House Darry

House Darry is one of the principal houses of the Riverlands, sworn to House Tully, and founded during the Age of Heroes before the Andal Invasion. While never kings, they were always influential vassals renowned for their loyalty.

Their sigil is a plowman in black on brown, representing their duty to all of their subjects. Their words are Loyal Above All.

Prior to 300 AC
(All information taken from awoiaf.westeros.org and written in my own words. All credit for research goes to them.)

House Darry was created thousands of years ago, before the Andal conquest of the Riverlands. They were one of just five first men kingdoms to survive the Invasion, despite losing their entire male line against House Vypren. For thousands of years they served whoever ruled their land loyally, be they a Mudd, a Teague, a Justman or even a Durrandon or Hoare.

After the Conquest, they served the Targaryens, steadily gaining power and influence, acquiring most of House Harroway's lands. During the Dance they had their castle burned, and lost two Lords within a year. However their loyalty gained Darry more than it lost; by the reign of the Mad King there was a Darry in the Kingsguard, and another as Master of Arms in the Red Keep.

During Robert's Rebellion, they lost all they gained and more, as Lord Darry, three of his sons and their Kingsguard were slain on the Trident, with Ser Willem Darry escorting the remaining royals into exile. They lost half their lands, as well as their lordship, and nearly all of their power. With the deaths of Ser Raymun Darry and his son during the War of the Five Kings, House Darry was extinguished in the male line, with his sisters Mariya and Jeyne the only surviving members of the house; both over thirty and both married to minor Freys, with inexperienced children.

After the Red Wedding, the Darry lands were given to the pious Lancel Lannister, and he was married to the wanton Amerei "Gatehouse Ami" Frey, eldest daughter of Mariya Darry, in order to secure local support. Their marriage was annulled within months, leaving Mariya as the de facto holder of the lordship. After Lancel's departure laws were changed enabling greater smallfolk representation, as well as punishment for knights and vassals that abused their smallfolk. To further assist in governing the region, Amerei and Marissa began to be educated as heirs, including in use of arms and military tactics. Following Aegon's landing in the Stormlands, every member of the community from farmers to Mariya herself were required to train in weapons several times a week, resulting in a relatively skilled and large peasant levy.

The Second War of Conquest (300-302 AC)
"Blood runs thicker than water."

Following the rescue of Edmure Tully from capture, House Darry was one of the many houses to swear them fealty. While claiming that they were being loyal to the true ruler of the Riverlands, it was rumoured that the support was given due to their treatment by House Frey, with Lady Mariya's abusive and unlamented husband, and Amerei's two forced weddings and public humiliation via annulment. To secure the alliance, all members of the household signed a declaration of war in blood, as well as a condemnation of the Red Wedding. To further prevent any treachery against House Tully, Marissa was wed to Patrek Mallister, one of Lord Edmure's closest friends, and heir to Seagard. In exchange, Lady Mariya was given the lordship, and her two daughters at Darry given her name. The area suffered harshly during the War of Conquest; Darry was situated on the Crossroads, and too open and vulnerable for the Brotherhood to defend adequately, and while the peasantry became more and more loyal throughout the war, they were ill trained and unequipped to deal with their foes, despite the benefits offered by the House in return for loyalty. In addition, Tristan Rivers of the Golden Company also claimed Darry decent as a bastard of Ser Willem, and had his own claim. While the two claims supporting Aegon were reunited (with Tristan marrying Amerei Darry and gaining Golden Company support), much of the countryside was set alight by pro-Lannister forces attempting to force Jeyne Darry's claim on the lordship.

The darkest day of the war was the final day of the second moon, in 301 AC. The main army defending Darry was lured over the Trident by a small diversionary force, leaving only a small force to hold the castle itself. The main Lannister army of two thousand men then torched anything that could be set alight, before sieging Castle Darry itself. Desperate fighting ensued, but the castle fell in less than a day, and the was garrison killed to a man, as a lesson to those who would go against their family, and support the Tully claim. Most of the twenty Freys brought to Darry after Lancel was given the lordship were hanged off the castle walls or fed to dogs, with the servants and defenders forced into the Plowman's Keep and then burned alive. Lady Mariya Darry was tortured and beheaded by her own sister, and the rest of the castle set alight.

It was almost a week until Tristan Rivers returned with his army, to a ruined castle and a lordship that had no wealth or castle attached. Even so, he took the title of Lord Tristan Darry, and gathered up the remaining peasantry for an assault on the Lannister forces, as well as sending ravens to Marissa at Seagard and Edmure at Riverrun, asking for aid and informing them of the terrible crime. The slowest half of the force was left with Lady Amerei at the ruined castle to begin rebuilding, while the faster infantry and all the cavalry sped north, catching the slow-moving Lannister army just before they forded the Trident. A bloodbath ensued for both sides; the Lannisters were completely unprepared for an assault, but Lord Tristan had brought barely seven hundred men against eighteen hundred survivors of the Darry campaign.

