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The largest and eldest of the seven kingdoms is, of course, the Kingdom of Snow, or as it a known in the lower kingdoms, simply the North.

Ruled by the Kings of the North, the current King is Edward Stark, while his firstborn son, Robb, will succeed him when he dies, with his bastard half-brother Jon being set to be his right-hand man.

Language

Most of the north speaks one of three dialects of the Old tongue;

The far north speaks the true Old tongue, maintained by the Night’s Watch, who use it to communicate with one another. However, despite the name, it has drifted from what the first men would have spoken when they came to Westeros due to the reality of being a spoken language both by the crows of the watch and by the people of the gift.

The people of Winterfel and the surrounding provinces, including the city of Wintertown, speak a different variant known as the stark tongue.

The last version is only special, spoken by the Crannogfolk of the Neck, giving it its name of the Crannogtongue; however, few outside of the Crannogfolk can understand the language, which means during war, the winter kings use the Crannogfolk as Messengers.

General culture 

Due to the martial nature required of the Northfolk, women could not fully abandon the ways of war as they do in the south, and so much like their cultural cousins beyond the wall, many women have taken up the way of the Spear to defend their children while their men are away from home.

These women are known as Spearmaidens, and most Jarls and Magners keep some in their halls for the explicit purpose of protecting their wives and daughters from the lecherous gazes of any man they could otherwise task with protecting their loved ones.

Much like their Ironborn cousins, the Northern men are fond of Saunas, with just about every settlement or keep having at least one sauna which everyone visits at least once per week, if not more oftentoto keep clean.

Government

The Kings of House Stark rule the North as Kings in the North/Winter Kings; they rule with almost absolute power from their seat in Winterfell, supported by regional governors called Magnars, each of whom has their collection of Jarls who control lesser swaths of land.

Magnar examples:

• House Bolton, currently held by Magnar Roose Bolton, their stronghold is at the Dreadfort, their home since the time they ruled as kings.
• House Umber, ruled by The Greatjon 
• House Manderly, unlike other Magnars, the Magnars of House Manderly uses the title of Great Duke as a nod to their southern roots.
• House Karstark.
• House Umber
• House Glover

Each Magnar rules their lands as a king in all but name; they are in charge of maintaining the stark laws and peace, even for crimes committed by the Jarls under their command.

Winterfel itself, although a massive castle and stronghold in its own right, is surrounded by the city of Wintertown, which ebbs and flows in size with the seasons, but even in summer, some ten thousand people live there.

Religion

Although a small minority of the North follows the Seven of the Aesir, the bulk of the region follows the Old Gods of their ancestors.

As such, almost all settlements and holdfasts have a godswood of various sizes and quality, depending on the status of the local government.

Each Godswood has one or more Greenmen, the priests of the Old Gods, most of whom are skinchangers if not Greenseers, however all Greenmen are learned men with great skills at healing and predicting the weather's and most importantly seasons, usually but not always they are correct, however if a Green man gets it wrong to many times it's not unheard of for their people to chase them from the village.

Their duties go far beyond just healing and weather predictions however, they are also responsible for tending to their Godswood, which they live within and maintain to show reverence for their nameless god in larger Godwoods, they gather all their food from their woods, but in smaller ones their people give them gift of food as payment for their services.

However, the old gods are not the only religion in the North, although they are a majority. Thanks to the bannermen of House Manderly, the faith of the seven has been brought to the north, knights included with them. In addition, the drowned god of the Iron Isles is popular in the flints where the Ironborn colonized long ago.

History

According to myth, the true origins of the kingdom having been lost to time long ago, the Kingdom of Snow was born eight thousand years before the doom, when shortly after the long night a young green man named Bran found a hot springs and seeking to take advantage of his discovery, he built a great fortress around the springs, naming it Winterfel.

Over time, people flocked to his hall,  and he was crowned Magnar Brandon the Builder, one of dozens of magnars in those lands at the time.

Although he built the foundations of the kingdom it was his sins and grandsons, each ruling as Magnar in their own right and each slowly but surely conquering the nearby nobles, to ensure their loyalty they would kill rhe new Jarls sons and marry their sons to their new subjects daughters so their descendants would be of stark blood if not name.

But while the Starks were conquering the petty kings, over time the lands north of the neck was divided from dozens of kingdoms into only a handful, who one by one were conquered by the Starks, however they kept their title of Magnar, and instead for a time the stark kings used the title of High-Magnar, until of course the Andals came to Westeros during the reign of High Magnar Theon Stark.

The Andals brought many things to Westeros, even the North, which was never fully conquered by the Andals, namely, they gave the First men the title of King, a title that the Starks adopted as their primary title.

