Synopsis

Head of House

Seat

Demesne

Recent History

Realm Relations

Storyline Premise

House Redwyne is one of the most ancient, most influential and most prosperous families in the Reach. Rulers of the golden island of the Arbor since the Age of Heroes, the Redwynes' vineyards and orchards flourish like no others, providing the known world with some of its finest wines and sweetest fruit. Masters of the sea as well as the land, they also command one of the mightiest fleets in Westeros, with hundreds of ships fit for war and trade under their control. Founded by the fabled Gilbert of the Vines, these former kings of the First Men have for centuries grown more and more intertwined with their noble peers, their lineage extending from the extinct Gardener kings of old to the esteemed Tyrells of today. Currently, this distinguished and wealthy house is headed by the young lady Willemina Redwyne, also known as the Silvervine.

The Arbor.

The vast and bountiful demesne of House Redwyne encompasses the great southern island of the Arbor, separated from the rest of the Reach by the Redwyne Straits. Its warm shores of sun-kissed sand and rock contain the picturesque port towns of Ryamsport, Vinetown and Starfish Harbor. Moving further inland, the extraordinarily fertile soil of the Arbor's golden plains and hills are home to a wide array of vineyards and orchards, split apart by gentle streams and lush forests. The lords of the Arbor rule over it all from their ancestral keep, a beautiful castle which sits atop a hill in the heart of the island. The Redwynes' defenses are bolstered by the several smaller forts and towers scattered throughout the Arbor, owned by the not inconsiderable population of landed knights that are sworn to them. Beyond the Arbor itself, House Redwyne also governs a number of smaller isles surrounding it. These are Stonecrab Cay, the Isle of Pigs, the Mermaid's Palace, Horseshoe Rock and Bastard's Cradle.

Paxter Redwyne _{(ruled until 301 AC)}
Euron Greyjoy's invasion of the Reach exacted a devastating toll on the Arbor, which Lord Paxter Redwyne had left largely unprotected as he led the bulk of his forces through the siege of Dragonstone. Although Ser Loras Tyrell's valiant assault of the stronghold freed Lord Paxter from his duties in the Narrow Sea, the relief came too late to save his home. By then, the island had already been taken by the Ironborn, its ports ransacked and its population decimated. Those who were not killed during the occupation were taken hostage, with many of them turned into thralls or sold into slavery. Among those lost before the Redwyne fleet arrived back in the Arbor were Lord Paxter's wife, Mina Tyrell, and his only daughter, Desmera. The former had been murdered in the family's keep, seemingly for trying to defend her household from the raiders, while the latter had been abducted, never to be seen again.

The liberation of the Arbor proved to be a brutal affair, the might of the Redwyne fleet finding its match in Euron's men. Heavy casualties abounded on both sides but, in the end, Lord Paxter was able to reclaim his family's seat and regroup, his eyes now turning to the Whispering Sound, where the Iron King himself was leading an assault on Oldtown. The great naval battle near Oldtown became House Redwyne's most heroic victory, as well as its costliest. The Arbor Queen sunk with its captain and its crew, along with the majority of the remaining Redwyne fleet, but their sacrifice ensured Euron Greyjoy's first major defeat at the hands of the combined strength of the Arbor and the Hightower.

Lord Paxter would have been succeeded by the eldest of his twin sons, Horas, but tragedy struck once again not long after his death, when the Sept of Baelor burned. Both of his sons, though declared innocent of the charges levied against them by Cersei Lannister, had been there to accompany their beloved cousin, Margaery Tyrell. The catastrophe left few survivors, and Horas and Hobber Redwyne were not among them.

Desmond Redwyne _{(ruled from 301 AC to 318 AC)}
With the deaths of Paxter and his sons, and his daughter's disappearance, the inheritance of the Arbor passed onto his younger brother, Desmond. A knight of some renown, less pious than his peers but remarkably skilled in strategy, he promptly severed all ties to the Iron Throne, joining the growing chorus of Reach lords who blamed King Tommen I and his Lannister kin for the chaos and bloodshed which had now struck at the heart of the Reach itself. With what was left of House Redwyne's military strength, Lord Desmond joined forces with Willas Tyrell, the new Warden of the South, and helped lead the campaign to expell the Ironborn invaders from the mainland.

