GoT: LB Chapter 01-03 (Patreon)

“Game of Thrones lineage creator?” I looked at the simple website that one of my friends linked me to. It was equivalent to a ‘Which house do you belong to in Harry Potter’ or ‘If you could choose a super power, which one would you choose?’ Those were pretty overplayed, though.

I would get Ravenclaw most of the time unless the questionnaire was broken. If you could have any superpower, I think most people would answer one of six. Flight, teleportation, time freeze, super speed, super strength, or regeneration, with one of the other more commonly spoken power of immortality, flooded with comments on how that would actually be terrible in the long run.

That was what most of the comments boiled down to: fighting over which house or power was better, and I could already see people fighting over being Stark, Targaryen, or Lannister. All I knew was that one house wasn’t the best choice, Jon Snow was a mixture of ice and fire, and it gave him powers others didn’t have. It just made far more sense to me that you would choose multiple houses as your parents and grandparents.

What got me was how detailed the choices were. I could pick not only the parents and grandparents, but partial percentages of other houses from previous marriages. Not only could you choose people that actually existed to be your parents, but also make them from scratch. I tweaked my choices, finally settling on them after I was happy.

Ancestral connection- Blackwood, Umber, Reed, Hoare, Royce, Bolton, Gardener, Durrandon.

Eight was the maximum amount of ancestral connections you could make, or I’d have chosen more. Now, why did I choose these houses as my ancestors? Each had a reason. Blackwood, Reed, Royce, and Gardener for their magical capabilities, while I chose the four others for their martial capabilities. 

The power of Brynden Rivers was thought to come more from the Blackwood house than the Targaryen; no doubt both helped, but Targaryens weren’t known for being greenseers. Bolton for their skin-changing ancestors. Being capable of fighting with the Starks also proved their martial strength. Gardener was an extinct house, but I was choosing it for its connection to Garth Greenhand. 

Howland Reed was an ancestor of the crannogmen, the main reason was that Jojen was one of the choices the three-eyed raven made before choosing Bran to become his student. He had another deep tie to magic, and I was hoping that taking that ancestry might help me through the swamps or to become a greenseer in the future.

Umber for their connection to giant ancestors, at least with their size, they’re thought to have a connection. Hoare was the extinct house that the Greyjoys replaced. The Iron Islands were full of idiots, but they were great fighters; the same went for House Durrandon. House Gardener, Hoare, and Durrandon were all wiped out during Aegon’s conquest. It meant their blood was more valuable, because it wasn’t possible to get any more, whereas I could always marry into another family to add it to my children in the future.

I made every choice thinking about how it would affect me or my children in the future, as if I were going to live in the world. Every choice was meticulously decided, but it left out a few houses I’d have liked to choose. No Lannister, Selmy, Clegane, or Martell. All four had good martial prowess, but the other choices just seemed better, at least when it came to the history of the house. 

Duncan the Tall was speculated to have his blood linked to both the Clegane and Tarth Houses. I might have chosen them for that reason, but my other choices were more important than securing extreme height, especially when I already chose House Umber for that specific reason. That left only my grandparents to choose.

I picked a Targaryen, and Hightower grandfather, and a Dayne and Stark Grandmother. The four houses had the highest connection to both magical and martial prowess. Boiling down even further, apparently, you had to choose one of the current Targaryens as the father, which would lock you out of marrying outside of the family, but since I chose Dayne, I could have my grandmother legitimize my father.

My father was now a member of House Dayne, and my mother of House Hightower. I locked in my choices before feeling satisfied, and posted it onto the Discord where my friend linked the website from. My friend immediately started razzing me for my choices. He picked a Lannister father and a Stark mother, ignoring who his grandparents were and not choosing any ancestors.

We fought about it for fun at first, but it quickly became an actual argument when he just kept ignoring why I chose so many magically focused families, just saying he could buy an army to beat me if we both ended up in GoT. I argued, and argued, keep growing madder and madder as he kept saying he’d money his way out of all my traps and plans.

