[center][img=http://wallpoper.com/images/00/04/84/79/house-arryn-banner_00048479.jpg]

House Arryn of the Eyrie is one of great houses of Westeros, and is the principal noble house in the Vale. Their main seat is the Eyrie, but they have many other holdings, including their winter castle at the Gates of the Moon. Both of these fortifications sit astride the Giant's Lance, the tallest mountain in the Vale, and the Eyrie is considered impregnable. Their sigil is a white moon-and-falcon on a sky-blue field, and their words are "As High as Honor". Their line dates back to the old Andal peoples that invaded Westeros. Usually marrying other Andal nobles, House Arryn to this day has the purest line of Andal nobility.

[img=http://i.imgur.com/2Y0C08X.png?1][/center]

[b]History[/b] [i]Largely courtesy of aWoIaF[/i]

Prior to the arrival of the Andals, the Vale was ruled by the First Men under the Mountain Kings. Ser Artys Arryn, a legendary Andal leader, crossed the narrow sea with his forces and slew the Griffin King. And so the Arryns became the Kings of Mountain and Vale, according to semi-canon sources some six thousand years ago. In honor of Ser Artys, now king, they renamed the Vale into the Vale of Arryn, and he was given the Falcon Crown, which was henceforth passed down his line.

Notable figures during the Arryn rule as kings include Alyssa Arryn, whose name was given to Alyssa's Tears, a waterfall on the Giant's Lance, when she did not shed a tear for her murdered husband, brothers and children, and King Osgood Arryn, who, with his son the Talon, went to war with House Stark of Winterfell.

The Arryns bore the Falcon Crown until the Wars of Conquest, when they submitted to House Targaryen. During the Conquest the Arryn and Targaryen fleets fought it out in the Battle of Gulltown, which resulted in the destruction of the Targaryen fleet and the death of its commanding officer, Daemon Velaryon. Visenya Targaryen, on her dragon Vhagar, burned the Arryn fleet in response. Since both fleets were destroyed, the battle was considered a tactical draw, but a strategic defeat for the Targaryens as they were unable to take Gulltown. For House Arryn the trouble did not end there, since the Sistermen on the Three Sisters revolted against House Arryn after the destruction of its fleet.

In a later stage of the War of Conquest, Visenya was charged with subduing the Vale. Sharra Arryn, Queen Regent of Vale of Arryn, ruling in the name of her son, the boy-king Ronnel Arryn, amassed the Vale army at the Bloody Gate. Visenya however, simply flew on her dragon Vhagar straight up to the courtyard of the Eyrie to obtain the surrender of the Vale of Arryn. When Sharra Arryn returned to the Eyrie she found her son sitting on Visenya's lap asking if he could ride the dragon with her. Sharra yielded and bent the knee and Ronnel would get to fly with Visenya and Vhagar twice. Since then, the Arryns remained Defenders of the Vale and were also named Wardens of the East, a title that they have held since.

Over a century after the Conquest, the Arryns were involved in the Targaryen civil war, the Dance of the Dragons. It was a contest of claims between Viserys I Targaryen's issue, Rhaenyra Targaryen, from Aemma of House Arryn, and his issue, Aegon II Targaryen by Alicent of House Hightower. The head of House Arryn at that time, Jeyne Arryn, supported the blacks and her kinswoman Rhaenyra. At the start of the civil war, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, Rhaenyra's eldest son, came to the Eyrie to secure aid for his mother's cause. Lady Jeyne, called the Maiden of the Vale, kept true to her promise and sent men by sea by way of Gulltown to join Rhaenyra's hosts.

Decades later, during yet another Targaryen civil war, this one called the Blackfyre Rebellion, the house remained loyal to King Daeron II Targaryen. At the climactic Battle of the Redgrass Field Lord Arryn's van was smashed by Daemon Blackfyre, who had been unstoppable that day. 

Lord Arryn did not die that day, but suffered a grievous wound that would plague him through the rest of the war until he would die less than a year after returning home to the Eyrie. It was a gruesome, painful death, his wounded leg infected until it consumed his body. A bout of ill luck plagued the Arryns, for the new Lord Paramount ruled the Vale just six years before being taken by a fever. His son, the current Lord Arryn, was but a child of nine when he inherited. 

