Arthur's Class Panel was bound to the "Greenhand" class, and it was the true foundation of his power.
"Greenhand" sounded laid-back, leaning heavily toward simulation, nurturing, and farming.
But make no mistake—the Greenhand was a supernatural class, just like the "Assassin-type" Faceless Men, the "Mind Control-type" Skinchangers, and the Undying. In fact, it was arguably even more profound, tapping directly into the purest, most miraculous life force.
Right now, Arthur was the sole Greenhand in existence, and he suspected this had something to do with Harrenhal itself.
Harrenhal sat on the shores of the Gods Eye. The island in the center of the lake, the Isle of Faces, was where the Children of the Forest and the First Men forged their ancient pact.
The First Men worshipped the Old Gods, carving runes and honoring the legends of heroes.
In the South, most of the weirwood trees had been chopped down and burned a thousand years ago when the Andals invaded. Yet, on the Isle of Faces, the "Green Men" still stood silent watch over the sacred trees.
Of course, the Andal conquest wasn't absolute. In the Vale, for example, several noble houses still traced their lineage back to the First Men, and scattered weirwoods could still be found.
In the Reach, Highgarden boasted an ancient weirwood known as the Three Singers. Legend had it that Garth Greenhand himself planted it, and it had grown to an enormous size.
Heading north through the Riverlands brought you to Raventree Hall. Even though its colossal weirwood was dead and petrified, House Blackwood's unbroken faith in the Old Gods still occasionally produced greenseers like Bloodraven.
Even Harrenhal's own history featured a bizarre, mystical figure: Alys Rivers. She was a bastard of House Strong, a wet nurse, a reputed witch, and the paramour of Aemond "One-Eye" Targaryen.
She seemingly retained her youth for decades and claimed she could see the location of the "Rogue Prince," Daemon Targaryen, in the flames.
Alys appeared much younger than her actual age; by the time of the Dance of the Dragons, she had to be at least forty.
Thinking about it, Arthur figured Alys might have been protected by some form of magic or ancient runes.
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Right now, only three people remained in the Lord's study at Harrenhal: Earl Walter Whent, Ser Lucas Dayne, and the heir, Arthur.
Earl Walter felt comfortable speaking his mind freely here. House Dayne had also backed the wrong horse in the war; they were fellow sufferers.
As the losers in this brutal power struggle, neither man held any love for the new king.
House Whent got off relatively light compared to some. The family that hated Robert the most was House Darry. Even more than a decade later in the original story, they still kept secret tapestries of the Targaryen kings hidden away.
"The future belongs to the young. The key to our family's survival is nurturing them. I have no other ambitions left; my only goal now is to see Arthur raised right," Earl Walter said, looking at his grandson.
"The family line cannot be broken, and forging a truly exceptional knight is no easy task. With Ser Arthur and Ser Oswell gone, who knows how many years it will take to cultivate talent like that again. We are starting over from scratch," Ser Lucas Dayne agreed, nodding with a bitter smile. He felt the sting just as sharply.
House Dayne hadn't been slapped with massive financial penalties, but their manpower had been decimated. The Dornish had managed to scrape together ten thousand spearmen for the Trident, and many hadn't come back.
Right now, this collection of defeated Royalist houses—Whent, Dayne, Darry, and Mooton—were all in the same boat. They were bleeding talent and lacked heavy hitters to hold the line.
To survive the brutal game of noble politics, a house needed two things: elite talent and deep pockets. You couldn't survive without both.
House Dayne's direct line was now down to Lord Dayne, his wife, and their youngest sister, Allyria. (In the original story, Edric Dayne, the future heir to Starfall, wouldn't be born until 287 AC).
House Dayne had lost their brightest star in a century, the "Sword of the Morning." They had also lost Lady Ashara Dayne, a woman whose beauty and status could have secured a marriage alliance with any Great House. It was a devastating blow.
House Whent was in a similar state. The direct line was just Earl Walter, his wife, and their heir, Arthur Whent.
Not to mention that after losing at the Trident, these former Royalists were kicked out of the halls of power entirely. Just surviving day to day was a victory.
Arthur seamlessly refilled their goblets, listening intently.
"Arthur, what are your thoughts?" Ser Lucas asked abruptly, turning his sharp gaze on the boy.
"The tide has turned, and we can't fight it directly. We lay low and watch. We train, we build our resources, and we wait for the future," Arthur replied calmly.
"Good," Ser Lucas said, looking at Arthur with genuine admiration.
This kid didn't just have physical talent for the sword; he had a sharp, calculating mind.
Ser Lucas felt a surge of confidence. He could forge this boy into an absolute monster on the battlefield—and a cunning predator in the game of thrones.
Arthur had overheard plenty of treasonous whispers circulating through the eastern Riverlands. Being born a Royalist meant he was already permanently branded as a remnant of the old regime.
As long as Robert and Jon Arryn drew breath, the power-sharing alliance of the Wolf, Fish, Stag, and Falcon was practically unshakable.
During the era of Robert and the old Falcon, even a powerhouse like House Tyrell couldn't flip the board, let alone a battered house like the Whents.
But rebellion was inevitable. After all, the "fines" Harrenhal sent to King's Landing were massive chests of glittering gold. That was his money.
Gold. My money.
Just like House Tyrell's philosophy: if the King won't let you follow him, you might as well make your own King.
For now, the only play was to lie low, stockpile strength, and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike.
"He's right. This round is lost, and regret changes nothing," Earl Walter said, though the fine wine couldn't wash the bitter taste of defeat from his mouth.
Arthur understood exactly what his grandfather meant. Walter probably regretted not pushing Rhaegar harder to call a Great Council to check the Mad King's power before the flames got out of control. Or maybe he regretted backing Rhaegar at all, since the prince's romantic obsession had doomed them all.