Following the final victory of the knights of the Reach against the Crow's Eye, the new Lord of the Arbor set his sights on the other war which was now underway further north. Despite the exhaustion from a year of vicious fighting, Lord Desmond answered Stannis Baratheon's call to defend the Wall against the Others without hesitation, bringing with him hundreds of Arbor knights and whatever resources he could spare. His brave service alongside other great warriors of the Seven Kingdoms earned Lord Desmond the respect of his peers. By the end of the War for Dawn, he had established himself as a tried and tested battle commander and formed many personal bonds with other notable veterans.

In the aftermath of the last battle against the Others, with its four years of harsh winter, Desmond faced the challenge of healing the Arbor from the wounds left behind by the Ironborn invasion and providing the rest of Westeros with much needed food. Although his talents for ruling in peacetime were lacking, his efforts eventually bore fruit, in no small part thanks to the substantial support he received from his wife's family, the Hightowers. A close friendship bloomed between Desmond and his brother in law, Baelor, which in turn gave the still inexperienced Lord of the Arbor a place of privilege in the politics of not just the Reach alone, but the entire continent. On the day of Aegon VI's coronation in the Starry Sept, he was named Master of Ships, tasked with building and maintaining a new royal fleet for the Iron Throne. It was a position for which he proved capable enough in the ensuing years, holding the title and his seat in the Small Council until the day he died.

Beyond his duties as Master of Ships, Lord Desmond also continued to serve the realm as a reliable knight and commander. In 307 AC, as the diminished Redwyne fleet was beginning to replenish its numbers, he personally led a company of Arbor knights to help suppress the Faith Militant's rebellion. His particular lack of concern for the lives of septons who collaborated with the rebels led many to see his actions as transgressions against the Faith itself, while others praised his stern, unflinching commitment to upholding the King's Peace.

Desmond Redwyne died in his bed in 318 AC, finally succumbing to his failing heart, which had grown weak from the strain of his forceful lifestyle. He was succeeded as Lord of the Arbor by his only son, Denys.

Denys Redwyne _{(ruled from 318 AC to 355 AC)}
An earnest and mercurial man of the sea, Denys Redwyne had spent his youth sailing far into the known world, carrying with him tales and treasures from the most exotic places and peoples. Although he was an anointed knight like his father, trained from boyhood to wield a sword and ride into battle, he was better suited for navigation and trade than he was for war on land. Indeed, from the moment he inherited the Arbor, he demonstrated that his true worth came from his abilities as a captain and admiral, as he assisted the lords of the Stormlands and Dorne in repelling a series of attacks led by slave raiders from the Basilisk Isles.

Ambitious and disarmingly vivacious even as a man grown, his charisma made him popular with the smallfolk of the Arbor, while his fair dealings with his peers earned him a solid reputation. His good standing in the Reach, however, was undermined from the start by the consequences of his own impulsiveness. Fascinated by Dornish culture from an early age, by the time of his father's death his many voyages to the peninsula had already produced two natural children, both of whom he acknowledged and raised in the Arbor. Although he did not father any other known bastards during his lordship, the stain of his 'Dornish proclivities' followed him for years.

While Lord Denys did not inherit his father's seat in the Small Council, he began his lordship with the Arbor thriving once more and its fleet fully rebuilt, all thanks to his father's hard work and the aid of their Hightower kin. Thus, he was able to turn his gaze outwards, his aspirations far surpassing those of his predecessors. Not content with maintaining the established trade routes between the Arbor and the mainland, he sought to create a trade empire in all but name, one which he would personally lead from the hull of his flagship, a carrack he named the Sunkiss. He journeyed across the Narrow Sea again and again, visiting as many of Essos' great ports as he could, opening new trade routes with his offers of Arbor wine to sell and Redwyne ships to carry and guard shipments from harbor to harbor. And when he could no longer reach new cities in the east, he went south, touring the Summer Isles and befriending their many princes and princesses. The massive profits from his overseas endeavors allowed him to become one of the houses which the Iron Throne relied upon for loans, increasing his influence beyond the Reach despite his absence from the royal court. Redwyne gold and silver helped fund Aegon VI's grand renovation of the continent's roads, a debt which the Lord of the Arbor eventually forgave, as a show of good faith, following the coronation of Aelyx I.

