House Westerling

House Westerling of the Crag is a noble house from the Crag in the northwestern Westerlands. They are sworn to House Lannister of Casterly Rock, and are considered among their principal bannermen. Their sigil is six seashells, white on sand. According to semi-canon sources, their words are "Honor, not Honors".

History
The Westerlings are an ancient and proud house descended from the First Men of the Age of Heroes. They sometimes wed the Kings of the Rock, House Lannister of Casterly Rock.

After the death of her husband, Lord Alyn Tarbeck, Jeyne Westerling married King Maegor I of House Targaryen.

Ser Harrold Westerling was asked to join the Kingsguard under Viserys I Targaryen and he rose to the position of Lord Commander. After the Dance of the Dragons, Lord Roland Westerling was one of the original members of the council of seven during the regency of Aegon III.

Ser Ormond Westerling participated in the tourney at Ashford Meadow in 209 AC. Their arms were spotted by Ser Duncan the Tall among the gathered heraldry.

The Westerlings supported Ser Tywin Lannister when he suppressed the Reyne-Tarbeck rebellion.

During Robert's Rebellion, Ser Elys Westerling participated in the Sack of King's Landing. Elys witnessed the aftermath of King Aerys II Targaryen's death at the hands of Ser Jaime Lannister.

The Westerlings' fortunes have faltered over the years, with lands and mines being sold until the Westerlings were reduced to little wealth and influence. They now scarcely have the funds to maintain the Crag, which is now more ruin than stronghold, and they are regarded as having more pride than power. Lord Gawen Westerling offered his daughter Jeyne as a possible match for Willem or Martyn Lannister, but he was turned down by Ser Kevan Lannister, most likely because of her low standing, seeing as her maternal great-grandfather from House Spicer was a mere trader in saffron and pepper.

The War of Five Kings
Lord Gawen Westerling is captured by Lord Jason Mallister in the battle in the Whispering Wood.

Gawen is held at Seagard during his imprisonment.

Around the time of the Battle of the Fords, Robb Stark, King in the North, and his forces in the westerlands march on the Crag.

Ser Rolph Spicer yields to Robb during the storming of the Crag. Rolph and his sister, Lord Gawen's wife Sybell, discretely negotiate with their liege, Lord Tywin Lannister, in return for promises of worthy marriages for Sybell's daughters, Jeyne and Eleyna. Rolph and Sybell maneuver Jeyne into comforting Robb, who was wounded by an arrow. After sleeping with the girl, Robb chooses to wed Jeyne to save her from dishonor. Rollam Westerling becomes Robb's squire and Ser Raynald Westerling joins his retinue. When House Westerling joins House Stark in the War of the Five Kings, they bring fifty men, of whom only twelve are knights. Sybell provides a posset to Jeyne, claiming it will make her fertile.

Robb's marriage with Jeyne breaks his alliance with House Frey, as he had promised to marry a daughter of Lord Walder Frey. Sybell, Jeyne, Eleyna, and Rollam remain at Riverrun when Robb departs to the Twins for the wedding of Lord Edmure Tully to Roslin Frey, while Raynald accompanies the king as the royal banner-bearer. Robb is murdered by the Freys and Boltons in the Red Wedding, however. The wounded Raynald was last seen jumping into the Green Fork and is presumed dead.

The Westerlings are pardoned by King Tommen I Baratheon and welcomed back into the king's peace after the Red Wedding. Rolph Spicer is named Lord of Castamere.

During the siege of Riverrun, Gawen expresses to Ser Daven Lannister his concern for his family within the castle. Ser Brynden Tully refuses the offer of Ser Jaime Lannister to exchange Ser Edmure Tully for the besieged Westerlings. After Jaime negotiates the end of the siege, Sybell is upset to learn that Tywin had planned to wed Raynald to a bastard, Joy Hill. Sybell reveals that she took measures to prevent Jeyne from becoming pregnant with Robb's child. After the Westerlings depart Riverrun for their home in the westerlands, Ser Edwyn Frey informs Jaime that Raynald is believed dead, having fallen into the Green Fork during the Red Wedding.

