[center][b]House Caron of Nightsong[/b]
[img]http://awoiaf.westeros.org/images/thumb/6/64/House_Caron.png/250px-House_Caron.png[/img][/center]
[b]House Information:[/b] House Caron is sworn to House Baratheon. Their seat of power is Nightsong, a stronghold located in Dornish Marches in the Stormlands, north of the Prince's Pass. House Caron is the leader of the Marcher lords of the Stormlands, and the head of the House holds the title of Lord of the Marches alongside the traditional title of Lord of Nightsong.

Since the death of Lord Rennifer Caron in the civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, during which he had marched under the flag of Rhaenyra from early in the war all the way to the Second Battle of Tumbleton where he died by dragonfire, the House has been headed by his only surviving child: his daughter Cyrenna. Though there were many rumblings of discontent at the idea of there being not a Lord of the Marches, but rather a Lady of the Marches, Cyrenna has used political maneuvering and displays of sheer competence to earn the fealty and respect of the great majority of the Marcher lords.

House Caron has enjoyed a moderate growth in wealth and power in the past few decades under Cyrenna's rule, though that has only really translated to better trained and outfitted men at arms and somewhat less bickering from other Marcher lords. The recent increase in Dornish activity in the Marches has been a huge thorn in House Caron's side, and their hate for Dornishmen is a point of pride for them just as it is among all Houses in the Marches of the Stormlands. Cyrenna, and thus House Caron, has remained firmly loyal to the Targaryens of Rhaenyra's line, up to and including young King Daeron. All of this together means that the banner of black nightingales on a yellow field will certainly be among those marching south in the near future, perchance to conquer Dorne once and for all.

[hider=Lady Cyrenna Caron][b]Name:[/b] Lady Cyrenna Caron, Lady of Nightsong, Lady of the Marches, called Lady Carrion in recent years
[b]Age:[/b] 51
[b]Appearance:[/b]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/b9hV7JQ.jpg[/img]
The above plus ~25 years of fairly kind aging, because finding good art of women who actually look like they're in their late 40s to early 50s is hard.

Image borrowed from [url=http://anneballaran.deviantart.com/art/Queen-301395775]anneballaran on deviantart[/url].

[b]Personality:[/b] Lady Cyrenna is a hard woman, possessing little mercy and even less patience for fools. She is rather arrogant and vain, and her cynicism has been remarked upon by many. Cyrenna harbors a deep hate for the Dornish (especially in recent years) that could easily be called racism, and she has no qualms about expressing these feelings. As if all this wasn't enough, when pushed she has a very volatile temper that could be expressed in thrown objects or physical assults as easily as by words. Despite her off-putting exterior, the Lady Caron is a deft political operator who has used her wits and skills to keep the Marcher lords in line under her leadership; proof of her skills can be found in the facts that she has earned the fealty of these battle-hardened lords and that she has maintained leadership of House Caron even though by law the titles should have been passed down to her son once he came of age. Lady Cyrenna is also a prolific bookworm, preferring tomes of politics, history, and war tactics to those one might think more suitable for a woman. Though she has never been foolish enough to lead her soldiers into battle, what with the lack of training for combat and all, Cyrenna is the type of woman whom nobody would be surprised to find leading a charge nonetheless.

[b]Biography:[/b] Cyrenna was born to Lord Rennifer Caron and his wife Gwin, formerly of House Swann. Though the Lord and Lady Caron tried and tried again to have many children, they were only ever able to conceive a single son, Petyr, and their one daughter. Being somewhat forward thinking and practical, Lord Rennifer had both of his children trained in the ways of ruling and leadership rather than relegating his daughter to sewing and other ladylike uselessness, and he would come to be very glad of that decision. Lady Gwin passed away shortly before Petyr came of age, and Petyr died a couple years later in a bandit raid (presumably of Dornish origin) as he was out riding with some friends. Though he tried to find her a suitable husband to carry on his House's lineage, Lord Rennifer was unable to do so before being caught up in the civil war, leaving Cyrenna as the Lady of Nightsong in his absence; his subsequent death in 130 AL, in the Second Battle of Tumbleton, gave her that title in permanence alongside a new one: Lady of the Marches.

