House Osgrey

House Osgrey of Standfast is a noble house from Standfast in the Reach. Sworn to House Rowan, its lands border those of House Webber. They have not been lords in centuries, now being landed knights, though they once had been among the greatest houses of the Reach.

Early History
House Osgrey was established at least 1,000 years before the Conquest. The family used to be Marshalls of the Northmarch under House Gardener. At that time they possessed four castles and were done fealty by a score of lesser lordlings and a hundred landed knights. Their largest castle was Coldmoat, which was raised by Lord Perwyn Osgrey. The Osgreys were a prominent family who intermarried with such great families such as the Florents, Swanns, Tarbecks, Hightowers and Blackwoods. On one occasion an Osgrey, Ser Wilbert the Little Lion, killed and was killed by Lancel IV, King of the Rock, thereby repelling an invasion of the Reach.

Targaryen Rule and Blackfyre Rebellion
After the last Gardener king was killed on the Field of Fire, the Osgreys' prominence began to diminish. Lord Ormond Osgrey lost Coldmoat when he spoke out against King Maegor the Cruel for his suppression of the Poor Fellows and the Warrior's Sons. House Osgrey had at least one cadet branch at Leafy Lake but by 210 AC they had become extinct.

In the First Blackfyre Rebellion of 196 AC the head of the house, Ser Eustace Osgrey, supported Daemon Blackfyre. In return Daemon promised the return of Coldmoat, but the rebellion failed and Osgrey's three sons were killed at the Battle of the Redgrass Field. Eustace was forgiven by King Daeron II Targaryen, but his daughter Alysanne was taken as a hostage. His wife committed suicide after the loss of all their children. This made Eustace the last of his line.

Ser Duncan the Tall
House Osgrey once controlled the towns of Dosk, Little Dosk and Brandybottom, as well as the Derring Downs. In 210 AC, however, the family had only one castle left: Standfast. Ser Eustace entered a conflict with his neighbour, Lady Rohanne Webber, over the rights to a border stream, the Chequy Water. Eustace had once proposed marriage of his son Addam to Rohanne, but was declined by Lord Webber. The new conflict was decided by a trial by battle in which the champion of House Osgrey, Ser Duncan the Tall, defeated the Lucas Inchfield, champion of Lady Webber. After the fight Rohanne and Eustace reconciled, married and Eustace became the Lord of Coldmoat: thus, lands that were previously under the domain of House Webber were restored to House Osgrey.

Up to the Second Conquest
Ser Eustace was born a son through his marriage to Rohanne Webber, Wilbert Osgrey. When Ser Eustace passed he inherited Standfast while his mother's seat of Coldmoat passed to her cousin, albeit not through a lack of trying through Wilbert to restore House Osgrey to Coldmoat, which culminated in a skirmish between the two houses; with House Webber the victor. During the War of the Five Kings, House Osgrey remained loyal to Mace Tyrell throughout and bent the knee to the Targaryen's once they were restored to the throne.

The Present
Ser Theodan Osgrey died after the death of three of his sons, leaving his fourth son and fifth born child Arthur Osgrey to inherit Standfast.

Standfast
Standfast is the stronghold of House Osgrey in the Reach. It is called a castle by courtesy, but more closely resembles a towerhouse. Three villages fall within its dominion.

Layout
Standfast stands upon a hill and can be seen for leagues around. A partial collapse of the north and west faces of the building required rebuilding, leaving a pale grey stone above and old black stone below. Turrets had been added during the rebuild, and two ancient grotesques whose shape had been lost long ago stood on the the other two corners. Its pinewood roof is flat, though warped and leaky from time.

A single path leads to the tower, which can only be ridden single file. A daub-and-wattle stable sits at the base of the tower. Standfast has one entrance, an oak and iron door.

Standfast's size is deceptive. While it is only four stories tall above ground, underground there is a complex of deep vaults and cellars cut into the hill that it sits upon. The upper two have windows and balconies, the lower two, only arrow slits. It has its own well.

The bedchambers of Standfast's master are on the fourth story while his solar is on the story beneath it. The master's bedchamber in Standfast is decorated with trophies of victories, some from centuries in the past

Osgrey Lands
•A stream known as the Chequy Water can be found between Standfast and Dosk. A wooden bridge crosses it, and about an hour upstream one comes to a small forest belonging to House Osgrey known as Wat's Wood

•Dosk is a village in the Reach which lies little more than three days' ride from Standfast. A village known as Little Dosk is near it as well. They lie close to the sea

•The region near the sea where Dosk, Little Dosk, Standfast, and Coldmoat can be found are in the northern reaches of the Reach

•Places near to Standfast: Nunny (probably a village or town), Cobble Cover, the Horseshoe Hills, Derring Downs with its caves, the village of Brandybottom, and Leafy Lake

•Three small, nameless villages fall within Standfast's dominion, the largest of which had a one-room sept with crude charcoal drawings of the Seven on its walls. Twice a year a real septon would come around to forgive sins in the Mother's name

•Coldmoat lies west of Standfast. The shortest path between them is the west path from Standfast

•Wat's Wood once extended to Coldmoat, and before the Conquest aurochs and giant elk could be hunted there by the Osgreys and the kings of the Reach. It slowly dwindled in size, but even around 150 it extended to both sides of the Chequy Water. However, the Webbers took down the trees on their side so as to make pasturage

•Well upstream from the bridge crossing the Chequy Water, one reaches the west end of Wat's Wood. Several hours ride west of that is Coldmoat

•Wat's Wood was set ablaze in 211, during a dispute between Lady Rohanne and Ser Eustace Greyjoy of Standfast. Neither side claimed responsibility

•Standfast is little more than three days' ride from the sea