It was under King Brandon the Ninth that the North’s Navies were truly built, before they had longships, stationed at ports across the North, but under Brandon, the North’s Navy was completed.

Two port fortresses were built, the first, the wolf's den, although it began as an older castle under King Jon centuries before, was expanded upon at the mouth of the white knife, for protection against invasions from Essos while the other was built on the Blazewater bay and given the name of the fire water keep.

However, eventually Brandon set sail to the west, never to be seen again, only for his son Brandon the tenth to become king and, in his grief, tried to destroy the Navy his father built, but the Navy was soon restored by HIS son Theon after his death.

Seven hundred years before the doom, several of the most powerful Magnars rebelled against the Kings of Winter, including the Boltons, the Greystarks, who ruled the wolf’s den, and the Umbers, as well as several other nobles whose houses have been lost to the snows of time.

The war lasted for years, and it seemed the Magnars would be successful in winning their independence until a surprise boon came from the south of all places. House Manderly, once Grand dukes in the reach but now stripped of their rank fled to the north alongside thousands of sworn swords, luckily for the Starks the Manderlys agreed to bend the knee, and with the fresh manpower the civil war was ended, the Starks winning, most of the Magnars when the end was clear surrendered for mercy that was given, except for House Greystark, every single man was executed by order of succession and every woman was sold as a thrall.

Their seat at the Wolf’s den was given to the Manderlys, under whose rule the city of White Harbour was made, while the lands of one of the lost Magnars were given to Karlon Stark, the second son of the current Stark king, founding the cadet branch of the Karstarks in the process.

The next major event in the North happened two hundred and thirty years after the doom during the reign of King Cregan the Fourth. A harsh winter struck the north, and many of the small folk died, and although the king tried to buy food from his neighbors but none were able or willing to help him.

However, an envoy came from the Valyrian Empire across the sea, offering food in exchange for young men willing to protect the dragon Emperors. This was a deal he agreed to, causing imperial freighters to be offloaded, and grain and salt pork began to be transported across the kingdom with northmen being taken back across the sea, forming the Northman legion, personal guard of the Emperors and Empresses of Valyria.

Flash forward a hundred and forty years, King Rickard Stark the eighth ruled as king, he ruled well for many years, protecting his lands from north and south, until a dragon came to his lands, him and dozens of his men at arms tried to slay the beast, but they all perished in 380 After Doom, killed by the dragon, known as Scarface.

With his death, and the death of his first born son Brandon, his second son Eddard became king, and along with Eddard’s sworn-Brother Robert Baratheon, king of the Storm kingdom, went on a crusade to kill Scarface, for two years the two men hunted her, and many times the three fought, but each time all three escaped with their lives, until at last the two were forced to aband ron their revenge and return to their respective kingdoms.

Soon after the Valyrians invaded Westeros, seeking to conquer the lands, driving a wedge between the sworn brothers as Eddard refused to take a side, not wishing to disrupt the grain shipments bought by his ancestor that still feed most of the North in exchange for a few youths each year, most of whom return when their service is up.

In the aftermath of the war, public opinion of the Starks has soured in the other kingdoms, but the small folk of the North love them; as to the jarls and Magnars, with a couple of exceptions, most notably the Boltons, all are loyal to King Ned I and his children.

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Kingdom of the Isles and Rivers
From last light in the west to Maiden pool in the east, the neck in the north and gold mountains in the south, and even then they have attempted to make colonies in the furthest west but the native lands wiped those out, the Ironborn have forged their empire through conquest over the centuries, but before the Valyrian Invasion their lands were even larger, stretching to the far eastern coastline.
Currently, they are ruled by King Balon Greyjoy; however, er the Greyjoy line is unlikely to keep the throne for long as most of Balon’s sons have died on reavings, leaving only Balon’s disappointing son, Theon Greyjo,y behind.
Government
The Ironborn are unique amongst the seven kingdoms, as, instead of following a traditional inheritance system, all ranks in Ironborn society, from Captains to Jarls, to Magnars, to even their king,s are elected by Moots. For example, a captain is elected by a crew, Jarls are elected by all free men in the holding, Magnars are elected by all Jarls in their region, and kings are elected by all Jarls and Magnars.

