Editing A Song of Ice and Fire (section)

==Locations==

'''Westeros''': The continent where about 80% of the plot takes place. Scotland in the North, Siberia/Northern Scandinavia beyond the wall, Moorish Spain in the South, with the rest being England as far as climate is concerned, only much, much larger. 
*The North: By far the largest of the Seven Kingdoms in size, and the smallest in population. [[Naggaroth|A rocky, cold and dangerous landscape where life barely tolerable]] ([[Norsca|although it's still preferrable to the eldritch lands beyond the wall]]), sometimes it even snows in summer, giving you a general idea why it's quite a shitty place to be in when compared with the more southern kingdoms. It is inhabited by the Northmen, culturally a mixture of northern English and Scots. Most of them still revere the Old Gods and practice traditions of the First Men that feel very alien to the Andal-descended peoples living in the south. It's also damn near unconquerable by conventional means due to the narrow isthmus between it and the south being a noxious swamp. Its ruling house at the beginning of the story is House Stark, but House Bolton takes over after the Red Wedding. Its capital is Winterfell. 
*Iron Islands: Large, rocky archipelago off the western coast of the North and the Riverlands. Their bleak and inhospitable landscape is the major reason why the ironborn culture  is so centered around pillaging and raiding; you can't grow crops on rock. The islands are the other holdout of the First Men culture in Westeros, with a unique blend of Andal political influence, First Men cultural norms, and a lack of influence from the Children of the Forest, since Weirwoods don't grow on the islands and only First Men humans ever lived here during those times. Does have a decently sized economy based around metal working, but nowhere near enough to support its populace. Their capital is Pyke, and the Greyjoys are the ruling house.
*Riverlands: As the name says, the Riverlands are marked by several large rivers flowing through it and the large fertile valleys surrounding them. The historical whipping boy of the continent after the Andal Invasion took over the old First Men realms (minus the North and the Iron Islands), constantly fought over by the Westerlands, the Stormlands, the Reach, the Iron Islands and the Vale, to the point that it was under Iron Islands rule when Aegon Targaryen unified the continent minus Dorne. Gets buttfucked the hardest during the War of the Five Kings by a metric ton; first by the Mountain carrying out a campaign of terror against the civilian populace on Tywin's orders and second by most of the major fights between the Lannisters and the Starks taking place there. Honestly, after all the fighting, raping and pillaging happening in the Riverlands, one must wonder how many people are actually still left in them. Their ruling house is House Tully, though Petyr Baelish is granted the lordship after the Red Wedding; its capital is Riverrun (later Harrenhal). 
*Vale of Arryn: Mountainous region east of the Riverlands. Home to (supposedly) the finest knights in Westeros, due to them having to crush rebellion after rebellion of the native <s>Irish</s> mountain tribes (think Forsworn from Skyrim, only a lot more foul-mouthed) and having an abundance of tiny territories to give out. The population is more densely concentrated than in other regions of Westeros, since there aren't many large cities or townships and traveling between them or living outside their walls is dangerous. Its ruling house is House Arryn, though with Jon and Lysa Arryn dead it is de facto under Littlefinger's control. Its capital is the Eyrie, '''the''' hardest castle to take in Westeros as it is built on a mountaintop. Gulltown is the main economic hub. 
*Westerlands: The second-smallest kingdom in size but by far the richest due to its abundance of gold and silver mines. Has a proud tradition of fucking everyone over by means of money, politics, or both. Also has substantial importance as a major trading and naval hub in the city of Lannisport, which is the largest port on the western side of the continent. Its ruling house is House Lannister, and its capital is Casterly Rock. Casterly Rock was the capital of the old kings, House Casterly, who was outsmarted by [[Lukas the Trickster|Lann the Clever]], who married the last surviving daughter and founded House Lannister.
*Crownlands: The lands directly controlled by the Iron Throne, surrounding a big bay, with a rather pleasant, mild climate. Centered around the capital city of King's Landing, which gets an entry of its own. Its ruling house is always the house of the current kings. Formerly divided between the Riverlands and the Stormlands.
**King's Landing: The capital of the seven kingdoms and by far its largest city. It houses every important institution on the continent, most importantly the Red Keep, where the King of the Seven Kingdoms resides, and the Great Sept of Baelor, the religious center of the Faith of the Seven. Aside from the Red Keep and the Great Sept, the city's a filthy, downtrodden shithole that is rife with poverty and criminals whereever you may set foot; the City Guard is openly corrupt and acts more like a government-approved gang of thugs. It seems to be something of an unofficial sport among all characters in the books to never say anything good about the city. Architecturally described like Medieval London, at the size of 1600s Paris.
**Dragonstone: An old Valyrian outpost located on a small, rocky island some miles off the coast of King's Landing. Used to be the actual seat of House Targaryen, even though they had resided in King's Landing ever since Aegon conquered the Seven Kingdoms. Castle Dragonstone was clearly of Valyrian design, as its architecture and design felt foreign and ancient to the Westerosi who resided here. Also notable for sitting on a huge deposit of obsidian. After the Targaryens were driven from Westeros, Robert gave Dragonstone to Stannis, who never made peace with the fact that Robert effectively robbed him of his rightful title as heir to Storm's End. 