[hider=Members of the House][list]
[*][b]Lord Jasper Arryn[/b] - Warden of the East, Lord of the Eyrie, Defender of the Vale, 16[/*]
[*][b]Leonella, Marsella, Jonella[/b] - Elder sisters to Lord Jasper, 22, 21, 19 respectively[/*]
[*][b]Septon Gilwood[/b] - Great-uncle to Lord Jasper, his grandfather’s youngest brother, 64[/*]
[*][b]Lord Danwell Arryn[/b] - Uncle to Lord Jasper, 36[/*]
[indent][*][b]Lady Carolei (Hunter)[/b] - Lord Danwell's wife, 29[/*]
[*][b]Donnel Arryn[/b] - Their son, a boy of 9[/*]
[*][b]Mariya Arryn[/b] - Their daughter, a girl of 7[/*]
[*][b]Petyr Arryn[/b] - Their son, a boy of 3[/*][/indent]
[*][b]Ser Artys (Stone)[/b] - Name subject to change, Knight of the Vale - Ruby[/*]
[*][b]Jeyne Arryn (Corbray)[/b] - Widow of Lord Ronnel Arryn, 39[/*][/list][/hider]

[b][u]Character Sheets:[/u][/b] [i]WIP[/i]

[hider=Lord of the Vale]
[b]Lord Jasper Arryn
16[/b]
[img=http://i.imgur.com/ztMe1bg.jpg?1]
[b]Personality:[/b]
[indent]Jasper has the arrogance of a boy just become a man. Years of careful tutelage have resulted in a young man certain of his intellect and moral superiority. Any attempts to temper his intellect or piety with humility were made in vain. Attempts to best him, whatever the subject, were met with a renewed vigor to prove the person wrong. He would be right, whatever the cost. He does not take advice well, resistance even worse. He is obsessive, most notably regarding his Andal heritage and in matters of the Faith, and has spent more than one night with only the company of candles and texts spread across a desk. Reserved when his ego is not tested, he is distant. Smiles and laughter never seem to reach his eyes, a great sorrow to his mother who on occasion still tries to instill in him some of the life that his father held.[/indent] 

[b]History:[/b]
[indent]Jasper was just a small child, a toddler, when the Blackfyre Rebellion erupted. He has scant memories of the grandfather who returned with a terrible injury that would take his life. His earliest memories are of his father. The only son, when Lord Ronnel and Lady Jeyne had had three daughters before him, he was a thoroughly spoiled child. Rarely told that he was wrong even at such a young and irrational age. No expenses were spared for the young boy, and Jasper proved to be a voracious student. There seemed little wrong with overly praising his achievements, as he was a smart, quick boy, whether in academics or martial studies. 

The sudden fever that extinguished Lord Ronnel's life in just three days, put Jasper in bed and under the watchful eye of maester and mother for over a week. When he awoke from the fever haze, he had changed. Having only seen nine namedays and the faced the Stranger only to find that he had taken his father instead, took a toll of the young Jasper's disposition. It was a phase, something he would grow out of once he had grieved and come to terms with the event, was what most hoped. It was not to be, though. Shortly after, Septon Gilwood, Lord Ronnel's uncle, returned from Oldtown. Word had been sent to him that he might attend the funeral, but he instead returned for good. 

Jasper, who had become so withdrawn from mother, maester, and uncle, found the peace he sought in Gilwood. The two formed a close bond, Gilwood taking over the tutelage of the boy, and oversaw the Eyrie as an adviser to Lord Danwell, in conjunction with the maester, until Jasper would come of age. It became quickly apparent that the boy would take after the Septon, no matter the interventions of any other, including the Lady Jeyne. Jasper found the answers he had been asking since his father's death and his own brush with it. It was punishment of the gods; the Arryns, the purest of nobles, had forsaken their duty to the gods. They allowed corruption to run rampant in the Faith, turned their backs on the most basic of the gods' laws, supported the filthy and incestuous Targaryen overlords. Their ancestors had brought the true faith to a heathen land, and then faltered. Fallen short for so long now, the gods needed a mortal warrior to rekindle the faith, and Lord Jasper would be that man, should he stay true. 

