Re: Character Creation Workshop

[Jon Cobb]

This background would force your character to be no younger than a regular Adult(older than "
Young Adult"
in the PDF handbook). The war for the Stepstones was 106-109 AC, so you'd have been gone for 3 years.

The war was actually much longer than this, running from 106-115 AC, which is when Daemon finally abandoned the effort and returned for good to Westeros.

[Loreia]

Oh, I thought the majority of the conflict had settled after 109.

Since the Barthelds aren't exactly sellswords, we could assume any noble houses who had joined Daemon's campaign had been long gone by the time the Sisters retaliated in 110, and that they assumed the mercenary army would take care of itself, especially since they had become established in the region.

Nobody expects the Dornish allies.

[Jon Cobb]

That any noble houses joined the conflict at all seems to be an addition made by Reader. The wiki says:

While Corlys would command the fleet, Daemon would lead the army of sellswords, cutthroats, landless adventurers, and second sons

There were surely nobles among these, but probably not anyone of substance. How long Brom and his sons were involved before returning to Westeros and receiving lands of their own is unclear, but I would guess that it happened in 111 AC or later, when Daemon offered his crown to Viserys. Before that, my impression is that this was largely Daemon's private war. There would be no obvious reason for the king to honor the Barthelds with a fief of their own until the crown of Westeros could be seen to be involved in the war at all.

[Theomore Tullison]

The war kept going after 115 as well, but Daemon abandoned it at that point, and the campaign floundered.

[Yoren longshore]

Nichol, become an ironborn :;
):
bastard? No problem
woman warrior? No problem
As long as you are not literate, we accept all sorts of folks:)

more seriously, stepstones are a great conflict zone, and even in times of peace, they still fight down there.

[Baelon Drakeson]

Nichol, become an ironborn :;
):

<
snip>


more seriously, stepstones are a great conflict zone, and even in times of peace, they still fight down there.

Though not so much for the Ironborn. I doubt many of them signed up with Daemon... wrong side of the continent, and all. I suppose that they could sail around the arm of Dorne and raid the stepstones, but why bother? So many juicier targets closer to home, plus longships really aren't designed for long voyages... and the storm god is jealous.

On the other hand, that seems to be exactly what several folks of House Longshore actually did...

[Yoren longshore]

Nichol, become an ironborn :;
):

<
snip>


more seriously, stepstones are a great conflict zone, and even in times of peace, they still fight down there.

Though not so much for the Ironborn. I doubt many of them signed up with Daemon... wrong side of the continent, and all. I suppose that they could sail around the arm of Dorne and raid the stepstones, but why bother? So many juicier targets closer to home, plus longships really aren't designed for long voyages... and the storm god is jealous.

On the other hand, that seems to be exactly what several folks of House Longshore actually did...

My reply of becoming an ironborn was not intended as serious advice, although i should probably have stated it more clearly, it was more to show that there are options for someone wanting to play a female warrior and not being frowned upon...

Yes, i do doubt that a lot of ironborn joined the fighting there under Daemons banners, but it should be said that longships are based on viking ships, and if they even remotely resembles viking ships, they are very well equiped for traveling long distances fast. Look at Leif Eriksson, who discovered Vinland (Greenland) more than 400 years before colombus.

That however was just my history-buff speaking, sorry about that

[Ser Jorah Holt]

Well, House Coldbrook doesn't have a problem with female warriors. We are already the house of oddities

[Yoren longshore]

Second Jorah, would probably be the best option for Nichol...

[Theomore Tullison]

The viking ships, at least some of them, were quite capable of traversing the open sea, yes.

And in the books, the iron fleet is plenty capable of reaching Essos, it`s noted that all those ships could sail the seas, while not all ironborn ships could. I`d actually consider it likely that the ironborn would sail into the narrow sea to do piracy and keep up their traditions without having the iron throne clamp down upon them. I can also see them raid Dornish shores in this timeline.

[Loreia]

Well I dunno. I'm trying to help make the foreign warrior woman thing work as being related to a noble house, and in order for that to work, the character has to be born in Essos and at least live their childhood there. And for that character to be accepted as part of an existing house, legitimately or not, one of her parents must be a Westerosi father because of customs. That father must keep a consistent presence in Westeros with their noble house, so they need a reason to be separated.

