Viserys III
297 AC, Targaryen Manse Training Grounds, Pentos
“Damn this sellsword” I thought to myself. I couldn't even land a hit on him. My swordplay is utter garbage, and this skinny and emaciated bag of bones that is my new body does not really have the strength or dexterity to really pull off any major sword fighting techniques.
“Attack!” Pullo said to me, and I charged at him with my sparring sword. He of course easily parried my strikes.
“Now defend!” he said to me, and I raised my blade to block his attacks. I found that I was quite proficient at swordplay when I was defending against an opponent. I found that it was as easier to react to the enemy’s attacks and using his momentum to properly parry his attacks. Though this would not do me much good if were on the battlefield against someone like Robert Baratheon holding a Warhammer or a mace. I wondered what was going in my brother’s head when he went to face Robert with a sword. The Usurper was outfitted in full plate armor and held a massive Warhammer. Even a lowly squire can tell you that only swords made of Valyrian steel can penetrate plate armor. Unfortunately our Valyrian steel was lost to us. Daeron I lost the Conqueror’s Valyrian steel Crown in Dorne, the Blackfyres stashed Blackfyre God knows where, and Dark Sister is likely with BloodRaven somewhere North of the Wall.
After successfully defending against Pullo’s offensive strikes, he moved back signaling me to go on the offensive against him. I tried rushing him with my sword ineffectively waving my blade around like an idiot. Pullo easily parried each attempt and used my own momentum to send me flat on my ass into the dirt.
“Is that all you can do?” Pullo said mockingly, “And here I thought Targaryens were the blood of the dragon, and you are no dragon.”
All this did was infuriate me and I got up and continued sparring with that annoying sellsword. The more he egged me on with his japes, the more my anger grew.
“Focus,” said Pullo. “You cannot hope win by relying on mindless rage. You must channel your range into your attacks to overwhelm your enemy.”
In response to this, I tried changing tactics and tried to overwhelm him with a rapid array of attacks. It seemed effective at first as I had gotten him to move a few meters back.
“How’s this for a Dragon?” I practically yelled at him.
Pullo simply smirked and said, “Now you’re getting it. Focus on destroying my center and cutting off all sides for me to retreat.”
I slowly got him to move towards the wall of the training grounds, and just as I thought I had him on the ropes he went on the offensive easily overwhelming me with his attacks.
“You’re holding your sparring sword too tightly,” Pullo said.
I tried loosening my grip and he disarmed by easily knocking my sword out of my hands and said, “now too lightly.”
“Very well then that’s enough training for today. You did well compared to how you fared on your first day of training,” said Pullo.
“Regardless I am still a terrible fighter,” I said in annoyance with myself for my own inadequacies. I truly was a terrible fighter. I was no Jaime Lannister or Aemon the Dragonknight. Thanks to years of starvation and poor nutrition in Essos, Viserys wasn’t the most physically capable people in Westeros. While I had tried to improve this body with rigorous training regimens that begin at the crack of dawn, it still isn’t enough. Frankly I don’t think I will be able to get into thickest of the fighting when I lead men on the field as King.
“Relax and do not worry, Pullo said. “Soon we’ll make a proper terror out of you young Dominus.”
“I am a middling swordsman at best,” I said with a sigh of exasperation.
Pullo gave me a reassuring smile and said, “better to be a middling swordsman than no swordsman at all.”
“There you are wrong,” I said curtly. “The graveyards are full of middling swordsman. Better to be no swordsman at all than a middling swordsman. Perhaps I should quit this pointless exertion of myself altogether and focus on scholarly pursuits.”
“You rate yourself too poorly young Dominus,” Pullo said as he patted my back. “Though your swordsmanship may be lacking, you are quite good with a crossbow.”
“Perhaps he had a point,” I thought to myself. Perhaps if I couldn’t be a warrior King due to my physical inadequacies then maybe I can still command troops from the rear. Perhaps I can serve as a symbol to my men. Lots of commanders did this in history anyway.
