I miss writing. Alot. Journaling is all well and good, but there's something about creative writing. I get excited about it! So, here's to a year of doing what excites me. It's time for a change.
True, and it would also still make Jaden Cain relevant. Kings tend to die during nasty wars. And maybe Baldr decides a period of unrest is the best time to launch a raid deep into Brythunnian territory? It brings all our characters together, though maybe not all at once. Gotta love a good, old-fashioned dustup for bringing folks together.
Hmmm...give her until the end of the week and then move on? She could be with family or something due to the holidays. Might give us some time to come up with new story ideas just in case the 'Royal Assassin hunting the king's bastard' angle doesn't pan out.
I PMed Sonatina the other day, asking if she was still interested in this. I haven't gotten a response yet. Not sure what that means, but there you go.
Oh, I know we'll work something out, and I'm good with illustrating the state of the Heartlands for a few posts. I also know that interacting with other characters, played by other writers, is the bread and butter of RPing. No worries. Just brainstorming because I'm excited for this to get going. Also, I'm bored at Thanksgiving with my folks lol.
I like him. He brings a heavy Norse vibe to this that'll provide a nice contrast to the Medieval European Brythunnians. Although, I'm wondering how we're going to bring these folks together. I also think tracking down one of the king's bastards is a good starting point, but I feel like there needs to be some other shenanigans going on. Just throwing it out there, I'm all for the Crownlands and the Heartlands getting embroiled in some kind of conflict. Maybe not a full-scale war, but something nasty with serious ramifications.
A beautiful rose. Lazy, greedy, and pompous. The Lady Regent.
Name: Gwendolen “Gwen” Maddox-Vandemar
Gender: Female
Age: 25 years old
Occupation/Title: Lady Regent of the Heartlands, High Lady, and the Lady in Green
If someone asked a Heartlander peasant to describe what the average noblewoman looks like, most would mention Regent Gwendolen Maddox-Vandemar. The mistress of Castle Greenstone is the very embodiment of the typical rich and well-fed highborne. Like a princess out of a bedtime story, her honey-colored hair falls gaily about her shoulders whenever it's not gathered up in some ornate hairstyle. While Gwen's skin might not be as tanned as a serf's leathery hide, her love of horseback riding and gardening has darkened her complexion somewhat. The regent's eyes are a dazzling shade of blue and always seem to shine with merriment and warmth. Her voice, a lilting contralto, also brims with joyful enthusiasm.
The birth of her son, Baradin, has caused the once svelte Heartlander to gain weight. Coupled with her love of sweets and alcohol, Gwendolen's once curvaceous figure is starting to run to fat, and her domain's prosperity allows her to indulge quite frequently. Regardless, the high lady is considered by many to be lovely...and exceedingly wealthy. Her heart-shaped face is still beautiful, though the loss of her husband has forced her to mature a great deal in a small amount of time. The bags under her eyes are a testament to the many nights she has spent struggling with the burdens of her new title.
At any rate, Gwen can usually be seen wearing long-sleeved silk gowns or beautifully embroidered tunics and breeches. Her clothes are almost always dyed in various shades of green, a preference that earned her the moniker "The Lady in Green." Occasionally, she will add a red sash, representing House Vandemar's colors of red and green, or black gloves, a nod to the green and black heraldry of House Maddox, to her ensemble. Unknown to most, the high lady also keeps a small dagger in a leather sheathe strapped to her shoulder. Lastly, the highborne has surprisingly large feet and wears unobtrusive slippers or boots to hide them.
The Lady in Green is a generous and giving person. According to her mother, Lady Ingrid Vandemar-Traven, this has always been the case, though that's not entirely true. During her eight years of marriage to High Lord Maddox, Gwendolen was intentionally shaped and molded into a champion of the commonfolk. A heroine for all the disillusioned serfs to view as their mouthpiece in the glittering, dangerous world of the nobility. In their eyes, she could do no wrong, and this allowed Jastor to focus on the major issues facing his territory.
As the years passed, however, Gwen had an unexpected revelation. She relished the feelings of pride and self-satisfaction that only the heartfelt praise of others could provide. Now, Gwendolen would give away her favorite dress if she thought it might help a peasant family survive for a few weeks. It's not uncommon to walk into a Heartlander tavern and see carved wooden statues of the regent smiling down benevolently at the assembled patrons. Many serfs are even willing to die for Gwen, a fact that would undoubtedly make Lord Jastor Maddox smile. His plan worked.
Of course, nobody is completely selfless.
Gwen is incredibly protective of her immediate family, especially her mother and her beloved son. If anything happened to Ingrid or Baradin, she wouldn't hesitate to bring the full force of the Heartland's military down on the culprits. Overall, however, the high lady is a kind, if somewhat unworldly, aristocrat who prefers to spend her days amongst the commoners and noblewomen of her domain. Whether she's handing out bread to the beggars in the Whitecreek market or hosting yet another banquet, the highborne always throws herself into her appointed tasks with abandon. While she is also interested in ensuring the continued prosperity and safety of the Heartlands, the Lady in Green isn't afraid to delegate the less enjoyable tasks to others. More often than not, her Circle of Thorns, a council comprised of the leaders of the five Heartlander noble houses, is given these additional responsibilities. They are more than happy to help. After all, the more power Gwen gives away the more influential the nobles become. Since assuming the position of regent a few months ago, the Circle's members have widened their spheres of influence considerably. Some are even rumored to have designs on the Rose Throne.
