[hider=House Smokestone of White Rock]
[Center][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/MQTHZbR.png[/IMG]
[color=ad3816][h1]House Smokestone of White Rock[/h1][h2]Earned In Blood[/h2][/color][/Center]
[b][color=ad3816]House Description:[/color][/b]
[hider=Historical Background][list]Said to be old as sin, in reality House Smokestone was once upon a time not a noble house at all, nor even a cadet house in the later fashions, but instead as all things were a band of bloodthirsty Ironborn. When the hundred sons of the Grey King butchered one-another following his death, among those who emerged were pretenders, and among those numbered was House Smokestone. Taking its name from the almost mythical smoke which rose from deep vents in the island, so mythical that no one is said to have seen the smoke in at least a century, the house would grow a reputation for having very little reputation at all. 

Such was the degree of that reputation that the rock king and the salt king were, more often than not, simply a master and subordinate though superiority seemed to change every moon. The House remained often undisturbed by the goings-on of more exceptional Houses, tending to its own matters with its own meager number of ships. They would become consummate sailors, and even those who reaved in the lands beyond would often return home to fish with their families and those who had been left behind. Idleness and wastefulness was not something afforded on White Rock, and the sloth of action which marked other Ironborn once they returned home was purged from every generation of the small house. Despite that size, the raiders of House Smokestone would become well-drilled over the generations of marching in the green lands, striking quickly when it was best and withdrawing when it wasn’t. These were the lessons taught to the house when the Greyirons fell, an event which some claim the Smokestones supported and others claim the Smokestones sat out.

The rise of House Hoare, and the outlaw of reaving, salt wives, and the Seven would be a time unnoticed by the Smokestones. So small and removed were they from the center that priests of the Seven seldom came at all to the island and, whenever they did, would often receive merely blank stares before their inevitable accident came to take them in whichever form seemed most apt. The removal of King Harmund would likewise be seldom acknowledged by White Rock, though the war with the westlanders and the following Famine Winter would only serve to cement the growing divide felt by House Smokestone with the rest of the Ironborn. The actions of others only seemed to burn them again and again while, in the end, the only ones they could count on to pull through were others of White Rock. However, due to the size of the house, they lost little in that war and were hurt even less in the following, their ships still setting sail to fish. Nevertheless, the famine still touched the island and the lessons were still taught.

House Smokestone would join the others, however, in the following centuries of hunger. They never were known for far-reaching voyages, nor for even touching down in raids to the Stepstones and Disputed Lands, but instead became traders of a common sort. They moved goods that were never their own from port to port, sails unadorned, and for that received profit enough. The Old Way, to the house, grew to be an old limb marred by illness, cut away to save the rest of the body, though captains of White Rock were ill to speak on such matters.

Despite this period of rust and wait, the house was nothing if not opportunistic. When Harwyn Hardhand took the Trident, among those who fought under his banner were the Smokestones. Longships from White Rock, small in size, would become known there for their tendency to appear without warning on the many rivers, attacking settlements nearby before sailing away within the hour. They often served to quell the smaller rebellions, prisoners given to Harwyn for his own executions. Some years into the construction of Harrenhal, and the decrees of Harren the Black, would be the event which gave the Smokestones reason to return to the Iron Isles. Such was their contributions, small and modest as they were, that it was said after that Harren dismissed them as not worth the time, that White Rock was a little stone which the waves swallow. In the forty years which followed, in which the hall was built, Smokestone paid as little as possible for the taxes levied against them by the Hoares, and so draining was even this. 

Despite all which was poured into it, in 2 BC Harrenhal burned in dragonfire, the riverlands were lost, and the Iron Isles was bursting with claimants. As before, House Smokestone avoided all this and more. Reavers at White Rock bayed for blood nevertheless, claiming that the Smokestone was cut to be a woman, that he no longer had the will to fight, which resulted in the same man killing the twelve who made the claim, throwing them into the ocean, and announcing that he had no will to fight for another’s love of a rock stone, but had quite the will to fight another’s love of his throne. This silenced most further disagreement, though would largely sour his relations with many. White Rock itself would play host to the fighting some months later when the Wyk King arrived to receive the fealty of the Smokestone or kill him and replace him with another who would. The force which the Wyks had brought was, despite its greater number, largely comprised of damaged vessels and half-headed youngsters after clashes with the Greyjoys, while the Smokestones put to sea with well-disciplined reavers in the same longboats which had once plied the riverlands. The battle would prove to be fairly evenly matched and costly for both sides, though the Wyk King withdrew the next day from White Rock after receiving ravens that his own seat had come under attack.

