A Song of Ice and Fire: Tourney at Ashford Previews

[Kakita Nanami]

As this was requested, I finally found some time to put together a map of where all the player houses call home.

You can find this map here; it's a rather large map and shows the location of each of the six player houses and where Ashford itself is as well.

[Kitsu Takashi]

Cool.

What's your plan for rolling out previews of the other houses?

[Kakita Nanami]

Cool.

What's your plan for rolling out previews of the other houses?

Approx. 1-2 a week, depending on how long each of them takes to edit properly. I'd expect the next one possibly Saturday. and probably a little more consistently after.

[Kitsu Takashi]

FYI, my day job is editing people's (usually technical) writing for general consumption. I can easily find time to help with short pieces. Obviously can't edit for content--it's your world bring built--but I can help with readability, clarity, and anything more objective than that. Please let me know if I can be helpful.

[Ide Samai]

Will House Fortune rolls factor in the game anyhow?

[Shinjo Hanashi]

House Forrestor still seems fun.

[Kakita Nanami]

House Forrestor still seems fun.

Speaking of...

House Forrester
Vassals of House Stark :: "Iron from Ice"


HISTORY
History forgets most of the original founding of House Forrester, instead choosing to tell a slightly more mythological version. During the days of the Andal invasion, King Theon Stark saw the need for a fleet of ships to be able to stand against the invaders on their own terms. It is said he took his forresters into the Wolfwood and there found the largest trees any in Westeros had ever laid their eyes on: the ironwoods. Recognizing them for the treasures they were and knowing the need his kingdom would have, the king ordered them protected and the harvest carefully rationed to ensure too much was not taken from the woods. Thus was born House Forrester.

In time, however, the need for a navy in the North began to wane and the Forrester line proved infertile, dying out within a handful of generations. The fortress town they had built wasted away, maintained only by the few peasants who eked out existence in the Wolfswood.

It was not until the Dance of the Dragons that the ironwoods would once again be turned to. Seeing that war was coming, Lord Cregan Stark ordered a fleet built for the North once more – not the southron ships of the Manderlys but a sturdy northern fleet built in the ancient traditions. The ironwoods were cut down once more and crafted into massive vessels that would carry the Stark soldiers southwards – but too late to join the war. Lord Cregan determined the fleet should be maintained and kept personal watch on the Wolfswood until his death.

With Cregan’s death and his heir Jonnel’s issues with the wildlings raiding the North, the issue of the ironwoods slipped away from the Starks and various houses began to quarrel over who should have the rights to harvest the trees. As the income that could be gained from harvesting the trees was so great, the situation nearly erupted into war in the North. It wasn’t until the death of Jonnel, the rise of Barthogen Stark, and the murmurs of rebellion from the south reached Winterfell that the Starks stepped in – knowing that the Ironwood needed secured, Barthogen went to his maester for a solution and found one in the oldest tomes of history.

With the help of his maester (and some say some creative interpretation of bloodlines), Barthogen reformed the defunct House Forrester and placed one of his distant cousins – Eddard Stark – at its head The repairs had just begun on the ancient fortress town that would become Ironrath when the Blackfyre Rebellion began in the south. While the war never truly came to the North nor did the Starks or their vassals get involved, the Forresters were hard pressed to defend their new claims against those same houses who had fought over the rights earlier.

To solve the matter, Lord Forrester bent the knee to House Glover; while close by, the Glovers had traditionally stayed out of the matter of the Ironwoods. This gave the Forresters some protection from the would-be rivals without directly involving the Warden of the North in the matter.

As the years passed by and it became clear that not all of their neighbours would withdraw their claims to the woods, Lord Forrester approached the Flints of the hills north of the Wolfwood; Lord Forrester’s eldest daughter would marry the Flint heir and the youngest Flint would come to Ironrath to be raised and serve. This brought the martial prowess into the sway of the Forresters, giving them a modicum of protection to raise against would-be enemies.

