Carolei Ambrose

5'5'', with wide, lively hazel eyes, auburn hair half-way down her back, petite and limber in her build, obviously athletic.

## Biography

Born on Moon 8 279AA to Lord Allun Ambrose and his wife Lady Ellya Ambrose, Carolei had the odd and unfortunate honor of being her father’s only child. After a pregnancy plagued by difficulty, the ever gentle and widely beloved Ellya Ambrose died during childbirth, leaving a broken man and a helpless baby girl to miss her terribly.

From early on, it became apparent that Carolei’s role in her haunted household was to be more than just the daughter of a noble lord of a reasonably well-to-do lordship in the Reach. One day, she’d have to do all that her father did now, and as time went on, she came to understand that there was much more to rest on her shoulders than what her father let on.

While Allun Ambrose had never been much for lordly things, or counting crops of keeping books, he had always excelled at a craft many men wished they could master. An excellent swordsman, a steady commander and a brutally efficient warrior, he was beloved among his men and respected by his peers. Lord Ambrose was the man for the job if there was a threat looming or a battle to dive into head-first, and as far as he was concerned, that was quite enough for him. Everything else would simply have to sort itself out.

When Ellya Ambrose passed suddenly and unexpectedly during childbirth, Lord Ambrose was left with little center in his world, other than his sword, and his fierce love for his daughter, the only thing he had to remind himself of the woman he adored. While Carolei tottered to learn her first steps and fill her vocabulary with new words, her father sought out battle where he could, finding it to be the only reliable way to fill his coffers.

King Cotter’s War came at a particularly fortuitous time for House Ambrose. Lord Ambrose had never been a man to shy away from drink, but with the passing of his wife, his bouts of drunkenness became more and more frequent, until only battle and the rare moment with his daughter could rouse the man from the bottom of a pitcher. In turn, the holdings of House Ambrose had quickly dwindled, mismanaged and allowed to allowed to crumble over time. Confident that a new wind of fresh opportunities was soon to blow into the halls of Ambrose Keep, Lord Ambrose rode off to fight in the name of his king, and came back a battered man but months later.

When put before a decision of risking his life and limb by blocking a heavy blow meant for another lord, or standing by and watching the man perish, Lord Ambrose took the only possible choice. Having saved Lord Crane’s life during a fierce battle against King Cotter I Goodbrother’s force, Lord Allun Ambrose felt he could have just as well died on the battleground that day for what he was reduced to in its aftermath. Suffering a sword to the back, he lost most motor control on the left side of his body, infirmed for life, finding it ever easier to seek solace in wine and stiffer drink as the one thing he was good at would no longer be available to him.

As Carolei grew and watched her father disappear into a husk of his former glory, she quickly learned of a world far removed for most nobleborn ladies. Though there was always a Septa at Ambrose Keep to try and teach her the skills and give her the knowledge each woman of her stature was expected to have, Carolei spent most of her time rather ignoring dresses and curtsies, and focusing on how to string a bow, ride a horse and hunt a rabbit. Her father indulged her whims easily and she in turn felt the need to be everything that a Lord’s heir would need to be - brave, capable and hardy in the face of trouble. The one thing she seemed to overlook, though, was that she’d not been born to the gender that would easily allow her success while possessing such capabilities.

Left to her own devices more often than not, the lively girl learned to make friends quickly and wherever she could. Removed as the Ambroses were from most of finer society as a result of her father’s hermitry and shame at what he’d made of himself, most of Carolei’s companions as she grew came from the lower classes of society.

Her best friend for most of her youth was the baker’s son, and she concocted dastardly schemes with the stable master’s twins to prank and annoy everyone around them to their mutual joy. One of the castle servants often saw to that she’d have a seat at a real family table when her father was too drunk to function on days that mattered, leading Carolei to spend most of her birthdays in a little shack off Ambrose Keep, instead of in the hallowed halls of the home of her ancestors. She learned how to be kind and giving from people who had little more to their name than the clothes on their back and the bread on their table, a lesson she would have perhaps not received as easily were her situation different.

Regardless, Carolei loved her father greatly, thinking him a man of unparalleled bravery, who just fell on hard times and couldn’t get himself out of them. But maybe she could - maybe she could fix everything.

Still, this mixed world of being one foot in with the lives of people thought beneath her station, and another foot in with the noble lives of lords and ladies, gave Carolei Ambrose a peculiar outlook on life that seemed to differ from that of her peers, but allowed her to find easy connections with the people who those of noble birth often overlooked.

Carolei loved to hunt and would happily spend days if not weeks discovering the woods and lands in the Ambrose’s holdings. She grew deadly with an arrow, practicing for both sport and fun, starting to outclass boys her age early on and becoming a respected archer among the lordship’s soldiers. She spent time outdoors eagerly, perhaps finding escaping the crumbling halls of her house and home to be freeing as out there, she knew what to do. At home, however? Well, things were not so easy.

It was when Carolei reached 15 years of age that her father finally sat her down during a rare moment of lucidity and had a thorough talking to her. Through mostly willful ignorance, she’d turned a blind eye to the obvious looming threats in her future. Her father would not live forever, and when he passed, she would become Lady of House Ambrose. Without a husband, and without heirs, she would not have long to hold onto that title, as even then, members of the extended Ambrose line appeared intermittently to hint at how much better the lordship could fare in their capable hands.

To combat this, Lord Ambrose had found the one obvious solution to the problem of his ineptitude, and his daughter’s shaky future. Just two years after King Cotter’s War, when it was clear there would be no coming back from his injury, Lord Ambrose had made a trip to see Lord Crane, a man he’d dared call his friend in earlier times. Weighing on the man’s honor and the sacrifice Lord Ambrose had made for him, a bargain was settled. Carolei was to wed Lord Crane’s eldest son, providing a capable and trustworthy hand to help manage the holdings of the Ambroses, and securing Carolei’s future from the vultures that were her cousing and extended ilk.

In the span of one conversation, the young lady felt a very real sinking feeling, as if a sinkhole was opening up under her feet, and she responded in the only way that made sense to her - she took her horse and disappeared into the woods for a fortnight. Having briefly met Cerran Crane, she could scarcely imagine anyone she’d be less eagerly wed to. When she finally returned, heated conversations were had on the matter, but Lord Ambrose would not relent and Carolei finally ran out of words and pleas, deciding to hope that perhaps using her tried and true tactics would work here as well - perhaps if she ignored it long enough, it would simply resolve itself somehow to her benefit.

It was in early 299 AA that Carolei’s luck ran out and with much bemoaning and heel-dragging, she was sent to Red Lake on the invitation of the new Lord Crane, her husband to be whether she liked it or not.

## Timeline

279AA - Carolei is born, her mother dies during childbirth

285AA - Lord Allun Ambrose receives a grievous injury during King Cotter’s War

287AA - Lord Ambrose and Lord Crane reach an agreement on the betrothal of Carolei and Cerran Crane

299AA - Carolei travels to Red Lake

## Family

Lord Allun Ambrose (b. 250 AA) - father

Lady Ellysa Ambrose (b. 260 AA - d. 279 AA) - mother

Albion Ambrose (b. 255 AA) - uncle

Errol Ambrose (b. 277 AA) - cousin

## Supporting Characters

Samfred Riley - Stable Boy - Archetype: Navigator

Solise - Septa - Archetype: Maester

Theomar Leygood - Castellan of Ambrose Keep - Archetype: Castellan