Name: Benjen Royce, Lord of Runestone
Age: 36
Appearance:Benjen Royce has the look of a worldweary man, with green eyes - once bright and vibrant in his youth - now somewhat dulled and subdued, a result of the things that he has seen and experienced. His skin was once a pale colour, although it has been browned as a result as his exposure to the sun, and he has the muscular physique that is to be expected of any martial Lord.
He sports a beard at most times, clipped and neat, and is never seen without his sword.
Personality: In his youth, Benjen was a lighthearted man who enjoyed life and the pursuits that were available to him as the heir to a rich and noble family. However, after having seen his younger brother slain and been helpless to save his own father as he watched his head roll from his shoulders, Benjen has become a more reserved and stern man, hiding his true emotions behind a steel facade.
A Knight who holds to the values and virtues of old, Benjen is bound by ideals such as duty and honour, which seem to have been forgotten - at least in his eyes - by the majority of those who call themselves Knights in Westeros. He upholds all the tenants that he swore to when he was knighted, and serves his masters in The Eyrie with loyalty, after years of internal struggle, despite the animosity that he feels towards them - this feeling of acceptance and servitude born, in no small part, from the fact that his son was in their grasp from the day the rebellion had been lost.
As if his father being executed before him was not enough, Benjen had his oldest - and only, at the time - taken from him and flurried off to The Eyrie, where he was to be fostered under the influence of the very family who had slain his grandfather. Benjen had been indifferent to the Arryns before his family’s involvement in the rebellion, but as a result of his family being torn apart, he harbours a deep-seated and (mostly) hidden resentment towards those who rule over him from The Vale proper.
Calm and reserved in public, Benjen is not one to ever show his true emotions to anyone but those in his very inner circle. He metes out justice, and is known to be a fair man by those who know and serve under him: likeable, despite his stern nature, and wise beyond his years, a trait he has picked up from his mastery of the sword.
Biography: Born in Runestone, the heir of Lord Balon Royce, Benjen had a relatively easy upbringing. His father was a strict but loving man, and was devoted to his son: ensuring that he received an excellent education, honing his skills with both his intellect and his sword. Benjen demonstrated an affinity for swordplay, and even by the tender age of six it was clear that he was going to be a Knight of some ability.
He was uninterested in academics, save for the tales of the knights and heroes of old: the Lordling did all he could to avoid and wriggle his way out of his lessons on mathematics and the history of the realm: but he listened with rapt, undivided attention whenever his tutor opened the cover of one of the epic sagas. Lord Balon tolerated his son’s acts of rebellion for a time, but eventually cracked down upon him: demanding that he attend all his lessons, at the cost of being banned from training any longer with his father’s bannermen.
Balon’s threat did the trick, and Benjen attended all his lessons until he was released from the compulsory academia on his twelfth nameday. Free from the dreaded shackles of mathematics and simple accounting, Benjen focused all of his energy on his desired occupation: becoming a knight, and serving those weaker than himself. He squired for his uncle, and took his duties extremely seriously - bringing a proud smile to his father’s lips.
Benjen was knighted in his fifteenth year, and slowly began to take up more duties for his father: leading patrols in the lands owned by House Royce, training his younger brothers in the way of the sword, and settling petty disputes between the smallfolk who lived on the lands over which his House held influence.
The young Lord made a name for himself as a knight and swordsman of an excellent calibre, through his victory at numerous tournaments throughout The Vale, and even a few in the Crownlands and The Reach. He even had an interest in falconry, a pastime somewhat native to the kingdom from which he hailed.
Despite his many duties and the amount of time he spent practicing his swordfighting skills, the man still made plenty of time for recreational things: he was the life and soul of the party, and was known by his friends - and even those who did not know him - for his easy smile and quick, lighthearted humour.
He bedded his first woman - a minor noblewoman from another Vale House - at the age of sixteen, rather a late age for a man of his station. However, the union was a sweet one, but resulted in an unexpected pregnancy: Benjen had not been able to control his release, and was given a bastard son, who he had no choice but to acknowledge.
Balon was displeased by the news of his son’s siring, but allowed Walder - as the bastard’s mother called him - to come and live at Runestone when he was of an appropriate age. In an effort to prevent his son from siring any more children, Balon arranged a match with a noblewoman from The Riverlands, securing a union between the two Houses.
Benjen was married at seventeen, and the consumation of his marriage resulted nine months later in the birth of his son and heir, a babe who was named Lucas. He was a kind father to both his sons, although his wife’s influence caused Lucas to be favoured somewhat over his half-brother: the woman’s contempt for the bastard evident, but ignored by Benjen in his efforts to keep a harmonious Household. He sired another child, his first daughter Lythene, a year later.
When the deceased King’s bastard, Daemon Blackfyre, revolted in open rebellion against his half-brother Daeron, Benjen was twenty-three. Lord Royce declared for the rebel, despite his liegelord’s summons to fight on behalf of House Targaryen, and Benjen and his younger brothers loyally followed him into battle - but not before Benjen and his wife coupled on the night before his departure, giving him another son when he returned home.
Benjen made a name for himself among the other heroes on the Blackfyre side, fighting alongside Ser Quentyn, Redtusk and Robb Reyne alike. His sword claimed a great many lives - highborn and lowborn alike - during that conflict, and he was instrumental during the rebels attack on Lannisport.
However, at the Battle of Redgrass field, the tides of the rebellion changed: House Blackfyre was defeated, and Benjen’s brother Cerrick was killed during the battle. Lord Balon surrendered to House Arryn, begging for mercy for his remaining sons and their children - which was granted, at the cost of the man’s life. Benjen’s life changed as he saw the sword cleave his father’s head from his shoulders, and he became a different man that day.
He was changed even more so when he returned home to Runestone and found himself the Lord of an empty castle, his son and heir having been taken by the Arryns to foster at the Eyrie. His wife despised him, and the majority of his childhood friends were dead.
Lord Benjen turned to drink for a few years, before realising that he was disgracing his father’s memory by his behaviour. Since that day, he has served The Eyrie loyally, despite the feelings of hatred that he harbours towards the Great House.