Mihal Ryger

Mihal Ryger is the first among three daughters born to lord Dannis Ryger and Lady Eyla, a studious woman, she manifested from an early age a want for knowledge and learning, eagerly devouring the lessons her Maester taught her. Mihal takes a pious, and conserved approach to life - focusing on the official issues at hand, while rarely going out of her way to initiate interactions, preferring to only approach people she knows or has built up courage enough to approach. Devout to the Seven that are One, she’s a lady whom attempts to balance her devout duty to the Seven in comparison with the more down to earth situations that may come her way, seeing a balance between faith and reason as something other nobles lack, she seeks to live her life both by the tenants of faith and the tenants of reason.

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## Appearance and Character

Standing at five foot and nine inches, Mihal Ryger is a dirty blond haired maiden with light brown eyes, inherited from her father and a disappointment to her, she’s always had a desire to have inherited a more striking appearance, like the Valyrians. In regards to skin, she has a soft and fair skin complextion - matched along with fair and soft hair. When it comes to tunics and dresses, Mihal leans to a more simple appearance - preferring to wear light green and white dresses to match the colors of her family’s sigil, and when it isn‘t dresses, she’s known for wearing tunics that are embroiled with the family‘s colors, light green and white. Other colors Mihal prefers to wear are gold, and darker shades of green for her dresses, as long as it can provide a simple and disntinctive style, Mihal will most likely wear it. However, Lady Ryger does stray away from the colors of red and orange, viewing them as colors that symbolize blood and unpleasant elements of life, such as war - and as such should not be worn by a proper lady.

In regards to Character, One of the main tenants that make up Mihal’s character is her devout nature to the Seven that are One. She’s fanatical to them, praying to the mother and the maiden from the moment she awakes at dawn to the moment she goes to bed at dusk, at least seven times during the day. She strives to live life in accordance to the principles of the Maiden and the Mother. Furthermore, Mihal actively strays away from the more sinful acts of life, such as debutchary, gluttony, lust and pride - looking down upon anyone whom has a history with such sins, noble and common folk alike, furthermore - Mihal has no toleration for any Red Fanatics in her lands or near herself, viewing them with only disgust, but she rarely acts upon the person directly, choosing instead to push them away in indirect ways.

However, as long as any person she meets isn’t a Red Fanatic or Willing Sinner, Mihal tends to be kind and humble, viewing it as important to treat her Smallfolk and Nobles alike with a kind and open heart. That doesn’t make her outright weak or innocent either, Mihal will act against people that attempt to take advantage of this kindness and seemingly visible innocence, after all, she’s rather well trained in economics and commerce, areas where being simply kind and innocent will lose you all you have in less then a moon’s time. Furthermore, she’s self reflective in her actions and contemplative about many areas, as is shown by her particular focus for the celestial and heavenly skies, an area she adores to study to the best of her ability. Mihal is not fully polished, however, she can be scornful of people, if they are active sinners or have sinned previously - to those people lady Ryger loves taking a hawkish approach, viewing such people with disgust, which can make for some heated meetings should that person have a history of sin and she gets a hold of such information. Overall, Mihal tries to keep her kind, humble and contemplative approach to life - but that’s not always possible due to the nature of her faith, certain times and people bring out the more scornful, unpleasant side she has to show.

## History

Lady Mihal Ryger would be born in the year 416 AC, a year before the winter came in 418 AC which led to her father, lord Dannis, nicknaming her “my winter child”. Raised at Willow Wood for the majority of her life, her early years were slow and isolated ones - growing up, Mihal never had the opportunity, for better or worse, to make noble friends and as such in turn, her focus shifted to the Faith and her Maester as she grew. Mihal demonstrated herself to be a quick learner, which surprised even her Maester, whom would spend hours of the day, and into the early night, teaching her in a varying amount of fields, from the house sigils to the knowledge of the stars that now she is so fond of, Mihal devoured all the knowledge sent her way, burying herself among the few books her Maester could provide, and even contemplating at times if perhaps she could one day visit the Citadel to discover its secrets - but those were all fanciful dreams.

Faith came after study, Mihal‘s greatest friend and confident from the she time she turned five to the time she turned to the age of twenty was surprisingly not one of her maids, but in reality would be the Septa of Willow Wood. Mihal first met the Septa when she arrived to take the local Sept as her own after the death of the previous Septon and subsequent vancancy of the position. Once Mihal and the Septa got to mingle with each other, they grew to like each other - Mihal liked the Septa due to her seemingly endless ability to teach her about the wider world, not to mention she was kind, and young as well, not like the Old Septon they’d had previously. Soon enough, Mihal initiated her journey into the faith that had been her family’s previously and would soon be hers personally, the early hours of the day became dedicated to her lessons on the theology of the faith, in part due to the willingness of the Septa to teach her, and in part because she was curious to know more of the Seven. The later hours of the day then became dedicated to the Maester and his lessons on Astronomy and other subject areas, this mixture of lessons not only helped keep her entertained until her first sister, Alis, came along - but stirred within her a deep rooted thirst for knowledge that has even to this day, failed to leave her since that time she first turned five.

