Sorry to mess everyone around but for personal reasons I'm having to bow out, I hope you all have a great time, sorry for taking up some key characters.
Name: Viserys Targaryen, Rightful Prince of the Seven Kingdoms and Prince of Dragonstone Age: 9 House/Affilitation: House Targaryen
Appearance: Mature for a child of only nine years, were he to encounter his brother once more, there would be little between the kinsmen. A typical child of High Valyrian stock, with purple eyes and silver-blonde hair. Not only is he tall for his age, Viserys holds himself with a more mature bearing, the events of his life putting an age to his eyes and mind that no child of nine should have, as with many children of the Dance.
Biography:
Viserys Targaryen was the last son of Rhaenyra. The last surviving child following his mother's miscarriage immediately after the death of his grandsire, King Viserys I. As with all of the Targaryen children, an egg was placed in his cradle alongside him, but failed to hatch, at least immediately. As a child Viserys spent most of his time with his immediate family upon Dragonstone, his mother's seat. Thus they were away from the capital when King Viserys died. At the age of seven, Viserys took little part in the fighting of the Dance, but his life would be irreversibly changed by it.
Later in the year both Aegon and Viserys were sent away to Essos aboard the Gay Abandon bound for Pentos. The ship never reached its destination, the fleet of the Kingdom of the Three Daughters intercepted the ship. The future King Aegon III was able to escape upon his dragon, but Viserys, with only an unhatched egg, could not do so. Showing clear initiative, Viserys disguised himself and hid his dragon egg, however, he was betrayed to those who had been sent to capture the future of Rhaenyra's line. Admiral Lohar took the young prince into his custody, taking the boy back to Tyrosh. To his family still fighting in the Seven Kingdoms, the young prince was dead, likely sent to the bottom of the sea along with his precious egg.
This, however, has not been the case. Viserys has spent the intervening years in a loop of changing fortunes, passed between the ambitious nobility of the Three Daughters and then, after its fall, the once again rivals of the three cities. At first locked away in the confines of the Lohar estate, after the disastrous naval conflicts of the Civil War and the fall from grace of the family, the young Targaryen fell into the hands of petty slavers, who attempted to twist the steadfast child to their ends. Such a fate was only prevented when the nobility of Tyrosh located him, recovering the valuable child through raiding the slavers' camp. Passed between various 'owners' even since then, of varying aim and care, the young boy now finds himself in a ship's hold, bound for Lys.
Your Head of House needs a Bio at least as long as Aegon's.
I'm going to be expanding all of my bios, just wanted to get the core events of their lives down in case any other players wanted to collab some history.
On that note if anyone wants to volunteer characters from their house to be the knights in Artys and Oswin's squire days that's open. Also willimg to change the house of Jeyne's husband if someone wants that connection.
House: Arryn of the Vale Green or Black: Black Recent History:
Normally somewhat isolated from greater Westerosi politics, House Arryn threw its might behind Queen Rhaenyra, daughter as she was of an Arryn. Despite snows blocking the usual passes out of the Vale, the fleet of Gulltown was used, along with many a commandeered fishing and trading vessel to bring the levy of the Vale into the war. Lady Jeyne, the Maiden of the Vale, now sits on the regency council for her young cousin. Her cousin and heir, Artys Arryn, commanded the armies of the Vale in the conflict and has joined his sister in the capital, while his younger brother watches over The Eyrie and Vale.
Name: Lady Jeyne Arryn Age: 32 Appearance:
Minus Magical Effects.
The current ruler of the Vale continues to present a visage apt for the 'Maiden of the Vale.' Born the granddaughter of both Arryn and Targaryen, Jeyne bears an amalgamation of their features. She is not as pale of skin as a Valyrian, but her blonde hair is far closer to the shining silver gold of the Targaryens then any pure Andal stock would bear. She is fair of features, with high, but not sharp, cheekbones and full lips. Her eyes are a bright blue, not the purple of her grandmother but bearing a certain mystical appearance akin to the High Valyrian. Her form is curvaceous rather than slender, especially after three decades and as many children. While she has not grown stout, to maintain the same silhouette she has in years past, she now wears much more structured gowns. Biography: Lady Jeyne was but a single year old when the mantle of the Vale was thrust upon her, Lord Victor Arryn dying at the hands of the mountain clans during the reign of Jaehaerys I. Still a child well out of her political wits upon his death, her regent, Lord Yobert Royce, took part in the Great Council in her stead. While the Vale was ruled for the following years through the long regency, the nobility and people of the Vale grew increasingly attached to the young girl at the head of its greatest family. The label of Maiden of the Vale that sprung up due to the young age of Jeyne took a new meaning as she aged, a sweet girl who proved herself more than charming to those noble households she was introduced to. From the age of twelve Lady Arryn took an increasing role in the governance of the Vale, even if Lord Royce remained Regent until Jeyne turned sixteen. Little time was wasted in aquiring a match for the most coveted hand in the Vale, a decision Jeyne was determined would benefit the stability of her realm.
In the end, the aged Orson Waynewood, uncle of the infant Lord Waynewood and Regent of Ironoaks was granted the honour. While the match secured the loyalty of a key bannerhouse of the Arryns, Orson may perhaps have been the only elegible man in the Vale to not be excited at the prospect of the Lady Jeyne. Her status as the apple of the Vale's eye was only further exentuated after it became clear she was pregant shortly after her marriage, to the previously childless (through two marriages) Waynwood. Unfortunately, both Jeyne and the Vale would grieve at the birth of a stillborn girl. Her husband would become increasingly distant. The number of occassions in which they shared eachothers' company became increasingly few, although regardless, the Lady Jeyne became pregant two further times in as many years, giving birth to two boys, Arthur and Jonnel. It was a mere year following the birth of Jonnel that Orson Waynewood would join the Seven, ambushed by the mountain clansmen after one of his few visits to his Lady wife. Few in the realm grieved.
