GOT/ASOIAF: A Game Of Ice And Fire

"I shall see to the establishment of a private legion of soldiers. This legion will not be founded on any bias. Rivalries and prejudices of all types will be set aside for the well-being of Westeros.

Its units will fight alongside each other to rid Westeros of its afflictions. This company will be known as the Royal Legion.

Whether you are of the North, the Vale, the Iron Islands, the Stormlands, Dorne, the Westerlands, the Reach, the Crownlands, or the Riverlands, you have the option to join the Legion.

It will be akin to the Night's Watch in that respect. But whereas the Night's Watch guards the realms of men, this army shall protect those realms more directly.

Furthermore, any person who joins the Legion will not be expected to serve for life; only as long as they wish to. Any person who dėsɨrės to join the Legion needs only to approach its main base and enlist.

It matters not whether you are highborn or lowborn; whether you are a bastard or legitimate; whether you are green or hardened. So long as you can prove your usefulness somehow, you are welcome here.

Anyone who has committed a crime or intends to, do not think of the Legion as an alternative to taking the black. The whole purpose of its existence is to hunt down and capture people like you.

Unless you have been pardoned by the King or the individual you have wronged, no criminals will be granted quarter or entry.

For the ambitious ones who require more of an incentive, there is more to be gained in the Legion than the fulfillment of one's sense of duty.

Those of you in pursuit of money have the ability to become rich. Those of you who dėsɨrė glory have the option to become famous. Those of you who yearn for adventure have the chance to become great.

Whatever your case, once you join the Legion, your first and only true responsibility is to serve the realm.

So I appeal to your love for your homeland and your obligation to do what is just. Fight together so that future generations will be spared further conflict."

None of that was thought up on the spot.

Not wanting to make any revisions, I had decided what I was going to say well in advance. All the same, it took Tyrion over five minutes to write that letter.

Once the little Lannister was finished, I took up the letter and examined it. Trying to imagine how it would appear to the Lords, Knights and Smallfolk of the Seven Kingdoms.

It was meant as a summon, albeit an optional one. I could actually see myself answering this summon of my own free will hadn't I been born as the Crown Prince.

Given how many houses there were in the Seven Kingdoms, it would take days to compose a letter to all of them.

The process went by much faster. By midday, all the one hundred letters had been written. And Immediately after, the ravens were dispatched.

There was nothing more to do at that point but wait for responses.

————————————————————— .

As I lived through my sixth winter, watching the slow and steady phase of recruitment and training of my forces, I got very impressed by how much was actually achieved.

I wasn't worried about their skills, that could be easily raised through my Teach skill, but stats were a different matter.

Differently from those I added to my party (Rhaenys and Alyssa), regular people not only had a much slower pace of growth, but their stats weren't vulnerable to decreasing without constant training.

Soon enough, my forces had gotten larger in that brief time of cold and harsh weather.

My Royal Legion was up to two hundred recruits.

A handful of people from the Westerlands, the Riverlands, Vale and the Stormlands had enlisted. Thanks to my heritage and the notable figures I had managed to get to serve me.

Thoros of Myr had yet to earn his fame of being the first to breach Pyke's defenses, but he knew a thing or two about medical training and how to manage the morale around the troops.

Jalabhar Xho was still the exiled prince, but to most he was just a random Summer Islander far from home. Thankfully, he was an excellent teacher of marksmanship, knowing beyond the simple uses of bows and crossbows. With luck, I can have every legionnaire know how to properly throw a Javelin and a sling.

Lothor Brune had some tips of horse riding for my scouts, and alongside Jalabhar, were my best hope of getting mounted archers.

Hosteen and Walder were more interested with representing their families and serving Cleos Frey, the one they viewed as the next heir to the twins, so I at least had a strong brute and a cunning rogue to rely on if the occasion called.

Not to mention that Genna's son had proved himself competent enough to aid Tyrion on his work.

Syrio's title as previous sword of Braavos helped less than what he could teach the new recruits about the true sight that any competent water dancer had.

In similar fashion served Bronn, who looked all the new recruits over, questioning them, to learn where they've fought and how well they lie. And then gave them a chance to kill him, while he did the same for them.

When I asked if he had killed any, he answered: "No one we could have used."

I just reminded him to be careful of not antagonizing anyone that could become a problem to us, as I personally selected the ones he had approved through my Observation skill.

It served as an excellent alternative to a background check.

But the actual name that would certainly boost my Legion's reputation, would be Bryden Tully, well known as Blackfish.

The way I see it, he was old enough to offer great advice in leading and training the men, but young enough to venture himself into action from time to time.

All in all, it was no surprise that more volunteers came from the Reach than any other region by far, mostly due to their overabundance of manpower.

The Crowlands and Dorne had a slightly larger turnout. Targaryen loyalists were still a problem in both places, not to mention the bad blood that resulted after my father's rebellion.

So far, no one from the Iron Islands had signed up. Probably still preparing for the oncoming rebellion.

As the winter came to its end, my Legion had reached around five hundred men and was finally ready to move out of the training camp underneath Casterly Rock.

The best Centuries (80 men troops) were sent to patrol the surrounding borders of the Westerlands while the majority of peasants received extra training to make up for their shortcomings.

In time, all of them would be able to protect the realm and fulfill their thirst for adventure simultaneously.

Which led me to a silly realization.

Reading and hearing about Westeros was one thing. It was entirely another to see it firsthand.

All those landscapes could be found in my previous world, too, of course, but not all in such a small distance.

I was aware that the terrain of the Seven Kingdoms was supposed to be modeled after that of England, the terrain of the Free Cities was modelled after France and Italy, and the terrain of Slaver's Bay was modeled after the Middle East.

But since I don't recall having been to all of those countries in my previous life, I couldn't verify first hand if the sizes and shapes were the only things they really had in common with Westeros and Essos.

But the concept still served as a good comparison.

I knew my Legion would be composed of men from all the kingdoms, but I hadn't really considered the difference in strategy that each terrain would demand.

Sure, I had planned to make a Legion (of around 5,000 men) for each one of them, but the thing was that I hadn't experienced those places by myself.

To me, this was even more of an incentive to clear more Magical dungeons.

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All that speaking about agriculture led me to an important aspect of my Royal Legion.

All too often the armchair generals concern themselves simply with strategy and tactics, where thousands of human lives are reduced to blocks on a map.

