The Gods Eye had two main tributaries.
The upstream tributary, the "Greenstream," fed into the Gods Eye. This small river originated between Harrenhal and Riverrun, winding its way back and forth until it eventually flowed past Harrenhal and poured into the great lake.
The downstream tributary, the Gods Eye River, flowed out of the lake, eventually emptying into the Blackwater Rush.
The Lord of Harrenhal possessed far more than just a colossal castle. He held dominion over incredibly fertile lands, massive tax revenues, the entirety of the vast Gods Eye lake, and exclusive hunting rights in the surrounding forests.
Harrenhal's domain was densely populated. It boasted two vassal towns, countless farmsteads, and endless tracts of prime arable land. This was the true foundation of the Earl of Harrenhal's power.
The people of the Riverlands were colloquially known as "Rivermen"—a hardy mix of tough warriors, peaceful fishermen, and deeply devout smallfolk.
Harrenhal and its first vassal settlement, Harrentown, sat on the northern shore of the Gods Eye, with the town sprawling just to the west of the great fortress.
The second settlement, Gods Eye Town, was situated on the southern shore of the lake.
(In the original story, the holdfast of Whitewalls, where Arya Stark famously stole some corn, was located south of the Gods Eye, east of the Gods Eye River, right along the Kingsroad—technically placing it within the Crownlands.)
Ever since Ser Lucas Dayne arrived at Harrenhal, he had been suffering from a mild case of megalophobia.
The place was simply too big. Even battered and ruined, its scale was absurd. The five towers thrust into the sky like the massive, blistered fingers of a titan.
In Dorne, towns and castles were relatively modest in size. Their largest settlements, Sunspear and the Planky Town, were pitifully small compared to a true Free City like Tyrosh.
Much of Harrenhal had been allowed to fall into decay. House Whent only actively used the bottom two-thirds of the five great towers.
Even with their immense wealth, the Whents didn't have the power to mobilize the resources of the entire Riverlands just to maintain the place, so they settled for keeping the core areas functional. Even that fraction was astonishing.
Harrenhal was a castle designed for a king. Its sheer, monstrous scale meant only a royal treasury could truly afford its upkeep.
Furthermore, Harrenhal was built on an open plain—the most labor-intensive and expensive method of castle construction. The Riverlands didn't naturally possess the endless quarries of stone, the massive timber reserves, or the mountains of gold required for such an undertaking.
To build this gargantuan fortress, Harren the Black didn't just bleed the Ironborn and the Rivermen dry; he waged endless wars of plunder and conquest.
Harren's armies stripped neighboring kingdoms of stone, timber, gold, and manpower. He forced his captives to work day and night without rest. Tens of thousands of slaves died hauling stone and dragging timber.
When conventional timber ran short, Harren chopped down ancient weirwood trees that had stood for thousands of years.
The Hoare kings had mastered the Riverlands using their longships, and with the completion of the mega-fortress of Harrenhal, they projected the aura of absolute hegemons over Westeros.
Harren the Black confidently believed his castle was the ultimate, impenetrable turtle shell—the absolute pinnacle of Westerosi defense.
Unfortunately for him, the meta changed. The arrival of dragons was an out-of-context problem he couldn't possibly defend against.
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Early the next morning, Arthur rode out from Harrenhal, accompanied by his new master-at-arms, Ser Lucas, and his two companions, Wylis Wode and Lucas Roote.
The Riverlands were predominantly flat and boundless, relying on a crisscrossing network of rivers to provide natural defensive barriers.
This was especially true for Harrenhal, sitting squarely in the eye of the storm that was the eastern Riverlands.
Bordered by the Neck to the north, the Vale to the east, the Westerlands to the west, and the Blackwater Rush to the south, the Riverlands were the beating heart of the Sunset Continent.
Westeros had its own "Central Plains"—a perpetual battlefield that had been trampled by massive armies time and time again.
The wealthy, fertile Riverlands shared borders with every other kingdom except Dorne. Their only real defensive barriers were the rivers; historically, they possessed no impregnable, natural chokepoint fortresses like Storm's End or Casterly Rock.
