Why did the Stormlands lose all their military strength after BW?

[Lord Varys]

1 hour ago, Free Northman Reborn said:

Similarly, how much bigger is the Reach actually than the Stormlands? Twice its size? Or does it approach 3 times its size. Because if you are talking 3 times, then on top of a higher population density it would imply a population of probably 4 or 5 times that of the Stormlands. Which seems a bit high in my view, but which would be the implication of the size comparison. But we need the accurate sizes for that, not the rough guesses.

The Rainwood is still a pretty big wilderness covering most of Cape Wrath. The impression we get in Arianne 2 doesn't suggests that many people are living in there. Just as pretty much nobody seems to be living in the Wolfswood or the Kingswood. There are some people there, no doubt, but nobody. Effectively nobody when compared to actually good farmland - which is pretty much everywhere in the Reach. The Dornish Marches aren't very fertile land, either.

7 hours ago, GallowsKnight said:

You kind of just have to squint and let it happen. There's a few points like this where GRRM didn't work the numbers.

But an in-universe answer is that the Leadership is disjointed with no present Lord-Paramount and prominent Stormlord leaders dead at Blackwater (Morrigen, Caron) or from the Mountain (Wylde), or turned outlaw (Dondarrion), with Stannis (Horpe, Buckler, Peasebury), elderly (Penrose), playing it safe (Swann) or in the Riverlands with Jaime (Ron Connington, the Holy Hundred). 

Many foot soldiers were probably dismissed home after the Blackwater to avoid any potentially disloyal component.  This might be able to be levied but as mentioned above by who?

Also communication would be affected. Many might know of invader but not who they are or where they are exactly.

Many Stormlords would still just not know whom they should support. What if the Golden Company was hired by Stannis (until such time they take Storm's End that would be a pretty good guess)? Jon Connington is also a fellow Stormlord, making it not so likely that his (former) peers would side with the Lannisters against him.

3 hours ago, direpupy said:

I actually think that the Stormland foot went over to Lannister/Tyrell alliance after Renly died and that a good portion of the 70000 men Mace is said to have after the blackwater is actually stormlander foot. They may have gone over because they had a lack of leadership since most of the lords went with Renly when he took his horse to go and fight Stannis. These lords have since bend the knee to the Iron Throne and may therfore now slowely be taking back the leadership of there men.

This seems to at least partially confirmed in the sample chapter currently up on GRRM's site (Arianne 2) Where Lady Mertyns tells Arianne that she is expecting her sons and the Mertyn forces back soon to help deal with the GC.

Some portion of Stormlander foot would still be in the Tyrell armies in KL right now but I don't think there were so many. Considering that a lot of Stormlander lords and knights are still with Stannis we also have to keep in mind the lack of leadership down there. Many lordships might still have the potential to raise some men but might be unwilling or unable to do so simply because their adult men are still gone.

The whereabouts of all those Stormlords and Lords bound to Dragonstone after the Blackwater are unfortunately unknown. We have no clue where the hell Ser Philip Foote, the new Lord of Nightsong, is, nor whether all those lords who bent the knee to Joffrey after the Blackwater were allowed to return home yet.

[direpupy]

2 minutes ago, Lord Varys said:

 

Some portion of Stormlander foot would still be in the Tyrell armies in KL right now but I don't think there were so many. Considering that a lot of Stormlander lords and knights are still with Stannis we also have to keep in mind the lack of leadership down there. Many lordships might still have the potential to raise some men but might be unwilling or unable to do so simply because their adult men are still gone.

The whereabouts of all those Stormlords and Lords bound to Dragonstone after the Blackwater are unfortunately unknown. We have no clue where the hell Ser Philip Foote, the new Lord of Nightsong, is, nor whether all those lords who bent the knee to Joffrey after the Blackwater were allowed to return home yet.

Wel that was my point they have not returned home yet, and since Renly did not take any foot with him the stormland foot has either dispersed after Renly died or is still with the Tyrell's. Those that stayed with the Tyrell's may now be shifting there loyalty back to the stormland lords who bend the knee. That would neatly explain why there is no one to oppose the GC right now.

[Free Northman Reborn]

1 hour ago, Lord Varys said:

The Rainwood is still a pretty big wilderness covering most of Cape Wrath. The impression we get in Arianne 2 doesn't suggests that many people are living in there. Just as pretty much nobody seems to be living in the Wolfswood or the Kingswood. There are some people there, no doubt, but nobody. Effectively nobody when compared to actually good farmland - which is pretty much everywhere in the Reach. The Dornish Marches aren't very fertile land, either.

Yes. That is part of the reason why they have a lower  population density than the Reach which is right next door. Remember that their overall population density represents the average for the entire kingdom. Meaning the average of the more populated, farmed regions combined with the less populated forest regions. This average - calculated by taking the total population and dividing it by the total land area, is lower than that of the Reach.