To some, the soldier was nothing more than a faceless clone whose sole purpose was to do battle.

This was History without the Humanity.

I will throw off such myopic conventions and work on my Legionnaires not only in combat, but at his dinner as well.

The need to feed, as Napoleon famously said: "An army marches on its stomach."

This was even more true prior to the adoption of gunpowder, when men and beasts powered the weapons.

In this era it was estimated that approximately 90% of the weight of the supplies required by an ancient army revolved around eating.

In terms of the average Roman soldier, it was estimated that they had a recommended daily allowance of around 3,000 calories.

The minimum daily requirement was far lower, as fat reserves could help provide energy when consumption was low.

However, prolonged malnutrition over several days would substantially reduce a Legionnaire's physical and mental abilities.

A well performing army was therefore a well-fed army.

This is the overall way I plan to feed my Legion.

It broadly falls into the categories of ration and non-rational sources.

Rations whether food supplies were issued to soldiers on a regular basis according to their rank and status.

While conveniently procured for the individual, these were not entirely free, since the cost of most items was deducted from the soldier's pay.

Evidence suggests that the rations themselves were regularized back with the real Romans.

This was militarily advantageous because it allowed for the development of a highly organized and efficient logistical system.

It also ensured that there was sufficient food while limiting the risks of over eating and drinking.

Back during the Imperial period, a soldier's rations were made up of around 75% grain and 25% non grain of foodstuffs by weight.

The latter consisted of meat, vegetables, cheese, olive, oil, wine and salt.

The grain ration provided the carbohydrates and calories of one's diet.

It was typically distributed as wheat, though barley might also be issued as punishment or if supplies were low.

The rest of the rations made sure that protein, vitamins and other vital nutrients were included.

The type of meat depended on local availability, but generally consisted of pork, beef and mutton.

Vegetables also varied by region, in many cases there were references to beans, lentils and peas, alongside herbs such as garlic.

Cheese could be made from cow, sheep or goats milk. It was both light and easy to transport.

Olive oil was also important both as a condiment and a cooking supply.

Other liquids such as wine could help provide not only nutrition but also water content. It was distributed as both vintage wine and sour wine for consumption.

Lastly, salt was included to preserve food, season dishes and serve medical purposes.

It was considered one of the absolute necessities when provisioning an army.

Non ration sources of supply.

While rations provided a baseline for nutrition, the army also relied on other sources to meet its daily needs.

These ranged from absolute necessities to luxuries.

On campaign the original Legion obtained these supplies using three means of collection: foraging, requisition and pillaging.

Foraging involved sending out soldiers to retrieve specific items, of utmost importance would be sending Aquatires to nearby springs, rivers, lakes and wells, from which they would return to camp with full leather bags, water skins, barrels or vessels of water.

Lignatores were sent to gather firewood for cooking, heating and lighting, while Pabulatores collected fodder for the animals.

These activities were daily tasks and took many foraging parties.

The expeditions of the Frumentatores on the other hand, were carried out infrequently, they ventured out in large numbers to collect a wide range of foodstuffs, such as wheat, barley, olive oil, wine and fruit.

Roman soldiers were eventually tasked with reaping grain in the fields or picking things from orchards.

Requisition involved obtaining supplies from ostensibly friendly forces.

These goods were generally brought into the army through seizure, forced purchase or private markets.

A commander might issue orders for inhabitants to supply an army passing through the region.

This was often done on a large scale, with villages and towns being given specific locations for deposits.

Compensation could range from nothing to near market value.

More often than not, such requisition was a heavy burden on the local population.

By contrast, special merchants, known as Sutlers, were far more eager to address the Army's needs.

In fact, they traveled with the Legions and made a living selling them goods.

It was through these Sutlers that soldiers would get their gourmet items, garum fish sauce, honey and spices were always in high demand to improve the taste of rations.

While items such as fruit, eggs and fish were great additions to break up the monotony of military rations.

So it comes without saying that I also planned on having a close equivalent to these Sutlers.

Finally, Pillaging involved the seizing of supplies alongside the destruction of property.

Such acts typically took place after a battle or siege, but might be ordered across enemy territory to punish them or goad them into battle.

The Roman military strictly controlled these activities in order to impose discipline and better control the gathering and storage of provisions.

In times of lacks, discipline or civil war however, an organized force might quickly become a roving band of robbers.

Which I will not tolerate.

It was said that once a thing got lost under a

Legionnaires cloak, there was no power on earth that could snatch it away.

Honestly, I've heard similar things about the Gold Cloaks at King's Landing.

But once supplies were collected, they should be distributed to the soldiers.

Some evidence suggests that rations were received on the first of the month, while non rations were obtained on a more irregular schedule, based on demand and availability.

In contrast with modern armies, which rely on central facilities, the Legions at war generally prepared food at the squad level of the Contubernium, the eight-man group that shared

a tent.

I intended to explain that for Westerossi people by mentioning that seven men would follow a minor leader elected by them.

They do, after all, love having the number seven everywhere.

Seven gods, seven gates, seven kingdoms (not counting the other three), and seven Kingsguards.

As for the grain, which made up the majority of the soldiers caloric intake, it could be eaten in two basic ways.

The first was known as pools and was easier to prepare. It was made by taking wheat and adding water, salt, fat and oil or milk. For extra flavor spices, vegetables or fresh meat could be thrown into a brass pot alongside it, and boiled to resemble modern polenta.

However, this method of preparation was less common, as it would be difficult to store and transport.

Generally, soldiers ate their grain in the form of bread. This took several steps. First the grain had to be thrashed, to remove the inedible husks. Threshing occurred prior to being sent to the Legions in order to reduce its total weight.

If troops collected their own grain in the fields, it would be brought back into camp to be thrashed within the security of the fortifications.

Next, the grain would be ground into flour, using a stone hand mill carried by each Contubernium's pack animal.

Milling could be repeated several times to improve the quality of the flour, the coarser flour produces a black bread consumed by the rank-and-file, while the more refined flour produces a white bread for the officers.

Next, extra ingredients were mixed into the flour, such as salt, lard, leaven and most importantly water.

Finally, the mixture had to be kneaded and baked in a campfire or hearth.

For a contubernium it would take about an hour to mill their daily grain rations into flour, and another 1 to 2 hours to make the bread.

To save time, several days worth of material was often prepared at once.

According to military regulations, meats of various kinds were to be baked in a campfire or boiled in a cooking pot. Alongside them would be prepared fruits and vegetables, which might be roasted on a spit or eaten raw.

