House Lannister

Shield of Lannisport

Warden of the West

House Lantell (possibly)

**House Lannister of Casterly Rock** is one of the Great Houses of Seven Kingdoms, and the principal house of the westerlands. Their seat is Casterly Rock, though another branch exists that is based in nearby Lannisport. Their sigil is a golden lion on a field of crimson. Their official motto is "Hear Me Roar!" However, their unofficial motto, equally well known, is "A Lannister always pays his debts." The Warden of the West is a Lannister by tradition.

Fair-haired, tall, and handsome, the Lannisters are the blood of Andal adventurers who carved out a mighty kingdom in the western hills and valleys. Through the female line they boast of descent from Lann the Clever, the legendary trickster of the Age of Heroes who tricked the members of House Casterly into giving him Casterly Rock during the era of the First Men.

The Lannisters reigned as Kings of the Rock until they fell to the Targaryen conquest, but were allowed to remain the liege lords of the westerlands.

## History

### First Men Kings

The Lannisters suddenly appear as First Men in historical records of the Age of Heroes, ruling large portions of the westerlands from Casterly Rock just as the Casterlys vanished from the chronicles. They claim descent from Lann the Clever, the legendary figure who tricked the Casterlys from their seat, Casterly Rock.

According to a semi-canon source, members of lesser branches of the family left Casterly Rock and developed a nearby village into the city of Lannisport, forming House Lannister of Lannisport. Meanwhile, the Lannisters of Casterly Rock grew to become Kings of the Rock. The first known King of the Rock was Loreon I Lannister, although Lann the Clever has posthumously been called by the same title.

### Andal Kings

During the Andal invasion of Westeros, House Lannister initially fought the invading Andal warlords and adventurers that ventured into the westerlands but then took a policy of arranging marriages between them and the daughters of the local First Men houses. They also took Andal sons and daughters as wards and fosterlings at Casterly Rock to prevent betrayals such as those that had happened in the Vale. In time, the Lannister kings also wed their children to Andals, and when King Gerold III died without male issue, a council crowned the Andal husband of Gerold's only daughter, Ser Joffrey Lydden, who took the Lannister name. Thus the Lannisters became an Andal house, though their First Men name lived on.

The gold of Casterly Rock, Castamere, the Pendric Hills and the Golden Tooth has made them the wealthiest of the Great Houses. The keep at Casterly Rock sits on top of a gold mine, built into the very rock. From that lofty yet uncomfortable position, House Lannister rules over the westerlands and influences all of Westeros, by virtue of the kingdom's purse strings.

House Lannister possessed an ancestral Valyrian steel greatsword called Brightroar, but it was lost when King Tommen II Lannister went on a quest to Valyria and never returned. The Lannisters have been looking for a replacement ever since, though they have not stopped looking for their own lost ancestral sword.

When Lelia Lannister, the Dowager Queen of the Iron Islands, was mutilated by drowned men, her nephew, the King of the Rock, began a war which left the Iron Islands impoverished.

### Targaryen Era

When the War of Conquest began and Aegon the Conqueror swept through the land, Loren I, King of the Rock, sided with Mern IX Gardener, King of the Reach against the Targaryens. The two armies met in the Reach, where the combined might of the Reach and the Rock broke Aegon's army. Their army, dubbed by historians 'The Host of the Two Kings', numbered 55,000; five thousand of them mounted knights, while the Targaryens had only 10,000 men, many of uncertain loyalty and reliability. With their smaller force severely weakened and in danger of routing, Aegon and his sisters deployed all three dragons at once; the only time this happened during the war. Their combined fires scoured the battlefield, immolating more than four thousand men (including King Mern and his heirs) and giving the battle its name: The Field of Fire.  After he was captured, King Loren the Last bent the knee and was allowed to remain Lord of Casterly Rock and became the first Warden of the West.