The Lannister army was engaged immediately and forced against the river, unable to use their superior numbers to break out against the more maneuverable cavalry. The battle lasted almost a day, with neither side giving quarter, with over two thousand men on both sides either dead, dying or drowned. The Lannister army had been slaughtered almost to a man, with less than a hundred escaping, and over half the Golden Company men were dead on the field, but the battle was won. The highborn captives were taken to Darry, where Jeyne Darry was hanged by her niece outside the ruined walls, and her sons gelded and sent to the Wall, though it is said that it was only Amerei's personal intervention that saved them from being sold into slavery.

The battles in the area continued throughout the year, with higher and higher casualties. After the Bleeding of the Twins concluded, the attacks grew more unified and numerous. More than once, the lands up to Castle Darry itself were taken, and the castle was little more than a ruin by the time that the first dragon appeared in the sky above the Riverlands. At the end of the war, thousands lay dead, with even women and children taking up arms in the latter stages of the conflict, fighting together regardless of prior loyalty or status. Out of the twenty-two highborn living at Darry at the start of the conflict, four remained alive. Lady Amerei had lost her right arm at the elbow, and Lord Tristan had been crippled by a wound to his back. But House Darry, against the odds, had survived the war.

Dual Lordship (302-305 AC)
"Two hearts beat as one."

After the war, the couple were given the lordship in the ruined castle, both inheriting equal rights to forestall any future conflict; Ami had the (relative) loyalty of the smallfolk levies and riverlords, as well as the superior claim, but Tristan was male, in addition to having a small portion of the Golden Company, and Crown support. Their first objective was to help Darry recover from the Second Conquest; while the harvest of 300 AC was able to be collected in full, 301's harvest had burned in the fields and the populace was starving through the harshest winter in memory. Despite Ami and Tristan's attempts to remedy the situation, both were woefully under prepared for the scale of the disaster, and the smallfolk were dying in the streets of hunger, even as Darry nearly bankrupted itself trying to feed them.

However, over the next few years the situation markedly improved. The harvests of 303 and 304 were a bumper crop, though there were barely enough hands to bring in the harvest, saving Darry from complete starvation. A small keep was built out of earth and stone to defend the hovels that had grown up around the remnants of Castle Darry, still known today as Tristan's Keep. The rebuilding continued through the next few years, although even with assistance from less decimated riverlords Darry remained in crippling debt.

In 305 AC, after years of trying and countless rumours of infertility, Ami and Tristan welcomed their first child, a healthy baby boy named Edmure. While the keep rejoiced at the birth, it was becoming increasingly clear that Tristan's health, always frail after the Second Conquest, was failing. Despite many attempts to purge his body of the mysterious sickness, he grew unable to do his duties for more than a couple of hours a day.

The two heads of house had both recovered House Darry from the brink of destruction, but their days together were drawing to an end. Both had grown, no longer Gatehouse Ami the whore or Tristan Rivers the sellsword but Ami and Tristan Darry, true rulers of their ancestral home. During the seventh month of 305 AC, Lord Tristan Darry breathed his last, and Lady Ami Darry took sole command of her home.

Final Marriage and Rebuilding (306-314 AC)
"I can sell you lies, you can't get enough. Make a true believer, anyone, anyone, anyone."

Following Tristan's death House Darry was in sore need of money, and the weary and scattered smallfolk would not endure any more taxation. In addition, many still distrusted her, as the daughter of a Frey involved in the Red Wedding, and a Darry only on her mother's side. To quell the issues, Lady Ami requested all the major villages and the township to send a representative to Tristan's Keep, where she declared that she would marry a wealthy merchant, in order to finance the recovery that Darry desperately needed, as well as produce children; at the age of twenty-five she still only had the baby Edmure to inherit after her.

Within four months of Lord Tristan's death, Lady Amerei was bethrothed to Yohn of Duskendale, the scion of the most wealthy merchants in Duskendale. Though the marriage was considered controversial even by Amerei's standards, it went ahead a month later in a ceremony in Duskendale's Sept. It is said that the dower paid to Lady Amerei for the marriage was enough to fill a room with gold twice over though most consider this to be but a rumour from the smallfolk. However much it was, it paid off the debts that House Darry owed as well as providing enough money to rebuild Castle Darry itself, still a blackened shell from the Conquest.

The marriage was an unhappy one from the wedding night. During the wedding it was clear that Yohn was wedding for power and Amerei for money, with the groom taking a far greater interest in boasting of his beautiful and powerful bride than actually talking with her, and the bride much more interest in her baby son than her new husband. The bedding itself ended abruptly and violently with Amerei decking one of the groom's friends after he attempted to tear her dress off before the bedding, and the couple slept in separate rooms. Despite this, Lady Amerei was pregnant a year after the ceremony and in 307 AC gave birth to a girl, named Mariya after her grandmother.

During the first year of the marriage the old Castle Darry's remnants were finally cleared away, making place for a new castle where the old once stood. While digging in the foundations remnants of several earlier castles were found, culminating in a priceless weirwood bow being found in the remains of a First Men variant of the castle. The bow was presented to the couple in the partially built new castle, and ever since has become the ancestral weapon of House Darry, handed to the most able candidate to use.

