Houses of the Iron Islands:
House Blacktyde
Ranking Minor
Lands Blacktyde
Castle Blacktyde Castle
Arms Vairy, green and black
The Blacktydes are led by Lord Baelor Blacktyde, who has adopted
both the styling and the Faith of the mainland, a result of having
been held hostage some eight years in Oldtown. He tends to dress in
the vairy of his house, which he often adorns with a pin of the sevensided
star of his adopted religion. Baelor is also the captain of the ship
Nightflyer.
House Botley
Ranking Minor
Lands Lordsport on Pyke
Castle Lordsport castle
Arms A school of silver fish on a field of pale green
The Botleys rule Lordsport from the newly rebuilt keep that overlooks
the village. They have managed to reconstruct most of what was destroyed
during the final days of the Greyjoy Rebellion. The house is led
by Sawane Botley, who has fathered six sons: Harren, Tristifer, Symond,
Harlon, Vickon, and Bennarion.
Tristifer was among the boys brought to foster at Pyke after Balon’s
Rebellion, and he and Asha Greyjoy soon took an interest in each other.
They were eventually discovered at their play, and Balon had Tristifer
sent to Blacktyde as a ward of Lord Baelor. Tristifer still remembers
Asha with fondness, though she would sooner forget the encounters
had ever occurred.
Sawane Botley also has a brother, Germund, and two half-brothers,
Sargon and Lucimore. Germund has also fathered two sons, Balon and
Quellon, while Sargon is responsible for siring Wex, a mute bastard.
House Codd
Ranking Minor
Motto Though All Men Do Despise Us
The Codds are a proud family who have taken the low opinion their fellow
ironborn hold of them and incorporated it into their motto. Lefthand
Lucas and Eldred are two members of House Codd. Its warriors
are known for fighting with nets.
House Drumm
Ranking Minor
Lands Old Wyk
Arms A white, skeletal hand on a field of red
Dunstan Drumm, who is called the Bone Hand, the Drumm, and the
Lord of Old Wyk, is both the head of his house and captain of the
Thunderer. While still a capable fighter, he is approaching old age; however,
he sometimes speaks at such length—especially when discussing
the exploits of his family—that some might think him several decades
from the grave. Dunstan’s ancestor Hilmar Drumm acquired (by trickery,
if Dunstan is to be believed) the sword Red Rain, which was forged
of Valyrian steel and is passed from one generation of Drumms to the
next. Dunstan has two sons, Denys and Donnel, who have both earned
the reputation of being hardy warriors in their own right. The family has
the benefit of Andrik the Unsmiling’s service, oft regarded as one of the
greatest warriors on the Iron Islands.
House Farwynd
Ranking Minor
Lands Lonely Light and Sealskin Point
Arms Per fess - below a black sea with crested line, a black
longship, outlined against a red setting sun on orange
The Farwynds are mostly located along the western shoreline of Great
Wyk and the small isles within its vicinity. They are viewed as odd by
their fellow ironborn, and rumors abound that the Farwynd branch living
on Lonely Light—a small island some eight days sail to the northwest
that is headed by Gylbert Farwynd—are actually skinchangers.
Gylbert is tall and thin, and his face has a distinct melancholic cast. He
has at least three sons: Gyles, Ygon, and Yohn.
Another prominent branch of the Farwynd family is the Farwynds of
Sealskin Point. Triston Farwynd is the head of this house.
House Goodbrother
Ranking Minor
Lands Great Wyk, Old Wyk, and Orkmont
Castles Hammerhorn, Shatterstone, Downdelving, Crow Spike
Keep, and Corpse Lake
Arms A black war horn with a band of gold, on a field of red
A large family with a number of lesser branches, House Goodbrother
has a presence on most of the Islands. The main branch is the Goodbrothers
of Hammerhorn, found on Great Wyk, about six leagues from
the shore. The castle is a hulking structure, dark and brooding, and is
fashioned from great stone blocks quarried from the cliffs behind it.
Beneath its walls, one can find mines and caves, each yawning like
toothless mouths.
Powerful, they posses nearly forty longships. Lord Gorold Goodbrother
heads this house and has sired a trio of identical boys (Greydon,
Gran, and Gormond), as well as a dozen daughters (including Gysella
and Gwin). The Goodbrothers are distinguished primarily for their
unique practice of wearing sashes woven of goat hair. Unusually, these
Goodbrothers style themselves like the lords of the green lands and
even keep the council of a maester, a slim man named Murenmure.