Being the King of the Trident meant living with the constant, agonizing reality of fighting two-front—or even three-front—wars.
They faced enemies from every point on the compass: the Kings of Winter in the North, the Kings of the Rock, the Ironborn, the Storm Kings, the Kings of the Reach, the Kings of Mountain and Vale, and even the savage mountain clans descending from the Mountains of the Moon.
To make matters worse, the Riverlords held deep, ancient grudges against one another and would turn on a dime. Every time a foreign invader crossed their borders, half the riverlords would gleefully switch sides.
As a result, nowhere else in the Seven Kingdoms saw as much constant, grinding warfare as the Riverlands, bearing witness to the rise and fall of countless petty dynasties.
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Arthur and his retinue rode through the Riverlands, heading toward Arthur's personal estate near Harrenhal.
The lands surrounding the Gods Eye were incredibly lush and fertile, dotted with endless fields and peasant farmhouses.
Ser Lucas, a man of Dorne, found his eyes opened wide. This was what you called prime farmland. In Dorne, arable land was heartbreakingly scarce.
Only the two great breadbaskets of Westeros—the Riverlands and the Reach—offered this feeling of boundless, unbroken fields where a man could ride all day and still see crops.
They cantered north of the Gods Eye. The terrain here was smooth and flat, with barely a rolling hill in sight, let alone any treacherous, craggy inclines.
Under the clear blue sky, the vegetation was incredibly dense, a sea of vibrant green rippling in the gentle breeze. Everything was bursting with life.
Ser Lucas couldn't stop praising the land as he took it all in. In terms of water supply, soil quality, and climate, this place was absolutely perfect.
Arthur's estate was situated east of Harrenhal, nestled against the Greenstream. It didn't border any major towns, making it secluded, peaceful, and quiet.
It served as the heir's personal retreat, located conveniently close to both Harrenhal and the Gods Eye.
(Arthur's other holding, the earldom of Whitewalls, was located further southeast of Harrenhal, much closer to King's Landing).
Arthur's estate stretched for several miles. The perimeter wall was built of gray stone, bearing an iron plaque shaped like a bat—the mark of an estate directly owned by House Whent.
The estate was guarded by two veteran men-at-arms of House Whent, and a handful of tenant farmers—families fiercely loyal to the Earl of Harrenhal for generations—maintained the grounds.
The group led their horses to the stables and proceeded on foot to tour the property.
The estate was well-equipped. It boasted sturdy stables, a custom-built log cabin for Arthur, and a small dock with rowboats for taking out on the water.
There were also granaries and a large, paved courtyard specifically designed for drying grain in the sun.
"What do you call this place?" Ser Lucas asked.
"Greenhand Manor," Arthur replied.
He had considered several names—Greenstream Manor, Whent Manor—but they all sounded too generic and tacky. He decided to just go straight to the point: Greenhand Manor.
"Greenhand. A fine name," Ser Lucas smiled, nodding in approval.
Garth "Greenhand" was a legendary figure from the Age of Heroes, the very symbol of bountiful harvests and prosperity. It was a highly auspicious name.
The terrain within Greenhand Manor consisted mostly of gentle, rolling hills, dotted with small copses of trees and crisscrossed by babbling brooks that fed into the Greenstream.
The scenery was beautiful, and the privacy was absolute.
Ser Lucas was genuinely impressed. Being in a place like this brought a profound sense of peace, a feeling of being completely detached from the chaotic, muddy world of politics and war.
Arthur had already ordered paths cleared through the estate. The grounds now featured apple orchards, wild grapevines, and potato patches. However, the only crop planted on a truly massive scale was sweet corn.
This wasn't just because the traditional staple crops of the Riverlands were barley, wheat, and corn.
This was, after all, a fantasy world. Crops like corn and cotton had already made their appearance on the tech tree.
More importantly, the very first enhanced seed Arthur had unlocked from his system was corn, and he had immediately set up a dedicated experimental plot to cultivate it.
