Reynard Rowan

Reynard is the current Lord of Goldengrove and head of House Rowan. Born in 369 AC as the second son to Morgath Rowan and Bethany Fossoway, he became the Lord of Goldengrove at the age of four and twenty after his father passed away peacefully of old age. He would marry Sera Caswell at the age of nine and ten where she would birth him one son and a daughter before passing away from complications from childbirth.

Character and Appearance
Reynard bears no special features that would differentiate himself from the average Westerosi. He barely reaches the height of six feet and he maintains a fit form for his age although nowhere near as strong as many knights in the realm. Signs of his age are most present in his hair which originally a rich chestnut brown had matured to become intermingled with strands of grey hair. At a first glance his eyes appear to be a hollow light grey but upon further inspection they reveal themselves to blue muted with age. He maintains his beard on a daily basis keeping short upon his skin.

In his earlier days, Reynard would be mostly characterized as reckless and charming. But after the years passed which brought the deaths of his brother, his parents and his wife, he has become a more muted man barely ever showing emotion on his face. These days he usually keeps to himself when possible, only using his childhood charm when necessary. He finds more solace in carefully maintaining his lands and readying his mind for war. Reynard mostly wears simple furs and muted colour clothing which he crafted to seem more like a commoner than a noble. The only sign of his rank as a noble is a gold leaf necklace as a symbol for his house.

History
Reynard Rowan was born without the slightest notion that he would grow to become the heir of Golderngrove. He was born the second son and the fourth child between his mother and father. He was told by his mother that when she came out of his womb, they thought he was sickly as he had come out coughing out blood and silent. When the maester examined further, he had found Reynard healthy instead passing the blame on him swallowing blood the womb. He had never cried for the first month after his birth, he just idly laid around. Only after hearing the cries of another newborn did he began to cry as if imitating the other child.

Reynard was chalked up to be slow by many including his own father and mother. He had only begun to speak at the age of four, read at the age of seven and write at the age of eight. Most things did not come easily to him, he was a poor fighter, he often stuttered and he lacked any motivation. At the age of ten, his parents becoming angry with his incompetence sent him to become the page for Lord Ashford.

Lord Ashford realizing the problems with Reynard decided to inspire him the way he learned. Lord Ashford had him beat everyday. Every time he was hit, he grew more and more angry at Lord Ashford. He channeled his anger into training himself with his morning-star envisioning every swing as hitting the Lord.

But he was not happy with just training with his weapon for he knew that Lord Ashford would find it suspicious if he had been only trained his body so he decided to pretend to train his mind. Everyday he bided his time, pretending to learn. Eventual the make belief became reality and he lost his stutter, he showed his natural talent for martial affairs and for statecraft.

Time had passed quickly for him and by the age of sixteen, his was already on his knees being sworn in as a knight by Lord Ashford. He truly smiled that day as he realized that Lord Ashford had beat him into a man, something that he had tried so hard to stop without realizing he succumbed to his teacher’s wishes. When he arrived back to Goldengrove, a lot had changed to his family. He was now the heir to Goldengrove ever since his brother drank himself to death in a tavern in King’s Landing.

While he maintained their lands in the stead of their father, he lacked any real power to act on pressing issues. Three years later this would come to light when the peasants across the Northmarch refused to pay their taxes. He had seen the signs and asked for his father’s permission to make an example out of dissenters and use fear to quell the rest. His father ever indecisive told him to wait out the peasantry. Months later, the uprising had gone on for too long for Reynard to wait it out no longer. He sent ravens to House Tyrell to quell the smallfolk superseding his father’s commands. When they arrived, the peasants quickly laid down their arms and went back to working the fields for their family.

That same year to secure the lands of House Rowan, he agreed to his father’s plan to marry him to Sera Caswell. Although he had never met this woman before his wedding day, he would grow to love her. She was the only woman that made him laugh and the only woman who he had ever loved. She would give him two children: his son Gerald and his daughter Maegalle.

Tragedy struck in 393 AC while travelling to Brightwater Keep to visit his sister, his family was ambushed by bandits. The reasons why he was ambushed was pretty unclear as even though the Reach had suffered from the famine, the people were relatively well fed. With the help of his brother and some guards, he was able to kill all of the bandits. Although they did take their losses, Reynard had lost his mother, father and his wife. It was said by his brother that Reynard had cradled the body of Sera until the day she was buried. He had never seen his brother cry so hard for anyone or anything since.

With the help of his brother, he raised his two children and after a year he was able move on from her death. He vowed to focus on raising her children above marrying again, only even considering the idea of marrying again if they had grown old enough.

In the War of the Three Thieves, he arrived to the Stepstones on the ships of House Redwyne. He spent most of the time on the Stepstones leading his levies to the various Stepstone islands to systemically slaughter the pirates who had escaped their fate at sea. At Gray Gallows, he was among the Westerosi when the pirate’s dragon arose from the castle to burn a path through their lines. He stood in awe of the dragon while he fought against the pirates before it was slaughtered swiftly by Maekar Targaryen.

During the Scarlet Winter, he was in a relatively fine position compared to a lot of Westeros. Even though the Mander had frozen over, the Rowans had already prepared and hoarded crops to feed the peasants and the nobility. Even the hoards of Essosi refugees were not able to reach the Lands of the Northmarch and during the night with No Moon he was able to quell the suspicions and rumors of the smallfolk.