Stormlands
The people of the stormlands are like unto their weather, it has oft been said: tumultuous, violent, implacable, unpredictable. - The World of Ice and Fire[1]
The Stormlands, also known as the Kingdom of the Storm, is located to the south-east of Westeros, bordering the Riverlands and the Blackwater to the north, the Reach to the west, Dorne to the south, and the coast of the Narrow Sea to the east. The Stormlands is renowned for its autumn storms that rip through deep forests, stony mountains, and wind-battered cliffs, and beyond[1]. The region is dominated by its enormous woods, and timber is never in short supply[2]. The Stormlands has been nominally ruled by House Durrandon since the Dawn Age as Storm Kings, and for millennia the men of this land have existed as a largely homogenous group with shared customs, traditions, and heritage.
The First Men of this region are known as Stormmen. They are a harsh, martial people, where strength and resilience are highly prized, and a man's competence is oft more respected than bloodline. The Stormmen value a fierce warrior, praising battle-talent and a man's prowess as the highest virtues. As such many second sons and ambitious smallfolk seek out fame, fortune, and glory as wandering sellswords, brave mercenaries, and valiant adventurers both within and far beyond the confines of the Stormlands seeking their next conquest.
Life is rarely easy here, and success is largely defined by defiance against the elements and uncompromising stubbornness with much of the land actively resisting attempts to tame it. While competition is fierce between the nobility, outsiders face a united front if they encroach on the hard-earned prosperity in the Stormlands, though local raids, minors wars, and feuds are a regular occurrence. To outsiders, the nobility of this land are known as Stormlords[3].
With the Coming of the Andals much of Durrandon control eroded, and the unity of the Stormmen was undone. By 31 A.I. Massey's Hook, much of Cape Wrath and the Rainwood, and the Isle of Tarth paid little heed to the Storm Kings, and existed independently.
Main Regions
Shipbreaker Bay
Rocky, wet, and wild, the storms that assault the stout stone keeps of Shipbreaker Bay are legendary. Here prosperity is ripped from the ground and sea in the form of stone, metal, and some of the finest sailors in all of Westeros[4]. The lords of arguably the most hostile lands in the kingdom have made them long-acquainted with the fickleness of the weather, and guest right here is oft sought-after and highly respected.
Dominated by the Stag Kings of House Durrandon, the lords of this region are at the nexus of royal power in the Stormlands, where guest right and hospitality has a centuries-spanning tradition. The lords of the bay regularly break bread with each other, sharing salt, hearth, and home to those in need, and are perhaps more attuned than most to the struggles of their leal smallfolk. Loyalty, brotherhood, and a shared sense of commitment dominate local politics due to the storms that threaten all, with proud families such as House Konugtun, Gale, and Reaper coexisting for mutual benefit and support.
Houses of Shipbreaker Bay
The Cape of Wrath
The largest peninsula within the Stormlands, Cape Wrath juts out into the Narrow Sea, bordering Shipbreaker Bay, the Eastern Marches, the Sea of Dorne, and encompassing the Estermont Isles[5]. Dominated by the primeval Rainwood, this region bears the brunt of storms sweeping through from the Summer Sea, and is rich in timber, furs, amber, and fertile soil. Though since the reign of the incompetent Durrandon king Durwald the Fat, most of the region has fallen away from the Storm Kings and are now under the influence of the mysterious Green Queen, where many Stormmen houses pay greater heed to the words of this woods-witch rather than any missives from Storm's End.
The men of Cape Wrath are a varied lot. Those woodsmen of the Rainwood and the Estermont Isles dwell in quiet, murky subsistence in their wet forests - preferring to uphold the laws of weirwood and root above bronze and stone[6], holding the Pact signed on the Isle of Faces in especially high esteem. The scions of House Wylde and House Greenstone have learnt to live in tune with nature, to the beats of thunder on the coasts, and the breath of wood and branch - with most of Cape Wrath following suit. But for a few the ancient traditions of Durran Godsgrief, that of the primordial god-couple of sea and sky[7], still hang heavy in the minds of Houses Crow and Slayne - to appease and overcome the gods, and to grow strong in a often cruel and uncaring world.
Houses of Cape Wrath
- Brownhill of Brownshore
- Densmore of Densmore
- Gore of Goring Hill
- Greenflight of the Crow's Nest
- Greenstone of Greenstone
- Hamfast of Bronzeaxe
- Kellby of Bluegrove
- Lush of Amberly
- Redwind of Redwind
- Shaw of Greenpools
- Slayne of the Slaynefort
- Tudbury of Tudbury Hall
- Whitehead of the Weeping Tower
- Wylde of the Rain House
The Eastern Marches
Hundreds of leagues of grassland, moors, and plains stretch across the northern border of the Red Mountains. Existing in a constant state of battle-readiness, the marchers of these lands have fought back and forth with the Dornish and each other for thousands of years, and have garnered a reputation for their grinding martial culture and century-long feuds[8]. The harsher sister of the Western Marches, the Stormlords of the Eastern Marches keep a tight grip on their power and maintain some of the finest fighting men in Westeros[9].