Despite the birth of Mariya, the marriage was widely known as falling apart. Yohn's family were furious, believing that their daughter in-law had deceived them with the marriage, while Lady Amerei herself was even angrier, seeing her husband as attempting to take her birthright despite the marriage being matrilineal. The two grew stormier and stormier, culminating in Lady Amerei banishing her husband's family in 310 AC, which lead to a confrontation that left her castellan Ser Arwood lying dead on the ground, as well as Yohn's father and uncle.

That night, both Lady Amerei and Yohn were seen to be talking loudly in their main hall, with a large flagon of wine that was later found empty. The two were then seen to head up to the Plowman's Keep, where the talking and yelling continued, before becoming screaming and a final piercing yell, before a thump and silence. Lady Amerei was found unconscious with her dress torn to shreds, and Yohn was found sixty feet below, with his blood pooling out onto the snow. While the circumstances are unknown, it was rumoured that foul play was involved; Lady Amerei had three inches on her husband as well as forty pounds and was known to hold her drink as well as any of the men, while Yohn was known for being a relative lightweight although far more physically powerful.

Widowed four times at the age of twenty-nine, she would never remarry, with her son Edmure formally made her heir soon after above any future lover. Though she would have on and off affairs with dozens of men over the next few decades, all would be with far more restrained and less powerful lovers than previously, as well as far more covertly.

The years from 310-314 AC were spent with Darry's first dabbles in diplomacy since their dispossession decades ago. While Darry would always be loyal to House Tully above even their King, this loyalty would never be as ironclad as before Robert's Rebellion. Instead, Lady Amerei secured their alliances through trade and marriage (and rumours of something more, particularly with the younger lords), with Mariya's betrothal to Gareth Piper and reduced taxation enabling Darry to grow in size and influence. By 314 AC Castle Darry was rebuilt not as a castle for defence but for livability, with Tristan's Keep adapted into a barracks for the men and the rest of the town paved and enclosed by a stone wall. While many in the Riverlands still saw her as a half-Frey whore and kinslayer, many more began to see her more positively as a true successor to the Darry name in her policies, if far more underhanded and forceful as a politician than her predecessors.

The Year(s)of the False Banners (315-318 AC)
"Never again, is what you swore, the time before."

Throughout 315 AC the threat of outlaws grew and grew. House Darry initially faced little threat from the outlaws, with their pro-smallfolk policies paying dividends as well as the outlaws curiously choosing to spend less forces on the region. In addition, it was rumoured that Lady Amerei feared the outlaws enough that she refused to confront them; after all, unlamented as he was, her father had been hanged by outlaws and the smallfolk were agitated after a low crop yield.

Midway through the year, a raven was recieved from The Twins, which caused this inaction to cease.

Lady Amerei vanished into her room for a day and a night, before emerging to publicly burn the letter, as well as summon her son Edmure from House Heddle, where he was squiring. The letter's contents have never been known, although when prompted her only response was "as a teenager I had awful taste in men". The banners were called against the rebels, and within weeks House Darry and their vassal had levied their men against the threat.

The Year of the False Banners was the last war that Lady Amerei would personally fight in. At thirty-four, over two hundred pounds and missing half her right arm her role was largely restricted to command, while her son squired for Lord Heddle. He acquitted himself well, gaining valuable combat experience, although he never fought personally.

The campaign itself was more a political campaign than a military one, with the key to victory lying in winning the smallfolk's allegiance, in order to discover the location of the mercenary companies. The only pitched battle of the war was a complete rout, with the combined forces of the Riverlands eliminating many of the bandits in a single charge.

In the latter stages of the conflict, the bandits attempted to enter Castle Darry itself; as a small, lightly manned castle not designed for defence it was ostensibly the easiest target out of the major Riverlands houses. The attempt was thwarted quickly, with the intruders quickly recognized, accosted and hanged off the castle walls as a warning to any future outlaws.

The Plow(wo)man's Heirs (318-326 AC)
"You might know of the original sin."

Immediately following the conflict Edmure began his formal education, being recalled to Castle Darry. At the age of thirteen he was the perfect blend of his parents being tall, attractive and willful from his mother, with his father's face, intelligence and talent at both commanding and combat itself. Despite his parents lack of education themselves, he was adept at both war and peace, sitting with his half-sister on all of his mother's councils.

At the age of seventeen he was knighted by his namesake, Lord Paramount Edmure Tully in a political move specifically designed to show House Darry's legitimacy as well as Edmure's, being the son of two people with tenuous claims on their lands. That same year, he officially represented his House for the first time in the yearly council, while his mother was bed-bound following the complicated birth of her second natural child. The council showed his diplomatic skill, Edmure having to negotiate members elected from each village, many of whom were in opposition to each other and even his House on occasion.

Many girls desired the handsome Darry heir, but he fell in love young while squiring with House Heddle. Though he would occasionally stray like most men his age, he fell for Lady Kyra Heddle young. Both houses approved of the match with Lord Heddle gaining a powerful new in-law, and Lady Darry allowing both her children to marry for love, within reason. Within a year they had a son, named Lyman and second in line to House Darry.

