Member
RisingRobin
Noctis
Emberdawn2House Greyjoy of Pyke
We Do Not Sow
Synopsis
Cold northern winds are said to flow over the desolate island of Pyke, and enter the halls of Greyjoy, freezing their hearts and making them cold and bitter. The lords of Pyke, those who call themselves Greyjoy are known as the Lord Reapers of Pyke, they are vicious, unyielding, and pragmatic people, known for being tall and handsome and well built with hair as black as night itself. The Greyjoy family are high nobles on the Iron Islands, having named more kings through the kingsmoot than any other ironborn houses. Their seat of power is the fortress of Pyke, a crumbling ruin set upon the cliff sides of a similarly named island, a part of the iron island archipelago. The fortress is made up of three keeps, the latter two perched upon high outcroppings of rock extending from the sea, their only entrance being rope bridges leading from sturdy oak wood doors. The Greyjoys command vast fleets, and armies of rapers and revers, and consider themselves kings in their own right, but historical defeats have made them cowed to the Iron Throne, kept there by oaths of fealty.
Realm
The ironborn are a fierce and pragmatic people, referred to as the ironmen by the other kingdoms. They have made a reputation for themselves as being seaborne raiders, stalking up in the dead of night aboard flat bottomed galleys and pillaging hapless villages and unprepared keeps. The Greyjoys are no different from their smallmen raiders, only instead of a single ship of fifty men, they command entire fleets, and conquer cities instead of villages. Currently the Greyjoy army, and that of the Iron Islands is near five hundred ships strong, with the Greyjoy fleet itself numbering close to fifty vessels. Their manpower fully rallied is fifteen thousand men, raiders and killers each and every one. The wealth of the islands is not derived from the labor of Ironborn men. As their motto says the Greyjoy's do not sow. They pay the iron price for everything, taking what they consider rightfully theirs, or forcing thralls to do all the hard work. Crops do not grow well in the thin island soil, but the islands are rich in, iron, and mines worked by indentured servants are run day and night to supply the Greyjoy's their main source of income. Houses sworn to Greyjoy are House Wynch, House Weaver, House Volmark, House Twaney, House Goodbrother, House Blacktyde, House Farwynd, House Codd, House Botley, House Harlaw, House Humble, House Ironmaker, House Kenning, House Merlyn, House Myre, House Orkwood, House Saltcliffe, House Netly, House Sheppard, House Sharp, House Sparr, House Sunderly, House Stonetree, and House Drumm.
Important Members
Matton Greyjoy
Eighty-four years * Male * Lord Reaper of Pyke
Reputation
Matton Greyjoy is a frightening man. Even in his ancient years Lord Reaper of Pyke has an air of terror about him, with a single-minded madness to boot. He is neither cheerful, or humorous, and there is a coldness over his heart that blocks out all semblance of mercy. His people hate him, but he is wise, smart, and tough, and near impossible to kill, and brought about a Iron age for the Ironborn. He is a determined man, Matton, with his twisted face, and white beard and hair which had once been black are braided with dark iron rings. His voice is commanding, but raspy, and speaks as if every word is snarl.
Biography
Matton was very young when his older cousin Euron perished in the Battle of the Boiling Sea. Still, he remembered adoring and admiring his cousin, and Euron's children were bastards and illegitimates, making Matton Euron's heir. After seven years of learning how to fight Matton challenged Foruon Goodbrother to a duel, killing him and taking the title of king for himself. From that day on he dedicated his life to rebuilding the Iron Fleet, and preparing his army to challenge the Freehold once more. He set alliances, swore oaths of fealty, and readied the Ironborn for the chance to take the fight to New Valyria once more. In the meantime he spent his days training, preforming small raids on the coasts of Essos, and preparing his favorite grandnephew for the task of leadership. He'd grown old before their chance to fight the Freehold came, and instead, instilled all his passion, anger, and skill upon his grandnephew Ramjol.
Ramjol Greyjoy
Thirty-five years * Male * Grand Admiral of the Royal Fleet
Reputation
Ramjol Greyjoy is a man said to be of good humor and rye wit. He takes after his grandfather Euron in that way, though he lacks the sense of madness that Euron seemed to carry with him everywhere. He's as big and strong as he is clever, built like a bear, with shaggy black hair flecked in silver, and a short scruffy beard. Most men know him for being jovial one second, slapping a sailor on the back in a friendly way, congratulating him on a job well done, and the next strangling the same man with his meaty arms for failure. Its hard to tell when Ramjol is angry, there is always a smile on his lips, though a wise man can read the signs of where the smile changes from humor to fury. He laughs at death, and jokes at pain, and speaks with an authority that demands and expects instant obedience. It is fortunate perhaps, that he is bound by oaths to no longer reeve and raid the coastline of Westeros, as no man would want to see him assaulting their lands in the night. He's a tactful naval commander, less so on land, and partial to a mug or seven of ale.
