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[img]https://i.imgur.com/e3l6bvd.png[/img]

[Color=FFDF00][h1]House Bracken[/h1][/color]

[Color=FFDF00][h2][i]"Fear Our Thunder"[/i][/h2][/color]

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[Hider=Aegor 'Bittersteel' Rivers]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/FDTJyRo.jpg[/img]

[b]Name:[/b] Aegor 'Bittersteel' Rivers

[b]Age:[/b] 30

[b]Biography:[/b]

Perhaps no individual is named more accurately in all Westeros. Bittersteel summises Aegor perfectly, a warrior with few peers with a heart that had felt little but acid all his life.

When Aegor was born it was weeks before his mother, or indeed any in her presence, would use the name 'Rivers' to describe the child. With his father's interest set on Barba, a rare feat of temporary monogamy for the corrupt King, and the ailing nature of Queen Naerys during childbirth, there was active rumor that the King might set his wife and true born child for the Bracken woman and her healthy child. It was the moral character of the Dragonknight and the substantial element of court which held true to the other members of the Targaryen dynasty which likely prevented the King from doing so, not to mention a rare example of the rest of the house being united against him, Daena Targaryen no doubt unwilling to see another woman's bastard child set above her own, should such matters be considered.

Thus before Aegor was even aware of the world, he had tasted the chance of greatness and disappointment. Raised largely at Stone Hedge rather than at court due to the political backlash faced by House Bracken, his failure to supplant the order of things as a newborn was evident in the upturned favour of House Blackwood, who's ancestral seat stood so near. While such things are mere rumors, it is said one of many reasons that Aegor's blade is so well honey during a period otherwise defined by continuous, if fractious, peace, is his continued involvement in the Skirmish conflicts between the two houses during his youth. A combination of the enmity between houses and their status as those who replaced his mother in the favour of the King's eye, he holds particular venom for Melissa Blackwood and her son, Bryden Rivers, his own half-brother.

This is not to say Bittersteel held particular affection for his father, especially after the King put both Lord Bracken and his Aunt to death following House Bracken's short return to prominence. Bittersteel is said to have never smiled, but it has been told when hearing of the King's death he did laugh for quite some time, no doubt in some amount of relish for his final act of legitimising the Great Bastards. Aegor was home at Stone Hedge when the news was brought, having just returned from a stint along the Dornish Marches. In the years since his maturity, Bittersteel has won many friends among the southern Lords of the Reach and Stormlands, willing to lead and fight alongside men in situations that would not earn the high honours that his siblings seek. While he may not possess such warmth, soldiers are want to like the man willing to camp among the dirt and the dying alongside them.

By this point, dreams of one day being the King had faded, indeed it seems likely they never really caught on with Aegor himself, but certainly a desire for vengeance and restitution drives a support for his brother, Daemon Blackfyre, who Aegor will admit without challenge had both a more direct claim to the throne and the greater charisma and influence to see the claim through. If Bittersteel truly cares for victory for its own merit is another matter, or if he simply wishes to set himself against his hated brother. A hatred compounded by the attentions of the woman they are both said to love, Shierra Seastar, famed as the most beautiful in all Westeros and another of the Great Bastards. If one listens to gossip, Aegor's affection is based purely on wishing to take all from Bryden, but the truth runs deeper than that, and the curse of being spurned in yet another matter haunts Bittersteel in a far more cutting manner than a throne he is simply told was once in reach.

House Bracken may not have the great wealth or manpower that other houses which support the Blackfyre cause posses, but Aegor himself brings a great deal of experience in the true nature of war and combat. He is not the great tourney winner of his elder half brother, nor the cunning spymaster of his younger, but he is soldier and killer both, in an age that has bred few of either.
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[hider=Lord Raylon Bracken]

[img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/d0f4fcae67d523e92a4f64142366b90e/tumblr_pbr2x46irc1wftoggo2_250.png[/img]

[b]Name:[/b] Lord Raylon Bracken

[b]Age:[/b] 44

[b]Biography: [/b]

The current Lord of House Bracken was never intended to be such, substantially younger than his elder brother, born to a different mother when his older brother Kennoth, was already a man grown and well prepared to rule their ancestral seat, indeed it would be scant few years before their father passed, a man Raylon barely has memory of. Still, a second son is hardly an obscurity, and so the young Raylon grew up being prepared for a life of a respected knight of the realm, with the expectation he might honour his family in such service, a little too prominent in the matters of succession to be considered for the Citadel.