Evidence suggested that cheese was also manufactured by the troops.

Olive oil and wine on the other hand were obtained pre-made, though soldiers might still choose to alter them prior to consumption.

Sour wine for instance would be watered down into Posca, a popular drink among the lower classes.

Along the way, soldiers would introduce special ingredients acquired from the Sutlers or collected in the field to improve their meals.

However, preparing gourmet dishes was considered unsoldierly, well-disciplined forces would in fact regulate such time wasting activities.

Exceptions of course existed for the officers and commanders, who enjoyed both better diets and more elaborate meals.

In certain instances, soldiers ate pre-made meals on campaign.

Or the ancient version of fast food.

This was often done for strategic reasons, when the army had to move quickly.

A commander might order local populations to place a prepared food along the road, as was done by Claudius and Nero on his march to repulse enemy forces in 207 BC.

Alternatively, the soldiers themselves might be ordered to prepare their own meals ahead of time.

This generally involved making longer-lasting foods, such as a jerky and biscuits, by removing water content.

The meats would be dried and salted while the bread would be rebaked into hard tack.

It should also be noted that when Legions remained in place for long periods of time, their food preparation became more centralized.

In these conditions soldiers could more readily access pre-made meals from camp kitchens, local taverns and markets.

The Roman army ate two meals a day, breakfast or Prandium, in the morning or at noon, and dinner or Cena in the evening.

The exact timing was at the discretion of the commanders and depended on how they planned to use the army.

Eating might be scheduled right before battle as a reward for strenuous activity or in the off shifts while constructing siege works.

Breakfast was light and generally consisted of cold meats and cheese, which were readily available.

The dinner on the other hand was more hearty but included many of the more time-consuming steps I have described.

When the troops ate, they did so together, the soldiers took food with members of their Contubernium and were expected to eat standing or sitting.

Officers dined with one another and the aristocratic higher-ups would often recline, as was befitting their class.

Food and drink was consumed using a Legionnaire's equipment, a bronze Patera served as an all-purpose cooking pot, cup and food bowl.

Solids were picked up back then using fingers, since the fork was unknown to the Romans.

Daggers could cut bread and meat while spoons were used to consume soups and porridge.

Additional earthenware cups might also be present alongside a range of wooden utensils.

Given time the soldiers would tend to hoard additional gear.

As always, it was in the interest of a disciplined force to curb such activities.

In fact, the entire highly organised process of food supply preparation and consumption was a key feature of Rome's military that is all too often overlooked.

Without this engine driving the Legions, they would never have achieved the levels of success that made them so famous.

And I will not overlook it.

—————————————————————

The first two months after the winter had passed were mostly uneventful.

The Royal Legion was called upon often enough, but their errands were generally composed of little more than hunting down bandits, rogue lawbreakers, and the occasional band of outlaws.

Which wasn't supposed to be that common in the Westerlands. Tywin Lannister was always so meticulous with order for that to be the case.

Overtime, since the change of seasons brought a small crisis to the realm, with the agriculture of all the world still struggling to readjust, the crime rate in Westeros steadily rose as an indirect consequence.

I saw that as a sign that things would get worse before me and my soldiers could make them better.

Strangely, I felt relieved.

That implied I would have plenty of opportunities to demonstrate my Legion's aptitude. The more opportunities I used, the greater impact we would leave on Westeros.

Besides, with Tywin Lannister being aware of my magic, it was a simple matter having my Thaumaturgy cantrip be effectively introduced to solve most of our current problems.

Money clearly wasn't a problem, but during the yearly harsh winters, food was worth more than gold.

Thankfully, lands under the Neck weren't buried under snow, which allowed the soil to still be usable for agriculture.

And by simply running around while casting Thaumaturgy without anyone seeing, I made all the seeds in a 20 meter radius sprout and all the fruit to ripen.

As cover up, I had Tywin make use of one of my inventions that was still in its testing phase, the fertilizer.

Being high in nitrogen, I had intended it to help my crops grow. But while used alongside my magic, I was confident it would immensely help my plans for the future.

—————————————————————

So as I've previously mentioned…

During campaigns, one of the generals greatest concerns was the need to feed, and this was especially true of the Roman army which relied on robust supplies to wage highly aggressive warfare at all times a year.

Allow me to give you a sense of the scales involved here.

At the lowest levels would be the individual soldiers, each carrying much of their own gear, which is estimated to have weighed around 40 kilograms.

Which was important to point out since they wouldn't have access to any sort of magical Inventory, like me and my Party members.

Additionally, each Contubernium of eight soldiers had a mule or two and a pair of military slaves to help them carry supplies.

Since unlike Rome, slavery was outlawed in Westeros, servants and the lowest rank of soldiers will have to make do.

Some sort of Squire equivalent for the Legionnaires I believe would be best.

But this also meant that each Legion (between 4,000 and 6,000) was accompanied by around six hundred to a thousand mules and 1,200 servants or lowest rank soldiers.

The entire Army's baggage train was therefore made up of thousands of pack animals and servants as well as hundreds of wagons and even more multitudes of non-combatants.

Such a large force had significant supply needs

to sustain itself, risking disbandment or worse if they weren't met.

Just for context, it's suggested that on a daily basis a Legion required 18,000 pounds of grain, 12,000 gallons of water and 40,000 pounds of fodder for its animals.

That's unquestionably a lot of food, water and supplies.

Knowing their needs is one thing.

But how did they get all of this?

Well, I think it's best to break down the sources of supply into several different levels.

The first level is going to be the supplies carried with the army, the second one is going to be supplies gathered by the army and then the third one is going to be supplies sent to the army.

The first one, at the lowest level, each soldier was expected to have some supplies on hand.

This amounted to approximately one week worth of food to allow for some flexibility whilst on campaign.

In case of desperate need, the soldiers could even boil some of the leather on their shields or shoes to eat, but that was really stretching it.

Next you'd have the Army's baggage-train, which had significantly more supplies, they carried a ton of goods along with herds of animals for consumption, and this overall might be enough to last a month or more.

Though it should be noted that things like water and fodder were actually impractical to carry in large quantities, and that these would be in constant need of resupply.

So now, moving on to the second level.

As I previously mentioned, hese were gathered in approximately three main ways through, foraging, requisition and pillaging.

