Built into the slopes of the Golden Tooth Mountains, the grey-stone walls of Castamere appear disappointing and dwarfed against the tremendous peaks. It lies beside a small sapphire lake, with long shadows cast over it at dawn and dusk from the surrounding mountains. However, beneath the two stout towers and narrow hall connecting them, lies a vast catacomb and a cathedral. Once having been saturated with gold and diamonds, mined, and pried to form the Reyne’s great wealth, it now was sculpted into a vast, and impressive stronghold. Built-in tiers, a stairway of a thousand steps separates the deepest parts of the subterranean keep from the world above. Fresh water flows through aqueducts from the mountain peaks down to pools and aquifers beneath the ground, an elegant design that brings life into the depths of the mountain.
The Reyne’s overseer the land nestled between the Sunset Sea and the mountains, defending the coast from Ironborn raiders and patrolling the channel between the coast and Fairisle. They are rich in alloy, minerals, and precious gems, producing fine ceramics and weaponry in their many hearths, kilns, and forgeries. Very little of their land is arable, being made primarily of hard stone, and thus most of their food is brought in through trade with the reach. Fishing is a minor industry, made difficult by the vicinity of the Iron Islands and discouraging fishermen from taking to the sea. The most popular profession of the common people is to work the still active mines, with entire families living in tents and clay huts built against the mountain, and spending days pounding back-breaking stones for little pay. This allows the Reyne’s wealth to continue to accumulate, much of it in raw diamonds and gold ingot filling storerooms deep within their keep.
At their height, House Reyne can rally 2,000 bannermen, though the difficult terrain of their land makes organizing their troops more challenging and time-consuming. However, they can afford to arm their men better than most, and the rough terrain means direct invasion by a larger army would be a difficult task for those unfamiliar with the mountain range. They aren't so separated from the rest of the Westerlands to be a distinct culture of their own, but there is a definite local identity amongst the mountaineers of the lands above and beneath Castamere.
As the warm air off the Sunset Sea hits the high, rugged peaks of Castamere, it crowns the mountaintops with thick, near-constant clouds. It rains more days than it doesn't, feeding countless lakes, ponds, and importantly, the Tumblestone, the Red Fork, Blackwater Rush, and the Mander Rivers. Fair Isles earns its name not because the weather is particularly agreeable, but rather the relative sunshine compared to the mainland near Castamere.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
Wealth
Strong Local Identity Amongst the Common people.
Access to Ore
Access to Coal
Besiege Defense
Weaponry
Natural Defensible Territory
Weaknesses
Quickness to Arms
Threat of Ironborn
Unable to grow their own food
Relatively small population
Most of their ships are occupied defending the coast from the Ironborn
Trade routes are difficult by land and vulnerable by sea.
Recent History
About twenty-five years ago, it would appear the Reynes were gaining influence amongst the greater houses in Westeros, with the marriage of the second son, Alister, to Lady Lyssa Arryn. It was a love match, and ultimately resulted in the marriage of Josefine Arryn, Lyssa sister, to the heir of house Reyne, Mattias. For the next ten years, Josefine would go on to mother two sons and two daughters for Mattias, and on all accounts was a dutiful wife. However, during her final pregnancy, Mattias bedded her handmaiden, Lorelei from Lys, which resulted in the woman falling pregnant as well.
Five years would pass before Josefine Reyne would discover what many already rumored, that her servant's child and companion to her own daughter, was sired by Lord Reyne. The shame of this betrayal was severe for Josefine, and she was driven mad by the constant whispers and snickers of the ladies around her, many of whom she had considered friends, all the while being mocked as soon as she was out of ears-reach. She returned to the Vale to seek comfort and distance from Mattias and his bastard, but never found sleep in her childhood home. Before the first night had passed into dawn, it was said Josefine, in desperate grief, threw herself through the moondoor and disappeared into the clouds below. No one witnessed this, nor did they ever discover her body, but in the morning it was all they could assume happened when the moon door was open, and the Lady was gone.
When her room was searched, it was discovered that the chests she had packed were all empty, and that the Lady Reyne had left no note behind after she'd gone. Mattias would discover, upon receiving a raven of her departure, folded gently in the drawer of her vanity, her final words, the words of his house.
"Never Without Pride"
Though ten years have passed since the Tragedy of Lady Reyne, Lord Reyne's abrupt withdrawal from society and the years of weakness afterward have followed the family and made for good gossip even in their absence.
