my head, is Jon being given some land and the opportunity to choose a name and start a new house of his own. It's almost the same as the Stark name one, only here there's a guarantee for a future, and Alys would still tie the Karstarks to the Starks since Jon would still be 'part' of the family, albeit with a different name.

I'm unsure whether or not Sea Dragon Point would be big enough to convince Rickard Karstark to offer Alys' hand. I don't know anything about the quality of that land, how much would even be given, and the risk of ironborn raids will always be there.

The Gift would be more than enough, since one of the only things we know about it is that it's canonically some of the best land in the North (it's not some barren wasteland like a lot of people assume. One of the only mainline quotes about the Gift as land is "This is good land") and it's also huge.

But again, Ned naming Jon as Lord of the Gift would require a massive impetus. Catelyn would lose her mind. There would also need to be some sort of agreement between the Starks, the Night's Watch, and presumably the Crown. Wildling raids would also be a huge risk, and incentivising smallfolk to move into the Gift would be a big ask.

What options are there, do you think? What circumstances could there be, in a fic's world, that would lead to (or allow) Jon to marry Alys Karstark?

In a recent ck3agot playthrough, aerys ordered tywin's death and tywin demanded trail by seven, the tywin was killed in the trail and aerys was deemed just and right in the eyes of the seven, jamie later rebelled by himself but was killed. Then aerys married cersei.

But how would this work actually? Like Tywin had the mountain but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be confident that the mountain could beat ser barristion or Arthur 1v1, hence he called for a trail by seven. I'm sure exactly who would join tywin, or rather who tywin would want to join him. Tywin knows aerys will use the kingsgaurd, so tywin will need skilled swords to come out on top, and unlike dunk tywin is a great lord, so he'll get the best(or second best) in the crownlands and westerlands.

But no matter how much tywin prepares i doubt his team could be aery's kingsgaurd. But the question is, would it lead to peace like in ck3? Do you think the realm as a whole would accept the trail? Obviously the westerlands wouldn't, but would the vale?. I think some of the vale would join aerys(the devot half) and the the ones that knew ned and robert would join the rebellion, but I'm not sure about the riverlands, cat was extremely devout. She had to get it from somewhere, so the riverlands might actually stay neutral or flat out join aerys.

I doubt the north would care about the trail specifically since they follow the old gods, but if aerys kills the starks they're marching. Though If that doesn't happen I'm not sure if they would join the war, because that event is what convinced the north with a burning fury that aerys was mad and unfit to rule. But if it didn't happen, would the north just think "the south and their squabbles, aerys is crazy sure. But soon rhaegar will be on the throne and everything will be fine" or do you think rickard himself is willing to rebel, break the starks oath.

Anyway any thoughts or ideas in a world where there's a trail by seven between aerys and tywin?

I’ve been reading a few Targaryen‑restoration fics where Jon, upon learning the truth (or knowing it beforehand via time travel or SI knowledge), decides to become king.

Now I’m interested in the opposite: any fanfictions where Jon learns his heritage and rejects it. I’m looking for stories where he doesn’t pursue the Iron Throne and instead chooses a different path, staying a Stark, becoming a bannerman for Robb, rejoining the Night’s Watch like canon, or anything along those lines.

Basically, fics where Jon says “no thanks” to being Aegon Targaryen or whatever other name the author decides to give him. I already read both Robb Returns and Ned's Southern Folly and am interested in more like those.

all i remember is that Rhaella and Viserys live, Viserys presses his claim at the great council but Rhaella shuts him down.

Jon Arryn is the mediator, Robert refuses the throne, Barristan kills the mountain

I was thinking it would be neat to have one of the guys responsible for a good 60% of everything going to shit being reborn after Westeros falls to the Others.

Like, its right after Jon Arryn dies, or maybe when Ned is imprisoned, so there’s already so many schemes running (including his own) and he has to carefully dismantle them so Westeros can be unified without so much mass destruction so they have a chance against the Others.

I’d just like fics where the faith of the seven feature prominently, or characters involved with them do.

i find most fics just gloss over them, or glaze the old gods and turn the faith into a corrupt, homophobic, strawman

First time posting.

I am looking for a fanfiction that I have read within the last year.

Jon Snow raised as Targaryan along with Dany and Viserys. Dany's mother is alive. They lived in Stepstones?, in an abandoned keep along with Kingsguard and dragons, plotting their retaking of Iron Thtone. Once Jon is of age, he launches his campaign. Takes StormsEnd and kills Stannis. Later plants Stannis's head on Iron Throne to enrage Robert in action. Later, Eddard learns that it is Jon that is attacking, and essentially counsel Robert to surrender because he and Robbcannot fight Lyanna's blood. Robert goes for one last charge with volunteers who refuse to surrender and Sword of Morning kills him in battle.

That is what I remember.

Yesterday I was looking through this subreddit when I came across two threads, each asking for fics where Dany either fails or succeeds in her conquest of Westeros respectively. This ordinarily would nothing unusual, some people like certain characters while others do not and people will read what they want to.

But what I was struck by was just how different the comment sections of those two threads were. In the thread asking for fics where Dany got defeated, the comments were mostly relevant to the topic and plenty of fic recommendations were provided. The other thread felt much more hostile, and all the comments were removed. I've noticed this in some other threads as well, such as one asking for fics where the Starks fail to retake the North (that was a mess of a thread) and couldn't help but wonder why there was such a difference.

People disliking the protagonists of franchises is not new, but both Dany and the Starks are the protagonists here, and they have done questionable things throughout the story, coerced or otherwise. I was just wondering why such a extreme difference exists and why the fanbase either defends or hates certain characters so rabidly (Dany and the Starks are not the only characters where I have seen this, but those two groups are where it is the most apparent). I have always thought the most interesting part of fanfiction is exploring different interpretations of a franchises' world and characters in different settings and so the extreme pushback to any negative (or even just not positive) portrayal of the Starks comes across as extremely odd to me.