The arrival of Aegon in 2 AC to the Iron Islands would be received by House Smokestone with some amount of relief. Tired of the chaos which had perverted the Iron Islands, and knowing that their lot would likely neither improve nor be damaged by the coming of a Targaryen King, they were fairly eager to remove the thundering wars in their midst. When the civil wars finally ended, Qhorin killed by the Targaryen and Lodos drowned in the seas, the Smokestone would support the rise of the Greyjoys of Pyke.[/list][/hider] [hider=White Rock][list]Located as the northernmost island in the thirteen surrounding Lonely Light, White Rock stands out as somewhat unique among many of the Iron Islands. The cliff-faces of the island, which comprise most the south, east, and northern portions, are a dirty shade of white stone, streaked with grays and blacks. This same rock is present throughout much of the islands surface, leading to some to build their homes and storehouses directly into the rock. A number of buildings still jut from the largely barren surface, primarily made of wood received from the rivers, to include a squat lighthouse. A low palisade stretches around the settlement, built from the rock. The western side of the island gradually lowers to the water’s edge, with a man made harbor built from large stones and several small log homes and storehouses present nearby. The harbor itself can accommodate several smaller longships, with a slipway present, though would struggle to accommodate larger longships.

The seat of House Smokestone is a low-built longhouse placed in the center of the settlement. With walls of stone, a floor sunk five feet into the ground level, high-placed circle windows, and rafters built from dark-wooded riverlands timber, it would be a cozy arrangement were it not for the size. Capable of seating just fifty, with but six hearths, it is ostensibly a modest arrangement built from intentions to spend on necessities, not a ruler’s ambitions. In reality, it is entirely likely that the longhouse is built so small merely to save time in its construction. Banners, many of them from riverlands houses captured during the time of Harwyn, hang from the walls while the floor is covered by fur rugs.[/list][/hider][h3][b][color=ad3816]Recent History:[/color][/b][/h3][list]Since the rise of the Greyjoys and the submission of the Iron Islands to the Iron Throne, House Smokestone has grown apart from the usual methods of the Isles. Aligned with the Farwynds since Aeron the Elder, Smokestone during the War of Conquests and the invasion of the Iron Islands, gave his title to his son, the house is far apart from the Old Way. Fishermen with little opportunity for raiding since the decrees of Aegon, it grows to be a rare time that the house reaves afar. Notably, the new Smokestone has taken it upon himself to source a Maester for his own purposes, to which he found a fledgling Maester who had only just earned the title. Through Maester Fergon, Aeron is rumored by the more superstitious to have become literate as well as knowledgeable on other matters.

The more recent events of the age, the death of Lodos the Twice-Drowned at the hands of Goren and the resulting purge of the Iron Islands by that same hand of any who dare hold the Faith of the Seven, has resulted in some degree of concern at White Rock. While they hold little in the way of septons whatsoever, so removed are they from the majority, Maester Fergon has reportedly renounced his faith and, even more surprisingly, been inducted in the faith of the Drowned God. How true such reports are remains to be seen, though a number of Ironborn on the island swear by the event.
[/list][b][color=ad3816]Family Members:[/color][/b][List][*] Aeron the Elder (84)
[*] [s]Alannys Smokestone née Farwynd[/s][list]
[*] Aeron, The Smokestone, Lord of White Rock, Captain of the Smokesong (26)
[*] Harlan Smokestone, Captain of the Jester (22)
[*] Lysse Botley née Smokestone (17)[/list]
[*] [s]Mariane, Salt Wife[/s][list]
[*] [s]Haggen Smokestone[/s]
[*] [s]Erich Smokestone[/s]
[*] [s]Alvyn Smokestone[/s]
[*] [s]3 Stillborn[/s][/list]
[*] [s]Brenne, Salt Wife[/s][list]
[*] [s]Emmond Smokestone[/s]
[*] [s]Theron Smokestone[/s]
[*] [s]Gulfe Smokestone[/s][/list]
[/List][hr][hider=The Smokestone][Center][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/w0OLEZH.jpg[/IMG][/Center][b][color=ad3816][h3]Name[/h3][/color]Aeron, The Smokestone, Lord of White Rock, Captain of the Smokesong
[color=ad3816]Age:[/color][/b] 26 (15 AC)
[b][color=ad3816]Appearance:[/color][/b][list]Standing at nearly 7’, Aeron’s form can be likened more to a whip than a willow tree. With pale skin and long, uncut black hair, he fails at the task of growing facial hair at any degree whatsoever. He is more successful in having a strong body and constitution, his muscles like coiled springs. Aeron carries himself well, moving fluidly with a long stride.

