Driftmark

When King Aenys I Targaryen died, his widow Alyssa Velaryon did not stay at court. She gathered her children and went back to her family's island, to the castle standing on Driftmark's southern shore, where only a scatter of fishing villages then lay beneath its walls.

The castle has a grim reputation. Its stones, dark and salt-stained, rarely dry out, and flooding is simply part of living there.

With Corlys Velaryon ruling the island, those fishing villages grew into La Quilla, a port that flourished in the shadow of the castle. Corlys brought wealth to his house, and that wealth called for something better than those cramped, damp stones.

So he had a second castle raised on the far end of the island, with room enough for the Driftwood Throne: Marea Alta. Marcaderiva remained standing, but it was no longer the Velaryons' only seat.

When the Dance of the Dragons broke out, the war between Rhaenyra's supporters and Aegon II's, Marea Alta paid for standing on the front line. During the battle of the Gullet, the Greens' forces put the Velaryons' new castle to the torch.

Marcaderiva, the old castle, survived. Circumstance made it once again the only seat House Velaryon had left on its own island.

Lord Corlys's death left House Velaryon's succession up in the air, and not everyone accepted Alyn Velaryon as the new lord. Daemion and Daeron Velaryon eventually made their peace with him, but Malentine and Rhogar Velaryon chose another path: they tried to kill him inside Marcaderiva's own walls.

The attempt failed. Guards loyal to Alyn raised the alarm in time, Malentine died in the attack, and Rhogar chose to take the black rather than answer for it, leaving for the Night's Watch.