In the meantime, within his own home, Lord Denys cultivated a large and loving family that was the envy of his peers. Over the course of his life, he fathered seven trueborn children, all of whom survived infancy. And those children, in turn, gave him over a dozen grandchildren, most of them born from unions he arranged with many of the houses that ruled over the major ports of Westeros and the Free Cities.

Tragically, although the early years of Lord Denys' rule were a period of exceptional prosperity for the Arbor, the latter years saw his family suffer many great losses and more than a few scandals, which left him debilitated in spirit and threatened his standing in the realm. In 341 AC, the twins Willas and Mina, his two youngest, died within weeks of each other. Mina passed away shortly after giving birth to two bastards, one of which would not make it past his infancy. She did not reveal the identity of their father to anyone other than her twin, who immediately left the Arbor to search for him. Some suspected that Willas intended to challenge the unknown man to a duel, to punish him for defiling his sister, while others assumed that he meant to force him to marry her. Whatever his true motivation might have been, it is known that he arrived in King's Landing, where he was found dead soon after. The nature of his wounds led to the conclusion that he had either been murdered or defeated in a duel.

Two years later, in 343 AC, Lord Denys' firstborn son and heir, Aladore, caused a scandal of his own when he arrived from his year-long stay in the Vale with a newborn bastard of his own in his arms. His infidelity towards his young wife, the daughter of a prestigious Lysene prince, created a rift between the two, as well as between him and his lord father. When Aladore died a year later, his widow's mourning was conspicuously brief, and the Lord of the Arbor saw his trade with the Perfumed Sister dwindle.

The remainder of Lord Denys's rule was defined less by the unbridled exuberance of his youth, and more by the need to secure his legacy in his old age, specially after the death of another one of his daughters, Samantha. After a lifetime of pursuing good relations with the Martells, he finally succeeded in joining their houses by wedding his grandson, Elyas, to Prince Elio's sister, Antona. More importantly, however, he took it upon himself to raise Willemina, Aladore's only child, as his new heir. The aging Denys spent much of the last decade of his life educating the precocious girl, preparing her to rule over the Arbor when her time came.

The War for the Stepstones gave Denys Redwyne his final moment of glory, as he personally led the Redwyne fleet into battle for the last time. Despite no longer having the audacious spark of his youth, he managed to score a series of victories at sea, albeit at the cost of dozens of ships and, ultimately, his own life. Although he was still one of the finest captains of his time, he was no longer fit to fight, a fact which was made grievously clear when, in the late 355 AC, a blow from an enemy's mace shattered his hip, leaving him unable to walk and in excruciating pain. The courageous Lord of the Arbor lived long enough to see the end of the war and return home, dying a few days later while resting in his family's gardens.

Willemina Redwyne _{(ruled from 355 AC)}
Willemina Redwyne's rule over the Arbor began with much of the same vigor that had defined her grandfather's first few years. The young woman they called the Silvervine was not known as a bold sailor, yet she was already notorious for her acerbic wit and her extraordinary understanding of all matters relating to agriculture and trade. She did not share the late Denys' obsession with exotic pleasures, but she displayed a particular interest in grand, ambitious undertakings, specially those which involved wonderful innovations in engineering. Taking full advantage of the enormous wealth she had inherited, she encouraged the construction of aqueducts, roads and docks to aid the smallfolk in the production and transportation of their goods. Lady Willemina's willingness to experiment also extended to her way of dealing with her fellow nobles, although the results of her unorthodox approach to politics were rather mixed. Many were intrigued and impressed by her ingenuity and the riches it could bring, while others thought her a persuasive defrauder.

In spite of her young age and her unusual ways, Lady Willemina quickly proved herself a formidable lady of the Reach, her house's influence still growing as it had under her predecessors. Under her leadership, the Arbor produced some of its best harvests and vintages in decades, and the smallfolk of the island enjoyed an immense improvement to their quality of life, the likes of which had rarely been seen before in the Seven Kingdoms.

