Great Council of 305 AC

The Great Council of 305 AC took place following the assassination of Queen Daenerys Targaryen. It was originally convened to decide the fates of Tyrion Lannister, who had committed treason against Daenerys just prior to her death, and Jon Snow, who performed the assassination. With no monarch to render a verdict, the council was made up of the heads of each surviving great house of Westeros, along with other key players from the Battle of King's Landing. After some deliberation, Bran Stark was chosen as King, and it fell to him to pass judgement on the two accused. It was the first formal election of an absolute monarch in the history of Westeros (although methods of succession had been debated by other Great Councils in the past), and saw the reorganization of the Seven Kingdoms into an Elective monarchy.

At the urging of Brandon's sister Sansa Stark, the council also saw the secession of the North from the Seven Kingdoms (which had been attempted twice over the previous years), and Sansa was later chosen as Queen in the North. With the North now an independent realm, and Daenerys' previous granting of independence to the Iron Islands, the area of Westeros under Bran's rule was renamed the Six Kingdoms.

Election of Bran Stark
"There's nothing in the world more powerful than a good story, nothing can stop it, no enemy can defeat it, and who has a better story than Bran the Broken?"

- Tyrion Lannister to the assembled lords at his trial When Tyrion Lannister was presented before the lords and ladies of the council, the Unsullied - Daenerys Targaryen's loyal soldiers - wanted to punish him and Jon Snow themselves. Sansa Stark threatened the Unsullied with war if they attempted it, to which their leader Grey Worm responded in equal measure. Yara Greyjoy, Queen of the Iron Islands and a Daenerys supporter, favored the Unsullied's view, but Arya Stark threatened to kill Yara for even talking about hurting Jon. The situation was defused by Ser  Davos Seaworth, but even he was unable to convince Grey Worm of let Jon go. Tyrion said that only the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms could deliver such justice, to which Davos agrees.

Following the assassination of Daenerys Targaryen, the Seven Kingdoms were effectively leaderless. Although this had been the case for six years beforehand with the internecine War of the Five Kings, the extinction of the three rival houses, Targaryen and Baratheon (including House Lannister) created huge uncertainty between the lords of Westeros as to who would come to inherit the throne.

Proposed at the Great Council were the following options:
 * The Lord of Riverrun Edmure Tully, set himself forward as a candidate for the crown, listing his battle experience as a veteran of two wars, as well as naming his experience with statecraft. This suggestion was ignored by his niece, Sansa Stark, who promptly humiliated him.
 * By Samwell Tarly, the option for the many people of Westeros to select their own king. This was based on the concept of the Choosing in the Night's Watch, which enabled each individual a one man, one vote democratic system. This idea was quickly rejected by the assembled lords, who mocked Tarly.
 * Lastly, Tyrion Lannister suggested the idea of an elective monarchy, whereby the lords of the realm would congregate within the Dragonpit upon the death of each elected monarch to determine a new king or queen. This was to put aside the possibility for poor, inexperienced kings to inherit the throne. For the first monarch, Tyrion suggested Brandon Stark, named "Bran the Broken", and this idea was swiftly appreciated, and accepted, by the lords and ladies assembled at the Dragonpit.

Despite the support gained for Brandon Stark, his sister Sansa was the only assembled lady who refused to accept his crown, as she demanded the North become its own sovereign kingdom, "as it was for thousands of years." This request was granted by Brandon, who was thereafter hailed as Bran the Broken, First of His Name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Six Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm.

Secession of the North
"I love you, little brother, I always will. You'll be a good king. But tens of thousands of northmen fell in the Great War defending all of Westeros, and those who survived have seen too much and fought too hard ever to kneel again. The North will remain an independent kingdom, as it was for thousands of years."

