The Second War of Reclamation was the second of the great wars fought between The Kingdom of the Iron Throne and The Kingdom of Winter. It ended in a mutual peace, though with plenty of lasting bitterness on both sides, and marked the succession of Cracklaw Point to the North.
Timeline[]
The Death of a King[]
In 370 AC, following two years of illness, King Steffon I Baratheon passed away. His reign was a short, but respectable one. Upon returning to King’s Landing for his coronation to mourn his father’s death, Orys Baratheon was met with people suggesting that he go to war with the North while the Targaryens invaded. Seeking the counsel of those he respected, he appointed his old friend Theodan Baratheon to the position of Master of Laws in hopes that they could put the past behind them and achieve their goal of reuniting the kingdoms once again.
Disappointingly, Theodan as well has Lord Velaryon, the Hand, were some of the more vocal opponents to the idea of going to war. Following a screaming match between Theodan and Orys, the King dismissed both his Hand and Master of Laws, and declared war against the North. Not knowing who was left to trust, King Orys I appointed his sister, Jocelyn, as the new Hand and replaced Theodan Baratheon with Daemon Blackfyre, who seemed more than eager to fight in the war.
The Call to Arms[]
And so, ready to invade the Kingdom of Winter, King Orys called his banners. Lord Theodan declined the call, refusing to support the war. Lord Mace Tyrell responded to the call, and rallied his men. Princess Alysanne Martell was also quick to rally, and after some debate among her family, offered her sister, Arianne, as a bride for King Orys I. Although there was no clear answer received to the offer, the Dornish host joined with the Reachmen with Princess Alysanne and several relatives all riding to war. Rylona Martell remained in Sunspear to rule in place of her niece for the duration of the war.
Frustrated with his liege for refusing the call to arms, Lord Blackfyre travelled to Storm’s End and openly spoke out against Lord Baratheon’s inaction. Theoden dismissed him, but Blackfyre heeded the call himself and lead an army of his own and several other Stormlander lords. Finally, Lord Lannister also joined in the war, albeit he was slower to march to war than the other Great Houses.
First Blood at Maidenpool[]
With the banners summoned and ravens sent to the lords of the realm, King Orys marched off to war. Eager for bloodshed, King Orys and the Crownlander army easily took Maidenpool. Meanwhile, Osmund Frey, heir to the Twins, held his army as his father Lord Edmure made his way south from the Twins. When scouts reported the banner of Baratheon flying near Maidenpool, Osmund knew King Osric I Stark would be crippled if they were caught between Baratheon forces. He rallied his men and sent word to Lord Tully, Lord Greyjoy, and King Osric before meeting King Orys in the first battle of the war.
Though the Northern army did not achieve victory over the Stag, they did manage to slow him. In the ensuing chaos, Osmund met Orys in the field and a duel ensued between the two. Before a victor could be decided, a riderless horse charged between the two, and they were lost from each other in the chaos. Osmund ordered his army to retreat to Harrenhal, harraying the Baratheon host along the way with guerilla warfare that plagued their march. The war was only just starting though, as reinforcements started to come for both sides. For the Iron Throne, Lord Tyrell and Princess Martell reached the Crownlands and truly entered the war. And in the Kingdom of Winter, King Osric I got word of the invasion and planned retaliation.
King Osric immediately rallied what he could of the Riverlands under the command of Lord Frey, while he and Lord Tully marched their forces down from the Vale. Osric also ordered the Ironborn to deal with the West. Arriving at the Inn at the Crossroads, Osric split his forces, giving half to Lord Ryswell. The King took his own force and united with Lord Frey at Harrenhal. Meanwhile, Lord Tully responded to the invasion by boarding a Karstark fleet and sailing across the Bay of Crabs, preparing to invade Crackclaw Point. The South also began to utilize their navies, as King Orys and Lord Blackfyre met and came up with a plan to put further pressure on the North. Lord Blackfyre, his Stormlander army, and some Reachmen boarded the Royal Fleet and sailed north.
Winter Comes for War[]
Lord Frey marched from Harrenhal on King Orys’ forces and the two hosts crashed together, not managing to divert the stag but slow him down. A duel commenced in the field between Lord Osmund Frey and King Orys but a riderless horse separated the two before a victor could be decided. The battle resulted in Frey’s forces being routed back to Harrenhal, harrying the King’s forces along the way to slow their march.
