Roleplay / A Sword Without A Hilt

Fire and Blood

In a world where magic has all but guttered to ashes, becoming the fare of charlatans, petty conjurers, and ragged illusionists, a mighty change is stirring. From small and fragile sparks a great blaze will be reborn and men will again look in wonder awe and terror at those who would dare to call on secret powers. Heroes and fiends, champions and monsters, soon all will walk under the light of common day once more.

A Sword Without A Hilt is a Forum Quest by the author DragonParadox, posing the question what would happen to the world of Planetos if magic did not slowly return, but came back in force. The quest is a crossover with D&D 3.5 and expands upon the many allusions and shout outs found in the backstory of the source material. Devils and Demons begin to enter the world, using artifacts left behind by the Valyrian Freehold or exploiting the many gaps in the knowledge left behind by them to ensnare mortals. Meanwhile, the Illithid begin to stir in their fortresses under the seas and the many relics they left behind on the world regain their fell power.

The quest follows the actions of Viserys Targaryen in this rapidly changing world, starting right after the death of his last protector Willem Darry. Awakening his power as a dragon-blooded sorcerer, he sets out to find a safe home for his sister and himself in the seedy parts of Braavos, always fearing assassins sent by Robert Baratheon to strike at them while they are defenseless. He dreams to reclaim the Iron Throne, but it will be a long way indeed from Braavos gutters to the Red Keep.

The quest is hosted on Sufficient Velocity.com. It has been going since March 2016 and updates multiple times per day, thus having amassed over 5.1 million words by now, eclipsing even the length of the source material. Around its core players, a distinct community has emerged over the years, which is much more cooperative then player-bases of many other quests and sometimes referred to as Proto-Tribe by the players themselves.

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A Sword Without A Hilt provides examples of:

• Absurdly Cool City: The Crown City of Sorcerer's Deep is an architectural marvel and absurdly clean for a city of its size thanks to a well planned sewer system. Dozens of different races walk the streets, all enjoying the many benefits the city has to offer.
• Absurdly Sharp Blade: As a D&D Crossover, Adamantine blades come up quite often. Though they are usually not used as weapons, but as lockpick substitute, as they can slice through even an iron door with ease. More relevant to the ASOIAF setting, blades of Valyrian Steel have the same sharpness and cutting power as Adamantine.
• Alien Autopsy: Grafts are sometimes harvested from captured extraplanar enemies, mostly fiends like Demons and Devils. They have a completely alien physiology that if thought about too hard tends to drive people a bit mad.
• All Myths Are True: Turns out basically every legend and folk tale of the setting has at least a tiny grain of truth to it. Heroes and monsters of ancient legends, epic deeds and terrible curses that endured countless eons, etc. The most prominent canon examples of course beyond basically everything Beyond the Wall, with the Children of the Forest, the Giants, and the Others.
• An Ice Person: The Others, AKA the Court of Winter to the far north. They are Winter Fey. There's also Lady Rina Cox, a woman who was held in thrall by the others, but was freed and managed to steal some of their power. She eventually turned into an uncorrupted Winter Fey.
• Ancestral Weapon: Later on, Viserys gets the sword Dark Sister from Bloodraven
• Another Dimension: A staple of D&D. There's the Prime Material (normal Earth) at the center of the multiverse, and then surrounding it are the Elemental Planes (Water, Earth, Fire, and Air), and then surrounding those are the Celestial Planes, the Fiendish Planes, the Realms of Law, and the Realms of Chaos. To traverse from one Plane to another, you need a variant of the spell Plane Shift.
• Anti-Magical Faction: There is a secret organization among the Maesters of the Citadel that seeks, rather moronically, to end all magic.
• Apocalypse Cult:
  • The vampire Daario created a Zombie Apocalypse in the name of the Moon Pale Maiden, one of the leaders of the omnicidal Daemons.
  • The Listener in Mantarys, seeking to start a demonic invasion.
  • Yet more Daemon cultists were found hiding in the catacombs beneath Tyrosh.
  • Minor Demon and Devil cults seem rather common as the party keeps stumbling over them all over Westeros.
• Arranged Marriage: Before the events of the quest, a cornered Queen Rhaella arranged a betrothal between a young Prince Viserys and Princess Arianne Martell of Dorne. This betrothal didn't last after Viserys met Lya, but it was nonetheless a foundation for opening diplomacy with Dorne.
• Artifact of Doom: Far too many for comfort, since pretty much every minor artifact tainted by Fiends or Aberrations can become the core of a full on invasion, but the most notable ones are:
  • The Driftwood Crown, which can cause massive storms at the price of sapping the user's sanity and exposing him to whispers from the Far Realm
  • The Whispering Gate, which is a gateway to the Abyss which in itself is not sentient, but the Demons on the other side can easily corrupt anyone who approaches is
• Ascended Demon: Azema the Alu Demon becomes Viserys' sworn vassal after aiding him in Mantarys. Her mother Lileath the Succubus was sacrificed to Yss in order to sever all connection to the Abyss, and ever since then she vaguely sauntered upward from the darkness, until she finally became Chaotic Neutral.
• Ascended Extra: A few major characters started as random NPC's and many more got later on bigger and more important roles.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Both the Free Folk and the Dothraki work like this and Viserys isn't shy to back up his words with force.
• Back from the Dead: A common sight in the setting given the existence of resurrection magic, though not exactly widespread since it does consume a rare diamond in the casting. Generally it is limited to people important enough to merit the expenditure, like mages or high officials.
• Badass Army: The Legions of the Imperium. These are armies equipped in the highest quality steel armor and weapons, trained to perfection, made to dominate the world.
• Badass Cape: King Viserys Targaryen actually had two such examples.
  • The first was the Orphne Cloak which he won as the result of a good showing in a duel against the Orphne King. It was a cloak of living shadow which helped ward him from hostile spells. It was used in the creation of the Serpent's Sin artifact cloak.
  • The second was the Serpent's Sin cloak, a Major Artifact crafted from the hide of the Aspect of Mammon. It was forged from the Aspect's hide, the Aspect's golden bracers of Natural Armor, and lastly it used the Orphne Cloak as a magic thread to bind it all together. The Serpent's Sin appears as a fine-scaled cloak that shimmers like polished gold, and its golden clasps, though cool to the touch, glow as if freshly poured from the crucible. If one looks closely, rather than scales, the cloak actually appears to be formed of overlapping and interlocking coins which seem to slowly flow, as if part of a river of never-ending gold. The cloak acts as a Handy Haversack with a volume of 6,000 cubic feet. The wearer (which is Viserys, always, since the cloak was bound to him during its creation) gains the benefit of Awaken Spell Resistance, gains +5 to their Natural Armor, and whenever they're the target of a ranged or ranged touch attack, they may deflect there's a chance the attacker is disarmed and the weapon swallowed up by the cloak.
    • The cloak, while not alive, certainly has a personality. Sometimes it grabs things on Viserys' behalf without him needing to command it, as though it senses his intent.
