Horras Peake

Lord Horras Peake is the Lord of Starpike and the Head of House Peake of Starpike. He has been the acting Spymaster of Highgarden for six years. He is married to Alysia Tarly. He has five children to his wife, and several grandchildren; with ties to the houses Hightower and Ball respectively.

Personality and Appearance
Though he was once described as a handsome man in his youth, the stress of his job and lordship has taken it's toll on the lord of Starpike. His once black hair has greyed, his eyes that shone a handsome green are constantly seen with bags under them. A scar runs deep over the side of his jaw from a sparring incident in his youth, what saw the lord struck with blunted steel, hard enough to break skin, but not hard enough to crush his jaw.

Horras Peake is friendly and often has a warm demeanour to those around him. Though generally, he is not out-going, he often attends feasts, wedding and tournaments spent within the the Reach. Though, with his own family, he is very businesslike. One example is when he arranged two marriages for both his son and second-born, denying both sons the opportunity to marry their would be lovers at the same as he deemed said alliances too beneficial.

There is one thing he desires above all else; an ambition the old man has passed on to his son and heir. The restoration of House Peake - a house that was brought to a shadow of it's former self for it's support of House Blackfyre and the rebellion which seen Maekar killed, Horras covets Whitegrove and Dustonbury, and has vowed to take them back, by any means necessary.

Early Life
Born in the year 363 AC, Horras Peake grew up in the Dornish Marches. An only child, he had no elder brothers to look up too and as Starpike was a place without wards, and his mother did not want to send her only boy away to somewhere else within the Reach; he did not grow up with aspirations of knighthoods and instead wanted to grow up and tour the free cities of Essos, and when the boy heard tales of the fabled east from merchants that would pass through the marches in their rounds through Essos; his love and interest in the unknown reached it's Peake.

At the age of thirteen, he used to play a cruel game upon the servants at Starpike, he would sneak around, spy on them and try and find out as much as possible on one person alone as he could; and in several weeks, he learnt that the cook was having an affair with the launderette.

When he was eighteen years of age, he wed the daughter of one of his father's friends, Alysia Tarly, a woman whom he grew to love to whom he had four children.

The Great Famine
In the marches, crops were reliant vastly on importation from the grasslands of the reach, and though the Marchers boasted of cattle, House Peake was hit hard by the famine. Though no nobles did starve, her lands saw themselves ripe with banditry; and due to the uproar in prices. Horras Peake, unwilling to see his kin starve paid for crops and cattle, though the cost upon their House was significant, and for years to come House Peake lacked the gold to improve on their lands, or to pay for any significant improvements in their military, and for many years, they ramained at a stagnation.

The War of the Three Thieves
Despite the role some distant cousins played in the second conquest, despite how far and alienated they had felt from the crown at the time, once House Tyrell had called upon their men to march upon the Crownlands, House Peake had mustered forces from both their vassal and their own holdings. Horras served as a commander despite his minimal experience, in fear of being thought of as a coward if he had not, but despite losses on the field, no Peake commanders died and Horras returned home, alive and well, with his son and squire, Gormon.

Eyes of the Marches
To prepare for the day that in which he would one day inherit, his son and heir, Gormon currently rules over Starpike as the acting regent whilst Horras lives at Highgarden. Horras acts as a part of the council of Lord Garth Tyrell, whilst he also works as the Spymaster of the Reach. Using unconventional methods such as forgery, bribes as well as using his informants, including soldiers, prostitutes and children to keep him informed, Horras is confident that he will continue to do his job well.

The Scarlet Winter
Much alike the dreaded sickness, House Peake had managed to put their gold to use and avoid the majority of the winter through trade. A hearth always burn in the halls of Starpike. Though, as he grew older, Ser James Peake who had been the acting regent of Starpike when Horras was otherwise busy had succumbed to the winter after a battle with pneumonia following a hunting incident.

Discontent and bitter at the loss of his brother and lifelong friend, Horras grew distant from both his wife and his children and soon, made his sole focus on his job, whilst leaving the mantle of the regency upon the shoulders of his heir, Gormon - for he would one day inherit.

Later Life
Though he had successfully arranged two marriages for his son and heir, Gormon, to a Hightower, and a marriage for his second born son, Gwayne to a woman born of the dynasty of his vassal, House Ball, he has struggled to arrange a match for his first born daughter, Anya; who after taking a string of lovers decided to flee from the safety of Starpike to, explore the realm. From time to time, she would return at the single castle of House Peake and ask her father for gold, and eventually, Horras grew tired of her actions and had her detained. For weeks, Anya has spent time in a tower in the halls of Starpike, angry with her father and discontent.

As he ages he has grown rather old and frail, despite never being a martial man in his prime, but his mind has remained astute. The time he spends alone and away from his wife, Horras likes to read up on the history of the Seven Kingdoms and classes himself as a knowledgable man.

With the news of the tourney of Summerhall reaching Starpike, Horras has decided that he would go, and in turn, make the presences of the Peakes known once more throughout Westeros.

(will be updated as stuff happens)

Family
Pages will come as said characters develop -

Lord Horras Peake

Lady Alysia Tarly (wife) - 55

- Gormon Peake (son, heir) - 37

- Livia Peake nee Hightower (daughter in law) - 37

-- Loras Peake ((grandson)) - 19

-- Wynafryd Peake ((granddaughter)) - 18

-- Garth Peake ((grandson)) - 14

- Gwayne Peake ((son)) - 34

- Melissa Peake nee Ball ((daughter in law)) - 37

-- Roslin Peake ((granddaughter)) - 18

- Anya Peake ((daughter)) - 25

- Steffon Peake ((son)) - 21