The Ironborn Civil War

Battle of Harlaw Hall

Battle for the Hill

Massacre at Iron Holt

Battle for the Waves

Battle of the Farwynds

Battle of Saltcliffe

Battle of Lordsport

### Outcome

House Greyjoy confirmed as and retained as Lord of the Iron IslandsHouse Blacktyde and others send hostages to loyalist Houses in the Iron Isles and the Crown

Iron Islands forbidden to build a set amount of ships for 10 years.

Majority of the Iron Fleet destroyed.

The Ironborn Civil War was brutal three year long internal conflict that erupted in the year 100 AC between House Greyjoy and House Blacktyde for control of the Iron Islands.

## **Prelude**

Following the disaster that was Urragon's Folly, the Iron Islands were re-annexed by the Kingdom of the Iron Throne and House Greyjoy reascended as Lord's of the Iron Islands. This did not go accepted by all. House Greyjoy spent part of 99 AC trying to secure their rule, which was cut short with the death of Lord Veron Greyjoy and his heir Florian Greyjoy in the same year. Lady Sigrun Blacktyde was instead crowned at a Kingsmoot at Nagga's Hill, after the The Battle at Nagga's Hill.

War thus became inevitable. Rodrik Greyjoy at once turned against the Blacktydes and gathered a large contingent of men and houses that held grudges, ambitions or simply were loyal to the Kraken. Using Sigurn's absence from the Isles in the Reach, Rodrik began his war.

## Battles

Fighting broke out between supporters of House Greyjoy and House Blacktyde on Harlaw almost immediately. While not a true battle, Skirmishing began at Volmark as the former disinherited heir to House Harlaw of Harlaw Hall, Otto Harlaw, led a force of men to set the Volmark men to rout and massacred them all. He then set fire to their fishing villages before taking his men towards Harlaw Hall. He was stopped halfway and retreated off the island. House Harlaw was once again dived. His younger brother Aeron and he dueled briefly on Volmark. Otto retreated to meet up with Lord Rodrik before attempting to retake Harlaw Isle.

### Battle of Orkmont Isle

The loyalists were quick to respond. Rushing back to the Iron Islands and catching Lord Rodrik off guard, Sigurn Blacktyde gathered her loyal vassals and struck at once. She led her fleet towards Orkmont to knock the Orkwoods out of the war, who were some of Rodrik's closest supporters. Her force arrived and began burning up and down the island and slaughtering its people. The new Lord Orkwood was killed. Returning to his castle, his brother and now heir settled in for a siege. Satisfied, Sigurn Blacktyde left a force to lay siege and then departed. This however would prove a fatal mistake.

### Battle of Harlaw Hall

While Lady Blacktyde struck at Orkmont, Rodrik Greyjoy sought to secure the remainder of House Harlaw for the Greyjoy cause. Leading the charge against Otto Harlaw and Rodrik Greyjoy was Lord Aeron Harlaw, who had turned against his father in the War for the Seadragon Throne years earlier. Off the coast of Harlaw, the loyalist fleet met the rebels and was forced to pull back. Lord Aeron had heard that a Farwynd Fleet was arriving with the Royal Fleet in several days and sought to prevent the total destruction of the fleet. The actual fighting at sea was indecisive, however no Royal fleet came and Aeron had realized he'd been had. The battle off the coast was lost because of a ruse.

Rodrik Greyjoy then led his men to catch Lord Aeron off before he reached the castle walls. Otto Harlaw however was on a warpath. Having been robbed years ago of what was his by rights, he caught Aeron in the field. For hours three sets of warriors fought on and off to try and reach Harlaw Hall before the other. Finally, the chase was up and the two Harlaw's dueled.

Their blades clashed for hours, where some men even stopping to watch on both sides. Eventually the duel ended when Aeron Harlaw cut a deep and fatal wound into his elder brothers arm. However his victory was short lived. Otto swung his blade hard and took Aeron's head clean off his shoulders. The two Harlaw brothers had thus perished. Unclear of who was in charge, the remaining Harlaw men scattered as Rodrik Greyjoy arrived to clean up the remains. Aeron's son and heir, Lucas Harlaw was found with a decision to make. Kneel and stay as Lord of Ten Towers or suffer the same fate as his father.