The enmity between House Bracken and Blackwood has always been useful for keeping the men at arms of both houses sharp even in times of peace and this passes on to their sworn knights and heirs. Raylon has no great claim to be the greatest sword or commander in the realm, but he has real experience in both matters from a young age and even if he was something of an obscurity, he was no shame to his house.

History runs strangely, however, the first factor in his ascension was his elder brother propensity to bear only daughters, and only two of those, Barba and Bethany. Thus as the years wore on, it seemed ever more likely that Raylon might never be replaced as heir. As with many second sons of the realm, he had been involved in the conflicts with Dorne, but was recalled to the family seat when Kennoth was named Hand of the King, to manage family affairs and the fiefdom.

It was this separation from his family at court which ultimately saved his life, having no connection to the scandal of Aegon's second Bracken mistress. When Kennoth and Bethany were executed, Raylon found himself as the Lord of Stone Hedge, a seat he had been the effective ruler of for some years. In those years, Raylon spent much time with both Barba and Aegon, although it would be a stretch to say the relationship is a warm one, there is a certain respect between the two men. Raylon very much cares for the survival of the house, and in securing their supremacy over House Blackwood, an aim he takes more seriously than his aunt's greater desires.

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[hider=Lady Barba Bracken]

[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1015883418506109019/1017962137047543818/unknown.png[/img]

[b]Name:[/b] Barba Bracken

[b]Age:[/b] 46

[b]Biography:[/b]

The eldest of Kennoth Bracken's daughters was, and is, a beauty of some renown, a beauty matched only by her ambition and appreciation of luxury and power. Whether she had always been thus, or her seclusion in the Maidenvault alongside the princesses allowed her to both be influenced by the Princess Daena and the deprived nature of their existence, inspired it cannot be said. She was the first of Aegon the Unworthy's Mistresses to be openly recognised, and bear him a son recognised as his own. During these years Barba was treated to a life of luxury and prestige that would normally be reserved for the royal family themselves, and their were often rumours that should the Queen succumb to the illnesses that often plagued her, Aegon would marry his Bracken mistress and name her child his heir.

It was these rumours, however, no doubt encouraged by both Barba and her father, that ultimately proved their undoing, once the faction at court against them grew loud enough that the King felt compelled to act. Before long, Barba had been sent home, her child recognised as nothing more than a royal bastard, and quickly replaced by another mistress. The King would ultimately visit Stone Hedge on a number of occasions, largely for the purpose of seeing his son, but there are certainly rumours that he enjoyed Barba's company in a more intimate manner, although she never captured his attentions as thoroughly as she did before, weary as he was of those who did not remember her fondly at court.

Now, decades later, Barba is still just as motivated to recapture the success of her youth, for both herself and her son. While she may no longer be a youthful flower of court, she still possess striking beauty and despite what some would consider flaws of character, a keen enough mind to perceive the routes through which it might be attained.

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[hider=Calla Blackfyre]
[img]https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/06c16d28-cd3e-4d0b-99e6-f90aed576383/dcn6gfu-bc59077e-0f45-4562-a059-2d84a0ebdd91.jpg/v1/fill/w_780,h_1024,q_70,strp/high_inquisitor_whitemane_by_krysdecker_dcn6gfu-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTQxNyIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzA2YzE2ZDI4LWNkM2UtNGQwYi05OWU2LWY5MGFlZDU3NjM4M1wvZGNuNmdmdS1iYzU5MDc3ZS0wZjQ1LTQ1NjItYTA1OS0yZDg0YTBlYmRkOTEuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEwODAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.UTpByvW0uN5psmPlTmxyuiCJIvvonSPTALksLvPE2ls[/img]

[b]Name:[/b] Calla Blackfyre

[b]Age:[/b] 17

[b]Biography:[/b]
While the fact may presently be kept from wider Westerosi society, it has been the plan for some time in the making that Calla Blackfyre, second eldest of Daemon's daughters, be married to her half-uncle, as a means to further secure the bond among the claims of the Great Bastards to the throne. Calla herself knows now that the tourney at Summerhall is the likely place for this to be announced.

As with most of Daemon's children, Calla has grown up with the expectation of their ascension, unlike her sister, to whom she is less than a year younger, she has ever enjoyed the attention of such things, a young darling of court, taking on the burden of being the less difficult of two daughters. She is known to be genuinely pleasing, if somewhat naïve, company. She sports a sense of good humour and easy charm, she just has little and less knowledge of the true ways of the world beyond what limited experience she has.

While she no doubt bears the beauty that so many of the Valyrian line do, she is not in the same delicate and ethereal way as her sister, in fact a teasing song about her enjoyment of lemoncakes has been known to cause something of a tantrum at times.

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