Dominate the Game of Thrones with Mount and Blade

Chapter 49 Introduction to Game of Thrones History and Geography

I. History

The original inhabitants of Westeros were giants, children of the forest and other strange creatures.

The children of the forest are small humanoid creatures with dark skin and beautiful faces (dyed white hair means black skin and white hair, which Feiyangyang thinks is great).

(The year when "Conqueror" Aegon I conquered the six kingdoms was the first year of the Conquest calendar. Twelve thousand years ago, the first humans crossed the narrow sea and arrived in Westeros.)

The conquest took place two years after landing, and all eras are counted from the first year of the Conquest, that is, from the coronation of Aegon I in the Starry Sept in Oldtown.

Because they were the first to arrive on this continent, this group of humans was called the First Men.

Most of the families in the North, the Blackwoods and Brackens in the Riverlands, and the Royce family in the Vale are relatively famous First Men families.

After the First Men and the Children of the Forest fought for two thousand years, the two sides made peace and the Dawn Era began.

8,000 years before the Conquest of the Westeros, the White Walkers invaded from the north of Westeros, and the ancestors and the children of the forest joined forces to resist, and the Age of Heroes began.

Winterfell and the Wall were built by "The Builder" Brynden Stark, and the Night's Watch was also established at the same time.

Around 6,000 years before the Conquest of the Westeros, the Andals crossed the Narrow Sea and arrived in Westeros. They quickly conquered the area south of the Bay of Cailin and established six kingdoms, which were called the Seven Kingdoms together with the Kingdom of the North.

Around 5,000 years before the Conquest of the Westeros, the Valyrians tamed the dragons, conquered the continents of Essos and Sothoryos, and established the Valyrian Freehold.

1,700 years before the Conquest of the Westeros, the Rhoynar took refuge in Dorne, and after marrying the Martell family, they conquered the entire Dorne, and their leader was honored as the Prince.

200 years before the Conquest of the Westeros, Valyria captured Dragonstone, and 100 years before the Conquest of the Westeros, the Valyrian noble Targaryen moved to Dragonstone to avoid the catastrophe predicted.

Soon after Targaryen arrived at Dragonstone, the Doomsday occurred, the Valyrian Peninsula was destroyed, and almost all dragons and Valyrians were exterminated.

(I will talk about my guess later that Valyrians may not be naturally occurring people, but magical creatures like dragons)

In the second year before the Conquest of the Westeros, Aegon Targaryen led his people to land on the continent of Westeros from the Blackwater River, and quickly conquered the six kingdoms and established the Targaryen Dynasty, known as Aegon I.

King's Landing was then established at the place where Aegon landed.

During Aegon I (reigned for more than 30 years), Aegon was crowned by the Archbishop in the Starry Cathedral in Oldtown, and the dynasty was stable.

During Aenys I, the church called it incest, and an armed uprising of the church broke out. The mediocre Aenys used his younger brother Gormai as prime minister to suppress the uprising.

During Gormai I, after King Aenys died, Gormai succeeded to the throne and continued to suppress the uprising bloodily, but the situation became more serious, and King Gormai had no heirs.

During the reign of Jaehaerys I, the son of Aenys succeeded to the throne and reached a reconciliation with the church. He pardoned the church's sins, and the church was protected by the royal family. The church army was disbanded, and the church no longer exercised judicial power. He was called "Arbitrator" Jaehaerys in history. The long-term peace of the dynasty began from then on.

During the reign of Viserys I (103-129), the "Dance of the Dragons" civil war broke out, the Targaryen dynasty suffered heavy losses, and dragons were almost extinct.

During the reign of Aegon II, the Dance of the Dragons ended, but Aegon II died soon. Aegon, the son of Princess Rhaenyra, Aegon II's rival, succeeded to the throne and married Aegon II's daughter, known as Aegon III in history.

During the reign of Aegon III (131-157), the kingdom recovered from the war, but the last dragon died at this time, and Aegon III was known as the "Dragon Scourge" in history.

During the reign of Daeron I (157-161), Dorne was conquered by him, but was soon counterattacked and Dorne regained its independence. He was known as the "Young Dragon Lord" in history.

During the reign of Baelor I (161-171), peace was made with Dorne, and the grandson of Prime Minister Viserys married Dorne. Baelor I was a devout believer in the Seven Gods and eventually died during a fast. He was known as "Baelor blessed by the Gods" in history.

During the reign of Viserys II (171-172), the elderly King Viserys died one year after his succession, and his throne was passed to his eldest son Aegon.

Aegon IV (172-184), "Mean King" Aegon IV had many illegitimate children, among whom the most famous were Daemon Blackfyre, "Cold Iron" Aegor Rivers, "Blood Raven" Brandon Rivers, and "Foreign Heart" Ciri. The family sword "Blackfyre" of the Targaryen family was given to Daemon Blackfyre, and his descendants were legalized.