Gwen is well-aware of this, but she simply doesn't care.
An unfortunate truth about the Regent of the Heartlands is that she's lazy and tends to focus almost entirely on the present. Is Lord Andras Howe, her most vocal detractor in the Circle of Thorns, banging on her bedchamber door with an army at his heels? No? Then Gwendolen will worry about curbing his attempts to gain support for his ascent to the Rose Throne after she finishes breakfast. Power has always come easily to Gwendolen, who was born into the two wealthiest houses in the Heartlands before she became high lady. Now, despite her youth and uncertain grip on the Rose Throne, she expects to be obeyed no matter what. This has left her with a notable lack of ambition. Why would she want to be queen when she can continue being the Regent of the Heartlands for the next eight years? Once her son turns thirteen and becomes High Lord of Castle Greenstone, she'll still be his mother. His wealthy and influential mother.
Lastly, Gwendolen is a coward, though she would never admit it. She has no formal combat training, and it shows whenever the Circle of Thorns asks her for new strategies to deal with the Heartlands' bandit problem. While she usually plays it off as a matter of no consequence, this issue was a point of contention between her and her late husband. The dagger she keeps strapped to her shoulder represents an unhappy compromise between the two of them. Regrettably, gluttony and a sense of entitlement have made the Regent of the Heartlands slow and complacent over the years. This could be her undoing if she was ever threatened by a coalition of nobles or an outside adversary.
Gwendolen was born to Lord Massen and Lady Ingrid Vandemar on a stormy summer evening in 939 AC. She was their only child, which meant she never had to compete for her parents' love and affection. Gwen was pampered and treated like royalty as soon as she was old enough to spell her name. And her parents could afford to give her whatever she wanted. Thanks to the numerous iron mines found throughout their lands, House Vandemar was impossibly wealthy and provided Brythunnia with some of the finest ore outside of the Dragon Mountains. In addition, Lady Ingrid's birth house, the ancient and renowned House Traven, kept the kingdom supplied with fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the year. They also owned the legendary Goldenbough Winery. Thanks to these profitable sources of income, the Vandemar Estate, which was built in a valley just outside Hawkfield, was a breath-taking and carefree place for a child to call home. Whether it was new toys or eager playmates, young Gwendolen wanted for nothing. Some servants living in the Vandemar Estate claimed the child was being spoiled, though they didn't dare say this within earshot of their noble masters.
Once Gwen's thirteenth name day arrived, she began her training in the womanly arts of needlework, managing household finances, planning feasts, supervising servants and gardening. The young aristocrat also showed a keen interest in horseback riding, though this probably had something to do with Geralt Kohl, a handsome stableboy from the Crownlands. Regrettably, Geralt was dismissed from the Vandemars' service in the winter of 952 AC...after he was caught in a hayloft with Gwendolen. Despite this incident, offers of marriage quickly poured in from the other Heartlander houses as soon as Gwen turned thirteen. The wealth and influence of House Vandemar was well-known, but the promise of also joining House Traven's ranks was too good to pass up. However, no matter how enticing or flattering the offers were, Lady Ingrid and Lord Massen made sure Gwendolen's suitors left dejected and empty-handed. They were waiting for an offer from the only house they deemed worthy of their daughter. House Maddox of Whitecreek, the ruling family of the Heartlands.
Not two weeks after Gwendolen's seventeenth name day, a courier from Whitecreek arrived. He was wearing the black and green tabard of House Maddox. The offer had finally arrived.
High Lord Jastor Maddox, a twenty-seven year old noble who'd ascended to the throne in 947 AC after his older brother died in a "hunting accident," wanted Gwendolen Vandemar as his wife. She became the High Lady of the Heartlands less than a month later. The combined influence of the Vandemar, Maddox, and Traven families all but guaranteed that House Fisk and House Howe would fall into line. And they did...initially.
After Gwendolen and Jastor's opulent wedding ceremony, the nobles began complaining about two major obstacles facing the Heartlands. First, they wanted the High Lord to send an armed force to deal with the bandit chieftain calling himself Roland the Red. Roland had been riling up the various bandit clans in the Heartlands for years now, and attacks on merchant caravans were getting worse with each passing week. It needed to stop. Also, Gwendolen needed to produce a male heir to claim the Rose Throne in case anything happened to Jastor. Normally, Jastor's younger brother, Fergus, would be considered the heir to the Heartlands, but he was filled with insatiable wanderlust. He hadn't been seen in Castle Greenstone for nearly five years. There was even a rumor making the rounds in Whitecreek's market that the younger Maddox had become the leader of the Stone Hearts, a ruthless and well-known band of sellswords. Needless to say, the matter of succession would become complicated if Jastor died without an heir.
