House Bersyn

Sigil: the head of a mammoth

Banner: the grey silhouette of the head of a mammoth

Castle: Speartusk

Lords of the South Bank

The Bersyn of Speartusk are a major house of the Crownlands.  Much of the southern part falls under their sway. House Bersyn rules over one of the many enclaves of the worship of the old gods in the south.  Under House Targaryen, the head of House Bersyn served as a great number of hands, because they were the first indigenous allies of the Targaryens.

It is fairly clear to anybody that House Bersyn did not originate in the south.  House Bersyn was instrumental to the fall of the Kingdom of the North to house Targaryen.  The Bersyns, and most of the inhabitants of the lands of Speartusk, started out as wildlings.  As he was planning to conquer Westeros, one of Aegon’s men was sent, or came, hoping to impress him, north of the wall to seek the aid of wildlings to take The North.  Jœnythan, sitting upon a mammoth, agreed, but in exchange, wanted to be made a lord. Jœnythan had no love for the nights watch. He was sick and tired of the watch massacring his people, and saw the only way to escape them to move south.  Specifically he hated the Starks, whom, despite being first men, had built the wall and the night’s watch who had been harassing him.

In Aegon’s offer, Jœnythan saw an oppertunity: he would accept, but only if he was granted a large amount of land just south of the blackwater to rule and for his people to settle.  Aegon accepted this offer. This would allow him to focus on the south first. He could also just subjugate the Starks -- make them simply swear fealty, rather than having to put some wildlings in charge.

Jœnythan required boats.  He was not going to try to pass the wall.  Aegon reluctantly accepted, and as soon as they were south, Jœnythan marched on Winterfell.  Jœnythan knew that most “southerners”, even the kings of the north like Torrhen Stark, would be terrified.  Jœnythan took care as he made his way south. He deliberately avoided any castles on the way. He wanted to save the surprise for the administrative centre of the north.

When Jœnythan arrived in Winterfell, King Torrhen was alerted to “an army outside the gates lead by a man on a wooly beast with spears jutting from its mouth”.  At first, Torrhen was incredulous, but upon seeing the Mammoth, he was filled with terror at the sight of a man riding such a monstrosity. Torrhen panicked, and Winterfell surrendered to Jœnythan.  Torrhen turned Winterfell over to Jœnythan.

After this, Jœnythan had King Torrhen of The North send letters to all of the other castles in his kingdom.  Some resisted, but with a much larger army, Jœnythan was easily able to conquer The North.

When news came of Torrhen Stark giving over control of the north ot Jœnythan, Aegon was enraged.  Jœnythan had sworn an oath to him. Aegon demanded to know what was going on. When Jœnythan recieved the raven, he requested Aegon to come to winterfell to work out what was going to happen to the north.  At this time however, Aegon was buisy conquering the south.

To help, Jœnythan sent Torrhen south to help, but as soon as Torrhen was out of reach of Jœnythan, he decided to march south, not to aid, but to engage Aegon’s army.  When word of Torrhen’s intentions reached Jœnythan, Jœnythan personally lead his band of wildlings to defeat Torrhen. When Torrhen met with Aegon, he decided instead to make peace.  Aegon agreed, and Torrhen knelt before Aegon. Aegon sent word to Jœnythan and Jœnythan asked to come to King’s Landing to discuss the lands he was promised south of the Blackwater.

Since Jœnythan had been so crucial in the capture of the north, Aegon decided to grant Jœnythan a very large fiefdom.  Aegon decided that because he was going to create a 7th kingdom around his new capital of King’s Landing, he would grant Jœnythan the crownlands south of the blackwater, proclaiming Jœnythan Lord of the South Bank, and giving him the surname Bersyn.