Sellsword, Sellsails and Merry Men
Across the known world there will always be men willing to sell their swords for the highest bidder. Many sellswords are organised into free companies. Some are acclaimed for their loyalty and discipline while others are nothing but rabble joined together in search of loot. Some captains are alleged to instigate wars during peacetime, and some companies attempted to conquer the Disputed Lands when not under contract. Men of the free companies name themselves as they choose, some exiles from Westeros for example might even claim the name of noble Houses, both thriving and extinct.
Westeros
There are currently about thirty known groups of sellswords operating within the borders of the Seven Kingdoms. Some of them formed or at least became known in more recent years, namely during the Usurper’s War of 282–283 AC or Greyjoy's Rebellion of 289 AC, while others can trace their origins much further back than that.
“Lost Years”, as in Ab Immemorabili or Time Immemorial
First Men
As we know, the North, arguably the harshest of regions of the Realm, is strongly affected during the long winters. Even now, with the united web of trade and exchange of resources, cold and hunger loom over its people. Centuries before this threat was ever more ubiquitous, with thousands of people killed by frost and famine, a common occurrence due to poor harvests before winter or the inability to raise crops during the longer winters that last for years on end. Harsh land raises harsh people, and so a morbid tradition was born amidst the unforgiving snow. Men who are old, childless, homeless, or even just the younger sons joined so-called “winter armies” which marched for adventure and plunder with no expectation of survival.
There are three relatively large groups of sellswords operating in the North who claim their origins as far back as the Thousand Years War (what singers call the ancient fighting in the north between the ancient Kings of Winter from House Stark of Winterfell and the Barrow Kings of the barrowlands, although the runes found in the North indicate that there were probably two hundred years of conflict in separate wars, rather than a single war lasting a thousand years), the War of the Wolves (the name by which singers refer to a savage conflict between the ancient ancestors of House Stark and a skinchanger named Gaven Greywolf), or even the Long Night itself (a generation-length period of terrible darkness that fell across the known world in the midst of a great winter that lasted for years during the Age of Heroes, approximately eight thousand years before The Conquest).
The Wolves of Winter
Not to be confused with the Winter Wolves who supported the claim of Queen Rhaenyra at the beginning of the Dance of the Dragons!
The oldest group of these “winter soldiers”, usually found around Winterown near Winterfell and known simply as the Wolves of Winter, marched with the Starks down south during the Usurper’s War. They later solidified their renown during the Greyjoy’s Rebellion as well, forged into a force to be reckoned with by their brilliant captain Eyron the Anvil. Unfortunately he died at the age of just three-and-forty during the outbreak of the bloody flux in the year 307 AC.
The current captain of this group is a man named Beron Mollen (no credible relation to House Mollen). Beron’s father Alyn also occupied this post, but he was apparently much less respected than his son is now. Captain Beron is reportedly able to consume an astounding amount of food without gaining any excess weight. While his followers claim that it is simply due to his impressive muscular physique, maesters with more knowledge in medical matters agree that there must be a more sinister underlying cause. As I am confident my dear reader surely remembers, Captain Beron already graced the pages of this humble work due to his marriage to Lady Daenea of House Tyvaros, the most unusual House of Old Gods followers found on an isle off the coast of Valyria.
The Direwolves
Another similar group can usually be found somewhere near Karhold. This group is known as the Direwolves and has somewhat of a less favourable reputation than its sister group mentioned above, although that seems to had been greatly improved under the long leadership of their current Captain Hoarfrost, a man of diligent nature and refined temper, although some claim that his deeds are ultimately driven by self-service.
The Harborigens
The third group, usually stationed in White Harbour, calls themselves the True Natives of The Harbor, or Harborigens for short. Even though they had been around for an innumerable amount of time, many maesters argue that this particular group might have been formed alongside the newly-arrived southern House Manderly after the latter was driven from the Reach by the Gardeners and welcomed by the Starks of Winterfell as their own bannermen (the Starks awarded the Wolf's Den to the Manderlys and tasked them with defending the White Knife in return for swearing an oath that is still fiercely revered by the Manderlys). However, exactly when House Manderly came north is unknown, with varied sources claiming that it occurred somewhere between "no more than nine hundred years" to "some thousand years" before the Conquest.
In the more recent years the Harborigens gained some renown alongside their
zoklar brethren fighting in the south under a brilliant leadership of their late Captain Halys. He too died relatively young however, succumbing to a particularly nasty cold at the prime age of five-and-thirty. He was succeeded as Captain by an already fifty year old man of no particular talent going by the name of Duncan Warrick. Not even near as capable as his predecessor, Duncan nonetheless haphazardly led the company for nineteen years until his death in the year 319 AC. Even though by that time he was already almost seven decades old, completely blind and suffering from extreme paranoia, his family argued that having his head turned completely backwards while sleeping on his stomach is a bit of a stretch for a natural cause. Since none of the upper ranks of the company were willing to look into it any further, Duncan’s family left the Company and ended up scattered all over the North and even across the Narrow sea where his son Harlon is currently leading The Wolf Pack (more on that later). Late Duncan was briefly succeeded by a man named Errold but he too was dead the next year. His death was not disputed by anyone. Currently The Harborigens are led by Captain Theon, a man of almost seventy who’s reportedly so consumed by his brilliant strategic mind on par with Captain Halys that it apparently became his whole personality.
The Coming of the Andals
The Forlorn
In the Vale, one group of sellswords calling themselves The Forlorn also tries to tie its origins to the time of legends. They claim to trace theirs back to the Coming of the Andals. As we know, the Fingers in what is now the Vale of Arryn was where the Andals first landed to wrest land from the First Men. The First Men of the Vale were ruled by numerous petty kings, some of whom allied with the Andals instead of resisting them. The Shells and Brightstones were betrayed by Andal allies, and the Andal Corbrays claimed themselves the title of Lords of the Five Fingers. The Forlorn, clearly deriving their name from the Corbrays’ ancestral sword, pose themselves as the heritors of the ancient Andal order of knights.
Of course by now this claim does not mean much and the group had even been led by men who had never been knighted in the first place, such as late Captain Lyonel.
Or Lyonel’s first son-in-law and successor, also already late Captain Arlon. Or Lyonel’s second son-in-law, the current Captain Horton. It would seem that either Lyonel’s only daughter Tarissa likes older men in power, or lecherous older men like to use a timid, not very bright, but very vain younger woman as a token to show said power and maybe even further justify it.
The Treeburners
After the Andals conquered the Vale and the Riverlands, they began to invade the Westerlands, but Kings of the Rock arranged marriages between their bannermen and the most powerful of the warlords allowing the Kings to expand their power.
One of such Houses born from intermarriage is House Marbrand of Ashemark. In their lands of hills along the Tumblestone river, a band of merry men have been roaming for an indeterminate amount of time. Much like The Forlorn in the Vale, this group boasts of its roots going back to the Andals, specifically to some Holy Order of The Seven, who (they claim) burned all the false gods’ trees in the West. They occasionally burn some tree or another, usually as the means to scare a village into paying them so “they done won't have ta search faw whitches, ya know”. According to our sources, this group is currently being led by a man named Myles the Lousy. There had also apparently been a genuinely decent man leading them at some point, a kind-hearted and well-read hedgeknight named Damon, who apparently had been married to a Lady from House Kidwell (another of the First Men-Andal intermarried houses, by the way), although they do not like to talk about her for some reason.
The Kingsmen
In somewhat of an opposition to the Treeburners of Ashemark stands another group of sellswords. This one might be found in the mountains near the headwaters of the Red Fork, land of (also Andal intermarried) House Brax of Hornvale. This group however claims to be formed by the natives of the West who were not ready to abandon their traditions to please their new Andalosi overlords. We do not have time right now to delve deeper into the fascinating world of smallfolk, but if my dear reader is interested in the origins of this particular group, I would highly recommend waiting for the Citadel’s (hopefully soon) upcoming work on smallfolk traditions that I, your humble author, am also heavily involved with.
The Peacocks
In the West there is a third group of hedgeknight that might or might not have originated with the Andals. The Peacocks, operating in the House Serrett’s lands near Silverhill, do not claim anything and just sell the swords to the highest bidder.
In recent times this particular group briefly came into some public attention when its Captain Humfrey was found dead in his tent with a shocked expression on his face. Surprisingly, a new Captain brought the group to a local magistrate and an actual trial was held, albeit nothing was definitively proven. Much later and completely unrelated to his father’s death, Captain Humfrey’s son Roland was arrested, convicted and sent to the Watch.
Despite his kind and just nature, that new Captain that led the Peacocks after Humfrey is known as Orbert the Imperious, most probably on the account of him taking control over Humfrey’s two sons after the murder. He was also famously married to Lady Dandia from House Lynderly from the Vale who after his death returned to the Vale only to marry yet another Captain.
The next Captain (Humfrey’s firstborn son) Richard the Mule gave fodder to even more scandal and gossip when he married Lady Sansara from House Caswell, granddaughter to Lord Lorent, the Lame Centaur of the Rose Road in the Reach. Despite Richard’s recent death she remains with the company with their two adult sons.
The current Captain of the Peacocks is a young lowborn hedgeknight named Rollam. Despite his very unfortunate appearance, the firstborn daughter of the late Captain Orbert took Rollam as her second husband which is speculated to have positively contributed to his standing within the company.
