Arianne Costayne

Arianne Costayne is the Lady of Three Towers. An only child for much of her early years, Arianne was the expected heir before a newborn brother usurped her place in the line of succession. Relegated to an unremarkable future as a nobleman’s wife, she became enamored with Ser Emmon Greyjoy during a tourney at the Arbor in 418 AC. They married at Pyke the next year, where they resided for most of the next two decades.

Naturally introverted and studious, Arianne Greyjoy struggled to acclimate to life on the Iron Islands. Her talents, however, did not go unnoticed; at the recommendation of Alannys Harlaw, Lord Dagon asked her to assist his ailing steward. She excelled in this position, supervising numerous construction projects throughout the islands of Harlaw and Pyke.

The events of the Bleeding upended the course of Arianne’s life. While she endured the turmoil of the Black Prophet’s Rebellion within the walls of Pyke, her family in the Reach enthusiastically supported the Warsmiths during the Second Hammer Uprising. By the war’s conclusion, her brother had perished in battle and her father had been exiled to the Wall, leaving Three Towers without a male heir. Arianne was installed in his place at the end of 435 AC, reverting to her maiden name.

Since her return to the Reach, Lady Costayne has sought to improve the standing of a house with a long history of supporting failed rebellions - and to pull it out of the administrative ruin left by her short-sighted predecessor.

Appearance and Character
Small and thin, the Lady of Three Towers might easily escape attention if not for her vibrant red hair. She unmistakably takes after her Florent mother, and at the age of forty, her inherited beauty has yet to fade away. Round green eyes and wide, full lips stand out among her rather angular features, and her infrequent smiles are well regarded for their charm. Arianne’s delicate figure is usually clothed conservatively; she tends toward simple patterns of fabric and relatively unrestrictive silhouettes.

Her natural beauty, however, is often muted by an awkward presence. She is disinterested in small talk and simple pleasantries, and incapable of concealing her insincerity when the occasion calls for trivial conversation. Arianne is slow to form meaningful personal connections - but when common interests are found, she can become surprisingly talkative. She is frustrated by the tedium of social conventions, and especially resentful of those that limit a woman’s agency - but in her capacity as the lady of her house, Arianne nevertheless tries to comply with expectations.

Lady Costayne can often project an image of aloofness, and struggles to relate to another’s feelings should she fail to share in their values and experiences. She is not without compassion, but she is ill-equipped to provide emotional support. Though her analytical mind lends itself toward self-reflection, Arianne excuses her own irrational impulses while quietly pitying the sensitivity she perceives in others. Decidedly left-brained, she cannot help but interpret the world around her in binary terms and through a mathematical mode of reasoning.

Cynical prejudices and high ideals are in constant competition within her mind; Arianne is inclined to doubt intentions but hesitant to defy higher authorities. Her compliance, however, should not be mistaken for contentedness: Lady Costayne’s restless work ethic make her loathe to wait for permission. Nothing gives her nearly as much pride as her inventive stewardship, and she cannot help but intimately involve herself in the most minute aspects of her grandest endeavors. In her greatest talents, she borders on overconfidence - but her recognition of her own shortcomings can pull her into fits of debilitating anxiety. Ambitious as she may be, Arianne’s hesitance to assert herself may compel her to begrudgingly submit to arbitrary limitations.

Early Life
The firstborn of Lord Kevan Costayne, Arianne was for long an only child. Complications from that birth - followed by a few miscarriages - kept Joanna Florent from producing more children for over a decade, leaving Arianne as the heir to Three Towers for most of her youth. The conservative Lord Costayne was always reluctant to accept this circumstance, but faced with the looming prospect of a female successor, he provided his firstborn with a thorough education. His traditionalism was counterbalanced by his more cosmopolitan wife, who frequently brought Arianne to Oldtown to visit her Florent kin. Despite her introversion, the young heiress preferred the bustling city to her provincial home; there she was exposed to academic knowledge, courtly customs and the outside world all at once.

Except for the friends she made among the Florent household, Arianne was a decidedly solitary child. She tended to pass the time with books, and a sense of entitlement brought on by her expected inheritance gave her little incentive to hone her conversational abilities. Moreover, she was often intimidated by the gregarious adults at her father's court, who seldom showed genuine appreciation for her scholarly pursuits. The young Arianne was content yet bored with her life at Three Towers; she found the most solace in her fantasies of her own future as the lady of her house.

The Usurper
Arianne's security in her inheritance was put into doubt in 410 AC, when Lady Joanna at last produced a second child. Though another girl did not threaten to surpass the firstborn in the line of succession, her birth proved Joanna's potential to give her husband a son. Indeed, Lord Costayne's enthusiasm for the prospect was immediately palpable as he became more concerned with the health of his wife than the rearing of his heir apparent. Three years later, he at last received his wish with the birth of Jory Costayne.

Family

 * Gerion Costayne b. 356 AC d. 405 AC
 * m. Rhea Rhysling b. 355 AC d. 419 AC
 * Kevan Costayne b. 377 AC
 * m. Joanna Florent b. 379 AC
 * Arianne Costayne, Lady of Three Towers b. 398 AC
 * m. Emmon Greyjoy, Lord Consort of Three Towers b. 389 AC
 * Alannys Costayne b. 419 AC
 * Axel Costayne b. 421 AC
 * Olenna Costayne b. 410 AC
 * m. Harys Hunt b. 410 AC d. 433 AC
 * Hanna Hunt b. 430 AC
 * Jory Costayne b. 413 AC d. 434 AC
 * m. Bethany Fossoway b. 414 AC
 * Myranda Costayne b. 417 AC
 * Gregor Costayne b. 380 AC d. 420 AC
 * Brandon Flowers b. 405 AC
 * Jeyne Costayne b. 381 AC
 * m. Joffrey Bridges b. 379 AC