House Celtigar of Claw Isle

The Celtigars count among the Valyrian lines that got out before the Doom swallowed the mother city, and they settled on lands near Dragonstone. From there they built their fortune by controlling the flow of goods through Crab Bay, rather than by working soil that was never especially rich.

Their castle on Claw Isle is said to hide a hoard well out of proportion with their modest lands: carpets from Myr, glassware from Volantis, plate of gold and silver, jeweled cups, a Valyrian steel axe, chests of rubies, fine hawks, and even a horn said to summon monsters from the deep. No outsider has ever seen it, and the tale lives mostly in other people's mouths.

With the Seven Kingdoms already bowed to a single throne, a Celtigar rose to serve as Master of Coin to King Aegon Targaryen, a sign that the new crown trusted its accounts to a house used to handling cargo and tolls.

During the war that put that crown in place, the Celtigars chose not to fight: they yielded to Queen Visenya without a battle. In exchange, the smallfolk of Sharp Point were freed from swearing fealty to them, bound only to the Iron Throne — a claim the Celtigars still cannot fully make good on.

When the realm gathered to settle who should inherit the Iron Throne, the Celtigar of the day threw his voice behind Laenor Velaryon's claim. The bet did not pay off, but it stands as proof the house carried enough weight for its vote to matter in a decision of that size.

Generations later, when the realm split into two camps, Lord Bartimos Celtigar took a seat on the Black Council and served as Master of Coin to Queen Rhaenyra during the Dance of the Dragons.

When Stannis Baratheon calls his bannermen, Ardrian Celtigar answers and fights at his side in the battle fought at the gates of King's Landing.

Defeat leaves him a captive, and to walk away alive he swears fealty to King Joffrey. House Celtigar's loyalty to Stannis, so recently given, ends right there.

After Ardrian's surrender to Joffrey, Axell Florent urges Stannis to strike Claw Isle: a punishment meant to make an example of the Celtigars and warn off any other vassal tempted to switch sides.

Davos Seaworth argues against it and talks Stannis out of the plan. Claw Isle is spared the attack, and the house keeps its seat untouched.