House Axegift



House Axegift is a small, but old house controlling one of the Trident's most prosperous trading towns, Tumbleforks, which lies in the south western corner where the Tumblestones meets the Red Fork. The house has a reputation of siring a large amount of bastards and being among the first of bannermen to answer their lord's call.

House Stats
House Axegift

A shield Gules and Azure Wavy, with an Arm Argent holding an Axe Or.

An old house which rose to prominence following the fall of House Fischer's rule of the Riverlands, where a knight who betrayed his king in a crucial battle was rewarded with land and power. The house weathered through the following invasions of the Stormlands and Ironborn, despite a scandalous story of a land grab involving (or so the stories say) an attempt to marry a pig to an old and frail noble. During Aegon's invasion the house was quick to align with Tully and was awarded with an important market place in return. This market place would be the focus of the family for the next centuries and what was once a trading spot for local villagers is now a bustling town on the river.

Very Old

Events:

 * 1) Treachery
 * 2) Scandal
 * 3) Infrastructure
 * 4) Ascent
 * 5) Favor
 * 6) Ascent

Defence Holdings:
20/21


 * Hall "Axe Hall"
 * Axe Hall was founded as a tower positioned on a peninsula jutting out into the Tumblestones, which together with the castle Riverrun on the far bank would control any traffic going up the river. Since then the tower has been expanded contain a large log hall, stables, granaries and barracks. While the manmade defences leave for want, its positioning is excellent, making the expanded tower a tough nut to crack.

Heirs
20/22


 * Firstborn son (free)


 * Firstborn Daughter (10)


 * Second Daughter (5)


 * Third Daughter (5)

Land Holding
44/44


 * Tumbleforks
 * Plains, Small Town, River, Road, grassland
 * ​Positioned on the northern bank of where the Tumblestones meets the Red Fork the town is allegedly named due to the locals never being able to decide which of the rivers the town is primarily situated by. Strategically located it is the primary place where shipping from the Tumblestones load off to be carried downriver along the Red Fork. While the closest ford is several miles in any direction there is a thriving ferry business that carries goods between Tumbleforks, Riverrun and the Red Fork's southern bank. Two roads meet in the middle of the town, one going along the northern bank of the river and one going north up towards the source of the Blue Fork and Ironman bay.
 * ​Green Valley


 * ​Hills, Forest
 * A large forested valley between two ridges running up towards the hills. Axegift gained this area as a reward for their participation in the Blackfyre rebellion, following which they founded a handfull of mines.

Units
23/28


 * Elite Cavalry 12, "The Axebearers", upgraded arms and armor


 * Trained Garrison 5, "The Axeheads", the symbol of the Tumbleforks Town Guard is a stylised axehead


 * Trained Archers 6, "The two-hundred eyes", House Axegift claims that fifty of Brynden Rivers' Raven's Teeth were supplied from Tumbleforks and that their archer company carries on his tradition.

Wealth Holdings
30/35
 * Market Place
 * Mine
 * Maester

Roland Axegift
"Roland Rivers" "The Black Axe"

Middle Aged (31)

Description:
Lord Axegift is an adult man leaving his best years behind, and while he is no longer the fighter he was in days past his shimmering blue eyes give proof of a mind that is as clear and quick as ever. Good natured and sociable he wears a lightly trimmed beard and mustache around his almost constantly smiling mouth. He dresses impeccably in fine, but practical clothes, preffering good quality over gaudish finery.

Lord Axegift's primary suit of armour is a finely wrought suit of the kind some call half-plate. Its solid metal pieces are laquered black with golden patterns, with cloth in the red and blue Axegift colours covering the joints protected by ringmail. The helmet in particular tends to be a source of talk, its visor fashioned into an amazingly lifelike face with a snirkly mustache of Tyroshi style. Rising up from the top is a plume of horsehair, coloured in bright red and blue in a broad striped pattern.

Background:


Roland Rivers was born a bastard son of the Lord Rolf Axegift and one of the servant women at Axe Hall. Despite his bastard birth he was raised only slightly less than an equal in his homestead, being squired to a household knight. He was taught by the maester alongside his trueborn brothers and proved to have an intellect matching or surpassing theirs when it came to numbers. When he on his seventeenth name day was knighted he took for his personal shield the same as his family, only with the hand grasping a black axe instead of one of gold.