• Badass Preacher: Clerics are very often defending the innocent from monsters with divine magic granted from their gods.
• Bag of Holding: A highly favored class of magic item, manufactured with great frequency in the Imperium. Viserys' cloak functions as a Handy Haversack that contains 6,000 cubic feet of space.
• Battle Couple: Viserys and Lya have fought countless high stakes battles together.
  • There's also Waymar and Tyene.
• Battle Trophy: A well-established habit in Viserys and the Companions. Powerful enemies tend to either have their skulls taken and added to the Skull Collection, have their bodies stuffed and added to the Trophy Collection, or some way or the other have a piece of them taken away and claimed as spoils of war.
• Barbarian Tribe: The Wildlings AKA the Free Folk who live Beyond the Wall (with the exception of the Thenns who are the last bastion of pure First Men civilization), the Mountain Clans of the Vale, and the Dothraki horse lords of Essos.
• The Baroness: Mereth, a Fury, the first devil Viserys ever recruited. She is a no nonsense warrior of peerless skill and an inexhaustible sense of duty.
• The Beastmaster: Vee, who is known as "The Beast Keeper" in the Imperium. She is in charge of the care of all magical beasts, usually taken care of in the Menagerie or the Imperial Stables.
• Beleaguered Assistant: Alinor, High Steward to King Viserys. She was initially a whore in Braavos who Viserys recruited for his own retinue upon realizing she had a quick mind and a head for numbers. Alinor, unfortunately, has a gigantic workload due to Viserys conquering new places and the new citizens needing to be accounted for. However, she has long since learned to handle it, especially with the help of her Calligraphy Wyrm.
• Beneath the Earth: The Underdark, a realm deep below the surface of the earth, with entire societies of intelligent races that live out their lives without ever seeing the sky. Most prominent among them are the Drow, otherwise known as the Dark Elves, beholden to Lolth the Spider Queen.
• Benevolent Mage Ruler: Viserys Targaryen is King, and also a very powerful mage.
• Big Fancy Castle: The Imperial Palace in Sorcerer's Deep is absurdly big and luxurious.
• Blood Lust: So far, all sentient weapons encountered exhibited a great desire to at least be used in battle, if not outright stating a desire for blood.
• Blood Magic: In the quest canon, blood is a measure of power and thus a lot of magic requires it or can use it as a power source.
  • Viserys can improve the power of some of his spells by adding a bit of his own blood to the spell.
  • Many items found over the course of the quest required a certain amount of blood before becoming usable or to empower them.
  • Reforging Valyrian Steel requires blood, which is unsurprising since it Requires Devil blood as a main ingredient to actually make in the first place
  • The Day of Blood ritual, by which Viserys has grown a good number of Heart Trees
• Bodyguarding a Badass: Ser Richard once wondered if he is protecting Viserys from the world or the other way around.
• Bond Creature: In D&D this means a mage's familiar, an animal companion, a mount, etc. For Viserys this is his familiar Varys who is now a Pseudodragon rather than simply a Draconic Viper, and his mount Balerion the Black Dread, former mount of Aegon the Conqueror in centuries past.
• Book Burning: A practice that the Archmaesters of the Citadel resorted to, seeking to deny Viserys any "dangerous books" before he finished conquering Westeros. Needless to say news of this was not well received.
• Boom Town: Sorcerers Deep^note Formerly known as Torturers Deep, which is growing so fast that it's nearly constantly busy building new homes for the arrivals.
• Breach of Promise of Marriage: Viserys broke the agreement made by his mother that he would marry Princess Arianne Martell of Dorne and make her his queen because he had fallen in love with Lya instead. Needless to say Prince Doran Martell of Dorne wasn't pleased, but a number of concessions and aid placated him.
• Broken Pedestal: Viserys with his father King Aerys AKA the Mad King. Upon request, Bloodraven showed him his true nature through visions, leaving Viserys who had once loved and admired his father with nothing but a burning hatred towards the man.
  • The same is true for Viserys' view of his older brother Prince Rhaegar AKA the Silver Prince, once he delved into the truth of why Rhaegar vanished for months with Lady Lyanna Stark in tow. He privately cursed his brother for a fool and a failure.
• Bullet Time: Time Stop, a powerful spell of the Ninth Circle of Magic, and one of Viserys' new favorites.
• Captive Audience: Due to having insane charisma and much magic to boost his already enormous social skills, Viserys can easily captivate huge audiences with his speeches. Unlike his brother Rhaegar, though, he is hopeless in everything relating to music.
• Casting a Shadow: Shadowmancy is a frequently used school of magic, most notably used in the creation of the Shadow Tower.
• The Champion: Ser Richard Lonmouth is known as The King's Champion. He is possibly the strongest martial character among humankind, having gone toe to toe with supernatural champions and won.
• Character Level: The quest is a crossover between ASOIAF and D&D 3.5, and as such the characters have levels. Level 5 is the soft cap for NPCs, with level 6 and beyond being what marks a true PC, though not all of them progress all that much. Dragonlords have a soft cap of level 10. Dragon creatures have no cap at all. And Viserys and the Companions, being touched by destiny in their own ways, also have no level cap.
• The Chessmaster: Viserys and Bloodraven, especially when they work together.
• Child Prodigy: Daenerys, whose level outstrips her age. That should speak for itself.
• A Child Shall Lead Them:
  • While Viserys himself is still pretty young, his sister Dany has quite often taken up leadership roles since the age of 7.
  • Many other cast members are still in their early teens, but rarely does anyone consider it odd when they are put in charge of some task or another.
• City of Gold: The Genie Realms in general, but in particular the Opaline Vault of the Shaitan where everything, including the buildings, is made of precious metals. Gold is as common as dirt in this city, so much so that the currency is Glassteel (alchemically hardened glass) rather than gold.
• Classy Cane: Lord Malarys Vanor of the Companions sports a cane that hides an enchanted sword.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Happened quite often in the early days of the quest until better means became available.
• Combat Pragmatist: Viserys has no patience for honor or monologuing in a fight, as he has repeatedly killed enemies stupid enough to engage in such behaviors.
• Cool Big Sis: Tyene and Lya both contend for this position, acting as mentor figures for Dany when she was younger.
• Cool Crown: The Crown of the Conquerer. This was formerly the Crown of Aegon the Conquerer, a band of Valyrian Steel set with fourteen square-cut rubies. It is thrice-forged of magic, first through Valyrian Steel, second through enchantments for Endure Elements, Immunity to Poison, and Light Fortification that were a gift from Prince Doran Martell when he gifted the crown to Viserys in gratitude for bringing Elia Martell and Rhaenys Targaryen back to life, and lastly through the much more powerful enchantments of Glamered, Freedom of Movement, Mind Blank which were forged in the Skyhold of Armun Kelisk where Viserys commissioned the talents of some of the Djinn city's most powerful craftsmen.
• Cool Gate: In Sorcerer's Deep is a gate called the Terminus which functions as a means of travel between Prime Material and the Plane of Earth and the Plane of Air. Citizens are permitted to pay to use the gate, and through it trade has been established between the Imperium, the Opaline Vault of the Shaitan, and Armun Kelisk of the Djinn.