Nymeria’s War
Nymeria's War was the campaign in which Nymeria of the Rhoynar and Mors Martell conquered the various kings of Dorne and united the land under the rule of House Nymeros Martell. By war's end Nymeria had sent six kings to the Wall: Yorick Yrownood, Vorian Dayne, Garrison Fowler, Lucifer Dryland, Benedict Blackmont, and Albin Manwoody. Two groups of sellswords from Dorne still claim to be the heritors of those who disagreed with that.
The Gatekeepers
The first ones are the Gatekeepers of Yronwood. In the recent years they became a brief source of scandal due to the action of their former Captains.
The first one to stir the pot of rumours was Captain Corentyn who allegedly tried to (unsuccessfully) cure his rotting liver with foul magic.
Then came the Black Captain Quincy Brimlion. When a kind-hearted Lady Ynys from House Drinkwater of Vulture’s Roost misguidedly came to the company’s camp to preach about Mother’s mercy, Captain Quincy forced himself upon her and then found a drunken septon who agreed to marry them on account of him taking her maidenhead. The bastard then proceeded to openly and often whip his poor lady wife to the point that her body became a scarred mess, “to match her face” as he claimed. When Lady Ynys’ heart finally gave up, Black Quincy reportedly felt “sad and bored”, so he tricked another blind-drunk septon into officiating his marriage with his own sister whom he then proceeded to offer to all of his men “as a treat”. Poor woman naturally fell both pregnant and sick with a brothel disease that by now completely eradicated her mind.
Fortunately Black Captain Quincy finally died in the year 347 AC at the age of two-and-sixty. The Gatekeepers are now led by his son Alaric who, along with all of his siblings, refuses to be associated with his infamous father even by name and goes by the name of Alaric Solayne. There are disturbing talks about him having some similar tendencies to that of his father’s, but fortunately they seem to be mostly curbed by his kind-hearted and honourable wife, Lady Enna from House Dunn, granddaughter of the Lord of Dunnsbridge.
The Headtakers
Another group of Dornish merry men that allegedly originated from a defiant group of natives, the Headtakers, got their name for their brutal
botes gaoso - when this group kills, they take the heads with them. They see that particular practice as a morbid tribute to the House in whose lands they operate, that being House Manwoody of Kingsgrave whose arms and the name of the castle refer to the fact that the founder of the house slew there a King of the Reach.
During the reign of the Usurper the Headtakers were also known in their region because of their Captain Warryn’s peculiar idea of getting ahead in life which he attempted to do not only by chopping off the heads of men, but also stealing the maidenheads of their women (surprisingly not by force, but some deceptive persuasion). What makes it all even more bizarre is that he was reported saying that he does not even do it for the love of the deed itself but for the thrill the chase gives him and the influence he gains over the conquered woman. He was murdered in his tent at the age of three-and-thirty by an unknown assailant who was sometimes rumoured to be his successor Captain Cedric, grandfather of the current Captain Jordan, but nobody really cared to actually investigate. After Cedric’s death the Headtakers were led by Captain Edric the Frog, a hideous man inside and out, who was briefly married to Mariya Brimlion, another sister of the Black Captain Quincy Brimlion of the aforementioned Gatekeepers. Fortunately he died shortly after their marriage and did not have enough time to inflict upon her any permanent damage nor a child. Mariya now seems to have a decent enough rapport with the current Captain Jordan whom she serves as a treasurer. There also are rumours that Captain Jordan might have entertained some rather interesting opinions about his fitness for a certain piece of furniture and now he might have to qualify for a piece of his own medicine, namely a beheading.
The Conquest
Aegon's Conquest, or simply the Conquest, was the campaign in which Aegon I Targaryen conquered most of Westeros. The first and most prominent of the Wars of Conquest, Aegon's initial campaign lasted two years. Two sellsword companies of the Realm allegedly trace their origin to that time.
The Stromchasers
The Last Storm was a major battle during Aegon's Conquest that resulted in the fall of the Kingdom of the Storm and the foundation of House Baratheon. When Argilac Durrandon, the aged Storm King, refused Orys Baratheon's offer to yield, the pair began single combat. His death ended the battle, as the stormlanders yielded or fled. The Stormchasers, a sellsword company that operates in the Stormlands, claims to have been formed in the aftermath of that battle by the stormlanders that refused to accept the defeat of their king. However it should be noted that until very recently this particular group was practically unknown and that the tale of their origin was reportedly heard from their late Captain Beren who was known to be a gullible man with a kind heart and a weak mind, so it is advised to take this claim with a healthy dose of scepticism. The Stormchasers are now being led by Captain Durran, Beren’s only son by his first wife. Surprisingly, Beren’s second wife turned out to be the daughter of Asporio the Tall, the fallen tyrant of Mhysa Faer all the way out in the Valyrian peninsula. Much like her father and brother, Nesora Faeros is a ruthless woman obsessed with violence. She apparently came to Westeros to seek revenge for her father and seduced the simple-minded man to gain his followers to her cause. After Beren’s death however his son promptly shipped her back to her brother, with no known objections from her own son who stayed.
The Weeds
Another major battle was, of course, the Field of Fire, the only time in Aegon's Conquest in which all three Targaryen dragons took to the battlefield at the same time. After the submissions of Harrenhal, Crackclaw Point, and Storm's End, Aegon and his sisters gathered at Stoney Sept with their dragons. Loren I Lannister, King of the Rock, joined forces with Mern IX Gardener, King of the Reach, at Goldengrove in an attempt to throw the Targaryen invaders back. Between the two kings they had roughly 55,000 men, about five times as many as the Targaryens, including 5,000 mounted knights. The dragons killed 4,000 men of the combined Lannister and Gardener army, among them King Mern and all of his sons, grandsons, brothers, cousins, and other kin. One nephew of King Mern survived the battle, but he died of his burns three days later. When he died, House Gardener died with him. The knights of the Order of the Green Hand were wiped out. Another thousand men perished from sword and spears and arrows while 10,000 men suffered burns. Of the Targaryens less than 100 were lost while Queen Visenya took an arrow to the shoulder.
Some time later random groups of men started to sprout throughout the Reach. Some, mostly broken ones, emerged from its charred northern parts, while others, much more young and merry, bloomed along the paths that those two kingdoms' armies came by. Eventually all those bunches intertwined, growing into one wild tumbleweed of men. These Weeds apparently still roll around, selling their swords to whomever or just being a thorn in the side. Currently they are led by Captain Runceford the Bladesman, a decent man that seems to favour commerce to warfare ever since he got married. Surprisingly enough, he is married to lady Leonette Faeros, niece of the aforementioned Nesora Faeros through Nesora’s sister Elaerys who apparently also came to Weseros and also married a Captain (more on that later).
Dornish Wars
The Hellfires
The First Dornish War was a nine-year conflict begun in 4 AC by King Aegon I Targaryen in an attempt to conquer Dorne, the only one of the Seven Kingdoms that had successfully resisted House Targaryen during the Conquest. In 10 AC at Hellholt a bolt from a scorpion pierced Queen Rhaenys’ dragon Meraxes through the eye. The dragon fell from the sky with Rhaenys on its back, destroying half the castle. It is not certain whether Rhaenys outlived Meraxes. There are those who say that Rhaenys lost her seat and fell to her death, while others claim that Rhaenys was crushed to death beneath Meraxes in the castle yard. A few accounts claim that Rhaenys survived the fall and died a slow death, being tortured by the Ullers, or that she was kept alive in extreme torment.
One particularly bold group of sellswords from the region apparently traces its origin to that fateful day claiming that their company was formed specifically to guard the imprisoned Queen (whether or not they were also tasked with her torture usually depends on who’s asking and who’s telling and when; during the reign of the Usurper the poor Queen was supposedly slowly burned alive by every member personally, now however the Company’s predecessors guarded her better than any Kingsguard ever could and collectively wept upon her deathbed where she died happy and content at the age of hundred and two). This group of valiant queensguards is notoriously known by their fellow Dornish as the Hellfires for their apparent affinity to fire and especially to burn things with it to ensure the things’ owner’s cooperation. In more recent times their notoriety had taken a hit when the group was taken across the Broken Arm to burn new things in Essos, an idea of their late Captain Orell. Unfortunately after his death the group returned, although the fires their new Captain Cullian seems to raise are mostly the cooking ones.
The Bloody Fools
Tracing ancestry is a delicate thing even for the Great Houses, so it is no surprise that sometimes trying to backtrack the origins of something so unstable and uncertain as a group of lowborn sellswords turns into a complete mess. Case in point - The Bloody Fools of Stonehelm currently led by Captain Royce, son of the previous Captain Rickard and grandson of the Lord of Greenfield through Royce’s mother Leonette. This group of hedgeknights claims to have been founded by the lesser knights in service of Lord Orys Baratheon who were paid their weight in gold after they helped Orys defeat the Vulture King Wyl of Wyl and chop off his hand during the bloodbath on river Slayne.
That, of course, simply cannot be true because that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. But, like many delusions often are, those outrageously hilarious claims are rooted in the actual history of their region.