Lord Lucas knelt and House Harlaw joined House Greyjoy, a development that maesters write turned the tide of the war.

### Battle of the Hill and the Massacre of Iron Holt

Meanwhile, Naggas Hill remained under control of the Blacktydes and was led by Lady Wynch. Lord Tawney led a force of some thousand men to drive them off and take back the holy ground and avenge the death of Florian Greyjoy and Dagon Orkwood at The Battle at Nagga's Hill two years prior. This turned out to be a disaster as Sigurn Blacktyde arrived from Orkwood with her full host and destroyed Lord Tawney and his entire force, placing his head on the prow of her ship. Lord Tawney's son swore revenge on the Wycnh's and Blacktyde's for this. The new Lord Tawney retaliated by attacking House Wynch at Iron Holt which was left sparsely manned. In his brutality, he nearly slew all of House Wynch and sacked Iron Holt. Queen Sigurn then moved to cut off the Codds and remaining Drumms who were fighting among themselves. She personally led the assault on Codd Keep, sacking the island and killing a good portion of the house. She managed to gain support of many Drumm scions but had to lead a protracted campaign on Old Wyk for the rest of 101 AC, ultimately gaining control of most of the Island and the castle itself. She set sail to destroy the Greyjoy naval power after that.

### Battle for the Waves

During the duration of the war, the seas all around the Iron Islands and nearby were a raging warzone. Each side sought to control over the other as the depleted fleets of the Ironborn waged war against one another. Major engagements occurred off the coast of Harlaw and Hammerhorn. The Goodbrother houses broke into their own civil wars as Lord Dalton Goodbrother led the main branch in favor of Sigurn while his mother Gysella Goodbrother supported Rodrik and brought him support of House Dustin. What remaining ships they had arrived under control of Rodrik Greyjoy and gave him the upper hand at sea. By 103 AC, the balance tipped in favor of House Greyjoy during the Battle of Saltcliffe, where Lord Rodrik utterly crushed the remaining Blacktyde fleet and forced them towards Lordsport. Queen Sigurn was involved with all of these naval battles.

### Battle of the Farwynds

Both branches of House Farwynd were engaged heavily in the war. Seeking to become the stronger of two branches, Lord Sylas Farwynd sided with Sigurn Blacktyde and attacked their kin at Sealskin Point. The fighting went back and forth for a good part of 102 AC as Lord Farwynd beat back Lord Sylas Farwynd back to Lonely Light. A small detachment of men laid siege to Lonely Light for the rest of the war as Lord Farwynd of Sealskin Point set sail to join his liege. The remains of the Farwynd fleet was know for their lack of mercy against their foes, slaughtering any who surrendered. They spent much of the war fighting on the waves for the dominance of the Greyjoys.

### Battle of Saltcliffe

The decisive battle of the war came in mid-103 AC, when Dustin ships were joined alongside Greyjoy ships. Both sides of the war had seen massive losses on land and sea. The Greyjoy fleet was being whittled down slowly after a major victory by Sigurn Blacktyde was won over Lucas Harlaw and Dagon Goodbrother, slaying the latter personally. House Dustin however had intervened in favor of the rebels, sending what was left of their fleet to meet with Rodrik, Lucas and Haarwyn. Rodrik thus devised to end the war then and there, by bringing the complete destruction of the Blacktyde loyalists and their fleet as well as killing Sigurn Blacktyde.

The battle begin when the left flank of the Blacktyde fleet was spotted near Saltcliffe. The two fleets eventually met off the coast of Saltcliffe, where Lord Veron had died so many years ago. The battle lasted three days, with a large majority of ships involved being sunk. While Sigrun had more ships at first, Lord Rodrik used a cunning tactic to deceive his foe. Hiding the Dustin ships behind his large masts, he hid his true strength all the way until Sigrun committed her remaining ships. Then he parted his fleet in two and surrounded the Blacktydes remaining force until their broken remains fled in various directions, though most headed towards Pyke and landed at Lordsport. Many surviving lords turned their cloak at this point, bending the knee to Rodrik. Lord's Sunderly, Volmark and Myre all sided with House Greyjoy. The war was approaching its end in a final cataclysmic battle.

