The Young Lion

Act 1 Ch 3 Blueprints

Joffrey had decided to begin his exercise routine while it was still mid morning. He had changed into clothes that he could comfortably move in, then made his way out into the courtyard. The guards and knights looked confused when the crown prince began jogging around the red keeps walls doing laps.

He continued for sometime only stopping to recover when his heart rate went too high. Without any modern exercise equipment the tall but skinny young man was forced to workout the old fashion way. The regiment was mostly modeled after the Marine Corps Pt standards, albeit scaled down till his body could handle it. 

After exercising for more than an hour Joffrey sat down against the wall trying to catch his breath. He swore that as soon as he could he would draw up some blueprints for some modern resistance equipment such as kettlebells, dumbbells, a bench press and others. He would have to inquire with the royal smith about the feasibility of creating such items. After all he was sure of the crafting prowess of the current age.

After getting up and making it back to his chambers he ordered the servants to prepare him another bath, to wash the sweat and grime off. The servants were perplexed by the order for a second bath in one day but did as instructed.

After cleaning himself off once more and changing into fresh garments Joffrey returned to his room. He sat at an unused desk and ordered one of the servants to fetch him paper and a quill. Once the servant delivered the tools to him he dismissed her so he could work in peace.

Once he was alone with his thoughts, he began to draw up blueprints for some early inventions he intended to make for his new industry. Though the authority he held was still limited due to him still being the crown prince, he figured that he could begin his plans once the drunken fool was out of the way. The faster he could jump start his industrialization the better.

After he finished drawing up some rough sketches of a few of his many ideas he decided to check the lay of the land. He had a few books delivered to him from the royal library and checked to see how much of the world matched his knowledge. All in all it matched up; it seemed he truly had popped into the fantasy world of Westeros. He wasn’t sure how it happened or why, but decided not to waste his time pondering questions he had no hope of answering.  

He decided to focus on the things he could control. With his intimate knowledge of the story's plot, thanks to that stupid bunk mate of his insisting he read it he knew all about the future. The war that will break out between five kings, the dragons to the east, the dead to the north and so much more. Then with his knowledge of the future he could use it to change it, specifically his untimely demise at his wedding.

After Joffrey finished the rough designs for one of the centerpieces to his industrialization. Without it the industrial revolution never would have happened in his previous world. It was called the “Bessemer converter” or the “Bessemer process”. With it one could produce double the steel in half the time.

It essentially worked by removing impurities in iron ore through oxidation. It utilized airflow through the molten metal to achieve this. Then if one lined the interior with limestone or dolomite, they could produce a greater amount of slag as the by-product, which could be used in the fields as cheap fertilizer. Thus this technology would kill many birds with a single stone. 

Joffrey was sure that all the parts could be crafted in a medieval society with the right workers, and either horse or water wheel could power it. Of course with time Joffrey hoped to have a steam engine run it, but that was a far off dream. He needed to focus on making the old model for now. After all, high quality steel was certainly a rare commodity in this time, and with the Bessemer process high quality steel would be endless as well as the possibilities. 

Though he would ultimately need a blast furnace for the whole thing to work, he was certain that the blast furnace was already invented. As the capital of the entire country he was sure there was one somewhere in king's landing. But if one wasn’t around it was simply to make one from an existing smith’s furnace. So Joffrey decided to make a second set of blueprints for the blast furnace just to be safe. 

After letting the blueprints dry, Joffrey carefully rolled them up and held them to his chest as if they were precious gems. Then he made his way to his father’s chambers. He knew he was a drunk fool and a terrible king, but he hoped with his fathers authority he could begin putting some of his plans into motion.

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As he arrived at the door a tall knight was in the midst of exiting his father’s chambers. He was a tall, very handsome man, with long curled hair the color of beaten gold. He had flashing cat green like eyes, his smile was sly and sharp like that of a smart predator recognizing someone as prey. Joffrey already knew at first glance who he was standing before.

“Good afternoon uncle.” Joffrey said in a polite tone giving Jaime a slight bow.

“Y- yes good afternoon my prince.” He said his face filled with surprise by Joffrey's polite greeting.

“I wish to speak with my father. Is he in his chamber?”