Foraging involved essentially living off the land and it was done relatively routinely, especially when searching out water, fodder and firewood.

The yield of such activities would depend on the season, so obviously, when the crops were ripe and they were in the field and there were lots of fruits they would get a high yield, whereas in the winter these activities would obviously have a much lower yield.

And then the amount of supplies that they could gather did very much depend on the size of their foraging expeditions and how far away they sent them.

Suffice to say that these would vary over time.

The other major weight that one could gather supplies would be through requisition, and this would involve the purchase or seizure of goods.

And in the last way would be pillaging, which involved gathering supplies alongside the destruction of property.

So using these kind of three general principles of how an army gathered supplies we can imagine sort of what activities look like as it advanced a pace of around 30 kilometers a day.

Yet the army could not always count on gathering all of its own supplies, and this is where this third level comes in, where the Roman army logistics systems get involved.

The most important fundamental feature here is going to be the supply line, the connection between the army and a supply source.

This line was going to have a couple fixed points that are going to be important to elaborate, and these are roughly broken up into different tiers and types of bases.

So these are going to be the Strategic base of supply, the Operational base and then the Tactical base.

The Strategic base was the most broad and was going to be their source, although not necessarily a single point but a broad source of provisions from outside an area of operations.

Generally we would be talking about provinces which were ȧssigned specific armies or campaigns to support, and these supplies were gathered using various financial means including forest and market purchases, contracting, taxation and contributions from allies.

That would be outside of the theater of operations across the Empire, or several provinces, one would be gathering and collecting all this food.

Then these would be carried over and collected at the Operational base, it would be essentially the supply lines anchor, meant to supply the Roman army in its particular area of operations.

Fundamentally, it linked the water board and supply lines coming from those strategic bases and connected them to the land-based supply lines going to the next level, which was going to be the Tactical base.

These operational bases were usually located at fortified ocean or river ports, though the location might be updated over the course of a campaign for strategic or tactical reasons, as for instance of an approaching army threatening it or perhaps another port was taken control at a more advantageous location.

So Operational bases could, and would, move.

These bases also traditionally contained infrastructure to hold enough food and

equipment for the campaigning season and

in particular included sophisticated greeneries which were key and minimizing food spoilage.

If this particular infrastructure wasn't necessarily there or didn't have the maximum amount needed for the campaign, the soldiers would get involved in building these prior to launch of the campaign.

Keep in mind, fighting wasn't the only thing these soldiers were expected to do.

Not by a long shot.

Now, the next and final level was going to be the Tactical base.

Essentially the other endpoint.

It's the far end of the supply line and this is where the supply collection point is closest to the Roman force.

It would traditionally be a short distance behind the Army or within its own marching camp.

This is where they would store supplies arriving from the operational base through that supply line and also where they gathered the supplies that the Legion got locally from living off the land.

So this all would be dumped into the Tactical base.

It might also contain some of the Roman Army's slower-moving elements, such as siege equipment.

And as the army moved forward again, about 30 kilometers a day, this tactical base would be picked up and moved alongside the army, trailing it and advancing with or alongside it.

Now in its wake, as it moves along and redeploys, they would have a series of abandoned tactical bases.

These were traditionally converted into supply depots which would go on to become the backbone of the supply line.

Troops were generally left behind to garrison these.

Good thing I planned to become the next coming of Bran the Builder, so building small fortifications all around Westeros wasn't that far away from my initial goals.

But when we think of supply lines, it's not a long line of wagons that goes continuously from one end to the other.

Instead, it's gonna be smaller convoys that

arrived from controlled territory and moved between these chains of depots that finally lead up to that Tactical base.

Which was key because it allowed men and animals to get the necessary rest and fodder that they need along the way, instead of making a single long stretch that would be very vulnerable to attack.

Another important thing was that between these different key hard points (depots), as these convoys made their way, what the Roman army would do was build up roads, bridges and canals to improve the efficiency of these supply routes.

This was why you always hear so much about roads and infrastructure in the Roman world, because a lot of the times these were built up for military purposes to make these supply lines going to the army that was more efficient and strong.

Not only just the Roman soldiers moving, but

also their equipment and supplies coming

up after them.

I wonder if I can make the Freys agree to replicate their castle alongside the rivers of the Riverlands.

Perhaps one day they might succeed in matching, or even surpassing, the Long Bridge of Volantis.

—————————————————————

By the end of 289 AC and the beginning of 290 AC, my Royal Legion has progressed from the vanity project of the young Crown Prince, to something more realistic.

We hadn't fought in any wars yet, but we've basically had taken care of keeping the order around the Westerlands.

But since I was too young to be taken seriously by the masses, I had placed Tygett and Gerion specifically to represent my will and earn some credit to their name.

It had taken all my persuasion and planning skill to make them believe I wasn't bossing them around, handing them a illusionary comprehension that I've trusted everything on their own competences

Don't get me wrong, they weren't dimwitted, I just wasn't the type to trust on others.

Occasionally I had sneaked around as Knight and Ranger, dropping hints here or there about what I wanted them to do or simply doing it myself.

That reminds me, my experiment with controlling undeads was somewhat successful.

I ended up getting rid of my Zombie Knight since he was really slowing me down, but my understanding of Necromancy was the highest of all the other schools of magic.

You will be missed pal.

Perhaps not that much, since I just killed it after noticing that the dungeon I had explored alongside Tywin had replenished itself.

You see, if the dungeon isn't exactly cleared once I leave it, the enemy creatures are all brought back, alongside its dangerous traps.

Which was great for grinding poison, fire and undeads to control.

In general, think of spells within the School of Necromancy as manipulating the ebb and flow of different creatures' "life energy", or the balance of energy between life and death. This could come across in the form of helping resurrection, or draining necrotic damage.

That leads me to what I've been doing during my spare time.

Other than checking on the growth of my Legion, I continuously bonded with Tyrion and Daven, who were for all intents and purposes, the next Lords of Casterly Rock and Lannisport.

After my ultimatum, Tywin Lannister actually dialed down on his hostility towards Tyrion, perhaps finally understanding his son's usefulness as he worked on my Legion.

As for Daven, despite our ten year age gap, we became close friends.

He was on the verge of enlisting to join my Legion, but since he was the future lord of Lannisport, I had a different plan for him.

The fact that his sisters were constantly asking about me made it a little awkward for him, but thankfully he wasn't jealous like uncle Jaime was to mother.