*The Reach: The second-largest of the Seven Kingdoms, and the most populous. Its wide plains, dominated by fields and orchards, serve as the breadbasket of the Seven Kingdoms. Also home to the oldest city in Westeros, Oldtown, which in turn is home to the Citadel of the Maesters. Its ruling house is Tyrell, its capital Highgarden. House Tyrell is matrilineally descended from Garth Greenhand like many other houses. The old ruling family, House Gardener, Garth's direct descendants, was wiped out when Aegon unleashed his dragons. After this, the current lord of House Tyrell (at this point permanent stewards to House Gardener), was placed in control as he was married to the last Gardener female.
**Oldtown: An ancient city built by the First Men before being replaced by the Andals. Seat of House Hightower, who rules from (where else) the Hightower, an enigmatic ligthouse built upon an [[Blackstone Fortress|ancient fortress made of black stone]]. Both structures are mysterious: the foundation is a labyrinthine structure made of black stone similar to those used in Valyria, but also to the even more ancient [[H.P. Lovecraft|Mazemaker]] culture; the lighthouse was built by the First Men and was said to have been raised by Bran the Builder (who is also credited with the Wall and Storm's End, though pretty much all of his descendants were named Bran (and if the show is to be believed, [[Bullshit|they were all the same Bran]])
**The Citadel: The Citadel is the seat of the Order of Maesters. As the seat of the maesters, it fulfills multiple roles in the society of the Seven Kingdoms. It is their central archive and library, where most, if not nearly all knowledge in the world is collected and stored; a university where new maesters are trained; and a large hospital, although its relatively remote location means that only the truly desperate actually travel there for healing. 
*Stormlands: The lands of House Baratheon, a mix of forested mountains and steep, stony shores, so named for the very frequent storms that batter its coast. The weather here is so bad that their capital is known as Storm's End because all previous castles were destroyed by the weather, so this one had to be built <s>by a competent Northman architect</s> with magic. In spite of the dangerously bad weather, the area can be quite beautiful when it's not being battered by the elements. The Baratheons are descended from a loyal general who served the original Aegon, who was also rumored to be his half-brother. After Robert ascended the throne, control of the Stormlands was left to his youngest brother, Renly, while his middle brother Stannis was assigned to guard Robert's back on the much smaller and less prestigious island of Dragonstone. 
*Dorne: The southernmost region of Westeros and the hottest (in more ways than just temperature), consists of rocky deserts in its center and lush, tropical areas on its coasts. The Dornish people differ a lot from other Westerosi in ethnicity and culture since they are descended from Rhoynar migrants who interbred with the relatively isolated local Westerosi. [[Dune|Dorne was also the only kingdom to successfully resist conquest by the Targaryens]] and was only brought into the fold through a political marriage. Because of this, their rulers retain the title of prince (the Rhoynar and the local Westerosi don't use king or queen, they use prince or princess), not afforded to anyone else not of the Royal Family. The region is famous for producing wine, spicy food, and spicier women. Its ruling house is Martell, its capital Sunspear.
*The Wall: An ice wall of gargantuan proportions erected by the First Men to protect themselves against the Others/White Walkers long ago that marks the nothern border of Westeros proper and runs across it from west to east for three hundred miles. In the times when the Night's Watch was at full strength, it was an impenetrable fortification against anything that might dare to cross it, not just because of its sheer dimensions, but also the implication that the wall itself is reinforced by eldritch magic keeping the horrors beyond the wall at bay. Nowadays only three of its nineteen keeps are permanently manned, leaving wide gaps in the Night's Watch defense against the Wildlings, who sometimes climb over it to raid the South. The Night King blows a hole in the Wall with one of Daenerys' dragons in the final episode of season 7, allowing him and his undead army to pass through. 
*Beyond-the-Wall:
**Craster's Keep: Not really a "keep" but the [[GRIMDARK|home of a man who fucks his own daughters and offers his sons to the Others]]. He is one of the very few "independent" wildlings and offers use of his home to the Night's Watch when they go off on scouting expeditions. Because it's full of servile (inbred) women, the men of the Night's Watch mutiny and take it over.
**Thenn: The name of both the land and its people, the Thenn consider themselves to be the ''true'' "last of the First Men," because they have laws and lords compared to the free-for-all anarchy of the other Free Folk; they don't speak common, they can actually smith, and they treat the "Magnar," the title of their king, like a god. In the show, they're just shown to be a bunch of scarred barbarians who eat people.
**Lands of Always Winter: The furthest north people have ever gone and have been able to come back from, the Lands are perpetually frozen, and the Others are said to come from here. Clearly, if you head far enough North, you'll hit a Chaos Rift and end up in the Warp.