Cyrenna was 24 years old when she became the head of House Caron. She used the continuing turmoil of the war to her advantage, finding herself a husband before one of the lords of the Stormlands could pressure her into marrying one of their heirs in order to acquire the lands and power of House Caron for their descendants; it would be for her own good, of course, because a woman needed a strong man to do all the ruling and such. Rather than letting herself become the last true Caron, Cyrenna struck an unorthodox marriage agreement with one Criston Wylde, who was seventh in the line of succession for his own House and had previously thought he'd be lucky to marry anyone of higher standing than a tavern wench. Criston was a rather pliable and easygoing man, the type who would (and did) gladly allow his wife to do all the lording and ruling, and who was quite happy to marry into the name Caron; he quite fancied the alliteration of his new name, truth be told.

Cyrenna and Criston were reasonably happy with one another, which was all that could really be expected of a political marriage. The Marcher lords weren't impressed with Criston, who was passable at best with a sword, but they were assuaged by their mistaken assumptions that the man would take over and be a tolerable Lord of the Marches whom they could manipulate to their own benefit. The years rolled by and House Caron found itself with three additions: Rennifer (named after his grandfather, of course), Lyonel, and Bryce. Two years after the birth of his third son, Criston died rather suddenly of an illness that also took young Rennifer and two dozen others in Nightsong and many more around the Marches. By this time the Marcher lords were coming to accept Cyrenna as the Lady of the Marches, though not enough to prevent them from aspiring to wrest power from her by marrying her to one of their sons. Unfortunately for them, their observance of the respectable period of mourning gave Cyrenna time to arrange her own second marriage much like her first.

This second husband, Damon Lannister of the Lannisport branch, was another fellow with little to no chance of inheriting his father's title, so it took very little convincing to get him to marry into Caron rather than keeping his own name; it also helped that he had met Cyrenna a few times at tourneys and other events she attended in King's Landing and that he was rather smitten with her; it further helped that he didn't care for his family and was happy to cut ties with them however possible. Though Damon was no Stormlander, he was a tried and trained knight who the Marcher lords would have at least grudgingly called Lord of the Marches, but alas it was not to be, for he was wrapped around the Lady Caron's little finger. Cyrenna had two children with Damon: a son they named Tybolt and a daughter they named Allyria, both with the blonde hair and fair features of their father. Damon gladly adopted Cyrenna's other sons, all with the dark hair of their Stormlands stock, as his own both in name and in his heart, and so they made a happy little family for many years.

Tensions in the Marches rose in 150 AL, which saw Dornish raids increase dramatically. By then Cyrenna had solidified her position (by way of poltical maneuvering and arranging beneficial marriages for her sons) as Lady of the Marches to the point that it had been years since she'd last heard of mutterings from Marcher lords about how a woman shouldn't be ruling over them. Damon and Lyonel led the Caron banner forth to fight off the encroaching Dornishmen, with Bryce tagging along as a squire looking to become a knight sooner rather than later. By 155 AL, Damon and Lyonel had both fallen in battle, Tybolt had died in a Dornish raid that set upon a riding party made up of many sons of noble houses, and Bryce was a seasoned knight and was now the leader of the Caron men at arms at the fairly young age of 21; his betrothed had also died in the raid that took Tybolt, and neither he nor his mother had found any interest in finding him a new wife. Allyria was a beautiful young woman who had the eyes and hearts of many young lordlings, but she too found herself disinclined to marry, much to the regret of said lordlings.

Cyrenna had been a stony woman before the rise in Dornish hostilities, but her losses turned that stone into hardened steel tempered by a burning desire for revenge. Though she let Bryce retain command of the men, both for the political reason of wanting him to become a strong leader and for the personal reason of not wishing to emasculate and embarrass her son, Cyrenna frequently rode out with them and acted as an advisor, which she was quite good at due to being rather well read on the subjects of war and strategy. She even had a suit of light armor crafted to fit her, and she wore a sword whenever they were out in the field, but they were mainly for show since she had no combat training and was wise enough to know that it would be utterly moronic of her to attempt to learn and put such skills to use. This happy medium between warrior and lady seemed to please the Marcher lords as well, who looked to her for leadership in these trying times.

Fighting and destroying the Dornish has become Cyrenna's sole cause, to the point that she has been neglecting her role as Lady Caron (leaving her daughter to look after things, just as her father did when he marched off to war) in favor of being the Lady of the Marches and bringing the fight to the Dornish encroachers. Her merciless ferocity in this pursuit in recent years has earned her a new appellation, spoken with proud respect by Stormlanders and spoken with fearful respect by the Dornish; they call her Lady Carrion, so named as a play on her House name and as a namesake of the heaps of corpses, both Dornish and Stormlander, left in the wake of her bloody campaign. Cyrenna herself likes to think of it as a prophetic name, foretelling the Dorne's future state after her lust for vengeance is finally sated: a bloody desert littered with piles of corpses, inhabited only by a newly thriving population of carrion eaters gorging on the remains of every last piece of Dornish scum.[/hider]

[hider=Bryce Caron][b]Name:[/b] Bryce Caron
[b]Age:[/b] 23
[b]Appearance:[/b]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/LhYxO8U.jpg[/img]

Image borrowed from [url=http://charro-art.deviantart.com/art/Jaak-truths-and-lies-298342490]charro-art on deviantart[/url].