The capital of the kingdom is at Harrenhal, once upon a time when it was first built it was the largest castle in the known world, but over the centuries, it has taken on a new role as a city, the space inside the walls having been filled in with tall towers housing the residents of the city who travel from building to building with bridges that fly through the air, however the original towers still soar high above their younger siblings and are reserved for the local nobility with the small folk only being allowed into the tower as servants.
Culture
Due to the sparse natural resources of the Iron isles, Reaving has become a crucial component of their way of life and even economy, as such Autumn is known as Reaving season, and young ironborn men, as well as veterans of prior seasons will set sail and begin to raid the coastlines from the Westerlands to Quarth, with more adventurous captains taking their ships to Asshai but even they are afraid to sail even further than that, seeking to claim as much treasure as possible before they return to their homes with the winds of winter hopefully with enough deaths to lighten the burden of feeding their families.
This practice has the intended side effect of a form of population control; not only does it bring food back to the isles for winters, but it also lessens the number of mouths that food needs to feed.

Due to this role, treasure is divided evenly between every Ironborn who sets sail, and even those who die have their shares given to their families when they return.
Religion:
Most of the kingdom follows the Drowned god, even the people of the Riverlands, who have syncretized the Drowned god with the seven, seeing the Drowned god as the male aspects plus the stranger combined into one being.
As such, drowned priests can be found across Ironborn lands; however, the priests, no matter where they can be found, wearing a crystal marking them as Septons, but unlike Septons in other lands, their crystals have a secondary role; they are sun crystals, the same sort of crystals used by Ship captains for navigating.
History
The kingdom began as two kingdoms, the Iron Isles and the Kingdom of the Rivers, each with its king. However, when King Harrywn Hardhand came to power, he waged a war against the river lands, conquering their lands from Storm-King Arrec Durandon, the current King of the Storm lands to the west. When Harrywn died, his son Halleck was elected by the resulting kings' moot. However, Halleck was elected as King; he much preferred the Riverlands to the Iron Isles and picked the city of Fairmarket as his seat. In turn when he died his son Harren was elected, who bankrupted his people and spent forty years building the great castle of Harrenhal, thousands died building the fortress, not that Harren was able to enjoy the fortress for long as five years after the castle was built, Harren the Black died one morning when on his back from the privy to his bedchamber he slipped on a step and broke his neck dying alone on a cold stone floor.

After Harren’s death, the Kingsmoot decided to elect a non-Hoare as king. Not trusting Harren’s sons after what their father did, they elected Vickon Greyjoy as King.

Decades later, Alton Greyjoy was elected as King, and under him, great expeditions were sent out, with Jarl Erik discovered a distant island, and his son Jarl Leif Redmane then discovered an even larger land, with both men building colonies on their respective lands.
Erk’s colony lasted for fifty years, but Leif's only lasted some twenty years before the natives of the lands wiped them out.
However, after Alton, his plans to expand to new lands were abandoned, and successive kings focused on the easier pickings of their neighbors in Westeros, Essos, and even a few raids to Sothoryos.
However, their hegemony faltered during the early fourth century after Doom, when Daemon Blackfyre II forged his kingdom in the stepstones. Thanks to Blackfyre, his bonded dragon who, he was able to take over the crosscontinental trade from the Iron Born.
The two pirate kingdoms fought several wars, the Blackfyre Kings winning all of them, until the fifth war, in 371 after Doom, when the Ironborn shot down Blackfyre, killing her and her rider, Maelys Blackfyre, and allowing them to regain their control over the trade routes between the three continents.
luckily for the other kingdoms although the Ironborn were able to secure a route to Essos for their longships it did not last long, only a decade as when the Valyrians invaded Westeros in 382 After Doom they conquered the mouth of the blackwater used by the Ironborn to reach the Narrow sea and took it under their control so ever since, even when the Valyrians were expelled, they had to pay a toll to pass by the walls of the Free Lands as the fortifications of the city state allowed the outlaws who claimed the city to enforce their will onto passing ships.

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The Free Lands;

When the Valyrians began their conquest of Westeros they conquered the mouth of the blackwater bay and built their city there however with their defeat their would be capital wa iss abandoned however as no kingdom would agree on who deserved the lands so they have existed in a sort of limbo which has allowed a free city of sorts to take shape in the ruins of the Valyrian city populated by outcasts and criminals from across Westeros and even Essos.

Government:

No one man rules the free lands; instead, a council of the seven most powerful warlords and crime lords, five of whom change about as often as the moon does; however, two members of the council have managed to hold their positions long enough to make their names worth remembering.

The younger of the two is Petyr Baelish, a minor noble originally from the Vale who was exiled and almost executed after he was caught fucking Queen Lysa Arryn. Finding a home in the free lands, he soon founded his brothel, and when other pimps began to die in back alley robbings, he was more than happy to purchase their homes and their girls til he owned nine of every ten brothels in the city state. 

