Andar Royce

Andar Royce is the current Lord of Runestone.

## Appearance and Character

Andar is in many respects average; an average height, the same dark hair and eyes as most from House Royce and a build that is strong, but not uncommon for knights. He has the youthful face of a man in his early twenties, still yet to fully prove himself in statecraft, battle, or any other field.

## History

Andar Royce was born in the year 361, to the union of Ser Roland Royce and Arianne Martell. He would be born healthy and strong, being the cause of much joy. While not the first child born to the castle in recent memory, he was first born to Roland, then heir to Runestone and the Royce name.

His childhood would be spent with his relatives, for there were many. His father had been born when his grandfather was young, to the point that his youngest aunt was closer to him in age than all but one of his siblings, and as a result they would all be raised together. His sister Samantha would be born in the same year, and despite her insistence that she was *far* superior to him in the classroom, they and his aunt Rhea would be schooled together.

If there had been a worry that being raised with two girls would make Andar as feminine as them, it was soon proven unfounded. He was as eager as any young lad to take up swordplay, showing more interest in that than any of his other classes, as most children do when given the option between sitting at a desk or playing in the yard. There was nothing that would give him more happiness than to spend an afternoon training in the yard, which at his age consisted of rather ineffectually hitting straw targets with great enthusiasm and very little strength or technique.

When young his father was often absent, busy with the duties of ruling and happy to largely end his involvement with his steadily growing brood of children with the process of creating them. That said, out of all of his children he made the most time for his eldest son and heir, making Andar the only sibling to have at least a semblance of a father-son bond. Their time would be spent mainly with Ser Roland regaling his son of his adventures on the Sisters, an adventure that only lasted a few months and consisted largely of pacifying villages that wanted nothing to do with the war anyway. As a result, he heard only the glorious parts of war, the wonder of the ocean and the excitement of a few months long camping trip with fellow nobility, instead of the rather harsher stories that would have come from men who fought in earnest.

At the age of fourteen in the year 375, two events would happen that would change his life. The first was his grandfather passing peacefully in his sleep, making his father Lord of Runestone. This made Andar the heir, and as a result, his education as a proper knight had to occur as soon as possible. As a result the second event happened, that being Andar being squired to Ser Pelinor Corbray, knight of the (at the time) Kingsguard.

Ser Pelinor was indeed the spitting image of a noble knight, and in his time with him Andar would learn much. That said, the fourteen-year-old boy who had dreamed of interesting and wondrous knightly adventures would be disappointed. Indeed, his duties in the capital were of a far more menial nature, more statecraft and hard labour than glorious swordfights against vagabonds. It turned out that squires, no matter how influential and storied their family’s history, still had to learn how to clean a set of armour. His father in his stories, of course, had conveniently forgotten to mention all the hard labour that a well-rounded knight had to undertake in order to be a true warrior in the light of the Seven.

In that time he would also be given an education in more lordly matters, learning much about statecraft and politics, though Andar applied himself far less vigorously to that than to knightly pursuits. Even if he had been the worst student in the world, it would have been difficult to avoid picking up at least a few tips simply from proximity to the beating heart of power that was King’s Landing, what with his master’s duties requiring him to be near the king and the royal family at all times.

His master was harsh but fair, and though they were never as close as family, Andar grew a great respect for the brave knight, *always* there to defend the king as he was. He was instructed in the ways of the Faith, and how to be a chivalrous fellow to both lords and ladies. He would serve well for three years, until the war began.

At first, it was only rumoured. The day the ravens died, everyone thought it was a freak event. Then the weekly raven didn’t arrive from home, the first time Andar’s family had missed it in years. It was the same for everyone else in the castle, and soon enough people put their heads together to realize what had happened. And then the reports of men landing in the Stormlands, a dragon in the Reach, and chaos literally everywhere started streaming in.

While the Vale themselves were silent, there was no question about Andar himself being drafted. He was the squire of a Kingsguard, he was in the capital, therefore he would fight if the need arose. For the first year it did not; he stayed in King’s Landing, slowly watching the war situation deteriorate. Was his family dead? The rumours always said that the Vale was peaceful, but to get to the capital they had to be weeks old at least. He was alone, the Kingsguard off protecting the king and though Andar did not know it, dropping like flies.

The day when the Golden Company had rocked up in front of King’s Landing was one of Andar’s worst memories, watching the armies clash from behind the thick walls of the capital. It had seemed for a while as if they were winning, and throughout the city there was the sound of cheering. But then the elephants charged, and those cheers turned to sudden, shocked silence. He was safe, behind the walls, but that didn’t mean he didn’t see everything. The aftermath of a battle was horrible, and he saw it all.

The siege itself was, well, boring. It might have sounded silly, but there was only so much fear you could have, and after a while it burnt itself out and became the new normal. The Targaryen army outside shouted a lot, shelled the city with trebuchets sometimes and other than that, didn’t do very much. Andar was drafted into duty due to the lack of able-bodied men after the battle, but even watching the walls grew monotonous after months. Why wouldn’t they assault the capital? One dark morning, when a guard hurriedly grabbed him and shoved him into a tunnel along with the rest of those escaping the Red Keep, he found out.

Andar never saw Drogon burn a path to the Red Keep. He never heard more than a dull thud in the earth as buildings collapsed, as thousands whose only crime was to live in a city under siege were turned to ash. From then on, he would be in just about every major battle the Crown fought, at least those with the army from Harrenhal. The battles would be terrible, history said, but for Andar it all became rather numb. After seeing the men of the Golden Company once, it was hard to fear them again when contrasted with the nastier things that Daena had in her arsenal. He was apprehensive, sure, but it was not nearly at the level it had been before King’s Landing. In the coming battles he acquitted himself well, if not excellently so, fighting with the courage that anyone would expect out of a young man in training to become a knight, if not quite at the level of the best men in the realm. He would never be quite as talented as Pelinor was, but he wasn’t half bad either.

For the first time in four years he was able to meet his family. With the Vale knights had come his father and also Marq, his cousin. He came to them for the first time not as a child but as an adult, and they responded in kind. He and Marq became fast friends, bonding over their shared lives of adventure since the last time they had met, and of fond memories from back home. By the time the battle was joined, Marq had agreed to join Andar in the same column as they marched.

Andar would survive the battle unhurt, providing cover for Ser Pelinor and by extension the King, little as they needed it. It would be a great victory, with the forces of the crown holding the field, the dragon queen slain and her forces broken. For Andar, it was different. His father had been caught in one of the many gouts of flame that Drogon had unleashed upon the field, and there was nothing left but House Royce’s celebrated bronze armour, and ash. Andar would be knighted upon the field by his mentor for gallantry, but both knew that it was because he had to head home. Runestone was his, no matter how unfortunate the ascension, and now he would have to rule.

Returning home, the Vale was much as he had left it. The war had left it untouched, and Runestone itself was still a nice, lovely coastal town with an ancient castle above. And in the two years since the war ended, it has largely stayed that way. His aunt Rhea had been in charge of keeping Runestone going while he was away, and was content to continue in that role while Andar gained experience of ruling. He was competent, but not extraordinary. Capable, but how much of that was due to his family, due to the fortune he had had in trainers? What pride, what happiness could he take in his own merit, as opposed to someone else’s benefits heaped upon him?