Jump 322: A Song of Ice and Fire

Jump #322: A Song of Ice and Fire
>Knight of Cups: Forceful idealism blended with gentle kindness.
>Age: 15
In this world, fifteen is old enough. Old enough for fighting. Old enough for killing.
>Location: Braavos, 2 BC (-50)
This is exactly where I want to be. Coming in at the end of the Century of Blood, in what will be the most prosperous free city. Aegon the Conquerer has already come and gone and ensured that no single city will be able to prevail against the other.
>Identity: Drop-In
It doesn't matter who I am. I do not need a name to achieve my purpose.
>Scenario: First Among Nine
I don't so much want to conquer as I want to control. The Illuminati model should do nicely. Six hundred and sixty-six members can go a very long way.
>Prince In Exile (850, Drop-In)
At least when I travel I'll be welcomed in all circles.
>The Builder (700, Drop-In)
Did you know that the Wall isn't made of ice, it's just coated with it? At its core, it is volcanic glass. Dragonglass. Obsidian piled hundreds of feet high. Why else wouldn't the wights and zombies be able to cross it? Come on, it's obvious.
>Schemer (500, Drop-In)
If I'm to pull off what may turn into hundreds of years of scheming in order to make a better world, then every little bit of scheming counts.
>Pyromancer (300, Drop-In)
I have always loved Wildfire. This will not change. I just need to figure out how best to handle things.
>Starforged Sword (100)
I will admit that this is a neat weapon, though I'm getting it more for the sake of having such an interesting weapon than anything practical. I might Cheat Mode a copy and integrate it with my normally-used sword though. I like the look of the blade.
>Brave Companions (0)
Any good conspiracy needs some good co-conspirators!

So. Ten years is not NEARLY long enough to enjoy the fruits of my labor. The intention isn't simply to take control of Braavos and then conquer the other Free Cities, it's to change their society and the world.

While I'm not going to flat-out call them the Illuminati, I believe the Gargoyles version had a good thing going. Thirty-six ranks, with a member for each rank (so one first-ranked member, two second-ranked, 36 thirty-sixth ranked, etc) should work nicely, and given a few years (if even that long) I can start finding members to put it all together.

The purpose isn't simply to unify the cities, and that's a very distant goal when I arrive. It's to codify laws, to spread knowledge, to make life better for everyone. And as such it's no surprise that Braavos is where it begins, where the population is made of those who escaped the other cities. Given time, Braavos will become fairly prominent, and I'll ensure that we become prominent with it.

While Aegon and his inbred clan keep inbreeding, we'll be spreading throughout the free cities, ever patient. Valyrian steel is a product of magic and its raw manufacture is not possible without dragons. Wildfire, though... that substance can be harnessed (ever so carefully) and used to make steel that can be of superior quality to other types. Incremental improvements will be learned by smiths, of course, though it's likely to be localized to one city rather than all.

In fact, every city has its own specialties, and there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it promotes inter-city trade. I'll simply see to it that roads shall be built between the cities, given time. Sure, they won't be paved with dragonstone, but making a concrete material that includes pumice and volcanic ash, and curing it with wildfire to speed its setting as a roadway, should work particularly well. And it means more rapid transit between cities.

Printing presses are good, though if the resulting books will implicitly be inferior to the illuminated manuscripts that Westeros' maesters produce, of course. Having such a thing means that we can steadily make literacy become a desirable thing - even if the books are not cheap, there's much to be gained by spreading knowledge and encouraging scholars.

The vast majority of things in Westeros happen according to canon. At the time of Robert's Rebellion, however, a simultaneous coup happens in a few of the Free Cities, and their rulers are deposed. Violently, in two out of the three cases. Mercenaries are kept busy as my fellow conspirators' plans finally come to a head after three centuries, and while much of the merc work is posturing, the remaining bits ensure that no one who is a threat or who is disloyal remains as the conspirators step out of the shadows to take more direct control of the Free Cities. In the end, Braavos is the only one that is not directly controlled by us, but by a proxy trying to do as I imply would please me. Indirect control was apparently not good enough for it to count as a scenario victory.

I bided my time, watching canon unfold. And then Robert sent for Ned Stark.

You may remember that there is a cache of wildfire beneath King's Landing.

The smallfolk were given encouragement to flee the city overnight in terror. And by terror, I do mean pants-shitting run-for-your-life-death-is-coming supernatural terror that only a jumper can provide.

As when the sun rose over the horizon and the Starks were perplexed as to why they kept passing panicked smallfolk, they saw a green mushroom cloud rising in the distance, because fuck King's Landing, it is literally the first plate that a dragon landed in Westeros to take a shit. That's how self-important the Targaryens were - this is the place they first landed and so they turned a cesspit into a city that kept smelling like a cesspit. Damned hillbillies.

In any event, this caused civil unrest but not a civil war, just a great deal of confusion in Westeros that was put on hold due to Winter coming. A bit of string-pulling by a certain conspiracy saw a driftwood throne burned to cinders by green flames because the drowned god can choke on a drowned dick, and a driftwood crown burned with it.

The various Lords of Westeros convened as a council, and I am convinced that Ned only got the call to lead them because Sean Bean evaded a fated death two jumps in a row.

I made sure they had all the supplies they would need to deal with the wights and walkers before I consolidated political control of all of the former Free Cities into a confederation, triggering my inevitable victory and sending me onward.

I left behind my magic, stitched into this world's fabric as it is with so many others. Magic here waxed and waned in such an annoying manner... I felt having something more would benefit many, in the long run.

Let's see the Others shrug off having firaga or flare cast at them. Or Ultima for that matter.