Axell Connington

Lord Axell Connington was the Lord of Griffin's Roost and head of House Connington. He had three sons and two daughters, and was married to Lady Mylenda Selmy.

Appearance and Character
Axell was a large and burly man. He had red hair and a full red beard, though both contained dashes of gray. His eyes were brown, his complexion aging, and his nose crooked and aquiline.

Axell was hearty and cheerful, and was well known for his boisterous laugh, including on the battlefield.

Childhood
Having been born the first and only son to Lord Richard Connington in 348 AC, Axell had been groomed from his first breath for lordship. He resisted this perceived attempt at control over his life for the majority of his early childhood, shirking his maester’s lessons, defying his parents’ authority, and escaping into the countryside whenever he could. His rebellious streak ended on one of these outings, however, after he was picked up by a group of roving bandits. Lord Richard and his retainers managed to track down and save Axell, slaying most of the bandits in the encounter. Axell was inspired by these events, and grew a deep respect for his father and the martial spirit he embodied. Other events that had a martial influence on Axell were the Blackwater Tourney and the Great Tourney at Harrenhal, which he attended with the remainder of his family.

Adolescence
As Axell was just entering adolescence, he and his family received Prince Aenys Targaryen and the other touring royals at Griffin’s Roost in 360 AC. During their stay, Axell became infatuated with Vaella Targaryen, the teenage princess two years his senior, and brazenly pursued her in the hopes of winning her affection. She spurned him easily, but the pursuit awakened in him passions that his friends had seemingly yet to discover. He began to fool around with the older teenage girls at the Roost, and press his parents to find him a proper wife, for “[he was] ready to be a man” – indeed, he was fast approaching the height of a full grown man. He was fourteen when he finally married Shyra Estermont, a maiden of sixteen, and barely a year older when they brought their first son and child, Rodrik, into the world.

With great enthusiasm, Axell squired under Ser Mathis Selmy, who Lord Richard kept on as a retainer at the Roost. Under the Selmy knight’s guidance, Axell mastered the sword in a handful of years while taking naturally to the lance. With his father’s permission, he later toured the region and attended many local tourneys, competing in more than a few himself. While it took him some time to win his first melee, he won his first joust when he was only sixteen. It was Lord Barron Dondarrion, the host of that tourney, who bestowed upon Axell his knightly spurs.

Adulthood
Axell lost his first wife, Shyra, after she gave birth to their second son, Criston, in 375 AC. For two years, Axell grieved, losing the brightness of his enthusiasm, for which he had become known. He rediscovered that enthusiasm, however, shortly after having married Mylenda Selmy in 377 AC. As fierce with a blade as him, she not only earned his love, but also his respect. They would go on to have their first child, Hugh, a year after their marriage, and then two more children, Cassana and Johanna, over the ensuing decade.

When it came time for the Kingswood Tourney, Axell was so eager to attend that he brought the entirety of his family along with him, including his one-year-old son. Axell triumphed in the melee after accidentally slaughtering his two remaining competitors, Sers Pearce Roxton and Phillip Pumm, though he failed to advance beyond the semi-finals in the joust after losing five points to three to Ser Aeron Goldfyre.

During the Hammer Uprising in 388 AC, Axell, who had become lord after his father’s passing a year prior, stymied the dissent across his holdings by slashing the peasants’ tax rate for two years by eighty percent. He also dispatched his eldest, Rodrik, to dispense evenhanded justice throughout the countryside, ridding the region of any lingering radicals.

Seniority
Axell commanded the storm lords’ fleets and armies during the War of the Three Thieves. Under Lady Seryse Baratheon’s orders, he reluctantly engaged Daarius’s larger fleet off the southern coast of Cape Wrath just as the Crown‘s reinforcements were arriving. While the Crown went on to narrowly win the Battle of the Gulf, a significant portion of the Stormlander fleet was decimated in the fighting. Axell, reeling from his losses, refused to give chase to Daarius’s fleet beyond the Sea of Dorne, and was derided by Seryse for his decision despite the appearance of a seasonal storm. Axell later fought alongside his wife and son in the Siege of Gray Gallows, and watched as Alequo and Arannax were cast down from the sky by Prince Maekar Targaryen.

The storm lords returned from the war exhausted and disgruntled. Seryse’s blatant disregard for their lives had fostered widespread resentment among them – Axell most of all. After Seryse chose to publicly humiliate him at the regional victory feast for his alleged shortcomings during the war, he established a powerful faction of dissenters with many of his lordly peers and war companions. Together, they issued an ultimatum to Seryse, demanding she devolve most of her martial authority to her son and heir, Gwayne, who had proven his leadership during the war, or have them acknowledge him as lord regent and risk rebellion. Seryse acquiesced to the demand, though she refused to issue an apology to Axell. As such, peace in the Stormlands remained tenuous until the Scarlet Winter struck, forcing both liege and vassal to focus on their own holdings. Not long after the menace of ice and snow abated, Seryse passed away.

As Gwayne ascended to the lord paramountcy, Axell changed from potential rebel to avowed loyalist, and advocated for unity across the Stormlands under the banner of the crowned stag. Late in 406 AC, Axell was incapacitated by a severe case of shaking sickness, and was thus unable to attend the tournament at Harrenhal eight months later, for he was still recovering from his illness. It was only after Queen Visaera I Targaryen’s coronation that Axell fully recovered.

10th Moon

 * Axell answers Gwayne’s call to arms and rallies his soldiers at Storm’s End. He takes his sons with him, and is charged with leading Gwayne’s vanguard.

11th Moon

 * Axell is put in command of one the army’s main flanks.

12th Moon

 * Axell advocates to surround and siege Bitterbridge by crossing the river. The castle surrenders before he can enact his plan.
 * At the war council outside of Highgarden, Axell states his refusal to slay any kin, regardless of how distant. For the battle, he proposes a pincer feint.
 * Following Highgarden’s surrender, Axell returns home angry and disgruntled.

6th Moon

 * Axell suffers a second bout of shaking illness, but fails to overcome it. He dies on the 23rd day of the moon.

Family

 * Lord Richard Connington (331-387)
 * m. Lady Elenei Connington, nee Fossoway (330-392)
 * Lord Axell Connington (348-408)
 * m. Lady Shyra Connington, nee Estermont (346-375)
 * Ser Rodrik Connington (b. 363)
 * m. Lady Cyrenna Connington, nee Morrigen (365-387)
 * m. Lady Cyrenna Connington, nee Dondarrion (370-399)
 * m. Lady Corenna Connington, nee Grandison (383-406)
 * m. Argella Baratheon (b. 389)
 * Stannis Connington (b. 412)
 * Desmond Connington (b. 415)
 * Gwyneth Connington (b. 416)
 * Ser Criston Connington (b. 375)
 * m. Lady Jeyne Swann (b. 375)
 * Edric Connington (393-394)
 * Arianne Connington (b. 395)
 * m. Lady Mylenda Selmy (360-414)
 * Ser Hugh Connington (b. 378)
 * m. Lady Helaena Connington, nee Merryweather (b. 380)
 * Gerald Connington (b. 395)
 * Cassana Connington (b. 381)
 * m. Ser Steffon Caron (b. 378)
 * Axell Caron (b. 399)
 * Jon Caron (b. 401)
 * Johanna Connington (b. 389)
 * Lady Tyana Tarth, nee Connington (362-404)
 * m. Lord Drannyl Tarth (357-405)
 * Lord Braeden Tarth (b. 385)
 * Breyna Tarth (b. 385)