Just as Riverrun and High Heart were both engulfed in bloody conflict, Oldtown, which had only just regained some of its strength, once again faced the terrifying enemies it had always guarded against-the pirates of the Iron Islands.
The Iron Islands, off the western coast of central Westeros, were home to a fiercely independent people, savage and even brutal by nature. The mainlanders called them the Ironborn, as they called themselves.
The Ironborn were children of the sea, and their naval supremacy had once been unrivaled. They lived and multiplied amid the islands' harsh conditions, scorning the weak way of life of those who tilled fields and tended livestock in the green lands.
Neither the Old Gods nor the Seven worshipped by the Andals commanded widespread faith among the Ironborn. Instead, they placed greater faith in the Drowned God.
The islands' soil was poor and rocky, and the common folk had neither oxen nor horses to work their fields. Their mineral wealth could not compare with that of the rich Westerlands either. The Ironborn toiled all day for nothing more than cheap iron ore.
Thus, since ancient times, the Ironborn had made raiding their livelihood. Their longships ranged not only around Westeros but across almost every sea, making them the most notorious pirates in the world.
As soon as the Iron Islands Longships entered Whispering Bay, House Bulwer of Blackcrown spotted them and hurried to light its beacon, sending word of the enemy as quickly as possible.
When the Garrison members in the Lookout Tower at Oldtown's docks spotted Blackcrown's beacon, they immediately lit their own, alerting all of Oldtown to the pirate attack.
Rouge promptly lit the Green Beacon atop the Hightower to notify the nearby lords. At the same time, Rouge opened parts of the underground complex to