Houses Whent, Mooton, Connington, Lonmouth, Dayne, and even House Martell (despite their massive grievances with Rhaegar) had all directly backed the Crown Prince.
These loyalists had bet everything on Rhaegar taking the throne and cleaning up the Mad King's rotting, toxic administration. It was a political gamble with a massive payout.
Instead, Rhaegar died, and everyone who backed him went down with the ship.
"A loss is a loss. The rebels had many lords, but they all rallied behind one undisputed leader. Our side was rushed, chaotic, and divided by the rift between father and son," Ser Lucas offered a razor-sharp critique.
House Targaryen's bloodline was already dangerously thin, and the feud between the Mad King and his eldest son grew more unhinged every year.
Following the Defiance of Duskendale, Rhaegar and his parents lived apart. The Mad King despised his Dornish daughter-in-law and his own grandchildren. He even sent his cousin, Steffon Baratheon, across the Narrow Sea to find Rhaegar a different bride.
The King and the Prince were essentially airing their toxic family drama for all the lords to see, practically begging ambitious men to make a move.
Serving as cupbearer, Arthur merely listened and observed. Earl Walter and Ser Lucas were men who had lived through the tectonic shifts of history.
"Let's drop it and talk about something lighter. You had to pay a steep fine, yes, but at least you kept your titles, your castle, and your lands," Ser Lucas said, trying to comfort Earl Walter.
"Then I suppose I must thank the King and his Hand for their immense mercy. They certainly treated House Whent better than they treated the Conningtons or the Darrys," Earl Walter scoffed, unable to hold back his sarcasm.
"That does seem to be his style," Ser Lucas replied.
Robert Baratheon was a magnanimous king, but he drew a hard line between his friends and his enemies.
After taking the throne, aside from his absolute hatred for the Targaryens, Robert dropped the heaviest hammers on House Darry in the Riverlands, and Houses Connington and Lonmouth in the Stormlands.
House Darry fought entirely too hard. Three of Lord Darry's brothers died at the Trident. The final straw was when their cousin, Ser Willem Darry, the master-at-arms at the Red Keep, smuggled the last Targaryen heirs across the Narrow Sea.
When the Targaryens fell, House Darry lost half their lands, most of their wealth, and almost all of their military power.
As for the Conningtons and Lonmouths, they were Stormlands lords who stayed loyal to the crown.
Jon Connington, the "Griffin," had trapped Robert in Stoney Sept, nearly ending the rebellion right there.
After Connington lost the Battle of the Bells, the Mad King stripped him of his titles and lands and sent him into exile. His cousin, Ser Ronald Connington, quickly switched sides and joined the rebels for the rest of the war.
When Robert was crowned, he returned Griffin's Roost to House Connington, but stripped them of their lordship and the vast majority of their lands, carving them up and handing them to lords who had fought for him.
Overnight, the Conningtons were demoted from a major noble house to mere landed knights.
Compared to the brutal punishments handed out to those die-hards, House Whent and House Dayne didn't suffer too terribly. House Whent paid a massive, bleeding war indemnity, but avoided losing their titles or their lands.
As for the Dornish, that was a different story entirely. Dorne was an isolated, regional power, so their "punishment" was basically a symbolic slap on the wrist.
"Did your relatives not put in a good word for you?" Ser Lucas asked.
"Relatives? If you mean blood, then yes, I am kin to both the Tullys and the Freys. Hoster's wife was my sister. In fact, if Arthur dies, the claim to Harrenhal passes directly to Hoster Tully's son, Edmure. But when it comes to power and coin? House Whent and House Tully are bitter enemies. They've always coveted this castle. When the eastern lords were being bled dry to pay those war fines, old Hoster didn't offer a single word of comfort. I guarantee he was hoping the entire eastern Riverlands would be squeezed until we cracked," Earl Walter sneered coldly.
Hoster Tully was a master political operator. He used his two daughters to forge ironclad alliances with House Stark and House Arryn, making him one of the primary shareholders in Robert's Rebellion.
Earl Walter had invested heavily in Rhaegar, hoping to expand his own influence and cement Harrenhal as the undisputed premier house in the Riverlands.
"It sounds exactly like the Martells and the Yronwoods," Ser Lucas noted.
When a vassal becomes too powerful, they start thinking about eating their liege lord.
Riverrun was a small, highly defensible fortress. Harrenhal was massive and obscenely wealthy.
This wasn't just a feud between House Whent and House Tully; it was a structural conflict built into the geography of the region, designed that way by Aegon the Conqueror himself.
Harrenhal was technically sworn to Riverrun, but in practice, they operated more like direct vassals to the Iron Throne.
Ever since the Conquest, House Tully rarely secured high-profile positions at the royal court.
In contrast, Lords of Harrenhal, and even Lords of Whitewalls, had served as Hand of the King. The families that held Harrenhal always had grand ambitions.
Naturally, these Lords of Harrenhal frequently got chewed up in the brutal machinery of royal politics.
Arthur saw the situation with absolute clarity. Marriage alliances crumble instantly when real power and money are on the line. Right now, House Whent and House Tully were like fire and water.
The reality was simple: the Tullys won their massive gamble and rode the elevator to the top, while the Whents were currently being treated like a royal ATM, constantly bleeding gold.
The three major powers in the Riverlands—Frey, Tully, and Whent—were all tied together by blood and marriage.
Yet they perfectly represented the three survival strategies of the war: neutral observation, open rebellion, and staunch royalism.
Right now, the relationship between House Whent and House Tully was as cold and dark as a bottomless abyss.
A bat and a trout could never share the same waters.