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[color=fff200][h1]House Baratheon of Storm’s End[/h1]
[h2]Ours is the Fury[/h2][/color][/Center]


[b][color=fff200]House Description:[/color][/b]

Their seat, Storm's End, is an ancient castle raised by the Storm Kings from the now-extinct House Durrandon. The youngest of the Great Houses of Westeros, it was created when Orys Baratheon, one of Aegon I Targaryen's generals, his closest companion, and his rumoured bastard half-brother, took Argella Durrandon, the only daughter of Argilac Durrandon, the last Storm King, to wife. Orys took the sigil and words of House Durrandon for his own and became the first Lord of Storm's End. Members of the family tend to be tall and powerfully built, with black hair and blue eyes, as well as strong, square jawlines. They are known for their mercurial tempers and characters.

[h3][b][color=fff200]Recent History:[/color][/b][/h3]
After the Dance of the Dragons, a posthumous son was born to Lord Borros who had perished on the Kingsroad. His widow, Elenda (born a Caron), assumed the regency for the infant Royce. She later remarried, to a man twenty years her junior: Ser Steffon Connington. Using her talents and daughters in deft diplomacy (though some of these caused her immeasurable headaches), Elenda made sure that the Stormlands cohered while young Royce grew tall and strong.

Royce proved to be a chip off the old block. As sole son of Lord Borros, he grew up to be rather self-important. Lacking a father figure, Royce was impressionable throughout his youth, and often irritated with trying to emulate and live up to a dead man’s example. His mother’s teachings and his own maturity blunted most of Royce’s conceit later, but in most interactions he remained high-handed and inflexible. By repeatedly clashing with the Dornish, Lord Royce assured himself of the support of his bannermen. His aversion toward his southern neighbours translated into the marital policy of his sons. Ormund married Amarei Dondarrion, while Balon wed a distant cousin of House Caron. Lord Royce perished in 190 AC, just shy of his sixtieth nameday, fighting Dornish raiders in the Red Mountains. He is remembered with equal parts fondness and frustration.

It was Balon who inherited the similarity of Royce’s darker character, being thorny and crabbed. Ormund on the other hand proved to possess an amenable personality, enjoying the company of others and bonding over good food and drink. Like one of his favourite wines, he has aged well. A true gourmand, Ormund enjoys the finer things in life whether it be hunting for game or women. Once married, Ormund’s eye wandered less though not indefinitely. 

The new Lord of Storm’s End was wont to travel his lands, calling upon his bannermen at random intervals and often without advance warning. Well-liked and accessible, these visits and tours were also a good way of keeping an eye out for dissent and underhanded dealings. Never far from his side, like an angry shadow, was Balon. Though the two brothers occasionally seemed on bad terms they continued to work in tandem where management of the Stormlands was concerned. A point of contention was how akin Balon’s son appeared to his uncle in looks and nature, and rumours sprouted saying Lyonel was in fact Ormund’s. Proof is lacking, and logic suggests the speculations are mere slander, yet questions niggle in the back of Balon’s head.

The younger generation of Baratheons have been well instructed in what it takes to be a leader in the Stormlands, and indeed the world. Whether it was the Maesters at Storm’s End, Balon and the masters-at-arms in the yard, or Ormund himself – anyone who had cared for the boys’ education had worked hard to inculcate fortitude and focus. If they were to aspire to greatness, whatever that may be to each of them, they would have to fashion themselves into men of iron. Should the Stormlands cohere, then so too the sons of its lords. Balon drove them hard, collectively and separately. Even Argella, as she played in the castle’s stables or sat poise and proper whilst doing needlework, was raised within a world of sweat and steel. Childhood, for any scion of Storm’s End, was a preparation for conflict. Arms and horses, fighting, the exercises of the hunt and hawking; these were the delights of a true Baratheon. The delights and the means of putting them to the test, developing the reflex to give as good as one got. To take what was thrown at you meet blow for blow. Stormlanders were stubborn and demanding, and only by showing prowess as a horseman, hunter and warrior could one hope to win their approbation. Royce and Balon’s sons might rank among the highest born of the land, but without gruelling training and a way to prove oneself, that rank rings hollow.

