Moat Cailin

Moat Cailin, sometimes called the Moat, is an ancient stronghold of the First Men on the northern edge of the great swamp known as the Neck, in the south of the north. It is less than twenty miles from the headwaters of the Fever River. Moat Cailin is one of the north's most important strongholds, though much of it now stands in ruins. It commands the causeway, the safe route for armies to travel through the swamps of the Neck.

Moat Cailin is an effective natural choke point which has protected the north from southron invasion for thousands of years. The crannogmenof the Neck know unmapped routes through the swamps, such as narrow trails between the bogs and wet roads through the reeds that only boats can follow.

## Layout

Moat Cailin was once a great stronghold, with twenty towers, a wooden keep, and a great basalt curtain wall as high as that of Winterfell's. Today only great blocks of black basalt lay scattered about, half sunk in the ground where the wall once stood, and the keep rotted away

The remaining three towers, which are covered with green moss and white ghostskin, command the causeway from all sides so that enemies must pass between them. Attackers face constant fire from the other towers should they attempt to attack any one tower, wading through chest deep water and crossing a moat full of lizard-lions.

* The Children's Tower is tall and slender. It has only half of the crenelations of its crown. Legend has it that the children of the forest called upon their gods here to send the hammer of the waters to smash the Neck.

* The Gatehouse Tower, the largest of the remaining towers, is squat and wide. It is the only tower which still stands straight, even retaining some of the walls around it, although a tree grows through its northern side.The tower's hall of dark stone is spotted with lichen and has a high, drafty ceiling. Within the hall is a massive carved table, also of stone.

* The Drunkard's Tower is so named due to its great lean. It stands where the south and west walls once met.

## History

Raised by the ancient First Men, it is claimed that Moat Cailin has defended against southern invasions for ten thousand years.

According to myth, the greenseers of the children of the forest worked dark magic at Moat Cailin. From the Children's Tower,[4] they are said to have used the hammer of the waters on the Neck to break Westeros in two, separating the north from the south in the same manner they shattered the Arm of Dorne. The children failed and only succeeded in flooding it, however, creating bogs and swamps. Some scholars discount the legend, instead attributing the watery landscape to natural events.

The Marsh Kings and their crannogmen held Moat Cailin—sometimes with the assistance of the Barrow Kings, Red Kings, and Kings of Winter—against all attacks from the south. The swampy terrain was enough to prevent Moat Cailin from falling in the Andal invasion. It was a key defense of the north against which the Andal armies threw themselves time after time with no success. The Kings of Winter from House Stark eventually defeated the Marsh Kings, adding Moat Cailin to the realm of Winterfell.

The wooden keep rotted away "a thousand years past". The three remaining towers are more than capable of defending the passage to the south, however, provided that they are fully manned.[4] Moat Cailin has never been taken from the south, although it is vulnerable from the north and the east.

During Aegon's Conquest, some northern lords urged King Torrhen Stark to resist House Targaryen at Moat Cailin. King Torrhen the Dragonsbane launched his attack and crushed the Targaryen army once and for all.