But even through all of this, one rival still remains: House Whitehill, the closest neighbours to the Forresters, still lay claim to over half of the land the Forresters do. With the problems with the Skagosi keeping the Starks too busy to settle the matter, Lord Forrester searches for a way to solve the problem once and for all – without yielding his family’s land to their rivals.

HOLDINGS
The reconstructed fortress that has become known as Ironrath consist primarily of a wood hall – built from ironwood – surrounded by the defensive measures of a low stone wall and a watchtower eyeing the approach to the fortress. Inside, it’s fairly well decorated from the limited (yet growing) wealth of the Forresters, matching traditional Northern design with styles brought from the south by Eddard’s wife. It’s clear the Forresters haven’t spent excessively yet live a life of relative comfort, protected from the cold winds of the North.

Eddard Forrester’s quick moves in the political landscape have given him something of a reputation in the North that grants him a level of prestige such a young house usually lacks. The marriages of his eldest son to the Flints and the betrothal of his youngest to the Glovers have cemented the house’s place and will, no doubt, produce a long line of heirs to extend the already well-padded line of succession.

Being in the Wolfswood, the lands of House Forrester consist primarily of vast stretches of forested lands backed onto hills that give way to the mountains that Ironrath is perched upon. A number of small logging camps exist throughout their land but the primary population center lies near Ironrath in the form of a small town that bears the same name. As a whole, this offers the Forrester’s fortress a considerable amount of defense against would be invaders.

Like much of the furthest stretches of the North, the Forrester lands are occasionally plagued by banditry in the forms of poachers and those who would clear the woods illicitly and the far more dangerous wildling raiders. Fortunately, the wildling raids rarely reach as far south as the Wolfswood, leaving the primary strain on the Forresters being bandits. The vast stretches of woods often make it difficult for Lord Eddard’s law to extend everywhere and often the Forresters find themselves having to turn a blind eye to what happens very far from the roads to Ironrath in order to ensure that their work camps remain safe.

While the wealth of Ironrath is not yet great, the potential wealth of the Wolfswood is currently beyond measure. What wealth has been brought into the house has been used to increase the defenses of the town and hall while tending to the family’s spiritual needs – as part of a long line of the North, Eddard has ordered a portion of the forest nearest the hall, home to weirwoods, be left as a godswood. He has also accepted the assistance of a maester of the citadel and has begun developing the infrastructure to begin producing better weapons for his people with the help of the Flints.

LORD EDDARD FORRESTER

Once, Lord Eddard Forrester was a Stark. A good man far from the line of succession that served his distant cousins as a diplomat in the south, Eddard was recalled to the North when the first rumblings of the seeds of rebellion reached the ears of Barthogen Stark. Thinking he had given some insult in the south to warrant the recall, Eddard was surprised to learn that the Lord Stark was appointing him the head of a new noble house. Realizing that Barthogen had paid him a great honor and at the same time handed him a heavy responsibility, Eddard set about the work of ensuring that his cousin would not be disappointed.

Now an older man with short grey hair and a stiff but well-trimmed beard and standing slightly above average height for a Northerner, Eddard is a kind but stern man concerned mostly with the wellbeing of his family and the mission to which they were set. He walks with something of a limp from an injury received fighting on Skagos with the Starks; although he rarely shares the story of exactly what happened for him to have been injured, he does say that the campaign was worth it – even at the cost of the Lord Stark – and that they did the right thing in going to fight.

Married to Janna Crane, a Reachwoman, Eddard has five children: three boys – Willum, Marqus, and Deryk – and two daughters – Sybelle and Arwyn. With one of the boys married, another betrothed, and one of the girls married, he’s content that the family’s line of succession is set. His main concern for the longevity of Forrester, though, rises from the one family that has refused to back away from the claims they put to Forrester lands: the Whitehills – though ostensibly protected by his decision to swear fealty to the Glovers during the early days of the Skagosi uprising, Eddard still fears military action by the Whitehills is likely as soon as the chance arises.

