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Sometimes she thought about swimming the river, but the Blackwater Rush was wide and deep, and everyone agreed that its currents were wicked and treacherous. - A Game of Thrones[1]
The Blackwater is the fractured, contested heart of eastern Westeros. The lands between the Stormlands, the Riverlands, the Reach and the Narrow Sea have been the target of conquests and the prize of Storm Kings and River Kings alike for millennia. Named for the large river merging from the God's Eye and the Riverlands, the Blackwater is a melting pot of Stormmen, Rivermen, Andals, and where uncountable pirates, sellswords, and wanderers from all over Westeros ply the waters of the bay and walk the forests on the mainland. During the Coming of the Andals, this region was one of the main targets of their great migration and where Andals flocked to in their thousands seeking gold, glory, and land. Though the vast majority would falter and be forgotten.
The Blackwater is a land of petty kings and has never been united under a sovereign kingdom, though a few houses have come close, the largest being the Darklyns from their grand city of Duskendale, followed by the Masseys on the Hook. But between the grasping hands of outsiders both within and beyond Westeros, the men of the Blackwater are more tolerant to new ideas and faiths, valuing pragmatism over incompetence, and compromise over pride.
The Bay and the Gullet
Deep, briny, and brackish, Blackwater Bay is an inlet of the Narrow Sea stretching from the Gullet to the mouth of the Blackwater Rush. Past the Gullet, the winds and storms that brush away from the Stormlands hit the isles out there in full force, but warmer currents greet those further north with full nets and calm seas.
The isles have had many lords and lieges, and mainlanders have fought over them for millennia. But a few have managed to hold on to their meager holdings despite the odds, such as the Crabbs and the Blackberrys, while many others have supplanted the old rulers such as the Quinces and the Sunglass' from across the Narrow Sea.
Houses of Blackwater Bay
- Blackberry of Berryport
- Crabb of Longbar
- Quince of Gullet Isle
- Sunglass of Sweetport
The Blackwater Rush
The Blackwater Rush, or simply the Blackwater, is the river that gives the region and the bay its name. Wild, treacherous, and powerful, the river is rich with minerals and occasionally floods in warm summers, dumping the low-lying farms and banks with rich black loamy residue upturned by the rush of violent, churning water, hence the name. The lands around the river are fertile and well-suited for crops, making them prime targets for settlement. Many First Man houses have found their home here, while Andal adventurers see a wealth of good land to take for their own.
Ancient houses such as the Yores and Thornes settled the banks and plains along the river millennia ago. But their long-established rule is being threatened by foreigners from across the sea, with the mouth to the Blackwater currently occupied by House Gaunt. The Blackwater is the gateway into the deeper regions of Westeros, such as the Riverlands which the warlord Armistead Vance sailed up-river to, and new houses such as the Mallerys and the Chelsteds have flushed out the old houses to settle in their stead.
Houses of the Blackwater Rush
- Belgrave of Wing's Pass
- Bourney of Mergewater
- Butterwell of Proudwell
- Chelsted of Bramsfort
- Corne of Darkwater Keep
- Gaunt of the Gauntlet
- Greenhill of Briarcrest
- Hall of Middlefort
- Hogg of Sow's Horn
- Mallery of Riverline
- Rollingford of Rollingford
- Thorne of Shinebridge
- Wode of Spinekeep
- Yore of Old Yore
The Hook
A windy, and mountainous peninsula, the Hook has long dominated the eastern waters of Blackwater Bay, harbouring large fleets in its coastal castles and preying on southern ships that must sail around it to reach the isles in the Gullet, the richer plains and fields of Duskendale, or the banks of the Blackwater Rush. Nominally apart of the Stormlands, House Massey broke away from Storm King control and has reigned as Kings in their own right over the Hook since the reign of Durwald the Fat[2].
Natural traders, opportunists, pirates, and merchants, the men of this peninsula charge high tolls for safe passage along their shores and profit is a common aspiration among the lords of the Hook. Closer than most to the growing numbers of Andals from over the sea, and the wildly different cultures across the bay, the men of the Hook are more amenable to change, and tend to look past cultural differences if a beneficial partnership can be reached.
Houses of the Hook
The Dusklands
Stretching from the bogs and fens of the Crackclaw to the banks of the Blackwater, the Dusklands is one of the most populous and richest regions in eastern Westeros. Here, House Darklyn dominates all from it's mighty city of Duskendale, commanding fealty from both Andals and First Men alike who have carved out their own realm in the Blackwater.
The Dusklands gleam with gurgling brooks, green meadows, thick groves and wet woody plains. It rains often in the Dusklands, and is full of lush greenery. An abundance of water and wet soil has also meant the ground gives its bounty easily and the Duskland agriculture can approach the scale of the Reach in good summers. House Strongmead and House Wheaton have profited immensely off their agricultural produce, but such wealth and open shores have attracted the Andals in droves and it seems every other year another Andal warlord comes to conquer before they're thrown back into the sea.
Houses of Duskendale
The Claw
Hilly, boggy, and ancient. The Claw is a honeycomb of caverns, stretches of wild evergreen and sentinel pines, and raw untamed nature. Here the Andals are far-away and unimportant, and for the First Men that call this place home, the Age of Heroes never ended. Never united, there is a lord and house for every valley, a battle for every insult, and even by First Man standards they are a brutal, warring people considered no better than the Wildlings beyond the Wall.
There are no houses here, instead there are clans, such as the Brunes and the Pynes, who fiercely hold to the weirwood gods and the old ways. War is a constant for them, and they have no qualms who they fight for. As long as there is bloodshed to be had, glory to be taken, and gold or daughters at the end of it.
Houses of Crackclaw Point
The Wendwater and Baywater Woods
On the southern coasts of Blackwater Bay, in the shadow of the Hook, rests woods and brooks along the banks of the Wendwater River and its tributaries[3], making fertile ground for the Stormman and Andal settlers making their home. Ruled largely by the Storm Kings, this region has been considered part of the Stormlands for millennia, but with the Coming of the Andals, recent arrivals have disrupted the status quo, becoming a frontier of Andal and First Men learning to live together or perishing in one conflict or the other.
Houses of the Wendwater
References
- ↑ George R.R. Martin. (1996). A Game of Thrones - Arya V. Voyager Books.
- ↑ George R.R. Martin. (2014). The World of Ice and Fire - The Stormlands: Andals in the Stormlands. London: HarperVoyager.
- ↑ George R.R. Martin. (2014). The World of Ice and Fire - The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest. London: HarperVoyager.