The far older and far more mysterious warlord is the man named Varys. Supposedly, he was one of the first on the council however, his origins are a mystery. The only commonality is that he is from the Valyrian Empire; some stories say he was a Valyrian legionary, others an initiate to the brotherhood of Jaecargor. No matter his origins, though, he acts as a broker for sellswords and sail companies who house themselves in the free lands, helping them find clients across Westeros, for a generous cut, of course.

Culture:

Due to its youth, the Free Lands don't have much in the way of their own culture; the closest they have is a simple motto: “Might makes right”. In a way that's true in all of Westeros but in the free lands they take that to the extreme, so long as someone can defend what they claim they are seen as an equal, there's none of the nobility that exist in other lands, a small folk is the equal to a highborn so long as both have the means to defend themselves. Granted, that means most gang leaders began as knights who, for various reasons, were forced to take shelter in the Free lands, their harnesses and training at war letting them build up their gangs to defend the streets they claim.

Geology 

The free lands consist of the Blackwater Bay as far north as the bay of crabs, and ending with the border with the storm lands.

However, most of the land is uninhabited there are only two extant settlements: Duskendale, having been destroyed, the first and elder is the eastern half of Maiden pool a small city co owned with the Ironborn as a mutual trading point but the larger and more important of the region’s cities is the Free city itself which straddles the mouth of the Black water.

Although Eastern Maidenpool and the Free city are the only full cities in the Freelands' borders, the lands are dotted with farms, hamlets and even some Holdfasts.

History

For centuries the blackwater bay has been claimed by one king or another, sometimes it would be dorne, or the river kings, or the storm kings, but usually it was a petty king who would build their keep upon the ruins of their predecessors but for centuries the bay was ruled by House Darklyn at Duskendale, originally as kings til they were conquered by the Ironborn who let them keep their crowns in their name.

Unfortunately, though in 382 after Doom, a Valyrian Invasion fleet under Emperor Haegon Belarys arrived, choosing the spot as they assumed it would be a good route. When they arrived, they soon wiped out the various native Houses, including the Darklyns.

Their next order of business after “pest control” was to begin work on a grand city that they envisioned would become a sort of New Volantis, capital of Westeros and of seven new provinces each based around the borders of one of the kingdoms, from Dorne to the Wall.

Their city was what a Valyrian city should be: grid streets, public bathhouses, a citadel for a great Archon and a regional Senate, even Dragon stone walls were built surrounding the city, split in two gates and two gates for the Blackwater to rush through along a canal built for the purpose.

It took a year for the Valyrians to build what anyone else would have taken twenty years to build. In their pride, they expected the kingdoms to follow their usual pattern of fighting with one another whenever the seasons changed, but instead, they did the worst thing for the Valyrians.

They united, ravens were sent between every king and greater noble in Westeros, and the only one who didn't answer was the boy king Ned Stark, as he chose to remain neutral, a decision supported by his sister, who ruled Winterfell in his name during his hunt for the dragon Scarface.

Each army played its part, and with the help of Braavosi support, dozens of scorpions were acquired and dispersed across the United armies.

When the Valyrians were ready, they set forth expecting an easy fight, even when they learned the kingdoms had united, they laughed, not expecting a threat from the barbaric westerosi.

They sent out three armies, each with thirty thousand soldiers and a dragon, one for Harrenhal, one for the Eyrie, and one for Storm’s End.

Each army met sixty thousand westerosi knights and conscripts, as well as a hundred scorpions. It was then that those three dragon lords learned how badly they had messed up as the air filled with scorpion bolts. For the first time since the Valyrian civil wars, three dragons perished in less than a moon. But not before their hellfire caused widespread destruction amongst the Westerosi forces, but it wasn’t enough

As those legionaries who survived the scorpions and dragon fire were soon destroyed in their own time, luckily, however, enough escaped and retreated to the free lands that the Valyrians knew now what awaited them.

This defeat, coupled with a plague that was sweeping through the Free City, including the Imperial Family itself, leading to the deaths of several princes and their sister-wives, caused them to retreat to Essos from which they came before the entire family was wiped out.

With the city abandoned by its builders in its completed state it would not go empty for long, not only did a number of Valyrians remain, mostly camp followers remain when their masters left, it was soon occupied by westerosi forces with various kings claiming it as their own however none could relinquish their claims so ultimately they to abandoned it to be claimed by various warlords and petty lords from across Westeros.