After three years of promising his nobles all would be well, Jastor was relieved when Gwen found herself with child in 959 AC. He was less pleased by sightings of Rivanian soldiers in the Southern Marches. When the Northern War began in earnest, however, the Rose Throne's campaign against Roland the Red reached its climax. King Aedin's call to arms earned him a small contingent of House Vandemar's finest troops and nothing more from the Heartlands. High Lord Maddox's forces were too busy laying siege to the bandit stronghold of Fort Palatheon in the northern hills. While the citadel eventually fell, Roland the Red escaped and Jastor's army sustained heavy losses. Many devout Heartlanders claimed this was a sign of Mitras' displeasure with the high lord's decision to send so few men to assist the king. Whether this was the case or not, the bandit clans were scattered to the four winds, and the High Lord of the Heartlands returned to Castle Greenstone to tend to his pregnant wife.
In the first few days of 960 AC, Gwen gave birth to Baradin Maddox-Vandemar. The Heartlands finally had an heir. In spite of the wounds inflicted by Roland the Red and the Northern War, the Heartlanders rejoiced at the news. If the gossip in Castle Greenstone's servants' quarters was anything to go by, the high lord and high lady immediately started doing everything they could to have another child. The moans of pleasure alone could probably be heard in the streets of Whitecreek.
Shortly after Baradin's birth, however, Jastor began to lose weight while also suffering from sharp, unexpected chest pains. As he grew thinner and thinner, the Circle of Thorns, as well as other members of the Heartlander court, began to suspect the high lord was afflicted with the withering. The withering was a long-term illness that drained its victims of all vitality before killing them. It was rumored to be incurable. At the high lady's insistence, doctors were summoned from all corners of the land to see if something could be done. Sadly, none of their poultices and herbal remedies could halt the illness' progress. Knowing that his time among the living was limited, Jastor spent hours in Castle Greenstone's beautiful library with his wife, discussing what was going to happen once the he passed into holy Vanerheim. He tried to teach his wife what she would need to know to be a competent regent until Baradin came of age. Of course, there was so much to teach and not nearly enough time. A few days after Baradin's fifth name day, High Lord Jastor of the House Maddox died in his bed with Gwendolen tearfully holding his hand. Even Fergus, Jastor's younger brother, returned to Castle Greenstone to stand at his bedside. The imposing Stone Hearts ensured nobody disturbed the ruling family for a few days while they mourned the high lord's death and made the necessary funeral arrangements.
Unfortunately, time waits for no man, and this is especially true for those saddled with the burden of leadership. Fergus Maddox quickly proclaimed his disinterest in claiming the Rose Throne, and he proceeded to offer his oath of fealty to the Lady in Green. Speculation abounds as to why he did this, though the most popular theory is that the High Lady of Castle Greenstone slept with Fergus not long after her husband's demise. At any rate, terrified whispers are spreading across the Heartlands that Roland the Red has re-emerged and is rallying highwaymen, thugs, and unemployed sellswords to his banner. Merchants are clamoring for more patrols along the major trade routes in the region while the noble houses urge Gwendolen to take another husband. If Fergus has no intention of sitting the Rose Throne then Baradin will need a father to teach him what it means to be lead the Heartlands. Gwen does plan to remarry, though she's waiting for the best offer. While she waits, however, the opportunists are building support and putting their plans into motion. Perhaps the most disturbing rumor is that House Howe is scheming to put its own lord, Andras Howe, on the Rose Throne. In addition, the consequences of Lord Jastor's unwillingness to send more soldiers to fight in the Northern Wars have yet to play out. All signs point to the golden age of the Heartlands ending in the near future.
-House Colors are Green and Red -House Words are 'Our Power Blooms Forever' -Currently led by Lord Massen Vandemar and Lady Ingrid Vandemar-Traven -House Relationships: Maddox (Excellent), Howe (Poor), Traven (Excellent) and Fisk (Average)
-House Colors are Green and Black -House Words are 'We Fear No Evil' -Currently led by Lord Sebastian Maddox and Lady Caledra Maddox-Traven, though Lord Fergus Maddox is technically heir to both House Maddox and the Rose Throne -House Relationships: Vandemar (Excellent), Howe (Average), Traven (Above Average) and Fisk (Average)
-House Colors are Green and Orange -House Words are 'The Pack Never Falters' -Currently led by Lord Andras Howe -House Relationships: Vandemar (Poor), Maddox (Average), Traven (Above Average) and Fisk (Excellent)
-House Colors are Green and White -House Words are 'We Serve The Rose' -Currently led by Lord Walcott Fisk and Lady Alma Fisk-Howe -House Relationships: Vandemar (Average), Maddox (Average), Traven (Average) and Howe (Excellent)
-House Colors are Green and Yellow -House Words are 'Rising Like The Sun' -Currently led by Lord Olliander "The Paunch" Traven and Lady Bethany Traven-Maddox -House Relationships: Vandemar (Excellent), Maddox (Above Average), Fisk (Average) and Howe (Above Average)
-There are obviously some aspects of this image that don't work for Gwen. Firstly, her eyes are blue, not green. Also, she has a bit of a gut, and her hips are substantially wider than those of the woman below. Her skin is also a shade or two darker.