So that means that whatever the Reach's land area multiple is compared to that of the Stormlands - say it is 2 times the land area - the Reach's total population multiple will be GREATER than 2 times, since each square mile is multiplied by a larger population density. So 2 times the land area may well translate into 3 times the overall population then, for example.

 

[Lord Varys]

9 hours ago, direpupy said:

Wel that was my point they have not returned home yet, and since Renly did not take any foot with him the stormland foot has either dispersed after Renly died or is still with the Tyrell's. Those that stayed with the Tyrell's may now be shifting there loyalty back to the stormland lords who bend the knee. That would neatly explain why there is no one to oppose the GC right now.

I'm not sure we know that they did not yet return. Foote, Ardrian Celtigar are last seen in ASoS. We don't know what any of them and the others did in AFfC and ADwD. Thinking about that. If there are plenty of Stormlords and Stormlanders among the Tyrell hosts then we can reasonably assume that they will be part of the host that marches against Storm's End.

But then, by that time Aegon should have quite a few noble Stormlanders as hostages. Red Ronnet might be determined to retake Griffin's Roost, but many of the others might be not so keen to fight against a Targaryen pretender.

[direpupy]

10 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

I'm not sure we know that they did not yet return. Foote, Ardrian Celtigar are last seen in ASoS. We don't know what any of them and the others did in AFfC and ADwD. Thinking about that. If there are plenty of Stormlords and Stormlanders among the Tyrell hosts then we can reasonably assume that they will be part of the host that marches against Storm's End.

But then, by that time Aegon should have quite a few noble Stormlanders as hostages. Red Ronnet might be determined to retake Griffin's Roost, but many of the others might be not so keen to fight against a Targaryen pretender.

I agree they may not be keen on fighting Faegon so they might actually switch sides, possibly also as revenge for what happened at the blackwater.

From the Arianne sample chapter currently on GRRM's site we know that Mistwood fell to the GC because Lady Mertyns sons and grandsons had not yet returned, but she is expecting them back soon. This seems to indicate that the stormlords have not yet returned to there castles.

[Protagoras]

On 2016-08-01 at 1:50 AM, Nyrhex said:

The Stormlands do not lack leadership, they have all of thier lords right there, and if you mean over the Stormlands then you have the king, Tomme, as overlord who can send an order. This is not that hard of a concept to grasp, they have a king, he sends an order, they raise the men and march. That there are not enough men in those castles that they fall like nothing is just bad writing. The Golden Company cannot possibly split itself into a few hundreds here and there and manage to take over castles when the garrisons alone should have that many. They seem to take no noticable losses either, just to add insult to injury, as if storming castle after castle is just a matter of rushing in during siesta. Again, and again, and again. 

The story in King's Landing is already (as of the end of ADWD) of fAegon, wether or not he is real, and how soon Mace can march to deal with him. Completely ignoring any Stomlords in the way who already have troops and can help. It's as if they simply don't exist anymore, even though we know that the losses they could have suffered are between a few hundred to a thousand or two tops. 

In the North you had castellans and the occasional old lord who stayed behind. They all performed just fine with thier king and lord away. A couple hundred Ironborn lead a siege? Raise a couple thousands and remove them. It's not that hard to see the Stormlords do the same in short order, but for plot's sake they are completely ignored.

A boy king that is a puppet of the Lannisters who beat them last time. That is not an overlord who impresses and the loss in the war have certainly not gotten in a better mood. It should be a pretty easy concept to grasp that leadership is more than sending orders. So, yes - they lack leadership. It is not as easy to just raise 10000 solders to deal with the company (and such a fight would most likely not go well for the Stormlords even if they tried) since who should lead it? Why should I make common cause with my neighbors to fight someone I have no real reason to fight, just because my king (which I tried to depose recently and was forced to surrender to) say so. At 

And the castles - again, soldiers cost money. Money you want to save. So, there is no reason to assume many troops except from the castle guard and maybe some elite cavarly stays active. And the Golden Company are the best fighting force in the planetos. They took the Stormlords by surprise, and castles fall before anybody even knows that there is an invasion. Certainly, they will have gotten losses (more than 4) - but a couple of hundred or thousands vs a castle guard who doesn´t know they are under attack should be pretty possible.

But you fail to get the most important point - the Stormlords doesn´t care about Tommen. "Completely ignoring any Stomlords in the way who already have troops and can help." No, these people doesn´t exist! There are no real crown loyalists in the region who are willing to risk their troops and castles to fight the golden company (I could however see GRRM writing in an idiot Stormlord who does exactly this in order to show the futility of such an action). 

[Ser Leftwich]

One very important factor is that they don't have a leader. There is no Lord Paramount leading an organized front against the GC.

And before that, when SE was being held for Stannis, how many Stormlanders are helping with the siege? How many go back to KL? How many just go home? How many just don't care to get organized to help neighbors that may have been on the other side of the last 2 or 3 battles?