The Royal Council, part 3 - Vale Cities and Roads
The Vale before the coming of Aegon, was arguably the least changing region in Westeros. Farmers planted their fields, lords ruled their land, war was rare, and men with swords generally spent their time sharpening their skills at tourneys, or if they were in the west, against the first men Hill tribes.
Sometimes, pirates form the east attacked the coast, or the three sisters became uppety, and had to be taught their place. In truly misforunate times, there were civil wars, or one Arryn or another decided to take a shot at conquering the Riverlands, generally to disastrous results.
But all of this was rare. For the most part, the Vale was peaceful, prosperous and so well protected by it's natural boundaries, that it never had to fear any enemy invading it.
This led to a culture that was by far the most conservative in Westeros. Where small folks and lords alike did not like change, where generations upon generations were born, lived, and died without leaving their hometowns, where laws were unchanging for literarily thousands of years.
It was a stable, prosperous kingdom, though not one that grew, either in wealth, technology, laws, or territory.
This would all change with the coming of Aegon.
When Aegon landed in Westeros, it was the end of in dependant kingdoms, and the Vale was no different than any other.
After one singular sea battle, that reduced the Vale fleet to burning cinders, Queen Visenya too Vhagar and simply flew up into the Eyrie, the impenetrable fortress of House Arryn.
For as Harren learned in the Riverlands, walls and mountains mean nothing to dragon, for dragons fly.
And thus, in exchange for getting to ride on Vhagar, Ronnel Arryn bent the knee, and the boy King would forever be known as "The King who Flew", the last king of Mountains and Vale.
During his reign, Aegon did not put many demands on his newly sworn Valemen, generally preffering instead to rule with his usual light touch.
This changed with ascension of Aenys, who preferred a far more direct, hand in his handling of the provinces.
The opinion th lord of the Vale had towards their second supreme Monarch was rather mixed through his reign.
On one hand, the lords in general really did not appreciate the outlawing of the right of the first night, which they took as an attack on their lordly right. On the other hand, Aenys won a lot of hearts amongst both lords and small folk when he dealt with the clansmen once and for all.
However, the larger problem was Aenys reforms overall. As the transition between the lordly model focused exclusively on war, to the more modern approach that a lord should be both a warrior and an good administrator, was not a smooth one in the Vale.
One lordly family who was with the King to the hilt however, was the Grand Dukes, the house of Arryn.
Uppon the ascension of Aenys I, Ronnel Arryn was the only living westerosi king from the days before the Conquest, and unlike most, he had not bent his knee begrudgingly.
This would pay off grandly for him in his later life, as it secured him a royal marriage between his own heir and Prince Jaehaerys, as well as great royal favour.
Out of the Grand Dukes, the one who choose to invest into the The Royal Eastern Seas Trading Company of Westeros, house Arryn was only tied with house Greyjoy in terms of how much of their own coffers they put into the company.
This would greatly benefit the Vale, and House Arryn overall, but many of his vassals looked down upon Ronnel for getting so invested in "Counting coppers" as well as trade.
The truth of the matter was, that Ronnel was neither a spectacular ruler, but neither was he a bad one. He was however, a man loyal to the crown, and with a very clear sense of where the wind was blowing(Not too dissimilar to Goren Greyjoy).
He would thus embrace all of Aenys technological reforms to their fullest, while also trying to talk his vassals into supporting them, which he had a rather mixed success.
However, unlike the reach, most of Aenys reforms and planning in the Vale survived the war of the Faith, so we shall cover the reforms that began following the first council here.
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The Giant's Lance is the duchy in which the Eyrie lies, and the first capital that would grow up beneath it.
The original castle of house Arryn, was the Gates of the Moon, which lies in the shadow of the Giant's Lance, upon the top of which the Eyrie is situated.
Not too surprisingly, it was around this lower castle that a city would eventually rise.
This city, which was originally the capital city of the Vale, is not only a rich one, surrounded by fertile plains and mountains filled with iron and coal, but it also grants the holder with direct control over the titular Vale of Arryn itself, dominating all other cities in the region.
