The Game of Thrones: War of Five Kings Committee
MTAUN 2017
Directors: Aidan Legault & Will Pelletier
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Delegates,
The staff of the specialized committee would like to welcome you to MtAUN 2017, and to our
specialized committee on the War of Five Kings. Throughout this committee, participants will
embody a range of characters from the intricate fantasy universe created by George R. R. Martin
in his series “A Song of Ice and Fire”, and will work to gain power, wealth and honour. When
entering this world, however, remember: when you play the Game of Thrones, you win, or you
die.
The World of Ice and Fire is a tempestuous one, governed by powerful families who, through a
shifting and complex web of allies, spies, and plots attempt to hold onto power and their very
lives. This background guide is intended to offer you an introduction to the world that you will
be entering with this committee. Delegates are also encouraged to research this universe more
profoundly, which would best be done by reading book one of the series “A Song of Ice and
Fire”, “A Game of Thrones”, or by watching the first season HBO’s “Game of Thrones”. The
novels will be privileged as the source of information on which this committee is based, so if the
books and the show are in conflict, it will be the novels that are considered correct. If you find
yourself without the time to fully explore the book or the television series, there are several wikis
online which can be useful for exploring specific characters, events, locations, and more.
The War of Five Kings is a very complex conflict, involving dozens of characters, many of
whom will be represented on either of the two committees. Those that are not represented by
delegates will be available for you to interact with through notes and directives that you can send
to the crisis center. To succeed in this committee, a complete and in-depth knowledge of the
various players in this conflict will be necessary, particularly the motivations, skills and
relationships of your own character. The point in time at which this committee begins is after
King Joffrey Baratheon’s public execution of Eddard Stark. All events prior to that are to be
considered as fact; all events afterwards are simply possibilities among the infinite potential
outcomes of the characters’ actions. Consequently, mysteries that have yet to be solves may not
have the same answers or resolutions as the ones reported in George R. R. Martin’s series of
events.
Delegates are expected to submit a one-page position paper describing their character’s
perspective on the situation, role in Westeros and its history, and motivations going forward.
Failure to submit such a position paper will render delegates ineligible to receive awards.
Delegates will be recognized for their commitment and knowledge of their characters and the
situation, which means that costumes and roleplaying will be welcome, although western
business attire is also acceptable.
Good luck,
Aidan Legault and Will Pelletier
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The World
While this committee focuses specifically on Westeros politics, the events and political intrigues
going on in Essos, the eastern continent are of great significance, and delegates are highly
encouraged to be acquainted with such powers as the Iron Bank of Braavos, the Dothraki, and
the Free Cities. Other regions of interest include the Summer Islands and Slaver’s Bay.
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The Conquest
Welcome to Westeros, one of the three
continents of the known world (the
others being Essos and Sothoryos).
Dominated and ruled primarily by a
nation known as the Seven Kingdoms
from the capital of King’s Landing, the
continent is divided into nine regions:
the North (home of House Stark of
Winterfell), the Riverlands (home of
House Tully of Riverrun), the Vale
(home of House Arryn of the Eyrie), the
Westerlands (home of House Lannister
of Casterly Rock), the Iron Islands
(home of House Greyjoy of Pyke), the
Reach (home of House Tyrell of
Highgarden), the Stormlands (home of
House Baratheon of Storm’s End),
Dorne (home of House Martell of
Sunspear), and the Crownlands, where
the capital itself is located. Many of
these regions were once independent
kingdoms; however, over 300 years prior
to the events of the committee, a
Valyrian, Aegon Targaryen, with the
help of his sisters and their three
dragons, conquered the Seven Kingdoms
in the War of Conquest and united the
continent under his rule. The dragons
were instrumental in the victory of the
Targaryen’s, installing them as a dynasty
that sat on the Iron Throne for three
centuries, until Robert’s Rebellion
unseated the Mad King Aerys.