'''The Stepstones''': Formerly a solid land bridge between Westeros and Essos, it was brought down by Children of the Forest magic in a failed attempt to stop the First Men invasion. Now an archipelago of islands infested by various ne'er-do-wells.

'''Essos''': A huge landmess (no, not a typo) about southeast of Westeros and home to many independent city-states west of the big mountain range. Generally agreed upon to be largely desolate wilderness sprinkled in with the occasional kingdoms that seem exotic and alien to Westerosi. Most of its western half used to be the center of power of the legendary Valyrian Freehold, with the Free Cities being colonies of them that survived the downfall of the Valyrian Empire hundreds of years ago. The exceptions are Slaver's Bay, conquered by the Valyrians before regaining independence after the Freehold's collapse, Qarth, Ib and some of the others.
*Old Valyria: The former center of the [[Roman Empire|all-powerful free state that ruled over most of Essos at its peak and posessed magic and technology, as well as dragons to keep control over it.]] Valyrias strength was legendary, so much so in fact that the downfall of it still influences politics in the world centuries after it occured. No one quite knows why Valyria fell, the only certain thing is that it was plagued by a sudden series of natural disasters that all but destroyed its homelands and left it in ruin. Valyrian culture only survived in bastardized forms in the Free Cities and, prior to their extinction, House Targaryen in Westeros. The ruins of Valyria are said to cursed and avoided by all but the most desperate of travelers. Traveling through Valyria is similar to sailing through the [[Eye of Terror]]: not only are you dealing with dangerous seas (''boiling seas'' akin to underwater tectonic activity), but also fucking [[daemons]], and [[Gellerpox Infected|parasitic plagues]]. 
*Free Cities: There are 9 city-states on the Western Half of Essos. 8 are former Valyrian colonies, with Braavos being the notable exception to most of the things they have in common. What ties them all together is that they're all connected by trade and feudalism isn't such a big thing here, which also makes their culture remarkably different from the Westerosi. Westerosi tend to view them as greedy opportunists while the Free Cities in turn view Westerosi as ignorant morons at best and backwards savages at worst. If you were going to have a setting based on ASOIAF and didn't want to spend the entire time shitting in the dirt or bleeding out in a ditch for some inbred noble, this is where you'd want to be:
**Braavos: The only one of the nine free cities to not be a Valyrian Colony (excepting the other countries like Qarth and Ib, who don't count among the nine). It was founded by Slaves that escaped their overlord in a marsh on the northernmost tip of Essos. It is mainly known for its massive port and the Iron Bank of Braavos, the biggest bank in the world. It also houses the House of Black and White, the central temple and headquarters of the Faceless Men.
**Pentos: Another large trading port on the western edge of Essos. It serves as the major trading hub between Westeros and the rest of Essos. 
**Lys: Located on an island off the coast of Essos. Founded as a resort for Freeholders, it has the largest population with the Valyrian phenotype in the known world. A decadent city whose most famous export are prostitutes.
**Myr: The women here are hot, considering how often Westerosi seem to come back with wives from here. Other than that, its only notable feature is its forever-war with Lys and Tyrosh.
**Norvos: They make really good bodyguards that are taught to see their [[Executioners|axes as their waifus]].
**Qohor: Not much is known about them, except one of the brutal mercenary companies is from here, and they worship the [[Lovecraft|Black Goat.]]
**Tyrosh: Greedy slavers. Not really notable, except they're one-third of the constant warfare of the Disputed Lands along with Lys and Myr and for being extremely flamboyant. 
**Volantis: The crown jewel, first colony of the Freehold and considers itself the successor state to the Freehold.
**Lorath: No, they don't speak for the trees. Lorath is the poorest of the Free Cities, and not much is known about them. Its most notable feature are the underground labyrinths that dot the island and which predate the Valyrians. They also talk in the third person, saying "a man, a woman, a boy, a girl" instead of "Me, I, You, Him, Her" etc. Typical of Martin, the Labyrinths and a similar cult in Essos (the cult of the Pattern) are a reference to someone else's work, [[Dick|but no, he doesn't like fanfiction]].
*Ghiscari Empire and Slavers Bay: To the East of Valyria and the Free Cities, these cities pre-date Valyria. Before they were conquered, they had their own empire and worshiped the Harpy. Nowadays, they trade with the Dothraki, exchanging tribute for slaves, which they then market to the rest of the World. Vaguely the [[Middle East]] of ASOIAF. They are: Old Ghis, New Ghis, Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen. In the books, Dany is stuck here trying to manage the clusterfuck that is deslaverizing these lands. Currently locked in a brutal war where the newly-freed slaves are either fighting the surviving slaver-nobles, other cities, or each other. 