The birth of her sister, Alis, occurred when she was but barely of the age of five - but it was an eventful occasion for Mihal, mainly due to fact that after all those years of being isolated, she would finally get someone to call a sister. The day that the birth occurred, she and the Septa of Willow Wood prayed for almost three hours in thanks to the Seven, and especially the Mother, for a successful birth and because another Ryger child was brought into the world. Aside from simple players, Mihal tried to aid her mother in caring for little Alis, doing everything she could to be of help - which wasn’t much due to her age but still, Mihal gave it her best effort. Alis and Mihal would be joined by a third sister, Anne, in 423 AC, which would sadly be the final child Lord Dannis would recieve from the gods, because during Anne’s birth, Lady Eyla suffered complications which made both her and husband unwilling to try for a son, bringing their child bearing era to an end.

After the births, things returned to normal for the next two years - Mihal would take her faith lessons in the early day, and then her Maester’s lessons later on in the day, she’d go and help her mother as best she could, then would take supper and then prepare for bed. It was a cycle that was continued again and again, day after day until the arrival of the infamous Scarlet Winter. She remembered when the snows first came and the winds grew colder, lord Dannis had preparedly expectedly for the winter, but even still - the Ryger family was taken unprepared by the Scarlet, during the two years it draped Westeros, the Scarlet Winter would directly lead to parts of the household falling victim to the cold temperatures and all the sickness It brought in turn. Worst of all, Lord Dannis Ryger fell victim to a Cold Sickness, which would end up devastating the three young sisters and their mother - it was a plain shock, the one among them they’d expected would most likely survive would sadly end up being the one that fell to the Scarlet Winter.

When the Scarlet Winter receded, things in Willow Wood were drastically changed, her father was dead - their treasury had suffered greatly due to the cost incurred by the winter, and now she was lady, in theory at least. The reality was that the following years would go to lady Eyla, whom was forced to take the reins of regency, acting as regent for Mihal until Mihal came of age. Things returned to normal, at least for the next four years - she went back to her lessons and her theology, and then in 432 AC, the Second Hammer Uprising erupted over Westeros - which forced Mihal to face a new reality, all around her, those faithful to the faith were rising in arms against the wickidness of the Red Followers and corruption of the dragon. In her mind, it was divine provindence that led to the uprising, and she desired to join in arms with those rising in the Riverlands, she desired to march for her faith. Lady Eyla was wiser however, and not only forbid Mihal from marching to aid the uprising, but even raised House Ryger’s men to defend Willow Wood should it become necessary. Sadly, Mihal couldn’t see why her mother was taking a more cautious approach, and felt scorned, stained and angered against her mother - whom she saw as having failed to answer the call of the Seven, House Ryger didn’t march for the warsmiths, but it still suffered losses, in the form of a permanent rift formed between mother and daughter.

The Stranger would intervene before this rift could grow however, for as the uprisings ended and the Riverlands seemed to be settling back into peace - the Four Year Winter would arrive. Just like they had done in the last winter, House Ryger retreated deep into Willow Wood and huddled by the hearth, and just like in the last winter, Mihal turned to the Seven and her Septa - confident all among House Ryger would make it out alive, praying day and night for the winter to recede and the warm days to return. The Winter was harsh and cruel however, in 435 AC, the Septa of Willow Wood would fall ill to cold sickness and the cold temperature, and sadly die before the end of the war, a devastating moment that made her question her faith - if even Septas, servants of the gods, were allowed to fall, why should she continue to pray to them? Yet the Septa wouldn’t be the last one whom left her, for in the hardest year of the Winter, her Mother fell ill and died, brining more gried to Mihal and her sisters. The rift hadn‘t grown enough for Mihal to be able to hide her feelings, and when her mother died, she for a moment could care less if she lived or not - even praying for the Stranger to come and take her away, and her dangerous prayers were nearly answered. In 437 AC, it was she who then fell ill to the cold sickness and winter - being bedridden for two moons, and where before she’d prayed for the Stranger, soon she prayed for salvation once more,desperately she clung to life, praying to the Mother for salvation, grasping at her Seven Pointed Star, and waited. By the grace of the gods or by the grace of chance, she managed to survive her sickness and lived to see the end of the winter. It wasn’t a happy celebration however, for during the last moons of the Four Year Winter - some among and around the people of Willow Wood had starved to death, including among those within her household and even the three sisters had at times feared they’d starve with the common folk.

Then the Four Year Winter ended, and now things have slowly returned back to normal - to a certain extent, Mihal is now Lady of Willow Wood, and with the Maester growing older, Her Septa, Father and Mother gone, Mihal no longer has teachers - she must become her own.

## Family

* ***Lord Dannis Ryger - Former Lord of Willow Wood, Father of Mihal, Alis and Anne - Died in 427 AC***
* *Lady Eyla née Wayn - Lady of Willow Wood, Wife to Lord Dannis, Mother of Mihal, Alis and Anne (Regent from 427 to 436 AC) - Died In 436 AC*
* **Lady Mihal Ryger - Currenr Lady of Willow Wood, Daughter of Dannis Ryger and Eyla née Wayn**
* Alis Ryger - Younger Sister of Mihal, Heir to Willow Wood, Daughter of Dannis and Eyla - Aged 18
* Anne Ryger - Youngest Sister of Mihal, Daughter of Dannis and Eyla, Aged 15

## Household Members

* Mereya (b. 413 AC): Head maid and her direct servant.
* Alaria (b. 417 AC); Maid in direct service of Mihal
* Ser Dallar (b. 400 AC): Castellan of the Castle
* Ser Ben (b. 395 AC): Marshall of House Ryger‘s forces
* Septa Rina (b. 385 AC): Septa of Willow Wood, installed after the last Septa’s death
* Maester Renold (b. 375): Maester at Willow Wood