I knew my friend was saying all this to get on my nerves. This wasn’t even the first time he did it, but for some reason, I was angrier than I had ever gotten when he did this before. I was so angry, I had an aneurysm, at the same time that was happening, an electrical surge caused my computer to explode, at that same exact moment, a meteor fell from the sky and landed on my house, killing me. 

…

When I finally woke up, I couldn’t really think normally. I just noticed that my computer screen was in front of me, but now there were more options. Choose to be born as a baby, skip through the first five years of life, skip through the ‘slider’ years of life, or skip until twenty. I thought about it before noticing when I could be born, and chose the timeskip to coincide with Robert’s rebellion finally starting.

I chose the slider and picked eight years old when Robert’s rebellion began, I’d turn eight the same day the Starks burned. Sure, I could do something to stop it, but it was the time traveller's paradox. The more I tried to change, the less I could effect changes because of how much I changed. If Jon Snow had never been born, who knows if we could deal with the white walkers. 

Did I want the story to wait until most of the characters were eighteen? Sure. Next question, male or female? Male, obviously. I could input a name or leave it blank. I left it blank, wanting to see what it would come up with.

I finalized a few more of the changes, but as I clicked to go forward, I felt the world shift and change around me as if the world was being built from scratch. Before it finished, I was dragged into unconsciousness again, hoping that when I woke up, I could think more clearly.

Chapter 02

When I came to again, I still wasn’t finished with my choices. Instead, another list of things I could accomplish popped up every year I chose to skip. The first year, there was only a single option to choose from. Survive being born. I click it. The next year pops up with four choices. 

A: Learn how to walk early- Grants a bonus to fitness

B: Play with word blocks more often- Grants a bonus to intellect

C: Be overfed by the maids- Grants a bonus to size

D: Have your mother carry you around, greeting people- Grants a bonus to charisma

The choice seemed straightforward, but who knew if I’d regret what I chose in the future? None of the choices help with magic, which is what I’d choose if it were up there. I stopped thinking with my head and chose from my heart instead, choosing the charisma bonus. I felt myself go through the first year of my life as I lived everything as if it was at one thousand times speed.

My father was Arthur Dayne’s cousin and actually part of the main House branch. They had a very similar relationship to that of Robb and Jon. Gerold Hightower was my uncle, and he had a deep love for his sister, who was my mother. I could remember seeing him almost as often as I saw my own father, at least while he was here visiting. For the last three months, he went back to his duty as Kingsguard. 

The next choice came up, and my eyebrows furrowed as I read the choices.

A: Burn your hand- Lose feeling in left hand, but gain increased fire resistance

B: Survive kidnapping- Lose choice this year for a bonus option next year

C: Burn your face- Permanent loss to charisma, bonus to greenseer abilities

D: Get extremely sick- Become sickly for the next five years(will reduce choices), unlock instinctive blood magic

This was a difficult choice. I ruled out the first and second options and focused on the magical choices. Now, the first option was nice, greenseeing was extremely important in the Game of Thrones world, the biggest force, someone pulling the strings of fate from before the story even starts, is a powerful greenseer… But I looked at the wording. I would get a bonus to Greenseer or unlock instinctive blood magic. The way it was worded made it sound like I already had greenseeing abilities.

I chose the fourth option and unlocked my blood magic. I felt an immediate shift in my body as I could feel more, at the cost of becoming far weaker. That year, I spent most of my time awake lying in bed sick; I just hoped it was worth it. The next choice came, and I couldn’t help but feel regret.

A: Start sword training early- Gain a bonus to all martial stats, unlock future options, and gain reputation

B: Read as many books as you can get your hands on- Bonus to intellect and world knowledge, unlocks future options

C: Have dragon dreams- Gain a self-fulfilling prophecy vision

D: Skinchange- Start learning how to warg, choose an animal (cat, dog, pigeon)

The first option was greyed out and unselectable. It might also mean I wouldn’t be able to choose any other physical options until I was seven years old. It was a good thing I chose my age to be eight; if I had picked five like I wanted to at first, I’d still be weakened by my blood magic. I picked skinchange, I thought I might be able to wait, and get better options, but warging early might push my skinchanger abilities further in the future through practice, even when it was through this sped up time.