This period of abundance lasted until the fourth year of her ladyship, when it was interrupted by the coming of a short but terrible winter and the return of the Shivers, which lasted from 359 AC to 361 AC. Blessed by its own geography, the Arbor did not suffer a cold as brutal as much of the continent did, yet many crops could not withstand even that. The plague itself, on the other hand, never managed to spread too deep into the Arbor since Willemina, following her maester's advice, decreed that people stayed in their homes under penalty of exile and closed off all of the island's ports to any ships coming from the mainland. However, those measures did not prevent the disease from decimating most of the families that worked in Ryamsport's harbor, or from killing her cousin, the sweet little Leyla.

The spring nevertheless found House Redwyne still standing, its wealth largely unscathed and its lands teeming with the seedlings of future harvests. Aerys III's reign thus offered an opportunity for Willemina to assert herself as one of the main contributors to the realm's recovery from the winter and its plague, which she readily seized. In the years that followed, she invested directly into many of the afflicted towns, granted her patronage to struggling artisans, and offered loans to lesser houses whose coffers had been left empty by the expense of feeding their people during winter. Redwyne ships carried Arbor fruit to feed starving peasants all over the Seven Kingdoms, and Redwyne gold compensated those who had lost loved ones or property. All the while, Willemina herself began to work closely with her liege, Florian Tyrell, in the hopes of aiding him in the preservation of the King's Peace.

House Redwyne in 364 AC

House Targaryen
After enduring so many sacrifices in the name of usurpers, the Arbor joined the rest of the Reach in welcoming the Targaryen restoration with open arms. Six decades of mostly uninterrupted peace and plenty under the reigns of Aegon VI and his descendants have fostered a cordial if not particularly close relationship between House Targaryen and House Redwyne. The latter are glad to see a line of competent kings on the Iron Throne, regardless of their family name, but they have not been as constant a presence in the royal court as the Redwynes of old. Without a position in the Small Council or direct ties to the royal family, the Redwynes have opted to maintain their distance and focus on the politics of the Reach itself and their own trade relations with the rest of the world.

House Baratheon
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House Stark
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House Lannister
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House Martell
When Denys Redwyne sought to establish closer ties with Dorne, he was not unfamiliar with the ages-old enmity shared between his people and the Dornish. Yet he was a sailor by nature, a traveler, and where other lords of the Reach saw something threateningly foreign, he saw something invitingly exotic. He personally visited Sunspear many times over the course of his life, and spent almost a whole year touring the peninsula in its entirety. From his fascination with the Dornish people came an interest in trading with them, and from that interest came a personal understanding with Princess Arianne Martell and her successors. In exchange for gaining a significant foothold in Dorne's trade, Lord Denys promised to aid in Dorne's efforts to build a fleet of its own. Years later, Lord Denys and Prince Elio renewed that agreement through marriage, arranging for Lord Denys' grandson, Elyas, to wed Prince Elio's sister, Antona. Today, almost a decade after Lord Denys' death, and against the opinions of many other lords of the Reach, House Redwyne remains a true friend of House Martell.

House Arryn
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House Tully
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House Harlaw
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House Tyrell
Redwyne blood flows through the veins of Willas Tyrell and all of his descendants. The inverse, however, can no longer be said about the Redwynes. The line which shared blood with the Tyrells died with Paxter Redwyne and his children during the War of the Five Kings, and it was not Tyrell gold or Tyrell men that helped to rebuild the Arbor after the Ironborn devastated the island. In the decades since, the Arbor and Highgarden have lost the symbiotic relationship which had once defined them. No longer do Redwyne matriarchs work to restrain their Tyrell children's worst impulses. Redwyne ships and Arbor gold are not as readily available to the Warden of the South as they used to. Instead, the Tyrells and Redwynes are now held together by little more than the bond of vassalage, which the Redwynes mostly abide by with affable diligence. The Arbor pays its taxes and fights its liege's wars without fail, but anything else its people do in the service of Highgarden will usually be an expression of obligation to the legacy of Olenna Redwyne and her relentless devotion to House Tyrell, rather than any profound affection for the Tyrells themselves. That being said, Willemina Redwyne has proven to be somewhat of an exception to this rule, as she has become increasingly involved in Lord Florian's court, ostensibly due to a shared concern over maintaining peace in the realm.

