Miriam Blackwood

Stillborn son (†)

Melarra Blackwood

Royce Blackwood

Alyce Blackwood

Jenna Blackwood

Raya Blackwood

**Miriam Blackwood** is the former Lady of Raventree Hall and former matriarch of House Blackwood. After being widowed by the death of her distant cousin Lord Consort Arwood Blackwood, Miriam navigates the problems of her expansive family entirely alone, but far from unprepared. She copes with personal and public struggles, uncertainty, the threat of exposure and betrayal, and the weight of rearing a brood of children without her husband's presence. Most of her worries are rooted in the conduct of her son and heir, Armond Blackwood.

## Appearance and Character

Miriam's heart-shaped face is framed by long, dark hair that is frequently styled in a widow's knot at the crown. Chocolate eyes with golden flecks cast a typically distant gaze while her full lips settle into a gentle scowl. What once was a shapely maiden's figure has loosened in the face of age and numerous pregnancies with a likewise weathered bosom, worn just as proudly as a warrior wears his scars.

Whatever pleasantness covers Miriam's exterior is but a shallow footing overlooking a black abyss. Having ruled Raventree Hall in her own name with a hardly-capable consort by her side, Miriam takes pride in her ability to manage her household in addition to her armies. The obstacles of being a woman in a patriarchal world do little more than annoy her on a day-to-day basis, although they've imparted within her an occasional insecurity and desire to attain whatever she wants, however she can. What is necessary for the survival of her family and what is her insatiable appetite for power and control is often difficult to discern.

## History

Born to Lord Lucas Blackwood and his Lady wife Cersei Tully, Miriam's family at the time of her birth was already one that differed from convention. In addition to being born of an inter-religious marriage, the pairing of Miriam's parents was also one of love. The courtship of Lady Cersei would be fondly remembered as one of the most ambitious endeavors of Lord Lucas' life. His labors of love were returned tenfold by his Lady Cersei, who persevered through the frailties of her flesh to exceed the pressures placed upon noblewoman. Early into her marriage she gave her Lord husband a son, their first child Addam. A daughter soon followed, and with the birth of Miriam a sense of completion came over the main Blackwood branch.

In 69 AC, Lady Cersei gave birth to her third child, a boisterous babe named Barbrey. This birth more than any other proved challenging for the Lady of Raventree Hall, who became sickly afterwards. She pleaded for this babe to be their last, and her Lord Husband agreed. No matter the age difference, Miriam and Barbrey soon became like two heads of the hydra.

Miriam's early girlhood was nothing unique compared to fellow noblewomen, albeit spent more often in the court of Storm's End than her family's seat. Miriam blossomed into a comely youth standing tall for her age with dark, silky hair and a sweet voice. While away she became closely acquainted with Lord Raymont Baratheon who became a surrogate father of sorts, and his squire, a young Corlys Celtigar with whom Miriam would sometimes dare to try and spar with. Storm's End proved to be a welcome refuge, for despite its size, Raventree Hall became fraught with tension. Though it would cast a shadow Miriam's adulthood and shape a side of her not seen by most, Miriam had only a single encounter with the events that would end life as she knew it.

In 73 AC, Miriam's big brother and the heir of House Blackwood, Addam, had died. Though the Lord of Raventree Hall declared it an accident, Miriam would only uncover the truth following the death of her father many years later. However it happened, the death Addam sparked a change in Lord Lucas that could never be undone. Many things ate away at him- grief, guilt, anger- so furious that Lady Cersei tearfully feared he'd gone mad. Of course, a mother is never spared the wrath of grief, and so many nights Lady Cersei had taken to falling over her husband, weeping. For the first time, Miriam became her family's strength, the pillar that supported little Barbrey. She only wished her parents would notice.

In the decades that followed, Miriam would struggle not to feel hostility towards her father who seemed to emerge from his grief declaring his need of a male heir rather than recognize his eldest daughter for a position she found herself increasingly fit for. Lord Lucas did no small amount of begging, and quickly after his wife relented, she found herself pregnant once more. Lord Lucas delighted in the prospect of starting anew. Miriam quietly mourned her brother, replaying constantly the memories long sworn to secrecy as if she would piece together the puzzle by revisiting the same moment again and again. Perhaps, then, it would not be so impossible for Miriam to believe in ghosts. Her imagination bled from her like a gaping wound, to be clotted with a newfound cynicism and occasional sharp tongue. Before departing for Storm's End once again, Miriam bid farewell to her heavily pregnant mother and brought little Barbrey along. Shortly after arriving, Miriam received a raven informing her that she was an older sister once more. To a baby girl, whom her parents named Jenna. The girls affectionately took to referring to the babe as Jenny, while Lucas knew Jenna to be what she was: a daughter. Despite his wife's health drastically fading, Lucas pleaded with her and any god who would listen to secure his line. Thankfully Miriam was absent for these prayers, lest her relationship with her father suffer an even harsher blow.