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Sandwiched between the North, the Ironborn, and the Free Lands lies the Vale of Arryn, a mountainous kingdom and peninsula that was the first Andal kingdom in Westeros and the site of their landing long ago.
It is ruled by the Sky-Kings of House Arryn, with King Jon Arryn, the eighth, being the current king
Government
Like all Andal kingdoms, the Vale follows the Andal noble system of;

• King:
• Lord Paramount: Each Lord Paramount rules a large swath of the kingdom, similar to the Northern and Ironborn Magnars. Examples of Lords Paramount include: House Sunderland, House Royce, House Grafton, and House Corbray.
• Lord: A lord is to a Lord Paramount what a Lord Paramount is to a king, with Lords ruling large sections of their Lord Paramount’s lands as their right-hand men.
• Small Lord: Small Lords are only barely more powerful than a landed knight in charge of a holdfast. A Small lord might only rule a tower and a nearby hamlet, but it's not unheard of for a Lord Paramount to give their Castellan the rank of Small Lord as a reward for their service; but only a king can raise one to higher ranks.

Culture

Most citizens, around eighty percent of the Vale, are Andals who worship the Seven; however, the remaining twenty percent are split between four distinct First Men cultures.
The sister men: strange, insular men who reside on the three sisters islands under the rule of House Sunderland, they worship the Lady of the Waves and Lord of the Skies, whom they sacrifice dwarves to. In addition, many of their highborn have webbed fingers as a result of centuries of inbreeding.
The Mountain clans: the descendants of those who survived the Andals' invasion, but instead of accepting their overlords, they retreated into the mountains, where, without access to tin to make bronze, they have resorted to a curious mix of stone tools and weaponry and whatever steel they have managed to steal from their neighbors. They are extremely hostile to others and only don't attack members of their own clan.
The neighboring folk, who cling to the borders with the Ironborn and North folk, are a peculiar hybrid people resulting from centuries of trade in both goods and seeds with the nearby kingdoms.
The first born: the first born are the descendants of those first men who when the Andals arrived simply accepted their rule, due to the mountainous nature of the Vale the first born have managed to form their own homes and villages in mountain valleys protected from their cousins and Andals who have a problem with their presence with strong walls and stronger spears around each and every settlement.

The Andal culture found in the Vale is mostly similar to what is found elsewhere, but with one notable exception: knights are rare and neigh non-existent; those few that can be found in Arryn lands are mostly refugees from other kingdoms, namely those who fled the Valyrian forces during their invasion. These refugee knights have mostly settled in the Vale proper, where there are enough flat lands for their horses to be of use.

Territory

The mountainous peninsula that is the is Vale is surrounded on all sides by natural barriers that make land travel impossible in all but a few places and sea travel is even harder, to the north is the bite and to the south it's sister the bay of crabs where as west and east are blocked by the Mountains of the moon and the narrow sea respectively.
The Mountains of the moon have only one safe pass which is blocked by the grand gates of the moon, and even that is near impassable during winter years, supposedly there's also passes held by the mountain clans that allow them to travel to the riverlands for raiding but all who have set out to find these passes have been wiped out by the clans to protect their secrets.
If one passes the Giant’s Lance valley, overlooked by the Eyrie and its three way castles, each grander than the last, one will find the Vale proper a large swarth of grassland with rich soil that produces most of the Vale’s food as well as its people. At the eastern tip of the Vale at a natural harbour, is the port city of Gulltown, which handles the vast majority of all trade throughout the kingdom, both across the sea with the Valyrian Empire and beyond, as well as with the other kingdoms of Westeros, as the mountains of the moon make merchant convoys impossible.
To the north of the Vale, the fertile soil grows Stony and good only for grazing where it meets the fingers, a series of five subpeninsulas jutting into the narrow sea.

History

Long ago, the first men established a score of kingdoms across the Vale that prospered with the rich soil of the Vale proper, the Greatest being the Bronze Kings of House Royce of Runestone. However, as great as they were when the Andals sailed across the narrow sea from Andalos, it was not enough; the various first men kings attempted to play the Invaders against each other, which worked for a generation, leading to the birth of Gulltown at the very spot the first Andals set foot on Westerosi soil. As the Westerosi population grew, so too did their hunger for more lands and territory.
King Artys Arryn, then king of Gulltown, led his men against the neighboring First men Kingdoms, who in turn united under the banner of Bronze-King Robar II Royce. For years, the two men fought back and forth, the Rhoyce forces being slowly pushed to the Mountains of the Moon, at one point even being forced to abandon their stronghold at Runestone. According to the Septons the final battle was fought seven years, seven moons, and seven days after the first at the Battle of Seven Stars at the foot of the Giant’s lance mountain, during the course of the battle however every male member of House Royce was killed but not wanting their place in society to go to waste, Artys married his third born son to Robar’s eldest daughter and took his name.