House Hightower
The Arbor and the Hightower are bound together by gratitude, by blood and by marriage. Redwyne men drowned in the Whispering Sound while defending Oldtown from Euron Greyjoy's savagery. Hightower gold and men helped rebuild the Arbor after Euron Greyjoy's fall. All living Redwynes descend from Desmond Redwyne's Hightower wife. The current head of the Hightowers was born from a Redwyne mother. Decades of familial love and mutual recognition have left both houses intertwined, creating an unspoken alliance which is reinforced by pure practicality: much of the Arbor's wine and fruit must often pass through Oldtown before it can begin its journey into the mainland, as it is both the nearest and the largest port. And at the same time, the centuries have taught the great city and its rulers the value of the goods and trade that the Arbor can provide, as well as the protection that the Redwyne fleet can offer from any manner of threats from the sea.

House Tarly
Years of good trade and loyal service to Highgarden have fostered a relationship of mutual respect and goodwill between the Tarlys and Redwynes. Lady Willemina and Lord Bertrand, the current head of the house, are known to hold each other in high esteem, whereas her half-brother, Mychel, has developed a friendship of sorts with Ser Edwyne, the heir to Horn Hill.

House Lydden
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House Frey
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House Connington
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House Snowfyre
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The words of House Redwyne represent the true essence of their ancestral bloodline in more ways than one. Gilbert of the Vines taught his descendants the value of careful cultivation, of patience and shrewdness. Redwynes do not conquer or steal but, rather, they nurture. They create their own power by growing it from their own fertile soil and nourishing it over time as it slowly spreads its vines in every direction. This has been their method for centuries, and remains their method even today, under the Silvervine's ladyship. Therefor, it could be said the Redwynes do not covet the Iron Throne itself, or even Highgarden. What they covet is something more profound, something which they do not need a crown to possess: true material power, the power which drives everyday life, and the power to guide that same life towards a more prosperous future.

Willemina and her family wish to see the Arbor, the Reach and all of Westeros thrive. And to them, this is only possible through peace, ideally a peace in which they themselves are the ones who water the vines and the ones who reap the sweetest rewards of each harvest. Whatever the cost, whatever the means necessary, honest or otherwise, they will do what they can to either preserve or restore peace and plenty in the realm.

Lady Willemina Redwyne.

The Silvervine.

Twenty-seven.

Lady of the Arbor.
Captain of the Stargazer.

Born to a family famous for its bold sailors, gallant knights and venerable ladies, the young Silvervine has always been a notorious oddity. She is a brilliant woman, a prodigy since childhood, whose well-cultivated intellect sometimes astounds even some archmaesters of the Citadel, yet beyond that she also displays a very peculiar character. Often described by others as idiosyncratic, Willemina's nature is not one given to the charming propriety that is expected of noble ladies of the Reach. She is extremely candid, bordering on blunt, unaccustomed to sweetening her words for the sake of others. That does not mean she is unkind, when in fact she is remarkably affectionate, generous and trustworthy. Rather, she puts a lot of value on clarity and precision when sharing her thoughts, which tends to come off as her having a sharp tongue.

Like her grandfather, Willemina has large ambitions. Unlike her grandfather, however, her ambitions are not based on an appetite for exotic curiosities. As an avid student of all matters related to agriculture, trade, engineering and the natural world, her fascination lies instead in the pursuit of marvelous innovations and discoveries, whether they serve to amass greater riches or simply to understand the world a bit better. A lot of her interests are deeply personal, such as her fondness for astronomy, while others are influenced by an altruism of sorts. Like most Redwynes, she spent many days in her adolescence working in the vineyards of the Arbor with the smallfolk, learning about their daily lives, their labor and their ordeals. As she grew older, her experiences with them made her more sympathetic to their struggles than to the more selfish aspirations and grievances of her peers.

If there is a dark side to the Lady of the Arbor, it is her crippling difficulty in expressing consideration for the thoughts of others, even her own family. Often times, she will make decisions which impact others without consulting with them or even acknowledging their agency in the matter. She is loved by her kin, and she loves them back, but many a time she has shown that she can forget that they and others are people with wills of their own, rather than mere variables in her calculations, parts of the machinery of her endeavors. As the ruler of the Arbor, she plays politics like she plays cyvasse, with careful and deliberate moves, but willing to use any means necessary to achieve her goals. Thrust into a position of great power and responsibility at a young age, she suffers from an ever present, if rarely recognized, anxiety over exposing herself or her people to harm, a fear of showing vulnerability.