Imbued with a sense of purpose, his piety turned to zealotry. He prayed daily, hours spent at the sept until he felt cleansed or answered. His path began to seem clear. The Hills of Andalos were lost to invaders, to heathens of false gods. He would need to see them returned to their true purpose, to worship of the true Seven. He would retake the land and built a great new sept for true believers from all corners of existence to pay homage. He would be blessed, and then he could turn his eyes to the filth that plagued Westeros. The first men's blood, strong in the North would need to be dealt with. The blatant disregard for the laws of gods and man by the royal Targaryens would be punished at long last. The corruption in the Faith at Oldtown and King's Landing would be excised to leave only the pure and true.

Having recently reached his 16th nameday, a grand tourney and feast is in motion, Jasper's plans to finally be put in motion now that he is Lord of the Vale in his own right. Beyond that, the need of an heir presses on him. Still a very young man, had his father still lived, he would not be looking to wed for a decade. However, there is already contention in the Vale over who his heir is, uncle Lord Danwell, the next male in line, or his eldest sister Leonella, married into House Belmore.[/indent] [/hider]
[hider=The Septon]
[b]Septon Gilwood
64[/b]
[img=http://i.imgur.com/4EiSeyv.jpg?1]
[b]Personality:[/b]
[indent]Passionately disillusioned with what he has devoted his entire life to, Gilwood is a man prone to what he calls righteous anger at the state of the realm. He had always been pious, naively so in his youth, romanticizing the calling of the gods he felt all those who entered the service of the Faith must have had. This view became tempered, and quickly, for he went to the Starry Sept in Oldtown at the young age of 13. Faced with the reality of the Faith and its servants, Gilwood could have lost his faith, he could have secluded himself away in quiet contemplation among those of a similar mind. 

But he was an Arryn, regardless of having cast off that name to serve the gods. His people had ruled the Vale as kings, he would not bend to the corruption he saw. He would not run from what seemed an insurmountable problem. He would face it, chip at it day by day, until he could find a way to cure the disease than ran rampant. Dedicated and focused would be too polite of a description. Gilwood is zealous, judgmental, and absolutely relentless in his pursuit. He does not consider himself to be the gods' chosen one, but he would not hesitate to consider himself a prophet. [/indent]

[b]History:[/b]
[indent]Born during the reign of Aegon III, one nephew of many to Lady Jeyne, the Maiden of the Vale, he was the youngest of the Arryn lord who would inherit upon the death of the unwed Jeyne. In his youth he showed no great inclination to martial matters, no great mind for coin or academic pursuits. He knew this from a young age, that his place in the world was tenuous, regardless of his family name. What he had though, was belief, a romanticized view of the men and women who joined as servants of the gods and Faith. For five years he prayed in the Eyrie's sept for at least two hours a day. After seeing thirteen namedays, he had his father convinced to pay passage to Oldtown so that he might join the Starry Sept and don the simple cloth of a septon. 

What he found was nothing like he had envisioned. His name and blood gave him lenience not afforded to others. He had chores and lessons like the others, but mistakes made were brushed over. Insubordinate behavior was disregarded, his sins less likely to be punished. Gilwood tested his belief that he was being treated much differently than nearly of all his peers and sought out one of the Most Devout to have an answer on the matter. That a lowly initiate to to Faith was able to be granted that audience was disturbing enough, but the frank truths told to him in a gilded room jarred him most. Hypocrisy and corruption were not rare events, but seemed to be the very foundation of the life he had chosen. He had forsaken his family, turned his back on the politics of Westeros, only to find it living alive and well just beneath the surface of the Faith, of the mortal representation of the gods. 

Gilwood was disgusted, disillusioned, and unsure of where to turn next just five years into his studies in Oldtown. His superiors, thinking to show him that it was not so vile as he had concluded, sent him across Westeros, to show that what they did was necessary. He spent time in the courts of the Lords Paramounts, even a year spent under the hot Dornish sun in Sunspear. Their plan had failed, for Gilwood only grew more disillusioned at the end of his decade long search for "perspective." He returned to Oldtown, a man of nearly 30, with a clarity on what he would need to do. He would fix the Faith from within, he had to, it felt as if it were a mission given from the gods themselves. 

