tHE cROWNLANDS
House Targaryen of King's Landing
"Fire and Blood"
House Targaryen is a Valyrian noble house of ancient descent, once dragonlords of the Valyrian Freehold. For centuries before the Doom, the Targaryens were one of forty noble families who rode dragons above the greatest empire the world had known. They differed from the rest in one respect: they left. Warned by a dream or perhaps something older, Aenar Targaryen sold his holdings in Valyria and brought his family — and their dragons — to the rocky island of Dragonstone, off the coast of Westeros, twelve years before the Freehold collapsed in fire and ruin. When the Doom came, the Targaryens were the only dragonlord family to survive it.
They remained on Dragonstone for a century, a curiosity rather than a power, until Aegon Targaryen looked west and decided the Seven Kingdoms would be one kingdom, with one king. He landed on the mouth of the Blackwater Rush with his two sisters, three dragons, and an army, and within two years had broken or bent every king on the continent save the Dornishmen, who resisted for another century before coming into the fold by marriage rather than conquest. Aegon's descendants ruled from the Iron Throne he had forged from the swords of his enemies, and for more than a hundred years the dragons multiplied and the dynasty seemed unassailable.
Then came the Dance.
The war between Rhaenyra Targaryen and her half-brother Aegon II — queen against king, blacks against greens — consumed nearly a generation. Dragons killed dragons. Dragonriders killed each other. The Dragonpit was stormed and sacked by the city's own smallfolk, and four dragons died in the ruin of it. By the time the war ended, nearly every dragon in the world was dead, and the Targaryen family itself had been gutted. The throne passed to Aegon III, a boy of ten who had watched his mother devoured by his uncle's dragon, who had seen his brothers die, who had lost everything before he was old enough to rule anything.
He rules now at twenty, the seventh Targaryen king, in a realm still recovering from what his family did to it. The silver hair and violet eyes remain. The dragons are all but gone. House Targaryen endures as the last echo of Valyria — enthroned, diminished, and watching the sky for something that does not come.
House Velaryon of Driftmark
"The Old, The True, The Brave"
House Velaryon of Driftmark remains one of the oldest Valyrian houses in Westeros, distinguished by their silver-gold hair, pale skin, and violet or blue eyes. Long sworn to Dragonstone rather than King's Landing, their unmatched fleets and wealth have secured their place among the most powerful houses of the Crownlands for generations.
The house's entanglement in the Dance of the Dragons began before the war itself. In 126 AC, when Lord Corlys Velaryon fell gravely ill and the question of Driftmark's succession grew urgent, his nephew Ser Vaemond pressed his own claim, calling Rhaenyra's sons bastards born of adultery. Rhaenyra dispatched her husband Prince Daemon to seize him, had his head removed, and fed his body to her dragon Syrax. Vaemond's five younger cousins, who had repeated the same accusations, had their tongues cut out by King Viserys — the silent five, they were called afterward. Vaemond's sons Daemion and Daeron later pressed their own claims to Driftmark when Corlys died in 132 AC, but the regency ruled against them, and both eventually reconciled with the man chosen to lead the house.
During the war itself, Lord Corlys commanded Rhaenyra's fleets, while his grandsons Addam and Alyn fought for her cause. Addam died proving his loyalty at the Second Battle of Tumbleton. Alyn, fifteen years old when the war ended, commanded the Velaryon ships that held the Gullet and prevented Aegon II from returning to King's Landing. When Corlys died in 132 AC, Alyn became Lord of the Tides over the protests of Daemion and Daeron, and over the failed assassination attempt of Ser Malentine and Ser Rhogar Velaryon — two of the silent five — who sought to take Driftmark by force. Malentine died in the attempt. Rhogar was offered the Wall or death, and took the black.
In the years that followed, Alyn more than justified his lordship. Sent against the Stepstones during the Daughters' War, he destroyed the Braavosi flagship Grand Defiance by ramming it with his own ship like a great oaken fist, earning a name that would outlast the war. He sailed the long voyage around the bottom of Westeros, stopped at Sunspear, befriended lords along the way, and returned with Prince Viserys Targaryen — alive, ransomed from Lys — a feat that ended Unwin Peake's tenure as Hand. He fought in the Vale. He sailed to Volantis. By 140 AC, under Alyn Oakenfist's command, Driftmark's fleets again rule the Narrow Sea, and the house that nearly tore itself apart over succession now stands as one of the most storied in the realm.
