The Sons of the Kraken refers to the natural-born descendants of Euron Greyjoy, who caused trouble for the Iron Islands, North, Reach, and Riverlands for a period of nearly fifteen years, terrorizing much of the western coast in. Chief among them were Euric Sixshields, Joron Ravenspear, Hrothgar, who men called Brine, and Aeron Halftongue.
Origins[]
It was said of the Crow's Eye that he sired half a hundred sons in half a hundred ports, his bloodline finding root anywhere there was harbor enough for a fleet. In the years following his death such tales proved true, as those claiming his lineage rose up in countless bloody conflicts.
Indeed these men only claimed descent from the Crow's Eye - there was no way to prove it in truth; and for the rebellious, nostalgic, or ambitious, claiming such a royal lineage provided far more benefits than the stain of bastardy provided drawbacks. After the first uprising in 322AC - by a man most agree to have been a true son of Euron - any who found dissent in the current regime, or a desire to restore their vision of the Old Way, claimed the bloodline of Euron as a form of legitimacy. Nearly a score of men and women have claimed to be his children or grandchildren - though only four ever gathered more than a longship or two to their name.
The Sons and their Stories[]
Euric Sixshields (322AC)[]
Euric Pyke rose to prominence in the latter days of the year 321AC, a handsome warrior with a deft hand and a sharp tongue. He was a Pyke by birth, raised on the island of the same name by a woman who claimed to have lain with King Euron - though she said so only while she was deep in drink, and took care to not speak it too proudly in public. All the same, Euric grew to fancy himself a prince, and the true heir to the Iron islands.
In time others began to back his claim, seeking to restore the days of yore when Ironmen raided the coasts with impunity. He gathered a score of longships to his cause in those early days, though further recruitment met opposition - for in the Isles more than anywhere else in Westeros, a man's father's name means little. In the Isles, every man is judged by his won deeds, and his own fame - and of these Euric had little, for he had never raided in the Summer Seas nor fought in any contest of note.
The young Kraken decided to win his name where Euron had lost his - in the Reach. Perhaps hoping to avenge his so-called father, or surpass him in deed and renown, Euric lead his small fleet against the southern coasts, burning and pillaging as he willed. Their small numbers allowed the Ironborn to skirt the ships that came out to meet them, the longships swiftly outracing warships that were sent to hunt him down. His depredations plagued the region for months, before he and his band of reavers were finally caught and killed on the coastlands east of the Shield Islands.
Aeron Halftongue (324AC)[]
Aeron of the Fields was the second of the four great Sons of the Kraken, and seen by some as the worst of the lot. Supposedly sired by Euron upon a woman taken from the Reach, Aeron spent much of his young life as a thrall, toiling in the mines and fields of the Isles. His great size set him apart from the beginning, towering nearly a full foot above the head of most men, with broad shoulders and eyes that gleamed with a harsh cunning. Not long after his fifteenth name day he was drowned in accordance with tradition, taking the first step toward ridding himself of the taint of thralldom.
Aeron found work on a ship, suffering back-breaking work and bone-breaking brawls as he clawed his way up the ranks. The day finally came when he was made a captain of a longship - a rank normally denied to the thrallborn - though because of his deeds and reputation, most thought it fitting.
Immediately Aeron Halftongue set out to breaking the King's Peace, raiding along the Stoney Shore and similar such coasts in the North. He took care to leave none alive, knowing that the Greyjoys of Pyke would take his head just as swiftly as the Starks of Winterfell, what with their desire to keep the peace. Still, slowly rumours began to spread, and other captains and reavers joined him. They kept their raids secret for as long as they could, until finally in late 324AC they were discovered. Aeron and his men fought a hard battle on the docks of Blacktyde before finally fleeing in their longships, setting off toward the North. They would pillage there for several weeks more, before infighting drove them apart, and the Northmen swept down upon the survivors.
Brine (329-331AC)[]
Hrothgar Pyke, who men called Brine, was the least martial and longest lived of the Kraken's sons, though most agree that the former sparked the latter. Hrothgar lived upon the isle of Pyke, spending much of his youth as an orphan in Lordsport. Brine would grow to manhood in that town forever only a few minutes walk from the sea - and it was there that he would find his faith, and learn to shape it into a sword to be pressed against the side of the Isles.