Artys himself meanwhile built a great castle to mark the site of his victory, and to make sure the neighboring first men kingdoms wouldn't try to reclaim the crowns of their kin. The first three Kings of Mountain and Vale all ruled the Vale from the Bloody Gates, but the fourth king, Roland I Arryn, thought it beneath his station, so he built a grand new castle at the very peak of the Giant’s Lance called the Eyrie.
For two centuries the Gates of the Moon and the Eyrie above represented the very limits of the Andal presence in Westeros but much like what caused them to expand beyond Gulltown, they soon grew constrained by their lands and a hundred wanna be kings grew up on tales of Artys feats and gathering their forces launched a war of conquest against the rest of Westeros, and each would crown themselves king of their own kingdom with House Arryn as the senior kings were crowned as the first High Kings of the Andals since Hugor of the Hills generations before.
For another five hundred years, the Arryns ruled as High King, but ultimately, the Gardener, who had established their home in High Garden, took the title of High King from them.

It was during their reign as High Kings that the Hungry Wolf Theon Stark invaded the three sisters and pillaged them, causing House Arryn to defend their neighbors, leading to the two great houses to spend a thousand years at war with one another, but ultimately the northmen were defeated and the three sisters islands became firmly under the rule of House Arryn.
During the Valyrian Invasion, the Eyrie was attacked by the Valyrians and was perhaps the worse affected of the three targets as the Dragonguard who lead the legion that attacked the Vale managed to burn the very stones of the Eyrie black with dragon fire before the Braavosi Scorpions slew him but luckily the royal family was able to escape unharmed from the fires of the seven hells themself. But despite this brush with death the defenders won in the end and King Jon the ninth was free to continue his reign over the Vale but soon after he married the daughter of an Ironborn noble, Lysa Tully who would give him a son but ultimately she was caught cheating with the small lord Petyr Baelish causing his exile and her sent from the royal court to the Arryns ancestral home in Gulltown.

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Storm lands
Sandwiched between the Free Lands and Dorne lies the Storm Lands, otherwise known as the kingdom of storms, so named for the storms that ravage the coastline of the kingdom during Autumn years and make surface dwelling rare in the heartland of the Kingdom. Howeve,r if one travels inland, the grasslands of the Dornish marshes are dry. However, the Storm Lands also have many islands under their rule, most famously Tart,h known for its sapphire seas.
Currently, the Storm King is King Robert Durrandon the third, with his wife being Queen Lyanna Durrandon, nee Stark.
Culture
The people of the storm lands are a curious people, loving both life and death in near equal measure, more so than any other kingdom in Westeros; the storm landers have mastered battle, both low and high born will spend years practicing combat, many of the lowborn becoming masters of the longbow and halberd meanwhile highborn prefer swords and lances, however the Storm kings themselves are infamous for their use of hammers in war, with a Valyrian steel Warhammer having been passed down amongst the storm kings since the Andal invasion.
However, men are not the only ones who train for years in combat, most stormlander women do as well, almost every woman knows how to use the spear, however they are not true spear maiden like those in the north, it is rare for women to take to the field of battle, they reserve their skill with the spear for defending their holds.
However, war is not the only skill found amongst the stormfolk; singing is most common, however, dancing is a close second, with many stormlander towns hosting bright and colorful festivals soon after each spring is announced, where all the young men and women who remain unmarried dance together.
The people of the Stormlands are a curious mixture of the three main ethnicities of Westeros: the first men, the Andals, and, mainly in the marches, the Rhoynar.
Religion
The people of the storm lands worship a bastardarized version of the faith of the seven that has been fuses with the Old Gods, namely the sea god has been synchronized with the Father to become the Sea father the ancient ancestor of the Storm kings, which has lead to the members of the royal family being seen as a sort of demi god, somewhere between mortals and the gods themselves.
Territory
The farthest the kingdom extends eastward is the isle of Tarth, a beautiful and large island that serves as the home of the bulk of the kingdom’s navies, as its location easily lets them raid the blackfyre pirate ships of the step stones under the control of Prince Stannis Durrandon.
The mainland coast of the kingdom is where the bulk of the kingdom lives, a rocky coastline of cliffs frequently struck by heavy storms that gave the land its name; however, over the years, many settlements have been built into the cliffs for protection against raids from Bandits but past the cliffs the lands of the stormlands are filled with Verdant forests but near the border with Dorne Rocky mountains and grasslands emerge instead.
Government
The Storm Lands follow the Andal rank structure for the most part, with a few exceptions.
Along the Dornish Marches, the local lords style themselves as Princes, much like the lords of Dorne itself; however, this self-given promotion past the rank of Lord has caused much friction with the royal family over the centuries, who see it as an infringement of royal majesty.