On the Iron Islands, Harras Greyjoy laid bedridden with salt-lung and he dispatched his sons Theomore and Dagon as co-leaders of the Ironborn and the Ironfleet. The brothers first raided the Fair Isle in the westerlands sailing with 15,000 soldiers.
In the Vale of Arryn, King Osric arrives at the Gates of the Moon to news of the invasion and marches his armies from the Gates of the Moon down the High Road. Meanwhile, Lord Royce rallied a few thousand men to reinforce the northmen’s efforts as Lord Arryn remained traumatized by the Targaryen invasion and near-extinguishment of his house.
Meanwhile, Lord Robb Tully landed his men at Crackclaw point and quickly conquered the houses of the Claw, well experienced at this point in siege warfare.
The Lion, the Dragon and the Stag[]
Lord Lannister began amassing his soldiers at the Golden Tooth, however after hearing that the Ironborn were raiding the Fair Isle he slowed the rush of his levies in fears of an invasion. Lord Aubrey had heard the tales of The Red Kraken in his youth and feared a similar fate was coming for his people.
Sailing Northwards, Lord Daemon Blackfyre approached White Harbor and assaulted the city, marching towards the Neck in a hope to catch the northron armies between his forces and those of King Baratheon. He sent the Royal Navy southward as well to bring reinforcements of men. However, on their return journey they were caught in a naval battle by Lord Karstark’s fleet. After a long battle, Karstark’s fleet emerged victorious and sailed for Karhold.
King Orys heard of Robb’s incursion on Crackclaw point and gathered his men, along with the Martell forces including Lord Yronwood and attacked the armies of the Trout, hoping to keep them contained on the Claw. The battle that resulted was fierce as both sides took casualties, King Orys himself almost being slain by an arrow fired by Robb. Thankfully for the King, Lord Yronwood saved his life by taking the arrow himself, the Lord suffering only a minor wound. Lord Tully retreated and was held on the Claw, with the Fury of the King set against him.
The Splitting of the Northern Armies[]
As King Stark marched his armies they came upon the Inn at the Crossroads, where he commanded Lord Ryswell to march West, anticipating an attack from Lannister, while moving his own forces to join with Lord Frey’s men. Meanwhile after the Fair Isle campaign, Dagon and Theo Greyjoy quarreled on how to continue their campaigns. Dagon left with half of the Ironborn berserkers under their command to seek blood in the Reach.
In the south, Lord Tyrell rallied the forces of the Crownlands, the Reach, and the remaining Martell levies into a single unit and marched northwards, determined to crush the Northerners.
The Battle of the Red Fork[]
After the rushed attack by Lord Robb Tully on the lines of King Orys Baratheon failed the first time, the Riverman forces regrouped and prepared for one final strike on their foes before the arrival of the Tyrells and the Reachman host. In the early morning hours, while mists hung low over the wooded lands of the Claw, Lord Tully and his host massed and assaulted a single point on the Baratheon line, overwhelming them and breaking through before King Orys could organize a response. The fight would cost many lives and weaken the Tully host considerably, most notably with the loss of Ser Addam Grell, the master-of-arms of Riverrun.
As Lord Tully retreated from the Claw he would encounter the recently-conquered port of Maidenpool, and made quick work of the defenders. His exhausted force locked the gates and awaited the imminent arrival of King Orys, who had not been far behind them on the march from the Claw.
In the meantime, hosts of King Osric Stark and Lord Edmure Frey joined at Harrenhal as the two men began to discuss what course the war should take. Lord Tully was caught in a siege, and a vast host of Reachmen was known to be on the march from the south. King Osric summoned Lord Harras Arryn and sent word to the Greyjoys of Pyke, bringing his allies from east and west into the war properly. The Ironborn would be given leave to burn the west coast, from the Banefort to the Arbor. Dagon and Theomore Pyke would set forth within the moon with a fleet of iron galleys to set about their work.
Word of the fighting around the Claw at last reached the Lannister host massing at the Golden Tooth, and the lion bestirred itself to march down from the mountains. A force lead by Lord Ryswell to stall their advance was batted aside in a short fight, and the Ryswells retreated to Riverrun. Lord Aubrey Lannister continued his march toward Riverrun unobstructed.