When Robert Baratheon rebelled against the mad king his father, loyal to a fault to his lord, quickly answered Hoster Tully's call to arms. Aged twenty he rode alongside his father and two of his trueborn brothers, leading a small company of hedge knights. Participating in the Battle of the Bells his two brothers died fighting in protection of Lord Tully, and later his father at the Battle of the Trident. In the aftermath of the battle due to his performance and position as the lone remaining son (barring his second oldest brother who had recently taken the oaths of a maester) of his father the king legitimized him and gave him the right to his father's holdings. This decision would however come to infuriate his sister who had recently been married off to another noble, who has plotted to retake the domain.

When Greyjoy six years later crowned himself king and sunk the Lannister fleet Roland did not wait for his old liege to issue a call to arms, but raised his personal retainers and rode out to join up with his brother in law Lord Peake on the coast of Ironman's Bay, repelling the raiders striking at the Riverland coast. When the assault on the Iron Islands in ernest began he joined the forces on Pyke, participating in the second wave of the assault.


 * Goal: Power


 * Motivation: Greed


 * Virtue: Just


 * Vice: Ambitious


 * Destiny: 2

Abilities:

 * Agility 3 (flawed 2)


 * Animal Handling 3 -Ride 2B


 * Awareness 3


 * Athletics 3


 * Cunning 4


 * Endurance 3


 * Fighting 4 -Axes 1B Spears 1B


 * Knowledge 3


 * Language 3


 * Persuasion 5 -Bargain 2B


 * Stealth 1


 * Status 6 -Stewardship 1B


 * Survival 2 -Hunt 1B


 * Warfare 4 -Strategy 1B


 * Will 4 -Coordinate 1B


 * Others 2


 * Intrigue Defense: 13


 * Composure: 12


 * Base Combat Defense: 8


 * Health: 9

Benefits:
Cadre - The Axebearers

Cohort - Lea Rivers, bastard daughter

Head for Numbers

Drawbacks:
Bastard Born

Nemesis -Sister, married to local noble)

Lea Rivers


Roland Axegift's bastard daughter

Young Adult (15)

Rogue

Born as the result of an affair Roland had with one of the servants at Axe Hall, Lea's existence or parentage was no secret. Her status drastically changed when her father became Lord of Axe Hall and Tumblefork Town. While Roland's new wife was at first skeptic at the presence of a bastard daughter at her new home and jealous of her mother, she came to become friends with the mother and care for the daughter. Growing up Lea turned out to be a loveable child and a favorite among the servants at Axe Hall and the smallfolk in Tumbleforks, which she usually visit.


 * Goal: Recognition


 * Motivation: Love


 * Virtue: Charitable


 * Vice: Ambitious
 * Destiny: 3

Abilites

 * Agility 3


 * Animal Handling 3 - Ride 1


 * Athletics 3


 * Awareness 3


 * Cunning 4


 * Deception3


 * Fighting 3


 * Knowledge 3 - Streetwise 2


 * Persuasion 4 - Charm 2


 * Stealth 3 -Blend In 1


 * Thievery 3


 * Will 3


 * Others: 2


 * Intrigue Defense: 9


 * Composure: 9


 * Base Combat Defense: 9


 * Health: 6

Drawbacks
Bastard Born

Benefits
Attractive

Face in the Crowd

Favored of Smallfolk

Ser Orm the Flushed Snake
Leader of Lord Axegift's personal cadre the Axebreaker and Master at Arms at Axe Hall, Orm is one of Roland's oldest friends and confidante. His arms is a red snake on a white field.

Born on the coast of Ironman Bay it has always been unclear if Orm is actually Ironborn or Riverlander, when barely 14 years of age he killed an ironborn stealing his family's sheep. The man was part of a crew going out to try their luck reaving the world who did not look kindly on having one man less to row the longship, so he was kidnapped and integrated into the crew. It was in this crew that he would meet Tyk, his friend and companion since. For ten years the two adventured across Essos and all the seas, serving as slave on a Lysenian galley for a while. Going back to Westeros in time for Robert's Rebellion and they soon found themselves in Axegift's employ along a dozen other hedge knights, lead by the Axegift bastard Roland Rivers. The band stuck together throughout the campaign and when the war ended and their bastard leader had been rewarded with Axegift he extended his reward to them, offering them a place at his table for as long as he lived. Tyk, Orm and most of the other hedge knights took his offer and has served Lord Axegift since.