Let us start with the location. Bloody Fools seem to have their base of operation near the castle of Stonehelm, the ancient seat of House Swann, that was initially built to oversee the river Slayne. Known for its rapids, pools, and waterfalls, it flows south from the northeastern Red Mountains to the Sea of Dorne. During the coming of the Andals, an unlikely alliance between King Cleoden I Durrandon and three Dornish kings won a major victory over the Andals of Drox the Corpse-Maker during the battle on this river. Later the Battle by the Bloody Pool (a likely source of the misnomer) was fought somewhere upper in the Red Mountains where the Storm King Durran the Young was said to have dammed the river with Dornish corpses after turning back Yoren Yronwood and a warrior-maid Wylla of Wyl.
Much closer to us in time (and with an actual factual date), the Second Dornish War was a campaign against the first Vulture King and his followers when they invaded the Reach and stormlands during the reign of King Aenys I Targaryen in 37 AC. The Vulture King was a Dornish outlaw who gathered thousands of followers to rise against King Aenys I Targaryen; the outlaw wished to avenge Dorne for the destruction wrought upon her by House Targaryen during the First Dornish War. The Vulture King scored a number of early victories against the Marcher lords, and his support swelled to more than thirty thousand men, most of them smallfolk. With such a large host, the Vulture King decided to divide his forces in two, sending one half to besiege Stonehelm under the command of Lord Walter Wyl, a son of the infamous lord known as the Wyl of Wyl or the Widow-lover, who passed away in 27 AC. In the First Dornish War, the elder Lord Wyl ambushed the forces of Lord Orys Baratheon as they tried to assault the Boneway. Orys remained the Wyl's captive for years, until the Targaryens ransomed him and his men back in 7 AC for each man's weight in gold. When the captives were freed, however, the Wyl had their sword hands chopped off so they could not be used against Dorne ever again. And thus thirty years later one-handed Lord Orys Baratheon rode forth from Storm's End and smashed younger Lord Wyl’s host during a battle beneath the walls of Stonehelm. Orys then claimed his “usury” as he chopped off Walter's sword hand, then his other hand, followed by both feet.
In conclusion, while the Bloody Fools seem to have some knowledge of their own alleged history, they got it all either completely wrong or so mashed together that it became an almost unintelligible fever dream. This then begs the question about the group’s true origin and time of their formation as well as whether or not they actually are from the Stormlands at all.
The Sunbreakers
The conquest of Dorne was fought between the Iron Throne and Dorne in 157–161 AC. Upon ascending to the throne, King Daeron I Targaryen wanted to complete the campaign begun by his ancestor, Aegon the Conqueror. Although Daeron quickly conquered Dorne, the Dornishmen successfully rebelled. Daeron returned and won several victories after which the Dornishmen agreed to meet to discuss terms and renew their fealty. It was all a ploy however and the Dornish attacked the Young Dragon while under a peace banner, successfully killing the young king and capturing his cousin and kingsguard, Ser Aemon the Dragonknight, who was eventually put naked in a crow cage placed above a pit filled with vipers by none other than another absolutely reasonable and not at all unhinged Lord Wyl of Wyl. The newly-crowned Baelor I Targaryen however desired peace with Dorne, so he walked the Boneway barefoot to Sunspear where he negotiated a betrothal between his cousin, Prince Daeron Targaryen, and the eldest child of the Prince of Dorne, Princess Myriah Martell, as part of the peace negotiations.
As an interesting sidenote and since we have been talking about the Wyls of Wyl so much in the previous part of this Chapter, it is worth noting that on his return trip from Sunspear, Baelor tried to free his cousin Aemon. House Wyl was told to release Aemon into Baelor's custody, but instead they gave Baelor the key to the cage and an invitation to use it. While the songs say that the vipers bowed their heads to Baelor and refused to bite him because he was pure and holy, in truth Baelor the Blessed was bitten many times and collapsed almost before Aemon could open the door to his cage and pull the King inside. The freed Aemon carried Baelor upon his back, while the Wyls wagered on how long they would last. The venom put Baelor in a coma, so Aemon carried the comatose king north. The Dragonknight travelled from Wyl to Blackhaven with an unconscious Baelor and on to Storm's End, where he stayed for half a year before he could continue his journey to King's Landing.
The betrothal between Daeron and Myriah that Baelor had negotiated eventually resulted in a fruitful marriage. Prince Daeron ascended the throne in 184 AC as Daeron II and arranged a marriage between his younger sister, Princess Daenerys Targaryen, and his brother-in-law, Maron Martell, the Prince of Dorne, peacefully unifying his realm.
Naturally, not all Dornish were happy with that outcome and while noble lords grumbled in their halls, lowborn hedgeknights and other wretched scum banded together into a free company of sellswords operating out of the shadow city built against a wall of Sunspear. Known as the Sunbreakers, they are currently led by Captain Laurent, a sadistic man of no particular talent continuing the line of undeserving men that led this sad excuse for a company before him. The only one of them that might be noted, Captain Olyvar, is done so due to any merit of his own but solely as a courtesy to his late wife, lady Rosaley of House Redwyne, and his son, Ser Griffith, who serves Prince Rhaegar of Dragonstone as a steward of Sea Dragon Tower.
Faith Militant uprising
The Faith Militant uprising was a rebellion by the militant orders of the Faith of the Seven against the rule of House Targaryen over the Seven Kingdoms. The uprising began during the reign of King Aenys I Targaryen, continued through the reign of Maegor I Targaryen, and eventually ended during the reign of Jaehaerys I Targaryen.
The Maesters
Many faithful of the Realm had taken up arms in that conflict. Even our own esteemed order here at the Citadel could not completely stay neutral, especially after a chain of events King Maegor had forged.
It started with Maegor’s first wife, Lady Ceryse from House Hightower, the daughter of Lord Manfred Hightower of Oldtown, Protector of the Citadel. Her maternal uncle, the High Septon, protested strongly when Queen Visenya suggested that her son should be wed to his infant niece, and instead suggested a niece of his own. Ceryse and Maegor were wed in 25 AC. The ceremony was held at the Starry Sept of Oldtown, with Ceryse's uncle performing the rites. Ceryse was twenty-three, whereas Maegor was thirteen years old.
After fourteen years of childless marriage, Maegor suddenly announced in 39 AC that Ceryse was barren and that he had taken another wife, Lady Alys Harroway, the daughter of the new Lord of Harrenhal, Lucas Harroway. Unable to convince the septon at Dragonstone to perform the wedding, Maegor had taken Alys to wife in a Valyrian wedding ceremony led by the Dowager Queen, Visenya. Maegor's second marriage angered many. Ceryse's father, Lord Martyn Hightower, protested the marriage to King Aenys and demanded that Maegor set Alys aside. The High Septon demanded that Maegor should leave the "whore of Harroway'' and return to Ceryse. When Maegor was presented with choosing between setting Alys aside, or being exiled for five years, he chose exile and left for Pentos, leaving Ceryse behind in Westeros. King Aenys had Septon Murmison, an alleged miracle-worker, lay hands on Lady Ceryse's belly every night in the hope that Prince Maegor might repent if his lawful wife became fertile. However, Murmison only succeeded in making Ceryse grow weary of the nightly ritual and she departed King's Landing for her father’s seat in Oldtown.
Maegor returned to Westeros to claim the Iron Throne after the death of his brother, King Aenys I, in 42 AC. Later in the same year, Maegor I announced his intent to marry again, taking Tyanna of the Tower as his third wife, who had become his paramour while in exile in Pentos. Ceryse, still at Oldtown, continued to insist that she was Maegor's only lawful queen. Grand Maester Myros spoke against the proposed wedding, stating that Maegor's "one true wife" awaited him at the Hightower. Maegor heard him out in silence before drawing Blackfyre and killing Myros where he stood. Myros was one of three Grand Maesters executed during Maegor's reign, the others being Gawen (protested Maegor’s coronation stating that following the laws of inheritance the crown should pass to Aenys's oldest son, Prince Aegon; beheaded for his protests with Blackfyre) and Desmond (assisted in Queen Alys Harroway’s premature labour in 44 AC, blamed by the furious King Maegor for the Queen’s severely-deformed stillborn child and executed along with Queen Alys, her lord father Lucas, her septas and midwives).
In 43 AC King Maegor and Dowager Queen Visenya Targaryen moved towards Oldtown, threatening to incinerate the Starry Sept in response to the High Septon's continued condemnation of his polygamous marriages. The High Septon instead died suddenly shortly before they arrived, however. Maegor remained at Oldtown for half a year while presiding over the trials of the Warrior's Sons chapter at Oldtown, and in that time Ceryse reconciled with Maegor. She agreed to accept Maegor's other two wives, with Maegor in turn swearing to restore Ceryse to all the rights, incomes, and privileges due her as lawful queen. They celebrated their reunion with a great feast and had a second consummation. She later returned to court at King's Landing. Shortly after the completion of the Red Keep in 45 AC however Ceryse died of a sudden illness. It was rumoured she had said something to offend Maegor and he ordered Ser Owen Bush of the Kingsguard to remove her tongue. While Ser Maladon Moore held her, Ceryse allegedly struggled so much that Owen's knife slipped and he accidentally slashed her throat. Though never proven, this story was widely believed at the time. Most historians believe it was a slander concocted by the king's enemies to further blacken Maegor's repute. Maladon denied the story and stated that Ceryse died of "shrewishness".
All that was finally too much for some of the more passionably-inclined acolytes of the Citadel. Many young men left their studies to take up arms in defence of their faith and their benefactor’s House. Eventually those who managed to survive Maegor’s wrath and receive King Jaehaerys’ pardont banded together, naturally establishing a chain of command and other structures expected from a proper warband. While at first they tried to limit their membership exclusively to former acolytes, this requirement gradually disappeared over the following years. Now this past is only indicated by their name and a piece of iron chain every member symbolically wears on their person at the placement of their choosing.