Now, Lord Mattias Reyne, sick with shame and realizing his life will soon be over, tasks his eldest son, Tyler with the demanding matchmaking of himself, his brother, and his two sisters, who all should have had betrothals arranged years ago but due to Mattias' negligence and refusal to meet his shame, have not.
Members of Family & Relevant Associations
1st Generation
Lord Robert Reyne | Lord of Castamere, 60, deceased for twenty years, Father to Mattias, Alister, Reya Lady-Mother Aemmalyia Reyne | Born Aemma Tarth, Lady of Castamere, 70, Mother to Mattias, Alister, Reya
2nd Generation
Lord Mattias Reyne | Lord of Castamere, 50, Father to Tyler, Lyssandra, Addison, Aemma, and Katalin Lady Josefine Reyne | Born Josefine Arryn, Lady of Castamere, 29, deceased for ten years, Mother to Tyler, Lyssandra, Addison, and Aemma The Handmaiden Lorelei * | Born in Lys, Mother to Katalin, 40, Disappeared upon word of Lady Josefine's death
Ser Alister Reyne | Castamere's Master-of-Arms, 48, Brother to Mattias & Reya, Father to Robb, Johanna, and Micah Lyssa Reyne | Born Lyssandra Arryn, Sister to the late Lady of Castamere, 46, Mother to Robb, Johanna, and Micah
Reya Reyne | Betrothed to Rylen Tyrell, Sister to Mattias & Alister, deceased for 17 years, 20, No Children
3rd Generation
Mattias' Line
Tyler Reyne | First-Born Son, Heir to Castamere, 26, Brother to Addison, Lyssandra, and Aemma
Addison Reyne | Second-Born Son, 22, Twin of Lyssandra, Brother to Tyler and Aemma
Lyssandra Reyne | First-Born Daughter, 22, Twin of Addison, Sister to Tyler and Aemma
Aemma Reyne | Second-Born Daughter, 15, Sister to Tyler, Addison, Lyssandra, and Katalin
Katalin Hill | Illegitimate Daughter, 15, Sister to Aemma, Unacknowledged by other half-siblings and father
Alister's Line
Ser Robb Reyne | First-Born Son, Respected Knight, Wielder of Red Rain, 28, Brother to Johanna and Micah, Father to Cole and Jeyne Odella Reyne | Born Odella Peake, 20, deceased for quarter-year, Wife to Robb, Mother to Cole and Jeyne
Johanna Reyne | First-Born Daughter, 19, Sister to Robb and Micah
Micah Reyne | Second-Born Son, 17, Brother to Robb and Johanna
4th Generation
Robb's Line
Jeyne Reyne | First-Born Daughter of Robb, 7, Sister to Cole
Cole Reyne | First-Born Son of Robb, 4, Brother to Jeyne
Age: 70 years
Appearance:
Description & biography: Age has not yet taken Lady Aemmalyia’s presence-of-mind from her. At seventy years, very few remain so sharp and guarded as the former Lady of Castamere. Other than her namesake granddaughter, she is Katalin’s only advocate. She and Josefine never got on, and there is a similar tension between her and Lyssandra as well. It is clear she favors Alister to Mattias, openly stating her disappointment for the latter, especially in the recent years with his scandal and the ensuing depression.
Name: Lord Mattias Reyne
Age: Fifty Years
Appearance:
Description & biography: In his youth, Mattias was known to be a friendly, though short-sighted man. He and Josefine had never been a love match, arranged because Lyssa and Alister had fallen in love, at a tourney as a matter of fact, and it was important to their father to avoid the faux pas of marrying his younger son before his first. So, a more clever man than Mattias, he negotiated the dual betrothal of daughters to sons, and built what he thought would be an inseparable bond between Reynes and Arryns for generations to come.
Lord Robert Reyne thankfully died before he had to watch his son poison that allyship, humiliating Josefine and himself, and both their houses as a result. After Josefine's death, he became a much angrier man, unable to cope with his own shame and failing in his most primary duties. The children- Tyler fifteen and Aemma only five, were neglected by him, and thus all but Tyler, lack a close bond with him. Thankfully for Castamere, Alister serves loyally in his stead, allowing his brother to willow further and further into his guilt and depression.
