High Lordship of the Trident

The High Lordship of the Trident is the de jure duchy that rules over the region between the Blue Fork and the Red Fork, with the Tumblestones in the west. Ruled by House Loarn for centuries, albeit under some decline, this grip on the region has recently been loosened with the death of Lord Rawney. With no visible heir, his house collapsed into ruin. The power vaccuum that remained in his houses absence has led to some strife amongst the populace as the other Houses in the region seek to claim their erstwhile Lord's seat.

Lord Rawney Loarn
A stoic man of three and forty years, he had been a loyal bannerman of Lord Hoster Tully his entire life. The only child of Lord Garse Loarn, Rawney was raised to be beholden to family above all else. Martially capable, he led his own banners against the Greyjoys in their rebellion. While of a sound mind and body, Lord Rawney did have some problems that haunted him throughout his reign. His first child, a son, was born stillborn, after which his first wife killed herself in her grief. His second son, born to his second wife, was born deformed and twisted and died shortly after birth. His wife followed, dying not long threafter from wounds sustained in childbirth. His third wife, a Northern woman, finally produced to him a living son, and three other children. Yet still whatever curse followed his house could not be evaded.

Collapse of the House
In the past two years, a strange sickness has slowly swept over the House Loarn. Taking first his young daughter, it then spread to the rest of the household. The Maester could not stop the spread of the disease, which claimed the life of his wife after taking his other two young children. Clinging to his son, and the continuation of his house, Rawney began to take strange actions to placate whatever force wished him harm. It did not work. His son, a promising young boy of 8, died after a short struggle with the disease. Distraught and overrun by grief, Rawney shut himself away in his rooms. Not long thereafter, the sickness claimed him as well. Some of his Smallfolk say they saw him jump from the battlements of his keep, driven by madness at having lost his beloved son. Those same smallfolk will tell you stories of how Rawney was cursed by a crone for some slight when he was a wild teenaged squire. Others will say the man was simply unlucky. Whatever the case may be, House Loarn, and their control of the Trident, ends with him.