Second War of Conquest
House Lannister during the Second War of Conquest was broken and divided, infighting was common and tensions ran high. This led to temporary reluctance among House Westerling, yet, it did not last for long. They viewed Tyrion as a monster born from the deepest of the Seven Hells, so they sided with Cersei. Cersei, in the end, lost, yet they meekly bowed to the new Targaryen rule, and voiced public support for Tyrek Lannister when he was named the new Lord of Casterly Rock.

House Westerling was forgiven for their role in the Red Wedding, and they were given no penalties.

The Winter of The Wolves
During The Winter of Wolves House Westerling was in an odd predicament. They were poor, and although their land was decently fertile, unable to grow many crops. They sustained themselves through the grace and charitability of House Lannister. House Westerling did fairly well, few people starved, although they were hungry enough to be uncomfortable to say the least.

The War in the Narrows
House Westerling went along with House Lannister during The War in the Narrows. The shells of Westerling were oft seen beside the proud lion of Casterly Rock.

The Red Reaving
Some in the Westerlands had hoped that the threat of the Iron Islands in terms of reaving was over, people began to treat Euron Crow's Eyes reaving as the past, the Iron Islands were better now, they said. Yet, alas, this was not true. Dagon the Skinner arrived and spread terror throughout the Westerlands, and Westerling fought with all their might to throw him back into the dark place he came from.

The Summer Sickness
The Westerlands were affected horribly by the Summer Sickness. Lannisport in particular was devastated because of its trade. House Westerling - in a panic - closed almost all entry to The Crag in an attempt to protect its smallfolk. Some people still got sick, but it was relatively well off.

The Southern Schism
The smallfolk of The Crag are unusually pious, as are the Westerlings themselves. Thus, both were drawn to the words of The Starry Septon.

The Mead Summer
After a troubling recent history - war, death, famine - The Mead Summer was a welcome respite. The lands surrounding The Crag had a bountiful harvest, and the usually meager mines had amazing output. Many attirbuted this to The Seven, saying that the loyalty and good faith of House Westerling had finally been rewarded.

The Halfblood Incursion
The Westerlands - including the Crag - were rocked by The Halfblood Incursion. Although The Crag is fairly easy to defend, its position on its coast made it an easier target than would be thought. Many a pitched battle was fought outside and on the walls of The Crag, and the invaders were turned back each time, although with heavy losses the broke the hearts of many.

The Hammer Uprising
With the death of Brynden Hammer came discontent among the smallfolk of The Crag. Although no outright rebellion happened, work productivity went down.

The Great Famine
The period of hunger that swept across the Westerlands did not spare The Crag. Although House Lannister spent freely gold from its coffers, people were still hungry, and people were still discontent. They survived, however, and are better off.

The War of the Three Thieves
When the king requested arms from House Lannister and the Westerlands, House Westerling gladly went along with their liege lord. The six shells of House Westerling were often spotted in the battles among the Lannister fleet.

The Scarlet Winter
Although The Crag sits along the coast, there is no port. The partial freezing of ocean waters affected fisherman, but that was about it. Heavy snows piled upon The Crag and it seemed that daily, The Westerlings hired men to clear it. It was a never-ending battle.

The War of the Three Banners
While the religious strife of the Reach had come to a bloody end, hostilities were only just beginning to burn bright in the West. With the passing of the legendary Loreon Lannister, the ties of reverence that had bound the Crag to the Rock were fast thinning, as Lord Martyn Westerling grew more and more discontented with the rule of his lamentable son, Tybolt Lannister. Lord Martyn, a staunch practitioner of the Starry Rites felt particularly spurned by the overwhelming majority of Baelorians in Lord Tybolt's court, whose word was often far more weighted than his own. As a result, he and his brother by law, Lord Marbrand, who also shared his religious beliefs, began a more constant stream of correspondence, where they both agreed that their new lord could not be trusted to rule the Westerlands as Loreon had once. Lord Marbrand began to fail paying his taxes, and planted seeds of sedition and insubordination. And while Lord Martyn never went as far as his brother-by-law did, his discontent with Casterly Rock only grew with time.

