House Gelway

“Endure without Complaint.”

House Gelway, led by the pious and forthright Lord Halvdan, is a minor house that controls Redgrass Field, a grassland that was the site of the Battle of Redgrass.

Life of Tancred and the Founding of House Gelway
The house was formed in 195 AL by Tancred Gelway, a hedge knight from Tumbleforks, following the Blackfyre Rebellion. Born the bastard of Lord Roadh Axegift, Tancred spent his early years a scullion and a stable boy for House Axegift. He never developed much of a relationship with his father, and his mother abandoned him to join the Silent Sisters when he was still young. He survived as a street urchin and pickpocket until he was caught trying to lift the possessions of a Ser Oswyn Gelway, a free-riding knight from the Stormlands. Rather than beat the boy Ser Oswyn took him in and made him his squire and the two traveled across Westeros fighting in tourneys and serving various houses in minor disputes. Eventually, Tancred abandoned his bastard surname Rivers and took that of Gelway with Ser Oswyn's blessing, not long after the pair entered into the service of Daemon Blackfyre.

Tancred fought alongside Ser Oswyn in the army led by Ser Quentyn Ball during the opening moves of the Blackfyre Rebellion. When Ser Oswyn fell during the attack on Lannisport Ser Quentyn, who was under the impression was Tancred his son, had him anointed to knighthood. It was a bittersweet reward, as Tancred was not a believer in the Blackfyre's cause or the brutality with which Ser Quentyn treated the smallfolk whom his army encountered. His distaste only grew at the crossing of the Mander, when he was ordered to aid in the slaughter of House Penrose and its Lady's children. At this point he began making his reservations more vocal, and caught to ear of a loyalist spy in the Blackfyre's camp. Seeing an opportunity to sow dissension and perhaps draw like-minded knights away from the rebel cause, the spy approached Ser Tancred and promised him the favor of King Daeron II if he would leave the camp on the eve of the next battle. Tancred agreed.

Accounts of what happen next differ, but the commonly held belief is that Tancred and a handful of other knights who'd chosen to defect blackened their blades with pitch and killed their way past the camp sentries. However, along the way it's alleged that Tancred himself stole into the tent of a knight who'd named him for a bastard and murdered him as he slept. Regardless, Tancred escaped to fight under the king's banner the next morning, his blood-stained blade still painted black. He fought with a singular ferocity that day, and was key to the success of Prince Baelor's flanking action. Afterward, he was hailed one of the heroes of the day and was promised lands and title for his service.

In the months that followed, however, rumors of his dishonorable actions became a scandal at court and forced King Daeron to delay elevating him for almost a year. When he finally did, it was on condition it be done in a private ceremony and that Tancred, now Lord Gelway, accept the site of both his triumph and shame, Redgrass Field, for his only fief. Tancred, being lowborn as he was accepted it without a word of protest, leading to a remark by wise King Daeron that would become House Gelway's motto. Likewise, when nobles began referring to him as derisively as 'Blackblade' he incorporated the black sword design into his sigil. Tancred was a plainspoken and pragmatic man who ruled his lands with an eye toward prosperity and elevating the lives of the smallfolk. He fathered many children and served his liege loyally, but he was not prepared for the dark clouds that were gathering overhead.

Doom Befalls the House
On the morning of his twenty-ninth nameday, in 209 AL, Lord Tancred's wife and eldest son fell ill and died the following day. The Great Spring Sickness, as it would later be called, would claim the lives of his other children and so many of his subjects that Lord Tancred was alone in Redgrass Spire. He never caught the illness himself. When the Second Blackfyre Rebellion began he gathered what forces that he could still muster and marched for Whitewalls, hoping to cement his loyalty in the minds of doubters by helping Lord Bloodraven crush Daemon II Blackfyre, but by the time he arrived the rebel was already in custody. His men were given the unenviable duty of dismantling the stronghold, stone by stone, and many deserted before Lord Tancred returned to Redgrass Field. It was clear the fledgeling House Gelway was already in decline, but Lord Tancred was determined that it would endure nonetheless.

After spending the remainder of his wealth and influence to secure another marriage, Lord Tancred was blessed with Halvdan, his son and heir, in 255 AL. Seeing this as a good omen, he moved to secure his house's fortunes by joining in the army sent to Stepstones to fight in the War of the Ninepenny Kings, but by now having seen sixty summers he was not the force on the battlefield he once was. Further, he was given grave news that his son had taken ill back home. After consulting a septon while stopping to pray on the way home, Lord Tancred made a vow that as soon his son came of age he would forsake all things and join the Night's Watch to absolve his family name of the sins he had committed. In 270 AL, when Halvdan celebrated his fifteenth nameday, Lord Tancred kept that vow and made his way north. Having seen seventy-five summers, Tancred was almost a shell of a man that had seen more death than all those around him yet himself refused to die. He would serve as a martial instructor at Castle Black for another three years before leaving one night to go beyond the Wall, where it's presumed he died.