Weak of body, spirit, and mind, Mattias spends most of his time in his own chambers, deligating his powers to his lessers and wallowing in self-pity and bursts of intense anger. His health has grown especially poor currently, and he himself is preparing his children for his death now that he's realized he'd squandered his chance to prepare them in his life.
Name: Lady Josefine Reyne
Age: Deceased at nine and twenty years
Appearance:
Description & biography:
Josefine’s memory has faded in the decade since she’d departed. If not for the portraits, it would be a wonder if her children could even recall her face. There’s no confirmed truth around the events leading to her death, but plenty of rumors fill in the gaps, whispers of the moon door and how she must have plunged through it.
Name: Tyler Reyne
Age: Six and Twenty Years
Appearance:
Description & biography: Tyler was born with a yoke looming, knowing that he would be heir to Castamere, and as a younger boy, he had been delighted by the promise of prominence that came with that responsibility. It was not until he grew older, and began to see the failures and frail humanness of his own father, that he became to dread the day he would inherit Castamere and be expected to answer the same impossible riddles as Mattias. He is more short-tempered, more stern, more serious, than his younger brother Addison, yet still feels inadequate and boyish when beside his elder cousin, Robb, whom he admires and envies all at once.
Tyler desires to be a good Lord, to rule with fairness and consideration his father never could, but so overwhelmed by his station, already the young man feels he has begun to fail.
Name: Addison Reyne
Age: Two and Twenty Years
Appearance:
Description & biography: Addison is the most charismatic and extroverted of Mattias five children, always seeming to know something funny that left a perpetual, carefree smirk upon his face. His attitude serves as a compliment to his twin Lyssandra, who's manner is far more reserved and at times, icy. He serves as squire to Sir Robb, and remains frustrated by his cousin's stringent requirements in bestowing Addison's knighthood. From the younger man's perspective, he has earned the title- and while there are many knights who would have given the boy the honor years ago, Robb valued too much his own prestige and honor to do so while still believing Addison to be lacking. The boy is a decent swordsman, but his flirtatious spirit and unfocused nature gets in the way of dedicating himself to his craft.
Name: Lyssandra Reyne
Age: Two and Twenty Years
Appearance:
Description & biography: Lyssandra, or Lysa, is the first-born daughter of Mattias, and she grew up being constantly praised for her courteous manners next to her clownish brother. Even as a young girl, she had been much like her mother, understanding expectations and speaking with a matter-of-factness that always seemed formal no-matter the occasion. She took her mother's death perhaps the hardest, and resents Katalin the most, hating that her mother was gone but her father's bastard remained. Even as she's gotten older, Lysa still struggles with that resentment though she's beginning to resent her father more fervently as he fails her time and time again.
She considers herself the cleverest of her siblings, and her self-importance can come off to some as inflated and unbecoming.
Name: Aemma Reyne
Age: Five and Ten Years
Appearance:
Description & biography: Aemma is Josefine's last child, named after her paternal grandmother and considered the baby of the family given the seven years between her and the twins. Even as a little child, she demonstrated a sort of shyness and anxiety most children lacked. Her fearfulness only grew more terrible when at five, she became motherless and her father withdrew into his own struggles. She is plagued by nightmares and terror-driven delusion. Often, she crept through the cold, consuming walls of Castamere's subterranean keep in the dead of night to Katalin's bed chambers, to seek comfort from the only one in her life to consistently provide it.
While most might expect that Aemma would blame Katalin as many others had, but their kinship was quite the contrary. Katalin is a closer sister to her than Lyssa, and Aemma relies on her as a confidant, a friend, and a witness to her vulnerable moments of unfettered craze and disorder without judgment.
Aemma is by all public accounts a quiet, kind, and well-mannered young woman, if a bit odd and awkward even for a girl of her age. She is fascinated by geography and cartography and possesses a keen memory for distances and minor details most would find niche.
Name: Katalin Hill
Age: Five and Ten Years
Appearance:
Description & biography: The bastard daughter of Lord Mattias Reine and the handmaiden Lorelei, Katalin lives between two words. Among her half-siblings and father, she is an interloper, only tolerated but never wanted. And among the servants and common people, she is looked down upon for her perceived privileges and the sin of her adultorous birth.
Her only friend is Aemma, and Katalin holds an absolute loyalty to her sister for the cherished bond between them. She is thankful that they can take care of each other, though anxious as she knows the day Aemma will be married off approaches, and they'd surely be separated.