Lady Amerei continued her attempts at recovering House Darry's political and economic prospects throughout the 320's. By 326 AC her policies had finally borne fruit with a quiet countryside finally recovered from the two wars the fiefdom had faced, as well as having more political power than any time since Robert's Rebellion. However, her own reputation had not fared so well. Despite being over forty, she was still notorious for extramarital affairs; though she had thickened over the years, she still looked a woman of thirty, with an even curvier build than before.

Her first tryst was with a Westerlands hedge knight of some minor renown, that lead to her son Tybolt Rivers being born in 319. Strong but temperamental he always envied his legitimate siblings, and over the years grew bitter and angry towards them. He himself had a son named Walder, born in 337 AC. Her second natural child was from a Vale stonemason, a girl named Alayne Rivers that was born in 321. She was a demure child, who would eventually choose to live in the Vale with her father.

Lady Amerei's final children were born in 324 AC from a Volantene merchant that claimed the blood to venture past the Black Walls. The two children were twins named Aurelia "Lia" and Dontos "Don" Rivers, who from the start had completely different personalities. Lia inherited her father's Valyrian features and her mother's political acumen. Combined these made her one of the most talented women of the age, eventually marrying a minor lord despite her bastard status. By comparison Don looked almost a peasant with Lady Amerei's tall and physical build and the usual Darry brown hair, though he had his father's baby blue eyes. Eventually he would become a knight of renown as well as being the only one of Lady Amerei's bastards to be legitimized, by royal decree following the tourney of 352 AC though placed below all her legitimate children.

The Winter of Wolves (326-329 AC)
After several years of summer, the Winter of Wolves was the coldest winter since the Conquest, with many near starvation after three years of meager harvest and banditry. The early winter was no more difficult for the smallfolk than any other; there were stocks of food to last years in each town and Lady Amerei responded much more violently against banditry than before, with perpetrators often losing a finger in addition to any fine.

After the Thorns of Winter retreated south, the situation grew more serious. No longer could stealing for food be kept at a controllable level with normal amounts of force, and after a firm request from Lord Tully, Darry agreed to work with Lord Frey in repelling the rampaging bandits as well as to send a small detachment to assist in their destruction in the field. While a satisfactory force was committed to the overall cause, the cavalry detachment was given little support apart from trackers, a decision that Lady Amerei would bitterly rue.

Decisive battle was engaged within sight of the Twins, where the last roving bandits were struck down with just a few charges of heavy cavalry, their few remaining men and horses being completely ill-equipped to face some of the strongest soldiers in the Riverlands. However during the battle tragedy struck with Ser Edmure Darry, the twenty-four year old heir to his House, being struck by a bandit's scythe in between his armour plates, and bleeding out on the field of battle. His wife would throw herself from the top of Castle Darry a week later, leaving his son Lyman as heir. Both husband and wife would be interned alongside each other in the crypt, together in death as they had been in life.

Mariya Darry would also marry during this time, to the third son of Lord Piper, Gareth. Their marriage was initially an alliance, but the two would bond over the coming years, eventually falling in love. Their first child was Raymun Darry, born in the months following the end of the incursions.

Peace in Our Time (329-338 AC)
House Darry experienced rarely before seen prosperity during the next decade, having the good fortune to survive much of the conflicts of the decade unscathed. The War of the Narrows barely affected the House at all, having no adult males to send to defend the east coast, and no ships to send them with. Indeed, it was noted that the financial damage from a lack of trade was more costly to House Darry than any losses of men.

The Red God revival was far more of an issue. The amount of worshipers was already far above the national average from the days of the Brotherhood and would only increase further following the revival, particularly with Darry being on the kingsroad and therefore well connected to other parts of the realm. These worshipers were barely tolerated; Lady Amerei herself was only nominally a follower of the Faith but the followers of the Red God were perceived as having the potential to unite against the lords like the Brotherhood once had. The followers eventually had no action taken against them (and remain a significant minority on House Darry's lands to this day) but it was a close-run thing, and the lack of intervention for either side damaged Lady Amerei's reputation, if you could call it that, significantly.

During this time period it was also rumoured that Lady Amerei took a lover that she would keep almost until the end of her life; at fifty-four she was far too old for children in any case, but the near-constant rumours surrounding her love life abated, never to return. Many candidates were suggested, but beyond the man being too lowborn for even Lady Amerei to have an open relationship with and his constant presence at Castle Darry during those times, nothing is known about this mysterious lover.

The Krakens and the Sickness (338-339 AC)
Though the Fourth War of the Kraken would not touch Darry physically, it would impact the house far more deeply though the death of Lady Marissa Mallister, Lady Amerei's last surviving sibling. Following the news of her death the Lady vanished for half a moon to parts unknown, coming back twenty pounds thinner and with a determination to destroy every Ironborn on the continent. The house called every banner it could and though Lady Amerei could not ride herself due to her age, her grandson and heir Ser Lyman Darry rode in her place.