*Qarth: What separates the "East" from the "Far East." It's to the East of Slaver's Bay and West of not!China/Japan, so any traffic between the Free Cities, Slaver's bay, and them, requires them to pass through Qarth. Home to a bunch of fucking weirdo Orientalist tropes that vie for power: The Pureborn, the noble descendants of ancient Qaathi Kings and Queens that fled the sacking of their cities to Qarth, so hold no real power beyond their titles; the Ancient Guild of Spicers (it's in the name); the Thirteen, ''another'' group of Merchants; the Tourmaline Brotherhood (more merchants!). Qarth is also the location of the House of the Undying, a group of Warlocks that drink "shade-of-the-evening," which is pretty much [[Dune|Spice from Dune]], but made from trees and not wormshit; the House of the Undying and most of its Warlocks were burnt down by Dany's dragons after they tried to steal them; they sent out some guys for revenge, but they ran into Euron where he promptly murdered them all and took their <s>spice</s> <s>nightshade</s> shade-of-the-evening. Functionally Singapore, but with a more Indo-Persian aesthetic. 
*Rhoyne: Destroyed former city of the Rhoynar, who fled the Valyrian Freehold and migrated to Dorne. The former capital is currently infested by Stone-Men, Greyscale survivors who have gone feral.
*Ib: not!Dwarfs, but described more like Neanderthals than Nordic shorties. They're [[squat]], barrel-chested, with thick wiry black hair, heavy sloping eye brows and square-teeth of neanderthals, They're also incredibly hairy, and even their women have facial hair., Instead of digging holes in mountains, they travel the sees in equally-stocky whaling ships. They tend to keep to themselves, [[Meme|but are natural sailors, suitable for long voyages]]. 
*The Dothraki Sea: Not a sea, but the name for the not!Eurasian Plains. Before the Freehold collapsed and the Dothraki tribesmen took advantage of the chaos of the Century of Blood  to conquer it and burn down all but one of the old Qaathi cities (with only Qarth itself surviving) and most of the old Kingdom of Sarnor along with other minor cities, it was known as the Great Grass Sea.
**Vaes Dothrak: The capital and only permanent Dothraki settlement. It is forbidden to carry weapons or spill blood here (doesn't mean you can't kill through other means).
*Golden Empire of Yi Ti: Not!China, with a mysterious history and pattern of legends eerily-similar to Westeros' own. Like China, has a long history of Emperors, each dynasty progressively ruling over smaller, weaker empires. The current dynasty is actually so weak, they're not taken seriously outside their capital.  
**The Five Forts: In the not!Chinese version of the Long Winter/Long Night, the Empire of Yi Ti was cast into a long night that never ended, where the evil Lion of the Night was unleashed by the Bloodstone Emperor. He was beat back by the Lord of Light/Hyrkoon the Hero/but the name that the Yi Ti know him by was never stated. Just like the Wall in Westeros, the Five Forts were said to be erected by a great Emperor soon after to make sure the crisis never happens again. Just like Westeros, the Five Forts have waned in importance, now only protecting the Yi Ti from barbarians. The Five Forts are said to be made from a material of "fused black stone," similar in description to many ancient ruins all over the setting. Harrenhal is also described similarly, but Harrenhal was stone melted by dragonfire, so the idea that the Five Forts was made with the aid of dragons and/or magic has been floated by fans.
*The Jogos Nhai: not!Mongols, but they ride Zebras and are literally cone-heads.
*Asshai-by-the-Shadow: Further-Further-East, it may as well be mythic. The city of Asshai is depressingly gloomy, the entire city is composed of dark black towers made of fused, black stone that seems to "drink the light." 

The South: 
'''Summer Isles''': Think Avelorn, but Black. An archipelago to the Far South of Westeros, everything here is pretty idyllic. War is very formalized, prostitution is a religious rite, it's practically paradise. A deposed prince was sent to exile in Westeros and had been trying to get Robert to make the journey south to put him back on the throne, but no one really took him seriously. 

'''Sothoryos''': [[Lustria|Jungle hell]].
*Yeen: Made of the same creepy black metal in Stygai, implied to be an old Empire of the Dawn Outpost. Even the death world jungle (as in, not just the animals, the actual jungle itself) refuses to go in there for fear of dying.

'''Ulthos''': not!Australia, and has absolutely no lore. Seriously, GRRM has literally never mentioned it except in relation to another place that also has no lore. It's a passing mention that his obsessive fans took note of, and when they literally helped wrote the setting book for him, their guess became canon.