During a stint back home, young Miriam met Alicent Bracken. The girl that greeted Alicent could be mistaken for a different person than the woman who would rule Raventree Hall for decades to follow. There was a wildness to Miriam, an open-mindedness towards all things and a fondness for indulgence. A mean streak had reared itself as well, for when her bastard cousin Armitage bashfully inquired about Lady Alicent, Miriam proudly declared the "silly orange-haired" bastard's confession to any who would listen, including his strict father, Lord Brendyl. Lord Brendyl was unique, in that he was the only Blackwood not capable of pleasantness even on a surface level. He was quick to criticize any of his kin, particularly the boy he hadn't wanted to begin with, and the wife he held no affection for. Miriam wagered the man had no affection in him, period. Brendyl would privately come to call Miriam in a more succinct fashion: bitch. Ever the militant man, he regarded his bastard's youthful infatuation as something that would potentially embarrass the family, and so Armitage was punished harshly as ever. However, Miriam would come to appreciate Alicent on a level deeper than Armitage ever could, in her eyes. With a baby in tow, the Blackwood sisters finally became a trio. While she couldn't replace Addam, Miriam would dote on baby Jenny alongside Barbrey.

In late 77 AC, Lady Cersei learned she was pregnant once more. She wept tears of joy and tears of fear in quick succession, and shortly thereafter became bedridden. Her conditioned as the weeks progressed, and as her pregnancy neared its end the stench of death began to creep in. It was a Maester that informed Lord Lucas that he could have his wife or his child, but saving both was unlikely. The memory of seeing her mother in such a gaunt state, like a skeleton wrapped in discolored and sunken skin stinking of blood and urine and something else the young Miriam hadn't encountered, took away at once the fever dream Miriam knew as youth. She'd seen her mother decay long before she died.

Never had Lord Lucas' heart weighed so heavily as when he witnessed his wife's consciousness begin to fade and gave the Maesters the go-ahead to do whatever necessary to save his son.

Lady Cersei seemed to regain her corporeal form for a final time, letting out a blood-curdling scream as the cold instrument drew warm crimson. The last of Lord Lucas died alongside his wife, and a silence overcame the place that seemed like a small eternity. It only lasted a moment, until the babe burst into life with a piercing cry.

It was a girl.

How Raya Blackwood was named, when or whom for, is nothing but a blur. With the burial of Lady Cersei, Raventree Hall felt more like a mausoleum. Where once Miriam eagerly met her siblings, she shunned the babe. She would've much rather had her mother. She lost her, all for what? Her father's vanity became the obvious answer, but she preferred an even simpler one: stupidity.

*"Why did you kill my mother?"* Punctuated many tense dinners, as Lord Lucas felt the wrath of the only child old enough to fully comprehend the circumstances of their mother's demise. *"I loved her, she was the only mother I will ever have. Why did you do that?"*

Raya received nothing better in the way of treatment, for Miriam couldn't see her as merely a babe. She was the one that killed her mother, and if she couldn't forgive her father, how could she forgive someone she didn't know?

Remarriage seemed unthinkable to Lord Lucas. His heart had been buried with his Lady Cersei, and every day felt like a punishment for his greed. He would repent by acquiescing the title of heir to his daughter Miriam in perpetuity. All at once Miriam had been plucked from Storm's End, far removed from thoughts of Lord Raymont and chivalrous knights and lively courts. She would rule her family one day, and where many would meet the prospect with fear, Miriam understood it to be what she was owed. Lord Lucas handed over his knowledge without enthusiasm, rather like a ghost whispering tales of a time long past. Miriam didn't need his permission to flourish in her newfound role. The issue of issue quickly presented itself, and equally quickly did potential solutions appear. Lucas' sister Arra had been married to a Royce, one adviser reminded him, let Miriam's consort hale from that family. Strangely, Lord Brendyl offered his bastard, Armitage. Miriam supposed it was because he couldn't suggest himself, lest he speak openly of murder. Perhaps a Bracken could be sought, crippled Uncle Ethan suggested. Lucas asked if he was crippled in the mind as well. Name after name had been pondered, though only one played in Miriam's thoughts. The best suitor seemed to hide in plain sight.