The mission itself was in the end futile. Seagard would be recaptured without them and the army was used mainly for peacekeeping and rebuilding shattered towns, an ignoble task for such a force. At the final battle they looked set to finally release all of their (and more to the point their mistresses') pent up anger and despair, but were denied the chance as their duties in the final battle were much like the other riverlords; avoid the giant jets of flame that Helaena and Aenar released above.

The army would return to Castle Darry actually enlarged slightly by some number with refugees from the town, but their foolhardy mission to take revenge was not complete, and Lady Amerei was still as alone in the world as before.

Further tragedy would befall the house however, with the Summer Sickness. While the krakens landed on the west coast far from Darry, the sickness spread along the roads of the Seven Kingdoms like poison through an artery... and Darry sat right on the largest of those arteries. Despite efforts further south the contraction of the disease from Hayford and Maidenpool was almost inevitable, and by the end of 339 AC a fifth of the population lay dead of the sickness, including almost a third in the town around Castle Darry. The disease was relatively light compared to other hubs of commerce; containment of patients was started as early as possible with what few maesters remained, and by Lady Amerei's decree the bodies were incinerated in a pit instead of being buried after the silent sisters died almost to a man.

In spite of these valiant efforts, Ser Lyman would fall ill with the disease. It was initially thought to be a mild case and survivable and he would quickly recover. He did indeed recover partially before relapsing a week later, falling into a tortured sleep from which he would never awake. The line of Edmure Darry was dead, and the heir to Darry became Lady Amerei's second and last legitimate child, Mariya Darry.

A Plowman Forged Anew (340-346 AC)
Immediately following the death of Ser Lyman, the Darry political machine would grind into action. The new heir was Mariya Darry, thirty-two years old and married to Lord Piper's third son Gareth. Mariya was ever her mother's daughter; quiet, kind and with her namesake's Darry appearance she was Lady Amerei's darling. As such, she also had no training in ruling whatsoever and had been married off so low largely because of Lady Amerei's own low reputation and that of the house as a whole.

That reputation had risen remarkably in the last two decades however, from a combination of her increasingly obvious political talent having rebuilt Darry from virtually nothing into an incredibly profitable trading hub, as well as most of the lords that remembered her chiefly as a Frey at the Red Wedding dying off and being replaced with those who saw her as a forceful but respected old woman, if far too amorous at times. Her talent would serve her well, as she managed to convince Lord Piper after several heavy discussions that Mariya and Gareth's union was absolutely matrilineal, and that their son Raymun should absolutely take the Darry name as soon as possible.

While this solved the immediate inheritance problem it left another. Lady Mariya had one child, who was not yet of an age to marry. If he died, the seat would pass to her oldest bastard Tybolt Rivers and his line after Mariya's death, who was an intolerable leader; a drunkard with a perchance for cruelty, he was infamous enough that Lady Amerei banished him in 340 AC and took his young son Walder to raise as her own. As such, the couple were (for once in Lady Amerei's life, kindly and politely) encouraged to have more children and as such Lythene Darry was born in 343 AC, and Stannis Darry in 344. In addition Mariya's eldest child Raymun would marry Lady Carellen and have his eldest son Davos in 344 AC. Lady Carellen would die from the bloody flux a year later, a death that changed Raymun permanently and made him far more isolated and combative, particularly against his grandmother.

The Schism (or not) (346-349 AC)
House Darry had never been particularly religious. None of the living members had been particularly religious and Lady Amerei herself only appeared at the Sept when absolutely required; the Faith considered her a harlot and a kinslayer, she considered them a group of idiots denying her the same sexual conquests that any male lord would be allowed, and that was that. She had built a sept of course; a moderately sized building with intricately carved wooden statues of the Seven, with an outside area for the statues to be moved to during larger congregations.

In time, a letter arrived from Oldtown from the Starry Sept, whose religious beliefs were already spreading up the kingsroad. Whoever wrote the letter was either foolhardy or particularly zealous against the sin of lust, with the letter starting by calling her Gatehouse Ami and accusing her of being a kinslayer and a turncloak to every part of her family, continuing by saying that a noble who relied on trade was no better than a godless slut, and concluding by saying that she would burn in the seven hells unless she repented, "although there is little enough chance of that." The letter itself was promptly copied into the book of events in Darry for 347 AC and then burned. A similar though slightly less critical letter was shortly received from King's Landing, and was given the same treatment.

The conflict between the two groups was resolved simply; both were free to chant at one another until their throats grew hoarse, but whichever side first attacked either the other side, the followers of the Red God or the old god believers would be ridden down by cavalry. Lady Amerei herself served as the intermediary; she was known for being a neutral party that while nominally Baelorian was more disapproved of by both parties, and therefore an acceptable compromise to the warring factions. Neither side was permitted to arm, and in exchange both churches were given economic benefits to "help their flock". The situation would remain tense for several weeks to come but in the end the Starry followers had trouble keeping support in a place that was relatively prosperous for the poorer folk and in the end largely conceded, becoming a small but noticeable minority similar to the Red God believers from two decades earlier.