The other branches include the Goodbrothers of Shatterstone, headed
by Norne Goodbrother on Old Wyk. The Goodbrothers of Crow
Spike Keep, Corpse Lake, and Downdelving have their holdings on
Orkmont, and they are considered minor lords at best.
House Harlaw
Ranking Major
Lands Harlaw
Castle Ten Towers
Arms A silver scythe on black, but many variations exist
After Greyjoy, the Harlaws are perhaps one of the most influential
houses in the Iron Islands, a position solidified by the marriage of Lady
Alannys to Balon Greyjoy. The head of the house is Alannys’s brother
Rodrick, who is known as “The Reader.” Rodrick earned his nickname
due to his love of books, a habit that is viewed as somewhat unnatural
for an ironborn. Rodrick lost his only two sons off Fair Isle in the trap
set by Stannis Baratheon. He is currently unwed and without an heir.
The Reader makes his seat at Ten Towers, where he is served by his
steward Three-Tooth, a frightful woman of considerable age who was
once known as Twelve-Tooth and whose current appellation may be
somewhat euphemistic.
Sea Song is the Reader’s personal longship, though he uses it but
rarely; he prefers to sit in the Book Tower, lost in the tomes that gave
the building its name.
There are a number of Harlaw cousins spread out across the island,
each of whom has created a variation of the traditional sigil of their
house. Boremund the Blue, one of Rodrick’s cousins and the master of
Harridan Hill, places his scythe upon a field of pale blue. Hotho Humpback,
the master of the Tower of Glimmering, uses the same device and
field but with an embattled border. Ser Harras, who is called the Knight
and carries the Valyrian steel blade Nightfall, rules at Grey Garden; he
chose to quarter his sigil in order to display the peacock of his mother’s
house. Finally, Lord Rodrick’s great uncle, Sigfryd Silverhair, displays
two scythes counterchanged on a field divided bendwise.
House Humble
Ranking Landed
The Humbles are considered of small account since the house originated
from the descendants of thralls and salt wives. Will and Quellon
are two of its members.
House Ironmaker
Ranking Landed
Erik Ironmaker, called Erik Anvil-Breaker and Erik the Just, is the
most prominent figure in his house—in both senses of the word. He
was given the name of Anvil-Breaker due to the size of his preferred
weapon: a long war hammer with a steel head the size of a loaf of bread.
That weapon, and his ability to wield it, earned Erik a reputation as a
fearsome warrior. However, he is now nearing ninety years of age and
twenty stones in weight, and it is rumored his age has left him bereft of
much of his former strength, to the point that he is unable to lift either
his hammer or his own girth. His hair is pure white, from his head to
the beard that blankets him from his cheeks to his thighs.
The Anvil-Breaker is prone to boasting that he has more heirs than
he is able to count, and indeed, he has a number of both grandchildren
and great-grandchildren. Numbered amongst his grandsons are Urek,
Thormor, and Dagon.
House Kenning
Ranking Minor
Lands Harlaw
Arms
The cloudy hand of the Storm God, rendered in pale
grey with yellow lightning flashing from his fingertips,
presented on a field of black
House Kenning was once a bitter rival of House Harlaw, but the Kennings
were eventually defeated by the Harlaws. They now serve their
conquerors as vassals. Ralf Kenning is one of the prominent members
of this house.
House Merlyn
Ranking Minor
Lands Pebbleton
Castle Pebbleton Tower
Arms Green, intertwined waterspouts on a field of white
House Merlyn makes rules it’s demesne from a towerhouse that sits
above the village of Pebbleton. Meldred Merlyn, the head of the house,
is a bald, portly man who styles himself a lord and dresses the part by
adorning himself in the furs and velvets more commonly seen on the
mainland.
House Myre
Ranking Minor
Lands Harlaw
Arms Ten black nooses, 4-3-2-1, on a field of white with a
blood-red border
House Myre is a minor house with lands on the isle of Harlaw. The
members of House Myre were once responsible for seeing ten men
hanged in a day, a feat they saw fit to memorialize on their family device.
They once thought to challenge the Harlaws for supremacy of Harlaw
Island, but the attempt was quashed, and the Myres were reduced to the
status of vassals as a result.
House Netley
Ranking Landed
House Netley is a minor house of the Iron Islands, one with little prestige
or influence.
House Orkwood
Ranking Minor
Lands Orkmont
Arms Dark green pine trees bunched together on a field of
yellow
House Orkwood is another minor house of the Iron Islands, with holdings
on the isle of Orkmont.