[b][color=fff200]Family Members:[/color][/b][List]
[*][url=https://hips.hearstapps.com/esquireuk.cdnds.net/17/06/4000x3000/sd-aspect-1486662851-shot-01-0041-fin6-flat.jpg?resize=640:*]Lord Ormund Baratheon[/url] (50), called the Thunderhead for his boisterous nature.
[*][s]Lady Amarei Dondarrion[/s], recently dead of a wasting illness.
[list][*][url=https://www.tvinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/becoming-elizabeth-tom-cullen-thomas-seymour.jpg]Royce[/url] (31), named for his grandsire, the heir to Storm’s End. [list][*][s]Cyrenna Tarth, died in childbirth.[/s]
[*]Arlan and Cyrenna (named for her mother), their young children[/list] 
[*][url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1014929495888769178/1019359118114439219/B-Boy.jpg]Orryn[/url] (29), recently returned from Essos. He was called Ornery Orryn in his youth by Royce.
[*][url=https://stylecaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/the-king-netflix-original.jpg]Gowen[/url] (23) “Hotspur”, a dandy and real spendthrift, doubling down on the profligate and indulgent example of Lord Ormund. Gowen has a swordsman’s grace and a courtier’s wit, with the arrogance to inflate both. He is at times referred to as Hotspur due to his temper and nimbleness.
[*]Argella (21), the youngest and most doted upon, the apple of Ormund’s eye.
[/list]
[*][url= https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ed/30/8f/ed308f0480bd777c6b6f9afd1bc01314.jpg]Ser Balon[/url] (49), Lord Ormund’s brother, married to a lady of House Caron.
[list][*][url= https://preview.redd.it/s3s6pkoy4pq71.jpg?auto=webp&s=3881c3c9d458824da1332ee1e02d02237071040e]Lyonel[/url] (27, born AC 175) the Laughing Storm, a knight of renown so called because he has the habit of laughing loudly at his opponents. Beloved by the smallfolk. Nephew to the Lord Baratheon.[/list]
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[hider=Royce Baratheon]
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[b][color=fff200][h3]Royce Baratheon[/h3][/color][/b][/Center]

[b][color=fff200]Age:[/color][/b] 31 (173 AC)

[b][color=fff200]Description & biography:[/color][/b]
Built like an ox, Royce is the eldest of Lord Ormund’s sons and stands to inherit Storm’s End. He has lived up to everything required of him, excelling in the yard and at court alike. A golden age loomed, Ormund boasted. That is, until Lady Cyrenna Tarth, died in childbirth. The infant girl was given her mother’s name, as if it might somehow alleviate Royce’s grief. For theirs was that rarest of matches, borne out of political interests but blossoming into true love.

Gone is the happy child grown into a likeable man. Royce has been scoured of warmth, it seems, much to his father’s chagrin. Did life not have so many delights on offer? Over the years, a rift opened between lord and heir, the latter feeling as if the ever-cheerful Ormund did not understand the depths of his son’s loss. The death of Lady Cyrenna laid bare the difficulties of communication between the father and the sons he had sired. The former increased his travels around his domains, whereas the latter sought comfort elsewhere. Balon was ill-equipped to provide it to them, having troubles of his own regarding his son Lyonel who preferred traipsing along with his uncle. Another falling out occurred when Lady Amarei confronted her eldest with his own failings as a father. Cyrenna had blessed him with two children, if only he could [i]see[/i] she was with him still, through them. Yet, that was exactly where the torment lay, for young Cyrenna was too much a memory of his late wife for Royce to bear. Besides, how would… could he care for them? Cyrenna Tarth’s death resulted in a rapid deterioration of the harmony at Storm’s End. Rancour festered between relatives who claimed others shirked their responsibility.

His smiles have become rarer than summer snow, and wherever he goes he bears the weight of loss with him. When Orryn suggested he move on, and relinquish his self-assigned blame, and be a father to Cyrenna’s children, to be who he was meant to be, the two brothers quarrelled most viciously. Blood was drawn, and Orryn took his leave while Gowen, young as he was, flung himself into indulgence to bury his head in the sands. 

At present, Royce officially resides at Storm’s End but can half of the time be found in the Kingswood or King’s Landing. Joyless unless deep in his cups, Royce is a man prone to violence and intransigence. Ormund, though he does not show any perturbance regarding his heir’s attitude, no longer boasts of a coming golden age for his house.