Weaned upon tales of the Drowned Priests of old, Hrothgar took it upon himself to serve as their newest incarnation, adopting the name Brine and setting out to right the wrongs of the Drowned Faith. Perhaps in the early days he truly believed in the Drowned God and his will, but it wasn't long before the wandering priest became corrupt, calling damnation down on those lords that offended him, and accepting bribes for prayers and false drownings. Word spread of his growing popularity even as rumour spread of his growing corruption, some even whispering that in lieu of gold he'd take a night with a man's son as payment for his prayers, or take the boy as a 'disciple' in exchange for a lifetime of divine blessing. Whatever the truth his popularity only grew, the priest named Brine gathering quite the following.
Though Asha Greyjoy ruled the Isles during this period her eldest son was a green youth, all agreed, scholarly and bookish and more apt to read than reave. Regardless of this he had fostered a growing rivalry with the Drowned Priest Brine, finding his preachings to be vulgar and backward, denouncing the man on more than one occasion. Brine had little love for the lordling himself - some say it was envy that drove him, others that he had simply grown ambitious, and sought to bend the Greyjoys to his will. Regardless of which, their conflict grew, finally coming to a head in 330AC.
While disembarking from his ship in Lordsport, Rodrik Greyjoy was suddenly set upon by a host of fanatics, charging him with driftwood clubs and other blunt instruments. It is forbidden for Ironborn to shed the blood of Ironborn - and so the raving mob merely broke bones and shattered limbs, overwhelming the young Kraken's guardsmen and slaying him upon the docks. Brine proudly made it known that he had been behind the deed, thinking mayhaps that the lords of the Isles would bend - but he was gravely mistaken.
For nearly six months, well into the year 331AC, the Greyjoys hunted Brine and his followers, chasing them from Isle to Isle, through poor fishing village after poor fishing village. They scoured Lordsport and the whole of Pyke, chasing him onto Great Wyk and then Old Wyk. Brine fled before them, ever seeking refuge but ever denied - though Rodrik had not been well loved as an heir, he had been a Greyjoy, and a Lord, and thus his murder could not go unanswered.
Finally, in the middle months of the year 331, they found him. By this time Asha Greyjoy was dead, her younger son Torric named Lord of the Isles - and though it was the death of his brother that enabled him to inherit, the new Lord of Pyke had little love for the Drowned Priest. All the same, priest he was, and thus merely taking his head anathema; made all the worse by Brine's constant protestations that he had done all he had done by the will of the Drowned One.
In the end, Torric Greyjoy decided to put the man's words to the test. He ordered him bound to a rock at the base of Pyke, facing out toward the ocean. Here the sea spray crashed night and day, ocean at war with stone. The Greyjoy had Brine chained to the stone, and instructed him that if the Drowned God came to free him, all would be forgiven. If they were as close as Brine seemed to think, no doubt he would come swiftly.
It is said that Brine lasted four days chained to that rock, buffeted by the wind and the waves. Thrice a day - once in the morning, then at noon, then at night - Torric was said to have looked down from the towers of Pyke and called out to him, asking if the waves whispered any news about the Drowned God's will.
Joron Ravenspear (338 - 340AC)[]
Joron Ravenspear was the last of the Kraken's Sons to terrorize Westeros, or at least the last to garner any significant following. After the execution of Brine at the hands of the Greyjoys most feared to claim the lineage, thinking the days of Euron to be dead and gone. Joron, however, was not convinced.
Joron claimed that he was the son of Euron Greyjoy's eldest son, a man entirely unknown to history. The Ravenspear named him Ragnar, saying that he had fought with Euron during the War against the Reach, only to be thrown overboard during the fighting. According to Joron the Drowned God had reached out to the youth, who lay near death, and took him to his Watery Halls. There the lad had fought and feasted, reveling with the Grey King himself before siring his son, Joron, upon the Grey King's youngest daughter.
The tale was fantastical and far-fetched, but Joron's charisma and fighting skill drew followers to him all the same. Times were hard in the Isles - winter was only just fading, and food was still fairly scarce. Malcontents and adventurers flocked to his banner, and in 337AC he set sail to make his name known.
Joron chose the Riverlands as his raiding grounds, alighting south of Oldstones and cutting inland to burn along the Red Fork. The Tullys of Riverrun were forced to sally out and meet him, but the Ravenspear avoided their attentions for nigh on two years. In the end he was caught in battle against the mountains of the Westerlands, and there he was destroyed by the combined might of several Riverlords.