Aeron wears either simple tunics, with white shirts and loose trousers, or simple black robes. Cloaks are often worn, though he does have strong preferences to the brisk wind and is at times seemingly immune to its chill. Likewise, the Smokestone seldom wears jewelry or gold, preferring a simple image especially when contrasted with the fact that both he and his island can ill-afford gold or frivolity.
[/list][b][color=ad3816]Description & Biography:[/color][/b][list]Born on White Rock, Aeron was as weedy as any young man might be though, despite the seeming frailty of his figure, would prove quite resilient to his induction in the faith of the Drowned God. From that young age, he would prove to be far less a reaver, far more a ruler. It was by his request to his father that a Maester was acquired for the purposes of his education, something which would have spurned other tutors on White Rock were it not for his attentiveness there also. Before that Maester arrived, he would hound sailors and captains, sailing along to the mainland whenever possible, learning his way about the ship as well as he might. Aeron grew to be a tolerable sailor on his own accord, though by the accounts of many he was far less suited towards fighting despite all his efforts to being a good, honest Ironborn. 

Nevertheless, the boy would eventually return home, settling in when Maester Fergon arrived. Aeron took to studies readily, to a great many almost suspiciously so for an Ironborn, consuming information at a ravenous pace. He would soon come to grips with his reading and, with that, the floodgates truly opened as he discovered so many new, strange, and fascinating worlds. Aeron would learn of the stars, navigation by them, of shipbuilding in the Westerosi way, and of architecture. Maester Fergon did have several links of iron as well, and seeing it useful he too learned of siegecraft, engine works and how to aim them properly, of warfare in the field. As a student, he found all these things and more to be of the greatest use to a lord when any other Ironborn found themselves unable to read the letters sent to them.

In time, however, his father would grow desperately old and had no indication of dying soon via natural causes. As a result, the title of the Smokestone would transfer on Aeron’s twentieth nameday, a celebration which was as raucous as one could expect. Such was the celebration, in fact, that not a single filled wineskin could be found on the island in the days after and, for Aeron the Elder’s degree of revelement, all expected him to have died during the event to which there was great surprise after that he had in fact not passed. Instead he was found in his newly lost vessel, Smokesong, which had been gifted to his son, drunk off his sense with four women and no more wine. In the years since, Aeron has ruled the island with a steady, cautious hand as his forefathers had before him. He has largely eschewed the Old Way, seeing an era of trade with others as beneficial to the Iron Islands, though remains largely wary of placing too much emphasis on such for fear that retribution may come from the other Ironborn houses or, failing that, the hand may be lost should war erupt in Westeros.[/list][/hider]
[hider=Aeron the Elder][Center][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/N80p1ZF.jpg[/IMG][/Center][b][color=ad3816][h3]Name[/h3][/color]Aeron the Elder
[color=ad3816]Age:[/color][/b] 84 (43 BC)
[b][color=ad3816]Appearance:[/color][/b][list]Standing at 6’3”, still exceptionally tall for an Ironborn though shadowed by his eldest, Aeron the Elder is by and large a rather hearty man despite his advanced age. With little bowing of his back and no need for an aid while walking, his age shows far more in his stride, which has grown slow, his eyes, which have grown dim, and his hands, which are somewhat shaky whenever he eats. Such tremors have, so far, only meant that he cannot fill his cup as much as he wishes which has somewhat irritated the old Smokestone. Aeron has grown thin in his advanced years, thin and bony, while his beard and hair have grown long, wispy, and as white as the rock.
[/list][b][color=ad3816]Description & Biography:[/color][/b][list]Born before the Wars of Conquest, Aeron the Elder’s early life would prove typical for an Ironborn living on White Rock. Fairly removed from the taxes of Harren the Black, he learned to sail as soon as he learned to walk and would prove to be a capable shiphand at worst, an exceptional sailor at best. At a young age, he would be warded to House Blacktyde of the same name at the behest of his father, who had made agreements with the Blacktyde in exchange for other favors. On that island, Aeron developed a tuned sense for the nonpolitical politics of mainlander Ironborn, the games they played, and the methods they held to be true. He grew to be a cautious young man during his time as a ward, cautious in speaking his mind and acting as he desired, though despite such caution Aeron grew to be a powerful, able reaver in the riverlands. Though this native house eschewed such, for belief that the fighting and reaving would only serve to drain them of their strength, such was the time of Harren the Black when reaving was all that could be had against the rebellious lordlings, and along the many forks the young Smokestone would raid and plunder and burn. Such wanton activities would gain him his first salt wife, with whom Aeron did not marry as she was a riverlands woman and refused anything else. She would give him several children, young boys who grew quickly despite all of it. 