The group’s recent history is somewhat convoluted.
Their long-time Captain Omer the Lame died in the year 306 AC following a nasty fall from his equally lame horse.
His place was taken by a hedgeknight named Damon only for him to be found dead in a brothel just four years later.
For the next seven years the Maesters were led by late Damon’s father-in-law, Captain Luthor Middlebury (no established relations to the House of Middlebury), and for the sixteen years following Luthor’s death in 317 AC they were led by Luthor’s own father-in-law, Captain Braxton Fossoway (again, no established relations).
After Braxton’s death in 333 AC the Maesters were led by his brother-in-law, Captain Garth Tarbor the Cannibal. As far as we know, Garth did not in fact eat people, but he loved to eat a lot (“stuffing his face like a pig”, it was said) and his favourite food happened to be pork. He also somehow managed to marry the daughter of Lord Gerold Grafton of Gulltown as her second husband.
After Cannibal’s death in 348 AC the captaincy of the Maesters went to Captain Simon, the only son of the brothel-lover Captain Damon and his wife Alys, daughter of Captain Luthor. Five years into his leadership, Captain Simon’s sister Keleria was involved in a nasty fight with her own aunt Alysanne (her mother Alys’ sister). Since Alysanne has two sons whose father (or fathers) she refused to name, Keleria for some reason became convinced that her aunt was having children with her husband. Conflict escalated so much that soon after their initial shouting match Alysanne was killed by a drunk drifter who was caught literally red-handed and immediately confessed that he was hired by Keleria. Keleria’s brother Captain Simon could not bring himself to do anything more than to banish Keleria from the company. She is allegedly still on the run, drifting herself from town to town and working the streets.
Oddly enough, just three days after Alysanne’s murder Captain Simon was himself found in his tent. Even with his known rapidly deteriorating health this felt like too much for a happenstance. Nevertheless nothing had been proven, especially given the fact that the new Captain Gedmund just so happened to be the murdered Alysanne’s young son. He declared that since “Simon was clearly on death’s door already anyway”, he “cannot be bothered to look more into it” and went for a hunt with his hawk.
The Bridgertons
The Bridgertons is another group of sellswords operating in the Reach. They trace their origins to a few Poor Fellows that managed to survive the infamous battle at Stonebridge, the first major battles against the Faith Militant during the Faith Militant uprising. Following the burning of the Sept of Remembrance on Rhaenys's Hill, a force of nine thousand Poor Fellows led by the famous axe-wielding giant of a man going by the name of Wat the Hewer marched against the forces of King Maegor I Targaryen. As they attempted to cross the Mander, they were caught between six different royalist hosts. The Poor Fellows were untrained and undisciplined, clad in boiled leather, roughspun, and scraps of rusted steel. Armed largely with woodsmen's axes, sharpened sticks, and farm implements, they did not stand a chance against the knights of the royalist armies. With Wat's forces divided by the river, the Poor Fellows were cut to pieces. The sheer brutality of the carnage made the Mander run red with blood for twenty leagues, resulting in the bridge and castle that commanded it forever after being known as Bitterbridge. Wat managed to kill half a dozen lords, including the commander of the king's army, but was eventually taken alive and delivered to King's Landing in chains. Maegor cut off Wat's limbs with his own axe, then commanded his maesters to keep Wat alive so he could attend the king's wedding to Tyanna of the Tower. When Maegor later took Tyanna as his third wife on Rhaenys's Hill, surrounded by the remains of the Warrior's Sons who had died there when Maegor burned down the Sept of Remembrance, Wat was present as a witness.
With the sheer brutality of Wat’s treatment by Maegor and the fact that those who tried to flee from the flames during the burning of the Sept of Remembrance were slain by archers Maegor had placed around the hill, it is reasonable to question if there were in fact any of the Poor Fellows left after Bitterbridge or if there were how many of them could function in any significant capacity later on.
Much more plausible point of origin for this particular group might actually be found a bit closer to us in time when the sack of Bitterbridge occurred during the Dance of the Dragons. In 130 AC, during the Fall of King's Landing, when Queen Rhaenyra's dragons first appeared in the skies above the city, the green master of whisperers Lord Larys Strong spirited Prince Maelor out of the city along with his father, King Aegon II, and older sister, Princess Jaehaera, through a secret passage of Maegor's Holdfast. Maelor was put in the charge of Ser Rickard Thorne of the Kingsguard who swore to bring him safely to Oldtown, while the Kingsguard Willis Fell was charged to bring Jaehaera to Storm's End. After the escape, Rhaenyra posted huge rewards for information leading to the capture of Aegon, Jaehaera, Maelor, Willis Fell, Rickard Thorne, and Larys Strong. When that failed to produce anything, Rhaenyra sent out hunting parties of "knights inquisitor" to seek out the escapees, and punish anyone who helped them. At the blacks-held Bitterbridge crowded from refugees fleeing the greens, Rickard Thorne (while travelling incognito and claiming Maelor was his son) attempted to stay at the Hogs Head, a disreputable inn, but there were no rooms left. Rickard showed a silver stag to the innkeep, Ben Buttercakes, and Ben allowed him to stay in the stables, if he cleaned them first. Once Rickard did so, Ben offered him a drink, as a pretext for his stableboy Sly to search for more money in Rickard's belongings. Sly did not find any coins, but he did find Maelor's dragon egg, wrapped in Rickard's white cloak. When Sly informed the inn's common room of his discovery, Rickard fled the inn with Maelor, slaying Ben on his way out and stealing a horse from the stables, while a mob of people followed. Not long after, Rickard was killed by crossbowmen on the city's stone bridge, though the Kingsguard clung to his charge until the end. A simple-minded and half-mad washerwoman called Willow Pound-Stone had to tear a crying Maelor from his arms. However, once the mob killed Rickard and seized Maelor, they did not know what to do with him. They debated whether to bring him to far away King's Landing for Rhaenyra's reward, or take him to nearby Longtable and the camp of the green Lord Ormund Hightower, who might pay more. A fight broke out between Sly the stableboy, the crossbowman who had killed Rickard, and Willow Pound-Stone, who said no one was going to hurt her new son. It is disputed what happened next: Mushroom claims Willow Pound-Stone accidentally crushed Maelor to death, Eustace says he was chopped into six pieces by a butcher so everyone might have a piece, and Munkun writes that Maelor was simply torn apart by the mob. All that is known for sure is that by the time Lady Caswell and her knights arrived, Maelor was dead. Lady Caswell, whose lord husband had earlier been executed by Maelor's father, was aghast at the violence. She hanged Willow, Sly, and the man whose horse had been stolen by Rickard. Then, she sent Rickard's corpse and Maelor's head to Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen in King's Landing. Maelor's dragon egg was sent to Lord Ormund Hightower at Longtable in hope that it might appease his fury. Lord Ormund was generous after Longtable was yielded, taking its wealth and grains but doing no harm to the Merryweathers, so Lady Caswell hoped he would also be merciful when he arrived at Bitterbridge. When the green army arrived, Lady Caswell yielded her castle to Lord Hightower, begged Lord Ormund to spare her children and then publicly hanged herself from the gatehouse. Ormund then indeed spared her sons and daughter, sending them as prisoners to Oldtown, but ordered the entire castle's remaining garrison put to the sword. Prince Daeron Targaryen was also furious about the death of his nephew and granted no mercy. He used the dragonflame of Tessarion to burn the town. Daeron began with the Hogs Head, but the conflagration spread to the other inns, storehouses, and homes. Hundreds of wounded died within Bitterbridge's sept, and townspeople were cut down by Ormund's soldiers or forced into the Mander to drown. The bridge across the river was spared, however.
Since we know that there are verifiable accounts of refugees from Bitterbridge unwisely fleeing to Tumbleton, we therefore can safely assume that more people survived this sack than there were surviving Poor Fellows after the massacre on the bridge. With that in mind, it might be more reasonable to assume that the Bridgertons were actually formed by some of those displaced refugees seeking some semblance of safety in numbers rather than Poor Fellows eager to tempt the mad dragon once again.
Whatever their actual origin might be, the Bridgertons actually seem to at least try to emulate the alleged piousness and good moral standing of the predecessors they aspire to follow, albeit with varied success. For example, the current Captain Abelar seems to actually be a genuinely good person who takes his knightly vows very seriously.
Captain Abelar does a better job at it than his father, Captain Olyvar, who was known for his ability to talk exclusively in profanities. We can cut Olyver some slack however since he was not a knight, but a self-taught healer who got elected as the Captain on his own merit and for his genuinely brilliant strategic ideas. After Olyvar’s death his much younger wife Bera Fossoway (no relations) quickly remarried to another Captain and left with him for the Vale.