[b]Personality:[/b] Bryce is a very practical and patient man. He is dutiful, intelligent but not well-learned (despite the best efforts of various adults through his early years), and possesses a rather dark sense of humor. He was once a very passionate lad with a zest for adventure, but that has been considerably dulled after years of fighting and seeing the people he cares about die painfully and bloodily. Bryce has wrapped a shield of duty and pragmatism around himself as a defense mechanism to protect what little is left of that young boy who dreamed of becoming Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, looking at the world with a cynicism nearly world-weary enough to match that of his mother. Where his mother has a fiery hate for the Dornish, Bryce simply sees them as enemies that need to be dealt with for the safety of his people; his practical mind frequently reminds him that the people of Dorne are just the same as anywhere else, that the men he cuts down are mostly there because some powerful lord told them where to go, not because they actually want to be fighting. He can relate to this sentiment in a very personal way, but he would never speak these thoughts aloud. Bryce keeps his feelings tucked safely away nowadays, instead presenting the world with the dull visage of a career soldier who has seen far more than he ever wanted to.

[b]Biography:[/b] Bryce Caron was born in 134 AL, third son to Lady Cyrenna Caron and her first husband, Criston. He never truly knew his father, as he and the eldest of his sons died of illness when young Bryce was only two years old. Luckily he was not without a father figure for long, for shortly after an acceptable period of mourning had passed his mother married Damon of the Lannisport Lannisters, who took Bryce and his older brother Lyonel as his own in short order. The loving man taught them, and his own son Tybolt, all the lessons of manhood and honor and how to wield a sword as they grew into strapping young lads. Lyonel was something of a prodigy with the art of swordwork and upstaged his younger siblings for many years, though Bryce later found himself fairly adept and able to keep pace with his older brother once the Nightsong Master-at-Arms, Ser Leo Storm, had him try out a mace, which better suited his wide-swinging style of fighting. He had no patience for learning from books and sitting listening to lectures, so although he possessed the brightness everyone said he got from his mother he never actually cultivated his intellect, leaving himself simply a generally smart fellow rather than one with a scholarly intellect that would have Maesters suggesting he head to the Citadel to join their ranks. Young Bryce was simply not interested in intellectual pursuits, preferring to instead go on "adventures" around Nightsong and get into trouble whilst pretending to be some great knight of yore.

Since Lady Cyrenna didn't care for the notion of fostering her children elsewhere, Bryce found himself squire to his father (as he'd called Damon for as long as he could remember, despite knowing there was no blood relation) and older brother in 150 AL when Dornish encroachment on the Marches called House Caron to battle. After two months in the field, with the Caron host having dispatched half a dozen groups of bandits and outlaws and Bryce himself having two kills under his belt, he was knighted by his father, which was witnessed and approved of by a handful of other Marcher lords and numerous knights who were present. A few months later, a Dornish night raid on their encampment killed Lyonel as he was rushing out of his tent with no armor on and a sword in hand. That was only the beginning of the horrible losses to come, but Bryce soldiered on and managed to feel a level of pride upon being elevated to take his brother's place as Damon's right hand man. A year later Damon was also dead, and Bryce had built up his emotional defenses such that his grieving was a wholly internal affair. A year and a half after his adoptive father's passing, Bryce's last remaining brother (Tybolt, who hadn't been old enough to accompany the warriors) and his bride to be were killed in a Dornish raid that stabbed deep into the Marches, much farther than anyone thought the bastards were capable of. He did shed tears at this news, but only a few and only in the privacy of his own tent. A handful of months later, a mere week after his nineteenth birthday, Bryce was elevated to leadership of the Marcher host when the Swann lord who had been leading them since Damon's death also fell in battle.