Though his warding had been ended by the twenty-third nameday, Aeron still raided with the Blacktydes for the view that he could gain much and risk little, in terms of the people of White Rock and their lives. He sent back gold and treasure, as well as any Westerosi vessels he captured, and for that received both his people’s admiration of the far-off warrior and his father’s ire for raising questions why he, too, did not sail abroad and raid for the house. Some decade before the final stones of Harrenhal were laid to rest, however, Aeron’s father would pass suddenly, some to call it unnatural causes, and he would be called back to become the Smokestone. He did so with all capable haste as soon as the message was received and, quickly enough, found himself to be lord at White Rock. The following decade was hard, for the sons he had borne by his first salt wife died young months after the burning of Harrenhal, his new-found second bearing stillborn after stillborn, and the Iron Islands seemed to turn to chaos. He kept his island to his own, pledging allegiance to none for there was nothing to benefit there, and the grumblings of the many who had once been inspired by his intrepid raids grew louder and louder. Rumors were born that he was no longer a man, but a woman, and soon enough twelve of the bravest on the island confronted him in his own hall, calling their challenges, declaring their desire to go abroad again and, if not pledge themselves to another to have a share in the glory, raid the other islands about Lonely Light to have a share in the plunder.

Such infuriated Aeron, such blatant betrayal of the Ironborn, such blatant betrayal to himself. He called them to go outside, that they may speak more plainly there, and followed them out before the hall with a long blade. There he slew one after another after another, some fighting in pairs against him, others singley, and in the end twelve bodies strew the ground before the hall at White Rock. The bravest betrayers had died in their foolishness, though the lesser kept to the sides to whisper to each other in their discontent. Aeron did not know how to solve it, save for giving challenge to any who drew-up the bravery to face him, either to give their reasons for going abroad or to take his seat. Such a challenge would go unanswered. Some months later, White Rock received its share of the violence when the Wyk King arrived to demand the fealty of House Smokestone, either given freely or broken from it. Aeron led his house in the combat, which aside from a brief attempt by the Wyks to land at the harbor would largely be fought on longship. There, he cemented his reputation as a fierce reaver, cutting deep amid the larger Wyk fleet and burning a great many of their ships. The two sides would retire some hours after, both largely having been mauled and lost their cohesion, as well as bleeding the strength of the oarsmen, in the melee. The morning after, the Wyk fleet would sail back to their island, having received word that their seat had come under attack. Of course, such would not be known to the Smokestone and most would declare that the victory and Wyk retreat was attributed to the ferocity of White Rock’s defenders, the strength of their ruler. It was altogether a great boon to Aeron, though the dead and the damage received would worry him in private.

All would be solved with the arrival of the Targaryens at the Iron Islands. Aeron would pledge his support to that throne, seeing that they would be most capable of developing stability in the islands despite their foreign natures, as well as support the methods with which they chose their steward for the Iron Islands. In the years following the rise of the Greyjoys, the Smokestone would be by no means idly, finally taking a formal wife as his second salt wife, some months after the first, expired. Such would largely be an arranged affair with the Farwynds of Lonely Light, though despite both their ages Alannys would soon enough give Aeron three strong children. 