Alyn Oakenfist, Lord of the Tides and Master of Driftmark, is married to Princess Baela Targaryen, former rider of Moondancer. Their marriage is a stormy one by all accounts, though they have never failed to reconcile. Their daughter Laena was born in 134 AC.
House Bar Emmon of Sharp Point
House Bar Emmon is a modest but ancient house of the Crownlands, ruling from Sharp Point and sworn directly to Dragonstone rather than to King's Landing. The house traces its founding to Togarion Bar Emmon, called Togarion the Terrible, whose wife was a daughter of King Josua Massey — a blood tie to their neighboring house on Massey's Hook that stretches back to the Age of Heroes, long before either family bent the knee to dragonlords.
That antiquity has given the Bar Emmons a particular quality: they are a house that reads rooms before they commit to them. They were among Maegor the Cruel's last supporters before pivoting cleanly to the young Jaehaerys I Targaryen. They backed Laenor Velaryon's claim at the Great Council of 101 AC when Dragonstone's interests pointed that way. During the Dance of the Dragons, they supported the Blacks, with their lord sitting on Rhaenyra Targaryen's Black Council and committing the house's limited resources to her cause. None of these choices were made in haste, and none of them left the house destroyed. Though they emerged from the Dance politically diminished, sharing in the quiet consequences faced by many of Rhaenyra's loyalists, they emerged intact — which for a house of their size is its own kind of victory.
By 140 AC, the house is led by Lord Alyn Bar Emmon, whose long rule has seen Sharp Point endure where flashier houses have stumbled. His household carries its own quiet color — his sister Gyselle, past fifty and long unmarried, has become known throughout the Crownlands as the Spinster of Sharp Point, a title she is said to wear with more dignity than those who coined it intended.
Members of House Bar Emmon typically have hair ranging from dark brown to sandy or ash-blond, eyes most often brown, grey, or hazel, and complexions shaped by coastal life. In build, Bar Emmons tend toward the sturdy and practical rather than the delicate — men and women alike often described as solidly made, weathered by wind and salt, and more suited to endurance than display.
House Celtigar of Claw Isle
House Celtigar is an ancient Valyrian house of the Crownlands, ruling Claw Isle from their sea-girt seat and sworn directly to Dragonstone. Long associated with the Targaryens, the Celtigars have traditionally drawn their strength from maritime trade, coin, and careful stewardship rather than great armies. The family is also known for a collection of Valyrian artifacts kept at Claw Isle, among them a horn said to summon krakens from the deep and a candle that burns cold and pale, displayed with the quiet confidence of a house that knows its lineage opens doors.
During the Dance of the Dragons, House Celtigar declared for the Blacks, with Lord Bartimos serving on the Black Council and later as Rhaenyra's master of coin when she held King's Landing. His methods were thorough and deeply unpopular — taxes on wine and ale doubled, port fees tripled, executions levied as a source of revenue. The city remembered. When riots broke out in King's Landing in 130 AC, a mob overran Bartimos's manse. His young kinsman Arthor Celtigar died defending the door and holding the mob at bay until a treacherous servant let them in from behind. Bartimos did not survive the night.
His son Clement inherited mid-war, and wasted no time in demonstrating where the house stood. During the Hour of the Wolf, Lord Clement rode to King's Landing alongside Ser Corwyn Corbray and Lady Staunton of Rook's Rest, placing House Celtigar squarely behind the young Aegon III Targaryen as he was secured on the throne.
By 140 AC, the house is led by Lord Clement Celtigar, who governs Claw Isle with the measured pragmatism of a man who watched his father die for a queen and drew his own conclusions. House Celtigar remains a loyal vassal of Dragonstone, shaped by Valyrian heritage, tested by civil war, and focused on endurance.
Members of House Celtigar often display traces of their Valyrian ancestry, though typically less pronounced than those of House Velaryon or House Targaryen. Hair is most commonly pale blond, silver-blond, or ash-gold, with eyes ranging from pale blue and grey to sea-green. Complexions tend toward fair, and builds are usually lean or spare rather than imposing. With generations of intermarriage beyond Valyria, these traits vary widely, leaving some Celtigars strongly Valyrian in appearance while others bear a more mixed Crownlands look.
House Massey of Stonedance
House Massey is an ancient Crownlands house ruling from Stonedance on Massey's Hook, sworn directly to Dragonstone. Predating the Targaryen Conquest, the Masseys have long been known for their stubborn endurance and uneasy closeness to dragonfire.