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The Beginning
This horrifying atrocity was a breaking point for both Robert and Eddard. Aerys exacerbated the
situation by demanding the heads of Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark from their guardian, Jon
Arryn, Lord of the Vale, who refused, and Houses Arryn, Baratheon, and Stark called their
banners to war against the King, meaning that the Vale, the North and the Stormlands were in
open rebellion. The marriage of Catelyn Tully to Eddard Stark and Lysa Tully to Jon Arryn also
brought the Riverlands into the war on the side of the Rebellion. Opposing them were loyalists
composed largely of Targaryen troops and the banners of Houses Tyrell and Martell, although
there were loyalists found across the continent.
Targaryen rule in Westeros ended when
Robert Baratheon overthrew Aerys II
Targaryen in what became known as the
War of the Usurper, and was subsequently
crowned King of the Seven Kingdoms
(and King of the Andals, the Rhoynar and
the First Men). The conflict began when
Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, son of
Aerys, kidnapped Lyanna Stark, to whom
Robert, at the time Lord of Storm’s End
and Lord Paramount of the Stormlands,
was betrothed. Lyanna was also sister to
Eddard Stark, Robert’s best friend and son
of the Lord of the North. Eddard’s elder
brother, Brandon Stark, gathered a group
of allies to confront Rhaegar. The group
was arrested on the orders of King Aerys,
who was quite insane. Aerys ordered the
fathers of the arrested to attend their trials,
but with no hearing he had both Brandon
and his father, Lord Stark, murdered, by
placing Brandon in a strangulation device
which choked him as he struggled to save
his father who had been set on fire while
in his armour.
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The Battle of the Trident
The Aftermath
This decisive rebel victory opened the path to King’s Landing. The Targaryens and the Tyrells,
were distant from the capital, leaving it vulnerable. Robert Baratheon had sustained an injury
during the battle leaving Eddard Stark to lead the rebels to reach King’s Landing before the
Lannisters did. Prior to the rebel victory at the Trident, House Lannister had remained neutral.
However, with the momentum clearly in favor of the rebels, twelve thousand Lannister men led
by Tywin Lannister marched towards King’s Landing under the pretense of offering aid to the
Targaryens. There was some debate in King’s Landing as to whether they should be given
access; Grand Maester Pycelle saw Tywin Lannister as a worthy successor to a throne without an
appropriately aged heir, and advised opening the city gates to the Lannisters, the Master of
Whispers protested the suggestion. King Aerys decided to open the gates, a lethal miscalculation.
Geographically the Trident River is the most strategically favorable location in the Riverlands,
with several tributaries allowing for the provision of supplies and swift transportation during
both peace and war. It was on the Green Fork of the Trident that the rebel army, composed of
soldiers from Houses Tully, Baratheon, Arryn and Stark assembled in a force large enough to
march on King’s Landing. The royalist army, composed largely or Dornishmen, was led by
Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Ser Barristan Selmy. The reached its peak when Prince Rhaegar
and Lord Robert clashed on the battlefield. The conflict was essentially decided when Robert
Baratheon killed Rhaegar with a blow from his Warhammer, scattering the royalist army.
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The Lannister army immediately began pillaging the city in the name of Robert Baratheon. Jaime
Lannister, a knight of the Kings guard, was faced with a difficult situation since Tywin Lannister
was his father. Although sworn to protect the King with his very life, when ordered to kill his
father, Jaime instead stabbed the king in the back, quite literally. When Eddard Stark arrived in
King’s Landing, he found the city looted, its garrison slaughtered, and the Targaryens that had
been left inside murdered. The rebellion had succeeded.
Robert Baratheon wished to kill Prince Rhaegar’s family to avenge the death of Lyanna.
Rhaegar’s own children had been butchered by Gregor Clegane, but his siblings remained at the
ancient Targaryen stronghold of Dragonstone, and Robert wanted them dead. Eddard Stark,
however, stalled him, giving time for a remaining member of what had once been Aerys’ Kings
guard to smuggle the children (Viserys and Daenerys) across the Narrow Sea to Essos. Robert
Baratheon was crowned King, and married Cersei Lannister, Tywin’s daughter, bringing the
Lannisters to a position of great influence over the new government.