Biography
As the grandson of Euron, Ramjol Greyjoy grew up around ships, and the ocean, and rough men. From as soon as he could walk and talk he was placed at the helm of a warship and taught the ways of the sea, how to tack, and row, and fight on a rolling deck. Ramjol was a bright student, and he was good at his craft. He learned everything he could as an Ironborn, and was noted for his talents, brought to Pyke by his granduncle to serve under him. Matton had never frightened Ramjol as the old man frightened others, and he scoffed when Matton leered at him with his twisted old face trying to scare him into submission. Perhaps it was this defiance, this laughter in the face of what most quailed before, or maybe something else, but the bonded well, better even than Matton to his own sons. This might have had something to do with Matton's sons sudden deaths, as one by one they died in their beds, or were pushed of horses or cliffs alongside their children. Whatever it might have been Matton named Ramjol his heir, to both Pyke and the Iron Islands, and for his part Ramjol didn't care if the means were sinister, the ends were to his liking. He grew tough, and smart under the tutorage of Matton, becoming his right hand man in all things. Groomed, for his own ascension to the seastone throne.
House History
When Balon Greyjoy began his rebellion all those years ago, he set House Greyjoy and the Iron Islands on a downward spiral that would last for more than four decades, corrupting the Ironborn, their culture and their ways, and making them subservient to a foreign power. All through a single full hardy act of rebellion. At first the Ironborn kingdom had done well for itself, burning the Lannister fleet in port at Lannisport, and laying waist to all that pursed them. But piece by the piece the Iron fleet fell apart, an dwindled until it was crushed by the Royalist navies. Than came the invasion, the toppling of Pyke's towers, and the capture of Lord Reaper Balon Greyjoy's only surviving son. For years after his disgraceful defeat at the hands of the green mainlanders, Balon fermented in his broken keep, plotting to turn his fortunes and raising his daughter Asha as his heir. Balon met his end however, before any action or rebellion could be enacted, by the hands of his own brother Euron Greyjoy. At the Kingsmoot Euron was elected high king of all the Iron Islands, over his competitor Asha Greyjoy, who swore she would kill Euron for murdering her father. Asha attempted to flee, but Lord Greyjoy captured her, and in the battle of the Shivering Sea she fell.
Balon's only surviving heir, ward of House Stark, Theon Greyjoy attempted to rally support from the northerners and reap vengeance upon Euron, but he found little backing, and he was considered tainted by the Ironborn. He might have been born of iron, but by the drowned god he was raised of green, and unfit to serve as High King. In the later years of Euron's rule Theon would once again attempt to break Euron's power through force, but his efforts were in vain, and he spent his days rotting Pyke's dungeons. Euron was focused on other things, namely his promise to seek out the dragon queen, and become her king, and rule all the seven kingdoms himself. His ambitions were scorned by the Targaryen, and he was turned away. Euron spent the next ten years pestering the the Freehold, burning their ships, and raiding their lands. It is said that he might have prevented the invasion of Westeros altogether in his day, due to the sheer number of ships he sunk, and damage he caused. For his pride had been injured, and his wrath was great.
Euron's tiresome raiding soon rose to the point where decisive action had to be taken, and the three dragons flew out escorting a large fleet and burned his ships where they hid in a sheltered cove, in a battle infamously known as the Boiling Sea, where friend and foe alike aboard the battling navies were purged by dragon fire, and steam rose hot into the air as the oceans frothed and bubbled from the immense heat. They left none of the Ironborn army alive to tell the tale, except a few, who made sure to tell the tale as much as they could. With Euron dead, and most of their army destroyed the Lords of the Iron Islands gathered yet again for a Kingsmoot, where a Goodbrother was elected King. His name was Foruon Goodbrother, and he served as King well for seven years before he was killed by Euron's younger cousin Matton Greyjoy in single combat. Matton was elected King in his stead, where he rebuilt the Greyjoy fleet. Much like his cousin, Matton was a suspicious, and insane man with ambition and passion aplenty. His heart burned for vengeance for his fallen King, and he enacted strict policies of raiding the coasts of the New Valyrian Freehold, while striking bargains, and forming alliances with the Iron Throne. He named his favorite grandnephew Ramjol Greyjoy as his heir, having murdered all his disloyal children and grandchildren in their sleep, and promoting him to Grand Admiral of the completed Iron Fleet, sending him to aid in the battle against the Freehold, by ferrying the Royal army across the Narrow Sea, and killing his hated enemy.
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