During the Dance of the Dragons, House Massey remained loyal to the Blacks, and paid dearly for it. Lord Gormon Massey died on Dragonstone itself during the Sowing of the Seeds, burned to death in his attempt to claim the riderless dragon Vermithor — one of many who tried in those desperate months, and one of the few whose name history bothered to record. Later, Elinda Massey, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Rhaenyra, accompanied the queen through her flight from King's Landing to Dragonstone, where she was present at the last. It is said she gouged out her own eyes at the sight of her queen being devoured by Sunfyre, though some whisper it was done by the Greens who held her after, so that Rhaenyra's end would be the last thing Elinda ever saw. She and the other ladies-in-waiting were held in Sea Dragon Tower to await ransom.
In the war's aftermath, House Massey briefly tasted royal favor when Ser Robin Massey was named Lord Commander of the Kingsguard under Aegon III. His appointment proved short-lived — he had been named without the regents' counsel, and was dismissed and replaced with men connected to Unwin Peake, a slight long remembered by the house. The house's entanglement with the regency did not end there. Young Elinor Massey was among the thousand maidens presented before the king at the Maiden's Day Ball in 133 AC, where Peake's agents were quietly at work discrediting, threatening, or removing promising rivals to Myrielle Peake. What precisely befell Elinor that evening belongs to her individual story, but the Masseys have not forgotten that their daughter was caught in those machinations.
Though the Greens' rule proved fleeting and the crown ultimately passed to Aegon III Targaryen, House Massey emerged from the Dance scarred in body and memory alike. By 140 AC, they endure as a loyal but watchful vassal of Dragonstone — an old house that remembers dragons not as symbols, but as instruments of loss.
House Massey is said to retain traces of its First Men origins. Members are most often dark-haired, with grey or brown eyes and solid, broad builds. Their features tend toward the rugged rather than refined, and generations spent along the windswept Hook have left them weathered in look and bearing, marking them as an old and stubborn line among the Crownlands.
Arston Massey
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Born: 88 AC (51 - 52 Years Old)
Damon Massey
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Born: 90 AC (49 - 50 Years Old)
House Rosby
House Rosby is an old Crownlands house seated a short ride north of King's Landing, sworn directly to the Iron Throne. Long accustomed to proximity to royal authority, the Rosbys have historically favored caution and survival over bold displays of loyalty.
During the Dance of the Dragons, House Rosby initially declared for the Blacks, but the castle was taken early by Ser Criston Cole's march through the Crownlands, and the lord bent the knee to the Greens to avoid execution. Rhaenyra considered him a faithless friend. When she took King's Landing, Lord Rosby was arrested, his tongue removed for the treasonous words he had spoken in switching his allegiance, and then executed. He left behind at least two children: a daughter of twelve and a younger son. Prince Daemon argued the daughter should be wed to Hugh Hammer, granting him the Rosby lands. Lord Corlys countered that Rhaenyra's own case rested on her father's named succession, and that Rosby had named no heir — the younger son should inherit. Rhaenyra agreed, and the son received the castle. The daughter drew her own conclusions from all of it.
When Rhaenyra later fled King's Landing and sought admittance to Rosby, the twelve-year-old who had watched her father die refused to open the gates.
By 140 AC, House Rosby endures under new leadership, its reputation shaped by that remembered treachery. The house governs quietly and with visible prudence, keenly aware that in the Crownlands, so close to the Iron Throne, loyalty is watched, recorded, and seldom forgiven.
House Rosby is not known for its robustness. Its members are often slight of build, with pale or fair complexions and features that tend toward the delicate rather than the hardy. Hair is commonly light brown, sandy, or fair, and eyes are most often grey or pale brown.
Lord Oren Rosby
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Lord of Rook's Rest
Born: 121 AC (18 - 19 Years Old)
Alysanne Rosby nee Stokeworth
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Dowager Lady of Rook's Rest
Born: 100 AC (39 - 40 Years Old)
Marleah Rosby
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Born: 118 AC (21 - 22 Years Old)
Lynn Rosby
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Born: 122 AC (18 Years Old)
House Staunton of Rook's Rest
House Staunton is an old Crownlands house sworn directly to the Iron Throne, its history indelibly marked by the Dance of the Dragons. At the outbreak of the war, Lord Staunton of Rook's Rest declared for the Blacks and sat among the lesser lords of Rhaenyra Targaryen's Black Council, binding his house firmly to her cause.
