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[color=#f7941d]P E A K E[/color][/center]
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[color=#f7941d][sup][i]"We Three Stand"[/i][/sup][/color][/CENTER][table][row][/row][row][cell][center][sub][sup][sub][h3][b]
[color=#f7941d]H O U S E    D E T A I L S[/color][/b][/h3][/sub][/sup][/sub][sup]_________________________________________________________[/sup]
[sub][COLOR=darkgray][b]House Seat: Starpike[/b][/COLOR]
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[COLOR=darkgray][b]Region: The Reachmarch[/b][/COLOR][/sub]

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[color=#f7941d]K E Y    M E M B E R S[/color][/b][/h3][/sub][/sup][/sub][/center][sup]_________________________________________________________[/sup]
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[COLOR=darkgray][b]◼ Name:[/b] Lady Antonie Peake, nee Amborse

[b]◼ Age:[/b] Twenty and eight

[b]◼ Appearance:[/b] A small and sensible woman the Lady of Starpike is neither outspoken or bold in the slightest. In fact she is quite skittish, preferring the company of her books and children to any gathering or ball. She is terribly thin and quiet, and it is often remarked that she might blow away on the breeze and none would know of it, because she wouldn’t wish to raise her voice and bother another person to call for aid. Her long blonde hair is tied back in neat braids and kept strictly in good order. The lady would never dare to be seen in public without her cheeks powdered and hair well made.

[b]◼ Biography:[/b]  Antonie was always a bit of a romantic as a little girl. She dreamed of being swept off her feet by a noble knight, and they would recite poetry together and spend their days beneath the Reachland stars gazing longingly into each other’s eyes. Her husband to be did arrive one day, in the form of a seventeen year old squire who saved her father’s life in a battle on the Mander. He might not have been the most handsome of men, nor a poet by any stretch of the imagination. In fact he was quite sourmouthed and surly. They never once sat beneath the stars and it took much effort for the man she was betrothed to even say he loved her. Nevertheless he was strong and brave, and he did not dishonor himself or betray her trust and for that Antonie could say she was grateful. 

	They were married, and lived together in Antonie’s father’s hall. They traveled often to tourneys or feasts throughout the realm. Though Antonie would have much preferred to stay at home she did not offer complaint, and thankfully not much was asked of her. Only to be present when her husband Gorman Peake rode the joust or attended a lord in some distant hall. She provided her husband three beautiful children, which became Antonie’s entire world. The eldest Able was a brash and rough and tumble child often getting into mischief and causing a ruckus. The second was her daughter Ellen, a cheery little girl as bold as her older brother and all smiles and elegance. The last was Meryn, who took much after his father. Sour and brooding with little patience for nonsense, he would attend his play with a seriousness not befitting someone of his tender years. Antonie loved them all, even her husband whose surly nature grew on her after years in his company. She never could have expected everything would change so fast. First came word from Starpike that Gormon’s family had suffered a terrible loss, and that his father was on his deathbed. They traveled for the first time to Gormon’s ancestral home, where he was now heir. The comforts of her father’s hall were scarce here, and her friends could be reached only by raven. Then came the summons to war, and Gormon departed, taking Able and riding northwest at speed with his host in tow. This is how Antonie found herself, a shy little woman with no experience in such matters and no one to teach her, commanding three castles with skeleton garrisons and circling enemies on all sides. The sand vipers to the east, an irate and thorny rose to the west, and a looming dragon in the north. Antonie can only pray for son and husband’s safety, and learn swiftly to prepare Starpike for the building storm that was about to be unleashed upon it.


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[COLOR=darkgray][b]◼ Name:[/b] Ser Gormon Peake
[b]◼ Age:[/b] Thirty
[b]◼ Appearance:[/b] Board and muscular Gorman is the very picture of a Marcher lord. He is proud as he is tall, and possesses a short temper and a terrible wrath against Dornishmen. His speech is more befitting a barracks than lordly hall which does not serve to make him many friends, save those who recognize his martial talents. His hair is dark, and his features seem crudely carved from granite. His complexion is darker than the average Reachman, touched by the sun and weatherworn. Even in his relative youth there is a slight receding of his hairline, which is accentuated by his close cropped styling of his head and beard.