The mother could return with the father when it's time to depart and marry him in Westeros, that wasn't uncommon centuries ago. Then, she or he could have done something objectionable or harmful to the house. Because the mother is from a foreign land, exile of both mother and child would be an option for sentence lest the house face declaration of a blood feud by another house or something.

In the case of bastardy, they could simply not be married, although they probably would if the parent from Essos hadn't died before they could. That would mean she would have given birth and then died when the child was old enough to survive on her own in Essos. Or, they could just screw and the daughter can travel to Westeros to meet her father with or without her mother, assuming the father is still alive to accept her as his daughter...which means the father would have to be honorable and also believe her.

Either way, the waterdancer could join the house as a personal retainer(bodyguard/servant) for one family member or the whole family. House Longshore and Bartheld are the two houses with the fewest members right now(notice I didn't say zero), but this would work for any house. Personally, I wouldn't join a house that currently has no members at this stage.

She could also be connected to another player character as Yoren Longshore's bastard, assuming you confer with him and he says that's okay.

[Jon Cobb]

Dang! You guys are active. Very nice.

I appreciate all the input and am still fiddling around with ideas/archetypes.

To the worries of a Braavosi female fitting, I had a great character concept that fit in well in a game based in Dorne, but that societal background was a bit more forgiving in terms of female bastards than one set in the Riverlands might be. I really came to like the character and was genuinley sad when the game ended.

I understand the concerns and have been struggling to find a logical way for it to work out, and in the end, it might not. I'm hoping to put some ideas down on paper soon and join you all asap. I definitely like how invovled everyone is.

Thanks again for the input!

Is there a particular reason that the character must be Braavosi? If it's just having Water Dancer skills, then Arya Stark provides a precedent for a Westerosi female being taught such skills, so you could have your character be a female member of one of the player houses.

As was suggested to kittendumpling/Corinne Marsten, Ysme Bartheld could be tweaked to have both some intrigue and some fighting skills, but if your aim is primarily to build a warrior woman, she wouldn't fit the bill without a major rewrite. Also, IMHO, this particular game doesn't need more fighters - it needs more characters willing and able to intrigue and or provide expert services such as sneaking, knowledge skills and the like.

[Kevan Lyras]

Hi guys,

I plan to join this awesome game and am currently working on my character. I plan to join House Marsten as household knight and a member of House Lyras, bannermen of Marsten (see House description).
While this gives me obvious ties to the other Marsten characters, I would like to add another ties to a PC from another House. Kevan was serving as a page at his liege lords' castle. But for his squiring days, he was sent somewhere outside of the reach (Edit: the vale, sorry for the confusion!). I think it would be interesting if he squired at a castle, where he could have met one of your characters as another squire, or a lady-in-waiting etc. (However, this would be a House "
off-page"
, not one the current PC-houses)
Do you have any ideas, where I could link my character to?

From a timing perspective: Kevan is in his mid-twenties and his service as a squire were a few years ago...

Edit - Different question: I found a picture for Kevan, but it is a bit too large regarding pixels. Is there an easy way to "
reformat"
? I have absolutley no knowledge in these things...

[Jon Cobb]

Edit - Different question: I found a picture for Kevan, but it is a bit too large regarding pixels. Is there an easy way to "
reformat"
? I have absolutley no knowledge in these things...

I'm no expert, but I managed to resize my Jon Cobb picture in Paint. Just open the picture in Paint, enter Ctrl+W and the resizing tool should open. If your picture has lots of extraneous details, its probably best to begin by trimming the picture until it's just head shot. Save that image and then resize from there.

I would like to add another ties to a PC from another House. Kevan was serving as a page at his liege lords' castle. But for his squiring days, he was sent somewhere outside of the reach. I think it would be interesting if he squired at a castle, where he could have met one of your characters as another squire, or a lady-in-waiting etc. (However, this would be a House "
off-page"
, not one the current PC-houses)
Do you have any ideas, where I could link my character to?

From a timing perspective: Kevan is in his mid-twenties and his service as a squire were a few years ago...

Regarding this, I suggest looking through the posted characters in the Cast of Characters thread and seeing if there are any likely candidates. PM:ing the players to see if they're willing to work with you is probably going to be quicker than waiting for a general response.