As word of the defeat of Lord Ryswell arrives at Harrenhal, the assembled nobility reached an accord-- with the might of the West and the Reach converging on them, they would strike at Lord Tyrell before he could join with Lord Lannister. A similar council was held by King Orys, who left the siege of Maidenpool to his Hand, Lord Yronwood, and began to march west. Shadowing him across the Trident was Lord Harras Arryn, who at last descended from the Mountains of the Moon at the behest of his liege.
Lord Mace Tyrell, alongside the Princess of Dorne and Lord of Claw Isle, met King Stark and his Frey allies on the banks of the Red Fork in a vicious battle, the largest of the war. Thousands died in this titanic clash, but all the strength of the Reach was too great for the comparatively smaller Stark host. As Lord Tyrell’s men steadily drove the Starks into the river it would be the recently-defeated Lord Ryswell who sallied out of Riverrun and rode hard to the south, arriving in time to surprise the Tyrell flank and create enough room for King Stark to retreat across the Red Fork. The fighting left thousands dead, including Lord Edmure Frey-- slain at the hands of Lord Mace himself in the midst of the battle.
The Battle of the Red Fork, for a time, broke the strength of the Starks in the western Trident. King Orys would arrive to the site of Lord Mace’s victory some time later, as the Silent Sisters went about their work. The two hosts would march north, for Raventree Hall, and storm it while the Starks licked their wounds in Riverrun.
In the east, the forces under Lord Robb Tully sallied out of Maidenpool and managed to break the weakened siege lines commanded by Lord Yronwood. Lord Yronwood withdrew his men to the south, to protect the capital, and Lord Robb marched west towards Harrenhal-- where he encountered the forces of Lord Arryn. The Lord of Riverrun had little love for his peer, less so after Lord Arryn’s much delayed entry into the fight. They would arrive to find the depleted Stark force awaiting their arrival. Together, the three of them marched to Riverrun and regrouped with Lord Ryswell. The much larger host now had word that Lord Lannister approached down the River Road, and King Stark announced that the direwolf and the lion would again do battle.
The Hunger of the Kraken[]
As the Greyjoy brothers sortied from the Iron Islands, the West knew little and less of it. When the first blow fell at Fair Isle, there was little in the way of defense but for Lord Farman’s household guard. The victory would be quickly won, and members of the Farman house were made hostages to the Ironborn.
From there the brothers Theomore and Dagon proceeded further south, though at different paces and with different objectives. Theomore followed in a wake of destruction as Dagon sacked Crakehall, slipped past the Shield Islands, and vanished up the Mander. Theomore’s half of the Iron Fleet would arrive too late to escape the notice of the Redwynes, and there would be a great naval battle between the two that saw Theomore Greyjoy driven back up the west coast.
In the meantime, his brother Dagon had sailed far up the Mander to Highgarden. In a nighttime raid the Greyjoys under Dagon scaled the walls of Highgarden and sacked the ancient capital of the Reach, seizing among many things a Tyrell girl to serve as Dagon’s salt wife. Many members of House Tyrell would perish in the fighting to defend their home, and word would swiftly fly to King’s Landing of the attack. Dagon Greyjoy, however, was long gone by then. His fleet escaped up the Mander and back to the Sunset Sea, where he arrived behind the Redwyne fleet.
Aware now that they held the Redwynes at considerable disadvantage, the brothers Greyjoy enveloped their foe and defeated the Reachmen, sending the Redwynes retreating to their home ports in the far south. With their work done, the Greyjoys returned to the Iron Islands.
The Capture of Moat Cailin[]
After Lord Daemon Blackfyre’s successful landing at White Harbor, the Lord of Summerhall marched along the White Knife to find a crossing. He knew the capture of Moat Cailin would trap the armies of King Stark in the Trident, where the strength of the south could crush him. Once over the river Lord Daemon ordered a forced march to Moat Cailin, where they arrived unexpectedly and seized the ancient and dilapidated fort from its indefensible northern flank.
Lord Daemon would face one fierce challenge, however, in the form of the Crannogmen. From a vantage atop any of the remaining three towers of Moat Cailin, one could see only low, moss-laden trees as far as the horizon to the south. The bogs and marshes of the Neck housed these people, experts at ambush. Blackfyre men would fall victim to poisoned arrows on a daily basis, and any who ventured out in small groups to forage would seldom make it back-- almost never at full strength.