I feel like between the Others, Dany, Joncon's greyscale, etc. Aegon(real or fake) is pretty screwed. However I realized something. I have never personally read such a scenario. Sure he's been swept aside from the butterfly effect but never as a major story point. Therefore I ask for recommendations where he and his group actually try to take the throne but it doesn't go to plan.

Joffrey died (joy and rapture), Cersei has Tyrion arrested for murdering him with poison.

Say, if when the maesters check his body, they find traces of pie and lemon cream in his throat, say the strangler closed his throat as he was taking the second bite of the pie, and conclude he simple choked to death. No foul play.

How could things goes from there?

Basically, while reading the story of Alfred the Great, I discovered that the military reforms he implemented to defeat the Vikings allowed him to maintain a near-permanent army of up to 27,000 men at all times, all in medieval times and without spending a fortune to maintain it.

For those unfamiliar with Alfred the Great's reforms that enabled him to do this, they can be summarized in two points:

1. He introduced a rotation system for the militia, dividing the men available for war into two groups. While one group was on active duty guarding borders or garrisoning fortresses, the other group worked the land, rotating between the two groups. This ensured that half of the kingdom's male population could be mobilized without disrupting agricultural production.

2. He created the burhs, a network of fortified towns strategically distributed throughout the territory. Each burh served as a point of defense and refuge for the civilian population. They were located so that no inhabitant was more than a day's journey (20 miles or 32 kilometers) from a burh. If the Vikings attacked any point, the population could retreat to the nearest fortress while a military response was mobilized. The rotation system was used to fill the burhs. For militias, and to determine how many men each Burhs needed, a formula was used: one man was assigned for every 1.2 meters of wall. If a wall had a perimeter of 360 meters, it would be assigned 300 defenders.

It was calculated that thanks to these two reforms, the kingdom of Wessex could mobilize approximately 27,000 men at any given time.

So, if we were to apply the same reforms to Westerland, how much would the dynamics with the other kingdoms change?

Because in Westerland, this is because it is assumed that Westerland is the land most similar to England, and its proximity to the Ironborn would justify a more militarized presence against Ironborn attacks.

Looking for good jonerys fics. Not super picky just don’t mike any modern AU or bashing of either character . Favorite setting would be a fixit of season 8 . Thanks in advance

One of my "what if" ideas is: what happens if Cersei and Jaime swap places at the end of Season 1?

Let's say Cersei confronts Ned about Tyrion. Ned says something threatening, Cersei's blood boils, and then she breaks a wine goblet over his head when Ned turns his back to leave. She hears that Jaime is drinking with Robert and Selmy, so she can't ask him for help. She leaves for Tywin's camp in the Riverlands, and let's say by luck, Robb or Edmure captures her.

Jaime, on the other hand, stays in King's Landing. Robert dies, and now he needs to fight and neutralize Ned.

How do you think each character's journey goes? I don't think Tywin will name Tyrion Hand, for starters. I think one of main differences will be Joffrey's relationship. Jaime hates the boy and they will likely clash more often.

Hey 👋
I wanted to ask wether anyone has a fanfic, that is actually about the modern institutions that underpin all our technology?

While I appreciate all the guns and medical advancement, agriculture etc. I cannot help but feel they are incomplete. For example: they always have the Norfolk crop system and that’s all fine and dandy, but that does nothing at all for good taxation. There is always some notion of doing a survey, yet never actually any thought as to how about it, and always just “measter did it” which frankly is ridiculous, when you see, that even minor fiefs are basically the size of rhode island.

Does anyone know about a fic where they actually allude to not just tech rushing but also state building, and the associated state craft ?

I was mulling over a fic idea where Ned Stark assembles the banners and rides to deal with Mance Rayder and the Wildlings, the way that he considered doing so in canon.

Once he was there, though, I thought that the Others would spring their largest attack yet, and Northmen would fight side-by-side with the Free Folk in desperation

Now, Ned Stark IS a practical man, and I thought that he MAY consider bringing the Wildlings through the Wall in the aftermath. There would be those who'd refuse, of course, but a lot of them would be willing to adjust to some northern laws - and in all likelihood, the ones who would refuse would be the type to go out of their way to start problems.

My question is this: could the WoT5K help... if not INTEGRATE the Wildlings into the North, then ease relations?

I ask this mainly because I could picture some sort of rivalry-camaraderie between the Greatjon and Tormund Giantsbane, and I could see the Mormont women befriending a number of spearwives.

Plus, in my head, this could scratch the itch that canon has left me with - where, of course, we expect Jon to lead a host of Wildlings to Winterfell. It wouldn't turn out like that, of course, but the fearmongering in the south about a host of Northmen and Wildlings would be incredible.

And secondary to this, I need help figuring out what the arrangement would be that Ned might figure out with the Wildlings. The Gift is canonically some great land, but Jeor Mormont only supported the resettlement arrangement that Ned floated in canon if the lords in question paid their taxes to the Watch instead of to Winterfell, and of course the Wildlings HATE the Watch.

NED could solve that, of course, with an extra step taken to redistribute back to the Watch whatever he gets from the Wildlings should they refuse to give it directly, but other Lords of Winterfell might not be so kind.

I imagine that, depending on how things work out, Mance COULD stay on as a pseudo 'Lord of the Gift and the Wildlings' instead of 'King Beyond the Wall' - but that depends on how Ned feels about his desertion. If not him, then who?

And I don't even KNOW what I'd do about the Giants here lol.

Is there a fic where Westeros or a part of it is transported to medieval Europe. I had an idea about Aegon conquering Europe and wanted a fic of that vain.