I hope you don’t mind engaging in some alt. Westerosi history, but — assuming that Robert lives longer/survives gouging-by-boar or that Tywin/Tyrion manage to establish some measure of peace and stability — how would you go about arranging the marriages of the royal children (Joff, Myrcella, Tommen) to ensure maximum bang for your buck in keeping the throne secure for the “Baratheon” dynasty? (This is also assuming that Cersei is preempted from messing with these dealings.) Thanks!

Well, if Robert lives, Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen die. At which point, Margaery needs to start having kids in a hurry – and you’re probably going to have another Regency because there’s no way Robert doesn’t die of some combination of drink, heart failure, or injury sometime soon. Now Margaery’s kids need to marry into some Great Houses soon – Edmure’s kids, Robb’s kids, Harry the Heir’s kids, etc. But you probably also want to get Shireen married to someone important because she’s the only Baratheon child alive, and you want to get Renly lying back and thinking of Westeros long enough to sire some backup heirs. 

But if the kids were legit (and in Joffrey’s case, not crazy), the main thing is to renew the Northern Alliance for a new generation, but also expand it – so marrying into the Tyrells is a smart play, they’re too powerful (and their loyalties to the new regime are too weak) to be left outside the fold). Likewise, if you can, you want to keep the Tullys, Starks, and Arryns on-side. So marrying Myrcella to Harry the Heir (b/c Robert Arryn’s not long for this world) makes sense, and Tommen to a younger Stark would also work.