There was a stark, obvious dividing line in the cornfields. A specific 10x10 meter patch of corn at the back of the field was meticulously tended to—clearly the VIP section.
"This corn..." Ser Lucas quickly noticed the anomaly. The corn in the front fields was growing well—perhaps slightly better than average—but the corn in the 10x10 plot was significantly taller, thicker, and more vibrant.
Even accounting for the legendary fertility of the Gods Eye region, this corn was growing too well.
"Try a piece of this sweet corn. The Whent Special," Arthur said. He snapped an ear off a stalk, rinsed it clean with water from his waterskin, and handed it to Ser Lucas.
Ser Lucas took a bite. The kernels were massive, bursting with a rich, crisp sweetness. The flavor was incredible. He knew instantly that this crop could command a premium price anywhere in the world.
"Truly delicious. Even the most obnoxiously picky, wealthy merchants in King's Landing would empty their purses for this," Ser Lucas praised. Cultivating a crop to this level of perfection was a serious achievement.
The veteran knight immediately saw the brutal business logic behind it: quality products print money.
House Whent's biggest immediate problem was the massive financial bleeding they had suffered. They needed to recover their gold reserves, and fast.
In the known world, the people with the most disposable income were the highborn lords and the elite merchant princes of the port cities. These people were always willing to pay exorbitant prices for luxury and pleasure.
The eastern Riverlands might be broke, but King's Landing was a bottomless sinkhole for luxury goods.
King Robert was a man who lived for excess and indulgence, and the entire culture of King's Landing mirrored his gluttony.
Harrenhal wasn't terribly far from King's Landing or Gulltown by river and road. The target market was practically right next door.
"Then those merchants will just have to wait to satisfy their cravings. This is still just an experimental plot," Arthur said with a mysterious smile.
Arthur had mastered two system skills: [Bountiful Growth] and [Seed Vault]. Even though the system had only provided him with a single, literal kernel of enhanced corn seed to start with, he had made it work.
By utilizing his localized, accelerated growth buff, he had rapidly multiplied that single seed into a viable crop, though it had taken some time.
Currently, his accelerated growth zone was limited to a 1x1 meter square, and it reduced the maturation time by 80%. Arthur was confident he could level up the skill and expand the area soon.
Arthur maintained strict operational security and a solid R&D pipeline. The plan was simple: achieve mass production before hitting the market, and don't sell the first-generation product until the second-generation seed was already in development.
Even if these enhanced corn seeds eventually leaked to the public, Arthur would have already moved on to entirely new, superior crops, all while maintaining his exclusive [Bountiful Growth] buff.
Furthermore, the seed was only half the equation; the soil mattered just as much.
The exact same premium seed would yield vastly different results in standard farmland compared to his heavily buffed experimental plot. A crop grown in Harrenhal's prime soil would always outclass one grown elsewhere.
Relying on his unique abilities and the inherent geographical advantages of Harrenhal's legendary farmland, Arthur was absolutely confident he could achieve total market dominance: I have what others don't, and what others have, I do better.
Arthur smiled faintly. The path to dominating the world through agriculture started right here, with this corn.
The known world was full of families who built massive empires on the back of superior, exclusive products. The Arbor monopolized fine wine, Dorne exported Arbor Gold and spices, House Yronwood controlled vast mineral wealth, and the Valemen made a killing selling scented candles.
The family of Arthur's mother, House Butterwell of Whitewalls, once became one of the richest houses in the Seven Kingdoms simply by monopolizing the dairy trade. Whitewalls itself was once famous for producing wine that rivaled the best vintages of the Arbor.
Arthur's innate "Greenhand" talent, combined with the agricultural paradise that was the Harrenhal domain, was a match made in heaven.
The Seven Kingdoms were looking at a long stretch of relative peace. For now, he would focus on two things: farming for gold, and training for war.
Once he had the capital, he would incubate the necessary political connections and resources. When that happened, the stagnant pool of House Whent would become a raging, unstoppable river.