• Cool Sword: Quite a few characters have them.
  • Viserys - Dark Sister, ancestral blade of House Targaryen, forged of Valyrian Steel and sentient to boot, the perfect weapon for a Sorcerer King.
  • Richard - Oathkeeper, sword of the King's Champion, forged of Valyrian Steel and sentient (infused with the soul of the smith who died as he forged it), and enchanted with a blazing fire.
  • Waymar - Purity, a blade of bronze that grew with Waymar, seemingly making its own enchantments stronger and stronger as he kills powerful fiends.
• Cool Old Guy: Bloodraven, still awesome after more than a century.
• The Constant: The inner city of Volantis which houses the Old Blood behind the infamous Black Walls is as it was in the days before the Doom of Valyria. It is a center of Valyrian culture and prosperity.
• Cosmic Horror Reveal: During Part MMDCCCLXVI: Regrets when Viserys visits Heaven for the first time... and finds out it's just gone. The subsequent arc of exploring what remained was more than a little disheartening.
• Crazy Enough to Work: A lot of Viserys' ideas.
  • In Mantarys, using a Wish Gem to harness the wild magic of a failed ritual to steal an entire Sorcerer's Tower and seal it into a portable demiplane
  • In Tyrosh, in absence of a proper Mind Blank, sealing away his own memories until the day of the invasion to avoid the enemy divining his intentions
  • In the Iron Islands, time traveling to the Age of Heroes not only to thwart a dread ritual enacted by the Deep Ones to destroy the Ironborn should they ever turn away from the Drowned God, but going so far as to subvert it and effectively steal all the power
• Cutting Through Energy: Ser Richard is able to slice through magic itself, battering down spells as they're launched at him or those he's protecting.
• Damage Reduction: Exploited heavily through Adamantine Armor and other various pieces of equipment, and even templates.
• Deader than Dead: As Outsiders don't truly die when slain away from their home-plane and resurrection of mortals is simple in D&D, the players have poured a lot of effort into figuring out methods to enforce this trope on everyone they want permanently gone.
• Deal with the Devil: A lot of people have made pacts with various brands of fiends for power.
  • The Listener in Mantarys pacted with the Abyss to open the Whispering Gate and let a demonic army through.
  • A recurring minor character in Volantis had thought she made a pact with a Celestial, but instead was ensnared by a Devil. She later managed to free herself from that deal.
  • Inverted by Viserys who won the right to recruit Devils by beating an Aspect of Mammon.
  • The magisters of the Elephant faction in Volantis made a pact with Demons to kill their opponents, the Tigers, subjugate the mages of the Mysterium and put the slave soldiers back into their place.
• Demon Lords and Archdevils: In this case, literal Demon Lords and Archdevils, as this is a D&D crossovers. Examples to date include Abraxas who originally infested Mantarys with him minions and continues to attempt to find ways in to Prime Material, Mammon the Archdevil of the Third Circle of Hell whose Aspect Viserys and the Companions battled and prevailed against (the victory winning them the right to use the Aspect's corpse however they pleased with no lingering connection to Mammon or to Hell, and the right to recruit any Devils beholden to Mammon, which led them to proceed to forge the Serpent's Sin artifact cloak for Viserys using Viserys' dragonflame breath, Oathkeeper's wisdom in smithing, and Lya's skill in crafting relics of magic and power), the Moon-Pale Maiden who turned out to be the Horseman of Death in Abaddon, etc. Suffice to say there are a lot of powerful foes out there.
• Demonic Possession: A staple of the forces of Baator and the Abyss.
• Designated Victim: Tyene Sand of the Companions has an unfortunate tendency to be targeted by fiends with one possession incident being traumatic enough that she now refuses to go through a normal pregnancy.
• Disabled Deity: For overt divine moves, the Old Gods are locked in step with the Others. For every move one makes, the other may do the same. For example, the Old Gods guide Viserys and his Companions to Bloodraven's tree at an accelerated pace and then use their salient divine powers to bring Rhaella Targaryen back to life? The Others can send down a swift agent of permadeath in the form of a Young Adult Frost Dragon to end Rhaella Targaryen.
• Divine Conflict: The Old Gods are in a constant deadlock against Winter as a result of the Long Night
  • The Old Gods are also in conflict against the Seven Who Are One thanks to their actions during the Andal Invasion
  • R'hllor the Red is waging war against Ymeri the Fire Queen.
  • Yss the Serpent God is the sworn enemy of Lolth the Spider Queen.
  • The Merling King is the sworn enemy of the Deep Ones and the Drowned God.
• Domesticated Dinosaurs: Dinosaurs are the dominant megafauna of Sothoryos, and as such Viserys has commanded that efforts be made to learn how to train them en mass to aid future colonization of the continent. Some serve as excellent mounts, others as beasts of burden, and more still as hounds of a sort. (Also the Ankylosaurus is just a living tank and it's great).
• Door Stopper: And if 5.1 million words are not enough for you, you can read the thousands of pages of discussion in between.
• Dracolich: Amrelath the Accursed, a Young Adult Red Dracolich who was cursed with undeath eons ago after displeasing his elders. He was freed, recruited, and granted life again after swearing fealty to Viserys, thus becoming Amrelath the Ash-Risen. As part of this bargain he shared the lore of dracolichdom and the requisite potion.
• Dragged Off to Hell: Narrowly subverted. During the fight against the Aspect of Mammon, had Mammon managed to slay anyone he would have claimed their soul as his own and dragged it down to Hell with him.
• Dragon Hoard: Nearly every True Dragon in the quest has their own hoard. Viserys' hoard is the Imperium itself, with his friends and vassals and his lands and vast, vast treasury. Needless to say the draconic instincts in Viserys are very pleased.
• Dragon Rider: The Valyrian Dragonlords. Thanks to their ancestry they have the ability to command and ride Valyrian Dragons provided they're strong enough. Thus far in the Imperium, King Viserys Targaryen is the rider of Balerion the Black Dread, Lady Saenena Caleris is the rider of Korzion, Queen Mother Rhaella Targaryen is the rider of Silverwing, Nettles of Dragonstone is the rider of Sheepstealer, Joran of Dragonstone is the rider of Ember, and Valaena Velaryon is the rider of Dawnfyre.
• The Dreaded: Viserys reputation in many places is less then stellar, mainly due to people being terrified of his strength, but in Westeros also due to the fact that he's the antithesis of their every value. He is the product of incest, he's a powerful sorcerer, etc.
• Drowning My Sorrows: In the beginning of the quest, Ser Richard often drank regularly when he was off duty, since magic and the general insanity around Viserys taxed him rather badly.
• Dual Wielding: Lord Garin Drekelis alone among the Companions is a master of dual wielding.
• Dying Curse: Cornered and beaten, with her dying breath, Dusk Dancer attempted to pour her very soul into a curse that would blast through all wards of protection, enthralling all in her path until they danced themselves to death. Unfortunately for her, Viserys was able to suppress her magic and bind her form into an enchanted tome.