The Lannisters were also involved in the Targaryen civil war, the Dance of the Dragons. It was a contest of claims between Viserys I Targaryen's issue, Rhaenyra Targaryen, by his first wife Aemma of House Arryn and his issue, Aegon II Targaryen by his second wife Alicent of House Hightower. The head of House Lannister at that time, Lord Jason Lannister, supported the greens, along with his brother Ser Tyland Lannister, the master of ships and a member of the small council during the reign of Viserys I Targaryen. Tyland was named master of coin at the start of the Dance, and he seized the royal treasury and divided crown's gold into four parts. One part was entrusted to the care of the Iron Bank of Braavos for safekeeping, another sent under strong guard to Casterly Rock and a third to Oldtown. The remaining wealth was used by the greens for bribes and gifts and hiring sellswords. Lord Jason was killed in the Battle at the Red Fork, leaving Casterly Rock in disarray. The Lannister host under Lord Lefford was then shattered in the Battle by the Lakeshore, the bloodiest battle of the war. After the fall of King's Landing, Tyland was given to torturers in the hopes of recovering some of the crown's treasure.

The war ended with the deaths of both claimants Rhaenyra and Aegon II. Aegon III Targaryen ascended the throne and named Roland Westerling, older brother of Johanna Lannister, Lord Jason Lannister's widow, one of his seven regents. Jason was succeeded by his only child and heir, Stafford Lannister.

## Recent Events

### Blackwater Rebellion

In 187AC, House Lannister sided with the Reds and supported Daeron Targaryen in the Blackwater Rebellion. They fought against their vassals House Crakehall and House Reyne. It was during the Battle of the Hills that Tommen Lannister was killed. Tygett Lannister, former heir of Casterly Rock, died later in 189AC, after which Martyn Lannister named his eldest son Tommen his heir. It was an act that angered his brother Damon and a few of his vassals.

To the chagrin of an aging Lord Martyn,his little son Tommen had died of a fever two years later than his eldest,an infant on a cradle without getting to know his siblings or the world for what it mattered.Thoughts like this made the man fall into a deep depression,where despite the efforts of his brother Damon Lannister of getting close to him and heal the relation between brothers it was too late,Martyn found comfort on his daughters Jeanne Lannister and Laurel Lannister where he saw the bond he would have liked with his brothers and here he saw a light that would lead prosperity of Lannister to prosperity once again.

Martyn then decided to marry his eldest daughter Lady Jeanne to a high scion of the House Lannister of Lannisport line Ser Gerion in 194AC on a matrilineal marriagem,building her a better claim and making suspect his brother Daemon of his succesion plan being the last encounters between the two bitter and cold far from the relation the two of them desired.

On 195AC Martyn surprised the Continent,suffering a a heart attack descending to his death,having appointed officially the lordship Casterly Rock to his daughter, Jeanne before his brother's line.

According to the Lannister family,Martyn finalized his last will and testament, knowing his own end was near, naming his daughter his heir, and stating that the males lawfully begotten from her line would follow after, followed by Jeanne's daughters, followed by Laurel's line if she married matrilineally, and so on so forth. Only after would his brother Damon's line inherit Casterly Rock. He had his will sent to both King's Landing and The Citadel to officiate and received confirmation from both the King and the Master of Law.

It is said that "The Grey Lion" would not pay a visit to his brother's grave but went directly to King's Landing to cause havoc among the court,remembering how figures like Rhaenys "The Queen that never Was" was passed over in order for a male to inheritt and while his argument gather many sympathetic ears he only got a response from an elderly and senile King Darrin that the last will of a Lord regarding succesion is unrefuted and that the Iron Throne is a different field.

Famous were the words of Lord Damon before leaving the throne room that few were able to listen but affortunately,were written on the prologue of the Battle of Lions,"May the same never happen to you Valyrian,the true king is death after all".

The scowling of several guards and the angry fits of many were the only answer as the King was already far from himself,The Battle of Lions (The Lion Uprising) was about to begin.

In 196AC, Damon Lannister started a revolt against his lady niece Jeanne Lannister, and was defeated in the Battle of Lions.Houses Brax, Banefort, Tarbeck, Westford, Crakehall, and Parren supported Damon Lannister. He was captured and sent to Casterly Rock where he was executed alongside Lord Brax, Lord Banefort, Lord Crakehall, and Lord Tarbeck. Houses Westford and Parren were also reduced to minor vassals with their treasury seized, and all Houses who supported Damon were given raised taxes to pay for the reparations needed in the west, specifically in Lannisport after The Coup of Lannisport.

### Current

Jeanne Lannister died at the beginning of 200AC, following the birth of Tion Lannister.

Leaving Ser Gerion Lannister as Regent for Jeanne's children.