Most of the year was skipped over again, and most of it was spent sick in bed. Only my wish to be up and moving about made it possible for me to finally warg into the pigeon on my window. Seeing through the eyes of a bird was amazing, and while I couldn’t choose when I wanted to warg into the bird, it sort of happened accidentally at the moment, it was still a nice break in the boredom of lying in bed sick.

A: Get sick at a party and pass out- Embarrass yourself at one of your family members' name day parties, reducing your reputation

B: Gain a disease- Gain a permanent disease

C: Mother suffers an injury- Your mother permanently cripples herself, shortening her life

D: Begin messing with blood magic- Have a fifty-fifty chance of making yourself better, or lengthening your sickness for another five years

This was the first all-negative choices, and I was hoping it was the last. The first option was the easiest to deal with, the second was something I would never pick, the third was the one that affected me the least, but the fourth… The fourth was a coin flip to remove the negative effects that unlocking my blood magic had on my body. Sure, I could worsen it, but I’ll also live through those years. Viewing it from that angle, even if I fail, I’ll still have practiced the extremely rare magic, magic tied directly to my Targaryen blood. I chose the fourth option.

I quickly went through half a year of boredom and being bedridden. I could feel myself sick, a heavy lack of energy kept me in bed, and if I tried to get up and move around, I’d get physically sick instead. That was when I started practicing the blood magic on myself. I could feel myself making changes, but couldn’t really parse out what I was doing to myself until near the end of the year. Finally, I felt a mental breakthrough as I gained more control over my body and my blood magic; the risk paid off.

I noticed the happiness in the servant's eyes as I finally recovered. I wasn’t in line to become the head of House Dayne, but as Dayne was technically part of Dorne, they really didn’t view bastards the same way the rest of Westeros did. That was how my father became legitimized, and I was part of the main branch; if five other male members of my family died, I could become the head of House Dayne.

A: Start training in swordsmanship- Gain a bonus to martial stats, unlocks future options

B: Meet possible betrothed- Increase charisma and reputation, unlocks future options

C: Practice skinchanger abilities- Gain control over when you can warg, possibly unlock more warg targets

D: Perform first blood sacrifice- Attempt to strengthen your body by sacrificing an orphan. Chance to improve physique, chance to backfire, chance to be caught.

I laughed at the riskiness of the blood sacrifice. Sure, improving my body sounded fine, but so many things could backfire that it wasn’t worth the risk. The second option was a huge no-go for me, as I planned to bed many of the women in the GoT world, locking myself down with a wife early would be a mistake. Skinchanger seemed good, but I think in a world like Game of Thrones, as many trump cards like warging and blood magic you had, it often just came down to straight fighting. Not learning how to handle a sword would be a massive mistake. I pick the first option and live through the next year of sword training.

Chapter 03

It’s not like choosing the option permanently locked me to doing only that for the entire year. I still lived, I lived like a normal child did, playing, having fun, but now I also trained in swordsmanship for a few hours every day. Because I chose blood magic, I locked the first few years behind being mostly bedridden, but now that I was better, I needed to make up for the difference other sword prodigies had.

One person kept catching my eye, silver hair with a streak of black. Gerold Dayne(Darkstar), one of my cousins. He was a year or two older than I and had been practicing with the sword for a few years more than I. I didn’t see it, this kid was all smiles and happiness right now, not the bitter man jealous of his uncle Arthur, he would become in the future.

No, he seemed… Lonely, constantly talking to me, and I noticed I was his only friend; I was one of the few children in the castle around his age. Perhaps that loneliness twisted in him until he became what he was in the books, that bitter man who tried so hard to be edgy. He most certainly wouldn’t be cutting Myrcella’s face if I had anything to say about it.

Slowly, the size difference between the two of us closed as I ate more and grew faster than him. That Umber blood made me appear to be a year or two older, and I’d easily reach above six feet in adulthood. Time still went on forward, and I just remembered more this time than previously. I still flew my bird and practiced with blood magic, but not nearly as often as if I focused on them like I did my swordsmanship. I looked at my final choices.