Daeron II (184-209), "Wise King" Daeron II married Princess Miria of Dorne, and married Princess Daenerys to the Prince of Dorne, and Dorne was officially incorporated into the territory of the Targaryen Dynasty. Daeron Blackfyre's lover Daemon Blackfyre was unable to stop her from marrying, and launched the "Blackfyre Rebellion", which lasted for two years and ended at the Battle of Redgrass Field. "Blood Raven" killed Daemon Blackfyre, and "Bitter Iron" led the descendants of Blackfyre across the Narrow Sea and established the Golden Company.

Daeron II's eldest son "Spearbreaker" Baelor was prime minister, and his political achievements were quite good, but he died in the tournament of Poplar Beach to save the tall hedge knight Duncan. The next year, the Great Plague broke out, and Daeron II and Prime Minister Baelor's sons all died of the plague. Daeron II's second son Aerys succeeded to the throne.

Aerys I (209-221 AD), Aerys was obsessed with reading and not good at governing the country, so he handed over power to the Duke of "Blood Raven". The kingdom was plagued by internal and external troubles, and the Blackfyre Family constantly harassed the kingdom. Aerys I had no children, and after his death, his fourth brother Maekar succeeded to the throne.

During the reign of Maekar I (221-233), natural disasters continued to occur frequently, and the Duke of Bloodraven was imprisoned because of Maekar I's jealousy. In 233, Maekar I died while fighting against the rebels. After the death of Maekar I, the succession was in doubt. The third son, Maester Aemon, could have succeeded to the throne, but he gave way to his fourth brother Aegon. In order to prevent being used to attack his fourth brother, he voluntarily went to the Wall and took the Duke of Bloodraven with him. Aegon, the "king who should not be king", succeeded to the throne.

During the reign of Aegon V (233-259), the country was back on track. In 259, Aegon V caused a fire in the attempt to hatch dragon eggs in Summerhall. The king himself, his old friend and guard Duncan the Tall, and Prince Duncan the Short were all killed. History calls it the "Tragedy of Summerhall".

During the reign of Jaehaerys II (259-262), Maerys Blackfyre led his people to launch the War of the Ninepenny Kings, but was quickly defeated and Maerys Blackfyre was killed. The Blackfyre family died out. Jaehaerys II was very wise but weak and sickly. He died only three years after he took the throne, and his son Aerys succeeded him.

During the reign of "Mad King" Aerys II (262-283), in the early and middle stages of his reign, he joined forces with Prime Minister Duke Tywin Lannister to make the Seven Kingdoms prosperous, and his son Rhaegar was hailed as the rising star of the dynasty. After the rebellion at Duskendale, Aerys II became suspicious and cruel, often burning dissidents to death with wildfires, and broke up with Duke Tywin, which eventually led to tragedy.

Robert I (283-298) reigned for fifteen years. Pay attention to this timeline. The usurper rebelled in 282, Robert became king in 283, and the war ended in 284. (Edward had a big fight with Robert over Rhaegar's child, and then led his troops to the Stormlands to relieve the siege of Storm's End, and then the Battle of the Tower of Joy took place.)

Edward: How can you govern a country with a bug like Robert?

2. Geography

Let me give you some ideas first. The official size of Westeros is about the same as South America, but considering the existence of the North, the core area where people mainly move is actually much smaller.

South America is about 17 million square kilometers. Minus one-half to one-third of the area occupied by the North, there are more than 9 million people left.

In terms of population, Martin did not give a clear number, but according to indirect information, the total population of Westeros is about 20 million.

An area of ​​more than 9 million square kilometers and a population of more than 20 million, do you have an idea instantly?

Yes, it is roughly equivalent to the Three Kingdoms period.

But weapons and armor are at the level of the late Middle Ages in Western Europe, and daily necessities are from the Renaissance period.

There are many things in the book and the TV series that are randomly matched. For example, the square helmet that the Mountain wore in the tournament in the first season, does it remind you of other historical events?

For example, the Crusades.

This happened in 1291 at the latest, and there was still some time before the late 1400s.

Let's start with a serious geographical introduction.

There are four continents in the entire Game of Thrones world, Westeros, Essos, Sothoryos, and an unknown continent (I didn't find its name, if you know it, please tell me).

The geographical distribution of these four continents refers to the British Isles, Eurasia, and Africa. The unknown continent is in the far east.

Let's start with the big Essos continent.

The sea between Westeros and Essos is called the Narrow Sea. There are nine free trade cities near the Narrow Sea in Essos:

Volantis, Braavos, Pentos, Myr, Lys, Tyrosh, Hore, Lorath, and Fornos.

Among them, Volantis and Braavos (the prototype of Venice) are the strongest.

Pentos, Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh belong to the second tier.

