A Proclamation
To be distributed and read across the Iron Islands,
and sent to the Great Houses of Westeros
We Do Not Sow.
Those are the words of our proud House.
For the past Three Hundred years we have ruled over the Iron Islands and led the Ironborn into battle against powerful foes, we have sailed across the seas and the continents, and we have struck fear in the eyes of our enemies. With the usurper Robert Baratheon dead at last, we consider ourselves no longer bound by any oaths forced upon us by any man. No lord nor King from the green lands will ever lay claim to these islands as part of his realm, for we Ironborn rule ourselves.
We shall pay the Iron Price, and take what is ours. I, Balon Grejoy, hereby declare the Iron Islands independent and separate from the Seven Kingdoms, no longer bound to whoever sits in an Iron Chair. I take my crown like Urron Redhand did thousands of years ago, and become Balon Greyjoy, Ninth of His Name, Lord of the Iron Islands, the Greyjoy, Lord Reaper of Pyke, Son of the Sea Wind, and King of the Iron Islands. May no man or ruler who wishes to be spared from experiencing the wrath and the might of the Iron Fleet deny what is ours by right.
What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger.
Signed,
Balon Greyjoy, King of the Iron Islands