Lady Cyrenna asked to join the war party next time they returned from the fringes of the Marches, early in 155 AL. She assured Bryce that she was not usurping his role as leader of the warriors, just that she wanted to destroy the Dornish scum and that her advice would be very valuable to him. He knew very well that this all was code for "I'm coming whether you like it or not, and I shall be in charge regardless of how it appears, so agree to this surface arrangement and I won't have to make you look like a child in front of your men." Bryce accepted her arrangement, secretly relieved to have the burden of leadership lifted from his shoulders. Though they never spoke of it explicitly, they dealt with potentially contentious matter of the passing of titles (as should have been done once Lyonel came of age, which would have passed to Bryce upon his death, making him technically the rightful Lord Caron) in their own oblique way: Bryce complimented her on her skill at leading strong-willed men, and Cyrenna said that one day he would need that same skill so he ought to watch and learn. That was that and the matter was never even hinted at again, which pleased both of them for their own reasons.

Bryce's life since the Lady of the Marches took charge has been rather simple: most days spent riding around the Marches looking for Dornishmen to kill, then leading his men into battle once targets are found, most evenings spent in the company of his mother speaking mainly of battle tactics with some intermissions of lessons on leadership and politics, and every night spent struggling to sleep with the faces of dead family and comrades floating before his eyes. It's not a glorious life, and truth be told Bryce has come to greatly dislike fighting, but he knows the Dornishmen must be dealt with and his sense of duty keeps him in the battle no matter how many of his friends die around him.
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[hider=Allyria Caron][b]Name:[/b] Allyria Caron
[b]Age:[/b] 18
[b]Appearance:[/b]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/L1mfs26.jpg[/img]

Image borrowed from [url=http://sedone.deviantart.com/art/Envoy-178776942]sedone on deviantart[/url].

[b]Personality:[/b] Allyria is the consummate lady, on the surface at least; she is kind and gentle, she is caring and understanding of the problems and woes of others, she is beautiful and nice to the commonfolk, and she possesses grace and poise enough to make a queen jealous. However, underneath all that Allyria is her mother's match in political maneuvering, but her methodology is that of manipulation and flirting and tempting promises rather than the blatant and blunt manner in which the Lady Caron deals in politics. Allyria is a very intelligent young woman, such that more than one Maester has bemoaned her unfortunate choice of gender and cursed the Seven for giving such a brilliant mind to a woman. She thirsts for knowledge just as much as man lost in the desert thirsts for water, taking in information on any and all subjects with great interest and able to apply that knowledge without a great deal of effort, though she often lacks interest in application and would prefer to start reading a new book rather than actually using what she learned from the last. Allyria is quite lazy when it comes to things that involve more work than holding up a book, though she would call it procrastination. She is extremely vain, very aware of her beauty and the perks it provides, and she takes full advantage of them. When not reading, Allyria is known to be horribly coquettish, often sending servants away to leave her alone in the company of men, to the point that many suspect her to be a well-practiced harlot. Her rather bawdy sense of humor also helps those rumors along. She of course doesn't dignify this slanderous gossip with a response, but her open amusement upon overhearing such rumors about her supposed loose morals leads most folks to believe them true, one and all.

[b]Biography:[/b] Allyria is the fifth child and only daughter of Lady Cyrenna, the second child of her marriage to Damon Lannister. She was doted on by her father, and her normally stony mother had a soft spot for her sole daughter, though it wasn't obvious to those who didn't know her well. Allyria's parents took a more hands on approach to teaching her things than most noble lords and ladies would, though she also had Septa Mina to teach her the ways of being a proper lady (in which Lady Caron was a horrible instructor) and Maester Runcel to supplement her education. She experienced a lot of loss in her childhood; in 150 AL, when House Caron went off to fight the Dornish in the Marches, she was only eleven. Over the next three years Allyria had to grieve the loss of her father and two of her brothers, along with many of the men of Nightsong who had treated her like a favored niece or granddaughter and that she had thought of as part of her family. Many thought this litany of tragedy would make her turn out like her mother, hard and unforgiving, but they couldn't have been more wrong. Little Allyria came to the conclusion, subconsciously rather than by intentional deliberation, that since there was so much sadness in the world it was her duty to try to balance it out with kindness and caring. Thus she took to her Septa's teachings with gusto, figuring that being a proper lady was all about being good and nice, though she never was any good at stitching and such due to never practicing.

