A Recent History: 

year 209 after conquest

​​Blackfyre Rebellion - 196

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King Aegon the fourth was not called "the unworthy" without reason. He sired many bastards, raised them to positions in court and pitted them against his trueborn sons. On his deathbed, Aegon legitimized all of his bastards, and no diplomacy could dissuade the pretenders from rising up in rebellion. The major houses of the realm all supported their king. Many minor houses raised the black dragon of the Blackfyre bastards. The year of 196 was bloodied with many casualties. Every house lost sons and fathers that year and grew bonds of war while leading the joint campaign. At the battle of the Redgrass field, the Blackfyre's lost their beloved prince Daemon and most of his sons. Aegor Rivers, one of the Targaryen bastards, nicknamed "Bittersteel" killed the hand of the King, his half brother Brynden Rivers. With much of its leadership destroyed, the Blackfyre's fled across the narrow sea, many of the lords that fought for them in tow, rather than face the kings justice. Bittersteel now leads them at the head of a mercenary company full of exiled westerosi knights. They fancy themselves the "Golden Company". Traitors to the realm.

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Daeron II Targaryen - 209

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King Daeron Targaryen, second of his name, "Daeron the Good" ruled for twenty five years. Twenty five prosperous years in which he united the seven kingdoms with Dorne, fought off his own bastard half brother during the Blackfyre rebellion and lost much of his house in both the bloody war and its aftermath. 

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"King Daeron II sought peace and unity where others had found only strife and division. His reign was marked by wisdom, restraint, and the tempering of swords. Though he brought Dorne into the realm not through war but marriage, it was war that found him in the end. The shadow of the Blackfyres was cast long, and in seeking to heal the realm, he may have opened its wounds anew."
— Archmaester Gyldayn

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As winter gave way to summer, so did health give way to plague. "The great spring sickness" swept the Realm like a wrathful fire. Some say a quarter of King's Landing lay in the pits and burning piles that year. The disease did not distinguish between king or commoner as it took the good king and many of his kin, including his grandsons.

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"The sickness came in the spring of 209 AC, and none were spared—not kings, nor common men, nor the highborn children of lords. King Daeron, known to the people as Daeron the Good, was among the many taken by the pestilence. His death marked the end of a reign of peace, and in its wake, the realm would be tested by fire once more."
— Maester Yandel

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Aerys Targaryen - 209

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Now King Aerys ascends the iron throne. With the spring sickness still not fully over, the Blackfyre's gathering strength in Essos under Bittersteel, the Targaryen line more sparse than ever, threats gathering in the Stepstones, the Iron Isles, beyond the wall and in the halls of traitorous vassal lords, the King is lost in tomes and prophecy's.

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"Aerys is no king for warriors, no king for the bold. He does not lead his banners into battle nor sit long in council. His is the reign of parchment, of dusty halls and forgotten lore. But a kingdom is not ruled by books, and it is not the words of scholars that keep the wolves from our door."
— Lady Ellyn Reyne of Castamere