The Eyrie, seat of House Arryn

**Dirty Chai** · January 12, 2017, 06:07 PM

The Eyrie is the highest and most lofty palace of any prince or lord in all of Westeros. Located upon the Giant's Lance, the tallest peak in all of the Vale, construction of the Eyrie first began in the reign of the fourth Arryn to be King of Mountain and Vale. For many centuries, it has been used as home of pleasure and ostentatious beauty, lived in during the spring, summer, and autumn years, while during winter its lords vacate to the valley below.

Lord of the Eyrie: Lord Jon Arryn

Regional Bonus - The Sky Cells: The Eyrie's prisons, the Sky Cells, are small open shelves in the mountainside that ever-so-slightly slant downward. They are notorious for terrifying their unlucky occupants so greatly that many choose to commit suicide than to continue to rot there, in danger of simply rolling off the edge in their sleep every night and constantly exposed to the elements. Escape is impossible from the Eyrie. Additionally, all prisoners have a 2/20 chance each year to die while in the Eyrie.
- Flee to nowhere: Capture rolls of all characters in the Eyrie are increased by +2 chance of capture

Defenses Major fortress...

Major fortresses have the following attributes:
- Will last 18 months in a Siege (1.5 RL weeks, 1 week and 3.5 days).
- Have a +12 roll to any Siege assault undertaken against them.
- Can hold their entire garrison plus 300% of the base Land Levy points of their province.

Family Members

Retainers/Courtiers

Financial Matters

Trade

Taxation Levels

Infrastructure/Administration

Buildings

Edicts

Military

**Dirty Chai** · January 13, 2017, 02:14 AM

"My lord.."
What..
".. My lord.."
What hour hast thou..
"Your lordship, please,"
The old eyelids slid upwards and revealed subtly milky pupils, and wrinkled brows strained to see the youthful man standing over them. Ah yes, Colemon..

"Lord, it displeases me to disturb thine slumber, but.."
"But.." the lord sleepily crowed, waiting for the next thought.
"But .. eh.." the maester balked, "critical matters have come to the Eyrie."
"What might be so critical as to disturb mine slumber?" the lord groaned, a hand smacking into the lonely silken sheets around him.

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A few hours later, a small cadre of men are sitting down in a dimly-lit drawing room, circled around a sturdy black table, silent as stone. Dawn had not yet come to the Vale, even this high up above the clouds, and the windows remained tightly shuttered to keep the heat in. The men were mostly older men, weathered, bearded, and they seemed feeble at this early hour, staring sadly into newly-poured goblets of wine with shaded circles around their tired eyes. One of them shivered silently once, goosebumps having run over his spine. There were younger men, too, and these included the lord's own relatives, the ones he allowed to sit his bedchamber council.

Then, there were two young men - boys, the men in the little room contended - who waited in the next room over, watched over by a knight.

Before dawn, the lord descended first upon his councillors. The wards in the next room could note when he entered into the room by the sudden outpoor of hushed but gruff voices - no tones, only somber, brief sentences. After a time, it was evident they wasted no breath, these older men that Arryn kept close to his breast. Maesters, septons, lawyers, cousins, retainers.. There were long, strange silences between when each thing was said, and when each thing was said, it was done so as if.. begrudgingly.

This foreboding wait continued until dawn, at which time, though the shutters remained bolted still, this lord emerged into the next room, the doors opening up before his wards to reveal their age-whitened tutor. He looked first at Eddard and then to Robert, standing in the doorway between the two rooms. The men behind them were many familiar faces, surprisingly including many men the two wards had no inkling had any value to the old lord.

Jon Arryn appeared to observe them for a brief time before stepping forward, quietly, somberly. He stood closest to the Stark youth when he stopped again, and looked still unsure of what he wished to say or do. When he spoke, he did so long after his lips had first parted, finding it difficult to produce the desired words.

"Ned," he finally said, "Do you remember when I told you that.. there is only a few moments in a man's life that.. decide the rest of his life?"

A tongue hesitantly passed between his lips, hidden by the white curls masking his jaw.

