Staun I Darklyn

"Back home, Staun is known as the kind of king a people need in these trouble times. Ever diligent, never complacent, a builder and a staunch defender. Duskendale is the most important dwelling for a hundred leagues in any direction over land, and were it not for King Staun and his kin the foreigners, as you call them, would've overrun Duskendale and all its surroundings long ago."
- The Andal Invasions

Staun I Darklyn (born 3859 A.H.), was the second King of Duskendale during the Coming of the Andals. When the Andals began targeting the Blackwater, among them the warlord Armistead Vance, Staun threw them back into the sea.

Arms of House Darklyn

History

The eldest son of King Harrold I Darklyn, Staun was born roughly a decade before the Coming of the Andals began in earnest, though Andal families such as House Hollard and House Staunton already served his father and he was familiar with Andal customs. In 20 A.I he would succeed Harrold as king when he was 31 and already a father with four children. As King of Duskendale, he would be attacked by Armistead Vance and his followers, seeking to capture Duskendale for themselves, but he successfully repelled them. Afterwards he gained fame and a reputation as a diligent and just king, beginning his expansion of the city with new marketplaces, roadways, and the construction of new ships for the port that significantly increased the population of his city and the wealth of his coffers.

By 31 A.I. Andals continued to target Westeros, particularly the Blackwater and Duskendale, in their thousands. And at this time, another warlord named Togarion Bar Emmon began to threaten Duskendale as Vance once did. That same year Lord Gylbert Gaunt would journey to Duskendale with his daughter, Diana Gaunt, and while there, Staun would be charmed by Diana at their first meeting, even taking her as a lover the same night. House Gaunt would leave Duskendale as a vassal house of the Darklyns with the seat of High Hill, previously held by House Strongmead, ceded to them, while Diana would become pregnant with Staun's child.