For thousands of years, the continent saw the rise villages and towns built by the First
Men followed by the Andals and Rhoynar as they migrated west, eventually forming the
Seven Kingdoms.
Yet through trade and commerce, five of these settlements grew into prosperous cities ruled
by powerful noble families.
Founded along the eastern shore of the continent, just north of Blackwater Rush, King’s Landing
rose to become the most populous city in all of Westeros.
The Capital of the Seven Kingdoms, it was home to House Targaryen for nearly 300 years,
built around 3 hills named for Aegon the Conqueror and his sister wives Rhaenys and Visenya.
Realizing the importance of the Faith of the Seven to the people they wished to rule, seven
gates were constructed around King’s Landing, as were a number of other structures which
over time became associated the capital.
Streets were given names often deriving from those who live and work in that area with
the general population kept divided by wealth and class, with the rich living near the Old
gate, while the poorest are found in Flea Bottom near Rhaenys Hill.
The small folk of Flea Bottom consume bowls of brown to survive, a common stew made with
bits of vegitable and chunks of meat often acquired from pigeons, rats, cats and some
even suggest dead bodies.
King’s Landing is protected by a city watch known as the Gold Cloaks, and holds the Royal
Fleet of the Seven Kingdoms, considered the most powerful navy in the continent, comparable
only in power to the Arbor and Iron Fleets.
Before the unification of the seven kingdoms under House targaryen, Aegon the conqueror
originally constructed the Aegonfort, atop the highest of the 3 hills.
After his coronation, he chose to make this area the capital of his new kingdom, building
King’s Landing around the fortress.
A few years later in 10 AC, Aegon formed the Kingsguard to protect the royal family, after
the Targaryens were attacked in the street of the city.
King’s Landing was then built up further under the reign of King Maegor the Cruel who
oversaw the completion of the Maegor’s Holdfast and the Red Keep.
Maegor was also responsible for burning the Sept of Remembrance during the Faith Militants
Uprising, building the Dragonpit in its place.
Under King Jaehaerys I, drains, sewers and wells were constructed, however the city soon
face more hardship during the Dance of the Dragons civil war, when the population revolted
against Rhaenyra Targaryen, storming the dragonpit in a chaotic riot that saw thousands of small
folk killed, while 5 targaryen dragons also lost their lives, leaving the dragonpit a
ruin.
With the city all but lost, Rhaenyra fled back to Dragonstone, leaving King’s Landing
under mob rule for a period known as the Moon of the 3 Kings.
Without a Targaryen ruler in the city, several claimants to throne arose from amongst the
common people.
First there was the Shepard, a religious fanatic who organized the storming of the dragonpit
and then came to control large sections of the city with his faithful followers.
However there was also the squire Trystane Truefyre, supported by the Hedge Knight Ser
Perkin the Flea, who took control of the Red keep claiming the boy was the bastard son
of King Viserys I.
Then there was Gaemon Palehair, the 4 year old son of a prostitute, who claimed he was
the bastard child of King Aegon II.
He ruled from the House of Kisses atop Visenya’s hill, gathering thousands of supporters to
his cause.
However when the forces loyal to King Aegon II returned to the city they quickly took
back power, executing both Ser Perkin and Trystane Truefyre.* The prostitute of the
House of kisses was also apprehended, confessing that she lied about her son being the child
of a Targaryen.
And while the woman was hanged, young Gaemon was sparred and later taken into King Aegon’s
household.
During the reign of Baelor the Blessed, the great Sept of Baelor began construction and
was completed after his death, becoming the center of the Faith of the Seven.
In 209 AC, the great spring sickness spread throughout Westeros, and while it ravaged
a number of cities and areas in the continent, King’s Landing suffered the worst of it,
losing 4 out every 10.
In order to deal with all the diseased corpses, they burned the bodies with wildfire in the
dragonpit.
Over the years as the population of the city grew, King’s Landing earned a reputation
not only as the center of the Targaryen court, but also as a dark and dirty place, with streets
reeking of waste and a population of scheming nobles, greedy merchants and cut-throat beggars.
And so in 265 AC, the Mad King Aerys II decided he’d had enough, and declared he would build
a new city of marble south of Blackwater rush.
Yet like most of his plans nothing came of the idea.
At the end of his reign, when the people of the continent rose up against his madness
in Robert’s Rebellion, Aerys allowed his old friend Tywin Lannister to bring 12000
soldiers into the city, believing he came to join the royalist forces.
However Tywin instead turned against him, sacking the city in the name of the rebellion.
The Mad King then decided to burn the capital with jars of wildfire placed underground.
However he was stopped by the kingsguard Jaime Lannister, son of Tywin, who killed the king
he was sworn to protect.
Years later, after the death of King Robert baratheon, the city again fell under attack
in the battle of the Blackwater, when King Stannis baratheon attempted to take the Iron
Throne from Joffrey Baratheon.
However the city was able to hold them off long enough for Tywin Lannister and his allies
in House Tyrell to arrive, forcing Stannis into retreat.
Yet this war soon saw the death of both King Joffrey and Hand of the King Tywin Lannister,
leaving the Iron Throne to young Tommen Baratheon and his mother Queen Regent Cersei Lannister
who proved a poor administrator, leading the city to chaos and ruin.
Although Cersei attempted to strengthen their faction by allying with the Faith Militants
and building a new naval fleet, she eventually lost control of the city to the Faith, resulting
in her arrest, which then also led Aurane Waters to abandon her cause, steeling the
naval fleet recently constructed.