Nine Invitations to the Athenaeum Club (1)

After the banquet finished Oberyn and Randyll left to get some rest, while Victor stayed on the balcony of his courtyard and fell into deep thoughts. He had too quickly sent out invites to the first representatives of the Athenaeum Club and had to decide on how many invites exactly he would send and to whom those invites would go. He finally settled on nine inventations for the first time, one each for every administrative region of Westeros:

The Crownlands (1)

The crownlands is one of the nine constituent regions of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. It was never a sovereign kingdom, instead being contested by river kings, Storm Kings, and local petty kings until Aegon the Conqueror seized control of the area during his Wars of Conquest and made it his primary foothold on the continent. Since then, the crownlands have been ruled directly by the Iron Throne, first House Targaryen and, after Robert's Rebellion, House Baratheon. Bastards of noble origin raised in the crownlands are given the surname Waters.

Victor decided to invite the House of Stokeworth as a representative of the Crownlands and the Iron Throne. Sworn directly to King's Landing, they live at nearby Castle Stokeworth north of the capital.

They blazon their arms with a white lamb holding a golden goblet on a green field. Their motto is "Proud to be Faithful".

House Stokeworth would later, after Robert's rebellion, prove to be one of the many families of the Crownlands that would hate the Lannisters for their betrayal.

Dorne (2)

For Dorne there was not much to say. Even though they were the Lord Paramount, Victor obviously had to invite his future in-laws and sent a invitation card directly to Oberyn Martell himself.

The Iron Islands (3)

Victor decided to invite someone from the Iron Islands but needed to pick a family that would value commercial development and that didn't just rely purely on stealing to survive. He decided to choose the owner of the most properous island of the Iron Islands.

House Harlaw of Harlaw is one of the most powerful houses from the Iron Islands, sworn to House Greyjoy of Pyke. From the castle of Ten Towers, the Harlaws rule over the entire island of Harlaw, the richest and most populous of the isles. Their blazon is a silver scythe on black.

All the other houses on Harlaw pledge fealty to House Harlaw, including Houses Kenning, Myre, Stonetree, and Volmark. Cadet branches of the Harlaws are located at Grey Garden, Harlaw Hall, Harridan Hill, and the Tower of Glimmering.

The North (4)

For the North Victor decided to invite the Manderly family. He already invited the heir of the Manderly to his birthday and further strengthening this business cooperation seemed very favorable for him. Honestly, there was no other family of the North that Victor would want to deal with right now or could provide him with any benefit. If the Manderly family could import his products to the North and export some needed raw materials Victor would be quite content. The North was simply too far away from the influence of House Di Natale.

The Reach (5)

The invitation for the Reach was already decided just today. Of course, Victor would invite House Tarly as a representative of the Reach. He secretly hoped this would further deteriorate the relationship between House Tarly and House Tyrell. It would be in Victor's best interest if two larger interests' groups would build around those two families within the Reach and Victor could achieve a certain balance.

The riverlands (6)

Victor was not sure if he should invite someone from the Riverlands as this was the only administrative region of Westeros that he had no previous contact with. In the end he decided to complete all the regions of Westeros and would send an invitation to a family of the Riverlands with whom he never had any previous contact with.

House Mallister of Seagard is one of the most prominent noble houses from the Riverlands. Seagard is a fortress built to defend the coast against the reavers from the Iron Islands, and dates from before Aegon's Conquest. Victor at some point in the future would probably need his fleet to stop by Sea Guard. Inviting them to his private club would make the relationship in the future infinitely better.

Their blazon is a silver eagle displayed, on a purple field. Their motto is "Above the rest".

House Mallister has a prouder lineage than their liege lords, House Tully of Riverrun, the Lords Paramount of the Trident.

Some Mallisters have worn winged helms, and Mallister guardsmen wear indigo cloaks.

The Mallisters distrust the ironborn. Inviting them would create a certain check and balance to the family of the Iron Islands. 

The stormlands (7)

For the Stormlands Victor was first thinking about inviting the House of Tarth. But honestly there wouldn't be many gains by inviting them. Victor planned to increase his influence on the island of Tarth anyways and inviting this noble family to his private club wouldn't change much. Honestly, the House of Tarth was not quite worthy to be among one of the first nine invitations of the Athenaeum club. Victor decided to go with one of the marcher lords of the Stormlands.

House Swann of Stonehelm is one of the primary noble houses of the stormlands. They are marcher lords ruling from Stonehelm over the lands surrounding the Red Watch on Cape Wrath in the eastern Dornish Marches. They blazon their arms with argent and sable a swan counter charged.

They have governed their lands for as long as any can remember. From Stonehelm they control the Slayne, a major river route inland to the Stormlands, gaining them much wealth and power. The Swanns and Carons both claim to be the oldest of the marcher lords.

Sometime after driving away the pirate presence on the Stepstones in 96 AC, the Lysene captains of the Triarchy began claiming passengers on board passing ships as a toll for passage. One such captive was the niece of the current Lord Swann, Johanna Swann. When her infamous uncle refused to pay the ransom, she was sold to a pillow house. Johanna became a celebrated courtesan known as the Black Swan, the eventual ruler of Lys in all but name. Somehow the Swann family seem to have a very special fate with Lys. This let to Victor's decision to include them into his private club and improve his relationship with this old and influential family.