Although concerned that the Whitehills may, one day, push their claim, Eddard doesn’t let the worry consume him; in his idle time, Eddard has taken to researching and preserving the history of House Forrester in particular and the North in general with the help of his maester, Myles – Ironrath is home to a library of books detailing various histories and myths of the North. He hopes to one day pass them down to Willum to continue.

PREGENERATED CHARACTERS
Marqus Forrester
The Lord Forrester’s secondborn son – and thus second in line to inherit Ironrath – Marqus is an irascible young man with coal black hair who dreams of more than the North has been able to offer him. Unlike many of the North’s knights, Marqus fancies himself more a southron knight, wanting to ride from tournament to tournament to show off his prowess and hoping to win the hand of a fair maid. Part of the Forrester delegation to King’s Landing to meet with the Master of Ships, Marqus rode for Ashford with a small entourage the moment he heard of the tournament to be held there.

Arwyn Forrester
With dark hair and clear blue eyes, Arwyn is almost the opposite of her older brother – where Marqus is headstrong and temperamental, the younger Forrester seems to be docile and submissive. Those who eventually get to know her, though, recognize this for the act it is – in reality, Arwyn is just as capable of being stubborn as her brother only with a much better head for knowing when it’s time to be patient to reach her goals. The youngest of the Forrester children, she is the only daughter not yet married.

Dennys Flint
Sent to Ironrath by his father, Lord Flint, to help seal the agreement between their families, Dennys Flint was raised among the Forresters from age eight. Thought to be In part due to the large portion of Wildling blood in the mountain clans, Dennys is much lighter skinned – almost the point of being ice white – and dark haired than even other Northerners. Although not a full knight – having never taken his vows – Dennys is a master of the martial and in charge of the men accompanying the Forrester party.

Alyn Snow
Shaggy and somewhat feral in appearance, some think Alyn Snow closer to the dogs he watches over than human. Son of Eddard’s brother Kevan Stark and a peasant girl, Alyn has spent most of his life at Ironrath among the dogs and, with the death of the previous Master of Kennels, taken over watching over them. Brought along to watch after Marqus’ hunting dogs, Alyn can sometimes be found at night unresponsive and staring off into nothingness as he sits among the dogs.

Rosamund Glover
Although the Forresters are technically under the direct vassalage of the Starks, in truth they answer to the Glovers of Deepwood Motte. Rosamund Glover is a symbol of that allegiance; a young woman with plain looking features, she was sent to Ironrath to eventually marry the youngest Forrester son, Deryk. Currently serving as Arwyn Forrester’s handmaid until the time of the marriage, Rosamund finds herself conflicted; while she’s betrothed to Deryk Forrester, she has found him to be repulsive and has instead gravitated towards the much older Marqus.

[Kakita Nanami]

Will House Fortune rolls factor in the game anyhow?

The rolls themselves will be done for the months after the game; the house fortune modifier may, however, play a part in the occasional event.

[Kitsu Takashi]

I like those House Forrester characters. I may have to change my plans...

[Shinjo Monkhbaatar]

How does a joust work rules wise?

[Ide Samai]

It's under the Combat section in the Corebook.

PM me an e-mail and I am happy to share my version

[Shinjo Monkhbaatar]

I'm good. Also... passive tests are not defined anywhere but it seems to suggest that it's either the ability level multiplied by 4 or the ability level multiplied by itself. The only references I've found for determining passive tests are the Flaw drawback on pg 93, and the Specialties & Passive Tests paragraph on pg 54.

[Ide Samai]

There are some details under character creation, but it's 4*Relevant Ability +Ranks in Relevant speciality

[Soshi Bantu]

It's under the Combat section in the Corebook.

PM me an e-mail and I am happy to share my version

Also don't forget that Tourney Lance has a 1B training requirement when looking at your dice pool for the Fighting test.

[Otaku Imane]

Also don't forget that Tourney Lance has a 1B training requirement when looking at your dice pool for the Fighting test.

Also note that jousting counts as a Charge, so you take a -1D penalty on your Fighting (Spears) roll, in addition to the -1B training requirement penalty.