Birgitte Tully

## Heir Apparent to the Riverlands

Eon Tully

**Birgitte Tully** is the second daughter of Lord Elston Tully and his wife, Jennelyn Mallister. She is heir apparent to the Riverlands and has had two husbands, Florence Piper, and Abelar Tully. She has three children with Abelar: Gawen, Elyana, and Eon.

## Appearance

Born with temperament in her eyes, Birgitte, in her youth, was, and still is, often described as a rosebud. That rose has since bloomed. She has her daughter’s beauty, a beauty that has matured and ripened. Her presence, her figure, everything about her can fill a room of darkness and cast light. Her voice is warm, if only a bit hard, and she has seemingly perfected the calmness of her husband - an art where expressions and emotions are hardly exposed. She has red ripples for hair, which is often made into a perfect braid that that nears her waist.

## History | Biography

Birgitte was born in the crest of the second moon of 338 AC. She was not sickly, and remained healthy throughout the majority of her life. In the first year of her birth, Elston made sure to secure the succession of House Tully by naming his brother, Dafyd, over his infant daughter until he had a son or his daughter came of age. Law changes swept across the Riverlands in a flood shortly after, though they were mostly small, and the Riverlands remained somewhat untouched.

By the time Birgitte could walk and speak, another child had been born of the union of Jennelyn and Elston. Named Elmindreda, Birgitte now had a younger sister, though she barely had the chance to see her grow up. Writing and spelling came first. Education washed over her, and year after year Jennelyn pushed her; a fierce woman in her own right. She saw only good and evil, and a single step out of the line had Birgitte scrubbing the pots in the kitchens with the servants for no small amount of time. Birgitte grew up on this, and was subsequently forged by it. Her father’s and mother’s teachings did not usually differ, but when they did, it was only in the way they dealt them out. One evening, she’d be scrubbing with the cooks in the kitchens, or sweeping the floors like a girl. The next, her mother would be showing off her position as Lady as if she were to be the Queen. If only she knew that was what was to come.

Jennelyn did train her to be like a Queen, though. With the right dose of humility, and enough punishment to have her hardened so that her skin was as hard as jade, she faced task after task with incredible alacrity. Even her mental fortitude seemed strong. By the time she was fifteen, a girl nearly grown, she had formed a barrier between thoughts and emotions, a wall of stone bigger than anything else. Her mother knew, and had shown her all too well that if she did not know when and when not to show emotions, she’d be no more than a girl. Emotion was a good thing to let go, but not something to shelter like a stubborn woman. Shrewd and sometimes cold, Birgitte became known for this - at least around Riverrun.

Jennelyn had also taught her this: She was not perfect. For so long, she had spent time devoted to her daughter, to make her right, yet she knew no one could be perfect. Every night, she drilled into her her flaws, ones that she should’ve very well kept. They made her teeth chatter with anger, and worst, it was working. She knew her flaws, but she knew how to play men, and women. Stares that shot icicles were something she became known for. Her cold tone, especially cold around those she did not like, could leave some servant begging or simpering at her feet, frantically kissing her blouse in trying to make amends for perceived slights.

So when she was married Florence Piper at the age of sixteen, she hid her emotion as best as she could. Anger and hatred and love and a dozen others had flooded through her at the great wedding, and when Lorence took her to bed that evening, she told him that if he ever truly expected her to love him he was a fool much larger than she had imagined. He only laughed at her, told her how much of a fool she was being, and said she was just perfect for him.

Two years followed. Birgitte had taken residence at Pinkmaiden for a time, and, childless, was recalled back to Riverrun at the age of eighteen. It was through keen governance that she earned her title of Heir to the Riverlands in a massive ceremony that all the Riverlands attended. The feast lasted a week and a day, and the celebrations lasted for so much longer than that. A sad few months later, Lorence Piper died of an infected wound after a week-long hunt. His near three years of marriage to Birgitte had nearly broken that wall between emotion and thoughts she had, and she had even nearly came to love him.

The customary year and a day of mourning followed, and a day after that eve, Birgitte married Abelar Bracken, In their youth, the pair had seldom looked at each other, but a fondness had developed between them so strong that when she laid herself at his feet, Abelar proclaimed that he would be hers forever, and renounced his claim to any and all titles of House Bracken, assumed the name Tully, and changed the Riverlands in a single broad stroke that would define the decades to come.

Two months passed, and it was of little surprise when Birgitte proclaimed her first pregnancy. Obscurity points the date of Gawen Tully’s birth to late in 359 AC. Elyana Tully followed him shortly after, not even shy on a year after Gawen’s birth. And in 364 AC, the last of their children was born, named Eon. Each child resembled their mother’s looks quite well, though those haunting grey eyes in both Elyana and Eon had come from their father.

From then until now, Birgitte Tully centered on teaching her children the core aspects of what her own mother had taught her. Though she could be harsh, time and time again her children often emerged unscathed. Gawen was the first, and he learned quick. A charming youth, he took to the horse at the age of twelve, in 370 AC. Elyana resembled her mother so well that it was often said that Birgitte resembled her daughter instead of the other way around. Eon was calm and quiet, and never demanding. During this time, Birgitte also acquired three Ladies in Waiting, named Leane Merryweather, Marianne Ryger, and Joanna Vance. They - and her children - were perfect, in their own little way, by the way Birgitte saw it. She would mold and forge her children into those worthy of Kings and Queens, if she had any say in it.

## Family

* Elston Tully (b. 307AC), Lord of Riverrun and Lord Paramount of the Trident, and his wife, Lady Jennelyn Mallister (b. 310AC)
	+ Leana Tully, b. 332AC, died an infant.
	+ Birgitte Tully, b. 338AC, current heir to the Riverlands
	+ Elmindreda Tully, b. 342AC. [PH, unknown whereabouts.]
	+ Dafyd Tully, b. 310AC, was heir to the Riverlands until Birgitte was given the position in 356AC