After spending months with Tyrion and Daven, I eventually got to trust them enough to add them to my party.

Even though I didn't reveal anything to them, setting without warning the parameters to expel them from my party if they ever went against me, the lesser version of my system gave them a great advantage over regular people.

I didn't reveal to them that I had magic, so they had yet to notice the limited version of my Inventory.

But their skills and stats were progressing at a much faster pace.

Originally, in the books, Tyrion was an interesting case.

The reason I say this is because there are contrary events that make one wonder.

At the start of the books, he was sitting up on a perch, on a ledge above the door of the common room of Winterfell, how he got up there was not really explained. He doesn't seem strong enough to be a climber with his short legs. But then he jumps off, does a spin thingy in the air, lands on his hands and then rolls himself upright.

For a dwarf, he is very agile and athletic.

And also takes part in a few battles, on the way to the Eyrie, he kills a man with an axe and takes his half helm. He then dodges men with swords and attacks them with the axe.

In the Riverlands, he fights with his mountain clansmen in the Vanguard, somewhat differently to what the tv show led us to believe. He takes a blow to the shoulder but uses his battleaxe pretty well to kill a few grown men.

Tyrion also takes part in the battle of the Blackwater as well.

The half man can't possibly be bad in combat if he can take on grown men and defeat them. He is by no means a Knight or like his brother Jaime.

However, he does things at times which are surprising and are never expected of him. He doesn't kill all these men from behind either, he kills some of them face to face.

Other events which seem contrary to his skill and strength are when he can bȧrėly walk up the stairs or keep up with people walking and his legs continuously cramp.

To me something never seemed to add up.

He does seem like a demon monkey who can do things when he needs to, the rest of the time he has the persona of a more restricted and limited person.

From the first time we've met, I've had big questions over his true physical abilities, thinking he is in fact strong and not as limited as he seems originally.

Tyrion does take on the Stoneman at the Rhyone as well. Someone truly weak with no ability or strength would not risk such acts.

He has more ability than regular readers and viewers are led to believe.

It is like he transforms during battle, not only by adrenaline rush, but he actually finds skills, however, once the battle is over, he returns to his normal whining self about his legs.

To me, he was somewhere in between the frail yet agile Hobbit and the slow yet strong Dwarf.

It would be very fortunate if I managed to direct him to a similar path I had Rhaenys take.

So I decided to practice alongside him some acrobatic moves and challenge him to shoot a crossbow, which was very pleasant since Tywin wasn't around to prohibit him from acting like that.

As for Daven, I wanted him to become the next Jaime Lannister.

He was much obliged by our constant sparring matches, with me making sure he mastered the basics of combat.

In return, I finally got someone to help me practice with the shield, and occasionally with polearm weapons as well.

I even got Sandor to help me out practicing with both Lannisters.

Had considered adding the Hound to my party, but ultimately decided against it for now.

As for my own progress…

I've managed through great effort to level up.

Once.

Yeah, the lack of constant killing through my Night Raids left me with only my sporadic quests to gain experience.

I had to maintain the illusion that the Stranger was still roaming the streets of King's Landing, at least for just another year.

Had exchanged some letters with those I left behind, but nothing too revealing since I didn't completely trust the Maesters.

Even Pycelle, the Lannister loyalist.

But from what I was informed, things had gotten a little boring since I left the capital.

Sure, the Stranger was still scaring the shit out of criminals and corrupt gold cloaks, and both Tobho and Chataya's business had prospered thanks to some well thought out management.

But the Alchemists were still studying their infusions in secret, and my parents merely told me about my siblings.

Lann was attempting to follow my footsteps, but he wasn't skilled enough to be taught like I was. What surprised me was that uncle Stannis had shown some interest in him, and was willing to have him visit Dragonstone while teaching him the basics of sailing.

Well, color me impressed.

If not a little envious as well.

As for my sweet Joanna, she had changed quite a bit.

It seems my absence was necessary to have her behave more like a Lady.

Well, without me around to spoil her, I guess it was inevitable.

Even Alysse sent me a subtle encrypted letter that didn't stand out while also informing me both of her and Rhaenys well-being.

Which was a relief.

But I digress.

I've come to value the books of the schools of magic more than I did to actual spell tomes.

The latter automatically gave me a single spell or cantrip, but the former taught me so much that I was coming up with spells by myself.

The latest came when I got too excited with the idea of summoning beasts and creatures of fables.

{UNSEEN SERVANT Lv- 10 (1%)}

{*REQUIREMENTS MET (Mage Hand cantrip has reached sufficient level)}

{FIRST LEVEL CONJURATION SPELL: This spell creates an invisible, mindless, shapeless force that performs simple tasks at your command until the spell ends. The servant springs into existence in an unoccupied space on the ground within range. It has light defense, 10 Health points, and all stats at 10, though it can't attack. If it drops to 0 Hp, the spell ends. You can mentally command the servant to move up to 5 meters and interact with an object. The servant can perform simple tasks that a human servant could do, such as fetching things, cleaning, mending, folding clothes, lighting fires, serving food, and pouring wine. Once you give the command, the servant performs the task to the best of its ability until it completes the task, then waits for your next command.

If you command the servant to perform a task that would move it more than 20 meters away from you, the spell ends.}

CASTING TIME: 6 SECONDS

DURATION: 1 HOUR

RANGE: 10 METERS

COMPONENTS: VOCAL, SOMATIC AND MATERIAL (A piece of string and a bit of wood)

Let me tell you, what this spell lacked in offensiveness, it more than made up for with usefulness.

Now, besides my actual pair of hands, I had four invisible ones (two mage hands and two from my unseen servant) that could do pretty much anything I asked (other than attack my enemies).

Slowly but surely I was becoming the telekinetic master I've always dreamt to be.

Besides, this servant, other than reminding me of Madara's limbo clones, surprised me with its own capacity of performing magic.

Nothing offensive like my Eldritch Blast or Mind Sliver, but actually mimicking my Mending and Spare the Dying.

Oh, and it also got a spell of its own.

Let me see…

{FLOATING DISK}

{FIRST LEVEL CONJURATION SPELL: This spell creates a circular, horizontal plane of force, a meter in diameter and 3 centimeters thick, that floats a meter above the ground in an unoccupied space of the caster's choice that is within range of sight. The disk remains for the duration, and can hold up to 250 Kilograms. If more weight is placed on it, the spell ends, and everything on the disk falls to the ground. The disk is immobile while the caster is within 20 feet of it. If you move more than 6 meter away from it, the disk follows the caster so that it remains within 6 meters. It can move across uneven terrain, up or down stairs, slopes and the like, but it can't cross an elevation change of 3 meters or more. For example, the disk can't move across a 3-meters-deep pit, nor could it leave such a pit if it was created at the bottom.

