#i checked btw and both of vaemond's sons should still have their tongues

[bbygirl-aemond]

Hey! I hope you're well. My ask basically is what are your actions you would take in addressing the problem Lucerys presents with House Velaryon and the visual implications of a white lord of a predominantly Black house. All the best!

(This ask is in reference to my Lucemond Arranged Marriage AU)

Oh yes thank you! I had too many thoughts on this to fit it into one comment haha.

So as a reminder, this AU is centered around Viserys surviving longer. Where Driftmark is concerned, the key thing is that Viserys outlives Corlys by several years. In this universe, I do think Lucerys would successfully become Master of Driftmark upon Corlys's death, because Viserys as the undisputed King would be backing his claim.

But what happens when Viserys dies? In this AU, the Greens will still attempt their usurpation. The Blacks will be in a much better position to defeat them, but it'll still create instability, and the members of House Velaryon could very well take advantage to try to depose Lucerys and install someone else instead.

I think it'll help that the most powerful members of House Velaryon--AKA the ones with dragons, like Rhaenys and Baela and by then Rhaena--would probably still be supporting Lucerys. And it'll help that Rhaenyra will succeed in getting her throne, and Lucerys will once more have the reigning monarch's backing. I'd also devote a significant amount of time to Lucerys taking the time to learn and appreciate House Velaryon's culture and proving himself as a seafarer. He needs to fully adopt all of their customs without hesitation and without trying to impose any of his own on them.

...But while I could see the Velaryons tolerating Lucerys if he demonstrated a desire to preserve their culture and learn their ways, the optics of a lil white boy's bloodline taking over like the only powerful Black house in Westeros are objectively not great. So I'd definitely want Driftmark's succession to return to Black Velaryons for future generations. Here's my idea:

Lucerys decrees that Rhaena's eventual children will be his heirs.

It's canonically possible for holders of a title to make a distant relative their heir, even if more closely-related relatives exist. Jeyne Arryn successfully made her fourth cousin Joffrey Arryn her heir, even though she had an existing first cousin, Arnold Arryn, who was more closely related to her. So I think this solution would be fairly compatible with existing Westerosi norms of succession.

In this situation, Rhaena could be engaged to another Black Velaryon relative. My best candidates for this would be either of Vaemond's sons, Daemion or Daeron. Daeron Velaryon could have been born as late as 115 AC and Rhaena was born in 116 AC, so it's plausible that they could be basically the same age. If Rhaena and Daeron were engaged and their children named heirs to Driftmark, this would make Lucerys a white little blip amidst an otherwise entirely Black and Velaryon line of succession for Driftmark. Also I'm fond of people relinquishing their titles once they get old for the sake of stable transitions of power so it'd help if Lucerys retired early and didn't cling onto the title longer than necessary.

So yes, there's no way to have Lucerys as Master of Driftmark without the squidgy aspect of a white man ruling an otherwise Black house, no matter how attentive you make him to embracing their culture and preserving their traditions. But I think a lot of goodwill could be created if Lucerys ensured early on that Driftmark would pass back into Black Velaryon hands as soon as he retired.

#i checked btw and both of vaemond's sons should still have their tongues #like none of the other velaryon men do anymore thanks to viserys but i think those two made it out intact lmao #ask #asks #answered #lucemond #lucerys velaryon #luke velaryon #lucerys strong #luke strong #aemond targaryen #aemond one eye #aemond #hotd #house of the dragon #lucemond arranged marriage au