Especially not since Lord Ormund has become intimately familiar with the grief of losing a beloved wife himself...[/hider]

[hider=Orryn Baratheon]
[Center][IMG] https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1014929495888769178/1019359118114439219/B-Boy.jpg[/IMG][color=fff200][b][h3]Orryn Baratheon[/h3][/b][/color][/Center]

[b][color=fff200]Age:[/color][/b] 29 (173 AC)

[b][color=fff200]Description & biography:[/color][/b]
Orryn is lither than his older brother, athletic instead of brawny. A second son through and through, he loyally followed Royce around, marvelling at how he was always was just that little bit stronger, that little bit quicker. Things came more difficult to Orryn, which put a lot of stress on the boy. His single-minded, tough nature earned him Royce’s esteem as well as ridicule, and the moniker of “Ornery”. Other boys, wards and peers were naturally drawn to Royce’s magnetic presence and the lustre which being the heir to Storm’s End brought him. Orryn lacked those social skills which used to come naturally to his elder sibling, though Orryn is compelling in his own way. There has always been an intensity to the second Baratheon boy… like a clap of thunder or a flash of lightning just waiting to fall. Then again, it is a trait usually shared among the family. The mixed blood of Valyria and the Storm Kings makes for a potent, violent brew.

Restless and pragmatic, Orryn grew up to be unashamedly godless. Respect for religion, or even spirituality, is profoundly lacking despite the septon’s efforts. Orryn believes in what he sees, experiences, and [i]feels[/i] to be true. In this vale of tears there is no room for the divine. Beauty is circumstance and chance, to be savoured and enjoyed without giving thanks to some arbitrary cavalcade of deities. There is little Orryn despises as much as a godly man.

Royce (to Orryn's mind) never understood the golden life he had been given, by happenstance, by being firstborn, by his match to Cyrenna, by their children. Orryn faulted him for that lack of gratitude. He faulted him even more for not taking up responsibility, for not stepping up. Was that not what they had been taught? Every challenge was to be met with a straightened back and indomitable resolve. After their vicious argument, Orryn realised neither of his parents would step in to mend the cracks between them. Ormund was too busy touring his estates, testing his bannermen’s hospitality, and Amarei remained preoccupied caring for Argella as well as her grand-children by Royce. Gowen was too young and too self-absorbed to really take a stand. The sense of isolation and helplessness stole upon him. To avoid a calamitous resolution, Orryn chose to leave. He took ship at the Weeping Town and did as many younger sons before him: hire out his skills as a fighting man in Essos. Previously extreme in his view of the world, his time abroad has forged him into a man able to recognise nuance and necessity.

Only recently, Orryn has returned by way of King’s Landing, upon receiving word from Argella of his mother’s worsening condition.
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[Center][b][color=fff200][h3]Gowen Baratheon[/h3][/color][/b]
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[b][color=fff200]Age:[/color][/b] 23 (179 AC)

[b][color=fff200]Description & biography:[/color][/b]
Gowen grew up in the shadow of two brothers with strong personalities. While as a child this caused him to be timid, looming adulthood prompted him to develop an outspoken character with a mean streak. In a household and family like the Baratheons, there would be no obvious room for a quiet boy. Wishing to stand out, and claim his own place, has made Gowen wont to flaunt. Like his father Ormund, Gowen can wax boastful and proud.

After all, as a Baratheon he has much to be proud of, and as a Baratheon he lives up to the family expectations. He has yet to put on some extra muscle that is such a family trait, though his lack of physical bulk has made him an agile and swift-footed swordsman. Gowen is quicksilver, both as a fighter and person. Dark moods cloud his judgement at times, as if the changeable climate of the Stormlands has somehow fused into his bones.

Gowen prefers the company of his friends, younger sons of the Stormlords. They are often found on escapades throughout the Stormlands and have swaggeringly styled themselves the Wild Harts. Revelling in the imagery, the company carry bugles and favour cervine themes and motifs reminiscent of stormy weather. To the older generation these cocksure displays verge on caricature, but the eager youngbloods marshalling around Gowen delight in it. No barrel unemptied, no maiden unspoiled is their unofficial motto.

The youngest of the Baratheon boys has the makings of rising above his youthful pettiness. At least, that is the prevailing opinion among his kin and peers, but it will require a baptism of fire of some sort to truly come into his own.
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