[b]◼ Biography:[/b] Born the third son of a lesser lord, Gormon Peake always considered the path of war and service to be his only way forward in life. Raised in the martial and spartan upbringing in the small yet proud keep of Starpike he worked diligently to ingratiate himself to a demanding father in competition with three capable brothers. During his squiring years he served a Ser Tarly, joining the Reachknight in several campaigns against the Dornish, and one combative dispute against fellow Reachmen. Gormon became knighted at the age of seventeen for his courage and skill in the Battle by the Mander. Witnessed in his dubbing by several important lords including Lord Florent and Lord Amborse amongst multiple other knights from noble houses. His actions on the Mander earned him a betrothal with a daughter from the line of Ambrose by the name of Lady Antonie, and he wed her when she came of age two years later. Gormon remained in the service of House Ambrose for seven years, living in their hall. His good lady bore him three children. Two sons, named Able and Meryn, and his daughter named Ellen. His eldest son is of squiring age, and is in service to Ser Unwin Peake, Gormon’s younger brother. Gormon attended several tourneys in these days, earning notoriety in the melee at Lannisport, and the joust at Longtable for his spectacular performances at arms. He became famed for his duel against a Northern knight Ser Manderly, in which he slew the offending man for a grievous insult against his lady’s honor. His actions during his journeys to different tournaments and conflicts brought him into contact with the fearsome Great Bastard Aegor Rivers, with whom Gormon found much in common and became a good acquaintance.

Gormon’s entire world changed, whether for the better or the worse during the plague of Dornish Pox. His mother, and two elder brothers and their families were taken in total by the gods, and his father became stricken and bedridden. Thus elevated to heir of Starpike, Dunstonburry, and Whitegrove Gormon returned home after more than a decade away to bring order to the disease scarred lands. He served as regent well, scraping out a measure of prosperity for the people and administrating in a severe manner against all would-be troublemakers. In recent days his father passed, having never fully recovered from the pox, making Gormon the Lord of Starpike, just as the rebellion began. The new Lord Peake was swift to take action on behalf of the Blackfyres. He summoned his yeomen archers and household knights to Starpike alongside his fellow Marcher lords and their hosts. Disregarding the demand from High Garden to stand down Lord Gormon led his men to rendezvous with the fearsome  “Fireball”, joining forces and scattering the Westerlanders with all the fury of the Marchermen.

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[COLOR=darkgray][b]◼ Name:[/b] Ser Unwin Peake

[b]◼ Age:[/b] Four and Twenty

[b]◼ Appearance:[/b] The Fourth Little Keep, that is what they call the wily little Unwin, and that is what he is. In stark contrast to all his kin Unwin is lithe and wiry like a fox amongst boarhounds. His hair is a lighter brown taking after his Fossoway mother, and grown long in a clear break of Marcher custom. He is good natured and likeable, wearing an easy smile on his youthful features. He wears a unique coat of arms, similar to the traditional orange field and three black castles, except a smaller fourth castle is emblazoned below the rest and positioned off to the left hand side. As if tossed in as an afterthought.

[b]◼ Biography:[/b] “The best things come in sets of three.” It was a line Unwin heard many times during his youth in the halls of Starpike. His father never showed him favor or scorn, only dismissive offhanded comments and little more. To be practically ignored by one’s dear father might have embittered most, but Unwin always saw the good in life and never once faltered in his loyalty to his blood. Never did a sour word escape him of his kin, nor a complaint about his lot in life. He felt fortunate really, to be set a standard so low, and yet to reach so far above it. He far outstripped his brothers in logic and wits, and though he could not match them in brawn he was quick on his feet and could keep up in their play. During his squiring years he was given to a landed knight in the Peake’s service named Ser Derrium Daring. It was meant to be a dismissal, to be squired to so low a knight when his brothers were trained amongst great families of the Reach, yet a more apt appointment there could not have been. Ser Daring was true to his name, and taught Unwin a great deal in the arts of chivalry. They fought together at the pass of Hell’s Grip in the Dornish mountains, and though he was a lad of mere fifteen when Ser Daring was wounded Unwin stood over him and guarded his knight against four Dornish warriors. “Though they were four, none could break the guard of the Fourth Little Keep.” Were the words of an impressed Lord Mullendore who bore witness to the display of courage and prowess. Unwin was knighted on the spot and offered a place amongst Mullendore’s household knights.

