Rosalind Belmore

Introduction - Lady Rosalind Belmore, the Rose’s Thorn, is the current head of House Belmore and the Lady of Strongsong. An unbowed black widow whose complex campaigns and martial ability elevated her above her peers, whether or not doing so took a handful of deaths in mysterious circumstances, the Huntress of the Vale is a respected stateswoman and exemplary duelist.

Appearance and Character
Hair the color of tarnished silver is tied up in an elegant coiffure on Rosalind's head, curled side-locks framing each pale cheek. Her features are deceptively delicate, and from her full, crimson-painted lips to her long artisan’s fingers, one might easily assume she was a noblewoman just alike any other -- if it wasn't for the heavy longsword so often upon her hip, or the way her cold blue eyes tended to watch her surroundings as if expecting blades to be drawn upon her any moment.

Or, more obviously, the long scar marring the right side of her face, cut into Ros's skin by the slash of a saber.

She is fairly tall, but not lanky or overly lean; her build -- despite being as muscled as one would expect of a warrior woman -- still retains subtle feminine curves around the hips and chest, even under armor. Ros is trained ambidextrous, though she tends to favor her left hand.

Timeline
365 AC: Theodosia Belmore is born to the union of Lord Mathias Belmore and the former musician Sonia of Lys.

369 AC: Rosalind Belmore is born. Reportedly, her and her elder sister had an excellent relationship; their father Mathias, resigning himself to the unlikelihood of having a son at his and his wife’s advancing age, teaches both strength, resolve, and a ruler’s guide to statecraft as the sisters mature.

381 AC: When Rosalind is but two-and-ten – headstrong and clearly intelligent, though still too young to be properly mature or learned --, her father is forced to privately choose the young girl as his successor – though she remained ignorant of it. Mathias Belmore pledges himself to the cause of the second Lords Declarant, and though he believes in the cause of removing Roland Arryn, he knows that there is still a chance that the hotheaded Alaric Arryn’s plan can fail – and so he writes Rosalind’s name in his documents, resolving any possible issues of succession should Mathias die.

383 AC: Four-and-ten years old, Rosalind Belmore distinguishes herself from her peers through both her precociousness and preternatural ability with a sword, a rare gift for a woman in her day and age. She took to her lessons of rule with aplomb, scorning needlepoint and embroidery to spar with the Belmore Master of Arms and converse at length on the interplay of the Great Houses with Maester Harrion. Though she does not quite have the bearing, knowledge, or physical strength to do any of the above with great skill, that begins to change swiftly.

389 AC: Now twenty years of age, Rosalind has grown into her own as not simply a woman, but as a dame-knight and suitable heir to her House. Now that Theodosia Belmore is many years past wed to Alaric Arryn and Rosalind has come of appropriate age and maturity, Lord Mathias finally publicly declares the younger Belmore daughter as the successor to his title and the seat of Castle Belmore.

391 AC: Rosalind is finally married -- to Simeon Egen, scion of House Egen. The marriage is considered to be somewhat political, one of the last of Lord Mathias’s major actions before he followed his wife into the Stranger’s embrace in 395 AC, but Rosalind and Simeon nevertheless appeared to have no lack of affection for one another.

392 AC: As Mathias began to draw back from the seat of Castle Belmore, Rosalind immediately took a more hands-on role in her heirship… just in time for the Great Famine to come. Though at first she struggled, her characteristic determination came into play, and she bent herself to the study of agricultural methods and financial management to advise her aging father on how best to steer the people of Strongsong and its surroundings through this dark time.

394 AC: As the Great Famine faded, Simeon and Rosalind finally bore a child – Mariya Belmore, with her father’s dark hazel eyes and her mother’s silvery hair. Time would tell whether this latest Belmore daughter would live up to her mother and aunt’s formidable reputations; for once, Rosalind Belmore took time away from her work to help raise her child… though that ended just the next year.

395 AC: Lord Mathias Belmore finally dies. Rosalind allows herself a brief period of mourning before throwing herself into the work left behind, her careful behind-the-scenes stewardship setting the stage for a swift and painless assumption of her father’s mantle. Few objected to Rosalind’s ascension, even where she could not hear.

396 - 402 AC: Rosalind Belmore joins in the land campaign against the remaining forces of the Three Thieves, participating with diligence, grand tactical ability, and valor in the campaigns of the Battle of Sunstone, the Scouring of the Stepstones, and the Fall of Grey Gallows. At Alequo Silverband's last stand, Rosalind gained the scar that marks her features to this day, cut into her face by the desperate strike of an enemy champion.

402 AC: Theodosia Belmore dies. Secure in her position after seven years of rule and the triumph over the Three Thieves, Rosalind travels to the Eyrie for her sister’s funeral, spending longer in mourning for her than many say she did her own father.

404 AC: During the depths of the Scarlet Winter, after three-and-ten years of marriage, Simeon Egen succumbs to a consumptive sickness brought on by the deathly weather, despite the efforts of Maester Harrion himself and whatever educated men of the Vale Rosalind could lay hands upon. This seems to have been the last straw for Rosalind; to those who knew her, they say that whatever warmth and vigor she once allowed to show to others was now buried deep under a façade cold as the winter that claimed her husband.

Recent Events
To be updated as they come.

Family
Lord Mathias Belmore, father, deceased

Sonia of Lys, mother, deceased

Simeon Egen, husband, deceased

Mariya Belmore, daughter

Household Members / NPC's
Master of Arms Elias Wydman

Maester Harrion