#the daemon v rhaenyra dance is honestly a lot further in development than this idea tbf

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Are you still working on that velaryons team green fic? if yes can you talk more about it please it sounds really intresting

I've got an idea of it in my head, haven't done much to put pen to paper because I've got a bunch of other fic drafts that I want to get out (I'm legit so close to being done with my "Rhaenyra doesn't react to B&C like a dumbass" fic, and I want to get my MAWS Slade/Addie fic and my TMA season 5 au fic out into the world sometime this year too, plus I do have a Dance au that I'm far more actively plotting out, it's just between Daemon and Rhaenyra rather than Aegon and Rhaenyra, where fun fact the Velaryons are on Daemon's side). But I've definitely thought about it, and plotted some stuff out tentatively.

Basically, this is all based on the fact that, as I've mentioned in other posts, the show has given me no reason to believe that the Velaryons should want to side with Rhaenyra, any of them. Corlys should be feel antagonistic to Viserys and whatever his final wishes may be because of the constant disrespect he has been shown by Viserys specifically. Rhaena shouldn't be on board with anything Daemon is on board with because he's been a profoundly shit father to her. Baela, as someone who grew up on Driftmark watching it be ruled by a woman, should not be on board being no more than someone's consort (especially when she doesn't know him because she spent the first ten years of her life in Pentos and then the ten years after that warded at Driftmark, she shouldn't know any of the Strongs or Rhaenyra at all) and losing a throne that should have gone to her own mother to someone she doesn't know either. Rhaenys especially shouldn't be on Team Black in the show, because she spends the entire show hating Rhaenyra's guts, first for just being the heir (OK girl) and then for seemingly cuckolding her son and later, in her view, straight up murdering him, to say nothing of the antipathy she feels for Daemon as a person and specifically in keeping Laena away from her for the last ten years of her life. None of these people should be willing to follow Rhaenyra (and to a lesser extent, Daemon) down the fucking road, much less in a war. This is an inter-familial succession crisis, who the family members choose to side with comes down largely to personal preference, and based on what the show wrote, the preferences of the Velaryons should lean far away from Team Black. Like, I'm supposed to believe that Rhaenys does a complete 180 on how she's been characterized for the last twenty five years of the show's timeline because Rhaenyra managed to avoid singlehandedly starting World War Westeros in the twelve hours since she'd been crowned? Be serious.

So basically, the AU of the Velaryons being Team Green rests on the premise that the show would allow the Velaryons to be, like, upset at the constant disrespect they've been shown by the key players of Team Black. Corlys is upset at how Viserys has treated him, Rhaena is upset at Daemon for how he treated her, Baela has a stronger connection to her maternal side and Driftmark as a result, Rhaenys is consistently characterized and thus consistently upset at how Daemon and Rhaenyra affected her children, both of whom she's outlived. So during the Driftmark inheritance debacle in ep 8, Rhaenys does not magically come to Rhaenyra's aid after hating on her the entire episode, but instead keeps out of it and is neutral, as does Baela herself. And when episode nine rolls around, Rhaenys is much more amenable to Alicent's proposal. One, because Alicent saying "let us direct things behind the scenes since we're smarter even if we can't have institutional power because of the gender roles of our society" is the exact same thing Rhaenys has done her entire marriage (we legit see this in episode 5 and it's the entire basis of her power anyway). Two, because Rhaenys is, again, consistent, so she's against Rhaenyra having power, though largely for personal, petty reasons, though she does have legit concerns over having unrepentant murderers on the throne, since Rhaenyra and Daemon letting people believe they committed Laenor-cide unprompted just to satisfy themselves should have, like, consequences and people should fear what they're capable of as they said, thus not wanting them on the throne. Three, because Rhaenys and Alicent in this AU would have a pre-existing working relationship. Rhaenys has essentially been ruling over Driftmark ever since Corlys left ten years ago, while Alicent has simultaneously been the acting queen of Westeros as Viserys has grown more infirm. They've had to communicate with each other, as rulers, during that time, and be able to do so cordially and effectively in order to do right by the people living on Driftmark, who are under both of their purviews as liege lady and queen. So when Alicent gives this proposal, bolstered with her sincerity about how queens need to count the cost to their people when it comes to conflict, Rhaenys takes her at her word, and does decide to stay in King's Landing and lend legitimacy to Aegon. She stands with him on the dais, and she takes charge in sending negotiations to Rhaenyra to get her to capitulate without causing bloodshed, and she also leverages this for her own power.

