Orynn Smallwood

Lord Orynn Smallwood is the current head of House Smallwood, and Lord of Acorn Hall. Born in 386 to Lord Roddyn and his wife, Lady Kara Ironsmith, he would inherit Acorn Hall at the age of three after his father was killed during the Hammer Uprising while putting down a local revolt. Afterwards, Orynn grew up in the care of his mother, who acted as Lady Regent until he came of age.

Appearance and Character
Orynn was once a strong, vigorous man, age coupled with years of intense drinking and heavy eating have made Orynn much more haggard and portly. His formerly blond hair had grown grey and coarse. Stress lines littered his face, and his brown eyes showed his inner fatigue.

Many knew Orynn to be an overall angry, bitter, and cold person. He made few friends throughout his life, and he ultimately came off as an antisocial, abrasive, no-nonsense Lord. He has a lifelong respect of women, stemming from his mother having raised him, leading to him showering his daughters with love, while emotionally starving his sons. His sons would have differed, but Orynn always maintained that he was hard on them because he wanted them to grow into strong, capable men.

Youth
Orynn was born in 386. He was the first and only child of Lord Roddyn Smallwood of Acorn Hall and Lady Kara Ironsmith of Acorn Hall. He would never get to know his father however, as Roddyn was stabbed in the head during a peasant revolt in Acorn Hall in the wake of the first Hammer Uprising. Orynn was named Lord of Acorn Hall at the age of three.

His mother, Kara, was now the Lady Regent of Acorn Hall until Orynn came of age. As a young child, many found the Lord to be rude, abrasive, and very angry. Even Kara was not able to quell her son's wrathful nature. He neglected his studies from the maester, though he took to his training in combat very well. Ser Dravin Coulter, a rather hardy and experienced knight in service of Acorn Hall, took it upon himself to teach the boy how to truly fight and channel his anger, and thus Orynn became a squire.

Ser Dravin's training taught Orynn not only how to fight, but how to lead and command, as he would one day have to do. It took many months of rearing before he had worked on controlling and channeling his temper, but hard work pays off. On his sixteenth nameday, the regency of his mother had ended, and Orynn was now truly the Lord of Acorn Hall.

The Scarlet Winter
No sooner had he became lord in his own right had the Scarlet Winter swept over Westeros, freezing everything in it's path. Like everywhere else, the Riverlands struggled as many of it's people went hungry and turned to banditry to survive. Acorn Hall was not left out of this. Even many within the castle itself starved, including Kara Ironsmith. Nobody had ever seen Orynn so angry as when he discovered her death.

In the cold rage that followed his mothers death, he grabbed twenty men, including Ser Darvin, and left Acorn Hall to hunt for a group of bandits that had been plaguing them. Nobody knew why he wanted to hunt the bandits directly after his mother's death, but nobody dared to question him. The slaughter of the bandits at their camp thereafter earned much respect and fear out of the men with Orynn, and he was knighted by Darvin, who deemed him worthy.

The anger that he had only so recently supressed had come back in full.

Knighthood
With the guidance of Ser Darvin, Orynn set about reforming the tired, ill-trained men of Acorn Hall into a proper fighting force. As opposed to most of his studies, Orynn had taken quite well to warcraft and strategy, and set out a new training regiment which pushed the men to their limits. A couple years of hard work later, the Smallwood garrison were hardened, disciplined men, partly from their training and partly from their fear and respect of Lord Smallwood. Even some of the men that were to be drafted should the levy be raised were taught the basics on how to fight.

With his forces now strengthened, and his temper from his mother's death having cooled, Orynn finally began to focus on other aspects of ruling, with the assistance of Maester Yirin, and his steward, Cerros Rothton. Through dilligence and thorough planning, Orynn set fourth an expansion of the meager farms around Acorn Hall, and began building a moderate stockpile of food in the case of famine, or another long winter.

Marriage
After taking a trip to Saltpans, Orynn found himself in awe of Elayna Hawick, who was quite the blonde beauty in her youth, and Lord Hawick was reportedly delighted when Orynn asked for her hand in marriage in 410. Though the two initially enjoyed a very passionate marriage, their relations had soured shortly after the birth of their first son, Tordrin. Their marriage would never make a full recovery, but they would later learn to act more civil towards each other.

Elayna would give Orynn three more children: Uthor in 413, Addysen in 415, and Cyril in 424. As a father, he left much to be desired. He was gruff and harsh with his sons, showing them little love and consistently keeping them busy with training and studying, though his softer side could be seen with his daughter, whom he adored greatly.

In spite of his antisocial personality, Orynn still yearned for some form of attention, leading him to form a relationship with Cerelle Roxton. Lady Elayna knew quite well about the trysts her husband was undertaking, but out of general respect, Orynn did what he could to keep it hidden. However, with the birth of Aethan Rivers by Cerelle, he was forced to publicly recognize his son, much to his shame.

The Bastard of Acorn Hall, as he would come to be known, was a new source of conflict between Orynn and Elayna, despite his decision to have the boy raised in Atranta as a page of Laswell Vance. He did not cease his relationship with Cerelle though, who birthed him a daughter, Joanna Rivers, who was sent to Wayfarer's Rest as a ward.

The Blue Winter and the Bleeding
When the Blue Winter entombed Westeros, Acorn Hall was ready. Years of preparation and stockpiling from Orynn had led to an ample supply of food throughout the three cold years. Even many of the smallfolk among the Lord's holdings would find themselves fed moderately, as much as can be expected during a long winter at least. Sad news reached Orynn though as he learned of Cerelle's death by bandits.

Only a short few years after the Blue WInter's end though, the Bleeding started in Azeroth, kicking off with the Second Hammer Uprising began. The Riverlands saw little action at the initial phase of the war, but trouble arose during the Defiance of Fairmarket. Peasant uprisings spread through the Riverlands, with few exceptions. Though House Smallwood endured, the onset of the Four Year Winter hit them hard with sheer cold. Within two years of the winter, rations had started to stretch thin, and sickness began to take hold in Acorn Hall. In the course of only a few months, all of his children with the exception of Uthor had been struck with a winter chill, and eventually passed on, leaving a very grief stricken Orynn.

Spring
Unfortunately for the lord, Uthor would later die himself while hunting, leaving him with no living legitimate children. Lady Elayna withdrew from the world, traumatized by the deaths of her children, and she hung herself in the forest soon after spring came. Orynn was as bitter as he ever had been.

With no choice left, he called back his son, who was now Ser Aethan Rivers, back to Acorn Hall along with his daughter, Joanna. He had no legitimate heirs, and with any other Smallwoods that may be alive too distant to be seriously considered for inheritance, the future of House Smallwood looks uncertain.

Family and Household

 * Roddyn Smallwood, Lord of Acorn Hall, d. 389
 * m. Kara Ironsmith, Lady Consort, d. 405
 * Orynn Smallwood, Lord of Acorn Hall, b. 386
 * m. Elayna Hawick, Lady Consort, d. 438
 * Tordrin Smallwood, b. 410 d. 436
 * Uthor Smallwood, b. 413 d. 437
 * Addysen Smallwood, b. 415 d. 436
 * Cyril Smallwood, b. 424 d. 436
 * Cerelle Roxton, d. 427
 * Ser Aethan Rivers, b. 419
 * Joanna Rivers, b. 422