Important People:
Axegift family tree

http://familyecho.com/?p=START&c=jijwx0qz8v&f=149275723237058921


 * Lady Tarianna Axegift, Roland's wife, sister of Lord Peake, widow of Roadh Axegift, Roland's trueborn brother. Chaste and Temperate, Cruel and Paranoid.
 * Rolf Axegift, Roland's firstborn son (9) Stutter. Chaste and Honest, Gluttonous and Proud.
 * Roelle Axegift, Roland's first daughter, Roslyn's twin (8) Kind and Charitable, Wroth and Paranoid.
 * Roslyn Axegift, Roland's second daughter, Roelle's twin (8) Brave and Honest, Greedy and Slothful.
 * Ronya Axegift, Roland's third daughter (4) Honest and Diligent, Shy and Coward.
 * Lira Axegift, Roadh and Tarianna's daughter (11), Charitable and Sociable, Shy and Cruel
 * Roadh and Robert Axegift, Roland's two trueborn brothers, died at the Battle of the Trident.
 * Ronna Axegift, Roland's sister, married to Lord Drak and desires the Axegift lands.
 * Reilert Axegift, Maester, Steward and Roland's brother, tries to mediate between his siblings. Clubfooted. Kind and Brave, Slothful and Deceitful.
 * Ranard "The Stoneless" Axegift, Roland's uncle and captain of the Cavalry. Declined the lordship in favor for his bastard nephew due to his loss of his family jewels in a duel several years before the rebellion, leaving him unable to sire an heir. While mostly supportive of his nephew he still does sometimes regret his decision. Patient and Sociable, Envious and Proud.
 * Rhea Ivy, Roland's cousin and married to Tybalt Ivy, lone child.
 * Storen Blackhawk, Lord Blackhawk's second son, fostered at Axe Hall
 * Lylla, one of the head servants and mother to Lea Rivers, since married to Pier the Bear who has gifted her with many children since. Has acted as wetnurse for the four trueborn children as well.
 * Labharainn of Tyrosh, a dwarf master smith who had to flee his home city due to a "small misunderstanding about the late night delivery of a necklace", while originally a jeweler he has proven more than capable to work with steel. Dwarf. Sociable and Honest, Paranoid and Cowardly.
 * The Axebreakers, ten former hedge knights whom Roland befriended during the Rebellion, now serve as the core of his personal guard. Apart from their leader Orm there are:
 * Tyk the Drunkard, second to Orm and Master of Horse, white tankard on black field.
 * Pier the Bear, half-dornian giant, rumored to be half bear as well, blue bear in white rondel on red field.
 * The Headsman Knight, no-one outside the Axebearers know his true name, serves as headsman in Tumbleforks, black heads man's hood above a lying axe on a red field.
 * Roose Ailemer the Shafted, fifth son of a landed knight in the Reach, green field with a horisontal brown bar.
 * Wren "Walder" Rivers the Wandering Axe, bastard greatson of Walder Frey, two grey bendlets over a bend sinister field in blue and green.
 * Cale Twobrooks "The Great" - Second son of a knight named Brooke, won his first tournament at age 15, two blue wavy bands across a green field.
 * Gust the Blue Lion, claims to be a Lannister bastard, blue lion rampant on yellow field.
 * Kent of King's Mountain, ex-student at the Citadel, dropped out due to a sense of duty to his family, a crowned mountain on a black field.

Rumors about Axegift
It is said that since the time of the Iron Kings that House Axegift has held it in tradition to keep salt wives like the ironborn, some say the tradition is far older than that. What is documented, however, is that House Axegift has had a large number of illigitimate children throughout the years.

It is said that Lylla, mother to Lord Axegift's bastard daughter, still shares his bed... and that of his wife.

Rumor says that Roland Axegift poisoned his father and his brothers before the Battle of the Trident to ensure they would fall during it.