House KellingtonVassals of House Baratheon :: "History Remembers Truth"
HISTORY
Possibly one of the most ancient houses in all of Westeros, House Kellington was founded during the Andal Invasion. During the reign of King Qarlton II Durrandon, an Andal army sought to cross through a pass thought undefended in the mountains and thus come upon Storm’s End from an unexpected direction. Little did the Andals know, however, a group of bandits had long plagued the Storm Kings; these bandits refused to allow the army to pass freely and used the terrain to their advantage, bringing an end to the attempt at a surprise attack near the village of Kellington. The leader of these bandits was raised to lordship for his heroics and given Kellington and the nearby lands as his seat, thereby forming the line that, to this day, is known as House Kellington.
Although much of their history has now disappeared into the fog of ages and become myth, the history of House Kellington since the days of Aegon’s Conquest is well known. When it became apparent that House Durrandon would be unable to stand against the Targaryens and their dragons, Lord Qarlton Kellington sent an envoy to the swiftly approaching army of Rhaenys Targaryen offering a white peace – the Kellingtons would ensure no members of the Durrandon army would flee through the pass in exchange for their survival and place in the new empire being created. Lord Qarlton would later die during Lord Orys Baratheon’s failed assault on the Boneway during the First Dornish War.
During the Faith Militant uprising during King Maegor I Targaryen’s reign, House Kellington stood firmly on the side of the king. Their neighbours of House Morrows, however, supported the Faith Militant. When Lord Morrows came to then then Lord Theodred Kellington to convince him to join the uprising, Theodred had the rebel lord executed on the spot and sent a sizable army to size seize Morrows’ holding at Fawnton and taking the Morrows hostage. With the approval of Lord Robar Baratheon, Theodred married one of his retainers to Morrows’ eldest daughter, placing him at the head of the new House Cafferen and cementing their status as a banner house of House Kellington for years to come.
As the years wore on, House Kellington’s fortunes waned. One year, a freak storm caused a mountain slide to fill in a quarry that had been supplying much of the surrounding land. A decade later, one of the Stormlands’ famous lightning storms set fire to the woods from which Kellington had been drawing most of its lumber and burned a vast portion of it. The War for the Stepstones claimed the lives of all the contemporary Lord Kellington’s true born sons; it was only the legitimization of a bastard that saved the family line from extinction. The Dance of the Dragons saw battles rage throughout all of Westeros and the last stable settlement on Kellington lands was burned to the ground, twice, during the two year conflict.
House Kellington had just begun to stabilize itself and begin to rebuild by the time of the Blackfyre Rebellion. When Prince Baelor rode with his Dornish army, Lord Jerome Kellington was one of the first Stormlanders to answer the call; many had been reticent to fight alongside the Dornish, fearing they might take revenge for wrongs of eld. Jerome, though, not only willingly joined the force going to save his king but marched his small force at the Battle of Redgrass Plain alongside Oberyn Martell, brother of Maron Martell and then Heir of Dorne, saving his life at the cost of a grave wound to himself. Jerome’s heroic act is said to have helped build relationships between the Stormlands and Dore. Lord Jerome would never fully recover from his wound and, eventually, pass from an extended infection of it soon after the end of the rebellion, leaving his son Cedric in charge of the house.
Under Cedric’s leadership, the lands of House Kellington began to decline further; he has been a poor lord, indulging himself at the cost of his people. Under his watch, House Cafferen has begun to push for independence and all the work of his forebears has begun to fall apart. With no heir, trueborn or otherwise, House Kellington is in the worst shape it’s ever been. Despite the best efforts of Kellington’s maester, the house may be beyond saving.
HOLDINGS
The seat of House Kellington, the Cragfort, is a sizable and impressive defensive fortification; built to defend the pass through the mountains from further incursion, the Cragfort was constantly expanded and rebuilt to be more impregnable many times over the years. Far more defensible from the western approach from the lower ground than the higher ground of the pass to east, the Cragfort has stood against more than one siege in its time. The halls are luxuriously decorated, draped in Kellington blue with no expense spared; if there’s one thing that Cedric will leave as a legacy, it’s the ostentatious spending done within the manor. Though the Cragfort sees few visitors these days, it is said that within the castle resides a room decorated to remind visitors of each of the Seven Kingdoms so that visiting guests can feel more at home.
House Kellington is a house far from its glory days; even without Cedric’s actions degrading the standing on the house, Kellington has seen far better days. Most of the respect given to House Kellington is merely in honour of its ancient members; even its banner house, House Cafferen, is treated with nearly as much respect as House Kellington – were Kellington to fall any further, House Cafferen might easily find itself able to break free.
The lands of House Kellington consist primarily of a strip of land that clutches precariously to a mountain side overlooking a pass from the Reach to the heart of the Stormlands. While there is no true population center, its peasantry spread out instead of gathered together, the Cragfort still maintains a small population of peasants who live within its shadow. Further down the approach to the Cragfort is an ancient tower fort, now gone to ruin, constructed by the earliest Kellingtons before it was abandoned for the current castle, offering further protection to the primary castle – anyone attempting to the Cragfort has to pass under the shadow of the ruined tower.
For a lack of towns, the Kellingtons maintain order within their lands well enough. Though the better part of their protection is supplied by their banner house, the Cafferens, the late Lord Jerome determined that the best way to ensure a lack of banditry within his lands was to employ them for his own ends to protect the people. Thus, outside a few outlier groups, outlaws are almost non-existent within their ancestral lands.
For all the wealth Lord Cedric spends on maintaining the Cragfort, House Kellington is not the wealthiest of houses. Their current steward and maester, Endrew, carefully conceals from the lord of the house their true financial status in order to carefully cultivate what little they have while continuing to make the necessary donations to the Citadel and the Night’s Watch.