Blood and Wine
Lord Denys of House Redwyne, Lord of the Arbor, died in his sleep in the year 275AC at the age of two-and-fifty. His wife, Lady Rohanne of House Rowan, followed him in the same manner just a year later despite being more than ten years younger.
The pair’s only daughter, Lady Bethany, was married to her cousin, Lord Mathis of House Rowan, Lord of the Goldengrove.
Her younger brother, Ser Desmond, was married to lady Denyse of House Hightower until his death in the year 313AC. His wife mourned him deeply and followed her bellowed three years later.
Their oldest son, Ser Denys, was married to lady Sansara of House Tarly until her death in the year 339AC. He also managed to linger for three years after that before he too succumbed to his broken heart.
Both of their sons married common-born women.
Their firstorn, Ser Matthos, is married to lady Bressa. Their only child, lady Sylvina, is married to Ser Abelar of House Fossoway (red branch), who is in line to inherit the Cider Hall.
Ser Matthos’s brilliant-minded, but restless and unrealized younger brother, Ser Tanton, is married to lady Sheralla. Their daughter Galissa is married to Rickard of House Stackhouse.
Ser Desmond’s second son, Ser Ottyn, is also married to a common-born woman. His marriage with lady Celessa is unfortunately childless, probably due to Ser Ottyn’s affinity to the company of men rather than his wife.
Ser Desmond’s youngest son, Ser Portifer, was married to yet another common-born woman, lady Gelenna, and married another one after his first wife’s death. His new wife, lady Patricia, is almost ten years younger than his own son.
Said son, Ser Alan, is married to lady Allene, who is, as dear reader might have guessed, is also of common birth.
The main branch of House Redwine continued through Lord Deny’s firstborn son, Lord Paxter. He was married to Lady Mina of House Tyrell, herself a daughter of a famous Redwine Queen of Thorns. It was another marriage of love and dedication, so it is no surprise that Lady Mina soon followed her bellowed husband after his passing in the year 315AC.
The pair’s only daughter, lady Desmera, was married to Ser Merrell of House Florent, and that family unfortunately had their fair share of tragedy that started with the death of their firstborn infant son, Ser Merrell’s mutilation sickness and subsequent death and finally the tragic accident with their second son. To her credit, lady Desmera lived through it all with a stoic endurance and died peacefully in her sleep at the age of two-and-sixty.
Her younger brother Hobert went the same road as his cousin, Ser Ottyn, and remained childless throughout his marriage with Tylarra of House Tyrell (distant branch). After her recent death however, Hobert found himself wishing for a son of his own, despite being almost a father-like figure to many of his kinsmen.
Hobert’s older brother, Ser Hobber, did manage to have a son and a daughter with his wife, lady Lucia of House Inchfield. This pair died in the same year, but it is said that this time the culprit was not some romantic love, but a love for food and other excess.
The pair’s daughter, Lady Elyse, was married to Lord Lyman of House Chester, Lord of Greenshield, until his tragic death of an aneurism brought by his severe social anxiety. Fortunately he did not witness the mess his son’s made, but more on that later.
Lady Elyse’s younger brother, Ser Edgar, is also a mess. His wanton ways brought the doom of a brothel disease both to him and to his poor wife, lady Sylvina the Red Oak of House Oakheart. She did not know the nature of her ailment at first, so in her desperation she consulted with any and all types of healers, going as far as to consult the ones condemned by the Seven, the deed that brought the wrath of the clergy upon her and forced her husband to confess his misdeeds. After the nature of their affliction was revealed, lady Sylvina broke all contact with her husband and went back to her ancestral home. Ser Edgar had now fully succumbed to the disease and will live out the remainder of his miserable life a mumbling halfwit.
Fortunately Ser Edgar contracted the disease after the birth of his children, so they did not inherit any unwanted gifts from their father.
The daughter, Lady Carellen, tall and lean like her mother, married quick-witted and handsome Lord Richard of House Tyrell, brother to the current Lord Paramount of the Reach.
The son, Ser Lyonel, married much humbler, to lady Elwene of House Lowther, and even that was troublesome to arrange due to Ser Lyonel’s inclinations.
Lord Horas the Bladesman was Ser Hobert’s and Ser Hobber’s oldest brother and the next Lord of the Arbor after the death of their father, Lord Paxter. Lord Horas was married to Lady Elinor of House Stackhouse until his death in the year 333AC at the age of three-and-fifty. His wife wore her mourning attire for the remaining years and cried herself to death in the year 339AC at the age of sixty.
But it was not the death of Lord Horas’ death that brought Lady Elinor’s misery. It was her daughter’s.
Lady Rosalei was the firstborn child and the only daughter of Lord Horas and Lady Elinor. Hot-tempered, but easily influenced, she was led astray by Captain Olyvar, a passing dornish sellsword much older than her, and ended up following him on the road. She bore him a son, Ser Griffith, but soon after Captain Olyvar died under somewhat questionable circumstances. Lady Rosalei then met another sellsword, Captain Lyonel the Scholar (who claimed to be related to the House Fossoway with nothing to back up this claim). She married him as well and ended up all the way across the Narrow Sea. She bore her new captain two children and died from a bloody flux at the age of eight-and-thirty. Her hedgeknight husband mourned her deeply and died from a broken heart ten years later.