If the caster moves more than 30 meters from the disk (typically because it can't move around an obstacle to follow the caster), the spell ends.}

Quite a useful spell, if not a little circunstancial.

The problem I had with copying it was that my Unseen Servant was a terrible teacher.

Regardless, I now had the ability to dual cast any non-offensive cantrip I had through it.

Let's see, what more I got?

Oh, right.

You see, the features I got to choose from my title's were very impressive.

And it was great that they didn't cost me any mana points to use.

But until I got to level up my titles farther ahead, I was stuck with two uses per day.

Which was really limiting me.

As a Druid I had boosted my Wild Shape forms, and could on demand summon an animal spirit to buff me and my party.

As a Knight I could declare someone my enemy and have great advantage against it, or strangely enough control a single undead.

But as a septon I was really split.

Twilight Sanctuary was actually a broken power I got my hands on, not to mention allowing me to share darkvision with others, but I'm not using it yet.

As for Destructive Wrath, it was by far the most reliable feature I had on hand.

I could rebuke any attack with lighting and thunder twenty two times a day.

But the sad part was that it was just too loud and destructive to use anywhere else outside the magical dungeon under Casterly Rock.

Normally that would be a problem to me, I had managed to level up Eldritch Blast pretty well.

But there was something about lashing out the unchecked power of the storm that had filled my mind with dėsɨrė of doing just that the entire day.

For that purpose, I went out of my way to test and study this phenomenon.

Finding great understanding within the school of evocation, as it served to unleash raw magical energies upon enemies.

Whether it be flames, ice, or pure arcane energy like my Eldritch Blast, I had come up with Chromatic Orb just for that reason.

But lighting and thunder spoke to me at a different level.

Out of it I got some valuable Cantrips.

{SHOCKING GRASP Lv- 11 (23%)}

{*REQUIREMENTS MET (Destructive Wrath feature acquired and knowledge about Evocation school has reached sufficient level)}

{EVOCATION CANTRIP: Lightning springs from your hand to deliver a shock to a creature you try to touch. Make a melee spell attack against the target. You have advantage on the attack if the target is wearing armor made of metal. On a hit, the target takes lightning damage, and is momentarily stunned.}

CASTING TIME: 6 SECONDS

DURATION: INSTANTANEOUS

RANGE: TOUCH

COMPONENTS: VOCAL AND SOMATIC

That's right, I now had the equivalent of a taser.

Just the neat feeling of lighting circling around my fingers was just too alluring.

But when I got the idea to clap my electrified hands together, I got this…

{THUNDERCLAP Lv- 5 (87%)}

{*REQUIREMENTS MET (Shocking Grasp cantrip acquired and knowledge about Evocation school has reached sufficient level)}

{EVOCATION CANTRIP: You create a burst of thunderous sound, which can be heard 30 meters away. Each creature other than you within 2 meters of you takes thunder damage.}

CASTING TIME: 6 SECONDS

DURATION: INSTANTANEOUS

RANGE: SELF

COMPONENTS: SOMATIC

And by multiplying its sound effect through Thaumaturgy, as if it was my voice being amplified, I got pretty good results.

I could even make someone go deaf with the near explosive sound coming out of it.

What else…

One thing I wasn't expecting was that my Gladius could learn new enchantments but simply grasping them while casting the intended effect.

{SELECT ENCHANTMENT}

{KNOWN ENCHANTMENTS: RADIANT/ FORCE/ LIGHTING/ THUNDER}

It basically turned my Valyrian blades into lighting and booming rods.

Not that really effective against undead, but I really dig the feeling of wielding them.

Although the use of Thunderclap was very limited beside its area of effect and as an Enchantment, Lightning Grasp allowed me to electrify any metallic object.

Which included some chains and metallic nets.

This led me to consider mimicking BK-201's fighting style while patrolling the streets during the night.

Since I didn't suffer damage from my own attack, I could theoretically be even deadlier under heavy rain and inside bodies of water.

But that fact thankfully didn't prevent me from storing both types of damage in order to unlock my Chromatic Orb.

You would think I would call it a day and stop messing with magic, but I was just having so much fun.

Before I decided to finally visit the Reach, I made my last breakthrough.

And acquired an actual first level spell.

{THUNDERWAVE Lv- 1 (26%)}

{*REQUIREMENTS MET (Two electric type cantrips acquired and knowledge about Evocation school has reached sufficient level)}

{FIRST LEVEL EVOCATION SPELL: A wave of thunderous force sweeps out from you. Each creature in a 5 meter cube originating from you takes thunder damage and is pushed 3 meters away from you. In addition, unsecured objects that are completely within the area of effect are automatically pushed 3 meters away from you by the spell's effect, and the spell emits a thunderous boom audible out to 100 meters.}

CASTING TIME: 6 SECONDS

DURATION: INSTANTANEOUS

RANGE: SELF

COMPONENTS: VOCAL AND SOMATIC

Yeah baby, I'm the God of Lightning and Thunder!

Well, not yet.

But I'm on my way.

Just need to find a way of managing the high mana costs of a first level spell.

How the tables have turned, I was just complaining about never spending anything with my cantrip, then I got hit with the reality of how absurd spells really were even to someone like me.

—————————————————————

In medieval RPGs, we're quite used to leveling up our characters from broke peasants draped in rags to baller knights decked in the finest regalia.

Common gameplay loops involved slaying foes, completing quests, searching for treasure and spending hard-earned cash at a merchant shop.

With enough grinding you could eventually kit out yourself and your party for war.

At least that's how it worked for me in principle.

But how did this process work in real life for regular people?

In order to better contextualize this discussion, let's first look at the sort of gear which was required for war in the first place.

As one would imagine, a major part of this kit would have been weapons and armor, in addition, a soldier would have also required tools for the maintenance of these arms and a whole host of other items for basic activities like eating, drinking, sleeping, marching and camping.

All of this would obviously cost money.

Suffice to say that, for most soldiers and warriors, their biggest personal expense would have been their armor.