Since Abelar was born when his father was already quite an old man and now with his mother far away, Abelar was actually raised by the company, thriving under the wing of his father’s successor, Captain Lyonel Fossoway (again, no relation to House Fossoway, but may or may not have had some relation to Abelar’s mother Bera). A skilled knight, Captain Lyonel however preferred books over fights and sharpened his quick mind as well as his blade. For his love of the written word and his desire to teach others he quickly became known as the Scholar. At some point he met Lady Rosaley of House Redwyne who was already a widow of a much, much less noteworthy Captain of the Sunbreakers. The pair fell in love, got married and had two children. If any Redwyne might find themselves talking about Rosalei, they tend to be much more willing to talk about this union rather than her first one, although they do seem to readily acknowledge their kinship with Ser Griffith, Dragonstone’s Master of Ships, that happens to be Lady Rosalei’s son by that first unfortunate marriage. Samantha, Lady Rosalei’s daughter by Captain Lyonel the Scholar, had actually also been talked about previously in this humble work. She is the mother of the current young Shan Wossam of Faros and her tragic story can be found in an appropriate earlier Chapter.
Afterparty
Since we already started talking about the infamous Dance, we might as well look at the three distinct groups of roaming men that can trace their formation to that period.
The Dancers
The first ones are, of course, the Dancers. If their account is to be believed, they are the first group (and maybe the only one) that we know not only the year of their origin, but even a moon and a day. This group was apparently formed by the remnants of the entourages left behind by both Prince Daemon and Prince Aemond when on the twenty-second day of the fifth moon of the year 130 AC they went off to their private meeting before gloriously dying along with their dragons in the famous Battle Above the Gods Eye. The duel was said to be a sight to see. The sun was setting as the two dragons took to the sky. The dragons' shrieks and roars could be heard from a dozen miles away and so bright was the dragonfire that smallfolk feared the sky was aflame. When none of the men returned, their awestruck followers were met with the sudden stillness and darkness of the night. So they apparently deserted en masse, forming a unified company of men either worshipping the dragons or hellbent on their eradication (account varied throughout history, right now they seem to really be into all things dragon).
While they still consisted of the knights that served under the Targaryen Princes, the Dancers were renowned for their military prowess and personal skill with a sword. Unfortunately for the company, that seems to be in a steady decline, culminating with the current Captain Joseth who not only is not a knight, but apparently does not have any idea how to actually wield a weapon.
Also there is a peculiar tendency among the company’s Captains to die from some kind of illness, often within a (sometimes very) short period of time in between their deaths.
Since their main base of operations is located near Harrenhal people naturally seem to bring up the Curse as an explanation. Having been born and spending my childhood within the imposing walls of that infamous castle, I find those rumours both amusing and understandable. I however will not elaborate.
The Cobblers
When the people of King's Landing learned of the slaughter during the First Battle of Tumbleton, terror began to hold grip in the city, as the citizens became convinced that their city would burn once the Hightower army would arrive. A man known only as the Shepherd began preaching against the Targaryens and their dragons on Cobbler's Square, claiming that "only by cleansing King's Landing of dragons and their masters" could the Seven Kingdoms avoid a doom similar to that of Valyria.
The night following Helaena Targaryen's death, King's Landing rose in riot. The riots began in Flea Bottom as men and women poured from the wine sinks, pot shops, and rat pits, by the hundreds and then the thousands, drunk, angry and afraid. They called for justice for the murders of Helaena, Jaehaerys, and Maelor. Wagons were overturned and shops and warehouses were looted. The rioters also attacked the manse of Lord Bartimos Celtigar, the despised master of coin, killing all and capturing Lord Bartimos who was bound to a post and tortured until he revealed the location of his wealth. A man named Wat the Tanner then declared that Lord Bartimos had failed to pay his "cock tax" thus his manhood was forfeit. Wat later rode through the streets upon a stolen horse, displaying Lord Bartimos's severed head and genitals to the crowds and declaring an end to all taxes. Sailors unable to return to their ships attacked the River Gate. Four hundred gold cloaks eventually dispersed them, but not before the gate itself had been hacked half to pieces. A hundred men died during or as a result from the battle, twenty-five of them men from the City Watch. Five hundred gold cloaks then arrived at Cobbler's Square, where the Shepherd preached that the Stranger was coming. Although Lord Commander declared to the crowd that they only wanted the Shepherd, the crowd of ten thousand people was too thick to disperse. During the chaotic battle that followed, the Shepherd fled, while the gold cloaks were slaughtered by the crowds. According to Septon Eustace, the Shepherd controlled half the city that night, while Wat the Tanner, still carrying Lord Celtigar's rotting head, gathered hundreds of men around him, overwhelmed the Gate of the Gods and poured out into the countryside up the kingsroad.
Although most of the mobs fled at dawn, they returned in greater numbers the following night, dubbed the Last Day by Munkun. The Shepherd appeared once again at Cobbler's Square to preach against the large crowd which had formed on the square. The people feared the arrival of King Aegon II Targaryen's dragons and army, but the Shepherd told his "lambs" that everyone would burn when the dragons arrived, and that prayers would not be able to stay the wrath of the Stranger. Instead, the Shepherd claimed that the only way the city would be able to achieve salvation was by killing the dragons in the Dragonpit. The City Watch marched forth from their barracks at the Dragon Gate to defend the Hill of Rhaenys, but could not halt the mob. Less than fifty Dragonkeepers stood guard the second night of the riots, but although they defended the Dragonpit to the best of their abilities, the mobs eventually smashed through the doors of the Dragonpit's lesser entrances, made of oak and iron, by using crude rams and axes. Others climbed in through windows. During the battle, all Dragonkeepers were slaughtered.
At the time of the storming of the Dragonpit, four dragons were housed within: Shrykos, unclaimed since the death of Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen; Morghul, the dragon of Princess Jaehaera Targaryen; Tyraxes, the dragon ridden by Prince Joffrey Velaryon; and Dreamfyre, unclaimed since Queen Helaena Targaryen's death. In the end of this tragic day, all four were slaughtered by the frenzied mob, as well as the dragon Syrax, who was loose above the city. No one knows how many people died that night; hundreds, possibly even thousands, with many more having been injured.
After the Storming of the Dragonpit and Rhaenyra's flight, the Shepherd and his mob ruled much of the city from the ruins of the Dragonpit. This period was dubbed the Moon of the Three Kings by maesters even though the Shepherd never claimed kingship, styling himself a simple son of the Seven. He preached every night among the heads of the five slain dragons, which were set up on posts by his followers. The Shepherd preached against lords, knights, and rich men, commanding his followers to cast off fine attire and walk barefoot with roughspun robes. Although thousands obeyed, his crowds grew smaller with each passing night. When Lord Borros Baratheon's army neared King's Landing, the Shepherd ordered his flock to keep him from crossing the Blackwater Rush, but few obeyed from his dwindling mob. Forewarned by the fate of Gaemon Palehair, the Shepherd called upon his "barefoot army" to assemble around the Dragonpit to defend the Hill of Rhaenys. Less than three hundred answered his call, however, and they were easily defeated by Borros and Ser Perkin the Flea. Cursing Borros, the captured Shepherd was carried to the Red Keep in chains and put in a dungeon alongside the other two false kings to await the return of Aegon II Targaryen and his judgement. The Shepherd refused to repent when brought before Aegon, cursing the crippled king instead. Aegon ordered the Shepherd's tongue torn out with hot pincers and condemned him and his followers to death by fire. On the last day of 130 AC, two hundred forty-one of the Shepherd's most dedicated followers were covered with pitch and chained to poles on both sides of Hill Street, which ran from Cobbler's Square to the Dragonpit. As septs rang bells in celebration, Aegon's knights set each captive ablaze as the king travelled to the Dragonpit. With the aid of two Kingsguard, Aegon set aflame the Shepherd, who was chained amongst the heads of the five slain dragons. During the Hour of the Wolf a two-handed man claiming to be the Shepherd reborn rose and called for the death of the northmen in Lord Cregan Stark's army, as they believed in the old gods instead of the Seven. Hundreds flocked to hear him, but gold cloaks removed his tongue. Another false Shepherd claiming to be the "Shepherd Reborn" was executed by Ser Victor Risley by order of Lord Unwin Peake in 133 AC.
This absolute disgrace is the legacy that one group of townsfolk claimed as their own origin. Truth, of course, is another matter. According to reliable sources, this particular group actually gathered around one young and very unstable hedgeknight during the reign of the Usurper. Captain Wallace, as he called himself, claimed that he had prophetic dreams and each day raved in the middle of the Cobbler’s Square about the “dragons returning for revenge” and that the people must get ready to “give them a Shepherd's welcome”. When the dragon actually did return, the man reportedly became convinced that soon “they” will come for him, so his followers were moving their Captain from one “safehouse” to another. Three-and-twenty years after the Restoration he finally died in one of them at the age of nine-and-fifty, still raving about “them” coming for him. His son Aenys, an absolute imbecile and a pathetic coward who was nonetheless knighted by his father for some reason, continued to blabber the same nonsense from the presumed safety of his “safehouse” (which apparently was a crudely dug hole under the floor of one particularly shabby winesink). He apparently also claimed that it was actually his father speaking through him. Finally even his own sister has had enough of him and their father’s crowd of morons, strangled her false knight of a brother with a pillow and promptly fled the capital. Their younger brother Rolland tried to hold his late father’s rapidly dwindling “company” under his power but died four years later hunched on a shitter.
