Henceforth, the Lannisters have ruled The Westerlands as Lords paramount and as Wardens of the West, though their larger influence has waxed and waned over the generations. King Loren bent his knee and became one of the first vassal lords to Aegon the Conqueror. Remembered as the Field of Fire, this engagement spelled the end of the Gardener line and the LannisterвЂ™s reign as Kings. The result instantly turned the tide, washing the lands with dragon fire and roasting four thousand men, including King Mern Gardener. But then Aegon and his sisters unleashed all three of their dragons at the same time. The mighty force crushed the Targaryen army, which was dwarfed by the forces of The Reach and Westerlands. King Loren of the Rock joined with King Mern of the Reach, combining their armies into one massive host, remembered as the Host of the Two Kings. As with many of the Andal Kings, the Lannisters mustered their armies to fight the new invaders. As the Andal kings forged their kingdoms in the ashes of the old, a group laid claim to the Westerlands founding the Kingdom of the Rock, presumably with Casterly Rock as their seat.ДЇrom the Andal conquest onward, The Lannisters sat atop Casterly Rock and controlled all the Westerlands. The cleansing of the First Men and the Children of the Forest in the Westerlands was total and little remains in history or ruin of the people that dwelt before them. They swept accross the lands, settling into the holdfasts of those who came before, cutting woods and uprooting weirwoods for their new homes. Whether or not the tales are true, the Lannisters and their extended family point to this hero as their progenitor, and the mischievous and often treacherous tales associated with him seem to fit the Lannisters in their present form.ДЄbout six thousand years ago, the Andals invaded Westeros and purged much of the lands of the influence and culture of the Children of the Forest and the First Men who were their allies. An adventurer and trickster during the Age of Heroes, itвЂ™s said he tricked the Casterlys out of Casterly Rock and stole gold from the sun in order to brighten his hair. Some of the oldest legends point to Lann the Clever as their founder. Little is known of who claimed the Westerlands before the coming of the Andal adventurers. The small towns sometimes dry up when the gold does, which means that there are fewer castles and forts in the Westerlands compared to the other regions of the Seven Kingdoms. While thereвЂ™s no shortage of smallfolk to farm and fish, the work and fortunes available in the cities may eventually draw so many people it will negatively effect the Westerlands as a whole. Many of the people whoвЂ™ve made their living working the lands of the region have been slowly moving into the cities that spring up around their mines.

In addition to the mines at Golden Tooth and Casterly Rock, there are also working mines at Castamere, NunnвЂ™s Deep and the Pendric Hills. Gold mines dot the landscape of the Westerlands. The fisherfolk add to the WesterlandsвЂ™ self-reliance by providing bountiful catches. The land in this area is mostly mountainous and hilly, with rich valleys and farms providing food to the rest of the Westerlands, mostly nuts, berries, turnips and similar crops as well as sheep, cattle, deer and goats.

The Goldroad and the Red Fork make for useful southern and eastern boundary lines. It is west of the Trident, north of The Reach, and spreads from Lannisport on its southern edge to IronmanвЂ™s Bay in the north. The Westerlands lie near the upper central-western portion of the Seven Kingdoms, just below the Neck.

And the Lords of Casterly Rock use their riches to extend their influence not only over the local nobles, but also to prop up the Seven Kingdoms as a whole, thereby making themselves all the more powerful and indispensable. The mountains and hills there are rich with gold and, to a lesser extent, silver. Whereas KingвЂ™s Landing is the heart of the Seven Kingdoms, the Westerlands could be called the purse of Westeros. The lands there are mountainous and sparsely populated. The Westerlands are located on the western edge of Westeros, south of the Neck. вЂњThe gold of Casterly Rock and the Golden Tooth has made House Lannister the wealthiest of the Great Houses.вЂќ вЂ“ A Game of Thrones

Houses of the westerlands