Myrtle

Myrtle is the ninth Mistress of the Keep since Craster's death in 299 AC. After rangers in 423 AC killed her mother, Janna, during a raid on Whitetree, Myrtle was confirmed by her immediate kin as the next mistress of the Keep. She is among the many sworn vassals of the Crippled King, to whom she sends the matured men of her clan as tribute.

Known for her astute pragmatism, she has lead her extended kin to unprecedented influence in the region. Under her purview, the Keep has been partially upgraded to stone and the palisade reinforced with a ditch. Entrusted by the Crippled King to carry out his agenda with Castle Black, she has recently reestablished ties with the Night's Watch, securing a secret arrangement with Cregard Stark, an influential ranger with a powerful name, to guarantee her leverage.

Despite her lack of progeny, for which she is partially to blame, potential heirs appear to be the least of her priorities. Emboldened by her half-sister and likely successor, Dalla, Myrtle's chiefest concern is seizing her clan's place in the coming order.

Appearance and Character
Like a large portion of her kin, Myrtle has hair kissed by fire. Her eyes are green, and among her more notable features are her aquiline nose and prominent chin. She has a somewhat slim physique deceptively bolstered by muscle.

Myrtle wears a fox skin with its head over her right shoulder, signifying her leadership over her clan. Like the fox, her mind is almost always focused on a calculated objective.

Myrtle harbours lingering resentment for the rangers of the Night's Watch, her mother's killers, though she has never allowed these feelings to manifest themselves publicly, going so far as to spare every ranger that she and her clan have come across.

Born to Lead
Myrtle was the first of six daughters born to Janna, leader of the Spearwives of the Keep, coming into the world in the midst of the Scarlet Winter. Hardy from birth, Myrtle survived the winter without much trouble, and was afterwards named for the flower that promised summer. Though still an infant, she was nominated by her mother to become the clan's next mistress, which polarized the clan, and was groomed from the moment she could walk to inherit the mantle of leadership.

Bold in spirit, she joined her first raid at the age of nine, killed her first man when she was ten and two, and killed her first crow when she was only ten and five. True to the title of spearwife, she took to her spear more than any man, preferring to share her captive marks with her aunts, which endeared some of them to her as their future mistress. Though she enjoyed the company of an ideal specimen on occasion, she never grew heavy with child.

Time to Lead
Myrtle was present with her mother at Whitetree when the rangers of the Night’s Watch attacked the settlement in force. Several clan leaders in the area were meeting to form an alliance, and the Watch had caught wind of it. The fighting broke out after the meeting began in earnest, and many fell in the initial fighting. Myrtle watched on, occupied by another crow, as her mother was cut down by First Ranger Theodan Wull.

While Myrtle had been her mother’s nominated successor for almost two decades, her succession was not guaranteed upon the Spearwives’ return to the Keep. When the vote came, the Clan Circle had been split between Myrtle’s supporters and her eldest aunt’s; Harma had been a frequent dissenter of Janna’s, advocating for self-reliance and a harsher stance towards the Night’s Watch. As such, most of her remaining sisters were vocal in criticizing Myrtle’s quick retreat from Whitetree. Though Myrtle had saved her own from certain demise, her actions were seen as cowardly and disgraceful – she ought to have avenged her fallen mother.

The deadlock over Myrtle’s succession was broken by her next eldest aunt, Nella, who not only changed her vote for Myrtle, but also incensed the remainder of the clan against Harma. Nella argued that Myrtle‘s retreat proved her exemplary leadership. She decried any criticism on the matter as a ploy, suggesting that Harma’s fixation on the issue betrayed some kind of agency in it. Riding on the implicit suggestion that Harma may have supplied the Night’s Watch with information about the meeting, the Spearwives turned on her. Myrtle, the newly made mistress, shrewdly capitalized on the opportunity. She exiled Harma and all of her supporters, wiping out half the Circle’s membership to consolidate her own influence.

Harsh Winters and Benevolent Kings
Contrary to the clan's expectation, Myrtle enacted many of her exiled aunt’s proposed policies: she targeted the Night’s Watch, severed all ties with them, and focused her efforts on improving the Keep. Having been born during a harsh winter, the first among her completed projects was expanding the hearth and larder, a decision that proved invaluable when the Blue Winter struck two years later in 325 AC. Though many Spearwives were lost, they had fared far better than the majority of clans Beyond the Wall.