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The Current Situation
Bran’s Assassination Attempt
Bran Stark, son of Catelyn and Eddard
Stark, recently suffered a devastating
fall while climbing the walls of
Winterfell, which surprised many, as
he was a skilled climber. The fall left
him paralyzed from the waist down,
and the Stark family was devastated.
Even more shocking, while Bran was
still comatose, an assassin armed with
a Valyrian steel dagger attempted to
murder the boy, although this attempt
was foiled by the swift action of
Catelyn Stark and Bran’s dire wolf,
Summer (one of a litter of six dire
wolf pups belonging to the children of
Eddard Stark)
The attempt on Bran’s life draws
grave suspicions to Bran’s fall, and
aggravates the already significant
tensions between Houses Stark and
Lannister, as Catelyn Stark’s long-
time friend Lord Petyr Baelish
attributed ownership of the dagger
used by the assassin to Tyrion
Lannister, the imp. Catelyn ordered
Tyrion’s arrest and brought him to the
Eyrie, home of her sister Lysa. Tyrion
outwitted his captors, however, by
requesting the right to trial by combat,
which won him his freedom when a
sell sword named Bronn defeated and
slew Lysa’s champion, Ser Vardis
Egan. The attempted assassination of
Bran Stark remains a mystery.
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Eddard Stark’s Time as King’s Hand
Following the death of Jon Arryn, King Robert
Baratheon travelled to the North with his entourage
to ask Eddard Stark to replace Arryn as Hand of the
King, a position that would afford Stark great power
but put him in a position fraught with peril. Eddard
was very reluctant, wishing to remain at Winterfell
with his family, but ultimately, due to his loyalty to
Robert, chose to take on the position and travel
south to King’s Landing, accompanied by his
daughters, Arya and Sansa, and many members of
his household. Eddard’s time in King’s Landing
was brief, but chaotic. His typical Stark honour led
him to gain many enemies, even often putting him
at odds with the King, whose exorbitant spending
Stark saw as inappropriate, as it put the crown
deeply in debt with many parties, most seriously the
House of Lannister.
Another point of contention between the King and
the Hand was the fate of the remaining Targaryen’s,
Daenerys and Viserys, who had sealed an alliance
with a tribe of nomadic warriors called the Dothraki
through the marriage of Daenerys Targaryen to
Khal Drogo. Robert Baratheon wanted to see
Daenerys dead, particularly when news of her
pregnancy reach King’s Landing, but Eddard could
not bring himself to participate in the murder. He
resigned his position as Hand, but prior to leaving
the capital visited a brothel that was reputedly the
home of one of King Robert Baratheon’s
illegitimate children. The brothel belonged to
onetime friend of Catelyn Stark and current
informant of the Lannister’s, Petyr Baelish, and
upon exiting Eddard was set upon by Jaime
Lannister and a small party of soldiers. Angry about
Tyrion’s recent imprisonment, Jaime Lannister had
Eddard’s men killed, and seriously injured Eddard’s
leg. While Lord Stark was recovering, he was
visited by the King, who convinced him to stay on
as Hand of the King.
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Eddard Stark’s Discovery
While seeking to unravel mysterious research that Jon Arryn had been conducting prior to his death,
Eddard stark stumbled upon the shocking knowledge that the royal Princes and Princess (Crown
Prince Joffrey, Prince Tommen and Princess Myrcella) were not, in fact, King Robert Baratheon’s
children, but were rather the result of an incestuous affair between Queen Cersei Lannister and her
twin Jaime, rendering them illegitimate. Stark confronted the Queen with this discovery, and told her
to leave King’s Landing with her children before he shared this revelation with the King. Robert,
however, received a lethal wound during a boar hunt before Ned could speak to him, and soon died.