### Battle of Lordsport

The final battle of the war took place a few days after the final naval battle. After retreating to Lordsport, the Blacktyde loyalists prepared for a lengthy siege. Lord Botley, who had a foot in both sides though officially fighting for the Blacktyde's, turned his cloak and locked his gates against Sigrun and her remaining supporters. Lord Joron Saltcliffe and his champion were among them. Arriving soon after was the fleet of the rebels, of House Greyjoy and his allies. They began to disembark at once, preparing to end the brutal war then and there. At once the battle was fierce, Sigrun Blacktyde led her remaining forces in one last desperate charge to kill Rodrik.

Lord Rodrik however did not ever meet Queen Sigrun in battle. Some singers say that they did so, but Lord Rodrik was not near her flank of the battle. Who he did fight was Lord Joron Saltcliffe and Theon Pyke. Their duel was not long, as Rodrik cut him down after his foe tripped. The two men that slew his father were killed that day. The battle turned as Rodrik stepped over the corpse of Joron and shouted his men forward. Seeing the head of their Lord on a spike, the Saltcliffe men lost their courage and broke as Rodrik's wing slammed into their disparate and routing troops.

The battle then became a slaughter. Thousands were slain in the streets of Lordsport. Those that were lucky managed to make it into Lord Botley's castle where they surrendered. Those not so lucky were slaughtered as they tried to take shelter in homes or to swim out to the remaining Blacktyde vessels, either drowning or being killed by the crews that switched sides when they saw the battle end disastrously for Sigrun. The war had been won finally in the town of Lordsport on Pyke. Queen Sigrun Blacktyde was brought before Lord Rodrik in chains, mortally wounded and dying.

## Aftermath

After the Battle of Lordsport, Sigrun Blacktyde was given judgement before she bled out. Guilty of treason against House Greyjoy and House Targaryen, Lord Rodrik Greyjoy personally beheaded her with her own Valyrian steel blade, Riptide. Thus ended the short lived monarchy of House Blacktyde and independence for the Iron Islands. Her head was paraded around Pyke before being sent to King's Landing as a token of the Greyjoy's loyalty to the throne.

Over the next few days, the remaining lords of the Iron Islands arrived. The once loyalists were now traitors, however, there was no more desire to continue fighting in the Isles and the Greyjoys sought reconciliation rather than direct punishment. With Sigrun, Joron and Aeron dead, the main leaders of the Blacktydes had already perished, so there was little to dole out in terms of executions, though Dagon and Maege Drumm were both executed for refusing to bend the knee. Lyanna Greyjoy, wife of the dead king Urragon, was made a persona non grata. Since Uther Drumm had not taken part in the war, mourning his father in his keep rather than joining a side, remained as Lord of Old Wyk.

The defeated had to surrender hostages to both the Greyjoys and the crowns. House Blacktde fell into a succession crisis. The aging Wulfgar Blacktyde was chosen over Wynafred Stark as heir to Blacktyde. Lord Sunderly's daughter was made to betroth his daughter Yssa to Rodrik's three year old son, Vickon Greyjoy. Lord Sylas Farwynd, Lord Volmark, Myre and Saltcliffe all had wards given to both crown and kraken. On the advice and suggestion of Gysella Goodbrother, Dalton Goodbrother was spared and reconfirmed as Lord of Hammerhorn. Lord Orkwood was granted a quarter of the wealth of the Blacktydes while Lord Tawney was given the right to duel Lady Wynch, which resulted in Lord Tawney yielding. The Blacktydes were permitted to retain their ancestral axe of Riptide.

Sigrun Blacktyde and her crown had cost the Ironborn thousands of lives, but Rodrik Greyjoy's desire to win his seat through the Iron Price, refusing to ask the Iron Throne for aid, cost even more thousands. Peace would reign in the Iron Islands during his stressful rule, with an iron fist and a silk glove both.