This time of peace, full of small frustrations as it were, would come crashing down with the death of King Viserys. The Dance of the Dragons would have a particularly heavy toll on House Arryn, usually known for remaining aloof from the greater poltics of the realm, could not ignore the call of blood. When her cousin, the rightful Queen, called upon her to act, Jeyne called the banners of her realm and despite the snows of the Mountains blocking the passes out of the Vale, began the arduous process of deploying the levy to the conflict. While Jeyne remained far from the fighting, she took an avid role in using the resources of the Vale as best she could to support the war effort. For that reason, when it looked as if the Riverlands would become the sigh of the final pivotal battle of the war, Jeyne and her household temporarily relocated out of the vale, to Maidenpool, secure as it was in the hands of the blacks. This would prove a tragic decision, for rather than unite and face the might of Prince Daemon and the Riverlands, Prince Aemond and Ser Criston Cole could not reconcile their seperate approaches to the war. Cole took the Green army South, while Aemond settled to burn the Riverlands on his own. When the fires swept through Maidenpool, they claimed the lives of Jeyne's two sons, she herself only escaping the flames as Aemond was forced to withdraw due to the arrival of Daemon and his misstress Nettles. Daemon himself pulled the Lady Arryn from the collapsing holdfast, reconciling their conflict that had begun over Runestone years before, if only shortly in time for his final battle with Aemond later at Harrenhall.
Having lost so much and thrown so great a support into the war, Jeyne was adamant in her position to assist the eventual victor, Aegon III, in his early rule. Nominally, to make sure such a war could never agin arise to threaten the realm. But in her heart, Jeyne wishes to make sure that those who took up the cause of her sons' murderers should not profit from this new king's rule. While perhaps having less than her previously honest and noble intentions, Lady Jeyne has approached the position with her usual easy charm and good graces. The people of King's Landing are quickly developing a similar kind of affection for the Maiden of the Vale as her own people, the Vale, usually not known for such actions, providing grain relief, untouched as its fertile land was by the fire of dragons.
Name: Artys Arryn Age: 35 Appearance:
Artys is a warrior, that much is obvious. From his powerful build and generally simple sense of style, he has the air and bearing of someone who has spent far more time in camps and blooded fields then courts. Nevertheless, he is a handsome man, if a little unkempt for most of the nobility at court.
Biography: Much as the Maid of the Vale has spent the entirety of her life in the seat of politics, Artys has spent his, as soon as her were able, fighting for family and honour. Lacking any of the Valyrian blood that runs through his cousin's specific branch of the family, Artys took even more easily to the famed calling of the Arryns, to be the chosen of the seven, the first of the Andals. It is perhaps this inclination that led to Artys being taken on by Ser Marric Corbray as squire, shortly before he and an assembly of knights took part in an expedition to Andalos to recover ancient relics of the faith. Bandit kings, the environment and worse proved a greater threat than anticipated and after the span of nearly three years, they finally returned, cut down to three in number. Artys was knighted upon his return to the Eyrie and the surviving knights thus founded the Order of the Knights of Andalos, an order intended to comprise the greatest knights of the Andals first kingdom, the heroes of the Vale.
Once back in the Vale, he turned his mind as much to the command of men as to the art of combat. Thus, when his cousin required a trusted commander to lead the levy of the Vale away from home, Artys was the man who led her banners. The fighting proved as hellish and unforgiving as any of his far flung adventures and it required the true grit of the hardened soldier to push on the men of the Vale in their efforts to fight for the rightful Queen. While Jeyne watched her sons burn, Artys commanded the flower of the Vale's youth to its grave and so equally sports a fierce sense of righteousness and vengeance following the Dance. Even among those who fought for the Blacks, Artys finds cause to rail against. The Starks for one, who fought so late and caused chaos and blood to run through the streets of King's Landing, to name but one example. Artys is present for his cousin, his heroic stature with winged helm and family tabard a hallmark of Valeman chivalry, in the ruin and degredation of the Crownlands.
Name: Oswin Arryn Age: 29 Appearance:
Fairer than his darker brother , Oswin lacks some of his elder brother's stature, even if hardly appearing weak or small by other standards. His appearance is more refined and maintained, although still clearly hailing from the rougher lands of the Vale, than the opulent courts of the Reach and Westerlands.
Biography: Unlike his brother and cousin who have spent most of their lives within the Vale, Oswin was squired elsewhere, taking under the wing of a noble Reach lord and learning the ways of knighthood within the birthplace of chivalry. He has not forgotten his roots, but it is clear in his bearing the he is clearly influenced by such things. An accomplished jouster, as much as he is skilled in arms the actual business of war would be much better left to his elder brother. After being knighted, he remained outside the Vale, travelling the tournament circuit before the outbreak of civil war. He fought in the armies of his family, returning home in time to avoid being cut off to do so. He established himself well in the fighting, as brave as any in the charges of the thunderous Vale knights. When the war ended and it was clear Jeyne wished to remain in the capital to oversee the new king, Oswin suggested himself to act as regent in the Vale, to reconnect with the homeland he fought for, and to carve himself a niche in the family not already filled by his elder brother.