• Eiffel Tower Effect: The Tree of the Dawn Age, a towering Weirwood Heart Tree in the center of the island citadel of Sorcerer's Deep, standing over a thousand feet. It is one of the single most recognizable landmarks of the city.
• Eldritch Abomination: Aberrations in general, but most notably the Deep Ones, an empire collective of Mind Flayers and Aboleths.
• Elegant Classical Musician: Queen Mother Rhaella Targaryen plays the fiddle, and is skilled enough to host concerts and even play on Mirror Vision.
• Enlightened Self-Interest: One of Viserys' preferred diplomacy tactics. He often convinces people to join his cause via appealing to their self-interest, the most common of which is, "I'm your best shot at not dying horribly to the many monsters waking up in the world. Also I can make you filthy rich while you're at it."
• Empathy Pet: All mage's familiars in this quest. For Viserys it's Varys the Pseudodragon, for Lya it's Aebys the Calligraphy Wyrm, for Daenerys it's Feeder the Dagger Wyrm, for Waymar it's Winter the White Raven, etc.
• The End of the World as We Know It: The setting is constantly on the edge of multiple apocalypses.
  • The Deep Ones — More commonly known as the Mind Flayer empire
  • The Fiends — Demons, Daemons, Devils, Rakshasa, etc. Their forces are infinite, but thankfully they're preoccupied fighting each other.
  • The Efreeti — Currently in a stalemate against other genies
  • The Others — Heralds of the Long Night, servants of the Void, which is the actual One True Threat
• The Empire: The Imperium, ruled by Viserys Targaryen.
• Evil Weapon: There are multiple fiendish weapons in the quest which have somehow achieved sapience.
  • A demon blade found in Braavos.
  • The spiked chain of a Horned Devil taken in White Harbor.
• Faerie Court: There are a multitude of Fairy Courts in the setting, including the Court of the Orphne in Braavos composed of Shadow Fey, the Court of the Goblin Market of Lys, various minor courts in Westeros.
  • The greatest of them all is the Court of Stars in the Reach which reigns over lesser but still very powerful following courts: the Court of Red, the Court of Orange, the Court of Gold, the Court of Green, the Court of Azure, the Court of Violet, and the Court of Indigo.
• Fallen Angel: All Erinyes fell from Grace thousands upon thousands of years ago, when they followed Asmodeus' methods in the Blood War. More recently, Yrael Elaenos, the Legion Archon and Governor of Mantarys, sworn vassal to King Viserys Targaryen, fell from Grace from Lawful Good to Lawful Neutral upon seeing the sundered ruins of Heaven. There, he acknowledged that Asmodeus was right, and that Evil is justified in the defense of Good, something that Viserys himself had argued in the past.
• Famous Ancestor: A great many people in the setting boast lineages that stretch back thousands of years, but the Targaryens in particular can claim descent from the Kings of Westeros and the Dragonlords of the Valyrian Freehold.
• Fantastic Flora: Magical botany is a very prevalent part of the quest, with applications in alchemy and even sentient plant creatures. This is especially true with the creation of the Fungus Forge in Lys which can create plant creatures on demand, like Leshys and Treants.
• Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: The Dawn Fruit, a divine fruit of gold hailing from the celestial planes, grown and nurtured into full groves of fruit trees after careful study. Eating the fruit can wipe away exhaustion and grant minor protections of the spirit, and drinking mead brewed from its juices grants the drinker a return to cherished memories of the past.
• Femme Fatale: Azema the Alu Demon, who works as a spy for Viserys. Her favored tactic is sleeping with the enemy and gaining their confidence through affection, all the while leading them by their nose. It helps that she's never had to do this with anyone worth keeping alive.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Viserys and the Companions have had their friendships forged in a crucible of many life-or-death battles. So many that the players have actually lost track.
• First Kiss: Viserys' first kiss and only kiss was with Lya, just as Lya's first and only kiss was with Viserys.
• Fisher King: The Court of Stars' ancient relationship with the kingdom of the Reach. The bounty of the land was traditionally bound to the health of the court... until Garth the Green won the king's crown in a battle of wits and bound it to himself instead.
• Flaming Sword: Ser Richard wields Oathkeeper, a sentient Valyrian Steel greatsword that always burns with a searing magical blaze. It is imbued with the soul of the master smith who forged it with blood magic.
• Forced Transformation: One of Viserys' most favored methods of capturing enemies. His favored animal to turn them into is a turtle or a tortoise.
• For Science!: Quite a few times Viserys did rather insane things to just see what happens.
• Forging Scene: Two notable examples are during the forging of Oathkeeper where the Qohorik master smith surprised everyone by sacrificing himself and binding his soul to the blade, and during the forging of the Serpent's Sin cloak by Lya.
• Fossil Revival: Used to resurrect long dead Guardian Nagas by making a big sacrifice to Yss the Serpent God.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Viserys started out among the ranks of a thieves guild in Braavos and went on to become one of the most feared persons in the whole world. And beyond.
• Genius Bruiser: Viserys is not only one of the most dangerous people in Prime Material, he's also one of the most intelligent, with only a select few able to match him.
• Genius Loci: A Genius Loci was torturously bound by the Valyrians against its will to the Flesh Forge of Lys, and threatened to bring the entire island down in a catastrophic earthquake to free itself. Viserys, obviously not wanting this, negotiated with it to sacrifice it to grow a Weirwood Heart Tree and have it find peace in the Green Dream. The endeavor was successful, and the resulting Tree of Lys grew taller than most buildings due to the potency of the sacrifice (and as a wonderful bonus, the Flesh Forge rather than being lost was converted to a Fungus Forge capable of making all manner of plant creatures like Leshys and Treants.
• Giant Flyer: Balerion the Black Dread, mount of King Viserys Targaryen. He is an Advanced Feral Red Dragon Wyrm, and suitably is very literally colossal.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: When the time was right, Viserys used his newspaper to reveal that Cersei Lannister was in an incestuous relationship with her twin brother Ser Jaime Lannister. This was about as well received by Westeros as one might expect. It was also discovered immediately before her death that Cersei had somehow become a Lolth Cultist, with clerical magic granted from the Spider Goddess.
• Godhood Seeker: Subverted. Viserys doesn't want to be a god, for gods are bound to act solely within their natures. But he can't deny the sheer power they wield. To get around this, Viserys decided to make his own god and bind it to him, one without its own thoughts or will, yet capable of enacting his own. This would be the stillborn deity of the Imperium.
  • The Grand Sultan of the Efreeti in the City of Brass has long sought out godhood, a rather anathema concept for any proper genie due to their distrust of gods.
  • Euron Greyjoy seeks to ascend to godhood, and is reaving his way across what remains of the Celestial Planes to do it.
• Gods Need Prayer Badly: Most gods in the setting are heavily reliant on mortal prayer or blood sacrifice as their main power sources, falling to helplessness should they go without. That being said, even dead gods can be brought back.
