The Foraging

Kayce

The Foraging was a conflict between the Iron Islands and the Westerlands spanning two consecutive winters. Though peace was ultimately achieved through royal intervention, the animosity between the two regions persisted.

## The First Winter

### The Hunger

Though the War of White and Gold ultimately remained within the Reach’s boundaries, many at the time expected the conflict to spread all throughout the Seven Kingdoms. The onset of winter had begun, many feuds remained unsettled, and high lords beyond the Reach had already declared their support for one side or the other.

The Westerlands’ support for the rebels presented an irresistible opportunity for the ironborn. None in the Iron Islands could remember a winter without severe starvation, and they knew their stores of grain were no more adequate than they had been before.

Lord Greyjoy turned a blind eye as many of his vassals took matters into their own hands. A massive raiding party was organized, hitting Fair Isle and the town of Kayce in quick succession. After two fruitful raids, the ironborn returned home, bringing with them desperately needed grain.

Rightly outraged, Lord Lannister wrote to Lord Greyjoy demanding that he bring the reavers to justice and pay compensation to the Farmans and Kennings for the stolen grain. Feigning ignorance of the reavers’ identities, Lord Greyjoy flatly refused both requests, arguing that their rogue actions were not fault of his.

### The Reprisal

An end to the War of White and Gold came sooner than either expected, and the Lannisters, already prepared for war, instead directed their forces across the water. Every warship in the Westerlands was mobilized westward as the Lannisters sought to invade the Iron Islands in reprisal.

Just as war had ended in the Reach, another seemed to be beginning in the Iron Islands - but a decisive ironborn victory against the Westerlands fleet ensured that no invasion would occur. Accepting defeat, the Lannisters ceased their pursuit of vengeance and turned their attention to wintertime administration.

Nevertheless, Lord Lannister could not allow Greyjoy’s misdeeds to go unpunished. He thus forbade all shipments of grain from the Westerlands to the Iron Islands for the foreseeable future, declaring that they would only return after the victims of reaving were compensated for their losses.

The winter was thus even harsher than those that still haunted the memories of the ironborn. Hatred between the ironborn and the westermen became mutual, and over the next several years Lord Greyjoy’s attempts to mend ties between the two lands repeatedly failed. The Iron Islands, however, fared much better in the spring and summer, and cautiously refrained from any further reaving.

## The Second Winter

### The Invasion

At the start of a winter beginning in 368 AC, Lord Greyjoy was at last able to open productive talks with Lord Lannister. At the end of their negotiations, however, Lord Lannister boldly raised the cost of western grain to an obscene level, with the argument that the Iron Islands still owed the Westerlands for the previous winter’s raids. Frustrated and slighted by the lion of the Rock, the Lord Reaper of Pyke decided to pursue a more assertive course.

An invasion fleet was assembled, though neither Pyke men nor Pyke ships were included, as Lord Greyjoy wanted to maintain plausible deniability. The ironborn again landed on Fair Isle, though this time they came not to raid but to occupy. Lord Drumm, in command of the invasion force, wrote to Casterly Rock promising that he would leave in peace as soon as the Iron Islands received the grain they desperately needed.

Unsurprisingly, Lord Lannister denied the request. Lord Drumm responded to his refusal by sending the bulk of his forces to invade the peninsula south of Fair Isle under the command of Lord Kenning. Intent on seizing Feastfires and Kayce, Kenning was stopped by an army of westermen - coincidentally led by the other Lord Kenning. In the Battle of Two Kennings, it was ultimately the lord of Kayce who prevailed, though not without heavy casualties.

The ironborn retreated to Fair Isle, where they were safe behind their blockade. With the Westerlands’ naval strength paling in comparison to that of the Iron Islands, the conflict fell into a stalemate.

### The Intervention

In the middle of 369 AC, King Alester I Tyrell reluctantly intervened in the war between the Iron Islands and the Westerlands. Eager for both to stand down and cease hostilities, he offered to personally provide from each region what it demanded from the other. Royal gold compensated the Westerlands for the damages done by the ironborn during the previous winter, and an even greater sum was given to the lords of the Reach for grain that was then shipped to the Iron Islands.

Despite their compensation, the lords of the West felt slighted by the erasure of the Iron Islands’ debts. Trade between Lannisport and Lordsport remained crippled in the aftermath of the Foraging, with the ironborn now conducting the lion’s share of their commerce with the Riverlands and the Reach. Hostilities between the Iron Islands and the Westerlands came to an end, but a mutual contempt between the two continued to linger.