House Saltcliffe
Ranking Minor
Lands Saltcliffe
Arms A nine-headed serpent, black on silver
House Saltcliffe presumably controls the entirety of Saltcliffe, one of
the smaller isles in the Iron Islands.
House Sharp
Ranking Landed
Members of this house include clever Alvyn Sharp, Harmund, and his
son Harrag, also known as the Sheepstealer.
House Shepherd
Ranking Landed
House Shepherd is a house with little prestige.
House Sparr
Ranking Minor
Lands Great Wyk
Arms Oak saltire on blue
The present head of this minor house is The Sparr, an old man with a
hatchet face, watery eyes, and a tremulous voice. He has a single son,
Steffarion.
House Stonehouse
Ranking Minor
Lands Old Wyk
Arms Black brazier on a grey masonry field
The head of this house is known simply as The Stonehouse. Red Ralf
Stonehouse, one of the prominent members of the family, is a warrior
of some note.
House Stonetree
Ranking Minor
Lands Harlaw
Arms A grey stone tree, devoid of leaves, on a black field
House Stonetree is a vassal of House Harlaw. The Stonetrees have considerable
holdings, many ships, and fierce warriors, but they kneel before
the scythe.
House Sunderly
Ranking Minor
Lands Saltcliffe
Arms
A pale pink drowned man, hair streaming upwards and
fish nibbling at his limbs, floating upright on a bluegreen
field,
House Sunderly is one of the houses that lays claim to the small island
of Saltcliffe.
House Tawney
Ranking Minor
Lands Orkmont
Arms A scourge of red and black nettles on a white field
House Tawney is a minor house on Orkmont.
House Volmark
Ranking Minor
Lands Harlaw
Arms A black leviathan on a sea of grey
The Volmarks are another house on Harlaw who control large parcels of
land. Maron Volmark is the current head of house. Volmark has large holdings,
numerous ships, and fierce warriors, but they are sworn to Harlaw.
House Weaver
Ranking Landed
House Weaver is an insignificant house of the Iron Isles.
House Wynch
Ranking Minor
Arms A bloody moon on a field of purple
Lord Waldon Wynch is the head of this house, one of the stronger ones
on Pyke; his seat is in the town of Iron Holt.
House Blacktyde
Ranking Minor
Lands Blacktyde
Castle Blacktyde Castle
Arms Vairy, green and black
The Blacktydes are led by Lord Baelor Blacktyde, who has adopted
both the styling and the Faith of the mainland, a result of having
been held hostage some eight years in Oldtown. He tends to dress in
the vairy of his house, which he often adorns with a pin of the sevensided
star of his adopted religion. Baelor is also the captain of the ship
Nightflyer.
House Botley
Ranking Minor
Lands Lordsport on Pyke
Castle Lordsport castle
Arms A school of silver fish on a field of pale green
The Botleys rule Lordsport from the newly rebuilt keep that overlooks
the village. They have managed to reconstruct most of what was destroyed
during the final days of the Greyjoy Rebellion. The house is led
by Sawane Botley, who has fathered six sons: Harren, Tristifer, Symond,
Harlon, Vickon, and Bennarion.
Tristifer was among the boys brought to foster at Pyke after Balon’s
Rebellion, and he and Asha Greyjoy soon took an interest in each other.
They were eventually discovered at their play, and Balon had Tristifer
sent to Blacktyde as a ward of Lord Baelor. Tristifer still remembers
Asha with fondness, though she would sooner forget the encounters
had ever occurred.
Sawane Botley also has a brother, Germund, and two half-brothers,
Sargon and Lucimore. Germund has also fathered two sons, Balon and
Quellon, while Sargon is responsible for siring Wex, a mute bastard.
House Codd
Ranking Minor
Motto Though All Men Do Despise Us
The Codds are a proud family who have taken the low opinion their fellow
ironborn hold of them and incorporated it into their motto. Lefthand
Lucas and Eldred are two members of House Codd. Its warriors
are known for fighting with nets.
House Drumm
Ranking Minor
Lands Old Wyk
Arms A white, skeletal hand on a field of red
Dunstan Drumm, who is called the Bone Hand, the Drumm, and the
Lord of Old Wyk, is both the head of his house and captain of the
Thunderer. While still a capable fighter, he is approaching old age; however,
he sometimes speaks at such length—especially when discussing
the exploits of his family—that some might think him several decades
from the grave. Dunstan’s ancestor Hilmar Drumm acquired (by trickery,
if Dunstan is to be believed) the sword Red Rain, which was forged
of Valyrian steel and is passed from one generation of Drumms to the
next. Dunstan has two sons, Denys and Donnel, who have both earned
the reputation of being hardy warriors in their own right. The family has
the benefit of Andrik the Unsmiling’s service, oft regarded as one of the
greatest warriors on the Iron Islands.
