a spider-man / game of thrones au
Winter is coming for the Parkers of the North, whose house motto is “With great power comes great responsibility”. They have a dubious alliance with the Osborns, who are extremely skilled in alchemy and have a history of killing their enemies with wildfire. (Owing to this, their house sigil is a green goblin). Each house has only one male heir, Peter of the Parkers and Harry of the Osborns. The two boys played together and were close as children: had one of them been born female they might have united the houses.
Comfortable on the Iron Throne is Norman Osborn, the Goblin King. It is a fact well known to his closest circle of advisors – the Six – that he despises his young heir and greatly prefers the orphaned Peter. Peter is known to all as the Spider Prince – a nickname partly based on his house sigil, but mostly based on his cunning, agility and recklessness in battle, recklessness that many years ago lead to the death of his uncle.
The reign of the Goblin King is fraught with misfortune. The Six, despite their alleged loyality to Norman, are each plotting against him in their seperate ways. Harry falls in love with a beautiful prostitute, Mary Jane, but she doesn’t love him back, while Peter strikes up a relationship with Gwendolyn, daughter of the Hand of the King. Then disaster strikes: Norman is maimed by his own wildfire and lies close to death. He calls on his Hand, George Stacy, to force Harry to take the black while Peter – whose parentage is dubious, who’s to say he’s not Norman’s – claims the throne. When Stacy refuses, Norman has his seemingly most loyal henchman, the Octopus, murder him.
Suddenly alliances and friendships are stretched as far as they will possibly go. As the daughter of a traitor, Gwendolyn is taken hostage, an action that ultimately leads to her death. A griefstricken Peter swears revenge, but Norman dies before any action can be taken. Harry takes the Iron Throne and sits there very uneasily: he names Peter as his Hand but dismisses him in a fit of anger when he sees him and Mary Jane together.
Things go from bad to worse as the years go by. The Octopus, in an attempt to claim some power for himself, begins to court Peter’s aunt, the Lady May. Harry marries a princess, Elizabeth, and fathers a son who many of the Six and their allies want out of the picture – the Osborns have held power for far too long. Meanwhile a young man known only as the Knight of Venom is rallying a supernatural army for an attack on the throne: rumour has it that he can bond with shadow itself and is stronger than a thousand men. On the other side of the vast sea, two of Norman’s bastard children – Gabriel and Sarah, whose maternity is a terrible secret – are seeking to strengthen their claims as well.
Peter’s code of honour may outlast him: there is very little place for responsibility in this world, only power, and they say all men must die.
