Maege Mormont

Maege Mormont (at ~25 years old)

### Siblings

Jory Mormont (deceased)Lyarra Umber (nee Mormont) (deceased)Maisie Hornwood (nee Mormont) (deceased)Dacey Flint (nee Mormont)

## META

### Auxiliary Character

Jeor Mormont

Maege Mormont is the current Lady of Bear Island. She has ruled the island since she was just 19 years old. Her years of experience in rulership have made her one of the most effective administrators in Westeros and earned her measurable fame. Under her rule, Bear Island has flourished despite its desolate landscape and history of raids by both Ironborn and Wildlings. She is unwavering in her support for House Stark, seeing them as the only rulers to ever take an interest in the security and prosperity of her home.

## Appearance and Personality

Maege was a known beauty in her youth and has aged gracefully over the years. She has the thick brown hair of the Mormonts and the same piercing icy blue eyes as her ancestors before her. Now that she is in her later years, her hair has grey streaks throughout and she wears gentle wrinkles about her face. She has a presence that is said to warm a room and has the inviting look of a mother in her face.

Maege is a fierce woman who loves her family and her people. She enjoys training at arms with men and wears heavy bearskin pelts with trousers rather than dresses. Despite her passion, she is exceedingly kind to those she trusts and unfailing in her loyalty to friends. She is not an enemy to take lightly. Maege, and all the Mormonts, is highly educated. Her brilliance and talent as an administrator has earned her considerable renown.

She and her husband are very physically fit and regularly engage in rigorous exercise like running, hiking, swimming, and sparring to keep in shape. They have passed their active lifestyle on to their children, all of whom take part in exercise and public bouts where the Mormont family will spar as entertainment for the smallfolk. The Bear Brawls as they have come to be known are well attended and often result in heavy winners purses for those that smartly bet.

## History

Maege Mormont was born the second of two children to Lord Howland Mormont and Lady Margaret Karstark in 47 AC. Her older brother, Jory, was heir to the Island but was killed fighting the Wildling raiders that sacked the island in 52 AC. Jory’s death greatly impacted the family and he has been honored as a hero on the island since his death. Maege’s father, a large man who was struck by gout and unable to fight, never forgave himself for Jory’s death and treasured his daughter, who he affectionately called ‘Maggie’, until the day he died. Lady Margaret set forth with preparing Maege for leadership immediately after Jory’s death. The girl was made to study for hours each day and train at the sword, both of which she greatly enjoyed.

Maege started reading the massive tomes on history written by maester a long dead at just seven years old. When the girl was but five, she suggested rebuilding the keep of Bear Island in stone rather than timber after the Wildling raid. Her argument, which was in the words of a small child, was that despite the high initial costs, a stone keep would be cheaper to maintain over time as well as being stronger. Shocked by the wise words of the girl, her parents did a cost analysis and found that she was correct. A five year old Maege Mormont is responsible for the current stone keep that sits in Bear Island.

Maege was first introduced to her paternal cousins shortly after the Wildlings razed the keep. The lesser branch of the Mormonts has moved to the Winter Town to be closer to Winterfell, often serving as surrogates when the ruling Mormonts could not make the trip to the Capitol. Seeing the rising tensions between the North and the rest of the, then seven, kingdoms, Beron Mormont returned to Bear Island with his wife and children, a 9 year old Jeor among them.

Jeor and Maege took to each other almost instantly. By the time the North had marched beyond the Wall to fight the Harbinger, the two young Mormonts were inseparable. Their bond persists to this day.

As she grew into adolescence, Maege focused heavily on ways that she could become the most effective governor that Bear Island had ever seen. Aware of the island’s reputation, she sought alternative forms of income that could set Bear Island apart. The island’s northern mountain range was largely uninhabited and therefore ripe for redevelopment. Industrial pursuits such as mining and refinery would be perfect ways to both extract the island’s natural wealth for profit but also to boost economic activity in the smallfolk by creating jobs. With some investment, the mountains were prospected and move construction was underway.

At the same time, a romance began to bud between Jeor and Maege. They would spend time riding along the coast, hiking the snowy trails to the north, and hunting in the wooded parts of the island. Where he had previously teased her freckles, often receiving a punch from the first young Maege, Jeor began to compliment them. The two shared a bed for the first time when Maege was 15 years old. Within a few moons, the two were wed with Lord Howland’s blessing in the Godswood on Bear Island. Their wedding merged both branches of House Mormont into one, securing Maege’s inheritance of the island once and for all.

Shortly after their marriage, Maege was with child. The pregnancy was a difficult one and the child was ultimately lost, Maege nearly dying with it. The loss of her first child was difficult for her but she had known as soon as the pregnancy grew turbulent that it was unlikely the child would survive. Despite her sadness, she and Jeor continued to try to have children.

When she was 19, Maege’s father passed away peacefully in his sleep. Lord Howland was interned in the family crypt hidden below the keep. After his funeral, Maege wasted no time taking control of the island. She swore her oath to Bear Island before the Hearttree then took to ship to swear fealty to her king. Upon her return to Bear Island, she began implementing a radical system of changes that would revolutionize the island’s tax and tariff system, rein in the barter system that was weakening the island’s economy without banning the practice outright, built a small fleet of ships as well as upgrading the island’s port, and began constructing mines in the mountains.

