Crownlands

**The Crownlands** is one of the nine constituent regions of the Seven Kingdoms. Instead of being ruled by a Lord Paramount, the Crownlands are ruled directly by the monarch on the Iron Throne from the city of King's Landing, the largest city in Westeros and the capital of the Seven Kingdoms.

## History

The Crownlands were never a sovereign nation, instead being contested between the Riverlands, the Stormlands, and other regions for thousands of years until Aegon the Conqueror seized control of the area during his invasion and made it his primary foothold on the continent, three centuries before the death of King Robert Baratheon. It is therefore the newest of the regions in Westeros, and as a result, does not have much of a distinct "cultural identity", so much as it is shaped by its distinction as the region containing the capital city.

For most of its three centuries of existence the Crownlands were ruled directly by House Targaryen and their subordinate vassals. When House Targaryen was deposed at the end of Robert's Rebellion, seventeen years before the War of the Five Kings, Robert took the throne, and his new House Baratheon of King's Landing took up the rule of the Crownlands. After Robert's death, control of the Crownlands and King's Landing passed to Joffrey, after his death - to Tommen, and then to Cersei.

The Crownlands is politically subdivided into two areas: the mainland part administered directly by the King on the Iron Throne and his small council from the city of King's Landing, and the offshore islands under the authority of the Prince of Dragonstone, traditionally the heir to the throne.

Bastards born in the Crownlands are given the surname **Waters**

## Geography

The Crownlands are located on the east coast of Westeros, on the shores of the Narrow Sea, north of the Stormlands and south of the Vale of Arryn. The Reach borders it to the southwest, and the Riverlands border it to the northwest. The Crownlands do not directly touch the lands of the Vale, as the Bay of Crabs separates them by sea, and a small strip of the eastern Riverlands separates them by land. Gods Eye lake forms the southern part of the border between the Riverlands and the Crownlands, but the northern part of the border with the Riverlands is arbitrary, not defined by geographical features.

### Settlements and castles

* King's Landing, the capital city of Westeros, currently ruled by {needs name}
	+ The Red Keep, the royal castle that towers over King's Landing.
	+ Duskendale, seat of House Rykker.
	+ Rosby, seat of House Rosby.
	+ Castle Stokeworth, seat of House Stokeworth.
	+ Antlers, seat of House Buckwell, a holdfast north of King's Landing near the border with the Riverlands.
	+ Sow's Horn, seat of House Hogg, a holdfast north of King's Landing and south of Antlers.
	+ Rook's Rest, seat of House Staunton, a coastal town along Blackwater Bay.
	+ The Whispers, seat of House Crabb, a ruined castle on the tip of Crackclaw Point.
	+ Dyre Den, seat of House Brune, located in Crackclaw Point
* Dragonstone, the ancestral home of House Targaryen, formerly ruled by Stannis Baratheon of House Baratheon of Dragonstone.
	+ Sharp Point, seat of House Bar Emmon, castle on a peninsula south of Blackwater Bay, sworn to Dragonstone.
	+ Stonedance, seat of House Massey, castle on a peninsula south of Blackwater Bay, sworn to Dragonstone.

### Forested regions

* Crackclaw Point
* The Kingswood

### Highways

* The Kingsroad
* The Goldroad
* The Roseroad

### Islands and bodies of water

* Dragonstone
* Claw Isle
* Driftmark
* Blackwater Bay
	+ The Spears of the Merling King, a string of rocky islets along Blackwater Bay