House Taurus of Barrier Bay: As Told by Adam Taurus
Ready for More, these are the words of the Black Auroch of House Taurus, Lords of Barrier Bay, and defenders of the Riverlands. Oh sure, the Tullys may hold the title Lords Paramount of the Trident, and they're welcome to it. House Taurus has no desire to rule over the Riverlands. Honestly, we have enough trouble with just protecting it.
Our home, Barrier Bay, is a large castle that sits at the mouth of a great and fertile valley that stretches from the Sunset Sea to spitting distance of the Blue Fork. Heh, yeah, I know what you're thinking. Easy access to both the Trident river and the sea makes our valley seem like a gateway to the rest of the Riverlands. You wouldn't be wrong, for thinking that way, and you wouldn't be alone either. The bloody Ironborn certainly thought so too. For centuries, they laid siege to our home, thinking if they could just get past us, they would be free to sail up and down the Trident at will, reaving and raping wherever they so chose. But they never seemed to realize just how hard we would make it for them when they tried, and for many of them, it would be the last lesson they ever learned.
To the rest of Westeros, the Auroch is a symbol of strength, stubbornness, and stupidity. Aye, they're right about the first two, not so much the third. Just because the beast prefers to charge at you head on rather than sneak up behind you doesn't make him stupid, he just doesn't want to waste any more time than he has to in dealing with you. You're nothing more than an annoyance to him, and he has more important things to worry about. Given enough time, however, even an Auroch can learn new tricks. As we fought against the Ironborn, we studied them, learned their ways, and how to counter them. We learned how to fight with axes, just as they did, how to sail as they did, and we took great joy in using the Ironborn's own tactics against them. Some of the Ironborn's greatest defeats have come from our hands, just ask Qhored Hoare, or Qhored the cruel, as many of us called him.
In his day, Qhored terrorized the coast of the Reach, Westerlands, Riverlands, and the North. But Barrier Bay, proved to be one problem he couldn't overcome, not that he didn't try. But when House Justman, who ruled the Riverlands in those days, fell to Qhored's might, my ancestor, 'Strong' Jon Taurus, decided he could no longer afford to just hold Qhored off, he had to strike back. So he, along with a small collection of warriors, dressed themselves in Ironborn armor and built a longship in the Ironborn fashion. He sailed off to Pike, planning to teach the Ironborn some respect. As luck would have it, his ship encountered Qhored's own on its way back from a raid. The bloody fool welcomed Jon onto his ship, thinking my ancestor was one of his own reavers. Too late, Qhored realized his mistake. As his fellow Rivermen hammered out justice for the Riverlands, Jon knocked Qhored off of his own ship and down into the waves to meet his beloved Drowned God. With Qhored's death, the Ironborn's grip on the coast broke. Little by little, they would loose almost all of the bounties that Qhored had won them. The Gardner forces came down on Ironborn raiders so hard that they started avoiding Oldtown and the Arbor, the Lannisters would hang Ironborn captives from Casterly Rock every time their brethren's ships were sighted, and the Starks wrestled Bear Island away from the Ironborn and gave it to House Mormont. All victories, Aye. But they wouldn't have happened without us. We weakened the Ironborn for the rest of Westeors to take down. You're welcome.
However pride soon proved to be our weakness as well. We got so used to tricking the Ironborn, we never stopped to consider that they were capable of tricking us, until Harwyn Hoare did just that. He did what no Ironborn has done before or since, he breached Barrier Bay. At that time, our fortress was primarily built to protect against incursion from the sea, so Harwyn attacked us from the land. Caught by surprise, we had no chance to defend ourselves, and were forced to retreat, abandoning the castle that was our home, but we never surrendered. As Harwyn marched his fleet across our beloved valley and began to sail up and down the Trident, we Taurians hampered his progress every step of the way. Ambushing lone Ironborn, destroying their ships, cutting off supply lines, freeing people that the Ironborn had taken as thralls, we did everything we could to make up for our failure to keep Harwyn at bay. But still, without our stronghold, there was only so much we could do, and it was never enough to scare the Ironborn away. At least we were doing something about it, which is more than many of the other Riverlords could say. They were content to cower in their castles while the Ironborn ravaged the Riverlands. but we knew the Riverlands would be free of them one day. You can only push someone so far before they start to push back. All we needed...was the right opportunity.
That opprotunity came with the Targaryens. While the Tullys may have had the idea to take advantage of the dragon's approach to rebel against Harren the Black, we Taurians were the ones who fanned their spark into a fiery uprising. With his battle axe held high, another of my ancestors; 'Ruthless' Robert Taurus, led the charge against our Ironborn overlords, spanking them so hard that they willingly dove back into the sea where they belonged. I'm told that, as a show of respect for his ferocity, Aegon the Conqueror personally restored Robert's status as Lord of Barrier Bay and gifted him a double-headed axe with blades forged of Valyrian steel. This axe, which became our greatest treasure, still sits in Barrier Bay to this day, and is aptly named, Bullhorns.
When the Targaryens took control of Westeros, the Riverlands enjoyed a peace we had not seen since the dawn age. House Hoare had burned to nothing, and the Ironborn were a shadow of what they used to be. Still, we know better than to let our guard down a second time. We have learned the lesson Harwyn Hoare taught us, a threat can come from any side. We have since started paying closer attention to what is happening in the rest of the Riverlands, and a good thing we have, for rumors are staring to swirl, about plots and conspiracies being enacted by our fellow Rivermen, by the Blackwoods and Brackens, who still seek to destroy each other, by the Freys, who seek to claim what isn't theirs, and by the Lannisters, who have taken a particular interest in the Riverlands lately.
Whatever happens, House Taurus will be ready for it. We are no strangers to fighting, not with the number of times we've spent pushing back the Ironborn, but now we know how to fight on multiple fields. We will not allow Harwyn's triumph to be repeated, by anyone. If anyone thinks they can trample over the Riverlands as he did, they will learn firsthand how hard that will be, we will teach them. And when the dust settles, when the troublemakers fall in defeat and exhaustion, they will look up and see the Black Auorch still standing, still strong, still...Ready for More!
And Cut!
It's been a while since I worked on this, but when inspiration strikes, you've just gotta go with it! This lore chapter was actually inspired by Ironborn Lore, particularly House Hoare, who were one of the dominant houses in Ironborn history. I wanted to come up with a noble house that could serve as a foil to house Hoare, like the Mallisters are for the Ironborn now. This, combined with my research revealing that Aurochs used to live in the Riverlands, led to the creation of House Taurus.
In response to iacopo passerini's comment: you forgot about the Vale, but thanks for the compliment! Also FYI, the Crownlands and the Riverlands are technically is not one of the seven kingdoms because that title refers to the kingdoms that already existed when Aegon the Conqueror arrived in Westeros: The North, the Iron Islands, the Vale, The Westerlands, the Reach, the Stormlands, and Dorne.
In Response to RustyPete12: Thank you for the tidings and the great comment! Have you watched House of the Dragon yet? I've been thinking about a lore chapter from that era, if anyone would be interested in reading that. Let me know!
5 Regions down, 4 to go. Only the Vale, Iron Islands, Stormlands, and Dorne remain. Let me know which region you would like to hear from next!
Until Next Time!