“Yes, but I wouldn’t go in there at the moment, your father has had quite a bit of wine.” He said his voice filled with disapproval of the king's behavior.

“I understand but I must speak with him on a few important matters.” He insisted.

“Listen Joffrey now is really not a go-” Before he could finish speaking a loud voice could be heard from the chambers.”

“Is that my damn brat out there?!” yelled the voice from the room.

Jaime breathed out a heavy sigh.

“Yes your grace” he confirmed

“Well what are you waiting for!? Tell the little shit to get in here already!” He bellowed.

“His majesty will see you now.” Jaime said sarcastically

Joffrey chuckled to himself at his biological fathers behavior.

“Thank you uncle.” He said with a slight smile, giving Jaime another small bow before making his way into the room.

Jaime looked at Joffrey back as he entered the room with a rather stunned expression.

As he made his way into the king’s private chamber he noticed another knight standing in front of his fathers table. The knight was a tall old man, with long white hair and lined features. Despite his old age he still looked very strong and graceful. He reminded Joffrey of Dumbledore, if Dumbledore was a ripped old man wearing glistening white armor and cloak.

From what he remembers in the stories this could only be one person.

“Good afternoon Ser Barristain.” He politely greeted the old knight.

“Good afternoon my prince.” The old knight nodded his head giving the boy a kind grandfather-like smile.

“What is it you want, boy?” Said a loud slurring voice to his right.

In front of him was his father, the great conqueror of Westeros. The man who threw down the Targaryen dynasty, and took the crown. Out of everyone he had met so far in this fantasy world Robert was the only one so far who did not look the part. He had a red face from the obvious vast drink, with dark circles under his eyes. His beard was long and unkempt and his giant gut hung out of his tight clothes.

His table was covered in a variety of sweets and meals, as well as various empty wine containers. In fact Joffrey thought a family of four could eat what this fat pig in a crown was chowing down on his own. Suffice to say Joffrey was thoroughly unimpressed.

“I came to discuss some developmental plans with you father.” He said turning towards the fat king.

“Oh great, another Lannister here to ruin my mood and waste my time.” He said annoyed before chugging down some wine. 

Joffrey couldn’t help but admire his fathers strong arms as he drank his wine. His biceps were as thick as small tree trunks. To him Robert reminded him of one of those strongest men competitors from earth. He could only imagine what he was like in his prime.

“Father, I assure you I’m not here to waste your time.” He said as he approached his father’s table.

“These are designs for a new smithing device that will greatly help our country.” He said pushing some of the empty plates out of the way. He unfolded the blueprints and pushed them so he could see them.

Robert stopped drinking to look down at the weird drawing that his dimwit son had brought him.

“What exactly am I looking at here?” He asked somewhat confused, holding his chalice in the air.

“I call it the Baratheon process.” He said proudly. “With it we revolutionize the way people live their lives.

Robert seemed to ponder this as he looked over the rough sketches.

“Who made them?” 

“I did” He responded with pride.

“ Oh I see.” He said looking like he was pondering the idea. “Well you know what I think of these little drawings Joffrey?”

“What?”

Robert then proceeded to dump the remainder of his cup on the ink drawings in front of him.

“What are you doing!?” Joffrey shouted in vain to save the designs.

“Giving you an answer.” He responded before turning his cup upwards again. “If you want to impress me, boy start acting like a man. Get your lazy ass in the courtyard and start building some damn muscles. Maybe then people would stop asking me whether I had two girls or not. He laughed to himself over his joke while Ser Barristain looked on with disappointment.

“Now get out, your father has more important matters to attend to.” He said dismissively while picking up another meat pie.

“As you wish your majesty.” Joffrey said in a low cold voice, before picking up his ruined parchments and exiting the room.

“I think that was uncalled for your grace.” Ser Barristain reprimanded the king for his treatment of his son.

“He’ll get over it.” He responded, shrugging his shoulders as he took another bite of his meat pie.

Joffrey was walking down an empty hallway, his rage boiling up from within. 

“So it seems most of my plans are on hold for the time being.” He thought to himself. “Sorry old stag looks like I have to let the lions eat you after all.” He thought an evil grin forming on his face as he continued his way back to his chambers