At least before the rise of the second capital.
The Gates of the Moon, is an important and rich City in the duchy, but it would eventually be eclipsed in pretty much every way possible, by the second capital city of the Vale.
Named approximately enough, Vale City.
Vale City was originally made by Aenys as a dowry to House Arryn for the eventual marriage between Arryn and Targaryen, though it was specifically not a holding for Prince Jaehaerys, and he was never known as the prince of the Vale.
The city is located smack dab in the middle of the duchy of Ironoaks, where the Ironoaks River flows into the narrow sea.
Despite this, it is very much regarded and classified as a part of the Duchy of the Giant's Lance.
The city, being the Vale headquarters for The Royal Eastern Seas Trading Company of Westeros, was, not too surprisingly, the fastest growing City in the Vale, and in 54, it surpassed Gulltown as the largest City of the Grand Duchy.
While the Gates of the Moon was far richer in materials, it was into Vale City that all trade from the east flowed into, and which produce flowed out. In many ways, it was the Spicetown to The Gates of The Moon's King's Landing. However, while Spicetown was held by house Velaryon, both of these two Vale Cities were held by house Arryn.
Thus, once it became clear that power and wealth had changed to the newer city, the Arryn's finally changed the capital of the Grand Duchy in 64.
This is not to say that the Gates of The Moon became unimportant. It was still one of the largest Iron exporters of the Vale, and the largest Coal maker on the continent. The city not only remained wealthy, but it also remained an important stop between the Vale and the Riverlands.
Vale City as a settlements is very much like Spicetown, in that while it has it's factories and own economy, it's main economy is as a middle man between the Vale and the Eastern markets.
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In terms of landmarks, the city's most notable landmark is the Arryn Palace, which is modeled after the Eyrie, only on a far lower altitude.
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Another notable feature is the Blue Sept, which would become the regional religious center for the Faith, following the war of the Faith.
The sept is a large one, and though it is far smaller than the Sept in King's Landing, it is still larger than most castles.
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The city also has a naval Academy for the nobility, and a war Arsenal and Harbour.
A smaller city in the duchy is platinum. At the time of the first King's Council, a complete backwater, with mayhaps 3000 souls living in the valley around it.
This changed, when Ronnel told the king that Platinum existed there.
Platinum in the modern age, is of course the most valuable precious metal there is. In the beginning of the first century however, it was an obscure, worthless metal that could only be found in the Vale.
Upon learning of it's existence and rarity, Aenys adopted Platinum as the most valuable metal in Westeros currency, one platinum coin being worth 4 times a gold coin. Needless to say, Platinum City sprang up overnight, and is the source of the fourth currency metal in Westeros.
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Other cities in the duchy at the time includes The Bloody Gate, Hearth's home, Argonath and Tharbad.
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Runestone was once the strongest region of the Vale, and before the coming of the Andals, they almost succeeded in uniting the region under their own banner.
In modern days however, the duchy is very much a traditional Vale district, specializing in food and metal, though unlike most of the region, coal is in short supply.
This has forced the region to adopt another niche to stand out, namely Bronze products.
Though Runestone only contains a number of hills instead of the actual mountains of the Vale, said hills are chok full of metals, in particularly both tin and Copper, allowing Runestone all It needed to rise as the largest bronze industry in the Vale.
Other Cities in the Duchy at the time was Bronzepoint.
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The Redfort is a very good example of the stereotypical Vale duchy. Almost exclusively about 3 products. Food, iron, and coal.
In many ways, it is the duchy of the Runestone, only with a focus on Iron instead of Bronze, copper and Tine.
The duchy only has one city, the titular capital.
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Off all the original cities of Westeros, none had a worse case of being overshadowed by all it's new competing cities, quite like Gulltown.
Like most of the Vale, Gulltown produces large amounts of food. Unfortunately for the city, that is pretty much the Duchy's only natural export along with fish.