Myrtle and her kin took advantage of the devastation wrought by the Blue Winter to expand their dominance in the region. By 429 AC, the Spearwives were known to raid as far north as the Antler River and, when they could surmount the Wall, as far south as the Gift. They soon grabbed the attention of the mysterious Essosi man residing at Hardhome, whose influence over the settlement had burgeoned far beyond its confines. He and Myrtle met in 430, and again in 431 AC. After the second meeting, Myrtle had parted with her breathtakingly beautiful cousin, Thistle, only to return with knowledge, weapons, and an alliance. When the Crippled King was crowned in 433 AC, Myrtle was the first to pledge her support for him.

A Captured Crow Needs No Cage
When Cregard Stark had been brought before Myrtle in 437 AC, she nearly choked on her own mead, laughing. She could scarcely believe a man of his pubescent stature could lead a group of men. Yet when they had pointed to him, they had done so with confidence as opposed to desperation. She was surprised further when he delivered her his name along with a challenge to combat. His line was one the Free Folk knew well, and his spirit of the same animal that line bore on its banners. Myrtle had him fight his Nightrunner captors rather than herself, despite both Dalla's insistence that she execute the Stark crow to deliver a message and Nella's insistence she send him to the Crippled King. From him, she had already received her directives.

Myrtle watched on with delight as Cregard slaughtered his opponents in her hall. While he had proven himself a man of prowess, it was not his competence that interested her in him: it was his sheer suitability for her plans. In exchange for his and his companions' freedom, she dictated the terms of a new arrangement between the Spearwives and the Night's Watch, reestablishing ties reminiscent of those shared with Craster. The Watch would once again be able to find refuge at the Keep and once again be able to trade for resources and information. To preserve her leverage under the new state of affairs, she designated Cregard as her mate and the sole dignitary with whom she would negotiate. The terms of their relationship, of course, was kept secret; she stipulated that he present himself for the act at least once every three moons, and bring with him more able bodied men for her kin to choose from.

438 AC
By middle of the year, Myrtle had finished the majority of planned upgrades to the Keep. Thanks to the Crippled King's material and intellectual resources, she refurbished the Keep with stone and reinforced the palisade with a deep ditch. With her inward focus depleted, she shifted it outwards to the Haunted Forest, the Wall, and beyond.

9th Moon:

 * Myrtle awaits word from the Crippled King in light of her recent success

Family

 * Janna, Mistress of the Keep (385 - 423)
 * l. Unknown Boulder Clansman
 * Myrtle, Mistress of the Keep (b. 403)
 * l. Unknown Ice-River Clansman
 * Dalla (b. 407)
 * l. Unknown Thenn
 * Torwyn (b. 426)
 * l. Unknown Whitetree Reaper
 * Hali (b. 433)
 * Ranger of the Night's Watch
 * Unnamed son (b. 438)
 * l. Unknown White Mountain Clansman
 * Sage (b. 414)
 * l. Unknown Thunderfist Tribesman (duplicate)
 * Maris (b. 434)
 * l. Unknown Boulder Clansman
 * Holly (b. 416)
 * l. Unknown Thunderfist Tribesman (duplicate)
 * Morna (b. 434)
 * l. Ranger of the Night's Watch
 * Unnamed son (b. 438)
 * l. Unknown Icetooth Clansman
 * Dyah (419 - 427)
 * l. Unknown Whitetree Reaper
 * Lilly (b. 421)
 * Harma, exiled (b. 387)
 * Exiled daughter
 * Nella (b. 391)
 * l. Unknown Shadow Sun Clansman
 * Frenya (b. 412)
 * l. Unknown Thunderfist Tribesman
 * Devyn (b. 433)
 * Thistle (b. 412)
 * m. The Crippled King
 * Munda (b. 432)
 * Exiled Sister
 * Exiled Sister

Clan Circle

 * Nella, aunt, ”kingmaker,” and clan elder
 * Dalla, half-sister and expected heir
 * Thistle, cousin, wife to the Crippled King, and his representative to the Spearwives
 * Sage, half-sister and clan healer
 * Rose, distant cousin and the clan's fiercest spearwife
 * Torwyn, Dalla's son and the representative of the clan's boys