- Sansa Stark to Brandon The notion of independence for the Kingdom of the North had been a prevailing issue for many years, ever since Joffrey Baratheon beheaded Lord Eddard Stark at the foot of the Great Sept of Baelor. Robb Stark, Eddard's eldest son, was forced to raise his banners in rebellion against Joffrey, but the northerners did not wish to support either Stannis or Renly, the late King Robert Baratheon's brothers, against Joffrey's claim. Instead, they crowned him King in the North. Robb Stark's war for independence would be successful until he broke his betrothal with Roslin Frey to marry Talisa Maegyr, a Volantene noblewoman whom he had met on campaign. As a result, Lord Walder Frey orchestrated the Red Wedding with Tywin Lannister, a successful massacre of the northmen that dined within his halls for Edmure Tully's wedding to Roslin. During this murder, both Robb and his mother Catelyn Tully were killed, beginning the Stark-Lannister blood feud. After the assassination, Roose Bolton would be named as Lord Paramount of the North and Lord of Winterfell, replacing the Starks and earning the distrust of many northern houses, whose banners had been pledged to the Stark cause.

Roose would later be murdered in a conspiracy by his legitimized bastard son, Ramsay Bolton, who would continue to rule the north through fear tactics and brutal violence. Eventually, there was hope for the North when Jon Snow marched south from Castle Black to take back Winterfell with his sister, Sansa. Despite this, he only managed to obtain the support of House Mormont as well as other minor houses, as larger houses were unwilling to fight alongside the Free Folk.

With the threat of the Army of the Dead looming, Jon Snow, crowned King in the North by his newly pledged vassals, would be forced to seek an alliance with Daenerys Targaryen, with whom he quickly fell in love. From Dragonstone, he would bring her home to Winterfell back to the northerners, who still maintained a residual hatred for House Targaryen after the brutal torture and murder of Brandon Stark and Rickard Stark by Aerys II Targaryen twenty years prior. This hatred was even more amplified when, after the Great War, the northmen suffered great casualties, and were still forced to go to war with the south. Sansa Stark was most dissatisfied with this.

Eventually, after the Battle of King's Landing and the Great Council, Brandon Stark's selection as King of the Andals and the First Men would finally allow Sansa to achieve legal independence for the North as a recognized polity, free from what was now the Six Kingdoms.

Judgment on Tyrion and Jon
Both Tyrion Lannister and Jon Snow had been convicted by Grey Worm of two different crimes. Tyrion had been arrested on the orders of the late Daenerys Targaryen for treason due to his involvement in the rescue of Jaime Lannister from the Unsullied. Jon, however, was imprisoned for assassinating Daenerys when she massacred King's Landing.



After Brandon Stark was named king by his peers, he pardoned Tyrion, allowing him to be his Hand of the King. Tyrion initially rejected it saying that he had made many mistakes in the past. Grey Worm protested against this, but relented after Bran told him it was done so that he may fix the mistakes he made. Jon Snow was later exiled to the Wall as a member of the Night's Watch, in order to prevent a war between the Unsullied and Jon's supporters. Grey Worm accepted this punishment for him, as did Sansa and Arya.

Westeros


Under the new rule of Brandon Stark, there was much to be rebuilt across Westeros. Ser Bronn of the Blackwater, a former sellsword and retainer to House Lannister, was named Lord Paramount of the Reach, Lord of Highgarden, and Warden of the South. Tyrion was allowed to remain as Lord of Casterly Rock, a title that he had been disinherited from by his father, Tywin, on the virtue of his dwarfism and promiscuity. As Robin Arryn, Yara Greyjoy, and the Prince of Dorne supported Bran's ascension to the throne, it can be assumed that they did not make any bids for independence on a similar note to Sansa, despite their long-standing divisions with the throne.

Concerning the small council, the following nobles were granted seats by Brandon:
 * Lord Tyrion Lannister, as Hand of the King.
 * Lord Bronn, as Master of Coin.
 * Lord Davos Seaworth, as Master of Ships.
 * Ser Brienne of Tarth, as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.
 * Samwell, as Grand Maester.

Both the North and the Kingsguard came to possess their first female leaders, with Queen Sansa of the North enjoying great harmony with the south on the account of their kinship. This put an end to the long-standing rivalry between the two realms proliferated by the War of the Five Kings. Brandon's reign also saw the induction of Podrick Payne as a knight of the Kingsguard.