I will also - as is almost inevitable playing in a shared world setting - veer away from canon sometimes, and use details and events that are needful for my game. I try not to change a whole lot, but I do add some detail here and there. I've probably added a mess of detail, particularly for the Houses of the southern Wolfswood, Barrowlands and the Rills.
The chronicle begins in 294 AL, about four or so years before the books. It is also of note that while the chronicle begins with one PC for each player, part of the narrative will mimic the spreading narrative of Martin's series, so the players will be creating secondary characters later down the road.
The Player Characters
Ayrant Wisent: Heir of the House • Middle Aged. A bit of a rake and rapscallion, Ayrant has a legacy of scandal. Caught in a compromising act with a young lady of House Dustin a dozen years ago, things were made worse when the young woman, Serise Dustin, claimed that he'd forced her. Facing down charges as a raper and a choice between the noose and the Wall, Ayrant fled Westeros with his father's help and ended up in Braavos. Before he left, however, his father - a man with a reputation of slowly degenerating sanity - gave his second son Steelhorn, the Valyrian blade of House Wisent. Ayrant ran through his money in nothing flat and found himself in a duel with a bravo, which ended up with him in one of the canals of Braavos. Fished out by the servants of a courtesan named the Midnight Diamond, the winsome young Westerosi eventually won his way into her heart, much to the chagrin of the many bravos who sought her favor. Over the years, she has taught him the arts of water dancing. Recently, though, he received a message from his brother - he'd arranged for a pardon from Lord Stark, who declared that given the shaky circumstances around the event and his time in exile was sufficient punishment (a move that has understandably upset House Dustin).
Garwyn Blackhorn: Master-of-Horse & House Knight • Young Adult. A young man who won his spurs at a tournament two years ago, Garwyn was the squire of Ser Rafe, another household Wisent knight. When Rafe's turn at the lists came up, and Garwyn couldn't wake the drunken man up, he did the only thing he could to save his master's honor: he donned his armor. He figured he would lose, and just slink off without removing his helm, but the impossible happened. He won, felling Ser Ethan Whitehill in three exchanges. When he removed his helmet, he was revealed to have not been a proper knight; nonetheless, Ser Ethan acknowledged the fifteen year-old's victory. He was knighted by his grandfather, the redoubtable Ser Kromley Blackhorn, and Lord Wisent gave the young man his first horse and armor, and accepted him as master-of-horse. Since then, the dashing young man has won quite a bit of fame for himself and House Wisent; all the young ladies of the North know who the Breakspear Buck is, and vie to be noticed, and hopefully be asked for their favor.
Maester Tolbric: Maester • Adult. A bastard of House Dondarrion in the Stormlands, Tolbric Storm thought he was in love with a certain sweet blonde-haired girl; she certainly thought she was in love with him. After being found by the young lady's father (and shoved down a flight of stairs in Blackhaven), the young man was packed off to the Citadel in Oldtown to try and make something of himself away from the attentions of pretty blonde-haired girls. In time, he excelled and has taken to life as a maester. A healer and ravensmaster of no small skill, he is also rather single-minded. More than once he's wandered off into the woods nearby, studying the local wildlife and gathering herbs, blissfully unaware of his surroundings until the bandits or wild dogs were nearly on top of him. He's had to run back to safety more than once. Tolbric was recently assigned to a tiny House in the North.
As an aside, I decided to ignore the rule that limited how many Benefits a player character could start with; I originally set out just to test out some of these rules, and so didn't want to place limits on the characters. This means that they are pretty stunningly bad-ass in their respective areas, of course.
