The Rise of DwV

Desi stared out over the horizon, the deck swaying gently beneath her. They had spotted land, and somewhere ahead of them lay Casterly Rock, their new home. She had searched and searched for a new place for her and her people, and finally found a home on K245. There was no established king of K245, only farm accounts playing quietly near King’s Landing. Their castle halls echoed in silence, and the small council hardly convened at all. A sleepy little kingdom, with a sleepy little alliance, and lots of room for us to grow.

In the captain’s quarters, lords and ladies gathered around the map of the new kingdom. “There will be peace,” Desi promised. Casterly Rock was empty and barren, and felt so small compared to the bounty of King’s Landing, where they were used to the riches of the resource nodes, but no one complained. No one, that is, except for the larger lords and ladies who did not have the transnationals needed to move to a smaller kingdom.

 “We will not come unless we can settle at King’s Landing!” One lord exclaimed. “We will not come unless more players move and lower the cost of transnationals,” said the others. Then out of the shadows spoke a voice. It was the former king, John Hayes.

“I will come. I will be your loyal subject and will follow your rule. I will be the first to move, and will spam helps daily so others can get the alliance coins they need to move.”

“Why should I trust you? You would not listen to my advice when you were king, why would you follow my orders now that I will be Queen?”

“Obviously my leadership failed and was not appreciated. I am done giving orders and will support you fully in this new venture. I want what is best for our people, too. I just let my pride get in my way.”

Desi and Saint exchanged glances, a thousand words in one look. Desi did not trust that keeping the former king whose throne she had usurped would be a good decision, but desperate times meant desperate measures, and if he could move his accounts to the new kingdom, they would not only make it cheaper for others to move, it would also lend some weight to her plans to negotiate with the current occupiers of King’s Landing. Desi cleared the captain’s quarters, all except Saint left.

“We are not truly settling for Casterly Rock, are we?”

“No. My true sight is set on King’s Landing, but we must approach cautiously. These may be sleepy quiet players, but I’m worried by a couple of them. Hellcat, Douglas, Ccc1ccc. They are powerful lords, and we do not want to give them cause to start attacking. I will go to King’s Landing to negotiate personally, but first we must show them we truly do come in peace.”

Desi had already sent ravens to each of those players, testing their levels of aggression. Truly only Hellcat gave her cause to worry. He was a merit hunter on a sleepy kingdom, not part of any alliance there, but in his missives he indicated he would not touch any of DwV players. He was not interested in any fighting and would keep to himself, so long as he was not provoked. Desi showed the letter to Saint.

“I don’t trust him, like I don’t trust John Hayes, but what other choice do we have? This was the only kingdom that assured us we would be welcomed in peace.”

“He may be scary looking, but he is only one lord, and when our full strength has moved to the new kingdom, he won’t be a threat any longer. We have dealt with merit hunters before, we will deal with him as well when the time comes.” He smiled reassuringly. Desi nodded and contemplated the upcoming meeting with the lords of this new kingdom.

The next day she rode the Gold Road from Casterly Rock to King’s Landing to negotiate the terms of their settlement in the kingdom. She entered the silent hall and approached the king who sat in his throne of swords and smiled down at her.

“Speak, what have you convened us here for?”

“I want for my people to settle near King’s Landing and gather the resources, at least the more powerful lords and ladies.”

“It is done,” replied the king. Well that was almost too easy. Desi dared to push her luck.

“Then I would like to relocate my entire alliance to King’s Landing. And seeing that we are the larger alliance on this kingdom, I plan to crown myself Queen sooner rather than later.” The king removed his crown and offered it to her.

“That seems fair. We have no problem sharing our crown, as long as you rule well and justly.” This was much easier than Desi had anticipated. She dared ask for more.

“Then would you consider a merger between your people and mine? Give me your alliance as a secondary alliance and let me build it for you. Your alliance level is more advanced than mine, and if we merge we can be more successful than if we keep separate.”

“We will agree to it, all we ask is that we continue to play as we have always played, we are not fighters, we do not play the Game of Thrones, but you are welcome to,” declared both Ccc1ccc and Douglas. Desi was stunned, they were willing to turn over the kingdom to her with no conditions, no questions, no concerns. All they asked was to be left to farm and play peacefully as they always had.

From a corner of the room came a soft chuckle. “Yes of course,” said Hellcat. “Take it all, make something of this abandoned kingdom. I will not interfere in the politics, I simply play for kvk and will not attack or harass your lords. I do not have time to play as actively as I once did. Aye from me as well. The throne is yours.” There was an amused glint in his eye that unnerved Desi, but she had just been declared Queen, and would not let Hellcat ruin this moment for her. He approached her in the dim light of the throne room.

“Have you been a Queen before,” Hellcat inquired softly. Did the one week when she created her own alliance count?

“No.”

“Fine. I will help you. I will stir up trouble in world chat, make it so that I disagree with your arrival, and we will pretend to negotiate and resolve it. This will increase their respect for you as queen.”

“I do not need your help to establish respect. My lords respect me already, they followed me here.”

“Ah, but it will show the other lords on this kingdom that you know how to rule and they will be more open to following you as queen. Do it for them, if not for your own lords.”

“And you are willing to do this for me? To help me establish myself as an effective ruler? But why?”

“When I first came to this kingdom, it was dead. The lords did not bubble, or participate in kvk and other events. It will be good for this kingdom to have a ruler who will encourage lords to do more than just farm. I want to see this kingdom come alive and be successful. That is why I will do this for you.”

He smiled and walked out of the throne room without so much as a glance back. Desi’s gaze lingered long after he was out of sight, pondering. She would need help to rule, she needed a strong Lord Commander, but Hellcat would never join them. What were his true intentions? Why offer to help? What damage could he do if her people stayed bubbled and protected? She shook her head to clear her mind and turned to the other two lords.

“We will begin the merger tomorrow, after I have spoken to my lords. Today marks a new beginning for this kingdom. I believe you will be pleased with our merger.” The lords smiled amiably and murmured their agreement.

The next day Desi was greeted by swarms of her people entering King’s Landing. Her people, her kingdom. Saint had congratulated her on her success in negotiations, and the other lords praised her cunning and bravery. They did not know how simple it all had been, truly. In the council room, she sat with her lords and laid out her master plan.

“DwV and DwW will be sister alliances. I want all lords whose event time is 19:00 to be in DwV, and all lords whose event time is 1:00 to be in DwW.” There were skeptical looks from the other lords.

“But that will split our power.”

“Yes, but it will ensure that as many lords as possible can join events. We support each other and can keep alts in each alliance to play both times. John Hayes, you are in charge of recruiting new players to our alliance, Saint, I need you to start organizing the players by event times. We will need someone to monitor that the node gathering rules and rebel leader requirements are followed. This will be good. We will be successful,” Desi promised her lords and they agreed and each left to complete their assigned tasks, all but Saint.

“It was good you gave John a role to play, that way he will stay out of trouble,” Saint said. Desi nodded. “Also we should marry our accounts, it is only natural for us to guard each other.”

“I will consider your proposal, Saint, but for now, lets focus on getting this kingdom up and running.” Hellcat, true to his word, had started posting complaints in world chat. It was time to see what skill she had at ruling a kingdom.