Highly intelligent and well-read, Willemina shows a deep understanding of a broad range of subjects, particularly in all matters related to commerce, farming and manufacturing. Better suited for large scale plans than spontaneous decisions, she is an exceptional strategist and an outstanding cyvasse player. Her unique personal style makes her quite well-liked by the smallfolk, even if she does not have her half-brother's charisma. Like most noble ladies, she was not trained to do battle in any capacity. However, like all Redwynes, she was taught to sail from a young age. Though she has yet to command her ship in war, she is a capable captain, skilled and confident enough to personally lead her fleet's trade missions overseas.

Mychel Flowers, her natural half-brother.
Myrmadora Redwyne née Pendaerys, her mother.
Leyla Redwyne née Caswell, her paternal grandmother.

Mychel Flowers
It would not be an exaggeration to say that Willemina loves her natural half-brother more than her trueborn Redwyne kin, and possibly more than she ever loved their late father. The two have been nigh inseparable since the day Mychel arrived in the Arbor, and even now they spend much of their leisure time enjoying each other's company, engaging in banter and arguing endlessly about the latest knowledge they have acquired. Willemina has been known to be fiercely protective of him, and he in turn has loyally served her as a confidante, advisor and occasional envoy. She trusts him with all of her secrets, and will move heaven and earth to defend his honor.

Aemon Flowers
Willemina's attitude towards her bastard cousin is different from her attitude towards Mychel, but only somewhat. She eagerly supported his training as a page, a squire and, finally, a knight. Once he was anointed, she granted him a small keep in the Arbor to call his own. From the moment he was born, she loved him as she loved all of her cousins and was adamant about his inclusion in the Redwyne household. But their relationship never reached the level intimacy and gleeful complicity that she shared with Mychel. To this day, Willemina seems to keep him at an arm's length, trusting him with command of some of her forces on land and sea, but not with her innermost thoughts.

Florian Tyrell
Willemina began her rule offering her liege little more than what her predecessor had: polite diligence and good trade, without the warmth of friends or kin. Soon, however, the two of them discovered an affinity for each other in their shared commitment to peace at any cost. And so, for the past decade, Willemina and Florian have cultivated an increasingly close collaboration between their houses. The Lady of the Arbor has become more and more active in Florian's court, providing Florian and his heir with her personal advice as well as her material support. Today, there is a mutual trust between her and her Lord Paramount, which grants her a fair degree of influence in Highgarden's politics.

Arthor Tyrell
Only one man has ever made the Silvervine feel truly, hopelessly infatuated. She first met Arthor at the age of eleven, when the Tyrells of Brightwater Keep visited the Arbor for her grandfather's nameday. Though they were still children then, too young to know much about amorous passions beyond what they could hear in songs, they liked each other well enough to form a quick friendship, nurtured over time through letters and rare meetings at grand events of the realm. But when Arthor visited the Arbor again, six years later, Willemina found herself craving another kind of bond with the young Blackrose, a desire which he reciprocated, sparking a largely secret romance which lasted for three years. Only Willemina's half-brother ever knew the full extent of her yearning for her wandering Blackrose, and of her growing fear that she was falling in love with him. And when Arthor left the Arbor for the last time, never to return again, only Mychel knew the reason why. As far as he or anybody else knows, Willemina has not loved any other man since, nor has she entertained any of her suitors more than is strictly appropriate. She has yet to speak to Arthor again, though she has been noted to discreetly ask after him in her own voyages.

Jorgon Hightower
Willemina has always had a complicated relationship with the eldest of her Hightower cousins. Even as children, she considered him too arrogant, too callous and too resentful. And yet he was also handsome and, much like her, very forthright. Ever since his father's untimely death, the two have been forced to work closely with one another, given their houses' shared interest in trade and prominent positions in Lord Florian Tyrell's court. So far, the result of these circumstances has been a playfully antagonistic partnership, in which Willemina and Jorgon will often speak and act as a unified bloc while, at the same time, keeping each other in check through what amounts to a friendly game of cyvasse in which the core pieces are two of the wealthiest houses in Westeros.