Enduring Legacy
Lord Halvdan was sheltered most of his early years, out of his father's fear of illness or malady caused by the supposed 'curse' on his house. The rare occasions he was allowed to leave Redgrass Spire were formative, usually tournaments and hunting expeditions, which became his obsession later in life. Even contained as he was, he learned to wield a sword and was determined to become a knight like his father when he was old enough. Unfortunately, not long before reaching that age he learned of the oath Lord Tancred had made and that he had precious little time left before his father took the black. The pair did not leave each others side for that time, traveling on pilgrimages to septs throughout the Riverlands and visiting the courts of the other lords of the Trident, to try and secure a marriage for the young Halvdan.

Following Tancred's departure, Halvdan decided it was time to pursue all the things that had previously been forbidden. He began entering himself in tourneys, and though never achieving any great victories he established himself as a worthy competitor. His real passions were fostered on the hunt, he felt truly alive when he was alone in the woods or with a small hunting party, tracking some great beast. Every few months he'd return to Redgrass Spire with tales for his young wife Livia of the jousts and melees he'd been in before presenting her with a trophy pelt from one of his kills. House Gelway did not have the blossoming that Tancred might have hoped, but its people were happy and free of tragedy, and that alone would have warmed Blackblade's heart.

The outbreak of Robert's Rebellion was an opportunity that Halvdan could not ignore. He blamed the Targaryens for abandoning his father despite all the sacrifices he'd made in their name, and he saw the chance for glory that might lift House Gelway out of the doldrums. He declared himself for the rebels, but found the Tullys and Baratheons lukewarm to his support. He spent nearly the entire war as part of the rear guard, only seeing combat when the fighting came to his very doorstep at the Trident. Though he fought bravely every chance he had, nights at camp were filled with quips made when he was within earshot of how no one whose tent stood near 'Blackblade's son' slept without one eye open. His father had always told him to remember the motto in the face of insults, but bitterness grew in him as a result.

The Twins of Redgrass
When he returned to Redgrass Tower he was consoled by the news that his wife had given birth to twin boys; Harold and Rollo. Despite the setbacks, Halvdan felt like House Gelway was still continuing on its ascent, free of the specters that haunted its past. He returned to his favored pursuits, leaving his sons' care in the hands of his wife and the Gelway maester. In the years that followed, he began to hear some of the whispers of the smallfolk about his purposed heir, Harold, namely that he was dim-witted and prone to fits of violence. He confronted the maester, who confirmed the prognosis, and after a heated argument fled Redgrass Spire only to be found dead on the road to Riverrun a day later. Immediately, Halvdan had his steward 'dispel' the rumors surrounding his children, but only in the sense that it was Rollo who was actually born first and was thereby heir. The people, who were fond of the Gelways for both Lord Tancred and Halvdan's attitudes toward them, accepted this and the vicious rumors subsided.

Fortunately, Rollo proved to be both nimble-minded and popular, he was a fair boy and as fond of the joust and tourneys as his father. He quickly grew to be strong and well-educated, but constantly tested Halvdan's patience when it came to the Faith of the Seven. Rollo seemingly lacked the devotion of his father and grandfather, perhaps because of his brother's affliction. Still, when his father left to fight in the Greyjoy Rebellion Rollo helped the steward administer the realm and even at such a young age proved eminently capable.

Having come of age, Rollo seeks the same as his father; glory to House Gelway and to turn the page on the dark events of its past. House Statistics

Other Family & Retainers
Lady Livia Galway (Age 30, Lady of Redgrass Spire) - Formerly of House Drak, Livia is a steady hand that guides the Gelway household, utterly devoted to her husband, but often encourages him to be more ambitious in increasing its fortunes. Sometimes chides him for being too lenient with the smallfolk. (Patient and Trusting, Gluttonous and Cruel)

Harold Gelway (Age 15, 'Second Son') - One of Halvdan's twin sons, Harold is a sensitive soul who spends most of his time within the walls of Redgrass Spire. There are vicious rumors throughout the Riverlands that he is dim-witted and prone to fits of violence, but no one dares speak of such things within earshot of Lord Gelway. (Imbecile. Temperate and Kind, Slothful and Wroth)

Oeric Culbourne (Age 40, Steward)