House Farwynd
Ranking Minor
Lands Lonely Light and Sealskin Point
Arms Per fess - below a black sea with crested line, a black
longship, outlined against a red setting sun on orange
The Farwynds are mostly located along the western shoreline of Great
Wyk and the small isles within its vicinity. They are viewed as odd by
their fellow ironborn, and rumors abound that the Farwynd branch living
on Lonely Light—a small island some eight days sail to the northwest
that is headed by Gylbert Farwynd—are actually skinchangers.
Gylbert is tall and thin, and his face has a distinct melancholic cast. He
has at least three sons: Gyles, Ygon, and Yohn.
Another prominent branch of the Farwynd family is the Farwynds of
Sealskin Point. Triston Farwynd is the head of this house.
House Goodbrother
Ranking Minor
Lands Great Wyk, Old Wyk, and Orkmont
Castles Hammerhorn, Shatterstone, Downdelving, Crow Spike
Keep, and Corpse Lake
Arms A black war horn with a band of gold, on a field of red
A large family with a number of lesser branches, House Goodbrother
has a presence on most of the Islands. The main branch is the Goodbrothers
of Hammerhorn, found on Great Wyk, about six leagues from
the shore. The castle is a hulking structure, dark and brooding, and is
fashioned from great stone blocks quarried from the cliffs behind it.
Beneath its walls, one can find mines and caves, each yawning like
toothless mouths.
Powerful, they posses nearly forty longships. Lord Gorold Goodbrother
heads this house and has sired a trio of identical boys (Greydon,
Gran, and Gormond), as well as a dozen daughters (including Gysella
and Gwin). The Goodbrothers are distinguished primarily for their
unique practice of wearing sashes woven of goat hair. Unusually, these
Goodbrothers style themselves like the lords of the green lands and
even keep the council of a maester, a slim man named Murenmure.
The other branches include the Goodbrothers of Shatterstone, headed
by Norne Goodbrother on Old Wyk. The Goodbrothers of Crow
Spike Keep, Corpse Lake, and Downdelving have their holdings on
Orkmont, and they are considered minor lords at best.
House Harlaw
Ranking Major
Lands Harlaw
Castle Ten Towers
Arms A silver scythe on black, but many variations exist
After Greyjoy, the Harlaws are perhaps one of the most influential
houses in the Iron Islands, a position solidified by the marriage of Lady
Alannys to Balon Greyjoy. The head of the house is Alannys’s brother
Rodrick, who is known as “The Reader.” Rodrick earned his nickname
due to his love of books, a habit that is viewed as somewhat unnatural
for an ironborn. Rodrick lost his only two sons off Fair Isle in the trap
set by Stannis Baratheon. He is currently unwed and without an heir.
The Reader makes his seat at Ten Towers, where he is served by his
steward Three-Tooth, a frightful woman of considerable age who was
once known as Twelve-Tooth and whose current appellation may be
somewhat euphemistic.
Sea Song is the Reader’s personal longship, though he uses it but
rarely; he prefers to sit in the Book Tower, lost in the tomes that gave
the building its name.
There are a number of Harlaw cousins spread out across the island,
each of whom has created a variation of the traditional sigil of their
house. Boremund the Blue, one of Rodrick’s cousins and the master of
Harridan Hill, places his scythe upon a field of pale blue. Hotho Humpback,
the master of the Tower of Glimmering, uses the same device and
field but with an embattled border. Ser Harras, who is called the Knight
and carries the Valyrian steel blade Nightfall, rules at Grey Garden; he
chose to quarter his sigil in order to display the peacock of his mother’s
house. Finally, Lord Rodrick’s great uncle, Sigfryd Silverhair, displays
two scythes counterchanged on a field divided bendwise.
House Humble
Ranking Landed
The Humbles are considered of small account since the house originated
from the descendants of thralls and salt wives. Will and Quellon
are two of its members.
House Ironmaker
Ranking Landed
Erik Ironmaker, called Erik Anvil-Breaker and Erik the Just, is the
most prominent figure in his house—in both senses of the word. He
was given the name of Anvil-Breaker due to the size of his preferred
weapon: a long war hammer with a steel head the size of a loaf of bread.
That weapon, and his ability to wield it, earned Erik a reputation as a
fearsome warrior. However, he is now nearing ninety years of age and
twenty stones in weight, and it is rumored his age has left him bereft of
much of his former strength, to the point that he is unable to lift either
his hammer or his own girth. His hair is pure white, from his head to
the beard that blankets him from his cheeks to his thighs.