To say Arwood Blackwood would make a good Lord would be glaringly false. Though a gifted player of the high harp with a silver tongue, he seldom used it for more than taunts in a prickly attempt at humor. He was a lousy fighter who much preferred a tome to a sword, and his physique wasn't particularly impressive either. He had no talent for numbers. But he had a good name, a rumored vitality, and most importantly, he was already family. It was in that moment that Miriam relented to marry a man she had no affection for, a cousin she hardly knew, to do what was in the best interest of her House. What Lord Lucas couldn't have known, despite his daughter's apparent hesitation, was that he'd for the first time given in to the whispers of Miriam's little birds. There was no warmness between Miriam and her distant cousin to be sure, but she judged Arwood to be a weak man easily distracted, like a droll animal when given a treat. Unadulterated authority over Blackwood lands and armies would be hers when the time came.

Immediately following her matrimony in 80 AC, Miriam gave birth to a son whom she named Armond. Only fierce devotion to her child could guide her through the absolute terror that was childbirth, all the while being taunted by memories of her late mother.

Years came and went, with Miriam's marriage to Arwood proving especially fruitful, welcoming sons Luceon, Oswin, and Royce, with a sole daughter, little Melarra. Miriam found herself pregnant once more in 93 AC, and by the time she entered confinement, the Rosegold Rebellion was in full swing. No feeling had disarmed Miriam so much as futility, exactly what she felt upon the realization that her dear sister Barbrey was married to a Lannister while her father stood steadfast with the crown. Miriam unwaveringly referred to them by what they were: traitors. The birth of her daughter Alyce had been particularly loathsome, and so Miriam was not entirely recovered when she received the news she'd waited a lifetime for, with a hefty price: her husband died in the battle of Tumbler's Fall while her father and Raymont Baratheon had been murdered in the Slaughter of Bitterbridge. Best friends in life had died side by side.

Though she felt no great love towards her husband, she nearly admired him. "What a fine wife he would've made," She thought, once. "And what a good Lord I would be." Their complicated relationship made Miriam's mourning of her father all the more impossible to process. All at once, she had everything she ever wanted: lands, titles, and an army. But it didn't seem quite so shiny when she considered the price.

Once the postpartum haze cleared, Miriam looked to her newfound status and saw the world as it should be.

Hers.

## Family and Household

Family Echo for clarity.

* Maric Blackwood b. 25 AC d. 70 AC

m. Unnamed Wife b. ?? d.??

* Lucas Blackwood b. 93 AC

m. Cersei Tully b. d. 78 AC

* Addam Blackwood b. 59 AC d. ??
* **Miriam Blackwood** b. 62 AC

m. Arwood Blackwood b. 59 AC d. 93 AC

* Armond Blackwood b. 80 AC
* Luceon Blackwood b. 82 AC
* Melarra Blackwood b. 85 AC
* Oswin Blackwood b. 87 AC
* Royce Blackwood b. 90 AC
* Alyce Blackwood b. 93 AC
* Barbrey Blackwood b. 69 AC

m. Daven Lannister

* Tysane Lannister b. 90 AC
* Jenna Blackwood b. 74 AC
* Raya Blackwood b. 78 AC
* Brendyl Blackwood b. 47 AC d. 95 AC

m. Ryella Florent b. 49 AC

* Dalla Blackwood b. 78 AC
* Armitage Rivers b. 71 AC
* Ethan Blackwood b. 53 AC

m. Samantha Manderly

* Serena Blackwood b. 79 AC
* Leanne Blackwood b. 82 AC
* Wylis Blackwood b. 85 AC
* Arra Blackwood b. 55 AC

m. Leyton Royce b. 48 AC

* Luthor Royce b. 71 AC
* Rhea Royce b. 73 AC
* Yohn Royce b. 75 AC
* Oscar Blackwood b. 29 AC d. 69 AC
* Arwood Blackwood (Lord Consort of Miriam Blackwood) b. 59 AC d. 92 AC
* Kermit Blackwood b. 30 AC d. 81 AC

m. Unnamed Wife b. ?? d. ??

* Rosalind Blackwood b. 78 AC
* Betha Blackwood b. 80 AC