He began to make a name for himself, and quickly earned enemies from those in the ranks of the Most Devout, or from those who aspired to join their ranks. He knew there were those of a like-mind, but few who would openly join the faction that had formed within the organization. To make some form of appeasement to him, he was allowed for a time to preside over disciplinary action for septons charged with the most egregious of sins. His punishments were swift and heavy, and just a few years after being given the post, it was stripped for his overly zealous handling of it. With little left to turn to, he applied himself to the texts of the Faith. Having never been a man of great intellect, he nevertheless applied himself with great fervor to translating old texts, comparing them to the current interpretations and the writing up of treatises. The work was largely ignored, but he carried on, devoted wholeheartedly to the cause he had created. 

It wasn't until word reached him that his nephew had been taken by a fever that any thought of returning home took root. Starry Sept was all too eager to see him on his way, and little fuss was made of his return to the Vale. The young, impressionable Jasper, broken by his near death and loss of his father, was an opportunity that only the gods could have bestowed. It seemed obvious then, that his life had been a path to this very moment. The punishment of those who should have held most dearly to the gods and the ideals of their ancestors, but had instead ignored it and allowed the corruption to grow and spread like a rotting disease of the flesh. Much to the chagrin of his nephew Lord Danwell, and of the boy's mother, Jeyne, Gilwood retained his place as advisor and mentor to the boy regardless of their attempts otherwise. The plans that Lord Jasper has made were made with Gilwood, his guiding hand heavy over the course the Vale was now set for.[/indent] [/hider]
[hider=The Forgotten Falcon]
[b]Lord Danwell Arryn
36[/b]
[img=http://i.imgur.com/d2HAdbJ.jpg?1]
[b]Personality:[/b]
[b]History:[/b][/hider]
[hider=The Maiden Fair]
[b]Jonella Arryn
19[/b]
[img=http://i.imgur.com/UDgSuLx.jpg?1]
[b]Personality:[/b]
[indent]Sweet-tempered and gentle-hearted, Jonella has never been without friends or companions. She has an easy smile, and optimism to put a positive glow on most anything. She is a charitable soul, and popular amongst the smallfolk of the Vale, known to give alms personally and see to the needs of the sick or infirm. Where her brother sees morality in black and white, Jonella is just as pious, but is focused entirely on the gods' love for the world, and seeks to espouse that in her everyday life. Slow to anger and easily injured by harsh words, she is a stark contrast to Jasper, no matter their similar appearance.[/indent]
[b]History:[/b]
[indent]The youngest of Lord Ronnel's and Lady Jeyne's daughters, she did not receive the sort of attention her older sisters had bestowed on them, for three years after her birth, her parents at long last had a son, an heir. She found solace in the sept from a young age, and wormed her way into her uncle Danwell's heart quickly, even after he wed and had children of his own to care for. 

Gentle and lady-like as she was, she was not a delicate flower entirely, not physically. Under her uncle's tutelage she took up an interest in archery and falconry. Though no great protege in either, she finds them to be enjoyable and has several birds that she sees to the care of personally. At nineteen she is perhaps growing a bit old to be a maiden still, but marriage has never been a concern for the girl. Unlike her sisters and many of her friends, finding a suitable match has not been a pressure. There are times that the maiden thinks to join the Faith as a Septa, but she is not sure that that is the calling of her life. Should her brother insist she marry, she would do so, but of late that does not seem a concern for him either. [/indent][/hider]
[b]NPCs:[/b]
[indent][url=http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/008/9/e/lsit__charlotte_001_by_mictones-d36po8y.jpg]Leonella Arryn[/url]: A woman of 22, married to a member of House Belmore
[url=http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/058/c/3/character_artwork_for_game_of_thrones__ascent_by_dashinvaine-d5wdv52.jpg]Marsella Arryn[/url]: A woman of 21, married to Lord Faedric Tully. Wed at 19, a betrothal that Lord Danwell had arranged with Lord Janos some years previous. 
[url=http://i.imgur.com/GDQUEBS.jpg?1]Jeyne (Corbray) Arryn[/url]: Widow of Lord Ronnel, 39
[url=http://th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2014/042/d/e/comission39_by_sayara_s-d7606nu.jpg]Lady Carolei (Hunter) Arryn[/url]: Wife to Lord Danwell, 29
[/indent]