House Mooton of Maidenpool

Long before the Andals crossed the narrow sea, the Mootons already sat on their own throne at Maidenpool. That kingdom fell when Monfryd I Durrandon, the Storm King, crossed the Blackwater and beat the ruling Mooton king, though his heirs failed to hold onto the prize.

Independence never returned: the Andal invaders took the castle by force, and later a Justman king finished off whatever crown the Mootons still claimed.

Centuries on, now simple bannermen, they backed King Maegor Targaryen when the Faith Militant rose against him. At the battle fought by the Great Fork of the Blackwater, the lord of Maidenpool killed a rebel noble, Rupert Falwell.

When war broke out over Rhaenyra Targaryen's claim to the throne, the lord of Maidenpool at the time sided with her, as did the rest of the river lords. He went after the dragon Sunfyre himself and died for it.

His brother took his place and let Daemon Targaryen and Nettles use Maidenpool as a hideout while they hunted Prince Aemond. That hospitality had a price: when the queen ordered the rider killed, the new lord chose to let her go rather than break guest right.

The choice put him against the side his own brother had died for. From then on, Maidenpool backed King Aegon instead.

Once the war ended, the lord of Maidenpool became one of the seven regents chosen to rule in the name of the boy king Aegon III. He held the post until illness killed him, in the year 134 after the Conquest.

Generations later, when Brynden Rivers marched on Whitewalls to crush the Second Blackfyre Rebellion, soldiers raised by the lord of Maidenpool marched among his ranks.

The house had spent generations building wealth and standing, and lost most of it the moment Robert Baratheon's rebellion broke out and Maidenpool chose the Iron Throne over its Tully neighbors. Both the town and the family came out of that war far poorer than they went in.

When the kingdom split into five kings, Lord William Mooton threw his weight behind Robb Stark, joining the many river lords who saw the young northerner as an alternative to the Lannisters.

Around the same time, word went around that Lord William and his sons had gone hunting for an enormous she-wolf that had been attacking smallfolk in the area — or so a traveler passing through told it.

War swept through Maidenpool three separate times as outright sacking, and Lord William was still ruling the town once the fighting died down.

Peace didn't come from Lord William himself, but from Lord Randyll Tarly, who arrived meaning to impose order and hunt down the outlaws plaguing the region while the lord of Maidenpool stayed safe behind his own walls.

In exchange for that protection, William agreed to betroth Eleanor, his eldest daughter and heir, to Dickon, Randyll's son and heir.