  • Yss the Serpent God was found as a belt of all things in a market in Braavos, the last remnants of a once mighty deity who had god millennia without proper worship. (He got better)
  • The Fourteen died with the Doom of Valyria, most of their worshipers perishing in the fires.
  • Father Storm and Mother Earth of the ancient First Men are also dead due to a lack of worshipers.
• Grail in the Garbage: Early on, the party bought a belt on a market stall that contained some magical power, but didn't seem that big a deal. Turns out it was the last link of a primordial snake deity to the world.
• Great Big Library of Everything: In ASOIAF that would be the Citadel, but in Sorcerer's Deep, Viserys authorized the construction of a Grand Library open to the public (though altering or stealing the knowledge within from the premises is expressly forbidden of course).
• Greek Fire: The ASOIAF version is wildfyre, so potent that it burns underwater, so stubborn that it can't be smothered with magic unless it's dispelled first.
• Grim Up North: The lands Beyond the Wall in the Farthest North are stalked by the Others and the Winterborn. The Long Night looms in the horizon.
• Grim Reaper: Agents of death and despair, they have often appeared to steal souls and sow chaos. They have been fought and even defeated.
• Heavily Armored Mook: The legionnaires of the Legion are equipped with Reinforced Segmented Steel Fullplate, each suit fit for the finest noble, all crafted immaculately by magic and further fitted to each soldier by contracted smiths.
• Healing Magic Is the Hardest: Averted. Early in the quest due to the lack of a proper cleric, the players had no way to remove curses. This proved detrimental when Viserys ended up cursed with blindness by the Bright Lord, a minor evil feylord based somewhere in the swamps of Braavos.
• Hidden Backup Prince: Subverted. Varys had recruited Rhaegar's old friend, the former Lord Jon Connington, to raise the child Aegon, the last surviving child of Prince Rhaegar (the child was actually a Blackfyre rather than a true Targaryen, but Jon Connington was fooled, as was Lady Ashara Dayne who helped raise and teach the boy). They eventually came to rule the Golden Company and were rampaging east of the Bone Mountains, planning to eventually slay Viserys and steal his throne ironically casting him down as a usurper, until Viserys and his forces came down on them with a vengeance. The Golden Company was sundered and destroyed, Jon Connington and Ashara Dayne slaughtered, and Aegon Blackfyre put to death under the gaze of the gods.
• High Fantasy: Magic is in full swing in this setting.
• The High Queen: The High Queen of the Court of Stars, the greatest of all Fairy Courts, based in the Kingdom of the Reach in Westeros.
• Holy Ground: Sorcerer's Deep has a high concentration of Grand Temples blessed by their respective deities.
• Hostile Terraforming: A practice of several enemy factions, such as Deep Ones and Daemons. They corrupt the lands they occupy to suit their own fel purposes.
• House Fey: Hestior the Lar was found trapped inside the stomach of an Abyss-Touched Fey Drake. Upon his rescue, he agreed to serve as the House Spirit for first the Wind House in Braavos, later moving to Sorcerer's Deep to serve the Targaryens directly. He is hardworking and diligent, but perhaps a bit too trusting.
• Human Shifting: Possible with spells such as Alter Self, this tactic is a favorite among spies of all stripes and factions as unlike mere illusions, it physically alters your form. That said, spells like True Sight are able to see through this deception.
• I Have Many Names: Aside from a lot of aliases used under various disguises, Viserys has gotten a tremendous amount of epithets bestowed upon him from all over the world.* Implausible Fencing Powers: Ser Richard has reached such a point with his skills with the blade that it defies belief. He's so skilled he can cut through magic itself.
• I Knew It!: A common phrase among the readers when they predict something correctly. Specifically, "Someone pick up the phone, because I ***ing called it!"
• If I Were a Rich Man: A common passtime among the players in the early days of the quest when funding was... low, to say the least.
• Interdimensional Travel Device: Mages who are powerful enough (typically Clerics, though other types of mages like Sorcerers and Wizards can learn as well) can cast Plane Shift and traverse from one Plane to another.
  • There is also the Terminus in Sorcerer's Deep, which is basically a train that connects Sorcerer's Deep to the Plane of Earth near the Opaline Vault of the Shaitan, the Plane of Air inside the citadel of Armun Kelisk of the Djinn, and the Plane of Water inside the City of Pearls of the Marid. This allows unprecedented trade between the centers of three Genie Realms and the Imperium of Prime Material.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Viserys and Bloodraven in addition to being distant family are also good friends.
• Invisible Jerkass: Quasits, a species of demon that's small and cowardly and incredibly good at hiding and running away, making them the perfect spy. In the demon infestation of Mantarys, the players grew so paranoid of Quasits they refused to speak of anything important unless they were absolutely positive they were alone.
  • This doctrine earned itself the nickname "the Mantarys Protocols" and has been invoked whenever maximum paranoia is necessary.
• Jackass Genie: The Fire Genies, the Efreeti of the City of Brass in the Plane of Molten Skies, have an infamous reputation for maliciously twisting any wishes they grant to hinder the wisher.
• Kill It with Fire: Viserys' tried and tested battle tactic against a variety of enemies.
• Kill the God: In the Sarnori Campaign, Ser Richard was the one who slew the lingering remnants of the god Anu-Simung, to the stunned awe of everyone present.
• King Incognito: Viserys often disguises his identity for more covert and sensitive missions, to the point that he has cultivated multiple false identities for this sole purpose.
• Lady in Red: Melisandre, a very powerful Cleric of R'hllor who dresses in a deep red dress.
• Land of Faerie: The Feywild, home of the Faeries. It was avoided by the plague by players due to the possibility of time shenanigans, such as venturing inside for a few days only to return home and discover that years had passed.
• Language of Magic: As mages awaken to magic, the somatic components of their spells come from the language of their ancestors. For people of Valyrian descent that's High Valyrian or Draconic. For the Dornish, it's Old Rhoynar. For some Westerosi it's the Old Tongue of the First Men. Etc.
• The Leader: King Viserys Targaryen is the ultimate man in charge.
• The Legions of Hell: One of the recurring antagonist forces are the servants of Mammon, one of the Archdukes of Baator/Hell. They are the Legions of Hell because they are literally the Legions of Hell. The ones in the world right now are merely scouts seeking to subvert influential people or seize objects of power, they herald a much greater army.
• Leaking Can of Evil: Centuries ago in the Serpentfolk Citadel of Set'Var, an Oblivion Ooze was tricked and sealed away by the inhabitants to power the wards of the city due to the slow death of magic. It worked for a very long time, but eventually the wards began to fail as the Ooze thrashed against its prison again and again.
• Like an Old Married Couple: Despite not actually being married yet, Viserys and Lya are deeply comfortable with each other.
• Loads and Loads of Races: As a D&D crossover, this quest has most of the D&D races (though a lot of core races have yet to make an appearance). The introduction of the more magical races takes a while since magic is only just returning to the world.
• Long List: Viserys showed up with a long list of questions about ancient lore, recent history, and politics and intrigue when he first met Bloodraven in the flesh.