Though the city is a good stopping point for vares between the Crownlands and Vale, the unfortunate fact of the matter is that for most traders, Vale City is a more profitable stop, despite the longer trip around the peninsula, diverting much of the wealth that used to flow through it.
Making matters even worse, is the southern road, allowing caravans and travelers to make the trip to the Vale along the southern coast, without ever having to take ship to Gulltown.
The City's natural exports isn't particularly unique either, as food travels out of the Vale and Northwards from every port in the Duchy, and unlike Seagard, there is no huge market directly along over the seas. The crow lands out produces farming harvests of the Vale as a whole, much less this one duchy, and that success means that they dominate the food trade eastwards as well.
You will find most acommendations in Gull town, but the city is very much the Lorath of Westeros. A once incredibly prosperous city, overshadowed by all it's neighbors.
It's one unique graze, is that it's one of the two only naval academies in the Vale, along with the one in Vale City.
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The only Duchy in the Vale smaller than Gulltown, is the Duchy of Witch Isle.
Unlike Gulltown though, Witch City has never been a big player in Westerosi politics, and today, it is a quiet fishing city, who generally serves as a trade stop between the Vale and the south and West.
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Ironoaks, is a duchy that has the somewhat awkward position that they are dominated by a city that's not technically port of their duchy itself, yet is right in the middle of it.
This is not to say that the Duchy doesn't enjoy the wealth that Vale City brings in however, as most of the trade that flows between the Gates of The Moon, and Vale City, flows through Ironoaks City.
As such, being the main stop between the Vale's richest cities, allows the city to reap all the benefits one would expect from this trade.
In regards to it's own products, Ironoaks produces food and metal, but it's most important produce, is clean coal. As the city rules the waterpower of Ironoaks river, it is also the main southern Vale cleaner of Coal, which it is capable of cleansing itself as well, meaning that it doesn't have to Import it(Though it does this as well) it's own coal, before it can sell it to the rest of the continent.
Other cities in the duchy is Old Anchor, famous for it's large shipyards.
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In the middle of the Eastweald, lies Longbow city. As one can deduce from the name, Longbow, whether castle or city, has long been the center of the Vale's hunting culture, and as a result, it's fur trade.
Though, in later years, the economy has moved more to breeding animals, then skinning them, originally, it's fame was a result from it's large, and famous hunting grounds, as the land around it is generally considered to have the best game in the Vale.
Shadowcats, bucks, bears, wolves, foxes and birds of all kinds are plentiful here. And though Shadowcats are now a protected species and it's illegal to hunt them, one can still find all the rest here still in great numbers.
This has lead to an economy amongst the lords of Westeros, where many lords will come here to hunt, and the house of Hunter earning a lot of coin on it.
Other than hunts and fur trade, the duchy produces food, metal, and coal.
Other cities in the Duchy is Arrow, Nock and Quiver.
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South and West of the mountains of the moon lies the duchy of Southweald, dominated by the city of Wickenden, the only lasting conquest of the Vale's many attempts to conquer the Riverlands.
Wickenden like most of Vale Cities produces the three standard Vale produce, Coal, food, and metal.
It's main export however, is Candle making. The city has produced massive amounts of candles over the course of millenia, and while there are competitors in the modern age, Wickenden still dominates the market due to it's high quality candles, and having been around much longer and thus having more confidence in their product.
On a more depressing note, the city was also the infamous location of the Sword and Stars attempted assassination of Aenys the first during the start of the war of the Faith.
Aenys would lie close to death for no less than four months, as a result the injury he sustained, and his children took control over the war during his recovery.
This in turn lead to the age of Viserys the Firestorm, and all the sorrows and deaths, that came with it.
Wickenden was the only City in the duchy following the first King's Council, though why Aenys didn't also grant a charter to Templeton during this time, isn't entirely clear.
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Northwest of the Giant's Lance, lies Westweald, ruled by the Belmore of Strongsong.
Westweald is an incredibly productive region, that also is capable of cleansing it's own coal. It produces massive amounts of coal, metals, gravel(by far being the largest Vale producer of it), though it's food produce drasitcally increased with terrace farming, it still is nowhere near as fertile as the Vale proper.