“Pullo why do you keep referring to me as Dominus?” I asked him. The name made me uncomfortable as it’s basically the Latin word for slave master.
“It makes me uncomfortable when you use that word to address me. I thought I told you to call me Viserys.”
“Well young Domin…I mean Prince Viserys, its proper form to address highborns in Volantis and the Free Cities as Dominus,” he said to me.
“Doesn’t Dominus mean slave master?” I asked, “I am not slaver, and you are not a slave are you?”
“In cities like Volantis Your Grace, its powerful elites are typically the largest slave owners. The term Dominus was adopted from the Old Dragonlords of Valyria who were the masters of men both free and enslaved,” he said to me.
To be honest I was actually surprised by the stuff from this version of Planetos. The cannon of this world seems to be a cross between that of show cannon and book cannon. One thing that I did not expect was that the High Valyrian Language and its emerging Low Valyrian variant dialects were essentially just Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin. Based on the show’s version of High Valyrian, I thought it would resemble something like Greek. To my surprise the Common Tongue that I normally spoke in was just plain English like in the show. Initially when I arrived here, I thought that the Common Tongue was something akin to Old English or some sort of archaic Germanic language. Though there were some phrases from the actual cannon that were consistent like, “Valar Morghulis” and “Valar Dohaeris” meaning all men must die and all men must serve.
To be honest, I enjoyed Pullo’s company. He was a mercenary hired by Illyrio after I insisted that I learn how to fight in order to be a proper Westerosi King.
I basically pestered Illyrio every time I saw him, and eventually he accepted my proposal and likely plans to use these sorts of things to keep me distracted from his machinations. I’m sure he is grooming me to be some sort of distraction to destabilize Westeros, or to be a potential key asset in getting Aegon VI seated atop the Iron Throne.
The problem is that I truly do not know if Aegon is indeed my nephew, some rival claimant from Maegor Brightflame’s line, or a Blackfyre from the female line. There were so many theories about Aegon’s true identity all over various forums. Unfortunately I don’t exactly remember the details of each theory and the points supporting it. The remnants of the Old Viserys or OG Viserys as I dubbed him, were banished to my subconscious. That was the only way I was able to fully take control over this body from that royal idiot. I can feel these remnants becoming active especially when I think about the history of the Targaryens and concepts like the right to the throne.
Honestly if Aegon VI was indeed my legitimate nephew then I gladly would have renounced my claim to the Iron Throne, and focused on putting him back in power. I don’t know if he’s a filthy Blackfyre which puts me on edge about Illyrio and my future plans to eventually retake the Iron Throne. If indeed in this universe he is in fact Rhaegar’s son, and I were to kill him, that would make me a kinslayer. And there is nothing more accursed in this world than a kinslayer. Not even Roose Bolton or Tywin Lannister dared to cross that line. This would make me worse than them, as I would stoop to their level. Suppose I were to claim the throne before him, or oust him from the throne, this would essentially make me become a usurper myself. I would indeed become the very same type of person whom I despise with every fiber of my being. This is something that I would not ever allow to happen.
297 AC, Viserys’s Personal Study, Pentos
I was truly astounded by what I have learned here in Pentos. I tried reading as much as I could about Valyrian history and its laws. In many ways it paralleled Ancient Rome while in some ways it was radically different. Valyria lasted for millennia while all of Roman civilization lasted around 2,000 years if you count from the founding of the city of Rome in 753 BC to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. This was simply unparalleled. No empire in our own history lasted for that long except for Imperial China, but that was followed by cycles of warring states and a unified China. I had started reading books about Pentoshi law which was essentially a variant of Ancient Valyrian Laws. These laws actually resembled stuff like the Twelve Tables of the old Roman Empire with its strict set of rules and clearly defined penalties and punishments for breaking said rules.