No doubt aware of this, Lord Bolton and Lord Karstark began to assemble a second host, marshaling what strength the North had left, and after some time set it to march south and west, aiming to retake Moat Cailin and reinforce their beleaguered liege in the Trident.
The Stag of Storm’s End[]
News of Highgarden's fall reached Mace Tyrell and he demanded action from King Orys Baratheon. The King decided that their best course was to march further up and burn the Riverlands, rightfully making Mace Tyrell furious. Mace then reaches out to Theodan Baratheon pleading to retake Highgarden. Theodan agrees for the defense of the realm and marches at once for Highgarden pushing back Dagon Greyjoys raiders out of the Reach on the jaunt to Highgarden.
Theodan Baratheon arrives at Highgarden and immediately begins to storm the castle. The taking back of Highgarden was relatively quick, when the Ironborn weren’t in water they were easy to beat. Lord Penrose would fall in the battle but his son, just a squire of Theodan, would take up his sword and help lead his flank to victory. However, Dagon Greyjoy escaped with Mace Tyrell's daughter, something that Theodan would promise Mace that he would help rectify. Theodan would then move North to Pinkmaiden to link up with the Lannister host.
Losses on Both Sides[]
King Stark and Lord Lannister finally meet on the battlefield. The wolf and lion clash in a bloody brawl. King Stark eventually captured Lord Lannister upon winning the battle. Lord Lannister is treated well and a friendship eventually forms between the two.
Princess Alysanne Martell and Lord Triston Celtigar attack Lords Arryn and Robb Tully at Darry taking it and forcing Arryn and Tully back.
Lord Blackfyre outriders spotted Lord Bolton’s massive force incoming, a force that would without a doubt take Moat Cailin. They rode back with great haste to give Daemon Blackfyre the news. Upon receiving it, Daemon surveyed Moat Calvin’s defenses and his men. He decided to pull half his men out and send them back to the main southern force knowing once the key defensive points fell, those men would be lost anyways. So, with half his men, he held out against Bolton’s much larger force. Even though Bolton’s forces lost many, they won out the day. Still, Daemons cunning wasn’t to be underestimated. He and twenty good men managed to sneak out of the castle when it fell. Bolton would then take his second army and march to the Twins to link up with Lord Frey and march south.
The Cunning Trout and Falcon[]
Learning of Lord Arryn and Tully’s loss, King Orys and Lord Mace Tyrell moved to meet their battered army. Arriving at Gods Eye, Tully and Arryn split up, leading the Kingdom of the Iron Throne into a trap. While King Orys and Lord Mace Tyrell launched their attack on Arryns host, Lords Frey and Bolton arrived with their reinforced army and catch the southerners in a slaughtering forcing Orys back to Darry while Frey and Arryn regroup at Harrenhal.
Lord Theodan Baratheon arrives at Pinkmaiden and takes command of Lannister forces. King Stark learns of this and elects to meet Theodan in the battlefield, Tully sweeps around the Gods Eye to reinforce Stark. They meet at Acorn Hall and the battle ensues. With the force of The Westerlands and the Stormlands it looked like they were going to win out against the Northerners but Robb Tully and his forces arrived just in time to reinforce the Starks and turn the tide of the battle forcing Theodan to retreat.
Dangers at Sea[]
Theomore and Dagon Greyjoy regroup at Far Isle and smash the Redwyne Fleet taking many losses in the process forcing them to return home. Lord Frey and Arryn make preparations to finish off King Orys host.
Blackfyre and his men moved to Seagard after learning the Mallisters left it somewhat undefended. Their ships were not at port due to them needing to reinforce up with the Ironborn Fleet and their army was with the main Riverlands host. With stealth as their main advantage, Blackfyre infiltrated the castle and took several important watch points. However, luck was with the Mallisters and a guard who should’ve been sleeping saw what was transpiring and raised the alarm. Daemon shouted to his men to retreat, while they escaped Daemon stayed the enemy with just a sword and a shield. Once his men were beyond capturing, he gave himself up and was brought before King Stark.
The Battle of Lord Harroway’s Town[]
King Orys’s remaining army joined with the forces of Princess Martell, and the two quickly came into conflict regarding how to proceed. After a fierce argument, it was eventually decided that they would use Princess Martell’s plan, though the king refused to let the issue pass without a final crude remark about wishing to bed all three Martell sisters at once.
