War for the Bite

Siege of Breakwater Castle

Battle for Sweetsister

### Outcome

Peace Reached, Lord Borrell and Ser Hallis Manderly Both Sent Away From Their Respective Homes for a Half Decade

**The War for the Bite** is an odd war in the sense that is was never officially declared. Neither the Arryns nor the Sunderlands, nor the Starks nor the Manderlys ever declared war upon the other, instead continuing to exist in a period of hostility with tensions regularly rising and falling.

It was only after a peace was concluded between Lord Gunthor Arryn and Lord Medrick Manderly in 67 AC that the maesters named the conflict to be a war.

Further so, it is worth noting that while only a few battles and sieges have made it into the histories, there were countless more raids, skirmishes, and the like. So it was that it was all those engagements unnamed that truly came to shame the tensions and political endeavours in the Bite and surrounding coastline for some forty-six years.

## History

### 21 AC - Battle for the Sisters

The first easily definable stage of the three stages of the War for the Bite was that of the Battle for the Sisters. 21 AC saw what some would describe as Sisterman opportunism, and what others would describe as justice. Long had both the Sunderlands and their vassals, and so too the Manderlys and their own vassals brought steel and blood unto one another in order to benefit their own means within the Bite, but in 21 AC, a boiling point was reached.

In the 2nd Moon of the year, Lord Rickard Locke of Oldcastle sent word to White Harbor that Sisterman pirates had been oft sighted off his shores, and that they had been rather frequently making raid upon his subjects. Lord Eddard Manderly was without patience in the matter, and rightly so, for Lord Locke had relayed word of kidnapped women and children, and many a stolen good.

Within a moon's time, Lord Manderly's men were gathered at White Harbor and did so sail, in attempt to take siege of all the islands of the Three Sisters at once. Alas, the Manderly assault was not as successful as hope would have had it.

Only Longsister would fall to the Northmen, while substantial casualties would be suffered by both sides across the Sisters. And so, when word reached Lord Eddard of an approaching Grafton fleet, with Lord Hubert Arryn at its head, the Lord of White Harbour saw but one choice. Swiftly did he send the order, ordering all those of his men and fleet remaining elsewhere to Longsister. This would be where he made his stand. The Sisters would be his. The Sistermen would submit.

Sometime later, the Stranger was named victor. The Grafton fleet under the command of Lord Arryn forced back the Northerners, forcing them into a route and to flee to their ships. Lord Eddard Manderly fled home to White Harbour, licking his wounds as he went.

For the next moons few, the Manderlys waited impatiently, worriedly, that an attack would come, that revenge would be swift. It never came. Instead, the Lord Hubert had ordered the Sisters repaired and strengthed, and so a tense stand-off came to be known in the Bite between the two fleets, forcing trade nigh to a standstill. Though eventually, both sides gave way and a fragile 'peace' settled over the Bite, signalling the end of what maesters would later refer to as the 'First Stage of the War for the Bite'.

### 40 AC - Siege of White Harbor

Nigh twenty years after the brazen assault of Lord Eddard Manderly upon the Three Sisters, so too would he and his try their hand at expansion once more. This, would come to be known as the 'Second Stage of the War for the Bite'. Pirates, bearing the merman banner brought blood and steel to the Sisters, but this time, Lord Cecil Sunderland had no mind for patience nor games. The raven flew with haste, reaching Lord Hubert Arryn once more, and so a moon later, a hastily raised host sailed for the Sisters.

The Lord of the Eyrie, the Lord of Sisterton, and the Lord of Gulltown convened on Sweetsister ever briefly, before setting sail for White Harbor. This time, the Manderlys were caught completely unaware, and their fleet was helpless to hinder the Valemen. Soon enough, White Harbor was surrounded and set to siege. Alas, weeks passed without fruit. White Harbor's walls proved formidable and thick, and the Valemen were neither numerous enough nor committed enough to lay an effective siege.