A Summer without End (350-359 AC)
The Mead Summer would prove to be particularly prosperous for House Darry. As a house heavily reliant on crops, the years of bountiful harvest enabled the smallfolk to put away enough for winter and then keep or sell the excess, creating unheard of prosperity. It was said at the time that a man could walk from one side of the Riverlands to the other living simply on the kindness and prosperity of other farmers and at Darry that was certainly true; the granaries were full to bursting by the time winter came in 359.

House Darry itself prospered during this time; though no marriages were created or children born in this time the members of the family grew tall and strong, and Lady Amerei continued to look a woman of her fifties even as her age slowly crept closer to eighty. Though her straw-coloured hair was now silver and her skin wrinkly, her senses still worked as well as they did when she took the vows at the age of twenty and her mind was free of any failings, enabling her to provide steady if conservative leadership through the Summer, and to store enough food to survive the inevitable long winter.

Raymun Darry would be awarded the position of Master of Laws in 350 AC following a long selection process, requiring the young scion to head to King's Landing. He would fight with his grandmother bitterly over his decision to accept the position; Lady Amerei believed that the politics of King's Landing were liable to kill him and that he would better serve the family by staying at Darry, while Raymun thought that he could learn more among more experienced politicians, as well as the desire to see more of the world instead of just his small section of the Riverlands. While the two would reconcile in the face of the former's death in 364, the divisions carved were long and deep and radically changing the future Lord Raymun's perspective on rule.

During the tourney Dontos Rivers would make his name as Brave Don Darry. While in his cups he made a bet that he would steal a scale from Viserion, the king's dragon and one of the largest. Many would have considered it a suicide mission but the dragon was oddly calm with the knight, enabling him to pluck a scale the size of a hand without injury, though he was soon apprehended by the dragon's guards. He was brought before the king along with the rest of the family which was fortunate for the foolhardy knight as his step-nephew Raymun was able to leverage his position to secure his release after the suitable formal apologies were completed. Soon after his mother acquired the scale in exchange for awarding the knight the position of castellan, which he would hold until his death. Today the golden scale has faded to a yellow cream, but is still one of House Darry's most prized possessions and is stored in an unknown location.

Death Comes To Us All (360-364 AC)
Throughout the period 360-364, Darry would experience a general decline brought mainly about from the harsh winter following the Mead Summer, though a change of leadership would also claim a part. The weather itself was more than bearable, with the storage preparations made in the summer ensuring that unlike previous winters, no-one would starve.

In 360, Raymun Darry returned from his tenure in King's Landing to much acclaim, and a significantly boosted reputation. It was said that upon his return he and Lady Amerei retired to her solar for a day and a night of talks; what ever happened, their relationship thawed somewhat and Raymun agreed for him and his son Davos to attend the Riverlands stop of the Royal Tour. While unsurprisingly no Darry was chosen to be the crown prince's wife, Davos would gain the favour of the bookish Melissa Tully throughout their stay and upon their departure would formally ask his father for permission to marry.

Raymun responded with a flat denial; Davos and Melissa were barely sixteen and such a relationship was far from certain to be accepted by Lord Tully in any case. Davos' response was to go over his father's head and ask Lady Amerei for permission, which she promptly gave. The two lovebirds would be denied again by Raymun and proceeded to simply leave their chambers in the night, ride to the nearest town, marry and consummate before anyone could stop them. While never officially confirmed it was strongly rumoured that Lady Amerei had at the very least turned a blind eye to their escapades and the relationship between the two would again sour, worse than before.

In 362 the couple had their first child, a girl named Marissa. Marissa Darry was small and had the typical brown eyes and hair of a Darry, but she was healthy, kind and charming in her own way, even if she would never be a great beauty or political force. A year later a second daughter named Shiera was born. While Marissa had the usual appearance of her House, Shiera Darry defied it in every way possible; her eyes were not the piercing blue of her mother but instead the icy blue of a frozen lake, while her skin was white as porcelain and her hair white and brittle. While there was some discussion about keeping the child, ultimately it was decided that the child would be allowed to live and despite the maester's predictions Shiera grew tall and strong.

By early 363 it was obvious that Lady Amerei was dying. While she had been hale until her eightieth year, she quickly lost weight and her body went from that of a sixty year old to a ninety year old within a year. During that time she spent more and more time compiling books and designs; no longer able to experience the world physically she instead used her mind. Despite not being the smartest of women, she would eventually compile the basis of the Darry library of today at Melissa's request, though it would be much expanded over the next forty years.

While her condition appeared largely stable in early 364 AC, Lady Amerei called a meeting of the Darry family in the third moon. After confirming her wishes for succession, discussions with family and distribution of her personal property Lady Amerei Darry fell asleep never to wake on the nineteenth day of the third moon, 364 AC at the age of eighty-one. In her lifetime House Darry had gone from being utterly destroyed to a profitable, if somewhat disreputable House reliant on merchantry. Her own reputation had gone from a harlot member of a monstrous family to a political force, even if traces of her Frey ancestry remained her entire life. Her daughter Lady Mariya Darry succeeded her as her only living legitimate child at the age of fifty-seven and was anointed ruler in the Darry Sept the next morning.

