[hider= House Amreth] [img] http://i.imgur.com/CsAtf0F.jpg [/img] [b]House:[/b] Amreth of the Crownlands [b]Green or Black:[/b] Black [b]Recent History:[/b] Situated northwest of King's Landing along the Blackwater river where it meets the God's Eye, the house lands are primarily situated in a small settlement of Forktown and the accompanying Castle Amreth which are dedicated to horse husbandry and as a trade stop for weary merchants. Little more than minor nobles, they had been of relatively little importance until the Dance of Dragons where their location saw them involved in a number of conflicts at Tumbleton, Lakeshore, the Kingsroad and God's Eye. The house is exhausted, their armies shattered, their vaults empty and their lands ravaged and now look to rebuild after the chaotic two years of war. The Lord Raynald Amreth acended to the lordship after the death of his father Lothar in 125AC. The House Amreth prides themselves on their horsemanship, their martial skills and the strength of their vows. [hider=Family Members] [b]Name:[/b] Lord Raynald Amreth [b]Age:[/b] 28 [b]Appearance:[/b] Raynald stands at an intimidating 6'4, with powerfully built shoulders and a lean cut body which lends itself to a lifetime of training along with two years of harsh warfare. His face once reasonably handsome has been weathered and worn by the hard years and the darkness of war and is framed by a covering of stubble and short black hair on his head. His eyes are a dark blue, almost grey colour which when set deep into his now gaunt and weathered face bring a natural sense of weariness and sorrow that defy his younger years. In battle he carries the dark blue dyed armour of the River Riders of Amreth while in peace he wears relatively simple cut clothing which in turn with his house’s horse farms, give rise to the mocking pseudonym of the Stable Lord. He always carries either his monstrous greatsword or his marginally smaller bastard sword on him, being a lord lived in battle not peace. [b]Biography:[/b] Raynald grew up under the firm but fair rule of his father, Lothar, who sought to continue the Amreth tradition of faithfully serving their Targaryen overlords and supplying the noble houses of the world with steeds to carry them into battle. Lothar had been somewhat simpler of mind than his son, with no ambition to improve the family holdings nor attain any great martial pursuit nor court any great lord or lady to his court. Raynald naturally chafed under this unambitious man as he grew up, being a child he desired to be the greatest warrior in the world, to court princesses and queens and of being the most powerful lord in Westeros. He had a voracious appetite for martial pursuits, both in the use of weapons and the strategy of war, which outstripped his father’s ability to teach him by the age of ten. From there on, he was taught by a variety of tutors whom Lothar could afford to pay and knights who sought to purchase a famed Amreth steed found themselves having to contribute to the boy’s education. The one thing that his father did teach him was the worth a man’s word and the strength of a good reputation for a House. He strove to fulfil the virtue of his house and to become a worthy Lord Amreth after his father, who’d arguably a little too peace-loving for the true pursuit of martial prowess. When he turned fourteen, he squired for a prestigious tourney knight in King’s Landing and returned to his family three years later having been anointed a knight and learned much about the snake pit that is King’s Landing. He was much more appreciative of the positivity in his family’s little hamlet, the peace and relative prosperity that existed for all but the developing tension in King’s Landing over succession weighed heavily on his mind. His father, now starting to grow frail with age, his mother resigned to caring for him, left the running of the castle and the town to Raynald who felt the need to expand the military strength of the castle and improve the defences of the town. Using all he’d learned, he trained the River Knights personally, bringing in Jeroh, an experienced men-at-arms he’d met in King’s Landing. He married in the time before the Dance, to Selysa the third daughter of a minor western lord but the pairing only produced two stillborns, the second costing his wife's life in childbirth. He adopted his father’s oath, sworn at King’s Landing, to accept Rhaenyra as the next rightful ruler of Westeros, which he acted upon with the onset of civil war in the Kingdom. He fought a number of skirmishes around his lands, trying to avoid moving too far away in order to keep Castle Amreth as far too much trouble for the potential gains of attacking it. He proved an apt commander and fearless warrior, leading his River Knights in charges at the battles of Lakeshore and God’s Eye, before he used the remnants of his once potent company to fight in the last battle on the Kingsroad which broke the power of the greens. His absence from the Amreth lands at crucial points have left it somewhat desolate from raids and negligence as the treasury was committed to keeping his army effective in the field. Having taken his brother and his two childless uncle to battle but lost them at the battle of Lakeshore, the family Amreth is kept to him, his sister and his broken mother who spends her days in a convent. He now faces the challenge of rebuilding the prosperity of his lands and to rebuild his family and army. [b]Name:[/b] Melara Amreth [b]Age:[/b] 16 [b]Appearance:[/b] A cute but not remarkable beauty, she has pale skin that boasts of a life of relative comfort untouched by the ravages of the weather and the trademark Amreth jet-black hair framing dark blue-grey eyes. Her face and body language speak of an innate kindness and hint at a hidden intelligence albeit somewhat dulled by the naetivity of a sheltered life. She has a lean body, kept mroe in shape by temperance than