Eddard Hornwood

Jyana Hornwood

Eddard Hornwood is the secondborn son of Lady Argelle Hornwood and Robard Ryswell. After the death of his older brother, Cregan Hornwood, a dispute rose between he, and his younger sister, Lyarra, and nephew Willam Snow, whom contested that their son, Donnor Hornwood, was heir, as his place as the firstborn son of the firstborn of the firstborn son, though Eddard himself argued elsewise due to the bastardy of his nephew.

## Appearance and Character

Sturdy in his years of youth, Eddard Hornwood's muscle has since turned to soft flab, while in his midriff he so too grows round, while the cheeks of his face have grown pinker and fuller, and so too his hairline, of an ordinary brown, having receeded. Further still, in attempt to disguise, or at very least, make himself feel better about his growing fat, Eddard wears clothes that do not force upon him an uncomfortable restriction around his waist and gut, and so too wears clothes that cover most all his pale Northern skin.

In character, Eddard Hornwood is ambitious, prideful, cunning, deceitful, and highly envious. Willing to do whatever it takes, whatever is necessary, Eddard is a vicious man. Yet, this is not a recent development. Having ever been this way, these traits were further excentuated when his elder brother, Cregan Hornwood, died in 77 AC. Further so, Eddard Hornwood has a distinct lack of polite mannerisms to those he views as subservient to him, and only employs such requirements with those he views as expecting them from him, elsewise he drag himself asunder.

Additionally, as a father, Eddard has always encouraged his sons to be violent, to be ambitious, to *fight* with any means necessary for their birthright and whatever they want; be it a prized womb or a place of high position. As such, his sons, Ondrew and Benton, have never had a stable relationship, oft finding themselves at odds with one another. With regards to his daughter, Eddard has always demanded perfection, and the very image of a highborn daughter, for nothing less would be suitable of the offspring of his loins.

In addition, Eddard is so too a skilled military commander and a fine administrator. Both of which are skills gained through the training and learning he was given as a highborn youth, and so too from a life aiding his Lady mother in ruling the Hornwood lands, for such was never Cregan's concern - rather Cregan fancied himself a cock with a body, where Eddard sees himself as a mind and body with a cock for purpose.

## History

### 50 - 77 AC

Eddard's youth was a time of growth and progress, as all times of minority are. Though, by the time Eddard reached his age of majority, his dislike for his elder brother, Cregan Hornwood, was already rather evident. Where Cregan was the heir of Hornwood and the son of merriment and slave to his base desires, Eddard did his duty, married a good highborn girl by the name of GIlliane Cerwyn, and brought children to his marital bed.

Where Cregan concerned himself not with the rule, the upkeep, the prosperity, of Hornwood, Eddard stepped up to learn from his Lady mother's side. Yet, even as Eddard did so, he was ever held back by his birth, limited as the second son, as the spare to the heir, and unable to truly rise to the position of which he had so earned and which he was so worthy, and so, when Cregan eventually died in 77 AC, leaving only a bastard son in his wake, Eddard rejoiced, seeing this as his moment, yet, his Lady mother made no move to officially designate him the heir to the Hornwood, and as more time passed, more tension grew, and Cregan grew increasingly hostile toward the other members of his family not tied in fate and need to himself.

### 77 - 98 AC

These years saw Eddard continue to grow his position and influence within Hornwood and the lands of his family. With his already having had sons, Ondrew in 69 AC, and Benton in 72 AC, his line was secured, and he was determined to make something of it and leave his sons a proud and strong legacy. Then, in 78 AC, his wife gave him a daughter, whom he named Jyanna.

Though, despite the prosperity of his line, especially so as he would be given a granddaughter in 93 AC, whom he convinced Ondrew to name Argelle in an attempt to win over his mother. Yet, contest remained. The lines of his bastard nephew Willam Snow and traitorous half-sister, Lyarra Hornwood, born to his mother's second husband, the Whitehill prick, had been joined some years earlier, in what many had perceived as a pseudo-legitimisation of Willam Snow and his line, and so, it was ever so that conflict existed between Eddard and their line, most especially from 76 AC onward when a son was born to Willam and Lyarra, by the name of Donnor Hornwood.

Over the years, these tensions would massively grow, oft seeing violent outbursts and heated exchanges, and plenty a threat exchanged between the two branches of House Hornwood.

### 98 AC

Now, come the late hours of 98 AC, with tensions high as they had been for many a year now, and Lady Argelle falling incredibly ill and infirm, so much so that Eddard doubted she would even notice a battle within the castle so long as it avoided her chambers, and with most of the men loyal to him and his, he struck. In the night he and his sons and the men they had struck at their rivals. The fighting proved bloody, with Lyarra Hornwood, the mother of this line of false Hornwoods, and her second son, Larence Hornwood, falling to their blades, while Myriame Manderly - an unfortunate casualty of flared tempers - so too met her own end, while another Argelle Hornwood, this one, the daughter of Lyarra, was taken into the tender custody of Eddard and his sons. Yet, Donnor Hornwood proved a snake, and managed an escape, south, south to White Harbour, Eddard presumed, and with that, a problem that would no doubt create.