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[center][b]House Royce of Runestone[/center][/b]
[center][i]"We Remember"[/i][/center]

House Royce of Runestone is an old and powerful house of The Vale of Arryn, tracing their lineage back to the days of the First Men, before the Andals came to Westeros. They rule over their lands from their seat at Runestone, holding dominion over the lands surrounding the great and ancient castle. 

In the Targaryen Civil War - the Dance of Dragons - House Royce declared alongside their liege lords, House Arryn of the Eyrie, in supporting the Blacks. They were eventually defeated in the war, and the heavy fighting cost the life of the then-current Lord Royce: causing the subsequent warding of his young son until he came of age. 

When the tensions rose between Daemon Blackfyre and Daeron Targaryen, resulting in the outbreak of war between the two men and their supporters, a summons arrived at Runestone: the call of House Arryn, for House Royce to muster their banners and to fight under their liege lords. Rather than answering the call of House Arryn, however, the then-Lord of Runestone, Balon Royce, declared on behalf of Daemon Blackfyre: believing that he had a claim to the throne, having received his father’s sword rather than Daeron. 

Many of the minor Houses of the Vale rebelled against the Arryns, including House Sunderland, and they were led by Balon Royce and his three sons: Benjen, Cerrick and Gerold. They rode forth from The Vale in force, evading the forces of their liegelord befire they joined forces with Daemon Blackfyre and the host he was amassing in the Riverlands. The fighting was intense, but it seemed that Daemon would be victorious, with all odds pointing in his favour. 

On the eve of the Battle of Redgrass Field, Ser Quentyn was slain by a royalist archer: the first sign, perhaps, that the odds of the rebellion were turning in House Targaryen’s favour. Despite this, House Royce remained loyal to Daemon, and Balon’s forces were part of the charge that shattered Lord Arryn’s van: an act of rebellion that could never be forgiven, after the defeat of the rebels at the hands of the loyalist forces. 

After the battle was lost, Balon had already lost one son, Cerrick, and had no desire for any more of his own blood to be shed. He surrendered to the royalist army, presenting himself to the wounded Lord Arryn and requesting mercy for his sons in return for his own life. His final wish was granted, and Lord Balon Royce was executed, his body given to his sons to take back to their home at Runestone. 

Lord Balon’s sons have never forgotten the fate of their father, and although they know that Lord Arryn had shown mercy to their House, the Royces of Runestone had always born a slight animosity to those who ruled over them from The Eyrie, made worse so in recent years by the zealous nature of Jasper Arryn, the new Lord of the Vale - believing the influence the boy’s uncle has over him to be far too great. Despite the feelings of dissent they feel towards their Lord, House Royce remain loyal to The Eyrie, not wishing to repeat the mistakes and bloodshed of the past. 

[b]Important Members of the Household[/b]
POV Characters in bold.
More characters to come as I think of them!

[b]Lord Benjen Royce, Master of Runestone, 36.[/b]
------[b]Ser Lucas Royce, his son, heir to Runestone, 18.[/b]
------Lythene Royce, his daughter, 16.
------Oswell Royce, second-born son, 13.
------Martyn Royce, third-born son, 9.
[b]Ser Gerold Royce, The Bitter Knight, 30.[/b]
------Melessa Royce, his daughter, 12.
[b]Walder Stone, Benjen’s bastard, 20.[/b]
Maester Myles.

[hider=Benjen Royce]
[b]Name:[/b] Benjen Royce, Lord of Runestone
[b]Age:[/b] 36
[b]Appearance:[/b]

[img=http://a1.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/139/414ff1187b7e4374b9aaf649ae5f3562/l.jpg]

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. 

[b]Personality:[/b] 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. 

[b]Biography:[/b] 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. 

[/hider]
[hider=Lucas Royce]
[b]Name:[/b] Ser Lucas Royce, Heir to Runestone, The Untainted
[b]Age:[/b] 18
[b]Appearance:[/b] Lucas Royce is a mirror image of his father as he was at the same age - with the same bright, intelligent green gaze that the now sombre man once possessed. He has the broad shoulders and defined musculature of a man who spends most of his time outside, swinging a sword, hunting and enjoying other noble pursuits. 

He has a small scar just above his right eye - the result of a spar he once had with Jasper Arryn, when the young Lord bested him. His hair is the straw-like blonde of his mother, and has been cut short to match the similar styles that the majority of the Knights at The Eyrie sport. Despite having only spent a small amount of his life at Runestone, his father had a set of their family’s ancestral bronze armour sent to him, and he wears it with pride. 

[b]Bio/Personality:[/b] Lucas Royce is a lighthearted and laidback individual - a stark contrast to Jasper Arryn, with whom he spent the majority of his childhood. He, like his Lord father at the same age, enjoys everything that life has to offer: from hunting to swordfighting to whoring, he is the definition of a young, noble-blooded playboy. Despite his easygoing nature, he is a skilled and dutiful knight, who serves his liege lord loyally (although somewhat reluctantly): knowing when to shut up and do as he is told, a result of his squiring under Ser Danwell Arryn. 

When he was sent to The Eyrie - a subsequent result of his grandfather’s rebellion against House Arryn and the Crown - he was but a boy, a child of five years. The Arryns have had an influence on him, certainly: but he is a polar opposite to Jasper, proof that Septon Gilwood never had much of an influence upon him. In fact, Lucas despised the old man whenever he arrived, and did everything that he could to stay away from him. 

Even before the arrival of the Septon and the death of Jasper’s father, he and Lucas never got along: Lucas was lighthearted and easygoing, and Jasper had the air of a Lord about him already; stuck-up and pompous, he disliked losing [i]anything[/i], and the pair of them squabbled near constantly. Had it not been for Lucas’ friendship with Jasper’s elder sister, and the father figure that he found in Danwell Arryn, it is likely that he would have grown to hate the Arryns entirely. 

Whenever Lord Ronnel passed away, and his son was declared Lord of the Vale, Jasper became nearly insufferable. This, combined with the arrival of Danwell’s uncle who Lucas nicknamed “Old Man Gilwood” made him hate The Eyrie, and almost everyone in it: again, apart from his best friend Jonella and Danwell, who served as a surrogate father for the traitor’s son. 

Thankfully, before things came to a head between Jasper and Lucas - who butted heads far too regularly than was healthy for boys of their age - Danwell announced that he would be leaving for Riverrun, and Lucas would be going with him, to serve as his squire. Under Danwell Arryn’s guiding hand, Lucas’ rebellious nature was harnessed, all the energy he spent complaining was instead transferred and applied to his studies: both martial and academic. 

By the time the two returned to The Eyrie from their travels, Lucas was a Knight - and no longer a spoilt, rebellious boy. Certainly, there was still no love lost between him and Jasper (and the two had their share of shouting matches before Danwell took Lucas aside and had firm words with him about his behaviour), but Lucas had taken his vows: he would serve the man loyally as long as he was his Lord, even if he was insufferable. 

Although he has not seen his father - or the rest of his family - for the most of his life, having only visited his home a few times after he was taken from it as a boy - Lucas is a Royce through and through: loyal to his family, and the interests of his father. 

[/hider]

Other sheets are coming soon! WIP!