Hoar, Fornos, and Lorath belong to the third tier. The first two are inland cities with no ports and fleets, so their strength is naturally weaker.

Lorath is an island city-state. Its presence in the books and TV series is extremely low. I suspect that Martin used it to make up the number.

Most of the free trade cities are located between the west coast and the eastern mountains of Essos. They can be regarded as the remnants of Valyria (except Braavos), and they were all established as colonies of Valyria.

From the eastern mountains of the Essos continent (this mountain is actually in the west of Essos) to the east is a vast grassland called the Dothraki Sea (the prototype is very clear, it is the Mongol Empire).

Directly south of the Dothraki Sea is the Slaver's Bay, where there are three large slave city-states, Yunkai, Meereen, and Astapor, as well as many small city-states.

These cities were built on the ruins of the ancient Ghis Empire, and their characteristics are pyramids and harpies (the prototype is also very clear, ancient Ghis is ancient Egypt, and as for the slave trade, it is obviously a satire on Europeans on the African continent during the triangular trade period).

To the east of Slaver's Bay is Lhazaar, located in the pastures and hilly areas south of the Dothraki Sea (the prototype is also very clear, so I won't talk about it, because I can't post this chapter if I talk about it).

To the west of Slaver's Bay is the Land of Long Summer and Valyria, the once glorious capital of Valyria, but now only smoking ruins remain.

Qarth is a city-state in the southeast of Essos continent, located at the node connecting the east and the west. It is known as the richest city-state and is controlled by the royal family, the Thirteen Lords, the Spice Guild, the Tourmaline Brotherhood, etc.

The home of the rich man Zaro is as big as a market, and the home of Illyrio, the governor of Pentos, is as shabby as a toilet compared to it.

The Thirteen Lords have a total of one thousand ships, the Tourmaline Brotherhood has more than one thousand two hundred ships, and the Spice Guild has eight or nine hundred ships.

In comparison, the navy of Westeros is very shabby, with 200 ships of the Royal Fleet, 200 ships of the Redwyne Fleet, and 100 ships of the Ironborn Fleet, which together only account for a little over half of the Spice Guild.

Next is the familiar Westeros continent.

From north to south, they are: the North, the Riverlands and the Vale, the Westerly, the Reach, the Stormlands, and Dorne.

According to the arrangement of Li Tiefu, a big V on a certain website, I will briefly mention several major elements of Westeros here.

Five rivers: Blackwater River, Trident River, White Blade River, Mander River, Greenblood River.

Five major passes: Moat Cailin, Golden Tooth City, Bloody Gate, Bone Road, Prince's Pass.

Five roads: Kings Road, Rose Road, Golden Road, River Road, Coastal Road.

Five islands: Dragonstone Island, Iron Islands, Shield Islands, Three Sisters Islands, Stone Steps Islands.

Four mountain ranges: Moon Mountains in the Vale, Golden Tooth Mountains in the Westerly, Mountains in the North, and Red Mountains.

Three forests: Wolf Forest in the North, Royal Forest in the King's Domain, Crakewood in the West.

Five strongest castles: The Twins, Harrenhal, The Eyrie, Casterly Rock, and Storm's End.

Maybe you don't have a clear idea of ​​what it means to simply introduce it this way, so I'll use my method to give you a deeper impression.

It was mentioned above that Westeros is comparable to the Three Kingdoms, and the geography of the Seven Kingdoms can also be compared.

The Riverlands are roughly equivalent to the Central Plains around the Yellow River and the Huai River, but the area is significantly smaller.

The Valley is roughly equivalent to the Shandong area surrounded by Mount Tai and Mount Yimeng, where agriculture, handicrafts, and shipping are all very developed.

The West is roughly equivalent to the Three Qins moved southward, but the mining industry has been strengthened and agriculture has been reduced.

The River Bend is the large grain-producing area of ​​the Nanyang Basin plus the Jingxiang Plain, Sui-Zao Corridor, etc., and of course, it has the largest population.

Wangling is the plain area around Songjiang Prefecture. Coincidentally, Songjiang Prefecture is an estuary, and King's Landing is also the estuary of the Blackwater River.

Stormland is the area occupied by Yue State, which is a combination of Kuaiji Mountain, Southeast Hills and other areas.

Dorne, everyone can imagine it as a vast area with few people and backwardness, but high united front value, so the leader is a prince.

The Northland, imagine it as the land of Yan and Zhao, a bitter and cold area, so most of the locals value promises and take life and death lightly (the Northland will never forget is not just talk).

Of course, this metaphor is not appropriate, as long as everyone can understand it.

Since the Three Kingdoms is used as an analogy, I believe that readers can also see the setting of the protagonist.

It is Cao Cao's geographical position plus Liu Bei's benevolent personality.

PS: Considering that this single chapter has more than 4,000 words, readers can vote for it, recommendation votes and monthly votes are fine, I am not picky.