• Long-Lost Relative: Several scions of House Targaryen endure in spite of the Iron Throne's best efforts.
  • The Bloodraven himself persists with the aid of the Old Gods, serving them as their Greenseer on the Weirwood Throne
  • Maester Aemon still serves the Night's Watch at the Wall at Castle Black
  • Young Jon Snow was secretly raised as the supposed bastard son of Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell, though in actuality he was the son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Lady Lyanna Stark
  • Subverted for Aegon Blackfyre who attempted to pose as Prince Aegon Targaryen, slain son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Princess Elia Martell
• Lost Technology: Magics of the Dawn Age and the Age of Heroes, though they are slowly being rediscovered. Also magics of lost empires like the Valyrian Freehold, the Empire of the Dawn, and even the great Serpentfolk Empires.
• Love Interest: Viserys and Lya are each other's love interests.
• Luck Manipulation Mechanic: Alter Fortune, which is one of the most used spells of the entire quest.
• Made of Iron: All of the Companions display this level of fortitude, almost never faltering in the face of adversity. In particular Ser Richard has continued to fight and win battles even after having his throat ripped out.
• The Magic Comes Back: The inherent premise of the quest, except instead of canon ASOIAF's low fantasy, it's been turned up to eleven. The result has been ... spectacular.
• Magic Is Evil: What the Faith of the Seven fervently believes. Considering the environment in which the Andals formed their culture, it wasn't an entirely unreasonable assumption.
• Magic Genetics: A staple of D&D in general. Supernatural creatures of all stripes are typically able to breed with humans and sometimes with each other. The biggest example of this is True Dragons with pretty much anything.
• Magic Knight: Waymar Royce and to a lesser extent Richard Lonmouth
• Magic Librarian: A role that Lya gleefully takes on as Viserys continually collects books for her. It soon grows to contain every bit of dangerous or secret knowledge that isn't permitted to be viewed by Scholarum students much less the general public.
• Magic Map: When Viserys first met Bloodraven in the flesh, Bloodraven granted him a Legendary Map of the Farthest North, seared with his magic into a fine sealskin hide, with accuracy that could only be granted by gods of the earth.
• Magic Mirror: Upon conquering Torturer's Deep and freeing a Mirror Mephit in service to the Moonsinger Goddess, Viserys' reward was a mirror portal to the Plane of Molten Skies.
• Magic Plastic Surgery: Flesh smiths are able to give people completely new faces or even bodies, while reincarnation magic can give them new bodies at their youthful prime.
• Magma Man: Thrice-Forged Bloom (or just Bloom) is a Brijidine Azata, an extremely powerful fire-based outsider who is basically a magic woman made of magma. She is a sworn vassal of King Viserys and serves as the Lady of Skane.
• The Magocracy: The Imperium is ruled by Viserys, who is a Mythic Red Dragon Sorcerer King.
• Major Injury Underreaction: While D&D's hit points mechanics make this trope rather common, Richard still manages to go above and beyond. At one point he had his throat torn out by a high-ranking Devil and instead of collapsing or at least retreating, he calmly beheaded his enemy in a single stroke.
• Malicious Slander: Spread vigorously against Viserys by his enemies, most notably Tywin Lannister and probably the Citadel.
• The Man Behind the Man: For months, Bloodraven puppeted a simulacrum of the Master of Whispers Varys the Spider, running multiple schemes in the Red Keep under this guise.
• Marry for Love: Viserys refused political marriage for himself, instead deciding to follow his heart and be with his true love, Lya, making her his betrothed and future Empress.
• Mass Super-Empowering Event: A fire raged through Volantis early in the quest, kindling sorcery among people while burning others seemingly at random. This was the artifice of Ymeri the Fire Queen, a godlike Fey in the Plane of Fire.
• Master Archer: Quite a few characters, but most notably Mereth and all the Furies under her. Their skills with a bow are preternatural, honed in millennia fighting the Blood War.
• Master of Disguise: Viserys, able to get away with a number of false personas basically on a whim.
• Master Swordsman: Most notably among the Companions — Ser Richard Lonmouth, Ser Waymar Royce, and Lord Garin Drekelis. While there are hundreds if not thousands of greatly skilled swordsmen in the setting, these three stand above the rest.
• The Medic: Vee the Beastkeeper fills this roll, being the Imperium's most skilled healer. While others of the Companions are powerful clerics who can match Vee in certain powerful healing spells like Heal and Regenerate, Vee nonetheless has the greater experience and technique.
• Medics Who Fight: Vee the Beastkeeper. Being a healer doesn't make her squishy. Ironically she's one of the most tanky Companions, and is an excellent summoner mage.
• Mind Probe: Pretty much anyone with access to mid-level D&D spells can do this, thus it's pretty common on all sides.
• Money Fetish: True to his draconic ancestry, Viserys has great appreciation for large sums of money.
• Monumental Theft: Viserys is in the habit of stealing landmarks, including Sorcerer's Ritual Towers and popular inns.
• Mother of a Thousand Young: It was revealed that Qohor is in fact infested with creatures of Shub-Niggurath AKA the Black Goat in the Forest with a Thousand Young.
• Mushroom Man: Behold the Fungus Leshys. They are sentient mushrooms that love to walk around and eat waste. They also look terrifying, but are very friendly.
• Nicknaming the Enemy: A common practice among the players. Some of the more notable names are "Burny" to refer to R'hllor, "Bitch Queen" to refer to Tiamat, "Drowny" to refer to the Drowned God, etc.
• Noble Fugitive: Viserys and Daenerys are initially in hiding from assassins of the Usurper, King Robert Baratheon of the Seven Kingdoms. They hide in Braavos until they grow secure enough in their power and influence.
• No Sense of Direction: In the early days of the quest, Viserys constantly managed to get lost pretty much everywhere. Though this stopped entirely after making a magic compass to address this issue.
• Nuclear Option: Total annihilation of an enemy faction, deemed necessary if the individuals too dangerous to handle diplomatically (typically with the potential for collateral damage determined to be too high a price). This has happened three major times.
• The Obi-Wan: Bloodraven is Viserys' mentor and the closest thing he has to a father.
• Offered the Crown: More than once, rulers of different nations approach Viserys with an offer to bend the knee and join his empire as vassals, using the good faith their approach garners to bargain for better deals for themselves.
  • This occurred most notably with Naath, ruled by Lady Wyla Drekelis, and the Free City of Braavos who were previously Viserys' oldest allies.
• One True Love: Viserys and Lya. Disregarding any sort of political advantages marrying someone else may have gotten him, Viserys took Lya as his lover and eventually proposed to her. She will eventually be his Empress.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Not only are there Valyrian Dragons (which are really Feral Red Dragons cursed to never have an INT score of 2 or above), but there are True Dragons as well of the D&D variety. To date, Viserys Targaryen is an Adult Red Dragon and also a CL 17 Mythic Sorcerer, and he has two vassal dragons in Amrelath the Adult Red Dragon and Relath the Young Adult Brine Dragon. There's also Ysandrix, the Blue Dragon Wyrmling who was rescued from the palace of the Bey of Beggars who swore fealty upon being tempted by the prospect of training her magic in Sorcerer's Deep.
