Daeron knew better, however, opening those rich indigo eyes to look wryly across to the creature, little larger than a small dog, slumbering away as it curled up into a ball of resplendent black scales. The fact Daeron had bonded with Laraxes, one of the dragons that made up the might of the Freehold, helped quell some of the dissent when House Nesterion proposed him as their choice. But such a blow was in the past, and when the lords freeholder could not agree upon which scion of theirs was worthy to lead, House Nesterion had been mentioned as an innocuous option, not giving too much power to any of the present factions. Of the forty families that made up the powerful nobility of the Freehold, House Nesterion was amongst the weaker houses, having suffered grievously in ages past when other dragonlords had conspired together against them. The lords freeholder of Valyria had long been plagued with factionalism and rivalries, the dragonlords conspiring amongst one another in ever-shifting alliances. Yet here he was, this son of House Nesterion, having been chosen as a compromise amongst the scions of the lords freeholder to lead the expedition. His youth had been spent with his nose buried in books, studying not only the histories of the Freehold, but also learning those bastard forms of Valyrian spoken amongst the daughters of Valyria as well as the even more barbarous tongues spoken by merchants from the Sunset Lands. A young man of but twenty years, he had not anticipated finding himself the head of a pacification force - indeed, few likely had expected it of him. Time had made these outlaws reckless and proud, and they had come to forget to fear the dragonlords.īreathing deeply in the sharp, salty tang of the air, Daeron closed his eyes for a time, thoughts flitting between a myriad matters he would have to attend to - and soon. For centuries, the Stepstones had been infested with all manner of reavers and pirates, bountiful hunting grounds to prey upon merchant ships seeking to avoid the perilous, stormy waters of the Narrow Sea to the north and to not stray too far into the deep and abounding waters of the Summer Sea to the south. Yet, this was to be their destination, the might of the Valyrian Freehold come to these lawless lands to restore order. It jutted out of the rich blue waters of the Summer Sea as if in a desperate gasp, its rocky shores limiting where vessels might find safe haven. The first major isle of the Stepstones one would encounter sailing from Valyria, Last Refuge was an ugly, craggy sight to see breaking the distant horizon. Stepping Stones (Last Refuge, Stepstones) I hope this story will be as entertaining to you, o readers, as it has been for me to craft. ![]() I would like to thank several friends who helped provide inspiration in the writing of this work (including a few characters therein), and to all the modders who helped bring GRRM's story to this wonderful game. Though it seems to be fairly popular of late, this story shall be set during the Century of Blood, just after the Doom came to Old Valyria and before Aegon began his conquest. Ultimately, however, I settled upon not one of the various historical settings that tempted me so, but instead the Game of Thrones mod that has been the source of delight over three multiplayAARS in the past. ![]() Indeed, the past year or so were spent making lengthy delves into researching several of the periods I had listed as ideas, figuring out characters to play and ambitions to aim for. It has been a long, long while since I have written an AAR, and as one might see from my last work, Ætheling, I have debated over various settings and themes for quite some time. 4: A Dawn in the West (Last Refuge, Stepstones) 3: The Promise of a Prince (Last Refuge, Stepstones) 2: Twilight of an Empire (Last Refuge, Stepstones) 1: Stepping Stones (Last Refuge, Stepstones)
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