Aside from her ladylike pursuits, Allyria distracted herself from her sadness by reading. Where she avoided work in other areas, she found herself seeking new books to read and being happy to answer the Maester's questions about them as it gave her a chance to discuss all the interesting things she had learned. Maester Runcel was quite pleased by this, as all four of the Caron boys had been greatly disinterested in pursuits of learning and Lady Caron seemed to feel his primary job was taking care of the ravens, so he felt his knowledge was finally being put to proper use. By the time Allyria turned fifteen, he found himself no longer truly a teacher and felt more like the girl's peer in the intellectual realm, and some days he felt he was being generous by thinking of himself as her equal. By then his work on her education saw him mainly working finding new books for her to read, since she had already surpassed his knowledge in many subjects; he had to take solace in the fact that she never cared to go beyond theoretical knowledge in the areas of warcraft and smithing, as those were his two pet subjects and he would have been rather devastated if the young girl surpassed him in his realms of mastery. Maester Runcel was the first to curse the Seven for making Allyria a girl, for her gifted mind would have been greatly welcomed in the Citadel, though later a few other Maesters joined their voice to his when they heard or saw how well she absorbed information.

While many were impressed by how freakishly well-learned the girl was at the tender age of fiften, others at the time were more interested in her beauty or the way she seemed to be a model of what a lady should be. The former interest remained unabated, but the latter was quickly embroiled in controversy, for Allyria was quickly becoming known for her inappropriate interactions with men. She often told jokes and made comments that would make a sailor blush, and she made no effort to hide her amusement at hearing such things from others, which in and of itself was very improper behavior for a lady. Allyria's sense of humor may have sparked rumors and gossip, but soon enough there were much juicier things for the servants to whisper about. Through a combination of her beauty, her House's power, and her mother being far too concerned with matters of keeping the Dornish out of the Marches to bother with something so frivolous as finding her daughter a suitable husband, Allyria had many suitors come calling to Nightsong hoping to win her heart and her hand. She was an incorrigible flirt from a young age, which Septa Mina had hoped was simply the foolish young girl testing out her influence over boys and that it would stop as she matured, and she kept it up as she flowered into womanhood. It was only moderately scandalous before she turned sixteen, whereupon she started sending her attendants away to leave her alone with some of her suitors.

Allyria knew very well what kind of rumors this would spawn, and she knew exactly what the young men where silently praying for when she arranged to be alone with them, but they all had it wrong. She was not engaging in licentious behavior with these men (well, not much at least, just some teasing and kissing and a stray hand now and again), she was purposely causing rumors to distract from her actual misbehaviors and manipulating the men to build up their hopes and trust. Many of her dalliances resulted in very favorable trade arrangements for House Caron with some young lords who had hoped she would be pleased by their favor; she was, of course, but not enough to succumb to their desires. She strung them along with hints and teases, keeping them thinking she wanted them but that she was flighty and indecisive and couldn't choose between all of her lovely suitors. She did in fact have some favorites who she considered settling down with, but that would of course end the game, and she wasn't ready for that. The rumors flew and Allyria was grandly amused by the success of her ploys. Everyone was busy talking about how she must be getting up to all manner of sin in her sitting room on the days where she was alone with suitors, while in truth her naughtiness was kept to the cover of darkness; she engaged in some nightly activities with a couple of her handmaidens, and some nights she slipped quietly out of the Nightsong keep for trysts with a couple different lovers over the years, first a blacksmith's apprentice and then the son of a knight who was off fighting with the Caron host.

In 155 AL, when Bryce returned home briefly, Lady Cyrenna chose to go with the warriors and take over leadership of the campaign against the Dornish in the Marches; she was meant to appear to be an advisor only, but those who knew her and Bryce well weren't fooled at all. Sixteen year old Allyria was left to manage the affairs of Nightsong, with Maester Runcel and Septa Mina to aid and advise her (which meant the Maester dealt with the tedium and the Septa cajoled Allyria into doing necessary duties like passing judgement on thieves and the like), and this autonomy (and her mother's distraction) is what allowed her to go about manipulating young men and having night-time affairs without anyone able to step in and correct her behavior.

Allyria has done a fair job of ruling Nightsong (thanks to the previously mentioned aid) in her mother's absence, coming into her own as a lady as she sees fit, to the pleasure of some and the dismay of others. Suitors still come along frequently, though nowadays more from abroad and less from the Houses of the Stormlands as more of them send their banners to join Caron in the Marches. She's quite happy with her cozy setup, despite knowing that people she cares about are off fighting the Dornish, and currently has no aspirations other than to enjoy her lot in life, which she does indeed.
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[hider=Relevant members of the Caron household staff]
Ser Leo Storm - 48 years old, former Master-at-Arms for House Caron, now their Commander of the Guard acting as a lieutenant of sorts in the Marcher host fighting against the Dornish.

Septa Mina - 62 years old, Septa formerly assigned as governess to Allyria, now a mix between grandmotherly figure and moral/spiritual advisor to the young woman.

Maester Runcel - 59 years old, Maester to House Caron, unofficial castellan in the absence of Lady Caron.
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