Starpike

Biodata

Geography and Defenses

• Bowl-shaped setting: Starpike occupies a hollow ring of stone mountains, with a sunken circular plaza and buildings arranged at different elevations 5.
• Southern barrier: A naturally curved mountainside faces the Red Mountains and Dorne. Successive earls steepened gentler slopes to make them harder to assault 5.
• Northern barrier: A tall, thick wall of massive stone blocks closes the opening in the mountain ring 5 10.
• Inner defenses: Walls surrounding the main keep form a second defensive ring within the town 10.
• Surrounding territory: Starpike’s lands include hunting forests; one of the Torrentine’s two principal sources lies nearby 11 19.
• Defensive record: Starpike is described as having withstood vast armies without ever falling to an attack from either north or south 10.

Gates

Landmarks and Interior

Main Keep and Courtyard

• Main courtyard: A spacious court before the keep, paved with irregularly shaped white stone slabs laid nearly level 2.
• Shieldbreaker and Siegebreaker statues: Two tall figures stand side by side at its center. Urrathon “Shieldbreaker” raises a warhammer, while Blaquay “Siegebreaker” rests on a sword 2.
• Heraldic display: A courtyard shield bears House Peake’s three black castles on an orange-gold field, representing Starpike, Whitegrove, and Dunstonbury despite the loss of the latter two 2.
• Service facilities: The castle has stables, kitchens, and an armory where a smith prepares equipment for departing troops 5.

Cliffside Heads

Four enormous portraits are carved into the white cliff on Starpike’s southern side 5 6.

• The cliff has room for seven portraits in total. Titus hopes to earn the fifth by restoring House Peake’s lost holdings 6.
• Titus calls the monument “Hokage Rock,” though its white stone also reminds him of Mount Rushmore 5 6.

East Study and Secret Chamber

• East Study: Located in the main keep, it contains a ten-foot-long desk and portraits of former earls. A spacious terrace outside overlooks the town and surrounding rock walls 5 7.
• Hidden entrance: Mechanisms devised by Emmerick Peake conceal a passage behind a bookshelf. Titus opens it by moving an ancestral portrait, pressing a hidden lever, and pushing the book The Four Kings 7.
• Door mechanism: Placing The Four Kings in a slot keeps the entrance from closing 7.
• Contents: The chamber holds books, family records, mechanical curiosities, and a raised level containing House Peake’s greatest treasures 8.
• Treasury: House Peake secretly keeps two Valyrian steel swords, including Orphan-Maker, and two chain-bound chests whose contents Titus leaves unexamined 9.

History

Foundation and Expansion

According to family legend, the first Peake followed a falling meteor and settled where it landed. Titus speculates that the impact shattered an exposed mountain of bedrock, creating Starpike’s hollow, ring-shaped terrain; this explanation is his interpretation rather than an established account of its geology 5.

Emmerick “the Avenger,” an accomplished commander, architect, and engineer, defeated a hostile house northwest of Starpike with his brothers Urrathon and Blaquay. He acquired the territory that became Whitegrove and brought back dismantled castle stones to close the northern gap in Starpike’s natural defenses 2 5.

Later, Lorimar Peake expelled House Manderly at the order of King Perceon Gardener III and seized Dunstonbury. Starpike became the military foundation of a three-castle domain: Whitegrove supplied labor and crops, while Dunstonbury supplied wealth and access to the sea 6 33.

Rebellions and Decline

House Peake’s support for Daemon Blackfyre ended in the confiscation of Whitegrove and Dunstonbury by Daeron II. Retaining only Starpike, the house lost much of its land, food supply, manpower, wealth, and influence 8.

In 233 after the Conquest, the Earl of Starpike launched the Peake Uprising against the Iron Throne. Maekar I personally besieged the castle with forces drawn from the Crownlands, Westerlands, and Reach. The defenders killed Maekar, Robert Reyne, and Tywald Lannister, but Starpike exhausted its strength in the fighting. Titus attributes the family’s survival to its enemies becoming occupied with more pressing political matters 8.

Titus’s Succession

Titus inherited Starpike roughly half a year before his journey to Nightsong. Byron Caron’s timely knighting of him helped him return from service as a squire and quickly assume control of the castle and estate 11.

Economy and Military

Economy

• Trade legacy: Lady Erma Peake opened numerous trade routes and developed new sources of income for Starpike 21.
• Financial constraints: The loss of the two heartland estates left Starpike dependent on its marcher holdings. Its finances subsequently deteriorated, limiting the professional army it could maintain 21 25.
• Market activity: A market street lies near the gate, and the fortune-teller Master Klein operates a stall outside the Golden Bowl Gate 20 48.

Forces

Notable Personnel

• Titus Peake — Earl and ruler of Starpike; directs recruitment and seeks the eventual recovery of the family’s lost castles 6 25.
• Maester Greg — Advises Titus, handles correspondence, and relays orders throughout the castle 5 25.
• Parker — Captain of the earl’s guard, responsible for escorts, security, and travel preparations 1 5 21.
• Bowen — Deputy guard captain who receives visitors and commands household soldiers alongside Parker 2 10.
• David Robinson — Master-at-arms; remains behind to train recruits while Titus prepares to attend the Harrenhal tourney 5 25.
• Gino — First Centurion and foremost of the army’s five company commanders; a former pirate brought to Starpike by Titus’s uncle 7 21.
• Wenda the White Stag — Captured outlaw later recruited, with her four companions, into Titus’s guard 22 28.

Major Story Events

• Blackmont confrontation: Othello arrives with twenty Dornish guards to retrieve Lora Blackmont. His dispute with Titus becomes a duel in the main courtyard, ending with Othello’s death 1 2 4.
• Departure for Nightsong: Starpike’s household prepares an urgent mounted expedition after Titus receives suspicious news concerning Byron Caron’s death 5 10.
• Attempted theft: Wenda, posing as Alicent, and four accomplices attempt to escape with 500 gold dragons. Titus’s guards surround them in the courtyard, expose their identities, and secure their surrender 21 22.
• Guard reorganization: Before leaving for Highgarden, Titus incorporates Wenda’s group into his guard and assigns Parker, Bowen, and Wenda their own squads 28 29.