Harsh, stubborn, and avenging, marchers are slow to forgot slights and pursue vengeance for misdeeds true or false at great cost to themselves. The continuous wars and raids from both sides of the marches has left little room for higher culture or religion, bar lengthy ballads of conflict in the marches[10]. They have a highly secular approach to ruling - trusting in themselves above any god and tree. As such they keep their godswoods neat, small, and pragmatic, and weirwoods do not take easily to the dryer soil here.
Marcher Houses
The Kingswood
The northernmost part of the primeval wood that stretches across the Stormlands - the Kingswood, like its sister-forest down south, is vast, fertile, and old[11], and home to woods-witches, weirwood groves, old ruins, and even sightings of forest-children amongst the trees. Swept by winds billowing in from the Blackwater and Shipbreaker Bay, the rustling of branches swaying in the wind goes hand-in-hand with the sound of saws and foresters harvesting timber. On the edge of the Wendwater River, the men of the kingswood hear many things from across the bay, and the a strange new metal in the hands of blonde-haired foreigners.
Here, House Fell and House Blackheart dominate the woods within the Stormlands, harvesting large quantities of lumber to build ships, forts, houses, and tools across Westeros.
Houses of the Kingswood
The Western Meadows
Shielded from the worst excesses of the autumn storms and the dry battlegrounds of the marches - the grasslands, woods and farms west of Storm's End are the breadbasket of the Stormlands and where virtually all inland trade occurs, primarily with the Reach.
Though not as renowned as the warrior-lords that dominate the region's history, the lords of the Meadows such as House Peasebury and House Grand have a penchant for diplomacy and reflection that many other Stormmen lack. Strife is not common here, and where feuds are resolved by blood-prices and calm mediation. Content in their godswoods and their enduring rule, the Western Meadows are rarely disturbed, a state of affairs they are in no great rush to change. However they're prosperity has made them complacent and the rest of the Stormlands often views the Meadow Lords as soft, an assumption that has yet to change[12].
Houses of the Meadows
The Isle of Tarth
Also known as the Sapphire Isle, Tarth is the largest island of the Stormlands, and sits like a jewel in the shining Straits of Tarth[13]. Renowned for its beauty, of rich fertile soil, lakes, and waterfalls, it was coveted by both First Men and Andals in equal measure. The men of Tarth hold themselves to be braver and more honourable than the mainlanders in the rest of the Stormlands, which has cultivated an desire to be free of the control of the Storm Kings.
Though ruled by House Evenstar for millennia, during the Andal Invasion, the isle was split in two with the arrival of House Morne with Ser Galladon Morne claiming the eastern side of the island[4], and within a few years the whole of the island would fall to to the Andals. After the Storming of Tarth, the isle would be awarded instead to Beron Blacktyde.
Houses of Tarth
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 George R.R. Martin. (2014). The World of Ice and Fire - The Stormlands. London: HarperVoyager. p.221
- ↑ Steven Attewell. (2015). Stormlands Economic Development Plan in Race for the Iron Throne. Wordpress.
- ↑ George R.R. Martin. (2013). The Winds of Winter - Arianne I. Bantam Books.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 George R.R. Martin. (2014). The World of Ice and Fire - The Stormlands: The Men of the Stormlands. p.231. London: HarperVoyager.
- ↑ George R.R. Martin. (2005). A Feast for Crows - Cersei V. Voyager Books.
- ↑ George R.R. Martin. (2014). The World of Ice and Fire - The Stormlands: The Men of the Stormlands. p.233. London: HarperVoyager.
- ↑ George R.R. Martin. (1998). A Clash of Kings - Catelyn III. Voyager Books.
- ↑ George R.R. Martin. (2000). A Storm of Swords - Tyrion III. Voyager Books.
- ↑ George R.R. Martin. (2014). The World of Ice and Fire - The Stormlands: The Men of the Stormlands. p.232. London: HarperVoyager.
- ↑ George R.R. Martin. (2000). A Storm of Swords - Arya II. Voyager Books.
- ↑ George R.R. Martin. (2014). The World of Ice and Fire - The Stormlands: The Coming of the First Men. London: HarperVoyager.
- ↑ George R.R. Martin. (2000). A Storm of Swords - Davos IV. Voyager Books.
- ↑ George R.R. Martin. (2000). A Storm of Swords - Jaime III-IV. Voyager Books.