Milanna Sunderland

Introduction - The current Lady of the Three Sisters, a noble house operating in a matriarchal style that pledges it's allegiance to the Lord of the Vale. Aside from her unorthodox house, Milanna's reputation largely derives from the reputation of the Sisterman and their home islands, Three Sisters.

Appearance and Character
Milanna appearance almost brutish at first glance, standing over six feet in height and normally clad in leather. Her form is lithe and lean, trained for battle and the sea before sitting like a kept prize on a shelf.

She favors a heavy kohl lining on her lids to reduce the glare off the waves, adding a sinister quality to her green eyes. A sun kissed face is framed by waves of dark brown normally pulled back in a convenient style with strands held back by sea salt concoctions to mask her scent.

She is a driven woman, favoring to serve and see her people to prosperity and favorable times while maintaining their developed way of life. However, outside of this image of a sea faring woman maintaining ships to support the lord of the Vale, it's rumored that Sunderland and the Sistermen engage in acts of piracy, smuggling and raiding. While they certainly do not advertise it, this is completely true with Lady Milanna leading the charge on these activities.

These along with a certain degree of readiness and eager attitude towards combat have contributed to the over all image of Lady Sunderland. It comes as no surprise that many men have avoided marrying the lady thus far, or perhaps it's her demand that all suitors best her in combat first.

Timeline
381 AC -- Milanna Sunderland is born to Roland and Milan Sunderland as their first child.

386 AC -- The only son born to Milan Sunderland is born dwarven and disfigured. He is sacrificed to the sea. His birth is announced as a stillbirth.

388 AC -- Eva Sunderland is born, second daughter.

391 AC -- Lyssa Sunderland is born, third daughter.

392 AC -- Roland Sunderland dies at sea.

395 AC -- Milanna is assigned to a ship.

398 AC -- Milanna is given of her first ship to commands.

399 AC -- Millanna begins commanding excursions and raids.

400 AC -- Milan Sunderland dies in a raid. The house passes to Milanna, and from this point forward, marine activity increases.

Recent History
Under the lady's eyes, the Three Sisters have seen a secretive return to their old ways. While the septs and statues to the Seven are still in place, this is purely to keep up appearances. Many of the Sistermen have returned to their reverence of the Lady of the Seas and Lord of the Skies. Along with this, they have included the sacrifice of dwarves to the sea.

Advisories pass between sailors with notes of caution on sailing too close to the Three Sisters to make trade. Some ships have never made it to their destined port or pieces have washed up elsewhere as a result of the tight control the Sistermen keep on their surrounding waters.

The Tournament of the Red Comet
Lady Sunderland arrived with the Vale's party to the tournament, but as any one would have expected, she and her Sistermen were largely left to their own devices. While the sat with the table of the Vale, they had little interactions with their kinsmen. Additionally, Milanna entered several events -even those where only men were allowed- as the Knight of the Breakwater. Unfortunately, her highest award was second in the axe throw, beating Aegon Targaryen but defeated by the moose of a man from Mormont with half is weight in ale. She fell behind in the horse race, and in both the melee and joust, she lost to Ser Brynden Corbray of the Kingsguard.

On the night of the closing feast, Milanna slipped to the Sept at Harrenhal in a secret and impulsive ceremony to marry Aegon Targaryen. Unbeknownst to Lady Sunderland, she was already into the first few days of her pregnancy with her first child.

The Mummer's War
Truthfully, the presence of the Sistermen in this war was uneventful. Under the pressure of keeping Lord Alaric Arryn from acting against her islands for her marriage to Aegon Targaryen, they prepared to follow into battle in the name of "peacekeeping" in the Riverlands and carving up slices. A western army closing in, rumors of an army to the south, and a feeling that Sistermen were little more than a speed bump if attention was arising to the Riverlands forced her hand To absolutely no one's surprise, there was more to this fight than a simple retribution against uprising. However, did not know that Maegor Waters was involved and seeking Aegon's help in attacking the crown prince, Rhaegar Targaryen. Although it did make Aegon's decision to retreat an easy one to make.

After a short meeting with Lord Waynwood, Milanna and Aegon departed the Saltpans declaring dishonorable for the burning of women and children for the sake of Arryn's rebellion. Knowing full well that the Three Sisters could face retaliation for their departure from the field, they began to form a new plan to unify the naval houses of the Eastern coast.

The Eastern Sea Alliance
For the survival and unity of the coastal houses, Milanna began forming an alliance beginning by reaching out to Lord Torrhen Manderly to begin. After centuries of hate for the North, and White Harbor in particular, she pushed old grudges aside in the name of safety for the Three Sisters and the potential for prosperity. This included being capable of slipping ships out farther across the narrow sea to uphold the Sisterly tradition.

Unfortunately, in 410 AC, these efforts were slowed when the Master of Ships at the time, Erasmus Rykker, cracked down on Sistermen smuggling and piracy activities. Discussions were long and mostly consisted of letters back and forth until finally Milanna was forced to relent. However, to build a bridge House Rykker was brought into the alliance as well as given Eva Sunderland to marry in 411 AC. From that point forward, operations ran smaller and quietly in order to avoid the sight of Rykker until his resignation.

The ideals of the alliance grew from simply watching The Bite for the safety of those living in these coastal areas, but as an informal agreement. Naval houses could watch out for one another and lend aid in times of crisis. Whether that be from approaching threats to moving people out quickly and quietly to moving supplies in. Additionally, houses that were part of the alliance could rest assure that if one were to betray another, the others would strike back. Ports and harbors from houses within the alliance would also be considered a safe territory to dock when needed so long as respect was shown to the family and their lands/waters.

Houses currently participating in the alliance:
 * House Sunderland
 * House Rykker
 * House Connington
 * House Manderly (pending story)
 * House Velaryon

Expansion
As Milanna saw to her family branching out into naval households, her own family had grown as well. Despite all she had said to her husband during her first pregnancy, Milanna and Aegon produced five children in total. With the past death of Aegon's brothers and the loss of Summerhall, the children followed in carrying on the Sunderland name rather than Targaryen.

Family

 * Immediate Sunderland family
 * Roland Sunderland - deceased
 * m. Milan Sunderland - deceased
 * Milanna Sunderland
 * m. Aegon Targaryen
 * Aelyx Sunderland
 * Mira Sunderland
 * Daemon Sunderland
 * Alanis Sunderland
 * Maelys Sunderland
 * Lyssa Sunderland
 * Eva Rykker  -nee Sunderland
 * m. Erasmus Rykker
 * Asher Rykker
 * Garrick Rykker
 * Helaena Rykker
 * Extended family
 * Germaine Sunderland
 * Glenn - Deceased at age 29
 * Challenged for right of succession and ultimately defeated.
 * Garrick Sunderland
 * Abdel Sunderland

Additional Non-Player Characters

 * Shipwright - Davon Stone
 * Steward - Tarrant Bridgers
 * Squire - Yvette Torrent
 * Personal guard
 * Damon Torrent
 * Aenar the Drunk