While on a bear hunt in 71 AC, Maege went into labor. The child was coming fast so rather than travel all the way back, Jeor delivered the child himself. Alaric Mormont, the first living child of Maege and Jeor Mormont was born in the woods on a bear fur. Less than a year later, in 72 AC, the pair welcomed another son, Jory. With his brother’s death, Jory became and remains the heir to Bear Island.

The years following the birth of their sons saw the birth of seven more children and the death of their beloved Alaric and Jon. Both boys, lost while but children, were interned alongside their ancestors in the crypt below the island. Maege and Jeor make it a point to visit the crypt at least once a moon to light the candles and leave offerings to their children and ancestors.

The Mormonts sought to secure marriages for their many children but have had limited success due to their having not left the island in a considerable amount of time. Their greatest, and only, success at arranging marriages was securing a match between Ethan Stark and their daughter Bethany.

The Mormonts instilled values of self-reliance, kinship, and equality in their children and the people of their island. Due to their isolation, these values were bred into the fabric of the island already, Maege pushed to further engrain the mentality and bring it to its next level. This served to ensure Maege’s reign was long lived.

Being the first female ruler of the island since the Starks took control of it, Maege faced some opposition from conservatives within the community. She worked diligently to ensure that they saw she was a talented ruler but also ruthlessly snuffed out attempts to undermine her rule. She once, after the man publicly proclaimed that anyone who bows to a woman is a eunuch, showed up to the home of an opponent, alone and unarmed. She made sure to draw a crowd, knowing her people valued strength, and beat the man brutally before the entire crowd. The man, who was in peak physical condition, attempted to fight back but was easily rebuffed by the Lady Mormont. After he was unconscious in the mud, she said simply “I will take that as a bow.” and returned to the keep. She never faced an internal challenge again.

Her vast achievements as Lady of Bear Island have earned her great renown among the population. She and her family are adored by her people, who serve House Mormont eagerly at every call. Her children play with the children of the smallfolk and the keep is often left open so people can freely enter to discuss issues and receive judgement on disputes.

As the years go by, Maege continues to lead her people and works tirelessly at their service. With tensions rising elsewhere, she has turned to the construction of a fleet as the way the House Mormont will defend itself and better serve the North.

## Family

More than anything, Maege loves her family. Her husband, Jeor Mormont, is from a cadet branch of House Mormont. Theirs was a love match; a love that has endured for decades, seeing the death of almost their entire family, the birth of ten children and the death of four, the ravaging of their home, war, and, finally, peace and prosperity.

Over their lives, Maege and Jeor have welcomed ten children into the world. Two of their children, both boys, died in infancy. Their first child was stillborn while their third was killed by fever before he could be given a name. Their second child, another boy named Alaric in honor of their king, was born in 71 AC and raised as the heir to the Island. Alaric Mormont would drown at the age of 14 while playing with friends along the coast of the island. In 72 AC, Jeor and Maege welcomed their son Jory, named for Maege’s brother, the current heir to Bear Island. Just 10 moons after the birth of Jory, Bethany Mormont was born. Bethany is currently married to Ethan Stark of Winterfell. In 75 AC, Maege birthed twin girls called Lyanna and Dacey. Three years later, in 78 AC, Jon Mormont was born but, he too, died. Jon was taken by a bout of the Sweating Sickness in 83 AC. The couple again birthed twins in 82 AC, this time two boys they named Jorah and Jonah. The Bear’s Brood as they’re known on their home island is an incredibly tight knit family that live to serve their people.

* Howland Mormont (d. 66 AC)
	+ (m.) Margaret Karstark (d. 70 AC)
		- Jory Mormont (d. 54 AC)
		- **Maege Mormont** (b. 47 AC)
			* (m.) Jeor Mormont
				+ (stillborn boy)
				+ Alaric Mormont (b. 71 AC, d. 85 AC)
				+ (boy, died in infancy)
				+ Jory Mormont (b. 72 AC)
				+ Bethany Stark (nee Mormont) (b. 73 AC)
				+ Lyanna Mormont (b.75 AC)
				+ Dacey Mormont (b. 75 AC)
				+ Jon Mormont (b. 78 AC, d. 83 AC)
				+ Jorah Mormont (b. 82 AC)
				+ Jonah Mormont (b. 82 AC)
		- Maisie Mormont
		- Lyarra Mormont (d. 90 AC)
		- Dacey Mormont

* Beron Mormont (d. 59 AC)
	+ (m.) Jeyne Glover (d. 59 AC)
		- Jeor Mormont (b. 43 AC)
			* (m.) Maege Mormont (b. 47 AC)
				+ (stillborn boy)
				+ Alaric Mormont (b. 71 AC, d. 85 AC)
				+ (boy, died in infancy)
				+ Jory Mormont (b. 72 AC)
				+ Bethany Stark (nee Mormont) (b. 73 AC)
				+ Lyanna Mormont (b.75 AC)
				+ Dacey Mormont (b. 75 AC)
				+ Jon Mormont (b. 78 AC, d. 83 AC)
				+ Jorah Mormont (b. 82 AC)
				+ Jonah Mormont (b. 82 AC)
		- Alayne Mormont (b. 45 AC)

## Meta

Attributes: Shrewd, Brilliant

Skills: CHA - Leadership

MAR - Warcraft, Logistics

STA - Stewardship, Industry

EDU - Economics, Shipbuilding

Aptitude: Administrator