Markas Hightower
Jorgon's little brother and heir is, by far, Willemina's favorite Hightower cousin. Despite rarely seeing each other, she dotes on him, writing often and sending him all manner of books and scrolls as gifts. She appreciates his bookishness, his distaste for violence and, above all else, his concern for the daily struggles of the smallfolk. Although she cannot control his upbringing, she has at least attempted to influence it, to foment his better impulses and interests, perhaps hoping that he may one day be able to temper his brother's inclinations.

Bertrand Tarly
Contrary to what some might expect, Willemina seems to really like the Lord of Horn Hill. She sees his sincerity and compassion as rare virtues for a lord of his station, and appears to enjoy his boisterous nature a great deal. Her half-brother suspects that this is because he reminds her somewhat of her grandfather Denys, before the losses of his children made him a more subdued, solemn old man.

Mychel Flowers.

Twenty-one.

Captain of the Red Azalea.

Mischievous, hedonistic and disarmingly affable, Mychel Flowers could be easily confused with a wandering singer without a harp or a fool without motley, rather than a young lord. Yet beneath that vibrant surface is a young man who is unquestionably a Redwyne in all but name. Mychel is astute, curious and not one to make important decisions on a whim. He was raised in the Arbor as few noble bastards do, seldom being separated from his trueborn Redwyne kin, enjoying all the luxury and education a proper lordling could expect. And despite never being legitimized, even by his half-sister, he is neither resentful nor envious of her station. Having lost his father when he was still a babe, he has depended on his half-sister and grandfather for most of his life, and in turn he has repaid their love with loyalty. Mychel may not care much about his own reputation with the nobility, freely and gladly associating himself with the smallfolk instead, but he cares a great deal for his family, who he serves faithfully.

Since coming of age, Mychel has spent many of his days overseas, traversing the Seven Kingdoms and the Free Cities, indulging in all manner of delights and making friends with all manner of people. He has been rumored to prefer the company of men, although nobody has ever found enough evidence of it to cause a scandal. When he is not traveling for pleasure, or to find new historical artifacts for his collection in the Arbor, he is acting as his half-sister's advisor, confidant and occasional envoy. His personal charm and understanding of many foreign tongues and customs makes him one of House Redwyne's best negotiators and sources of information.

If there is one significant difference between Mychel and his half-sister, however, it is that he is not as comfortable with using others as pieces in a game of cyvasse. He is a lot more reluctant to sacrifice people's lives or standing for his or his family's ambitions.

Mychel Flowers is neither a knight nor a lord, having never had much interest in vows or land, but he is not without other talents. He might not be a particularly adept fighter, having abandoned his martial training while he was still a squire, but what he lacks in physical skill he compensates with his acuity and charisma. An avid student of history and decent cyvasse player, he remembers many of the winning strategies and tactics of the greatest battle commanders of the past. All the while, his cheerful, carefree demeanor and humility make him very popular with soldiers and sailors, who appreciate his willingness to speak to them personally, taking an interest in their individual lives, as well as his preference for rowdy celebrations. Like most of his kin, he is also an experienced sea captain, one who has had his share of encounters with pirates and smugglers.

Willemina Redwyne, his trueborn half-sister.
Leyla Redwyne née Caswell, his paternal grandmother.

Willemina Redwyne
Mychel has always had good relations with most of his family. Even his grandfather, the late Lord Denys, showed him a fair deal of fondness as he grew up. Yet it is indisputable that Willemina is his favorite, and has been since they were children. Beyond the love that they share as siblings, born and raised together despite Mychel's bastardy, over the years they have come to share a love for learning and a playful complicity in their navigation of the realm's politics. Mychel is loyal to his half-sister, even if there are times when he disagrees with her approach or her goals.

Aemon Flowers
As the two young bastards of the Arbor, Mychel and Aemon have forever enjoyed an unspoken companionship, despite their very different temperaments. It may have been Willemina who paid for Aemon's training to become a knight, and who gave him land to call his own, but it was Mychel who accompanied him to the mainland so he could compete in his first tourneys. It was Mychel who acquainted him with many accomplished knights so that they could counsel him, sharing tales of their deeds and the lessons learned from them. Even when Mychel is far away, the two keep a constant correspondence.

