House Payne is a noble house of the westerlands, sworn to House Lannister of Casterly Rock. Their arms bear a chequy field of purple and white with gold coins marking every check, a heraldry that points to some long-ago association with coin and ledger, though the precise origins of that story are not recorded. The house is of indeterminate ancient rank, neither among the storied First Men lines of the west nor among its great lordly dynasties, yet it has held the confidence of House Lannister across generations.
The most renowned of the Paynes in living memory is Ser Ilyn Payne, who served as captain of Lord Tywin Lannister's household guard when Tywin held the Handship under King Aerys II. The Mad King had Ilyn's tongue torn out with hot pincers after Ilyn was heard to say that the Hand, not the king, truly ruled the Seven Kingdoms. When Robert Baratheon took the throne, he named Ser Ilyn the King's Justice as a mark of favour to the Lannisters, and the silent, hollow-eyed headsman has held that office ever since. A lesser branch of the house produced Podrick Payne, a young squire who passed through the service of several knights before entering the household of Lord Tyrion Lannister during the War of the Five Kings.