Lady Rosalei’s son by her first captain, Ser Griffith, decided to abandon his sellsword ways and swore fealty to the Prince Rhaegar of Dragonstone himself and eventually was given a command of the Sea Dragon Tower garrison. Ser Griffith is married to lady Ormane, a former camp follower, who unfortunately is paying the heavy price for her past. To make matters worse, the pair’s firstborn daughter Ariana was born afflicted by a cancerous tumours and succumbed to their poison at the tender age of just six-and-ten.
Lady Rosalei’s children from her second captain are leading two very different lives.
Her son, Ser Parmen, stayed with the Hedgeknights after his father’s death and currently serves as their treasurer. A handsome man, he could have had almost any pretty smallfolk girl, but instead he married his childhood friend, a homely urchin named Elyn.
Lady Samantha, Ser Parmen’s sister, did not stay with her father’s comrades. During one of the hedgeknights’ tours to the far east, she met Shah Halil of Faros island and managed to seduce him despite her unfortunate features and reclusive nature. She even went so far as to convert the man into the faith of the Seven and somehow convince him to get officially married, no small feat considering her own critical stance towards religion and the shah’s cruel and egocentric nature. Lady Samantha had three children with the Shah. Their son Wossam became the Shah of Faros after his father’s untimely death from the grey plague at the age of just five-and-twenty. Noblemen of Faros then accused lady Samantha of leading their leader astray and thus inviting the plague, so they seized the children and exiled their mother from the island. It is unclear how exactly did she end up in the northern plains beyond the Hyrkoon, but the scarce reports from the steppes suggest that she might very well be “the pale woman without lips” that is often seen with a young jogos nhai.
But let us go back to the Arbor and talk about the sons of Lord Horas the Bladesman.
His youngest son, Ser Paxter, is happily married to lady Elwene of House Chester. Lady Elwene is in fact a daughter of a fellow Redwine, Lady Elyse, Lord Horas’ own niece. Lady Elwene’s two brothers had a gruesome quarrel upon their father’s death that resulted in an abhorrent act of kinslaying when Lord Rolland, firstborn son and successor, managed to convince the High Septon to excommunicate his brother, Ser Meryn, and then executed him for the “affront to the Seven”, thus ironically becoming such an affront himself.
Ser Paxter and his Lady Elwene however do not stir any drama. Their only child, lady Melina, was first married to Ser Steffon from the barely emerging minor house Chetwood. He was the only son of Ser Thaddeus Chetwood, Commander of the Oldtown city watch, himself the only son of the late Commander Simon of the Hightower Vaults, the founder of house Chetwood. With young Ser Steffon’s unfortunate and very unexpected death however house Chetwood is headed back into obscurity. Lady Melina recently remarried to Ser Lyman of House Lyber, heir to the castle of Caltrop Hill.
Ser Vortimer is Lord Horas the Bladesman’s second son. He is married to lady Wylla of House Dayne (of Starfall). Ser Vortimer has been devastated ever since the pair’s only daughter’s tragic death at the age of eight-and-twenty. It also triggered her mother’s illness to rapidly deteriorate, so barely-functioning Ser Vortimer every days musters his last drops of strength to try and console his bedridden wife in what seems like her own last days and maybe of his own. Redwine maesters are very concerned and find that this affliction of the soul seems to resurface rather often in this family.
The current Lord of the Arbor is Lord Otto, also called the Bladesman like his late father. Lord Otto is married to Lady Shealla of House Tarly. Their marriage now seems like one of mutual love, but it was not so from the start. Their firstborn son was born in the right time after the bedding ceremony so his paternity does not seem questionable, but two miscarriages that Lady Shealla unfortunately endured after that could not be fathered by her lawful husband as he was away at the time of their presumed conception and Lady Shealla was seen spending a lot of time with her father-in-law. But it would seem that the pair was able to live past this unseemly affair, be it truth or slander, and had three more sons together.
Their youngest, Ser Alyn, is married to lady Vanera of House Grimm. They make a peculiar pair where the heavy-set Ser Alyn seems a proper giant with his tiny, almost child-like wife beside him.
Ser Alyn’s brother and Lord Otto’s third son, Ser Leo, is currently serving with the sellswords of The Bright Banners company. His bellowed wife, lady Alysanne of House Hewett, eagerly awaits him back. The pair tires to stay in touch by the use of letters that they send each other with every opportunity, and lady Alysanne often tells their young son about his father’s daring exploits beyond the Narrow Sea.
Ser Otto the Younger is Lord Otto’s second son. With his first wife, lady Melanna, he unfortunately did not get to live together even for a year. Soon after the wedding the pair decided to go for a leisurely tour on the mainland, but their small party was ambushed soon after they made landfall. The brigants utilised the dogs in their attack and poor lady Melanna was badly bitten by one of them. Although eventually Ser Otto and his knights managed to fend off the attack, it was too late for lady Melanna and she died soon after in excruciating agony. Ser Otto mourned his young bride for more that ten years, but eventually he remarried to lady Alerie of House Oakheart. Some say he chose her not only for her kind and honest nature, but also because her tall stature reminded him of his long-lost first love.
Ser Barquen is Lord Otto’s firstborn and heir. He is married to the rather prolific lady Marella of House Hightower.
Unfortunately the pair’s firstborn son, Ser Eden, died in the same fashion as his uncle’s first wife, although the circumstances when he sustained his fatal injury were a little more common. He was bitten by a rat in the wine cellars and thus Ser Eden was no more.
The current heir’s heir is Portifer, a soft-hearted boy of five-and-ten. He recently got married to the brave young lady Vanera of House Fossoway (green branch). They both “squire” for the household knights and take lessons in swordplay, but none have any particular skill in it as of yet.