Bastards born in the Vale are given the surname Stone. The Vale is where the Andals first landed and spread out from during their invasion of Westeros six thousand years ago, though as settlement patterns became established, the Reach became the main population center and cultural heartland of the Andals. Still, combined with its isolated mountainous terrain, noble families from the Vale are said to have among the purest Andal bloodlines within Westeros. A few noble families from other regions can match them for this, but no other region taken as a whole.