For example, a lower cost Chainmail shirt could be purchased for around 16 Silver stags, which was the equivalent of a little over an entire month's wage for a soldier guarding a prominent city.

A higher quality Chainmail shirt and other defensive gear would be even more expensive.

Buying a cuirass with pauldrons or a shield might run you 25 Silver Stags, while proper Lance armor would be closer to 80 Silver Stags.

By contrast, weapons were generally less expensive than armor, but still made up a significant portion of a soldier's expenses.

For example, lances and swords could be bought for around 2 Silver Stags, or about 4 days wages for a high stand soldier.

People who could not afford high quality gear would have turned to cheaper alternatives.

For example, rather than sporting full suits of metal armor, a poor man would usually have worn a helmet padded or quilted textile garments and carried a shield.

Offensively they would have turned to lower tier maces or spears, which were overall much cheaper to produce since they required less metal and blacksmith work.

This sort of kit was often mandated by the governing authority in many regions.

Weapons and armors had gradually become

better and cheaper over the course of the centuries, as blacksmiths became more common.

But it was still considerably high for the average guy.

Around the bigger cities, a common foot soldier could actually much more readily afford a weapon and entire armies would have been outfitted in munitions grade armor, which was cheaper adjustable gear made for outfitting large numbers of pikemen.

But weapons and armor were not one-time purchases, they required frequent upkeep.

Thus, a soldier's gear would often include items for the maintenance of these arms.

This might mean something as simple as a

whetstone or spare parts.

More often though, attendants, servants and specialized artisans like armorers accompanied an army to properly maintain war gear that might need repair or replacement in the field.

Besides weapons and armor, equipment such

as clothing, tents, food, drink, alcohol, ammunition and fodder for horses was vital to maintain military forces.

Individually these purchases might be relatively cheap, but would accrue over time to the point that they might even surpass the cost of outfitting a soldier.

Logistics for even small units of warriors involve significant baggage.

Mounted forces in particular required huge amounts of supply for horse and rider.

After all, these troops brought multiple remounts on campaign, with the more expensive steeds being reserved for actual combat.

Even non-mounted forces, like archers, might have a horse to get to and from combat.

An entire wagon was required for every 10 horsemen in the army, and that these wagons were pulled by their own beasts of burden, which in turn would require water and fodder.

The cheapest horse might cost about 21 Silver Stags or around 40 days worth of a soldier's entire wage, while a fine riding horse might cost 10 times that amount and a war horse even more.

Factor all this together and you start to get a sense of how expensive warfare could be on an individual basis, let alone on a grand scale for those attempting to build their own troops.

With this in mind, let's now talk about how soldiers might acquire their gear.

One of the main ways for individuals to get weapons and armor was through inheritance.

This was extremely common amongst the nobility and the practice even extended into non-aristocratic families.

Inheriting gear might be a huge ceremony whereby powerful named artifacts like Valyrian steel weapons were handed down over the generations.

However, we see this process being much more mundane with inheritance being spelled out in the clauses of rather boring legal documents and wills.

After all, while weapons and armor were valuable and often highly decorated, they were also seen as practical tools with most having a finite life span.

It was expected that they would be worn out or even broken in battle, requiring constant upkeep even when left in storage.

Armories for instance would routinely hire craftsmen to evaluate and repair their stockpiles after a campaign or battle.

That being said, there were some particular cases of inheritance which were closer to what gets depicted in fantasy media.

Royal armories and heirlooms often housed objects of legendary status which could

be handed down from Lord to Lord.

These prized possessions might have names, but we should remember that these sorts of occurrences were much less common.

Thus for most warriors inheriting weapons was less like the passing down of artifacts as seen in Valyrian steel weapons and more like receiving a trusty hunting bow or spear from an elderly relative.

Gear might also be handed to a warrior from outside the family, as might be the case with gifts from allies or loans from armories.

Gifts of war gear, for example, sometimes accompanied the signing of a treaty or the celebration of a political marriage.

Most of the time, these gifts were exchanged between powerful figures and the retainers.

After all, it was in the interest of monarchs and aristocrats to ensure that their personal forces were equipped with proper weapons, armor and even horses.

For the most part these were not uniform

in nature, but at least met a common level of quality.

By Westerlands' standards however,

aristocrats were increasingly dressing their soldiers with preset libraries.

For example, elite soldiers recruited in

Lannisport were given coats that were half tinted red and half plated with gold.

The procurement of gear was thus concentrated into the hands of the wealthy who bought and stockpiled large quantities of equipment ahead of major campaigns.

I've heard of a merchant who collected over 4 thousand Chainmail shirts and 6 thousands shields and mountains of other gear for a campaign expecting another Blackfyre rebellion or Ironborn raid.

Given such large volumes, it was now possible for buyers to source their equipment directly from manufacturing centers.

However, rich individuals weren't the only ones who served as consolidators of equipment.

Towns and cities also maintained armories to arm their citizens for local defense.

These stockpiles contained both personal items such as weapons and armor, as well as larger ȧssets like artillery and ammunition, the latter commonly came in the form of large torsion-powered crossbows called springald and several sets of bolts which would be key to the defense of urban settlements.

But let's suppose that war was coming and you had neither inherited nor been gifted all the gear you needed.

The next option available to you would be to purchase these items, in popular media

this usually gets depicted as a buyer

traveling to a single smith in a small

shop, while this certainly did happen, given how capable Tobho Mott was, the arms industry was much larger in scale, consisting of an enormous network of craftsmen workshops and merchants.

These were available to supply anything an

army could need from personal weapons

like a sword or bow, to massive orders for thousands of shields, helmets and lances.

Wealthy nobles might have their own workshop set up to equip themselves and their soldiers, but would also travel directly to production centers in order to buy custom sets of gear in bulk.

The cost of weapons and armor depended

on what you're looking for, a used spear for example, could be bought cheaply for less than a day's wages for a regular worker.

But a basic to custom sword, harness with gilding or other forms of decoration would be much more expensive.

Knife (5 SS)

Pike (80 SS)

Braavosi Sword (800 SS)

Sword-breaker (10 SS)

Poleaxe (80 SS)

Boar Spear (40 SS)

Javelin (20 SS)

Billhook (100 SS)

Stiletto (30 SS)

Dirk (20 SS)

Dagger (20 SS)

Myrish Crossbow (2000 SS)

Arrows/Bolts (12uni./ 10 SS)

Longbows (900 SS)

Buckler Shield (25 SS)

Kite Shield (40 SS)

Tower Shield (60 SS)

Heather Shield (30 SS)

Padded Gambeson (200 SS)

Riveted Mail (800 SS)

Brigantine (1200 SS)

Spear (50 SS)

War Lance (60 SS)

Heater Shield (30 SS)

Full Plate Armor (3000 SS)

As you can see, prices varied widely for each product, and one could easily spend a fortune on military gear.