The next morning, the plan was enacted, and the king’s host, combined with the forces of Lord Celtigar, Lord Tyrell and Princess Martell, charged forward to meet lords Frey and Arryn in the field. The ensuing battle would become known as the Battle of Lord Harroway’s Town, and rivaled the Battle of the Red Fork in sheer bloodshed.
The battle lasted most of the day, hosts clashing back and forth. By the time the sun set, victory had come to the King’s army, but at a cost. They had successfully captured Lord Arryn and Lord Frey, but their fractured and leaderless army managed to retreat to Harrenhal, taking a hostage Lord Celtigar with them. King Baratheon, despite his victory, was furious, raging at his lords and knights for losing Lord Celtigar.
The Fealty of Celtigar[]
Word of the Battle of Lord Harroway’s Town and the capture of Lord Celtigar quickly reached the ears of King Stark, who swiftly rode south to Harrenhal to meet with his esteemed captive. It’s unknown just what took place in their negotiations, but when faced with the choice between losing everything and playing the long game to one day reclaim it all, Lord Celtigar chose to kneel. His sister was to be wed to Lord Tully’s brother, in order to ensure his loyalty.
King Baratheon, still infuriated by the loss of Celigar, sent an envoy to King Stark with a straightforward demand: Surrender, or he would kill Lord Arryn, ending the noble line of House Arryn but for the heir held hostage across the sea. King Osric’s reply, returned immediately, was even simpler.
Kill Lord Arryn, and he would kill every hostage he possessed, including Lords Lannister and Blackfyre.
With the two kings in a deadlock and neither willing to yield, it would be battle once more.
The Final Clash[]
King Orys and King Osric led their assembled hosts in a final devastating battle, both armies already spent and exhausted from months of warfare. The fighting lasted days, piling the fields high with corpses, death counts rising into the thousands until finally, at dawn on the third day, the army of the Iron Throne folded and buckled. The southern army was forced to retreat, though King Orys refused to accept defeat and had to be dragged from the field by his kingsguard to save his life.
It was Martyn Westerling, Master of Whisperers, who convinced the proud king that surrender was the best option. The two kings met for peace talks, but they were tense, both monarchs unhappy with peace. Much of the negotiations had to be done through proxies, because the kings could not remain civil, but eventually an agreement was reached.
Both sides would release their lordly hostages, and Cracklaw Point would secede to the Kingdom of Winter, as Lord Celtigar had already sworn fealty. King Orys had no choice but to grit his teeth and agree to the terms, as he had no strength left to continue the war.
The Aftermath[]
Despite the war officially having ended, many tensions remained, and many new disputes arose in the aftermath of the conflict. Lord Brune and the other lords of Cracklaw Point were coerced into swearing loyalty to King Osric, following Lord Celtigar’s lead. King Osric declared Cracklaw Point and its houses territory of the Riverlands and subjects of Lord Tully, an act that angered the mad Lord Arryn, who had made no secret of his disdain for Tully.
Lord Mace Tyrell returned home to Highgarden only to find not only its vicious sacking by Dagon Greyjoy, but worse by far than the physical damage and looting was the kidnapping of his maiden daughter Meredyth as a salt wife. In a fury, he wrote directly to King Osric to demand the return of his daughter, but was met with a short, stony response refusing to intervene and defining the meaning of ‘salt wife.’
Next, the distraught Lord of Highgarden wrote to Lord Lannister in a letter that dripped with bitter fury, accusing him of allowing the Ironborn to raid the Reach to spare his own lands. When he received no response, he brought his grievances to his friend Lord Daemon Blackfyre, newly-appointed Master of Laws and Champion of the Realm. Lord Blackfyre relayed them in turn to the king, but the king rejected the concept of an invasion of the Iron Islands out of hand.
“The war is over, and we have lost.”
Princess Martell’s marriage offer was rejected by the sulking king, who instead chose his bride from House Yronwood out of spite. Lord Theodan Baratheon, sensing an opportunity to win a powerful ally, wed the offered Martell princess himself. To the North, the lasting conflicts were less visible, but still there, as the Lord Celtigar began making his presence known in the Winter Court.
The war may have ended, but the two realms were far from true peace.