The five major cities in Westeros include King's Landing, Oldtown, Lannisport, Seagard, and White Harbor. They are the five port cities that directly pay taxes to the Iron Throne. These cities are also the most densely populated areas in Westeros.
Whenever a tournament is held in these cities, knights and mercenaries from all directions flock to them, including some major nobles.
Jousting is the most typical aristocratic game. Anyone who can win the jousting championship in these cities even in Seagard, the second to last in size (the smallest, White Harbor, is in the North and doesn't host jousting events) must be among the best (and richest) of knights.
To put it bluntly, is it suitable for players who have just started to participate in such formal lance competitions?
Not to mention the question of whether they have the strength to compete, the armor and horses required for jousting aren't something a fledgling knight player can afford.
Typically, the thickness of plate armor used in competitions exceeds 4 mm, and its price is significantly higher than that of combat plate armor, which is just over 2 mm thick. Competition horses are elite thoroughbred warhorses, and their prices are usually several times that of ordinary warhorses.
And what about the mercenary knight players? All they have is an old chainmail suit and a tame, common horse.
Of course, if you're skilled and brave, you can still sign up for the competition. But Ethan knew he wasn't there yet.
In his imagination, he expected to participate in some backwater sword competitions held at minor noble castles or in small towns.
"So what does this replacement mean?" Ethan asked in his mind.
"We have designed at least three quest lines for each class that players can choose from. Players may view all available options and choose one to complete. Once accepted, it cannot be changed."
After hearing this, Ethan clicked on "Replace" and silently prayed that the next mission would be more reasonable.
[Main Mission 1: Road of Robbers]
Mission description: People often say that hedge knights and robber knights are two sides of the same coin. Even if you've never been a robber, you are still affected by the notorious reputation of your peers. In this case, maybe abandoning that meaningless honor is the better choice?
Mission goal: Loot the castle or manor of a wealthy knight and plunder more than 100 gold dragons in total.
Mission reward: 5 points, 3 attribute points, 3 skill points
[Accept] [Replace]
"Plundering a wealthy knight's castle? And plundering over 100 gold dragons?" Ethan exhaled, his expression changing completely.
He felt a wave of desperation wash over him.
Take, for example, the poorest knight's castle. To sack such a place, Ethan would need to face at least one knight and one attendant.
It's not impossible for him to win in that scenario, but in a knight's castle so poor it can't even afford guards, the total loot outside of the knight's armor and horse would likely be minimal.
If he needed to rob 100 gold dragons' worth, Ethan couldn't even imagine how many raids it would take.
What do 100 gold dragons mean?
In the original books, after King Joffrey was poisoned at the Purple Wedding, Ser Addam Marbrand offered a reward for Sansa Stark suspected of conspiring with Tyrion to kill the king. The bounty was only that much!
A top knight's full gear a set of high quality plate armor, a fine sword and hammer, a warhorse, and two packhorses only cost about 30 gold dragons.
But throughout Westeros, only the wealthiest knights in the Riverlands with large manors and landholdings or those in the Westerlands with access to gold mines could afford such gear. Even then, outfitting themselves would tighten their budgets considerably.
Elsewhere, the richer knights of the Vale mostly wore plate and chain armor, those in the Stormlands wore full plate, and Riverlands knights often still relied mainly on chainmail, like they had for hundreds of years.
So wasn't this quest basically designed for someone overpowered with a cheat weapon? Just chop down six Kingsguard, strip their armor, and you're done Ethan thought absurdly.
Forcing himself to calm down, Ethan clicked [Replace] with his last bit of hope.
[Main Mission 1: Golden Road]
Mission description: The first time you raised your sword for gold, not for justice or loyalty, you suddenly understood the truth of this world. Gold is the only true god; everything else is a lie.
Mission goal: Earn 1,000 gold dragons.
Mission reward: 5 points, 3 attribute points, 3 skill points
[Accept] [Replace]
"..." Ethan felt completely numb.
Originally, 100 gold dragons had already seemed absurd but now the number had risen to 1,000.
Even though there were no specific restrictions on how to earn the money, it was still 1,000 gold dragons!
During the War of the Five Kings, when Catelyn Tully secretly released Jaime Lannister in exchange for her daughters, the act caused widespread outrage among the North and Riverlands. It weakened the allied army's position severely.
In response, Lord Hoster Tully of Riverrun issued a bounty on Jaime: 1,000 gold dragons (still the highest bounty ever seen in A Song of Ice and Fire).
At the time, Jaime was the commander of the royal army, the captain of the Kingsguard, one of the strongest knights in Westeros, the heir of the richest Lannister family, and crossed out the biological father of King Joffrey. Even he was only worth 1,000 gold dragons.
Some may argue that gold dragons aren't worth much after all, Robert Baratheon once offered 40,000 gold dragons as a prize for a tournament champion in King's Landing.
But it's important to note that the first volume of A Song of Ice and Fire was written in the last century. Many believe this was a continuity error due to George R.R. Martin not yet fully developing the economy of Westeros at that time.
In fact, after Robert's death, Littlefinger told Eddard Stark that 6,000 gold dragons was enough to buy off the entire city guard, and Eddard agreed that the number was reasonable.
In other words, 1,000 gold dragons could purchase one sixth of a city's defense force.
So asking early players to earn this amount from nothing? Utterly unrealistic.
Suddenly, Ethan had a terrible realization what if the developers designed these missions with no intention of letting anyone complete them?
Note: The currency exchange rate in the world of Ice and Fire is:
1 gold dragon = 30 silver moons = 210 silver stags
1 silver stag = 49 copper stars
1 copper star = 8 copper pennies
Additionally, based on some sources, the author estimates that the gold dragon is a medium sized coin weighing approximately 7.56 grams.
Important: This data is used solely for the setting of this fanfic and serves future plot development. It is not meant to verify the original lore or real world economics so please don't overanalyze it (and definitely don't calculate based on real gold prices).
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