Chapter Text
‘Established at the conclusion of the Westerosi Revolution, the Office of President has served as Westeros’s chief Executive Head of State for generations. Together with their Hand running-mates, the President represents all of Westeros on an international level while the Hand serves as their voice in the Assembly as they try to guide the nation on the President’s legislative agenda.
In the rare event that a rival party has the majority in the Assembly, the President’s choice in Hand is often forced out in favor of one approved by the majority of the Assembly and a coalition government is formed in a situation known as Cohabitation. In the even more unlikely and sad event of a President’s death, the Hand will succeed them in office for the remainder of their term.’
- Excerpt from Professor Marwyn’s “Introduction to Westerosi Politics”
“They’ll be ready for you in ten minutes, Mr. President,” Jory Cassel relayed the message coming from his earpiece.
“Thank you, Jory,” President Eddard Stark said with a wave, dismissing his guard to return to his position in the hall. He paid the secret service officer little mind as he reviewed the bullet points of his upcoming speech.
“Don’t worry, my love, you can do this,” his wife, Catelyn, said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. The weary smile she gave him filled Ned with even more comfort than he’d ever felt in the godswood back home in Winterfell.
He took a calming breath and set down the note cards of his speech. This PR tour around Westeros was taking its toll on him and Catelyn. The Assembly would be voting on his proposed labor reforms in the next month and he needed to drum up enough public support to sway the damn Lion Party to his cause. What had been groundbreaking reforms ushered in during Aegon V. Targaryen’s record breaking four terms were becoming less and less relevant with each passing year, particularly those involving jobs.
If Westeros was to stay ahead of the curve in this new computer age, it would need to pass laws regulating the ways people used this new technology before evil people found new ways to exploit others with it. Ned saw it has his duty as both a man and a politician to protect his citizens and keep major corporations from exploiting them through a veil of incomprehensible legal jargon.
“And if I can’t do it, our bill will fail and our chances for reelection or coalition with the Stag Party go up in smoke,” Ned spoke in a quiet tone as he and his wife held each other. “What will we do then, Cat?”
“We go home, raise our children, and enjoy retirement,” Cat answered with a smile.
“Retirement? Neither of us are even 45 yet,” Ned almost found himself laughing, despite it all.
“Well, you can take time to write your memoir,” the First Lady said before her smile became more playful. “Plus, you’ll get to tell all of Westeros ‘I told you so’ for the rest of your life when the Lions lead us to ruin.”
“Good point, Cat,” the President snorted. “Maybe we’d be better off if the bill lost.”
“Sadly, we both know that’s not the case,” Catelyn said, returning to her usual serious demeanor. “Go out there and do your duty, dear. The children and I will meet you at the hotel afterwards... Even Jon.”
The mention of Jon made Ned smile. Catelyn had not been pleased when he’d brought the bastard baby home all those years ago, but the media had been ecstatic. Ned knew the only reason she and the press had eventually given him any peace or privacy on the matter was because of his grief over Brandon and Lyanna. He’d hoped that in time Cat would come to care more for Jon Snow, or at the very least not resent the boy quite so much for the circumstances of his birth. He knew Cat cared for the boy, even if the media tried to shame the two of them for Jon’s existence, and for that he’d always be grateful.
Ned’s elder brother had been felled by an assassin’s bullet while campaigning for the Wolf Party’s nomination for the presidency. The posthumous exposure of Brandon’s affair with Ashara Dayne and the woman’s subsequent suicide stilled weighed heavily on Ned’s conscious all these years later.
Not six months after his brother’s death, his sister Lyanna died in a car accident with Rhaegar Targaryen when they crashed and drove off the Bridge of Joy in Dorne. The media spent ages speculating what she had been doing in a car with President Targaryen’s son and an equal amount of time mourning their loss. Ned and his remaining brother, Benjen, refused to comment on the matter to this day, despite the multiple books that had been written on the matter. There was no honor in soiling his sister’s memory by giving the vultures in the press the full details of Lyanna’s condition.
Ned shook his head and squared his shoulders. Now was not the time to dwell on the past. Not when he had the future of the entire nation to focus on. He kissed Cat goodbye and left the room, escorted by Jory and Vayon Poole, another Secret Service agent.
Eddard Stark collected his thoughts and focused his mind as he walked in silence down the hall toward the growing sounds of the gathered crowd. Whenever facing such an enormous crowd, Ned felt like a warrior going into battle against a Wildling hoard from days of old - scared, but facing it with grim determination. He was a Stark, and he knew his duty.
Brandon’s death may have briefly dashed their father’s grand ambitions, but Ned did took up the family legacy, ill-suited for it though he was. Brandon was the charmer who could work people over to his side, whether they were drunks in a bar, reporters, or rival politicians. He was so much like Senator Baratheon that Ned sometimes had to stop himself from accidentally calling his best friend by his late brother’s name.
The president stepped out of the darkness and into the bright light of King’s Landing. Even in the autumn, this place was too damn hot for Ned’s northern blood. He thanked the Old Gods every day that he wasn’t elected during the summer. The Iron Office was hot enough as it was, thank you very much.
The massive crowd gathered outside the ancient Sept of Baelor cheered as he ascended the steps to the podium. He wanted to show that this bill was the morally right thing to do, so his advisors suggested giving the speech in front of the massive house of worship to remind the public of that. The long-faced northman smiled and waved to the crowd as the teleprompter screen off to the side booted up.
Just as the applause died down, Ned saw Vayon Poole dive in front of him, blood exploding from his chest.
Ned heard and felt the second shot. Jory Cassel dove on top of him seconds too late, failing to stop the bullet that destroyed Ned's heart.
The screams of the crowd were a thousand miles away to Ned. His senses shrank to a pinpoint as darkness and blood consumed the edges of his vision. He felt more than saw the tears hitting his skin as the frantic Jory scrambled to stop what had to be so much of Ned's blood.
Eddard Stark felt his thoughts drift to the family he and Catelyn had brought into the world: Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, Rickon, and “even Jon,” as Cat had said. Her voice faded and was replaced by that of Ned's father, the words he heard so often as a child:
“The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.”
He prayed to the Old Gods and the New that his pack would be strong without him, now that he was returning to the pack into which he was born.
‘Ask anyone over a certain age, and they’ll be able to tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing the day President Eddard “Ned” Stark was assassinated by rogue gunman Ilyn Payne. Stark’s death, which haunts Westeros to this day, has become the subject of numerous conspiracy theories by fringe members of society thanks to Payne’s complete and unnerving silence on the mater before his unexpected death while in police custody.
The death of President Stark saw the ascension of the aging Hand, Jon Arryn of the Stag Party, to the Red House and the appointment of Stark’s lifelong friend, Senator Robert Baratheon to being Hand, unintentionally ensuring a new political power that would greatly change the face of Westerosi politics.’
- Excerpt from Professor Yandel’s “The Thousand Days of Winterfell: The Legacy of President Stark”