While for a moment that seemed like the end of this drivel, unfortunately some sort of a new era seems to have begun for this deplorable group under its new Captain Gerold, a bastard born to a bastard of the Lord of the Rose Road and a legitimate knight of genuine skill who came to King’s Landing specifically to seek out this particular lot. Regrettably he seems to have the same extreme ideas about the dragons and actually believe in the “prophecies” of Captain Wallace. Some very concerning reports even claim that he might have actually called for a new Storming of the Dragonpit and even went so far as to call for the storming of the Red Keep itself. Due to the group’s sudden turn from absolutely hilarious lunacy to an actual call for treason, a more direct approach might be warranted in regards to these Cobblers.
The Gutter Knights
While the previous rabble formed much later than their alleged origin, another band of lowlife scum does indeed sporadically emerge from the lowest gutters of Flea Bottom. During the same aforementioned Riot of 130 AC, a hedge knight Perkin the Flea crowned his squire Trystane, claiming he was the bastard son of King Viserys I Targaryen. Ser Perkin began to dub every man who flocked to Trystane's banner, causing hundreds of gutter knights to join their cause. Fishmonger's Square and River Row were taken over by Ser Perkin's men, while "King" Trystane's banner flew above the battlements of the River Gate, where the captain and three of the serjeants of the gate had been hung from the gatehouse. After Rhaenyra fled King's Landing, captain of the City Watch Ser Garth the Harelip surrendered the Red Keep to Perkin and his gutter knights, trusting to their mercy. Garth was dragged before the Flea and beheaded, however, along with twenty knights still loyal to the queen. He spared Septon Eustace (possibly to avoid provoking the enmity of the Faith) and freed all the prisoners held in the Red Keep's dungeons, including Grand Maester Orwyle, Lord Corlys Velaryon and Queen Alicent Hightower, who bore witness when Trystane mounted the Iron Throne. The Flea also welcomed Larys Strong, the Clubfoot, greeting him warmly after the master of whisperers emerged from hiding to take a place of honour at the side of the new "king", who styled himself Trystane Truefyre. While Trystane issued edicts and divided the coin of the royal treasury among his followers, Ser Perkin recruited scores of surviving gold cloaks, taking control of the Dragon Gate, the King's Gate and the Lion Gate. In total he had four of the seven gates of the capital and more than half of the towers along its walls.
After the death of Rhaenyra, the army of Lord Borros Baratheon reached the Blackwater Rush and was spied from the battlements of the Red Keep by King Trystane, Larys Clubfoot and Ser Perkin. The Clubfoot convinced Trystane to send him to parley. Along with Grand Maester Orwyle and Dowager Queen Alicent, the Clubfoot met with the Lord of Storm's End and reached an accord: Ser Perkin and his gutter knights would join the stormlanders in restoring King Aegon II to the throne in exchange for a full pardon for all, except the pretender Trystane. "Taken and in chains", announced Ser Perkin when Lord Borros reached the Red Keep and asked about the pretender. Ser Perkin and his gutter knights then joined Lord Borros in arresting the Shepherd. While the stormlanders rode up Rhaenys' Hill from the west, Ser Perkin and his followers climbed the steeper southern slope of the hill from Flea Bottom. Later, Ser Perkin was placed in command of the City Watch to enforce a curfew decreed by Queen Alicent.
Following the defeat of Lord Borros and his army in the Battle of the Kingsroad, Ser Perkin joined the conspiracy to eliminate King Aegon II and his loyalists. Ser Perkin and six of his gutter knights barred the way into Maegor's Holdfast. When Ser Alfred Broome tried to enter to carry out the king's order to remove an ear from Prince Aegon the Younger, Ser Perkin shoved Ser Alfred off the drawbridges into the spikes below.
During the Hour of the Wolf, Ser Perkin was among those arrested at the command of Lord Cregan Stark for the murder of Aegon II and sent to the dungeons. When passing judgement, Lord Cregan rejected the pardon granted to the Flea and sentenced him to death, not only for the death of Aegon II but also for rebelling against Rhaenyra, raising Trystane and then abandoning him to save himself. The Flea swore he had acted under the orders of Larys Clubfoot. Ser Perkin was the first of the condemned taken before Lord Stark during the morning of the executions, having drawn lots with the rest of the prisoners to see who would be the first to die. After being asked by Cregan if he had any final words, Ser Perkin declared he wished to take the black, with most of the condemned following his lead.
Given the sheer amount of “knights” this Flea had made it is safe to assume that a sizable portion of them slipped through the cracks along the way, hiding in the corners of Flea Bottom as the gnats they are. From there they made more “knights” that sometimes stuck together in loosely organised bands before dissipating again like mud.
Worryingly, one of such gobs of dirt had formed again led by Captain Prentys who allegedly came to King’s Landing from the Westerlands where he is a wanted man. A cunning man, Prentys is usually hard to find, however he is also unable to stay away from brothels for any prolonged amount of time, having at least two known favourites in different establishments. He also allegedly has a wife. The City Watch is apparently aware of this group and keeps an eye on their dealings, ready to strike.
The Knight of the Bloody Gate, the Mad Heir, and the Gilded Falcon
During the second half of the regency of Aegon III, a succession war broke out in the Vale of Arryn upon the death of Lady Jeyne Arryn. On her deathbed Jeyne managed to dictate a last testament officially naming her fourth cousin as her heir: Ser Joffrey Arryn, Knight of the Bloody Gate, who had served her well for ten years fighting against the mountain clansmen. This passed over her more closely related first cousin Arnold, who had twice rebelled against her, and had now gone mad after long years in the Eyrie's sky cells and the dungeons under the Gates of the Moon - and it also passed over Arnold's son, Ser Eldric Arryn. Ser Eldric was sane, shrewd, and ambitious, and when he came forward to press his father's claim, many lords of the Vale rallied to his banners, insisting that long-established laws of inheritance could not be put aside by "the whim of a dying woman". Surprisingly, a third claimant stepped forward: Isembard Arryn, head of the Gulltown Arryns, an even more distant cadet branch of the family that split off from the main line during the reign of King Jaehaerys. While Isembard could not be said to have a greater claim than Joffrey or Arnold, he did have much more gold - his family had gone into trade, becoming among the wealthiest merchants in Gulltown. Isembard was known as the Gilded Falcon for his gold coin and gold falcon sigil, and he used his substantial wealth to bribe lesser lords into supporting his claim, and to hire armies of sellswords from across the narrow sea.
Because the realm was still recovering from the Dance of the Dragons, the crown's response was initially limited. Lord Thaddeus Rowan, the Hand of the King, commanded that the rival claimants come to King's Landing for arbitration, but they ignored his decrees. Eventually, Ser Corwyn Corbray came to the Vale in person, where he ruled that Lady Jeyne's will must prevail, and declared Joffrey Arryn as the rightful Lord of the Eyrie. The other two claimants refused to accept the ruling, however, so he had Isembard imprisoned, and outright executed young Eldric - but somehow, the mad Ser Arnold (who had apparently been released to his son's custody) managed to elude Corwyn and flee to Runestone, seat of House Royce, where he had served as a squire as a boy. When Corwyn arrived, old Lord Gunthor Royce, known as the Bronze Giant, rode out to parley with him. Heated words were exchanged, then curses and threats. This climaxed when Corbray drew his sword Lady Forlorn - whether to actually strike Royce or merely to threaten him is unknown, because at this sight a crossbowman on the castle's battlements shot him through the chest. Corwyn Corbray had been one of Aegon III's seven regents at the time, and killing him was an act of treason - instead of negotiation the only course of action for the rival claimants now was rebellion, and war spread across the Vale of Arryn. The main vassals of the Vale split between the three rival claimants:
- Ser Joffrey Arryn, Knight of the Bloody Gate, was supported by House Corbray of Heart's Home, House Redfort of Redfort, and House Hunter of Longbow Hall, as well as House Crayne. Joffrey also had the support of the Iron Throne, though the crown's aid was delayed.
- Ser Arnold Arryn, called the Mad Heir, was supported by House Royce of Runestone, House Coldwater of Coldwater Burn and House Tollett of the Grey Glen (vassals of the Royces), along with House Templeton of Ninestars, House Dutton, and the minor lords of the Fingers and the Three Sisters.
- Despite the captivity of Isembard Arryn, dubbed the Gilded Falcon, his supporters fought on to support his claim, primarily Gulltown and its rulers House Grafton. This gave them control of the Vale's only city, and with so much wealth that they were able to bribe several other lesser lords and hire sellsword armies from Essos.
The conflict began in late 134 AC and lasted about a year, drawing to a close by the end of 135 AC. Soon after the turn of the new year 136 AC it finally ended for good. By that point, Isembard Arryn, Arnold Arryn, Gunthor Royce, and all their supporters were forced to bend the knee and do homage to Joffrey Arryn.