• Overnight Conquest: In a feat that shook the world, Viserys and the newly founded Legion conquered the Free City of Tyrosh in a single day.
• Paranoia Fuel: Between regular Planetosi intrigue, shapeshifters, possessions and the constant threat using divinations, the players have honed their sense of paranoia to a razors edge.
• Pegasus: A small population of these winged intelligent horses spawned spontaneously in the north after normal horses interacted with some unknown artifact. Eventually the herd was contacted and came to settle in Sorcerer's Deep.
• Person of Holding: Viserys Targaryen with his Serpent's Sin artifact cloak crafted from the hide of the Aspect of Mammon. With this cloak he can store pretty much anything he needs, using it as a Handy Haversack with a capacity of 6,000 cubic feet.
• Physical God:
  • Yss the Great Serpent was originally nothing more than a belt bought for pocket change at a market in Braavos. But later, after some manner of trust was established, we was given a Mallor Serpent Demon as a sacrifice, and he took that Mallor's body as his own and made it his Living Avatar. He now resides in a temple built specifically for him in Sorcerer's Deep.
  • There's also the Old Gods whose physical manifestation is their Weirwood Heart Trees, of which Viserys has grown many (in particular the colossal Tree of the Dawn Age in Part MMDCCLXXIV: Rebirth which towers a thousand feet on the island that holds Sorcerer's Deep.
• Pimped-Out Cape: The Serpent's Sin artifact cape of King Viserys Targaryen shimmers like polished gold, and its golden clasps, though cool to the touch, glow as if freshly poured from the crucible. If one looks closely, rather than scales, the cloak actually appears to be formed of overlapping and interlocking coins which seem to slowly flow, as if part of a river of never-ending gold.
• Plant Mooks: Plant creatures are grown by Viserys at the Fungus Forge in Lys.
• Plant Person: The vast majority of plant creatures in Viserys' employ are in fact intelligent.
• Playing with Fire: Viserys' most deadly battle magic spells are fire magic. He is one of the most proficient wielders of the element alive.
• Pocket Dimension: The Shadow Tower. This ancient Dragonstone tower rests now in its own sundered shadow, a small world onto itself, from the jagged tip to the lowest depths where once the Whispering Gate stood. Within lay the halls of the Scholarum and warded by ancient magics, the most precious and most perilous treasures in the Deep. Here train the mages of the Dragon King. The Shadow Tower was gained by Viserys in Part MLXXVII: The Shadow Tower, where he used a Wish Gem to redirect potent wild magic rivaling the power of a minor god to turn the Whispering Gate into a self-contained portable demi-plane.
  • The tower can be entered by speaking the correct command words before the smooth unblemished man-high plinth of dragonstone that serves as its key. It can only be activated when the plinth rests on solid ground. On activation arcane symbols race across the stone and a shadow as long as the tower would cast were it to stand upon that place stretches out from the pillar. Those who step (or are covered) by this shadow are instantly transported to the Under-hall of the Shadow Tower to an identical plinth. To leave one has merely to speak the command word again. The gates of the tower lead nowhere but to a cold unformed void. It is impossible to planeshift into the demiplane, as it is completely enclosed with the only entrance being the plinth, although it is still possible to summon within the halls of the Shadow Tower. If one is strong enough to lift the plinth while the entrance to the Shadow Tower is closed, one can teleport or planeshift with the entire demiplane in tow with no complications.
• Powered Armor: A series of armors designed for the newly formed Praetorian Guard.
• Praetorian Guard: Super soldiers enhanced in the Flesh Forges and given cutting edge equipment and training. They are the emperor's iron fist.
• Prefers Going Barefoot: Vee the Beast Master. She hails from the swamplands of Braavos and has a firm aversion to footwear.
• Propaganda Machine: Viserys founded the setting's first newspaper, the Imperial Times, and even made magical TV which he named Mirror Vision all for the purpose of directly connecting with his citizens. This development made his enemies scramble to counter him somehow, since it cut their anti-Targaryen rumor mill down at the knees.
• Really Royalty Reveal: This happened quite often with Viserys in the early days of the quest, as they were initially hiding from the assassins of Robert Baratheon, Jon Arryn, and Tywin Lannister. As friends and allies gained his trust he revealed the true identities of himself and his sister to them.
  • More notably, this occurred for Jon Snow, who was at first raised to believe he was the bastard son of Lord Eddard Stark. Eventually Daenerys managed to contact him and inform him of his true lineage.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: King Viserys, famous for keeping his given word and defending his citizens from the horrors of the dark. He is generous beyond compare, constantly rewarding innovation and properly channeled ambition.
• Recruited from the Gutter: A surprising amount of Companions were recruited from dire circumstances.
  • Garin Drekelis was running for his life from a vampire who stole his family's wealth.
  • Vee was an orphan hiding in the swamps of Braavos.
  • Maelor was a slave traveling with a wandering circus.
  • Rina's soul was in the grip of Winter itself.
• Red Baron: King Viserys Targaryen, the Dragon King, or the Dragon.
• Revenge Before Reason: King Robert Baratheon, the Usurper, against House Targaryen as a whole. His vengeance technically complete already with him slaying Prince Rhaegar Targaryen at the Trident, but he still insists on wiping out the rest of the lineage... even though by now their power vastly eclipses anything he could hope to muster.
• Ridiculously Fast Construction: With magic and magical items such as Lyres of Building, Wall of Stone, etc, it's possible to build in days what would normally take weeks, months, or even years.
• Rightful King Returns: The attitude of many Westerosi regarding King Viserys.
• Rising Empire: The Imperium, ruled from the Crown City of Sorcerer's Deep in the Stepstones, stretches from Braavos to Sothoryos.
• Rousing Speech: Happening so often that it has become a joke both in the thread and in the story itself that Viserys can't stand before a crowd without delivering one of them.
• Royal Blood: House Targaryen boasts descent from Kings of Westeros, Dragonlords of the Valyrian Freehold, and then further still the ancient Red Dragon masters of eons past. This blood gives them claim to both Westeros and Western Essos, as well as greatly enhancing the chances of magic sparking to life in their souls.
  • This is true for most ancient bloodlines in the quest, as the founders were typically powerful mages whose descendants can awaken their own magic. Examples include every practically every Great House of Westeros.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: The entire House Targaryen.
  • King Viserys Targaryen built his empire brick by brick, personally conquering or courting new provinces into joining him, often led by their old rulers under a new title. He is also the greatest line of defense against apocalyptic threats of all stripes.
  • Princess Daenerys Targaryen is equally involved, though more in a humanitarian capacity, providing healing to the people of Sorcerer's Deep. She often joins her brother and liege in defending the empire.
  • Queen Mother Rhaella Targaryen is head of the empire's diplomats and is very involved in affairs of the state.