BTW, I noticed that you wrote that your character was sent "
somewhere outside the reach"
. Since none of the houses in the game are in the Reach, I'm not sure what you're getting at here. The Marstens are in the Vale of Arryn, as are their banner houses.

[Theomore Tullison]

I use paint to resize my images...

Mid-twenties you say...Theo is actually a possibility, but then you are not very likely to end up as the honorable anointed sort of knight.

[Kevan Lyras]

Jon Cobb: That was a mistake on my part, I meant the Vale. I corrected it above.
Thanks for the advice. I am going to look through the posted PCs

Theomore: Well that is somewhat unfortunate, as Kevan, sofar, is more of a straight-forward character. Not that he is just focused on martial matters (I drafted him quite balanced i think), but his intrigue abilities focus more on persuasion, rather than deception...
Nevertheless, maybe it would add some salt to the whole relationship :;
):

[Ser Jorah Holt]

how old is your character? Depending on your character's age, certain knights might not be old enough for you to have squired with them. If its a recent thing, then most of us will be old enough

[Kevan Lyras]

Jorah, Kevan is in his mid-twenties and his service as a squire were a few years ago. And yes, skimming through the PC thread, I realize that there are only a limited number of PCs, where it could fit, with all these Ironborns, Northerners, Hedge Hedge Knights and what not :;
):

[Theomore Tullison]

Persuasion/Deception are just numbers. Relatively low deception means that you're not particular good at lying and covering up mischief. It does not necessarily mean that you do not lie or commit mischief.

However, Theo would make sure that you learned how to mask dishonorable inclinations if you had any. And his take on honor and chivalry is a more practical and pragmatic angle. Nobles are courteous to each other, yes, but they all know that the politeness is false, yet they do it anyway, because it costs them nothing.

Mid-twenties would imply more like several years ago, seeing that one usually gets knighted in the late teens.

[Ser Jorah Holt]

Jorah has been a knight for a good few years, so would be eligible.

[Kevan Lyras]

Theo: Yes you are absolutely right with abilities just being number. It just wouldn't quite fit my character concept, if he was squiring to you, even though I am sure he would learned alot of interesting stuff during these days
(The schemes of Theomore are awesome to read, by the way!)

Yes, 5-7 years ago would fit...

Jorah, to my understanding your PC was travelling with his father in service for House Tully. So maybe during that time he was working together with a minor household knight of House Tully, for whom Kevan squired for and Jorah and Kevan know each other from that time? I'll think about how it and send you a PM later on.

[Ser Fendrel Bartheld]

Hi everyone,

I also plan to join you all in playing. My first idea was playing some Targaryen bastard or something since I've always wanted to play a character like that, but never had a chance... but I saw that Baelon already filled that role, so I'm moving on to something else. I saw that House Marsten needed some new players, so I'm aiming at someone who'd fit in there. What I've come up with is another of Corrine's suitors - but maybe one who is actually liked and thought of as a 'proper' suitor by Lady Isobel, if not favoured by her (as for Corrine... that remains to be seen in actual roleplay ).

I feel like playing a character with a northern-ish (even if not actually from the North)/Old Gods-ish feel, so I thought of creating a Blackwood. They are descended from the First Men, they are one of the few Old Gods followers south of the Neck, they are already involved in the timeline, and they also have familial ties to Tullisons, which, overall, seems to make this idea a very intriguing one.

What do you guys think? I'd appreciate any thoughts or opinions as I saw that many of you provide excellent feedback and help

[Theomore Tullison]

Right now, marstens have four players, same with coldbrook. Tullisons and Coldbrooks have three and Bartheld has two unless we still have an ysme?

Blackwood may be a bad fit for marsten since I believe the marstens fought with Blackwoods.

My best advice is to make a character and then look at where he fits.

[Jon Cobb]

House Bartheld appears to have only two active players - myself and Nathan. Tristain is AWOL and Ysme turned into Corinne Marsten.

[Athelstan]

Tullisons, Longshores, Bartheld and Coldbrooks.

Are they all active, I don't know, but make a character first like Theomore suggest, then try to tie him with another PC if possible and the House he would most likely fit with.

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