As an older man, he led his house through the turmoil of years following the subjugation of the Iron Islands. Aeron would, in a rather consistent manner, lose the majority of his children as those given by his salt wives would die young or die in lands far away. He would keep the Westerosi largely happy, if not unaware of White Rock’s existence in the wider world, keeping away from the traditional reaving in the Narrow Sea or elsewhere as well as bringing from the Citadel a Maester for the purposes of his eldest son. When his wife finally passed due to complications of health, the Smokestone’s own would quickly fail him. At the age of 78, his eyesight allegedly failing him and his legs allegedly unsteady, Aeron would give up his responsibilities to his son and, in the aftermath, largely throw caution to the wind for several nights following that ceremony. Despite his age, it would be rumored that Aeron the Elder, as he quickly became known, fathered no less than seven bastards with various women of the island. Of course, he would never be able to confirm or deny this as he was dead drunk throughout the event. In the time following, despite the signs of failing health earlier, Aeron still is going strong with no cane in hand, acting somewhere between critic and advisor for his eldest son.
[/list][/hider]
[hider=Harlan Smokestone][Center][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/CcHjW1s.jpg[/IMG][/Center][b][color=ad3816][h3]Name[/h3][/color]Harlan Smokestone, Captain of the Jester
[color=ad3816]Age:[/color][/b] 22 (19 AC)
[b][color=ad3816]Appearance:[/color][/b][list]Standing at 6’5” with broad shoulders and tanned skin, Harlan has the makings of a true sailor. His hands are well-worn by word at the line and tiller, his muscles well-trained by the sword and bow, and his emerald eyes seem calm amid any storm he might find himself in. The youngest Smokestone’s most striking feature to any who know the house would be his blond hair, longer than most might keep it, and though such produced rumors of bastardry these have long been put to rest by his expeditions on the Narrow Sea.
[/list][b][color=ad3816]Description & Biography:[/color][/b][list]Born in the periods of peace following the War of Conquest, Harlan would follow in his older brother’s footsteps to a far lesser degree. While he would be taught by Maester Fergon, learning of reading, celestial navigation, and the geography of Westeros itself, the young lad would be far more at home on a rocking ship. He took to the sea almost as soon as he was given leave to, sailing along the Ironman’s Bay at a younger age than most. He built a reputation for having steady hands and a quick mind, seeming to foretell a squall before it reaching the ship, and in many ways would become a model for any self-respecting Ironborn. To Harlan, it grew natural to be as at ease in a brothel as he were on the seas, or in his own house’s halls.

Yet, the youngest son of White Rock quickly found himself wanting to see more. He wanted to see the far-away oceans on the other side of Westeros, to see other cities than the meager settlements of the Iron Islands, and to make gold from work. He wanted to travel abroad and, soon enough, found himself in command of one of the smallest vessels of House Smokestone, the Jester, at the tender age of eighteen. As clean a voyage as any would follow him, trading up and down the western coast of Westeros from the misers of Bear Island to the Arbor itself for but a year, and for a time even sailing the southern coasts of Dorne to move spices and silver. In time, he would make the voyage through Hags Mire, across and along the Green Fork to enter the Bay of Crabs. His was a free heart, an eager heart, and Harlan found it easy to move other people’s goods for them from Gulltown to Greenstone and all the ports between. The Jester became known as a strange, honest Ironborn ship, her captain just as so.

He would join along with other Ironborn houses in the Narrow Sea, down to the Disputed Lands on some few occasions, defying the longstanding conventions set down by his father. To the Westerosi the Jester was perhaps known as an honest trader, but to many a Pentoshi slaver the Jester was among the last to hunt them down. Harlan would establish a running agreement with civil servants in Braavos, delivering slaves to the city to be freed for a certain amount of gold, though a lesser known truth would be that many of the crew of the Jester would be former slaves themselves, having volunteered after being promised good food, treatment, arms and armor, and the possible chance to cut down even more slavers. Such would become inducted in half-official ceremonies into the faith of the Drowned God, though the more pious among the Jester’s crew might complain that the men rarely needed to be brought back to life, such was the speed of the ceremonies, and that Harlan’s conduct with the women inductees, which he at times personally conducted, often led to beddings rather than honest faith once the Jester found a free port to put into. His reputation by these raids would lead to some Pentoshi placing bounties on his head, something which Harlan flouted often by saying the Magisters were cheap and blind to put such a small amount on his head. To date, he has killed no less than fifteen bravosi from the Free Cities who try to claim that bounty. To call the young man famous along those lands would be foolish, but so would it be to call him unknown. To those who listen, Harlan has grown his reputation well.
[/list][/hider]
[/hider]