49 AC

House Arryn: As High as Honour

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The Vale has rarely sought out war. King Osric V Arryn built up the Bloody Gate the keep the vale defended from Riverman kings who attempted multiple invasion of the Vale. 100 years ago, King Halleck Hoare attempted to take the Bloody Gate three times. Three times he was repulsed. To this day, the Bloody Gate has never fallen to an army, keeping true to its name since the Age of Heroes.

Yet it seems once again the horns of war blow in the direction of the Vale. To the west, the Riverlands have once again proclaimed their independence. To the North, House Stark declare themselves Kings in The North once more while the Sisters their chances during the chaos to declare their own kingdom. To the south the Tyrell and Lannister armies lose 30,000 men between, for a near defunct title.

Now, the Vale remains the only kingdom not in either open revolt or claiming the throne for themselves, or lacking a king altogether. Some urge a proclamation of independence, others a grab for the Throne…

Despite the recent turmoil, the number of soldiers levied by House Arryn has been minimal, with little more than a few thousand men guarding the Bloody Gate and a few hundred cavalry patrolling the Mountains of The Moon ensuring the Mountain Clans do not attempt to make the most of recent events and increase their raids. With the state of being more akin to the times before the invasion, the food supply from the Reach that had been coming in during Aegon I’s reign is no-longer guaranteed, so it’s been doubly important able-bodied men in the Vale of Arryn bring in the harvest.

However, events in King’s Landing remain important to the Vale, as House Arryn is still technically sworn to the Iron Throne, even if without a King or Lord Protector, House Arryn is independent in all but title, and although some urge the Lord of The Eyrie to declare independence, and reclaim the Falcon Crown, such a declaration has not yet been made. Instead, 400 knights from House Arryn and House Corbray have been gathered and will ride hard for King’s Landing, led by Ser Oswin Arryn and Ser Lyonel Corbray.

Meanwhile, the number of soldiers at the bloody gate has been increased by a third, adding 800 longbowmen and bolstering the 150-man garrison with an extra 600 infantry. These re-enforcements will be drawn from House Redfort, and led by Ser Roland Redfort, a relative of Ser Robar Redfort who served as the Knight of The Bloody Gate for nearly 40 years, and took both Lord Jasper Arryn and Ser Oswin Arryn under his wing as wards and later squires.

While this is taking place, a larger force is being gathered at the Gates of The Moon, their purpose will be the slow gathering of Arryn levies from all over the levies, preparing for what is unknown, for now however, the force drawn largely from House Arryn directly and levies from House Royce are being gathered at The Gates of The Moon at the foot of The Eyrie. This force currently numbers 6,000 men, with 4,500 infantry (3,500 Arryn, 1,000 Royce), 1,000 archers (800 Arryn, 200 Hunter) and 500 knights (250 Arryn, 250 Royce). The levy request has been sent to Lord Robar Royce at Runestone, whom has been told what is the intended mission for the force, and also offering the Lord of Runestone the position as Chief-General of The Vale.
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The fleet of The Vale, commanded by the Graftons of Gulltown and the Sunderlands of The Sisters, was completely destroyed by Visenya Targaryen during the Battle in The Seas off Gulltown, leading to the sisters to revolt against House Arryn and crowning Marla Sunderland queen. Before the burning of this fleet, the Arryn Fleet was thought to have numbered over 100 ships, it goes without saying that the fleet has not recovered from this, and can now scrape together barely 60 ships, two-thirds of which are galleys.

This problem is exuberated by the Three Sisters once again declaring their independence from the Vale, and in response a call has been sent to House Grafton at Gulltown asking they raise any ships they can at Gulltown, quite how many this will be time will tell.

With both House Stark in The North and House Tully in The Riverlands declaring their independence, the threat of a return to the wars between the 3 kingdoms that had been null under Targaryen rule has once again become reality, and the Eyrie has yet to receive communications from neither Winterfell or Riverrun, leading some in the Vale’s war council to consider whether or not House Stark and House Tully consider the Vale’s lack of a similar declaration of independence an extension of the Iron Throne and therefore an enemy. Though the threat posed by House Tully is minimal due to their inability to transport a serious number of men meaning any attack from the Trident must either come through the Bloody Gate or hit Wickenden and the towns and villages that lie on the outside of The Mountains of The Moon, away from the protection of the Vale Proper, which is currently lightly defended.

The real concern of the war council recently held in The Eyrie was to the North, and the threat of House Stark’s new kingdom to the North. For thousands of years the Kings of The Mountain and Vale and the Kings in The North fought a succession of wars over the Three Sisters, and with both the North and The Three Sister’s new found independence, the war council is concerned that House Stark may take the opportunity to invade the Three Sisters under the excuse that they are both independent and that their defenders in The Eyrie are proponents of The Iron Throne and therefore an enemy of House Stark.

To the south, word from the recent confrontation in King’s Landing has reached the Eyrie, and is a source of great confusing to the court of The Eyrie, with word that a combined Darklyn-Rosby-Gaunt host attacked the city and exterminated the Faith Militant, the true circumstances may be different, though the Faith’s action seem strange. Lord Arryn has dispatched Ser Oswin Arryn and a small group to King’s Landing to determine the status of the city and by extension the situation in the south with House Lannister and House Tyrell both still claiming the Iron Throne as their own, from here, Ser Oswin Arryn will send word back to The Eyrie determining what has happened. It was originally planned for Lord Arryn himself and a larger host to march south, however he was convinced against it by Ser Oswin Arryn and Ser Erich Eden who both thought a large force marching through the Trident would incur an attack from the Riverlords and the danger to Lord Arryn’s life would be too great and the risk of the Vale falling into the hands of a 3 year old boy would break the Vale’s currently united front with a regency council.
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//Sorry for this clusterfuck of an announcement, had I left it much longer it just would have gotten more and more engorged.

Signed;
Lord Jasper Arryn,
Lord of The Eyrie,
Defender of The Vale,
Warden of The East