Though Pentos was essentially a client-state of Braavos, it was still basically a slave based nation. The only difference between Pentos and the other Free Cities was the fact that it changed the word slave in their Constitution to that of indentured servant which they count as part of the population when a census occurs. This only happened because the Pentoshi lost a major war to the Braavosi, and were forced to accept major concessions to the Braavosi like total disarmament and most importantly, the abolition of slavery. Officially the government denounces slavery, but everyone knows that slavery still exists under a different name.
I was utterly disgusted by all this hypocrisy, and it made me despise this city. My home is in Westeros, and I longed to leave from this barbaric and foreign land. Still there remains the question of how to proceed. I am utterly at the mercy of the fat man here. I have no real connections or allies, and I’m basically forbidden from leaving this manse to venture outside into the city. Illyrio of course justifies this by saying that this is just a measure for my own protection. The only thing he is protecting me from is becoming independent of his influence.
In this manse I am isolated and totally reliant on him for my own protection and survival. If I could just maybe get a message out to Prince Doran Martell then maybe I could renew the betrothal between Princess Arianne that Ser Willem Darry had negotiated, and count on their support for my claim to the Iron Throne. But I have no means to accomplish this within this infernal city. I along with Daenerys are constantly being watched by Illyrio’s servants. I’m sure that Illyrio likely reads any letters or correspondences I send out or receive. Even if I were to find the Dragon Eggs that he gave to Dany as a wedding gift in cannon, I would still be screwed. Illyrio would most certainly find out about this and there would be no way for me to escape the city alive. I could maybe try to entice Pullo, but he was a mercenary who by his nature was unreliable. Why would he risk his life for two children? He might have been amiable to me, but he was still employed by Illyrio who was the Magister of this city. Even if I somehow convinced him to help him aid Dany and I to escape, he could easily kill us and take the eggs and present our heads to the Usurper who would handsomely reward him and maybe give him fief of his own for the deed. In other words I was entirely screwed and this infuriated me. I can actually understand how under this pressure the original Viserys became insane.
Varys I
297 AC, Varys’s Personal Quarters, Kings Landing
The recent developments in Pentos were very interesting to say at the least. Based on his friend Ilyrio’s letters, he learned that Viserys Targaryen had changed quite dramatically. The boy had apparently taken studies like how a fishes takes to water. This seemed to contradict the other reports he received about the boy. His previously violent and arrogant temperament had subsided and been altogether replaced by demeanor that Ilyrio described as both courteous and princely. Varys wondered how such a change in personality occurred in the boy, as up until Illyrio’s last report, he was under the impression that Viserys was set to become the second coming of Aerys “the Mad King.”
Illyrio expressed his concerns that Viserys would soon start to become more independent of him after he started asking for training in combat and an education in law and mathematics. Varys advised his friend to grant the boy his requests to keep him occupied, so he becomes less aware of the gilded cage they have built around him. If Viserys continued on his current path, he seemed like he would make a decent ruler since he has seemed to have lost his previous madness and arrogant demeanor in favor of kindness and courtesies especially towards the poor. One instance of this behavior which stuck out to him was when Illyrio recounted how Viserys stated treating his servants better. These were the same people who the boy prince treated with contempt, and refused to let them even make eye contact with him.
Varys mused that it was a shame that he was stuck serving under that useless idiot who was Robert Baratheon and that vicious idiot Prince Joffrey. Regardless about how he felt about Prince Viserys, Aegon took precedence. He still saw that there was the possibility of turning Viserys into a key component for Aegon’s ascension to the Iron Throne. Though if Viserys proved to be more of a loose cannon or has outlived his usefulness he could be assassinated to make room for the young Aegon. Another possibility he entertained was to somehow stir enough chaos and disorder in Westeros for Viserys to ascend to the throne only for him to unfortunately “pass away” from unforeseen health issues allowing for his posthumously proclaimed successor Aegon VI to take the throne. “Perhaps Aegon could be married to Arianne Martell to boost his claim,” Varys thought to himself. This match could solidify Aegon’s legitimacy giving House Blackfyre their vengeance.
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