A: Become Sir Gerold Hightower’s squire- Begin knight training under your uncle (Choice given because of swordsmanship)

B: Become a Maester initiate- Begin apprenticing at the Maester's College

C: Become a Ward of House Tyrell- Become a ward of House Tyrell to help strengthen bonds between families

D: Secretly train magic- Improve greenseer, skinchanger, and blood magic

I quickly ruled out the second and third options. Maester vows of celibacy were a deal breaker, and tying our family closer to the Tyrell’s who are right there on the battlefields when the war starts, would be a mistake. I doubt I’d die, but any benefits I could get before the war started would be quickly forgotten. It might help me bedding Margaery in the future, but by the time the Game of Thrones really begins, I’d have had almost eighteen years to become a player.

It left the choice of becoming my uncle's squire, or secretly training magic… Now, both had their own benefits and downsides. Becoming my uncle’s squire would put me very close to the king. I doubted my uncles would be stupid enough to bring me around the king, but he might hear I became a squire, get mad they tried to hide it from him, and burn me alive, he was that nuts.

Learning magic secretly implied that I would have to hide it from people, which meant more time alone, and being stuck in Starfall when the war breaks out, which meant I would most likely completely miss it. If I wanted to change anything about the war, I’d have to choose the first option. The war took roughly a year, so in that time, I could start practicing my magic, while also having an entire year's worth of squiring under my uncle on top of it.

Once again, I was reminded how important being good with a sword was in this world. Being a bad swordsman might even have people look down on me; I most certainly couldn’t lead troops unless I was an experienced swordsman beforehand. I chose the first option and became a squire under my uncle, while Gerold Dayne became a squire under Arthur.

The training was now doubled. Every day, I would wake up and start doing chores for my uncle. Feed and water his horse, get his armor ready, all before actually training. I had to help him into his armor, which could take upwards of an hour. I improved dramatically and drastically, though, with the first three months of the year just learning the basics of squiring before he went back to the capital as his job as Kingsguard required him to.

If I had chosen to be reborn as I child, I had no doubt I’d be much further along in my training, I’d have been far stronger and more magically gifted than where I’d be if I hadn’t skipped, but people don’t realize how boring being a child is. I looked back, and years of my life were just stuck in bed, hoping to get better. It might have taken me even less time to get sick of being bedridden, and I might have botched the attempt at blood magic.

I might have never unlocked blood magic if I hadn’t chosen that particular choice, at the very least, it wouldn’t be as instinctive for me to use as it was now. I most certainly would have had the dragon dream, and since it gave self-fulfilling prophecies, if it predicted my death, there would have been nothing I could do about it. Gerold Dayne and I became rivals, pushing each other further than if it were just either of us as the squire to the other.

Georld Hightower was almost as good a fighter as Arthur, but he’s very rarely talked about or remembered, because he doesn’t have the sword of the morning. When we did fight other squires, or even sometimes young knights, we’d beat them, even if they were years older than us. If they had been taught since they were children, they might be able to compete, but they started later than we; we had years worth of experience while they didn’t. Only those over thirteen stood a chance against Gerold Dayne or me.

I was glad I was right. While we were their squires, we had barely met the king. The only times we had were when he was upset for some reason, and we were required to kneel while he yelled at the entire population living in the castle. Rarely did those end without someone being burned alive. He was clearly going insane, but even in this sped-up view of my life, I could see how many men were whispering in his ears.

How many people were using his insanity to their own advantage, how many people were pushing him further into that darkness, who knew? All I knew was that Prince Rhaegar had ‘kidnapped’ Lyanna, and the Starks were making their way down here. Soon, I would get control of this body. I couldn’t make plans, though, my mind still felt sluggish, like I wasn’t in control of my own thoughts.

I watched it, the Starks coming to plead for their daughter/sister to be returned, the king getting mad, the king burning the father while the son watched, choking himself to death on the chains that bound him, then being burned afterwards as well. I watched the start of the war as I came online, filling into my body at that exact moment.

I took a quick intake of breath, smelling the burning flesh of the two men before I corrected my thoughts. I was going to be busy for the next few days, especially while we prepared for war.

[Author's Note. Okay, last poll for the new story before I start it. The first three options are one question, while the next three are their own question.]