For example Tobho Mott's armorer's workshop at King's Landing employed over 20 people and cost more than 500 Golden Dragons a year to operate.

The craftsmen who made these equipment were valuable and well paid, especially for high-end custom production.

Armorers and weapon makers contracted for royal workshop often had exclusivity classes in their contracts and were frequently subject to royal legislation, aimed at regulating such an important market.

Fraud for example was a constant problem which plagued the major production centers.

What happened was that unscrupulous merchants would purchase cheap armor elsewhere, then bring it to a city famous for its weapons such as King's Landing where the item would be stamped with a false maker's mark and sold for a profit.

Cities and towns tried to protect themselves from such forgeries, but legislation designed to punish counterfeit sellers were difficult to enforce and did not seem to have halted the practice.

This all led to vast amounts of new military gear being produced and dumped onto the market by the major players in the industry.

These might be sold locally or exported to other regions around the world.

Used gear also added to the number of items on the market in the form of a huge second-hand equipment industry, being propped up by smaller scale merchants and individuals.

Soldiers even served as vendors themselves, when they might sell off their gear to buy more practical things like food, drink and transportation.

The battlefield itself was also another important source of war gear, indeed weapons and armor were commonly looted from the battlefield.

In some cases, this might be completely unrestrained free-for-all.

For the most part however looting was an organized process to make sure that

everyone knew that they would get a share of the spoils and would be properly motivated

to keep fighting rather than breaking off to scavenge mid-battle.

Generally speaking, battlefield loot was usually supposed to be divided into shares.

The overall commander of the army would

get a cut followed by the captains and their soldiers.

For some Sellsword companies on Essos, the specific ratio of what shares a captain or

commanders would be entitled to would often be made explicit in a formal contract.

This meant that, even if a mercenary looted a valuable weapon from a dead noble on

the battlefield, they would probably not be able to keep it for themselves.

Instead, the weapon would become part of the overall value of the loot from which the sellsword would receive their share.

Such earnings could be quite significant, however to the dismay of the troops an army wouldn't always be able to loot a battlefield.

For instance Maesters have described numerous mass graves from the battle of the past, where many soldiers were buried with their weapons and armor intact.

This might occur for any number of reasons, but the most common was the fear of a pending attack.

Specific orders about how to handle the process of looting the dead were common, commanding that soldiers should take armor only to supplement their own and to ignore any that could not be carried easily.

This was a necessary decision meant to keep the army mobile in the event of another attack by rallying troops.

Thus, I have elaborated on the ways regular soldiers had to equip themselves for battle.

This would be easy enough to achieve for someone with a lot of money, but proved

significantly harder for those at the other end of the socio-economic spectrum.

However, there was a surprising amount of social mobility to be achieved through warfare.

Soldiers were paid based on their level of equipment, so for example a basic spearman would receive far less than a man-at-arms in full plated harness mounted on a war horse.

If you inherited, got gifted or scavenged enough war gear though, you could theoretically move up the ranks.

Perhaps even enough to impress someone through your feats and be anointed as a Knight.

This sudden increase in wealth and status would have translated into a literal socio-economic class change, which had huge implications for them and their family.

After all, Landed Knights were one step away from becoming Lords themselves.

=================================

TITLE : Durrandon Baratheon (Crown Prince/ *Knight of the Seven** Septon of the Seven ***Druid of the Old)

LEVEL: 22 (142/2200)

HP: 220/220

SP: 220/220

MP: 22/22*

MANA CONTROL: 100%

ALLEGIANCE: The Iron Throne/ *The Faith of the Seven/ *Old Gods

PWR: <29>

END: <30>

MOB: <32>

INT: <32>

STL: <31>

STAT POINTS: 5

DEF: 25* (Castle-Forged Brigandine: Piercing/Bludgeoning/ Slashing +50% Damage Resistance)

MAG:22*

CANTRIPS: Eldritch Blast/ Eldritch Spear/ Eldritch Smite/ Minor Illusion/ Mending/ Spare The Dying/ Message/ Mind Sliver/ Thaumaturgy/ Mage Hand/ Shocking Grasp/ Thunderclap

1st LV: Disguise Self/ Detect Magic/ Mage Armor/ Absorb Elements/ Chromatic Orb/ Unseen Servant/ Thunderwave

FEATURES: Vow of Enmity/ Control Undead/ Destructive Wrath/ Twilight Sanctuary/ Animal of the Woods/ Spirit Totem

SKILLS: ~open list~

<Power>

<Endurance>

<Mobility>

<Intelligence>

<Stealth>

PERK POINTS: 15

PERKS: ~close list~

[Player's Mind/ Mental Map/ Inventory/ Healer/ Linguist/ Observant/ Sleep is for the Dead/ Alert/ Sentinel/ Crossbow Expert/ Sharpshooter/ Divine Sense/ Lay on Hand/ Divine Smite/ Channel Divinity/ Wild Shape/ Wild Companion]

*CLASS FEATURES: ~close list~

[Vow of Enmity/ Control Undead/ Destructive Wrath/ Twilight Sanctuary/ Animal of the Woods/ Spirit Totem]

TIME PLAYED: 6 years

MONEY: 150,000 GOLD/ 2,000 SILVER/ 10,000 COPPER/ 1000 NC

($) MARKET

=================================

(11/11/2021)

*Hope this chapter is of your liking.

Anything you wish to ask, feel free to do so.

Check out my auxiliary chapter if you still haven't.

Thanks as always for your attention and please be safe.

Any problems with my writing, just point them out and I will correct them as soon as possible.

** Sorry for the constant delays, I've been busy taking care of a family member while studying for my college exams.

*** As for the constant info dumps about the logistics of raising and maintaining a personal army, I will stop with them for a while since most of you seem to not enjoy it that much. 😅 My intentions behind it was to make it more believable that a single boy had managed to make an army following the mold of the Roman legion. But I'm aware that my writing skills aren't that high to make it more of a pleasant reading experience.. Sorry if it really bothered you.