That loyalty proved fatal. Criston Cole marched on the crownlands in the war's early months, forcing the submission of lords who had bent the knee to the Greens and turning his host toward Rook's Rest. Lord Staunton defied them and sent a raven to Dragonstone. What arrived in answer was Princess Rhaenys Targaryen on her dragon Meleys — alone, without support. In the battle that followed, Meleys, Sunfyre, and Vhagar all fell from the sky together, and when the smoke cleared, Rhaenys was dead, her dragon with her. Aemond and Cole took the castle. Lord Staunton was beheaded, his garrison put to the sword, and his head carried to King's Landing alongside the head of Meleys to be mounted above the gates — a brutal warning to Rhaenyra's remaining supporters.
After his death, his widow took charge of Rook's Rest and held the house together through the war's bitter end. Her resolve was made plain during the Hour of the Wolf, when she rode from Duskendale to King's Landing alongside Ser Corwyn Corbray and Lord Clement Celtigar, placing House Staunton on the side of the young Aegon III as he was secured on the throne.
The house did not escape the regency years unmarked. When a new wife was sought for the widowed king, Lord Unwin Peake spread quiet gossip that Ysabel Staunton was too fond of wine, discrediting her candidacy before it could take root. Whether the rumor was true is a matter the house disputes still.
By 140 AC, House Staunton endures, its name synonymous with sacrifice, its seat forever linked to one of the Dance's bloodiest moments, and its loyalty to the realm proven at grievous cost.
House Staunton displays the common features of the Crownlands nobility. Hair is most often brown or dark blond, with eyes typically brown or grey. Their builds tend toward lean or wiry rather than broad, and their bearing is often described as severe or reserved.
Lord Harrold Staunton
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Lord of Rook's Rest
Born: 113 AC (26 to 27 Years Old)
Meredyth Staunton nee Rosby
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Lady of Rook's Rest
Born: 116 AC (23 to 24 Years Old)
Ysabel Staunton
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Born: 105 AC (34 to 35 Years Old)
Joffrey Staunton
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Born: 114 AC (25 to 26 Years Old)
Symond Staunton
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Born: 90 AC (49 to 50 Years Old)
Doreah Staunton nee Tarth
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Second wife of Symond
Born: 114 AC (25 to 26 Years Old)
Ellyn Staunton nee Mallery
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Born: 62 AC (77 - 78 Years Old)
House Stokeworth
"Proud to be Faithful"
House Stokeworth is an old Crownlands house seated near King's Landing and sworn directly to the Iron Throne. Long shaped by proximity to royal power, the Stokeworths have traditionally favored obedience and caution, their fortunes closely tied to the temper of the crown.
During the Dance of the Dragons, House Stokeworth supported the Greens. In the aftermath of the Battle of the Gullet, it was proposed that the daughters of Lords Rosby and Stokeworth be given in marriage to Hugh Hammer and Ulf White as reward for their service as dragonriders. Rhaenyra allowed the sons to inherit instead. Whether that slight was among the grievances that drove the Two Betrayers to turn their dragons on Tumbleton, burning the town from within, is a matter historians argue still.
When Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen took King's Landing, the lord of Stokeworth was arrested and executed for his allegiance to the Greens. He left behind at least a daughter of six years, plunging the house into minority and uncertainty at the war's end.
By 140 AC, House Stokeworth endures under the shadow of that loss. The memory of that execution has fostered a culture of restraint and political quiet, with the house governed carefully on behalf of its young heirs, ever mindful that in the Crownlands, survival often depends on knowing when not to be seen.
House Stokeworth shows the mixed features typical of the Crownlands nobility. Hair is most often light brown or sandy, with a notable number of fair-haired and blond members, and eyes commonly brown, grey, or blue.
Odette Stokeworth nee Florent
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Dowager Lady of Stokeworth and Regent of Stokeworth
Born: 100 AC (39 - 40 Years Old)
House Sunglass of Sweetport Sound
House Sunglass is a lesser but long-established house of the Crownlands, ruling from Sweetport Sound upon the narrow sea. Coastal by nature and outlook, the Sunglasses have for generations been sworn directly to Dragonstone, their loyalty tied not to King's Landing but to the Targaryens who traditionally held the island seat.
During the Dance of the Dragons, House Sunglass remained loyal to the Blacks and to Dragonstone, a stance that placed them firmly within Rhaenyra's camp. Though spared the worst devastation of the war, their fortunes suffered alongside many of Dragonstone's sworn houses, and the years following the conflict were marked by retrenchment rather than advancement.
As of 140 AC, the house is ruled by Lord Garmon Sunglass and his wife Elena Sunglass (née Piper). Their rule is defined by steady loyalty and maritime vigilance, maintaining House Sunglass as a quiet but dependable vassal of Dragonstone in the fragile peace that followed the Dance.