Further so, word of their landing had by now well and truly reached the ears of the Starks of Winterfell, who had called their banners and raised their arms, readying to lift the siege of White Harbor. It was inevitable, Lord Arryn decreed, and so he did sue Lord Eddard Manderly for peace, a most ready and willing, as sickness had taken hold over his body and sought so too for a swift and complete end to any fighting. Terms were reached. In order to ensure a cessation of hostilities and that any future ones would not so commence, Lord Arryn pledged Lord Allard Royce's heir, Waymar Royce, in marriage to Lord Eddard Manderly's only daughter, Lady Bethany Manderly.

### 67 AC - Siege of Breakwater Castle

Once more, in 67 AC, the conflict in the Bite heated to a boiling point, with this coming to be remembered as the 'Third Stage of the War for the Bite'. Coming in the wake of the boarding of a number of ships, followed by the pirating of their goods and susbequent sinking by Lord Benedar Borrell of Sweetsister, word would eventually spread when a survivor made it ashore and word reached Lord Medrick Manderly. Upon word reaching his halls, the brother of Lord Medrick, Ser Hallis Manderly calls for the heads of the Sistermen, demanding justice and recompensation, and so, with his Lord brother's blessing, Ser Hallis set sail for Sweetsister. Lord Borrell would be the first to pay.

The siege of Breakwater Castle was swift to commence, with Ser Hallis easily rebuffing a counter-attack by Lord Howard Sunderland. Now emboldened, Ser Hallis pushed on, and with luck on his side, managed to successfully break through the outer gates of Breakwater Castle, but that was as far as he would go, with the keep itself remaining well-provisioned and closed to his forces.

Though, as to what would prove Ser Hallis' undoing, by this time Lord Sunderland had now sent word to the Eyrie for aid, yet Lord Gunthor Arryn was elsewhere. The letter would soon find him in Gulltown, where a fleet is promptly readied and set to sail under the command of Lord Gunthor Arryn and Lord Armond Grafton. Though, the Grafton fleet having set sail was no secret as by means of an informant in Gulltown, Lord Medrick Manderly soon heard of their movement, and, despite having wanted to stay out of the conflict, is forced to raise further men and sail for Sweetsister, in order to ensure his brother does not become carrion for the crows

### 67 AC - Battle for Sweetsister

Soon enough, the fleets of both the Vale and White Harbour arrive at Sweetsister, coincidentally so, within hours of one another. The fighting is quick to commence, both on sea, and on land. The opening of the battle is a bloody one, with a total of four ships being sunk nigh instantly, everwhile, on the land, Ser Hallis had been forced to abandon his siege of Breakwater Castle in favour of defending his own rear from the men of Gulltown. Though, as the fighting thickens, Lord Gunthor Arryn, still very much a young man at this time, manages to cut his way toward Lord Medrick Manderly, and demands for him to end this madness, Lord Medrick, so too uninclined toward this war, shouts back in agreement, and so the tense fighting slows until it eventually parts in truce.

The truce is soon turned to peace, on the condition that Lord Benedar Borrell and Ser Hallis Manderly are sent elsewhere save their homes for a period of a half decade, and so the fleets sail home, leaving the Bite to a marginally more peaceful life than usual - for a time.

## Aftermath

While Lord Gunthor Arryn and Lord Medrick Manderly did indeed conclude a peace amidst truce and steel and blood upon the Isle of Sweetsister, and did indeed conclude that Lord Benedar Borrell and Ser Hallis Manderly would be sent elsewhere for a half decade, peace only briefly came to the Bite. To say peace only came, is terribly fitting as well, for sad as it is, the state of the Bite has always been one of conflict and violence, no matter what those with grand plans may wish for.

Peace came for nigh on a year before word of raiders and pirates returned. Whether they were of the Sisters or the Manderlys or else, none truly know, All that is known, is that the Bite remains a place of great tension and hostility.