Rickard Rowan

Ser George Rowan

Rayman Rowan

Lady Ravella Tyrell neé Rowan

Rolland Rowan

Roland Rowan

Lady Rohanne Rowan

Mallador Rowan

Lady Sarya Rowan

William Rowan

By Doreah of Dosk:

Ser Guyard Flowers

Ser Hugh Flowers

Myrcella Flowers

### Siblings

Ser Manfryd Rowan, Lord Seneschal of Highgarden Serra Fossoway neé Rowan, Lady Dowager of Cider Hall

Sarra Tarly neé Rowan, former Lady of Horn Hill (Deceased)

Ser Mathis Rowan

Ser Gyles Rowan

## META

### Auxiliary Character

Ser Edmund Rowan

Lord Rickard Rowan is an experienced administrator and commander. It is the life's work of Rickard to make his family as powerful as possible and secure their sphere in the north. Having ruled wisely and well for the past twenty two years upon the Goldenseat in Goldengrove, having tied himself to many houses of the Reach and beyond, both by marriage and by other relations, the Lord of Goldengrove awaits opportunities for his house to reach new heights.

## Appearance and Character

Rickard is an old man, well past his physical prime, yet he remains stout enough, and at a respectable height of a hair under six feet he would not be considered fragile. Due to his lifestyle, and his advancing age, he has developed a case of gout that strikes out at the most inopportune times. His once golden blonde hair, which he keeps brushed back over his head and down to his shoulder, has gone to grey. While clean shaven in his youth, he has now grown a neatly-trimmed salt-and-pepper beard to cover the jowls that have developed with age. He is commonplace, at least for a noble, in complexion, features, manners and voice. His eyes, of the usual blue, could perhaps be considered cold, and he certainly could make his glance fall on one as trenchant and heavy as an axe. There is usually an indefinable, faint expression of his lips, something stealthy like a smile, yet not. Despite this sly aura, he is dignified in his bearing, every inch a trained nobleman.

Rickard’s style of dress is rather florid, with a preference for the colours of his house - white and gold - though he may sometimes forego them for more darker, solemn colours such as dark blues and reds. He usually favours a long white tunic, with the golden tree of his house threaded large across the chest in golden thread, drawn up on the waist by a belt of darkened cowhide and a simple silver buckle. For ceremonial occasions he will wear a cloak of ermine, clasped in the middle by a large round broach made of gold, engraved with a lifetree. In battle he wears a suit of gilded steel plate, otherwise unadorned and a visored great bascinet, similarly gilded and crowned with gilded peacock feathers.

## Biography

Rickard, known during his father’s lifetime as Rickard the Younger to distinguish him from his father, was born as the second son of Lord Rickard ‘the Elder’ Rowan of Goldengrove in the forty-sixth year after Aegon’s Conquest by his wife, Lady Alys Lannister. Yet by the moment of his birth he was already first in line, as his elder brother had been slain by the Faith Militant for Lord Rickard’s support of King Maegor. The young lordling was given the education customary for nobles of his stature, and he did seem to excel at them - studious, diligent and quick of wits, the boy was thought to be an excellent student. His Master-at-Arms was less impressed, however, as the boy was thought to be average at best and never distinguished himself in the yards against the other boys. Still, as a future lord, his duty was not to swing a sword, but to command men to swing swords for him.

When he was ten, the boy was sent to foster with his mother’s family at Casterly Rock, considered an excellent opportunity. Rickard would prove himself a diligent page, and after two years of serving as a page he would be judged fit to serve as a squire to Lord Tommen Lannister himself. While serving his new knight dutifully, the Heir of Goldengrove would make friends with the Heir, and future lord, of Casterly Rock, Tytos Lannsiter, and the heir, and soon-to-be lord, of Highgarden, Gwayne Tyrell. Of the three, he would be knighted second, after Tytos Lannister, though it should be noted that Gwayne Tyrell never earned his spurs due to the tragic death of his father when the lord was only five-and-ten. After being knighted at the age of eight-and-ten by the hand of Lord Lannister himself, Ser Rickard would return home to Goldengrove.