The Black Eagles
Ser Joffrey became the Knight of the Gate in 124 AC and served his fourth cousin Jeyne Arryn, the Lady of the Eyrie, for ten years before her death in 134 AC, so naturally he used that highly defensible strategic point as his seat during the conflict. When the Iron Throne finally decided to enter this war, an army of 5,000 marched out of King's Landing, swelled as they advanced north by levies from Maidenpool, Darry, and Hayford. After they crossed the Trident they were joined by 600 Freys and a thousand Blackwoods under the famous Bloody Ben himself. Altogether, they numbered 9,000 strong when they entered the mountains. Unfortunately, the high road through the mountains turned out to be far less clear than had been hoped, where winter still held its grip. Advancing host found itself struggling through deep snows that slowed their advance to a crawl, at which their baggage train came under repeated attack by the Vale mountain clans. Though poorly armed, the hill tribes were starving after years of long winter, and could not be deterred no matter how many were killed. Throne's appointed commander was crushed by a falling boulder when the clansmen unleashed a landslide that toppled half a mountain down upon the column, after which "Bloody Ben" Blackwood took up command. Cold, snow, hunger, and nightly attacks took a heavy toll, so that by the time the host finally arrived at the Bloody Gate, they had lost a full third of their number. Instead of serving as a relief force for Ser Joffrey, when he saw them he instantly realised that it was he who was saving them from their harrowing journey. Moreover, Joffrey understood that the remaining six thousand men were half-starved and half-frozen and in no condition to fight, so they halted their advance at the Bloody Gate to spend months recuperating. After Ser Joffrey finally took his seat as Lord of the Eyrie, many of the men who came to the Vale from the south decided to stay in his service. Since many of them had their armour dyed black as a sign of their allegiance to either Targaryens directly or the Blackwoods, both having black as their primary colour, they quickly became known as the Black Eagles of the Bloody Gates, which later shortened to simply Black Eagles. They are still very much around and often serve at the Bloody Gate as an auxiliary force in case of any campaign against the Mountain Clans. Currently they are led by old Captain Raymar, a good man, but not the best of leaders. A kind-hearted man, he once gave refuge to a woman on the run who later became his lady wife and confidante, despite the fact that his Larra turned out to be a known kinslayer, having murdered her own brother. Said brother however was none other than the false knight of Cobbler’s Square, so Larra actually did the Realm somewhat of a favour so she probably does not have to fear an arrest any time soon.
The Seagulls
When Isembard Arryn’s claim came to an end, most of the sellswords his supporters hired from Essos went back East. Some stayed however, enticed mostly by the wealthy merchants of Gulltown who hired them to train a company of their own. Thus the Seagulls colony company was born. In the years following the Restoration they were led by Captain Jasper, called the Bewitched for his often erratic and confusing behaviour, a couple of absolutely forgettable characters after him and finally by their current Captain Edryn, unfortunately known for his affinity to suffering of others.
The Proud Lord Said
The Pride
We all know how the song goes and what it tells of. The Pride of Lannisport was born out of lowborn soldiers and hedgeknights who developed a taste for blood under Tywin Lannister during his glorious temper tantrum. It is unclear who exactly was their first leader, but in the time since the Restoration this company was for many years led by the quite capable Captain Emory (who was about six year old at the time of the revolt and also had allegedly never laid with a woman nor a man) only to be cursed with a cruel halfwit after Emory’s sudden and rather questionable death. Fortunately the imbecile finally died six years later and now the Pride can once again take pride in their leader given Captain Loreon’s amicable nature and a natural talent to lead.
The Defiance of Duskendale
The Defiance began in 277 AC when Lord Denys Darklyn ceased to pay his taxes and invited then not yet Mad King Aerys II to come to Duskendale to hear his petition. Aerys travelled to Duskendale with a small escort led by only one Kingsguard knight, Ser Gwayne Gaunt, to bring the defiant Lord Darklyn to heel. Upon arrival, however, the king was imprisoned while some of the king's escorts were killed defending their king, including Ser Gwayne. Lord Denys refused to give up the king, threatening that he would kill Aerys at the first sign of an assault. As Lord Tywin Lannister could not attack Duskendale, he besieged it with a sizable host. The Defiance lasted half a year. Lord Denys remained convinced that it was a matter of time until Tywin would offer better terms (apparently he did not have any bards around). However, Tywin gave Duskendale a final demand to surrender the king, promising that refusal would result in the loyalists storming the town and executing everyone inside. The Defiance was eventually ended when Ser Barristan Selmy of the Kingsguard offered to perform a solo rescue mission in which he most spectacularly succeeded. Without a hostage, Lord Denys surrendered. King Aerys II Targaryen's vengeance was terrible. Though Lord Denys Darklyn begged for mercy, the king demanded the deaths of Denys and his immediate family, as well as his uncles, aunts, distant kinsmen and goodkin he could find. Denys's wife, Lady Serala of Myr, was known as the Lace Serpent by the smallfolk who blamed her for the fall of House Darklyn, claiming she put the seed of rebellion in her husband's ear with Myrish poison. While her husband and all of his house were beheaded, Lady Serala was burned alive, though her tongue was torn out first, along with her female parts, with which it was said she enslaved her lordly husband. Half of the good and kind people of Duskendale stated that Aerys was still too kind to her, believing the Defiance would have never happened had Lord Denys married a Stokeworth or a Staunton instead.
The Collectors
The lands and incomes of Duskendale were granted to House Rykker. Their sigil depicts two black warhammers crossed on a white saltire on blue. So naturally when an armed group of people carrying a standard of white cloth with two crossed black hammers showed up in town soon after and demanded their taxes, the good and obedient townsfolk of Duskendale obliged. When the same group of people started collecting their taxes every couple of days while also collecting the tolls on the roads, the townsfolk started to ask some questions. Then finally another group of armed people carrying a standard with hammers came by, but their cloth was that of a proper white and blue and the previous group was nowhere to be found, as were all of their collected “taxes”. Apparently this group still can occasionally be encountered in the Crownlands, although since the Restoration they tend to actually do something more or less legal before getting paid.
The War of the Usurper
Or Robert's Rebellion. Or the war that almost put an end to nearly three hundred years of Targaryen rule because one man was obsessed with a prophecy, another was bitter that his betrothed would rather prefer a married man over him, said betrothed would rather run away without a word, and all of them kind of forgot that a volatile king who loves to see people suffer had completely lost all contact with reality.
The Rafters
The Battle of Ashford was a battle fought during Robert's Rebellion between royal and rebel forces at Ashford, the seat of House Ashford in the Reach. The van under Lord Randyll Tarly won most of the loyalist victory, although Lord Mace Tyrell, Warden of the South, took the credit. The battle occurred when the van of the Tyrell army under command of Lord Randyll Tarly ran into Lord Robert Baratheon's forces. Randyll's forces overran Robert's army, and Robert was forced to withdraw from the field before the main force of the Tyrell host had joined the battle. Faced with the large numbers of the main Tyrell force, Robert had no choice but to withdraw from the south and attempt to link up with his allies in the north. To this end, he force-marched his troops north towards the riverlands.
That was a very fortuitous day for the reachmen. Not only had Robert's withdrawal from the stormlands allowed the victorious Tyrell army to invade the stormlands and lay siege to Storm's End, it also provided a nice haul of easy pickings for an opportune group of raftsmen operating on the Mander and its vassal stream of Cockleswhent, a fording that just so happens to host the castle of Ashford and its town on its northern shore. Now clad in their newly acquired and just slightly worn armour and armed with both traditional weapons taken from the fallen and their trusty pike poles, these Rafters set off after the Tyrells to try their new idea of income in the Stormlands before moving onto Essos. Most of the time since their formation this fresh company had been led by their Captain Ellard Florent (no relations). A man known for his love for a good party, he nonetheless had been surprisingly fateful to his wife, Lady Elaerys Faeros, sister to already mentioned Nesora and Lord Harlano of Mhysa Faer. It would seem that both sisters came to Westeros for some reason, but while Nesora’s reason was presumably revenge, Elaerys came because of her genuine interest in new lands (and apparently dragons).
The Tollers
After being defeated in the Battle of Ashford, Lord Robert Baratheon turned north to rejoin his friend, Lord Eddard Stark, at the Stoney Sept, a walled town in the southern riverlands near the headwaters of the Blackwater Rush. When the Lord Jon Connington, Hand of the King, occupied Stoney Sept with a mighty force, he ordered his soldiers to begin searching the town, even its sewers, for Robert. Jon offered pardons and rewards, and kept hostages in crow cages, but Robert remained hidden in various places by the townspeople. His last hiding place was the Peach, a brothel where Robert fathered Bella Stonebell. The royalists had not found Robert when the forces of Lords Eddard Stark and Hoster Tully reached Stoney Sept. The town's septons rang bronze and silver bells to warn the smallfolk to remain indoors. The rebels stormed the town walls and attacked Jon Connington's army, who responded by fighting back fiercely in the streets, alleys, and rooftops before Jon realised the battle was lost and retreated.
When the bells tolled for the townsfolk to remain hidden, many joined the fight instead. Out of those who survived the battle one group decided to join Robert’s cause. They were present at the following battle of the Trident and later marched with Robert to King’s Landing and rang the bells they brought with them. When the peace was restored, the group decided to sell their swords rather than going back to their previous occupation, whatever they might be. They fiercely toll their bells as they charge as a tribute to their first taste of battle.
Initially they were led by Captain Desmond, a hedgeknight who was one of the first townsfolk to jump out of their house and into the frey. Soon after the war he married Lady Alla of House Risley of Risley Glade, but it would seem that not all was good in that family since Alla gave birth twice and none of the children could have been conceived by Desmond since both times of their conception he was pretty far away. Some time after the birth of her second bastard (whom she named Robert, for some reason) Lady Alla was found dead in her garden where she seemingly fell on a pitchfork, although it is unclear why the pitchfork was standing on its handle with the blades up in the first place. Captain Desmond later remarried and had four sons with his new wife.
After Desmond’s death in the year 332 AC the Tollers were led by Captain Jeffory the Wicked. While in his youth and prime Jeffory allegedly was a decent man who loved poetry, he unfortunately contracted a brothel disease that completely ate his body, mind and soul. Nevertheless, the man managed to live to a very impressive age of eight decades, no small feat even for a healthy man.