"This is one of those times.. " A hand produced from his person, but balked halfway before reaching Stark's shoulder.
"That cruel trick of the Seven," the lord of the Eyrie said, glancing briefly at Robert, "has come to you now."

Jon turned and gestured behind him, two fingers waving a man forward. Maester Colemon moved from the drawing room into the waiting room, producing a unfurled letter, scrawled in dark ink. A dried waxen seal of a great, three headed monster marked its origin.

"You are the Lord of Winterfell now."

**Pericles of Athens** · January 13, 2017, 02:54 AM

What.. Eddard began, his eyes shifting about the room uneasily. I don't understand.. His head felt light, his fingers numb. Did something happen to my father? He questioned, his emotions raw and his skin clamy. Did something happen to Brandon? The room seemed smaller And smaller after every passing second, Ned could feel every drop of sweat making it's way down his skin, and his lungs seemed to contract sharply. I was never suppose to be Lord Stark.. He murmured.

**Dirty Chai** · January 13, 2017, 12:40 PM

Jon frowned, steeling himself; he had never had to do this before. Is this what it was to have sons?

"Your father and your older brother are dead, my boy," Arryn's voice was uniquely wavering, as if tears might cross his cheeks for his wards.
"Aerys has taken them from this world." He looked at Robert briefly, imagining that the young Baratheon had some different emotions emerging in his heart.
"Now this is the last moment in your life when you'll wish an old man would lecture you, but.."

The stoic lord knelt down so that his eyes were level with the seated Stark.
"You feel it, don't you? Grief, anger, confusion, frustration. These will define your next actions, they will fill your very soul"

He glanced at Robert, again.
"Let them," he said, shocking them. "Both of you. Let the hatred wash over you. Let it burn in your heart."

Jon stood back up, his bones giving him a brief sigh as he lengthened out.
"Aerys now demands of me," he explained, gesturing at the letter Maester Colemon presented, "your heads."

His eyes looked between his two wards, and a pause filled the room. "So, I see only one response befitting such gross devilry."
The maester then, as if on cue, tore up the letter. "We have much to do, my good boys."

Arryn's boot smashed into the seal of the ripper letter as it laid upon the floor, cracking and flattening the dried wax.

**Pericles of Athens** · January 13, 2017, 01:34 PM

I'm gonna kill them. Ned muttered, face hidden beneath his hands. I'm gonna kill them all, Jon. He repeated, louder this time. His head rising from the safety of his hands. I'm going to drown that mad bastard in a river of blood. His voice was raised, his skin clamy and it took all his strength to hold back tears. And we'll get Lyanna back, Robert - for my sake and your own.

**Dirty Chai** · January 13, 2017, 01:37 PM

"And what say you, Robert?" Jon looked at his other ward, whose fiance had been kidnapped by the prince. Robert had been wallowing in anger for some time, biting at the bit which kept him in the Eyrie.

**Adamat** · January 13, 2017, 05:45 PM

Robert had remained seated for the sake of respecting Lord Jon speaking, but once addressed could hold it in no longer. He flew up from the seat so aggressively that the thing tumbled backwards, his eyes filled with a fire that he didn't even know he had inside him. "I will laugh again once I feel the skull of that lunatic coward crumble under my warhammer," he almost screamed. He hastily thought for but a moment, until he addressed Colemon. "Maester, I need you to write a letter to Storm's End detailing the contents of this piece of filth," he pointed to the parchment. "The leal Lords of the Stormlands will see that this man is not worth the title of King, same as his brigand heir. They will both die at the hands of Stormlands swords, unless Ned wants to have Aerys'. I need to make my way to Storm's End and stop this madness. Inform Stannis, too." He paused for a moment, before realising. "Seven hells, Stannis," he cursed. "Lord Jon, we need to convince Lord Tully that our cause is righteous, or my brother may be forfeit."

**Dirty Chai** · January 13, 2017, 06:21 PM

Jon nodded to the maester, affirming Robert's request. Who would be king, then? Jon wondered, idly.

