Blackwater
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
- Toyne of Driftmark
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 Bywater 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
History
Age of Heroes
Throughout the Age of Heroes, the Blackwater Marches were ever a contested frontier, often claimed and controlled by many neighboring kings, but never truly integrated into their realms, lying too far from the centre of power. The Blackwater was under the Kingdom of the Rivers and Hills during both the Fisher and Mudd dynasties, yet was torn from the latter by incursions by the Storm Kings of House Durrandon, particularly Monfryd the Mighty, who defeated the kings of Duskendale and Maidenpool after crossing the Blackwater Rush. This conquest was short-lived however due to the failures of Monfryd's son Durran the Dim and his grandson Barron, who lost all Monfryd gained and more.
Coming of the Andals
Some of the earliest Andal adventurers made landfall in Blackwater Bay. These first Andals neither had the numbers no the drive to seize the land by force, and instead found accord and took service with the most powerful king in the region, House Darklyn of Duskendale. Houses Hollard, Edgerton and Staunton can find their roots to such adventurers, the latter two taking local names for their own.
During this period, power in the Blackwater was divided between several kings and clans. The Darklyn Kings of Duskendale were the most prosperous and powerful kingdom, followed by the Mooton kings Maidenpool. House Fisher, once the ruling dynasty of the ancient Riverlands, still clung to an impoverished kingship on Misty Isle. On Crackclaw Point - the Age of Heroes still continued unchanged, as clan warred against clan to prove strength, honour - and to extend their domains.
Andal Invasions
The shift into the Andal Invasions began on the Blackwater with the coming of two warlords; Armistead Vance, and Togarion Bar Emmon. These two men led hosts to the mouth of the Blackwater Rush, and made war on those they found there, burning the sacred groves, and driving the Children of the Forest from the region. Armistead and Togarion attempted to seize Duskendale in the name of the Andals, but were repelled by an alliance of Staun Darklyn and Florian the Brave, the Mooton king of Maidenpool. Togarion retreated back into Blackwater Bay to regroup, whilst Armistead stubbornly continued westwards into the southron reaches of the Riverlands. Togarion Bar Emmon would later make another attempt to seize Duskendale, but broke himself against the Darklyn host, and was no more.
Duskendale would continue to expand during the first century A.I. This was both in the literal sense, as increased trade and population made the town more prosperous, but also in terms of the power of the Dusk Kings, as they became the unrivalled power in the Blackwater by 90 A.I. In 84 A.I., the final King of Hogg Hall, Galbart Hogg - fell to the power of the Dusk Kings, being seized by House Darklyn before being handed to the Andal Bartheld's in return for their service. In 86 A.I. House Toyne were settled on Driftmark as subjects of House Darklyn, in reward for their service, and as a bulwark against the Massey kings of the Hook.
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.