Katalin is the more practical of the two of them, knowing at least a bit about the ways of their world while Aemma is far more sheltered and clueless.
Name: Alister Reyne Age: Eight and Forty Years Appearance:
Description & History: The only brother of Mattias, Alister serves as Castamere's Master-at-Arms and often-times stand in Lord when Mattias disappears into his depression. He is a rational and serious man, but a fair one and clearly the mold from which Robb's own honor was forged. Lyssandra and he share a love match, and it was their relationship which resulted in Josefine and Mattias' pairing.
He has spent most of his adult life defending Castamere's coast from the Ironborn, and holds a deep grudge for any ironborn he encounters, given the atrocities committed by their raiders.
Name: Lyssandra (Lyssa) Reyne Age: Six and Forty Years Appearance:
Description & History:
Lyssa, born in the Eerie and the elder sister of Josefine, shared many traits with her dearly departed Josefine. The women had been close since girlhood, despite Lyssa's sizeable seniority. In many ways, Lyssa stood in for Josefine as a mother, sharing her wisdom, her knowledge, and most cuttingly, her judgment. She met Ser Alister at a tourney, and despite the great distance between them, the clever girl Lyssa had been, managed to ensure their marriage, and because Mattias too needed a wife, Josefine came to the Westerlands as well.
Since her sister's death, Lyssa has been greatly affected, broken-hearted, and regretting the last words shared between them. She blames herself for not preventing it- but blames Mattias chiefly for his sin, his cowardice, and his hand in pushing Josefine toward the moondoor. She tries to stand in as a mother for Josefine's children, looking out for them- but still lacking the closeness and warmth that their birth mother might provide. She is a stern aunt, caring but cold to the exterior- not dissimilar to her disposition with her own children.
Name: Robbert (Robb) Reyne
Age: Eight and Twenty Years
Appearance:
Despection & History: Robb Reyne has made perhaps the proudest name for himself of all the living Reyne's, as an accomplished, and honorable knight. He is a man of good nature, steadfast in his morals and as trustworthy a man you may ever meet. It has been months since the death of his wife, Odella, and the young man mourns dutifully as a loving husband, now supporting two young children without their mother. He has no interest in remarrying, though there is pressure to from his mother.
He carries much respect for Daemon Blackfyre, though at this moment remains also a servant to the crown.
Name: Johanna Reyne
Age: Nine and Ten Years
Appearance:
Description & biography: The only daughter of Alister and Lyssa, Johanna is a friendly and comely girl. She admires her cousin Lyssandra, but doesn't carry the same attitude- perhaps because of the subtle and unspoken competition between them and Lyssandra's superiority to her turning the girl into someone less confident, though still eager and hopeful.
She is close with Micah.
Name: Micah Reyne
Age: Seven and Ten Years
Appearance:
Description & biography: A boisterous and bold boy, Micah takes much after Addison, though more appropriately aged for his antics. He is a squire as well, and spends much of his time practicing with his brother and cousins, as well as any of other young and war-fantasizing boys training with them.
He holds a fondness for Katalin, though their childhood romance is a secret thing between them, even Aemma, and Johanna being quite oblivious to any subtext between them.
Name: Jeyne Reyne
Age: Seven Years
Appearance:
Description & biography: Robb's eldest daughter, she is as animated and curious as any seven year old. She's not quite processed her mother's death, often asking Robb when she was coming back, as much as he's tried to explain that was never happening.
Name: Cole Reyne
Age: Four Years
Appearance:
Description & biography: Cole speaks well for a toddler, though he's still learning. Both children are well-mannered, besides for occasional tantrums and naughtiness that all little children succumb to.
Name: The Handmaiden Lorelei
Age: Three and Forty Years
Appearance:
Description & biography: Like Josefine, many rumors circulate about the handmaiden Lorelei. Some say she was Josefine's closest friend, that Josefine had freed her from a brothel in Lys. Others claim Mattias purchased her from Lys with her trade in mind, and her only role had been for his adultery. Since she disappeared ten years ago, the stories have only gotten more convoluted, and even her daughter, Katalin, struggles to know who Lorelei had been before she disappeared. To her, she had just been her mother, though having heard all the conspiracies and hate, the girl lived in shame for the next ten years of her life.
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