History
The land eventually known simply as the Stormlands was one of the first regions settled by the first men after they arrived from Essos, where, like they had across the continent, they established many petty kingdoms as they warred with the children of the forest, the true first inhabitants of the land.
One of the Petty Kings was a man named Durran Godsgrief who according to myth of course, was a man who won the heart of the daughter of the Sea God and took her as a wife and together the two built a castle to dwell within, however her father destroyed the castle with a storm, not to be deterred he built a second greater castle which too was destroyed til six castles had been built and promptly destroyed, each greater then the last, til at last he sought the aid of a northern boy-lord, Brandon Stark, barely old enough to grow a beard it is said but nonetheless he built a great tower for Durran, a castle within a single building, while the outer walls were woven of both spell and brick so that any wave that struck the tower would be deflected back out to sea without harming the building, the two named it Storm’s end in defiance of Durran’s father in law and thanks to Brandon's skills it has been the seat of the storm kings ever since.

As great as their stronghold was, the Storm Kings were not the only kings, and in true Storm King fashion, they set about absorbing petty King after petty King at a terrifying speed until, after a thousand years, they were the only kings in the region.

Of course, their rule would not go unchallenged forever, as when the Andals launched their invasion from the Vale, the Stormlands were one of the first targets of wanna be kings who sought to usurp House Durrandon and claim Storm's End for their own. However, House Durrandon militaristically was about to beat them back; however, they were not fully able to be defeated. After generations of back-and-forth fighting, the Andals were able to secure large chunks of territory, which they were able to keep.
After generations, a truce was made between the two people, and in exchange for swearing fealty to the storm kings, they were allowed to keep their lands and reign as lords.
As a result of this, over time, Andal culture fused with the first men's culture to form the modern Stormlander culture, a fusion that was joined by Rhoynar culture when Dorne was settled by Rhoynar refugees to create something truly unique and not seen anywhere else in the world.
Three hundred years before the doom, the Storm lander king of the time, Arlan the third, extended his realm to encompass the riverlands, slaying the last of the Mudd kings in the process and claiming their title for their own
For three hundred years, the people of Riverlands were ruled by the Stormkings, with heavy taxes being placed on the local riverlanders, but unfortunately, the Ironborn took the region from the Stormkings and have ruled it as their own ever since.

By the time of the Valyrian Invasion, the boy king Robert Durrandon III was king of the stormlands, a position caused by the death of his parents during a storm that destroyed their ship however he wasn’t quite ready to rule so he spent much time in the north with his friend Prince Ned Stark, and when Ned’s father was slain by a dragon the two men spent two years trying and failing to find and slay the beast, but when the Valyrians invaded Robert was forced to return to his kingdom and lead his men to victory against the Essosi. After the Invasion, he married Princess Lyanna Stark and took her as a queen; however, their wedding was the last time he saw his friend, the new king of the North, Ned, the duties of their respective kingdoms keeping the two men apart.

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The Reach is an ancient kingdom, that due to its verdant lands is one of the most heavily populated kingdoms in Westeros as well as being the home of both the faith and science making it both powerful and very wealthy much to the pride of the Green Kings of House Tyrell, currently lead by Mace Tyrell. However, the whispers are that his mother is the real power behind the throne.
Culture

Due to being a stronghold of the faith, the warrior’s sons are common, with many knights with no other way to advance in life, either hedge knights or third sons, swearing the vows and taking a place in one of the many knightly orders that call the Reach home. Each of the Reach’s knightly orders has its own customs and stronghold, with one of the largest and most powerful being the Knights of Steel; originally founded to protect travellers travelling across the seven kingdoms, but over time they were able to become a powerful banking order who loaned money to every layer of strategy, including the kings of the reach, however when the Gardners were unable to repay them, they funded the Tyrell’s coup against their over lords.
However, religious knights are not the only knights to be found within the Reach; the Reach is truly the only kingdom to have knights en masse, with most of their folklore and stories being centered on the exploits of knights, leading in turn to many young boys getting knighted in honour of the stories they grew up hearing about.
Territory
The Land of cities and fields has earned its name with four large cities being spread across the borders of the Kingdom.
Old town; the eldest of the three cities, so old no one knows its true origins, its also the largest city in westeros however thanks to the Lord Paramounts of House Highttower, it is the center of science in Westeros due to their sponsorship of the Primary Citadel that trains Maesters and houses the Archmaester council who lead the organization and its dozen lesser centers of learning spread across the Reach.
Mander mouth; A large city at the mouth of the Mander, once upon a time, it was the seat of House Manderly but when they fled to the North it was claimed by the Faith of the Seven as their own, who have turned the city into a center of the faith, including housing the Starry Sept, the sept of the High Septon themselves however their power does not end at the City walls as the nearby Lords as far as the Shield Islands are all vassals of the High Septon.
Arborport: A port city located on the island of Arbor, which houses both the navy and merchant fleets of House Redwyne as well as their seat itself.
The Last and perhaps most powerful city in the Kingdom is High Garden itself, the city that has naturally formed itself around the castle of the same name, as people flock to the center of power in the kingdom.
Outside of the cities most of the land is covered with seemingly endless towns and villages, in turn surrounded by fields, over all there are few areas that haven't been touched by civilization in some way, a rarity in Westeros where usually the opposite is true however the rich land of the region makes famine rare and only really found in the worse winter years.
Government
As a primarily Andal region, they follow the Andal structure of ranks of King, Lord Paramount, Lord, and Small Lord; however, before House Tyrell came to power, another rank was used instead of king: High King of Andals, a title held by the Kings of House Gardner. However, when they were wiped out, the title went with them.
Lord paramounts of the region include: House Redwyne of Arbor, House High Tower of Old Town, House Tarly, and House Florent; however, there are others, including the High Septons who hold the honorary title of the Lord Paramount of the Manderly.