Edwyn Tarly
Mychel enjoys a casual but fairly constant friendship with the heir to Horn Hill. Despite their rather different lifestyles, the two found kinship in their shared preferences, which in time grew into a mutual confidence. Whenever they are near to each other, Mychel and Edwyn will try to meet in the nearest tavern and play a game of cyvasse while they recount their latest gossip. Mychel gladly offers the younger Tarly lad his moral support and protects his secrets.

Aemon Flowers.

Aemon Quicksilver.
Ser Saltflower.

Twenty-three.

Ser.
Captain of the Quicksilver.

Gentle and just, for much of his life Aemon has been driven by a desire to be the most virtuous person a bastard could be. As a boy, he became obsessed with becoming a knight, brave and true, like the sort his cousin Mychel read about in his books. He idolized heroes like Barristan the Bold and his own ancestor, Ryam Redwyne, but he was specially infatuated with his namesake, Aemon the Dragonknight. He trained as often and as hard as he could, spoke at length with every knight he met, and memorized his future vows for the day when he got anointed.

Since those days, Aemon has grown into an exemplary young knight of the Reach. He takes his oath to defend the innocent and the weak to heart, as well as his familial duties to House Redwyne. Many of his peers outside of the Arbor still disrespect him for his bastardy, giving him the sarcastic moniker of Ser Saltflower, but others who know him personally consider him a good man worthy of his title. He treats the smallfolk in his care fairly, loves his kin with all his heart, and whatever vices he might indulge in, he keeps them well-guarded. In a sense, he could be regarded as complacent, since it seems like his greatest delight in life is being a knight in and of itself, whether he is sparring with his cousins, competing in tourneys or riding into battle. As far as anybody knows, he does not yearn for legitimization, a proper lordship or any position of great political power and wealth, though some have jested that he may one day seek to follow in the Dragonknight's footsteps and join the Kingsguard.

That being said, deep in the recesses of Aemon's heart, there is a lingering shadow. Like the rest of House Redwyne, he does not know the identity of his father, nor his father's role in the death of his uncle Willas. The tragic mystery of his birth haunts him, and may well be his reason for not aspiring to much beyond his current station. He secretly mourns the mother, brother and uncle he never knew, and ponders the identity and nature of the man who caused it all. In a way, his relationship with Mychel is how he keeps himself from feeling utterly alone, forging a much needed bond through their shared orphanhood.

Few could question that Aemon earned his knighthood through his own merit, rather than his family's gold. He is a masterful swordsman, rider and archer, having learned much from some of the best knights in the realm. Even as a page, and later on as a squire, he showed a seemingly natural dexterity and agility, which has made him a formidable foe against those who rely more on brute force. He is not as much of a shrewd strategist as Willemina, nor is he as eloquent as Mychel, but his honorable attitude and skill in battle inspire a lot of confidence in the men he leads. Many find Aemon's fair looks alluring, however their appeal is tempered by his quiet, reserved dispositon outside of battle. He is a man of few words, and most of them lack Willemina's blunt sincerity or Mychel's captivating exuberance. Like the rest of his family, he was taught to sail from an early age, but he has never been as interested in life at sea.

Leyla Redwyne née Caswell, his paternal grandmother.

Willemina Redwyne
Aemon loves his lady cousin as he loves all of his Redwyne kin, but over the years he has become aware of the distance with which she treats him. Whether it is because of his character or the circumstances of his birth, he does not know. He serves her nevertheless, commanding some of her forces on land and at sea, and she always makes him feel welcome in her household. He only wishes that she would be more open with him, as she is with Mychel, so that he could better help her and their house.

Mychel Flowers
Aemon and Mychel have had an unspoken companionship since they were boys, caring for each other even when the paths of their lives began to diverge. Aemon is grateful for his cousin's unwavering support through the years, and repays his kindness in a myriad ways whenever he can. Ever since he was granted his own keep, Aemon has repeatedly had Mychel as his honored guest and lavished him with modest but heartfelt gifts. The two have often sailed the seas together, each commanding their own galley, and accompanied each other to tourneys and feasts in the mainland.