Currently the Tollers have another Captain Jeffory, son of their very first Captain, Desmond. This Jeffory is a man renowned for his military genius who also does not frequent any establishment of ill repute, especially now that he has a bride young enough to be his daughter. Interestingly enough, his lady wife Naesella is actually a Lady from House of Mazemagyr from the Black Cliffs in Tolos, all the way east in North Valyria.
She is also just a year older than Captain Jeffory’s son from his first wife. Ser Garret’s own wife Janei is actually six years older than Garret’s new step-mom. Janei is also a widow. Her first husband, grandson of one of the Captains of the Hellfires, got sick and died while detained by Janei’s own brother, Captain Jonos of the Kingsmen. The reason for his detention is unfortunately unknown.
The Beastmasters
After at first refusing to send aid to Aerys, both due to his caution as well as due to his anger over Elia's treatment, Prince Doran Martell agreed to send ten thousand Dornishmen to strengthen the army Prince Rhaegar Targaryen was gathering. The Battle of the Trident ultimately rendered them obsolete however when Robert crushed Rhaegar's chest with a blow of his warhammer. One particular group of Dornishmen however refused to serve the usurper and instead took their swords across the Narrow Sea. Their first Captain was Marence, a handsome man and a truly gifted commander. A very cautious man, he came up with an idea of using any and all types of beats they could find to use as their first line of attack. When the company eventually returned to Dorne, they were truly a sight to behold (which they brilliantly capitalised on, showing off their trained animals for a couple of coppers). Captain Marence also loved to boast about his wife who claimed to be related to House Martell (she was not).
Captain Marence was eventually succeeded as the alpha by a surprisingly boring Captain Madyn, a man of absolutely no talent and eventually no sanity. Tragic story of his wife, Lady Daella of House Saerynar from the Port of Sighs, had already been covered in an appropriate previous Chapter.
Right now the Beatmasters are led by the Imperious Captain Sherman who assumed authority over his pack mostly due to the influence and money of his wife’s House. It just so happens that he is happily married to Lady Elissa of House Lydden, sister to the current Lady Alysandra of the Gold Road in the Westerlands. Lady Elissa genuinely loves her darling captain and Lady Alysandra genuinely loves her little sister Elissa, so naturally the pair got money, and with enough money one can become a knight and a Captain even if he does not know the first thing about swordplay.
The Bottom Feeders
When Robert drove his warhammer into the prince's chest, the blow knocked the rubies from Rhaegar's chest, spilling them into the water of the Trident. Apparently a very lucky fisherman by the name of Merrett found at least some of the smaller ones and managed to sell them discreetly enough. He then invested his money into some relatively decent equipment for himself and a couple of his friends and joined with the Tollers. Eventually Merrett’s merit and strategic mind gained him a following of his own and they splintered from the Tollers to try their luck elsewhere. While their luck was going steady under Captain Merrett, it rapidly deteriorated after his death in the year 339 AC. Another Merrett, the Fowler, became their new Captain, but he was laughably inadequate, especially in comparison to their original Merrett the Just. The only noteworthy deed the Fowler had ever done was his inexplicable marriage with Lady Elanna of House Swyft, sister of the current Lord Humfrey of Cornfield. Apparently the pair met in the woods where Fowler was poaching and Elanna was hunting. Despite their enormous age gap the pair struck a friendship. Unfortunately it was not perceived that way by Elanna’s family who forbade it. Brave and strategically cunning lady Elanna then eloped with her elderly friend and joined his warband. Tragically, her husband died in a freak accident on a hunt, and soon after Lady Elanna had a child that does not really resemble his supposed father. She also soon fell ill with a rapidly deteriorating brothel disease that by now almost completely destroyed this once brilliant and promising woman. An elderly hedgeknight named Oscar took her under his care and even legally married her, apparently to spare her from becoming another mindless camp follower. In the meantime the company elected a new Captain. Robert, a quick witted and handsome knight with profound love of books, unfortunately recently lost his beloved and even though they were not officially married, he mourned her so fiercely that he had no strength left in his body and it succumbed to the gout within a year. Their current Captain Jonothor barely manages to keep his company afloat, scraping by the absolute bottom of the barrel with their contracts - a far cry, but an ironic twist for a group that started from a literal scraping of the river mud.
Greyjoy's Rebellion
Greyjoy's Rebellion was an attempt at secession by Balon Greyjoy against the Iron Throne in 289 AC. Balon tried to break away from the Seven Kingdoms to secure independence for the Iron Islands and restore the Old Way, lost almost three hundred years before, during Aegon's Conquest. The rebellion was crushed and Balon was forced to surrender, cementing the hold of the Usurper on the Iron Throne until the Homecoming of the Dragons.
The Ugly Ducklings
The storming of Seagard was one of the opening battles of Greyjoy's Rebellion. Rodrik Greyjoy, the eldest son of Balon, led the assault on Seagard, the seat of House Mallister in the Riverlands. Beneath the walls of Seagard the battle was ferocious, but Lord Jason Mallister slew Rodrik and drove his men back into the Sunset Sea. It was the only time in three hundred years that the bell in the Booming Tower was rung. Many lowborn men distinguished themselves in that battle. One of them was Florian, an absolute giant of a man who claimed to have some Whent blood in him (he did not). His low birth notwithstanding, he fought true and led men, so he was knighted for his valiant actions. It would seem that Florian grew to like the authority he experienced while booming commands beneath the walls of Seagard, so he quickly gathered some like-minded lads and joined the Crown in their struggle against the Ironborn. Due to some inside joke only known to a select few, their group eventually became known as the Ugly Duckling of Seagard. When that ill-conceived rebellion was crushed, Florian’s newly-formed warband grew restless and finally left for Essos. There by that time already old man Florian met and married a much younger Lady Tilly from the new-Andal House Capalde. He brought her back to the Riverlands, had a daughter by her and died eight decades old. Lady Tilly eventually remarried to Ser Jeffory of High Heart who is also much her senior, although not as much as Captain Florian had been.
After Florian’s death the Ducklings had some decent Captains who led the Company steadily enough, but were otherwise unremarkable.
Their current Captain Bradamar is pretty much the same. Man of a decent military talent, but otherwise frail disposition, he nonetheless stands a bit out among his peers because of his young wife, Lady Nadine Faruud, sister to late Shan Halil of Faros who was married to Samantha, daughter of late Captain Lyonel of the Bridgerons and his wife, Lady Rosalei of House Redwine (their story was already covered in this work before). It would seem that Lady Nadine, who had good relations with her sister-in-law, had converted to the Faith of the Seven along with her brother. After his death and their court’s subsequent rejection of this new religion, Lady Nadine was forced to leave along with Samantha. She however ended up with a sellsword company insead of the Jogos Nhai, although which one is the better outcome is somewhat debatable.
The Botley Crew
The final battle of Greyjoy’s doomed rebellion was fought on the island of Pyke. The nearby Botley castle was destroyed, as was the town of Lordsport beneath it, before the main attack on the castle of Pyke was launched.
Some survivors of the Lordsport’s destruction managed to sneak out into the sea. They were eventually brought together by a surprisingly resourceful dwarf. Consisting of misfits, adventurists and all sorts of other questionable characters, this motley crew quickly gained notoriety and respect of their fellow Ironborn after a series of small, but successful surprise attacks on the Westerlands’ shores. With Greyjoy’s final defeat however the Crown’s ban of such raids was back in effect, so going forward Adrack’s crew had to do what other Ironborn did - sulk and drink themselves into a stupor or sail all the way to Essos. With the Restoration everything became even worse since now the reaving ban covered almost everything. Nonetheless, the Crew still survives. After the death of Adrack the Dwarf it went to Captain Symond the Lipless. He was briefly married to Lady Gwyn of House Stonetree and has a son by her who is in line to inherit if anything were to happen to the current Lord of Stonetree.
After Symond’s death the Crew was briefly led by the blind Captain Thormor who equally briefly was married to Lady Aslaka of House Greyjoy of the Southern Stepstones, granddaughter of the famous Kraken’s Daughter. After Thormor’s death Lady Aslaka immediately married the Crew’s next Captain Robin. The pair is a true power couple, with seemingly equal say in all things, madly in love and with an unspeakable trust in each other. They even hope to eventually pass the helm to their son, possibly striving to shape the Crew into somewhat of a family endeavour. As an interesting sidenote, Aslaka’s grandmother Asha had two husbands and one of them was actually a Botley, but Aslaka is a descendant of Asha’s other husband, lowborn Qarl. Nonetheless, the Crew still pays their homage to their port of origin and the Botley family that holds it.
The Dark Stars
The most recent sellsword company that emerged in the Western part of the Realm did so in its most southern part (in Dorne). It would seem that late Ser Gerold Darkstar, Lord of High Hermitage, had built quite a legend around himself during his youth. He was known to have some shady dealing with all sorts of characters, so it should not really be such a surprise that one of his associates, a man that went by the name of Andrey Wattel, led a group of lowborn hedgeknights who were secretly financed and directed by Darkstar. After the death of both their leader and their benefactor however the sellswords decided to either mock or honour (or both) their former shadow employer and emerged as a company for hire. Men (mostly their own) call them Dark Stars, and they are of the night.