	Unwin accepted this offer, proving himself a noble warrior, and a fearsome foe. He took no wife of his own, claiming there were many years left to find a worthy bribe, but he wooed many a lady thanks to his quick wit and handsome features. In the opening hours of the rebellion Unwin rode at all haste to join his brother in Starpike, bringing with him a small force of friends to put challenge to his brother’s foes.

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[color=#f7941d]H I S T O R Y[/color][/b][/h3][/sub][/sup][/sub][/INDENT][sup]___________________________________________________________________________________[/sup]
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House Peake is proud to trace its origins to the First Men and Florys the Fox, and they have not been idle since those storied days. Though they lack wealth, and their land is dry and rocky, the men of Peake have shown great ambition throughout the years. They are famous for the three mighty keeps, which stand in key positions at the border to the Dornish Marches. The first, and historical seat of House Peake is the keep of Starpike. Although smaller than the other two Starpike was the first, and stood in defiance of Dornish raids and armies guarding the Hellgrip pass against marauding riders for centuries. The second is Whitegrove, which was conquered from an extinct Dornish house, and secures the origins of the tributary leading down to the Torentine river. Whitegrove has found itself besieged and its lands raided many times during its possession by House Peake, but has defied all attempts to take her whitewashed walls. Finally, the long standing rivals of Peake, house Manderly was driven from their ancestral hall at Dunstonburry, during a bitter war between the feuding lordships. Dunstonburry is the largest of the Peake holdings, and the wealthiest thanks to its position on the shores of the Mander and the fertile land it inhabits. It provides significant incomes from taxes, though the Peakes consider the men at arms raised for her towns and villages to be subpar compared to the hardy Marchermen of Starpike and Whitegrove.

The Peakes saw themselves grow in prominence during the reign of Lord Unwin, who became hand to the king and brought many of his kin and friends into positions of power at the capital during the regency of Aegon III. Unwin grasped for more than he could hold and was unable to maintain his grip on power, and found himself forced to resign. Since then the importance of House Peake has faltered, even more so thanks to the waning hostilities with the Dornish. The customary position of the Marchers in being the shield against Dorne had been one of great honor and importance. The idea of a lasting peace, and a resignation of conflict seemed a bitter draught to swallow when blood still ran hot, even amongst the Marcher yeomen and landed knights whose memories were long and grudges deep.



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[color=#f7941d] C U R R E N T    S I T U A T I O N[/color][/b][/h3][/sub][/sup][/sub][/INDENT][sup]__________________________________________________________________________________[/sup]
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The Peakes did not hesitate to declare their loyalty to the Blackfyre cause and summon the hosts of Starpike, Whitegrove, and Dunstonburry. Alongside their fellow Reachmarch lords, and a few others such as their allies in Ambrose, they gathered in force armed and chanting for war. Raising the orange banner beneath Starpike, Gorman has deployed multiple companies under trusted commanders to the heights of the border mountains, securing holdfasts along the numerous passes and sending forays to raid Dornish lands and scatter their smallfolk and delay their retaliation while the Marcher lords prepare. House Peake alone can summon five hundred men from Whitegrove, fifteen hundred from Starpike, and nearly two thousand from Dunstonburry, alongside fifty landed knights who swear their fealty to the Peakes. Half the levied soldiers are yeomen from the Marches. Well practiced in longbows, and experienced in knocking Dornish riders from their mounts in swift, deadly volleys.

	The incomes from Gormon’s holdings have never been great, and the terrible plague that ravaged their lands in recent days has only worsened the situation. Meager though their wealth might be in comparison to their neighbors Gorman emptied his coffers and managed to acquire the services of some hundred and fifty hedge knights, bringing his total heavy cavalry to nearly two hundred. Thus formed and his own lands secured, Gorman marched northwest, joining Fireball in his campaign against the Lannisters, paying and feeding his troops off the fat of Westerlander wealth.

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