When the fighting broke out, the Crag closed it's gates, and summoned their leal men to arms. Although Martyn was particularly reluctant to face anyone in an open field of war, his sister had married Lord Marbrand, and the blood ties that bound them compelled him to join him in arms. Firstly, though, he tried to bring other lords to their cause. Ravens from the Crag found their way to Silverhill, the Golden Tooth, The Banefort, Kayce, and a dozen other banners of the Lannisters, strong and weak, big and small, calling them to flock to his and his brother by law's cause, largely to no avail. After a moon's pass, upon seeing none had joined them, Lord Martyn relieved the men of Ashmark besieging the Banefort, attacking the house with renewed vigor. Simultaneously, he sent the fledgling fleet of House Westerling to blockade Feastfires and Kayce, managing to take Feastfires with little resistance, in order to try and head off the Lannister fleet before it could react.

The beginning of the next year of war saw Westerling success at Kayce at last, taking the castle, and bolstering their ranks with the remainder of the Kenning garrison and ships. Banefort fell the moon before them, and they too added their strength to the now sizable army of Lord Martyn, who began drawing preparations to move further south still.

In the coming days, Lord Martyn and Lord Marbrand finally combined their forces to deliver a crippling blow to the Lannisters, driving both of their not unimpressive forces home to Lannisport, miraculously evading the ships on guard there, as well as the sentries on the perimeter of the city. The city was sacked, and the Lannisters of Lannisport were taken hostage by Lord Martyn, who immediately betrothed his eldest son, Maric Westerling, then a squire at the time for his uncle, the Lord of Ashmark, to the young daughter of the Lord of Lannisport, an arrangement that would prove short lived.

With the dawn of the third year, the makeshift blockade that had begun forming around Lannisport grew tenfold. Ships from Crakehall and Fair Isle patrolled the waters, making escape by sea impossible, while Crakehall had amassed a thousand knights and even more men at arms around the city, cutting off any sort of supply opportunities, effectively starving out the city. Keenly aware of the growing discontent of the armies amassed there, Lord Martyn urged Lord Marbrand to sue for peace, and try to find a way to save their heads.

Forced to consider his options, Lord Marbrand offered a drastic solution: slip into Casterly Rock and destroy them from within. Such a plan proved infeasible, however. With his men growing hungrier and hungrier, Lannisport proved unable to sustain such a population, as well as several-thousand armed men.

Mutinies quickly broke out, and the first among many to betray Lord Marbrand were the Lords Serrett and Sarsfield, who had been coerced to join under threat of execution. Just as soon as fighting erupted, Lord Marbrand tried to flee the city, but to no avail. He was murdered in cold blood by his own guards, and Lord Martyn narrowly escaped the same fate, taking a small skiff off of the city with his squire son, and his betrothed. They did not escape unscathed, however. In the chaos, they were force to leave the body of Lord Martyn's second son, Jason Westerling, squire to his father, who had died trying to cover their escape, a spear plunged through his neck. Leaving all their levies and ships, Lord Martyn's cowardice won out, and he made his exit there, washing up half-dead from starvation at the Banefort a moon's turn later. He and his hostage were taken prisoner by Lord Banefort, who had returned and put the Westerling garrison to the sword. The Lannister girl was returned to the Rock for safekeeping, while Lord Martyn and his son, Maric, were delivered in chains.

After the final battle of the war ended unceremoniously, as Lord Spicer was put to a bloody end during the Siege of Castamere. Upon returning to the Rock, the last of the Lannisters of her proud line, Lady Tysane Lannister had Lord Martyn swiftly beheaded, with Maric forced to watch. For his lesser treasons, Maric was spared, and sent back home with a target on his back and a great fear instilled in him. The Crag has been quiet since, and Maric has only left but twice in the past four years since the war.