exercise. [b]Biography:[/b] Born to then a relatively old Lothar, she remembered the times of peace with a fondness of the days when she would sit perched on her father's knee while being doted upon by her mother and watching Raynald and Ormond train with the fighting men of the household. She'd always got along better with Ormond who she'd been much closer in age to than Raynald. Suddenly her joyful childhood was shattered first by the passing of her father, who'd been the happiest man she'd ever known even as death drew ever closer for him. Raynald did as much he could to keep his little sister happy but she relied mostly on Ormond and her maids for comfort, finding her older brother a little too hardened. Before the years of war, she began to entertain suitors for her hand, a daunting prospect for the sweet, young girl but Raynald did his best to ensure she found a match she could find happiness with. No suitor was found before the outbreak of the war, with many suitors being dismissed diplomatically by having to best Raynald in a friendly duel to claim her hand; none of the suitors came close to matching her brother with the blade. The second great tragedy to strike her life was the loss of Ormond, he'd not been the warrior Raynald had been but a selfish part of her had always wished Ormond had come home rather than Raynald. With the memories of her time spent with Ormond at Castle Amreth haunting her, she agreed to travel with her remaining brother to King's Landing to find a suitor and a new castle to live in. [b]Name:[/b] Jeroth [b]Age:[/b] 58 [b]Appearance:[/b] A grizzled, old master-at-arms, Jeroth is of above average height and an ageing athletic body that is beginning to crack under the weight of time and stress, reflected in his fading brown eyes. He carries a number of scars the signs of a harsh life of campaigning and living for the next paycheck. His short, grey hair is balding on the top and the unruly mess that is his beard grows whiter with every passing day. He keeps himself clad in a battered old iron breastplate, preferring the trappings of a simple life to the luxuries that his position could gain. [b]Biography:[/b] The bastard son of a whore and a soldier, he was born in Flea Bottom and his childhood was rough, unscrupulous and unforgiving. He often treaded the wrong side of the law to get by, always avoiding trouble from the law but operating as little more than a petty thief. When he came of age he decided to gain more legal employment and served as a soldier, a sellsword and eventually a man-at-arms for minor lords throughout the realm. When a trip back to King's Landing to search for a new lord revealed that he had a bastard son, he resolved to be a father to the boy and take care of the mother, Ravella by taking employment in King's Landing. Through a chance meeting with a somewhat skilled squire at a training field after ten years scrounging up various jobs in King's Landing, Jeroth impressed the youth by beating him with a practice sword; something the young Raynald hadn't experienced for a while. After being paid to train Raynald even further with the sword and once he was knighted by his master, Raynald brought Jeroth and his family to Amreth to serve as his man-at-arms and part of his personal retinue. Since then he served at Castle Amreth, initially taking to the field with Raynald but he was soon sent back to castle after he finally relented that he was too old to be campaigning anymore. He protected the Castle Amreth and the town of Forktown as best he could, the castle remained safe during the war but a few raids of the town could not be stopped. Since the end of the war, he has been attempting to find a replacement for him as captain of the Castle Guard but has thus far failed to find an adequate replacement amongst the men serving there. [b]Name:[/b] Ser Desmond of Forktown [b]Age:[/b] 24 [b]Appearance:[/b] Very much a younger version of his father Jeroth, he shares the same above average height and build of the man, blond hair and the brown eyes of his father. He appears more joyful and carefree than his lord Raynald but dresses almost identically to his lord and friend. Sharp eyed and wary, he is usually found alongside Raynald when in public and fights as his sword brother in battle. [b]Biography:[/b] Born as a bastard child of Jeroth and Ravella, having spent the first two years of his life without a father in his grandfather’s tannery despite the man’s disapproving of his daughter’s amour. When his father returned, he was too young to remember not having a father and settled into a relatively happy childhood despite the odd financial struggle. He remembered there initially being tension between Jeroth and his grandfather but he never understood why, but he was happy when it dissipated over the years. It was after his grandfather passed away and that his father received an offer to be man-at-arms for Raynald that he moved to Castle Amreth at age thirteen. Living in the castle seemed like the pomp of luxury compared to the cramped tannery he’d grown up in, even if the memories of the Red Keep dwarfed the relatively miniscule Castle Amreth. He was trained as one of the men by his father, who claimed that he’d need to find his own way of earning his worth at the castle when he came of age. He took well to the martial arts, getting along with the men of the castle and even with Raynald, who offered to take him as a squire despite his low birth. Whilst it came at somewhat of a prestige cost to the lord, Desmond poured his all in repaying Raynald’s faith and to be the best squire he could ever hope for. In the first battle of the Dance that the Amreth forces marched upon, he slew two knights and saved the life of Raynald, leading to his elevation to knighthood. He fought with Raynald in every battle, growing closer and closer to the man, eventually becoming the captain of his guard despite his young age. [/hider] [/hider]