HBO WI: Joffrey from Game of Thrones replaced with Octavian from Rome by Hotpoint
Words: 130k+
Links: -https//forums.spacebattles.com/threads/hbo-wi-joffrey-from-game-of-thrones-replaced-with-octavian-from-rome.375197/
-https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/hbo-wi-joffrey-from-game-of-thrones-replaced-with-octavian-from-rome-version-ii.379805/
Joctavian I
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"You are being counselled at this very moment"
King Joffrey to Lord Tywin Lannister - 299 AL
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Winterfell - 298 AL
"Joffrey I'm talking to you!" a woman's voice interrupted his reading, it taking a second for Octavian to realise who it belonged to.
"Sorry... Mother" Octavian replied eventually, trying not to sound too aggrieved at the intrusion as he reluctantly looked up from the page he was on. "Is there something wrong?" he queried.
Cersei gave him a look of reproach. "You know full well that you need to wash and dress for tonight's banquet" she reminded the boy. "Your father expects you to make a good impression on these Northern Oafs" she continued, "Although I'm sure simply spitting on the floor and taking too much strong drink would suffice" she said, sneering at the backward and unrefined House that controlled the largest, but nevertheless also the poorest, of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
"Is it that time already?" Octavian responded in surprise, the book must be even more engrossing than he thought if he had been reading most of the afternoon. "I'll finish this page and prepare immediately" he promised, biting back the comment that if anything her own husband was more of a boorish oaf than Ned Stark. Cersei clearly liked to put herself on a pedestal even though in Octavian's estimation her drunken spouse obviously preferred bending whores over them.
"See that you do" Cersei told him, turning around and heading out of the door of the room he had been given for the duration of their stay by their hosts.
Octavian sighed. "Another world, another life and I still end up with a mother that won't let me read in peace" he grumbled to himself, leaning back in his chair.
Placing a bookmark in the weighty tome Octavian closed it and read the title again. The Lives of Four Kings gave an insight into the politics and society of this new world that Octavian had been sorely lacking, and it wasn't as hard going as The History of the Greater and Lesser Houses had been the previous day. True the prose sorely lacked something, the author was certainly no Uncle Gaius, but at least it wasn't simply dry facts mixed with obvious propaganda.
"I must ask the dwarf to recommend some more books" Octavian decided, having already worked out that while the rest of his new "family" were blessed with good looks and athleticism the most diminutive member had apparently gotten most of the brains. Tyrion had in fact been more than a touch surprised at his "nephew" politely asking his advice the first time and had then been extremely shocked that the boy actually had borrowed the two suggested books from the Stark library to read them.
Octavian yawned and leaned back in his chair further to stretch. Finding himself a Prince and heir to the throne was nice enough, and when he came to rule he would surely do better than his new "father" he knew. Honestly, having Robert Baratheon as King of Westeros was akin to having Titus Pullo as a Consul of Rome, Octavian thought to himself with a chuckle. Now that he came to think of it his other new "uncle" Stannis was an even grimmer version of Pullo's stoic, stonewall Catonian commanding officer and erstwhile friend Lucius Vorenus.
Standing up and pushing back his chair Octavian frowned. Thinking of family he suspected from quiet observation that there was something more going on between Cersei and her brother Jaime than there should be between siblings. Having screwed his own sister Octavia once however he decided he wasn't in much of a position to criticise anyone else on the subject of incest so it was all rather academic as long as nobody else found out he decided.
Going over to the dressing table and looking in the mirror Octavian surveyed his new face for what seemed like the thousandth time. "I'm just going to assume that this otherwise inexplicable state of affairs came about because I told my sister I didn't believe in the Gods and they decided to show me that the universe is more mysterious than I thought" he remarked to himself. "If I'm wrong, or if I'm supposed to do something in particular while I'm here, you're going to have to provide some kind of clue" he asked of any deity that might be listening.
"Very well" he said after a lengthy pause during which neither the Gods of Rome nor those of Westeros responded to his appeal for guidance. "If you want me to go about things the way I personally think is logical and best then please send me absolutely no sign" he requested, crossing his arms while still looking in the mirror. "As you wish then" he continued after another long pause, unable to resist a smirk that absolutely nothing had happened. "It's on you now, don't complain if you don't get the end result you desired" he stated, fervently hoping that he hadn't just dived deep into the ocean of blasphemy.
Looking out through the eyes of Joffrey Baratheon, Gaius Octavian of the Julii straightened up and dispassionately weighed what he saw of his new self. "I really hope that this arsehole didn't get my body in return because if he did then the Republic is monumentally buggered" he concluded sadly.
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Note from the author:
Hi All, some of you might have seen this story over on Alternate History Forums, I had a few requests to post it up here too. Basically it's a tale of what the mind of the mildly sociopathic boy genius Octavian from HBO's Rome gets up to in the body of the violently psychopathic boy imbecile Joffrey from HBO's Game of Thrones.
Timeline wise this story begins at the time of the first episode of Game of Thrones, with Octavian's mind as of the end of Rome episode 2:03 jumping into Joffrey as he travels with the King's retinue to Winterfell. As usual for me I'll add hyperlinked references in the author's notes at the bottom of each section to help any reader who isn't familiar with either franchise.
Rather than posting all completed parts at once I'll be putting up a couple a day here until it's caught up with the other forum (much easier to deal with comments that way).