Kingdom of the Storm

The Kingdom of the Storm is a region along much of the east coast of Westeros. It is bordered in the north by the Blackwater Rush, in the east by the Narrow Sea, in the south by the Red Mountains, and in the west by the Kingdom of the Reach.

Government
The Kingdom of the Storm is ruled from Storm's End, by its overlords in House Durrandon. The Storm Kings have held dominion over the core of the Stormlands-- those lands surrounding Shipbreaker Bay and Cape Wrath, along with the near coastal islands of Tarth and Estermont. House Durrandon has produced a middling mix of kings, some brilliant and some total failures. The ebbing and flowing fortunes of the Kingdom of the Storm reflect this. Even so, the Stormlords have been historically very loyal to Storm's End and the internal cohesion of the Kingdom is quite strong.

Economy
The Stormlands does not have much of an economy. They export lumber, mostly, along with metals mined in the northern Red Mountains. Otherwise the Stormlanders engage primarily in subsistence farming and limited fishing. The largest town in the Kingdom is Rainwood Town, situated on Cape Wrath and ruled by House Whitehead. Even so, it is seldom a very desirable stop for shipping en route to western ports who are traveling south around Westeros.

Military
Stormlanders are an exceptionally martial people, among Westeros' most stubborn and fierce warriors. Historically they have been able to overcome long odds and stand toe-to-toe even with the Kingdom of the Reach, as well as conquering much of eastern and central Westeros and expanding their realm to the Neck. At their strongest they can martial just shy of forty thousand men, less than half that that the Reachmen can levy. This is offset, again, by the ferocity of Stormlanders and the skill of their commanders.

Durran's Defiance
Durran Godsgrief, as he came to be known, is a legendary figure of Stormlander lore. Durran raised Storm's End in defiance of the gods of the sea and the wind, whose daughter Elenei he wed despite them. They destroyed six successive keeps built by Durran, but the stubborn man persisted and built a massive, stout keep which many suggest looks like a fist aimed skyward. His seventh castle is what we know to be Storm's End today, and he and Elenei's children founded House Durrandon.

The Storm Kings
The earliest Durrandon kings expanded the writ of Storm's End as far north as the Claw, conquering lands through their strength at arms. Before the Coming of the Andals their lands stretched from Blackhaven to Rook's Rest, and Storm's End grew rich from taxes paid by the Darklyns of Duskendale.

The war with the Andals lasted for the reigns of six Storm Kings, some of whom died fighting the invaders. This proved to weaken the Kingdom of the Storm such that it lost many of its lands beyond the Blackwater Rush, and even compelled the Stormlanders to ally with their foes in Dorne for a time. Despite their strength at arms and superior metallurgy, the Andals could not break the Stormlanders. Seven times they attempted to capture Storm's End, and seven times they failed. Eventually both sides grew exhausted, and through a series of marriages the Stormlanders began to assimilate the Andals into their own culture, eventually even converting to the Faith of the Seven.

Following the Andal invasion, the Kingdom of the Storm found itself picked apart by its neighbors. The Reachmen had seized lands in the west, the Darklyns and their neighboring houses asserted their independence, and they were returned to their old borders. Successive Durrandon Kings pushed those borders beyond the Blackwater again, culminating in seizing an opportunity to aid rebels against House Teague, the rulers of the Trident. In a cataclysmic battle the last Teague king was slain, and with no heir to the Trident apparent King Arlan III Durrandon claimed the lands for the Kingdom of the Storm. For the first time they bordered the Kingdom of the North, but did not press beyond the Neck.

King Arlan III's gains were lost by his heirs, however. The Ironborn under House Hoare landed and outfought the overstretched Stormlanders, seizing the Trident for themselves. Another series of defeats guaranteed the Hoares' rule over these lands, and subsequent fighting saw the Darklyns asserting their independence for a third time. These last defeats left the Durrandons weakened, and the deaths of multiple kings in the fighting of the last few decades before the present day left their line of succession dangerously narrow.