• Ruler Protagonist: This happens later in the quest, but it's an empire building quest for good reason. Viserys becomes the man in charge, the quest giver, etc.
• Ruling Couple: While Lya normally sticks to her research, with her coming marriage to Viserys she makes an effort to be more active in court.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Multiple methods of capturing enemies end up this way. Baleful Polymorph turns them into a harmless animal, Smoky Confinement turns them into smoke and seals them in a small clay jar, Sacramental Seal seals them inside a holy symbol, and Scribe's Binding turns them into a massive tome with each day of their lives as its own page.
• Sentient Weapon: Both Oathkeeper and Dark Sister have minds of their own, although they aren't chatty.
• The Shadow: Lord Garin Drekelis, Lord of the Inquisition, is known as the King's Shadow. He handles all major intrigue on behalf of the Imperium, often spotting and handling threats before they have a chance to properly manifest.
• Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: This is subverted for the most part, with clothes shifting with or merging into the new forms.
• Shining City: Sorcerer's Deep, Crown City of the Imperium, an architectural marvel full of magic and wonder. It is home to dozens of races, and is the center of many faiths and is the greatest beacon of culture, learning, and trade in the world.
• Shoulder-Sized Dragon: Pseudodragons, and Faerie Dragons. The familiar of Viserys Targaryen is Varys the Pseudodragon, and due to Viserys' strength she in turn is the most powerful of her species. She was originally a Draconic Viper who transformed into a full Pseudodragon after her master exalted from a human into a True Red.
• Sibling Team: Viserys and Dany, both in and out of battle.
• Silver Has Mystic Powers: A staple feature of D&D. Silver can be used to bypass the Damage Resistance properties of certain monsters, such as vampires, werecreatures, devils, etc. A better form of this is Mithril AKA Silversteel AKA True Silver, which has all the mystical properties of normal silver but is as hard and durable as steel while weighing half as much. As such it is a highly prized material both for weapons and armor.
• Sinister Scythe: A weapon of the Grim Reapers capable of sealing away unfortunate souls.
• Slave Liberation: Slavery is illegal in all forms everywhere Viserys rules.
• Smash the Symbol: Done quite often when the players come across the artifacts of enemy gods. More recently, Lady Asha Greyjoy sacrificed the Seastone Chair, an ancient artifact of the Drowned God, to the Merling King.
• Snake People: The Serpentfolk of Sothoryos, now sworn vassals to Viserys Targaryen.
• Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Asha, upon the reclamation of the Iron Islands and the sacrifice of the Seastone Chair to the Merling King, dueled a lingering shade of the Grey King and managed to awaken her mind to psionic powers.
• Squishy Wizard: As a D&D crossover quest, a tried and tested strategy is killing the wizard the second a fight starts. Unfortunately the enemy is versed in this tactic as well, so the players have had to take measures to make Lya less and less squishy due to being an obvious target.
• Stable Time Loop: A time travel adventure all the way back to the Age of Heroes when the Deep Ones bound the Ironborn to the Drowned God on pain of death should they attempt to break free where Viserys ended up usurping the ritual with Ser Richard slaying the original caster, before they returned to the present day.
• Stronger with Age: The True Dragons of D&D all become more powerful the older they get, with enhanced physical prowess, magical mastery, and even sharpened intellect.
• Sufficiently Analyzed Magic: Lya's truest passion. She studies magic and the way it works whenever she gets the chance.
• Superior Successor: Viserys vastly outmatches any of his Targaryen ancestors in competence and sheer power, save for perhaps the very strongest of the founding days of Valyria.
• Talking in Bed: Viserys and Lya often share hopes and worries with each other while in bed together.
• Teen Genius: For all that they've accomplished, many of the Companions are teenagers or younger. In particular, King Viserys is only seventeen, and Lya is only nineteen.
• The Tourney: Upon taking the Three Daughters through conquest, intrigue, and diplomacy, Viserys through a grand tourney in celebration, with the grand prizes being arms and armor of Valyrian Steel. Predictably, thousands flocked from Westeros and Essos to compete and attend, and the Baratheons and Lannisters started calling it the "Traitor's Tourney" and accused those who attended of treason against the crown.
• Treacherous Advisor: Practically the entire Small Council of Westeros (very unfortunately for the Usurper King Robert Baratheon)
  • Grand Maester Pycelle [[spoiler:(who was promised a safe retirement)
  • Master of Coin Petyr Baelish (who was killed once his usefulness expired)
  • Master of Whispers Varys the Spider (who was in fact dead, and was actually a simulacrum of the real Varys puppeted by Bloodraven himself)
• Treant: Tree men aligned with the Old Gods and grown en mass in the Fungus Forge in Lys.
• Trophy Room: Viserys has collected and turned the corpses of various dangerous monsters he's killed into trophies.
• Undead Author: Very literal in this case. Viserys bargained to restore the Young Adult Red Dracolich Amrelath the Accursed back to life, but one of the conditions of this arrangement was that Amrelath write lore of Dracoliches down for Viserys. This ended up being a combined book of Chromatic Dragons and Undead, with the secret formula for brewing the Dracolich poison within its pages.
• TV Never Lies: Something Viserys is counting on, having created the setting's first magical TV named Mirror Vision.
• Unusable Enemy Equipment: Thoroughly subverted by the fact that the players make sure to loot and utilize absolutely everything from the corpses of murdered (or to-be-murdered) enemies.
• Utility Magic: Magic can be put to use on nearly anything, from making copies of books to building roads and bridges en mass.
• Voluntary Vassal: Multiple nations have joined Viserys' growing Imperium of their own free will without having to be conquered, including Naath ruled by Lady Wyla Drekelis, the Free City of Myr formerly ruled by the Glassmaker's Guild which was then given to Lady Dorera Phassen, the Free City of Braavos ruled by Sealord Ferrengo Antaryon, and the Free City of Volantis ruled by Lord Zherys Naethyreon.
• What Beautiful Eyes!: Purple is an eye color common among the Valyrian race, viewed as hauntingly beautiful by many others.
• Wealthy Ever After: Turns out adventuring and conquest are very lucrative endeavors. The treasury is bursting at the seams. A far cry from the poor beginnings of the quest.
• Weather Manipulation: The spell Control Weather allows a sufficiently powerful mage to bend the weather to their will, but more importantly Zathir Who Was Jazirian blesses the isle of Sorcerer's Deep with good weather year round where normally it would suffer a sweltering heat and the occasional tropical storm.
• Wizarding School: This is the Scholarum.The main branch of the Scholarum is in the Crown City of Sorcerer's Deep, with classes held in the Shadow Tower demiplane (it used to be a mage's tower used for the same purpose by conjurers of Mantarys in the days before the Doom, and was stolen by Viserys after he used a Wish gem to reroute a Gate to the Abyss to make a self-contained portable demiplane).
• Young Conqueror: In spite of being only seventeen, Viserys Targaryen has taken the entire western coast of the continent of Essos as his domain, is poised to get the western HALF of Essos as his within the next few months, and has his eye on the continent of Westeros once that's taken care of.

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