The Anvil-Breaker is prone to boasting that he has more heirs than
he is able to count, and indeed, he has a number of both grandchildren
and great-grandchildren. Numbered amongst his grandsons are Urek,
Thormor, and Dagon.
House Kenning
Ranking Minor
Lands Harlaw
Arms
The cloudy hand of the Storm God, rendered in pale
grey with yellow lightning flashing from his fingertips,
presented on a field of black
House Kenning was once a bitter rival of House Harlaw, but the Kennings
were eventually defeated by the Harlaws. They now serve their
conquerors as vassals. Ralf Kenning is one of the prominent members
of this house.
House Merlyn
Ranking Minor
Lands Pebbleton
Castle Pebbleton Tower
Arms Green, intertwined waterspouts on a field of white
House Merlyn makes rules it’s demesne from a towerhouse that sits
above the village of Pebbleton. Meldred Merlyn, the head of the house,
is a bald, portly man who styles himself a lord and dresses the part by
adorning himself in the furs and velvets more commonly seen on the
mainland.
House Myre
Ranking Minor
Lands Harlaw
Arms Ten black nooses, 4-3-2-1, on a field of white with a
blood-red border
House Myre is a minor house with lands on the isle of Harlaw. The
members of House Myre were once responsible for seeing ten men
hanged in a day, a feat they saw fit to memorialize on their family device.
They once thought to challenge the Harlaws for supremacy of Harlaw
Island, but the attempt was quashed, and the Myres were reduced to the
status of vassals as a result.
House Netley
Ranking Landed
House Netley is a minor house of the Iron Islands, one with little prestige
or influence.
House Orkwood
Ranking Minor
Lands Orkmont
Arms Dark green pine trees bunched together on a field of
yellow
House Orkwood is another minor house of the Iron Islands, with holdings
on the isle of Orkmont.
House Saltcliffe
Ranking Minor
Lands Saltcliffe
Arms A nine-headed serpent, black on silver
House Saltcliffe presumably controls the entirety of Saltcliffe, one of
the smaller isles in the Iron Islands.
House Sharp
Ranking Landed
Members of this house include clever Alvyn Sharp, Harmund, and his
son Harrag, also known as the Sheepstealer.
House Shepherd
Ranking Landed
House Shepherd is a house with little prestige.
House Sparr
Ranking Minor
Lands Great Wyk
Arms Oak saltire on blue
The present head of this minor house is The Sparr, an old man with a
hatchet face, watery eyes, and a tremulous voice. He has a single son,
Steffarion.
House Stonehouse
Ranking Minor
Lands Old Wyk
Arms Black brazier on a grey masonry field
The head of this house is known simply as The Stonehouse. Red Ralf
Stonehouse, one of the prominent members of the family, is a warrior
of some note.
House Stonetree
Ranking Minor
Lands Harlaw
Arms A grey stone tree, devoid of leaves, on a black field
House Stonetree is a vassal of House Harlaw. The Stonetrees have considerable
holdings, many ships, and fierce warriors, but they kneel before
the scythe.
House Sunderly
Ranking Minor
Lands Saltcliffe
Arms
A pale pink drowned man, hair streaming upwards and
fish nibbling at his limbs, floating upright on a bluegreen
field,
House Sunderly is one of the houses that lays claim to the small island
of Saltcliffe.
House Tawney
Ranking Minor
Lands Orkmont
Arms A scourge of red and black nettles on a white field
House Tawney is a minor house on Orkmont.
House Volmark
Ranking Minor
Lands Harlaw
Arms A black leviathan on a sea of grey
The Volmarks are another house on Harlaw who control large parcels of
land. Maron Volmark is the current head of house. Volmark has large holdings,
numerous ships, and fierce warriors, but they are sworn to Harlaw.
House Weaver
Ranking Landed
House Weaver is an insignificant house of the Iron Isles.
House Wynch
Ranking Minor
Arms A bloody moon on a field of purple
Lord Waldon Wynch is the head of this house, one of the stronger ones
on Pyke; his seat is in the town of Iron Holt.
). Also, provinces from the Riverlands, and the Reach should have more settlements than Dorne or the North. It would be good too if a town was marked different from a castle, maybe adding (T) for towns, (S) for septs (which should be rare, IMO) and (C) for castles after the name. Also, some way to tell canon from non-canon names would be nice, perhaps adding an asterisk * to the non-canon ones.
