Loreon Lannister

Loreon Lannister is Lord of Casterly Rock, Shield of Lannisport, and Warden of the West. He is the head of House Lannister, and so one of the most powerful lords in all of Westeros. From 366-370 AC Loreon served on the Small Council as Master of Laws. Loreon inherited the lands and titles of House Lannister when his father, Lord Leo Lannister, passed away in 370 AC. He has two siblings, Gwynesse and Lancel, and five children: Tytos, Gerald, Leila, Lynora and Jason.

Appearance
Loreon is tall, yet sturdily built. He shares, or once shared, many of the characteristics common to those born into House Lannister. When young his hair was golden blond, though now in his old age it has gone a darker shade of grey. His eyes are an emerald green, with flecks of gold in them. He keeps a neatly trimmed beard and moustache. When not dressed for battle in ornate and expensive armour, Loreon will wear lavish clothes befitting of his rank and title.

History
Loreon was born in 342 AC, to Lord Leo Lannister and his wife, Melessa Redwyne. As their firstborn son, he was groomed to rule from his birth. His early years at Casterly Rock were spent training to fight, govern and rule. When he reached his twelfth nameday he was sent away to squire under one of his father's lords, Lord Banefort. Away from the court set up by his grandmother, Lady Margaery Lannister nee Tyrell, Loreon began to resent how the Roses had come to dominate his grandfather and father.

A Foolish Slight
When the Targaryens undertook their Royal Tour in 360 AC Loreon returned briefly to the Rock, along with the Baneforts. When the rash Prince Aenys snubbed House Lannister and spurned Loreon's sister Gwynesse whom he had been expected to marry, choosing to wed Lenore Blackwood instead, the Westerlands were outraged. This insult was only made worse when King Aenar accepted his son's decision. In the end the Lords of the West were only placated when it was decided that Gwynesse would marry Prince Viserys, Aenys' younger brother. Still, this was not enough for some. Loreon, encouraged by his uncle Tybolt, swore revenge on the Blackwood Witch who had humiliated his family. It would take years, but in the end the Lions would get what they so desired.

In 364 AC Loreon was knighted by Lord Banefort.

After this, Loreon spent some time in King's Landing with his uncle Tybolt and his sister Gwynesse. He was present when Prince Viserys attempted (unsuccessfully) to make Tybolt the new Hand of the King. He was also present in the Capital when the first bout of rumours concerning witchcraft and sorcery began to surround Lady Lenore, in 365 AC.

The Young Lion and the Salt-Queen
However, in 366 AC Loreon was ordered back to the Westerlands by his father. Only a few days after his return to the Rock the singers of Lannisport began to sing for the first time the popular ditty  'The Witch of Dragonstone.' Nothing more than a coincidence, of course. The rumours that Lannister gold, and Loreon's threats, kept the bards singing the song for weeks on end were nothing more than that: rumours.

The self-proclaimed 'Salt-Queen' Mara Halfblood had arrived to pillage and reave the keeps and towns of the West. And they would have likely done just that, were it not for the swift actions of Lord Leo Lannister's eldest son. Loreon took direct command of the Lannister Fleet and, against the advice of some of the more cautious of his father's commanders, took to the seas to hunt down the Ironborn menace. In what was widely regarded as a textbook naval victory, Loreon led the Lannister Navy from aboard his flagship as they crushed the so-called 'Queen' in a pitched encounter at sea. Mara herself fell alongside her comrades as her longship was swarmed by Lannister soldiers. Loreon's later treatment of Ironborn prisoners was characteristically brutal and dozens were executed, or simply thrown overboard to drown. Straight down to see their God.

This early campaign cemented Loreon's reputation as a capable and effective naval commander. It also gave him a natural distrust of the savage Ironborn menace. Loreon, in fact, argued in favour of leading a retaliatory strike against the Isles, though cooler heads at his father's court eventually prevailed. Some bards in Lannsiport even took to calling Loreon 'Tywin come again'. Those foolish enough to do so in public soon mysteriously vanished... Still, with the Ironborn threat now neutralised, Loreon returned once more to King's Landing, just as the final nails were being hammered into Lenore Blackwood's coffin.

The Downfall of Lenore Blackwood
Loreon bore witness to the series of scandalous trials that filled 366 AC. Though young the Lion's many influential friends at court managed to secure the position of Master of Laws for him. Soon Loreon was charged by Aenar with overseeing the upcoming trials. Under his rulings, Lady Lenore Blackwood was found to have been a sorceress and a sexual deviant, and guilty of having an affair with Lord Celtigar - the man who had stolen Loreon's uncle's place as Lord Hand before.

