The Hightower

The Hightower is the seat of the Lords of Oldtown and has been home to House Hightower since the first humans settled the region. Set on Battle Island in the middle of the Whispering Sound at the mouth of the Honeywine River, the Hightower is a powerful fortress and lighthouse that has protected Oldtown since its establishment.

## History

The Hightower was originally a black stone fortress on Battle Island of an unknown origin. Some maesters hypothesize that the strange stone building was built by the ancient Valyrians as a trading outpost while others say that it was built by the Mazemakers. Others, still, argue that the building that would become the base of the Hightower was built by the mysterious, and some say mythical, Deep Ones. Whatever its origins, the Hightower Kings settled in the black keep and used it as a base to defend the budding trade settlement that would become Oldtown. Two wooden towers were built atop the old fortress to light the way into the port. Both collapsed, leaving the way to Oldtown shrouded in fog. Finally, King Uthor of the High Tower, the founder of House Hightower, had the first phase of the stone tower built atop the ancient black stone fortress that now serves as the base of the Hightower. With the way reliably lit, trade flowed through Oldtown as smoothly as the tide comes and goes each day.

As the Hightowers grew in wealth, the Hightower itself grew, going from the short black fortress it once was to the massive white stepped tower that it is today. As it stands, the Hightower is as tall as the Wall in the North and many say that Bran the Builder himself designed it. The Hightower casts such a large shadow that the people of Oldtown use the shadow to tell the time of day.

The interior is richly decorated and grows more luxurious and exclusive the higher one goes. At the base, in the old black stone fortress, the Hightowers have their reception hall. At one end, there is the old throne of the Hightower Kings where the Lord of Oldtown sits and receives guests and the public. On the floor above the reception hall is the great hall with kitchens and space for hundreds of guests at the many tables that fill the room. The floors above the great hall are apartments for guests that increase in luxury to match the nobility and prestige of those that stay in them: the higher one is in the tower, the higher his station and, more importantly, the closer he is to the Hightowers. Only those considered to be dear friends or people of great deference are housed in the apartments nearest the family’s personal quarters. The floor just below the very top room of the Tower are the apartments of the lord and his family. There is a solar in the center where the family eats and spends leisure time with views of the city and the sea and a small number of rooms for the lord, his children, and other close family members. In a private wing of the floor are the lord’s personal chambers in which there is a private stairway that leads directly to the lord’s solar, the highest room in the Hightower. Invitation to the lord’s solar is considered either a great honor or a terrifying omen of harm to come as it is the most exclusive place in all the lands of the Hightowers. Typically, Lord Hightower will have meetings in one of the many solars or conference chambers throughout the Hightower. Atop the Tower is lit a fire that guides ships to the harbor through the dense fog that blankets the southern seas.