"The lords of the Vale will answer a call if I send it out," Jon said, turning his gaze to Eddard.
"We must get you, Ned, to the North, so your vassals can see your face, and Robert to Storm's End."

Jon waved another man over, a man dressed in the scribes of an dissociated scholar; a chain-less notary or lawyer, perhaps.
"Prepare a summons, for each of the lords sworn to me. Call them to the Gates of the Moon. Let me look over it before you send them."
Before the man walked away, Jon stopped him to add, "And do not say why they must muster."

**Adamat** · January 13, 2017, 06:39 PM

"A ship would be fastest," Robert thought out loud. "And speed is of the essence, I am sure the Mad King will not sit idly if there is no reaction to his summons."

**Dirty Chai** · January 13, 2017, 07:00 PM

"Gulltown will get you there fast," Jon said, then looking to Ned, "Both of you best go through Gulltown. We shall amass forces on the Trident, if Tully does see things our way."

**Adamat** · January 13, 2017, 07:06 PM

"I am confident that we shall win this war," Robert said. "Madmen aren't known for sound decisions. Besides, the Gods are on our side, both the Old and the Seven. What will happen after we kill the son of a

, though?"

**Pericles of Athens** · January 14, 2017, 01:12 AM

Agreed, from Gulltown it is a simple journey to White Harbor. Eddard added, hoping the wheather of the Sisters would not turn foul. If half the stories of Manderly loyalty my father told me are true they will raise arms in earnest, by the time I reach Winterfell the hearts of every Northmen will be aflame. Eddard's attention turned to Robert, at his mention of the future. Fair question, we can't let that bastard of a prince ascend the throne. Not after he took my sister, after he started all of this.

**Dirty Chai** · January 14, 2017, 11:56 AM

"A new king then," Jon said, seeing the goal of the rebellion change before his eyes. The boys were right however, they couldn't achieve anything if all that changed was the name of the madman.

He eyed Robert and Ned, curiously, and muttered with a wry smile, "Let us worry it if we get there, eh?"

**Pontifex Maximus** · January 14, 2017, 01:10 PM

A reply is sent from Casterly Rock:

Lord Jon Arryn,

I regret I am unable to participate in any diplomatic ventures at this time. My Lord father, Tytos Lannister, has died. My brothers now seek to usurp my title and I must take the the field to defend my legal rights as the heir and now Lord of Casterly Rock.

Signed,

Tywin Lannister
Lord of Casterly Rock;
Lord of the Westerlands and;
Warden of the West

**Pericles of Athens** · January 14, 2017, 03:03 PM

Ned's face almost turned red at Jon's words, the two young men had been getting ahead of themselves. You're right, Jon, we must win the war first - we'll worry about putting the pieces back together later. He replied, in his best impression of his father's steely timbre. Tell me, where along the Trident will the Northern host meet with the forces from the Vale?

**Dirty Chai** · January 14, 2017, 07:25 PM

Eddard was a forward thinking one, Jon was always reminded, and it brought a proud feeling to his mind, to have raised such boys.

"There is a place along the main river," Arryn explained, reaching an idle hand into the folds of his furs to scratch at some unseen discomfort, "where two lesser points of the greater trident meet. It lies north of a place called Lord Harroway's Town, north of Harrenhal..."

He paused in thought and looked at Ned with a look of realization.

"You've been there lad, on our way to Harrenhal. They call this crossing of the Green Fork of the Trident the.. erm.. the crossroads. We'll meet there.. hopefully along with Hoster."

**Pericles of Athens** · January 15, 2017, 04:33 AM

The Northmen nodded in agreement. Seems as good a place as any. Eddard conceded, he recalled the place - though only vaguely. Do you think Hoster will answer our call? He questioned, they needed the men the Riverlands had to offer.. or at least they needed them out of the war.It was settling in that he was Lord Stark, that he had to do these things on his own, the thought frightened young Ned.

**Dirty Chai** · January 15, 2017, 01:54 PM

"When he has all the facts," Jon said, gesturing at a servant to go bring about the morning meal finally, "I think Hoster will see that he has only one moral choice available to him."