Both the King and the High Septon agreed to annul her marriage to Prince Aenys; subsequently, their only son Maegor was declared a bastard. As for the Blackwood witch herself, there was only ever going to be one verdict for her in a trial overseen by Loreon: death. No one at court was more vocal in calling for her execution than he and his sister were. Eventually the Lions would get their way, and Lenore was beheaded. Not long afterwards the Crown Prince would commit suicide on Dragonstone.

Loreon and Gywnesse shed few tears for poor, foolish Aenys. He should've married a Lannister, as he was supposed to. He should not have slighted House Lannister. He should've remembered that the Lannisters always pay their debts.

The Ascendancy of Loreon Lannister
In 370 AC, Lord Leo Lannister passed away. Without further ado, Loreon resigned his post as Master of Laws and hurried back to Casterly Rock. This was the moment that Loreon, and his uncle Tybolt and wife Shiera, had been waiting for. Leo Lannister had ruled well: certainly better than his father Tyrek had. Still, Leo had allowed the lands he ruled, and his wider standing throughout the Seven Kingdoms, to stagnate.

The Lannister army, once the pride of the Westerlands, was but a mere shadow of what it had been just under a century before. The vast new reserves of gold and silver that had been discovered in the hills surrounding Casterly Rock during the Mead Summer lay still untapped. Lannisport, once a beacon of culture and commerce, had been left to deteriorate without the proper supervision from above. Loreon took it upon himself to revitalise the Lannister name.

Prospectors were sent into the hills to seek out the best sites for new mines. Within a few months new mines were being excavated in a number of locations across the Westerlands. A number of new public works were commissioned in Lannisport, most notably the construction of a grand new marketplace and a set of barracks to house the City Watch and a division of Lannister footmen. Crime fell, and trade returned to the levels that it had been at before the Second Conquest. Loreon personally took command of the Lannister Army. Drills were run from dusk till dawn, useless commanders replaced, and coin was spent to replace the tired equipment and arms that the Lannisters forces still made use of.

All this, of course, came at an immense cost to the Lannister coffers. In time, however, the investments made in the early years of Loreon's rule would come to pay themselves back thrice over.

The Kingswood Tourney of 379 AC
Lord Loreon attended the Kingswood Tourney, alongside many other members of his family.

The Golden Fist
In 388 AC, Loreon’s twentieth year as Lord of Casterly Rock, a series of riots broke out across the Westerlands - though they were begun and centred in Lannisport. By the time insurrection arose in the West, though, the Grizzled Lion had seen what had happened throughout the rest of Westeros. The uprising led by Hugh Hammer and his band of 'Warsmiths' incited the smallfolk ruled by House Lannister to follow in a similar vein. Loreon, however, was ready for them. He wasted little time in making examples out of those who he declared 'ringleaders' in order to quell any further uprisings. Men, women and children were gathered up in their hundreds across the West and publicly hung on the direct orders of Lord Loreon Lannister, for what was deemed the greater good of the region. Instability was, in the end, successfully averted. With the sheer force of the Lannister Army any later reprisals against Lannister or noble rule were ruthlessly crushed.

The Silk Glove
Tensions that might have grown due to this ruthless repression were somewhat calmed during the Great Famine (392-4 AC), in which the Lannisters spent considerable amounts of their own capital to ensure that their peasants did not suffer as much as they did in some of the other Kingdoms of Westeros. Funds were also granted to smaller, less prosperous Houses in the Westerlands, such as House Westerling, House Swyft and House Prester.

The War of the Three Thieves
When the King called the Westerlands to arms to fight the Three Thieves, the Lords of the West wasted little time. Led by Lord Loreon himself the Lannister Fleet began the long journey east. The Western forces fought in a number of battles, taking some islands for the Crown. Gerald Lannister, the second of Loreon's sons, fell fighting in the battle of Ormollen's Pyre.

The Scarlet Winter
During the Scarlet Winter of 402-5 AC, Loreon's much-loved wife passed away. Despite the harshness of the winter, Loreon remained determined to keep the Westerlands trading and prosperous. In an effort to keep commerce flowing, Lord Lannister authorised a number of drastic initiatives. One of said initiatives, however, led to dozens drowning when they attempted to break up the ice that blocked Lannisport bay.