One thing Rhaenys is adamant about in this AU is the same thing she's adamant about in episode 7: that the Driftwood Throne should pass to her granddaughters, not Rhaenyra's sons. So she uses the promise of her support to get the Greens to agree to that, that they will proclaim that, given the obvious bastardy of Rhaenyra's boys, the true heir to Driftmark is Baela. And Baela, who has gone back to Driftmark in the meantime, is on board with this. Again, Baela spent the last ten years there, watching Rhaenys rule. She has seen how a woman can be a ruling liege, and she has also seen Rhaenys treat with Alicent on occasion and how those two have operated as rulers themselves. And Driftmark is her connection to her mother, a mother she mourns and spent too little time with, a mother she can't even talk about with to her father because her father immediately remarried and treated his first wife and their children as if they didn't even exist. She doesn't know Rhaenyra, she doesn't know Jace, but she does know Driftmark, and Rhaenys, and even Alicent a bit. So she's fully on board with Rhaenys essentially kinda blackmailing the Greens into supporting her claim to Driftmark. And the Greens are on board with it because it gives them a PR boost. Now, they can say that they're not just disrespecting Viserys's wishes and being "sexist" for the Hell of it; they're trying to prevent a succession crisis by not allowing a woman whose heir is a clear bastard to ascend the throne and cause chaos in the realm. Look, they're fine allowing a woman to rule Driftmark, but she has trueborn Velaryon blood, even if it is descended through the mother (and this in turn vindicates Rhaenys even more, since it's lowkey a repudiation of what Jaehaerys essentially did with the Great Council, saying that not only could women not inherit but that men could not inherit through their female relatives, denying both Rhaenys and Laenor the Iron Throne). Rhaena, meanwhile, is conflicted. She has spent time on Dragonstone, she does know Rhaenyra and she does know Luke, though there's never been any formal betrothal. But she also knows and loves Baela as her sister, and she has legit issues with Daemon that have only grown and kind of left her standoffish towards her half-brothers and Rhaenyra as well. She's not sure what side she falls on, and she doesn't even know what power she really has because she doesn't even have a dragon. Corlys meanwhile I haven't given much thought to, since he's not that interesting to me, but I'm sure if I ever actually tried to write this I'd figure something out for him.

One knock-on effect of this, for the broader teams, is that it obviously gives the Greens a boost, since the Velaryons being on their side means that they get the fleet, something also important considering that Rhaenyra is on an island and desperately needs sea power as well as other kinds of power. And it makes Rhaenyra and Daemon a lot more militant, since they're now firmly disadvantaged. They're gonna be far more reliant on dragons, and far more willing to use them, and there likely would be a dragon battle involving Meleys, though not ending the way Rook's Rest did since Sunfyre and Vhagar would be on her side, not against her. I'm unsure as to whether I would have Rhaenys die in this version too, but I know at least Baela and Rhaena would live, and Baela would end up lady of Driftmark (and likely also the Greens firmly win with fewer casualties since this is my AU and I like the Greens). Luke also probably wouldn't die, since Storm's End might be less necessary now than it was in canon, and also Rhaenys would be the one to go to Storm's End to deal with the Baratheons since she is, in fact, part Baratheon through her mother, rather than sending Aemond, thus there's no chance for him to get mad and for his and Luke's dragons to then act out as a result.

Also, I haven't read it, but I saw it in the bookmarks of someone who'd left a kudos on my fic about Alicent and Viserys's engagement period, but I think this is also a bit along the lines of "Velaryons join the Greens rather than Team Black", if that idea interests you and you don't want to wait ten million years to see if I write something for it or not.