Instead, Westweald imports most of it's food to feed it's enormous population(Considering how little free living space there is there), while producing large amounts of the materials that keeps the engine of Westeros running.
Other than Strongsong, the Cities of the Duchy is, Tintin, Tinton, Pendragon, Dunharrow, Celebrant, Rauros, Dunharrow, Coal crown, Tinshield, and Gravelton.
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The Northweald is in many ways a larger, yet less rich version of the Westweald. Like the Westweald, it is filled with smaller cities that produces a truly staggering amount of gravel, metal, and coal which it is capable of cleansing itself.
However, while larger, it's also not as rich in raw materials. Unlike Westweald though, the duchy is more than capable of feeding itself with it's much larger farmlands. This is made even easier by the fact that the Duke in the capital of Coldwater City, is also the Dukes of the Fingers, meaning all the fishing trade from that Duchy flows into the Northweald.
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Other than the capital of Coldwater, the duchy also has the city of Snake wood, which controls the only large forest in the Vale, and with it, the Grand Duchy's entire Woodmaking industry, and a large part of it's shipbuilding capacity.
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Other than these two, the duchy's new cities also included Irondeep, Hobbiton, Ivarstead, Markarth, Hjalmarch, Skellington, Morthal, Rivendale, Bree, and Darkton.
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The duchy of the Fingers produces exactly one export worth talking about. Fish.
The duchy has four smaller fishing cities.
Pinky City, Ring City, Middle City, and Index City.
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The Duchy of the Bite, was a long, cold, narrow strip of land north of the mountains of the moon, almost utterly devoid of people.
As it's development and colonization would come later, after the second King's council, I shall not go over it here, other than to note that the first capital was Thumb city, located on the northernmost of the Fingers.
It was a glorified fishing village during this time period, and in every single way, it would be eclipsed by the duchy's second capital.
Angmar, the Invincible, the home of the Black Falcons.
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The three sisters, and it's local population the Sistermen, have a long and infamous history of being pirates, hated by all mainlanders.
Aenys did not do much to develop the islands, other than grant them 4 city charters, build some roads, and build new, stronger, taller lighthouses, that was under the control of the crown itself rather than the local lords(Some reports claim local lords would put out the light at night and then plunder ships who beached outside the city on the morrow.
Unlike the Ironborn, who was able to become a dominant economic powerhouse thanks to wast hordes of Iron, the Sister men had no such wast local resources. Even their bounty of fish was worse than the Ironborn's were.
Salvation came from the Northern seas, as advancement in fishing technology allowed Westerosi fishing ships to begin long, bountiful trips into the shivering seas, where one could find great bounties of fish… Provided you weren't killed by leviathans, ice dragons, Krakens, Ibbenese or in the case of the Sistermen, Skagosi.
In 74, during the reign of Aenys II, the Sistermen decided to start up a large scale whaling company, and was issued a charter and quota of how many whales they were allowed to hunt each year.
This was a direct challenge to the Skagosi whaling Company, which had dominated the Shivering seas whaling trade, as the North's only eastern whaling company.
This would frequently lead to clashes at sea where Skagosi and Sistermen whaling ships would clash in battle, sometimes sinking the other if they win a decisive victory to cover up their deed.
This got so bad that in 86, a Skagosi trading ship, that stopped in Littlesister was boarded by a mob, and it's population lynched. In retaliation, 3 Sistermen vessels that were unfortunate enough to be in Skagosi Harbour a month later, suffered the same fate.
The following months of retaliation from each side, eventually got so bad that companies of the Royal army had to be permanently stationed in every port in Skagos and The Sisters, to prevent future lynchings.
Out at sea however, the King's writ is looser, and battles between these two duchies continue to this day.
Other than the lucrative fishing and whaling industry, the sisters only economic wealth comes from being a stop between The North and it's eastern and southern neighbors.
The capital of The Three Sisters is Sisterton, with it's other 3 cities are Longsister, Breakwater and Littlesister.