Willum Upcliff

Willum Upcliff is the head of House Upcliff and is lord of Witch Isle and Deepwater, commander of the Shrouded Fleet and captain of the Witch’s Swell. He is the first son of the previous lord Qyle Upcliff and his lady wife Deanna, born Wydman. He has been lord since 401 at the end of The War of the Three Thieves.

Appearance and Character
The Andal blood courses through his veins and it is seen in his brown eyes and brown hair. He is of average height and proud stature. He wear his hair long and covers his chin in a coarse beard. He is often wearing furs and boiled leather to protect against the sea wind and steel weaponry. Both hair and clothes are salt sprayed from his daily life on the Narrow Sea, the Bay of Crabs and the Bite.

Though his stature is lean and strong, he has a tendency to over-indulgence in food and drink. His appetite for wealth, honor and glory also is far bigger than his station. He seems to think to think he has more importance than he has in reality and is quickly disappointed when those around him doesn’t think the same. An example of this is that though he only commands five longships he references them as the Shrouded Fleet and himself as its commander.

History
Born to Lord Qyle Upcliff and Deanna Wydman on the Witch Isle east of Gulltown and Runestone and northeast of the mouth to the Bay of Crabs, Willum’s earliest life was one of typical nobility. As the oldest son and heir, he soon began the basic education that he would one day need as a lord. He learned how to manage and administrate the holdings and some history and heraldry of the Seven Kingdoms. In this education his grandmother and great-grandaunts played a vital role. The females Upcliffs shared with him only a fraction of their knowledge that they had accumulated during their long lives.

As many other young boys, he was soon enough captured by the tales of battles and honor. Soon he would grasp the handle of training weapons and start improving his fighting abilities. The physical exercise and the improvement he could feel, even in this early of an age, kept him working harder and harder.

At the age of 10 the necessities of the Isle began to become apparent for the boy. The cliffs that gave his house its name was greatly limiting in the resources it could provide to those who called them their home. The water around it though were a source of life and presented opportunities. Not just in the food sources the sea offered but opportunities to get ahead. The policies of Oswyn Arryn of increased effort against pirates and smugglers seemed to have been slightly forgotten in the twenty years since his passing. Roland Arryn had presented a much more relaxed opposition and since the Crisis of the Crescent, the renewed venom against the mountain clans had shifted the focus inland.

And so the connections on the Three Sisters, on the Fingers, in Gulltown and in Essos had slowly been reforged. There was plenty of wares that needed transport out of the public eye. For the young boy, Willum Upcliff, it meant that he had to learn the trade. He learned how to position the sail and man the oars, to navigate the Narrow Sea, the Bay of Crabs, the Bite and the inlets in-between. He learned how to mask the longships at day and at night.

In 396 the War of the Three Thieves called the Realm to arms. As the fleets of Gulltown answered the call so too did the meagre Upcliff force. Lord Qyle Upcliff joined his few longships with the rest of the fleet from the Vale. The presented an opportunity and it might divert some suspicion of recent dealings.

Having just reached manhood at fifteen years of age Willum was not one to stay behind. He was eager to see the world and win renown for himself and his family name on foreign shores. It was an exciting time with exciting people from White Harbor to the Royal fleet, an opportunity to also learn a thing or two that the training yard, and seas of the Bay for Crabs could not teach.

He showed promise with the sword and as a commander. Following his father, listening to his knowledge of combat and seeing maneuvering at sea for this extended period of time with the added severity of the circumstances; that was lessons he would never forget. With the action and battles they saw, he learned how to lay ambushes and how to ram and how to board.

They did see battle indeed. Willum went through the war relatively unscathed, acquiring a few scars here and there. He learned to take a life and he saw some things that would change him forever. The biggest wound he took however was towards the end of the conflict when during the Scouring of the Stepstones he lost his father, slain by a stray arrow.

His first duty as the Lord was another trip to unfamiliar shores as he went to the Hundred Years Tournament with many of the Vale acquaintances he had made during the war. When he finally came back to Witch Isle it was as the lord. Here he continued some of the work of his father, ever looking to increase the standing and the riches of his house.

Household Members/NPC's
Fidelis Upcliff 315 AC -

Glenda Upcliff 319 AC -

Serafine Upcliff 321 AC -

Deanna Wydman 361 AC -

Fay Upcliff 359 AC -

Symond Upcliff 383 AC -

Alester Upcliff 384 AC -

Perra Upcliff 387 AC -

Benedar Upcliff 390 AC -