Seriously, Nothing Happens For Like 20 Years (364-377)
The first few years of Lady Mariya's rule were peaceful, marked by a continuation of the prosperity that House Darry had experienced during the previous decades. She was an older lady but still hale during this time. Despite this, the first flaws that would mark her rein would begin to emerge. Lady Mariya was a hesitant woman, unused to ruling. A lifetime of overzealous parenting had left her technically competent, but in practice unwilling or unable to make critical decisions. Nonetheless, for the first few years the region was prosperous.

In 366 AC Davos and Melissa's third child was born; this time a boy named Harrold, who was born healthy and strong with his mother's flaming red hair and his father's short stature and brown eyes. The young lad grew quickly and showed early promise as a knight. However in 377 AC during a routine training session however a horse landed on his leg, shattering it. Though the maester saved the leg and the boy's life he would never again be able to run or fight, being forced to use a cane for the rest of his life. Following this event the young Darry often followed his grandfather Raymun around on his duties, learning what he could of the Seven Kingdoms' politics. He became more dour, less likely to smile and far more serious as he edged closer to his teens, maturing far quicker than most boys his age despite a stature of just five foot five.

In 372 a second son was born, named Addam. He was born strong, with dark brown hair and blue eyes. While he never showed the political talent of his brothers or the arcane talents of his younger sister he was still a strong young boy by 377 AC.

Throughout the late 360's Lady Mariya's mental health began to decline; ruling was a taxing endeavor when you paid full attention as she always did and the strain upon her already aged mind was too much. Despite Darry's outward peacefulness throughout the 360's and 370's many small problems required the ruler's attention as always and in 371 AC she collapsed, breaking a leg and being bedridden for over a month. Following the incident she was never the same, seeing things that weren't there and having trouble concentrating on a task for more than a few moments.

Following her collapse her son Raymun began to take more and more control over Darry affairs, with Lady Mariya's (reluctant) blessing. As her health worsened he soon took over almost all of the functions of the House, though never officially becoming regent. He showed far greater potential than his mother, being able to balance the needs of the House with the demands of the smallfolk and lords far more successfully.

Her health declining of an unknown wasting illness, Lady Mariya finally passed in the seventh month of 377, aged seventy.

(m: everything above this point requires substantial editing, and may well be retconned)

A Glorious Rule and a Water Tower (377-387 AC)
The Lord Raymun would inherit the mantle of Lord Darry upon a cold, rainy day in the tenth month of 377. The ceremony was barely more than a formality. Lady Mariya had been a sick old woman unable to rule for half a decade and her son was a former Master of Laws, the logical choice to replace him. Upon her death however, he gained the ability to rule in full, to enact lasting reforms. He would be remembered well, and rightfully so.

Lord Raymun would rule for ten years, shorter than every other ruler since the Conquest bar one… and yet be remembered as the equal of any that came before or after. He had the same economic talents and political acumen of Lady Amerei, but that was not what made him such a success. For the first time in eighty years, he gave House Darry a sense of legitimacy that a house of such age should rightfully attain. He started the slow recovery from a backwater with money and political power but no true honour to a house worthy of respect that would be continued by his descendants. For the first time since his appointment to Master of Laws in 350 AC Darry managed significant influence outside of the Riverlands; his grandson Harrold would be married to Rhea Royce in mid-386.

His reign would be tragically cut short on the last day of 387. The water tower of Castle Darry had been an old thing, build out of wood and earth in the desperate few years after the Conquest. While watching workmen inspect it the tower collapsed, burying Lord Raymun and the workers under tonnes of mud brick. Lord Raymun Darry died at the age of fifty-nine.

Neglect and a Wildfire Cannon (387-405 AC)
Lord Davos Darry would inherit amidst the chaos surrounding his father’s tragic accident. He was a kindly but quarrelsome man who was still in his prime at forty-two years of age when he was sworn in, a day after his father’s death. On that very day his first grand-daughter was born, a healthy girl named Amerei.

Lord Davos and his son Harrold famously hated each other; both had different ideas about how the land should be ruled and both were opinionated, quarrelsome men. The only one who could calm them was Lady Melissa but as she spent more and more time in her laboratory with her daughter Shiera, she could not prevent their fights from escalating. In mid-388 Lord Davos banished his son and heir along with his pregnant wife and baby granddaughter. He would recall them a month later but the quarrels would continue, only exacerbated by Harrold’s second daughter Alyssa being a difficult birth on the road that almost killed her mother.

In mid-389, Lady Melissa would tragically perish while experimenting with a new type of projectile launcher. This had two main effects upon Lord Davos’ rule. First, he and his son lost the last major bridge between them, permanently sundering their relationship. Second, his will to rule collapsed. Lord Davos would be a shell of his former self for the next sixteen years, stagnating and rendering useless many of his father’s improvements not through malice but through inaction. The common folk never starved or He would die in 405 AC at the age of fifty-eight.