Once home, his father arranged a marriage for him to a scion of Old Oak, Lady [...], in order to warm relations between the two great houses of the northern Reach. The marriage would, unfortunately, not prove to be a happy one as the young heir’s wife would turn out to be barren, much to the chagrin of both the Richards. Despite this, the elder Richard refused to try and have the marriage annulled, as he was wary of offending the Oakhearts. So the Heir of Goldengrove was forced to grit and bear it, at least for the moment. Instead, he took the fancy of a common girl, Doreah of Dosk - a girl of low birth but high ambition. Upon her he would sire three children - two sons and a daughter. While his father forbid him to acknowledge his proginey, and bade him many times to return to his lawful wife, the heir’s strong will would win out and the existence of his mistress was an open secret among the court of Goldengrove. Still, Doreah was never brought to Goldengrove while the elder Rickard was alive, in that at least the old lord had his way. The tensions eventually reached enough of a boiling point that the lordling removed himself from his father’s court and instead traveled the Reach, staying most notably with the venerable house of Peake, as he had struck up a friendship with Lord Uther Peake of Starpike, Whitegrove and Dunstonbury. Most controversially the Heir of Goldengrove did not bring his wife to exile, but instead his mistress. The divide between father and son would continue until the former’s death.

The expiration of Rickard the Elder would not be long in coming, as he died in the 76th year after Aegon’s Conquest, and was succeeded by his son, who had by then reached his thirtieth year. No recollection can be made that father and son reconciled before the old lord perished and it seemed that the enmity between the two lasted until the end. The new Lord Rickard did not wait long to do something he had wished to do for nearly a decade - he petitioned for an annulment of his marriage. However, finding this process too much of a hassle, he would persuade his wife to join the Silent Sisters, thereby annulling the marriage by default. As he did not have an heir, it was expected for him to marry again, and it seemed that he intended to do no less, and what a match he would make! The Lord of Goldengrove would manage to tie himself to the venerable and proud house of Hightower, Lords of Oldtown and the mightiest of all Tyrell vassals. The marriage would prove fruitful, and the lord’s new wife, Selyse, would soon give him a son that would be named Edmund. Nine other children would follow over the next twenty years, securing Rickard’s line for good and all.

A new powerful and fruitful marriage would not be the limit of Lord Rowan’s luck, as his proficency for managing his lands had caught the attention of someone in King’s Landing and he was invited to hold the position of Master of Coin, an appointment he would take up gladly. Serving for ten years on that position, he would prove himself quite excellent at the job, managing to increase the crown’s incomes considerably. Those would be the golden years of the lord’s life, possessing influence, wealth and power. Alas, like all good things, that too had to come to an end - coming down with a bout from an unknown illness, or poison, as some would have it, the Master of Coin was forced to retire from his position and retreat to Goldengrove to recover. By now an experienced hand at administration, the lord would apply himself to improving his realm with haste.

The scant three years that would pass before the onset of that terrible and fruitless war, known as the Rosegold rebellion, would prove a prosperous time for the people of the lands under the dominion of Goldengrove. However, the onset of the war would bring hard times and hard choices for House Rowan, as they had profited greatly from their support of the Crown, yet Lord Rickard himself was tied by his mother to house Lannister, and his position between the Reach and the West made any prospect of siding with the loyalists a bleak one, promising little more than a lengthy siege penned up inside Goldengrove. So it was with a heavy heart that the Rowans followed their liege lords, the Tyrells, into rebellion against the Targaryens.

The Rowans fought in the war, doing what their honour and duty required of them. Rickard's son and heir, Edmund, who was squired to Ser Lucien Hightower, was knighted after the battle of Bitterbridge and entrusted with the venerable sword of House Rowan, Stonebreaker.

After the ending of the war on *amicable* terms, peace once more settled onto the lands of Westeros. Lord Rickard returned to his seat at Goldengrove, annoyed at having thrown away as much gold and men as he had for very little gain of his own. Still, with the conflict ended he could once again focus on making his lands flourish. And the fortunes of his house would once again rise, as he managed to marry his son and heir, Edmund, to a daughter of Lord Florent, have his brother appointed as the Lord Seneschal of Highgarden and arrange a bethroahl between his eldest daughter and Harlen Tyrell, nephew of the Lord of Highgarden. The winter put a dampener on the growth of his realm, but with spring once more at hand, the fortunes of House Rowan seem to be once more in full bloom.