Among Robert Baratheon’s final acts was giving
to Eddard written rights to rule Westeros as
Regent until Crown Prince Joffrey came of age,
but this last request was immediately discounted
by the Lannisters and their allies. Ignoring
suggestions from Petyr Baelish that Eddard rule
as regent until Prince Joffrey came of age and
from Renly Baratheon of seizing control of the
royal children, Eddard instead planned to send his
children back to Winterfell and prepared to hand
the throne to Stannis Baratheon, the eldest of
Robert’s brothers. Eddard was instead betrayed
by his allies in the capital, including his own
daughter Sansa and was arrested by Lannister
forces on charges of treason.
Due to the pleas of Sansa Stark, the betrothed of
the new King Joffrey, and the judgement of the
Lannister family and their advisors, it was decided
that Eddard Stark should be exiled to the Wall to
serve with the Night’s Watch and protect the
Seven Kingdoms. During his public trial,
however, immediately after Lord Stark confessed
to treason, Joffrey foolishly and cruelly ordered
that Stark be executed on the spot, in full view of
the people of King’s Landing and Stark’s
daughters. The realm had already been on the
brink of violence, with Robb Stark having
assembled the banners of the North after his
father’s imprisonment, and Joffrey’s action was
the spark that lit the Seven Kingdoms on fire.
The Fate of Ned Stark
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Crisis at Hand
The current situation stands thus: in the South, Joffrey Baratheon, Renly Baratheon and Stannis
Baratheon have all assembled armies to attempt to seize or hold the Iron Throne, and in the
North, Robb Stark, the newly crowned King in the North, has assembled forces that are
preparing to march past the Neck to seek justice for the murder of Eddard Stark. Meanwhile,
across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys Targaryen’s husband, Khal Drogo, and her brother, Viserys,
are dead, leaving her without an army, and without a family. Yet, if the rumours are true, she has
three dragons, which hatched in the flames of the Khal’s funeral pyre. The Great Houses of
Westeros are splintering, with House Tyrell throwing its support behind Renly, House Tully
joining Robb Stark, and Houses of Greyjoy, Martell, and Arryn remaining neutral.
Adding to the complex web of alliances and betrayals already complicating this crisis, strange
things are stirring around the world. The hatching of dragons is just one of the re-emergence’s of
ancient myths, once thought to be long gone, that are now beginning to stir in the darkest corners
of the world. What will Westeros look like in the days to come? What will be left? That,
delegates, is in your hands. Be prepared; Winter is coming.
Lannister Position
The Lannisters and their immediate allies have the challenging task of remaining in power, while
keeping as much balance throughout the Seven Kingdoms as possible. With Joffrey Baratheon,
the new King, being responsible for the execution of Eddard (Ned) Stark, disputes and uprisings
have arisen across Westeros. The conflict between the Starks and the Lannisters is even more
tense with the holding of Sansa Stark and Arya Stark as hostages. With the approaching Stark
forces, the Lannisters and their allies must act quickly and wisely to prepare not only for the
attack, but for any disloyalties amidst themselves, as it is ultimately the weakness of their own
foundation that can prove to be their biggest vulnerability. Keep control, remain in power, gain
allies, enforce their influence, get rid of enemies; these are all thoughts that every Lannister
should consider when acting in response to the Stark's approaching threat. Whether you choose
to act kindly, justly or cruelly; act rapidly, your lives could depend on it.
Stark Position
The Starks and their immediate allies have a unique, complex and difficult goal. With the death
of Eddard (Ned) Stark, the head of House Stark and Lord of Winterfell, the Starks and their
supporters have declared war against the Lannisters, including against the recently appointed
King Joffrey Baratheon. With the Lannisters held responsible for the murder of Ned, the two-
time attempted assassination of Bran Stark, and the holding of the Stark daughters Sansa and
Arya Stark, these feelings of resentment have quickly escalated into outrage. They wish to save
the two Stark girls, overthrow Joffrey, separate their territory of the North into an independent
Kingdom, and all while retaining their pride and honour. The Starks will need to properly
assemble and gather allies, resources and information to ensure their victory.