Chapter 51

Time flew by as you studied all the Knowledge you finally gained access to, and things were working out far better in the past few Months than you had first anticipated, for the Vale had already lost around one fourth of its smaller Castles to the Mountain Clans with the help of your Weapons and Necklaces. Your Tactics were nothing groundbreaking, but they were working and that was seemingly more than enough for now, whenever Marie told you of another Weakness you could exploit, you simply had to draw enough of the Necklaces spread across the Clans to the right Spot, and the nearest Castle would fall in short order.

You had for now little Interest in uniting the Mountain Clans into a single Force, so the Necklaces were truly quite handy when it came to pushing the Clans into the right Position to strike from so far away while keeping them apart. You weren't planning to give the Arryns an Opportunity to take the Heads of so many actually valuable Leaders by uniting them all in one Place, your Luck could only last for so long after all. And even a blind Man could see what would happen if you got unlucky and the Clans and Knights of the Vale were going to meet in open Battle, thus you were more than happy to put in a bit more work when it came to planning if it meant you could properly deny that future, the Gods weren't all on the same Side after all.

Certainly someone like the God of Fire who's worshipped in Essos would try to support the Targaryens in some way, even if they lost their Dragons some time ago, that they even got some in the first Place surely meant that they had a certain amount of favour with him, seeing as a few Generations of mediocrity were nothing to a God. It was at least not how you did things, if you showed openings they were there because you wanted them there, and that simply didn't work against Gods. Thus, you decided that it would be best to expect some kind of kick from the Side to disrupt your Plans as always, hence the Clans would remain properly divided as long as you could keep them that way.

And the Knowledge you gained from Marie regularly assured you that this cautious Outlook of yours was indeed the correct Choice, there was no way you would ever believe that this many Plots could arise on their own even in a weakened Realm, though you still have not found one that really screamed divine Intervention in the past Months. But it mattered little in the end, even if half of them were influenced in some way they were focused on anything but your House with a few Exceptions, and Truth be told, the passive Plans were what bothered you the most.

That the Tullys were planning to marry into the North for one was less than optimal for your House, for both of them were all about Duty and Family in the staunchest way possible. It was ridiculous how seemingly everyone was fighting for their Family on this World, but at least it made proper Marriage Pacts truly binding. You felt like this was something quite unique to this World, or mayhaps it was your own World that was the Exception, but compared to how Marriage Pacts lasted perhaps half a Decade in your last one, this World was apparently a true Heaven for Schemers of the unusually passive kind if one truly searched for them.

The entire World seemingly revolved around Marriage and Blood to these People as you kept on reading as the Weeks passed by, and you couldn't understand why they were unable to leave something clearly good and decent alone, why would someone break a Marriage between two Houses just to gain a bit more Power and Influence by filling in the empty Spot. You wondered for a moment if you would do something similar if the Tullys had Marriage Plans for all their Children, but there truly wasn't any appeal to it, an Alliance formed from the Outlook of going with the second Choice would never be a stable one that could be trusted after all.

It was one of the Reasons why even this beautifully savage and simultaneously orderly World failed to reach your Standards, for no Beast no matter the Strength could turn around the Rules of the World no matter how hard it tried. But the Sheep somehow found a way to weaken both Sides of an Alliance by creating said Alliance, it was madness. A proper Alliance between the Stormlands and Dorne for Example would grant both Sides new Strength as one would expect, but if now the Targaryens heard of it and plotted to bind the Stormlands closer to the Crownlands neither would grow in Strength. For it simply wasn't the most beneficial Path for the Stormlands and everyone with a working Mind would know why the Alliance was forged, which would create a massive Number of Weaknesses that could freely be exploited by their Enemies.

Humanity needed Trust and Unity to prosper, even if the amount they had was absolutely miniscule, it should be obvious that neither could ever be taken in any amount without said Act weakening the whole, no matter how massive that whole might be. It's just like the old Saying teaches, once a Liar, always a Liar, Trust should never be shaken nor broken, it didn't matter how little the Trust truly diminished for the amount lost would grow as long as someone had an Interest in seeing both Sides weakened, and such a Person always existed.

And the most annoying Part of it all was that you had not the slightest Idea how to stop all these Plots from tearing the Realm apart once your Family claimed it. You only had two Siblings, so even if your Family was going to play by their Rules, House Lannister didn't have enough Blood of sufficient Value to secure all of the Seven Kingdoms that way. And you honestly couldn't imagine that your Father would be happy with you burning down half his Realm to get rid of all the destabilising Scum in one go, like the Targaryens did when they came into Power, it really is a shame.