History
To tell the story of the Reach, one must look at the beginning with Old town, a truly ancient city built at the mouth of the Honeywine river, it is said the city is so old it predates the arrival of the First men in Westeros, either the last ruins of an earlier human civilization or perhaps a city of the Children of the Forest but the Maesters who call the city fight over the true origins of their home day after day.
Eventually, the first men would come and claim the city and the surrounding lands as their own, with Old Town coming under the control of the Grey Kings of House Hightower while the merman kings of House Manderly claimed the mouth of the River Mander, and according to some, one is named after the other.
Meanwhile, the Gardner kings established themselves on the banks of the River Mander as well, where Garth the Gardner established his seat at High Garden.
Much like what happened in other kingdoms Garth and his descendants spent centuries absorbing the neighboring petty kings, or as they would have been known at the time, Magnars, however unlike the Starks or Durrandons this was for the most part not done via war but love, political marriages were common whenever possible until each and every petty King had been absorbed by the Oakenseat at High Garden.
This would set the tune for when the Andals invaded the region; unable to battle the first men out of their keeps, they instead battled their way into the beds, until every strata of society was half Andal. This allowed them to force their society onto their new kin, wiping out the first men's culture in the process.
However, the Manderlys refused to acclimate fully and so fled the Reach, ultimately finding safety in the North.

However that was not it for the Reach, with their seat abandoned the Gardener king of the time gave their seat to the faith who demolished their castle and built a great sept there, originally the Septon who build it was one of many septons however over time, the wealth of their holdings allowed them to leverage their position until over centuries, their successor was able to place themselves as the first High Septon.

The Gardener kings and occasional queen ruled for centuries and under them the realm prospered, and eventually they took the title of High King of the Andals from the Kings of House Arryn, a title they cherished and gave them a degree of power from the neck to the Dornish Marches but eventually their high stewards of House Tyrell grew angrily at always being second to their cousins in House Gardener so one night two hundred and ninety seven years after the Doom, they staged a coup, ostensibly to host a feast in honour of the newest prince of House Gardener, they gathered every one who held the name at the name and held a banquet, for seven days they feasted and partied, and on the seventh the Tyrells slit each and every Gardener’s throat while they were so deep in their wine they wouldn't even felt it, the Night of Bloody grass it was named and when the bodies were cleared, a Tyrell sat in the throne room of the Reach for the first time.
At first, the different Lords paramount of the reach were…unhappy with this development, and for a time they actively rebelled; however, due to the support of the Knights of Steel, the Tyrells were able to win the civil war and keep their status as Kings of the Reach.

With their power secure, the Tyrells began to expand their realm, repaying the Knights of Steel the gold owned by their predecessor, but also they funded the Citadel, leading to the birth of new citadels, each led by its own council of archmaesters and all spread across the realm

During the Valyrian invasion, Highgarden was one of their primary targets, leading to Valyrian forces carving a route through the countryside, but they were beaten back by the forces of the unified Westerosi forces.
In the years since the invasion, the Reach has been muttering about reclaiming the title of High King, seeing the alliance as proof that such a title is necessary, but for now, the Tyrells have waffled on the issue, not wanting to commit one way or another.
Meanwhile, the Royal Family, namely Princess Margeary, has been hard at work making sure the smallfolk love their masters.

Religion:
The People of the Reach, to a man, love the faith of the seven, and followers of other faiths are often met with suspicion by the Reachfolk.