The History During 3.0 (1.6.407-28.1.408)
House Darry attended the tourney at Harrenhal, along with most other houses of the Riverlands following the long and cold winter that left little opportunity for merriment... or the political alliances that tend to happen at such events. They would meet with many dignitaries, though most were one-time meetings that lead to nothing more. Two in particular however were more relevant in the long-term: the meetings with Selenya Targaryen, and those with House Hayford. Following these meetings a small trading station was set up in Darry by the Lyseni woman, and Amerei Darry was betrothed matrilineally to Clement Hayford.

(Much of what happened as a result of the tourney doesn't really fit in a semi-formal history like this, so I'll be writing it in this meta section. Basically Selenya seduced Alyssa Darry to get what she/they wanted, and Alyssa had a surprisingly wholesome relationship with Falena Hayford throughout the entirety of 3.0 which was actually quite adorable and helped them both immensely.  Also she tried to kill herself via alcohol poisoning/hanging.  All of this is NSFW and my writing... isn't great, so I'd suggest you skip those parts if you go looking through my stuff.)

Following the tourney they returned home, though many truths had been discovered at the tourney. For one their liege had been exposed as disappearing their cousin Elinor Vance, causing war to be expected, if not imminent. Soon after the death of the king Darry began preparations for war, massively strengthening the castle's previously lackluster defensive features as well as constructing a (semi)secret weapon capable of felling a dragon if any appeared.

After these were complete the long-awaited wedding happened between Amerei Darry and Clement Hayford. Despite the revelry there was an underlying attitude of fear and caution from the encoming war, emphasized by the full discovery by the family of the conflict that brewed at that very moment in the Riverlands. Lord Harrold attempted to take a middle path; he supported Lord Damion as his ancestors had before him (and by extension Queen Visaera), but made an oath not to take the field against his Blackwood or Bracken cousins and to offer them safety if such a thing came to pass. The Lady and knight were married happily and throughout their honeymoon they seemed happy together, if a little nervous around each other.

(Don't read the thread between Alyssa and Falena if you don't want mental scarring. I'm sure they enjoyed it and I'm sure you won't. All you need to know is that they pledged to love each other forever and ever with all the sincerity horny 19 year olds can muster.  Also she was mature enough to not go screwing Sybel, so that's me with the unsubtle character development a mark for her at least.)

Following the wedding the full armies of Darry and its vassal were raised, two and a half thousand men all armoured in whatever the castle could give them. And yet as the months passed, nothing happened. The children were all sent to Hayford for safety, but no battle was given. The armies drilled and drilled, but there was no clatter of horses on the horizon, no unearthly scream from a dragon tearing out of the sky. And in the end they would return home a quarter way through 408, with the war over and nothing to show for it but a significantly depleted bank account and frayed nerves.

A Brief Hop In Time (408-418; the miniskip)
Things to do:

- Amerei's 5 kiddies

- AlysxAlyssa and writing all the stuff for that out; two kiddos!

- Mina's Hunter marriage

- Eleyna becoming LaW for a tyrant Queen Visaera

- Let the past generation die. Kill them prematurely if you have to.

Members of the House
Family Tree: http://www.familyecho.com/?p=CCXYK&c=ny5tw2tpfz&f=204928522746690245

Lords/Ladies of Darry

 * Lady Mariya Darry (259-301, Lady Darry 300-301)


 * Lord Tristan Rivers (274-305, dual rule 301-305)
 * Lady Amerei "Gatehouse Ami" Darry (282-364, dual rule 301-305, Lady Darry 305-364)
 * Lady Mariya Darry (307-379, Lady Darry 364-379)
 * Lord Raymun Darry (327-387, Lord Darry 379-388)
 * Lord Davos Darry (344-405, Lord Darry 388-405)
 * Lord Harrold Darry (366-, Lord Darry 405-409)
 * Lady Amerei Darry, (387-, Lady Darry 409-)

Current Members of House

 * Lord Harrold Darry (366-409)
 * (Dowager) Lady Rhea Darry nee Royce (369-), her mother
 * Lady Amerei Darry (387-), Lady of Darry
 * Ser Clement Hayford (388-), her husband
 * Rowena Darry (408-), her eldest daughter and child
 * Desmond Darry (409-), her eldest son and heir
 * Symond Darry (411-), her second son
 * Bethany Darry (412-), her second daughter
 * Melissa Darry (413-), her third daughter
 * Alyssa Darry (388-), his second daughter, paramour to Alys Tully
 * Jon Rivers (411-), her natural son with Walys Mooton
 * Willow Rivers (413-), her natural daughter with Walys Mooton
 * Mina Darry (394-), his third daughter, married to Lord Karl Hunter
 * Kennet Hunter (414-), her eldest son
 * Eleyna Darry (397-), his fourth daughter, Lady in Waiting to Queen Visaera
 * Lady Shiera Darry (363-408), his sister
 * Ser Addam Darry (371-), his brother, married Bellena Blackwood

Household Staff

 * Walder Rivers, Castellan (337-)