Domeric Umber

Domeric Umber is the firstborn child and eldest son of Harkan Umber and Lyarra Mormont. He is the current Lord of the Last Hearth and head of House Umber. He has a single child from his late wife Donella Cerwyn.

## Appearance and Character

Umbers are known to be some of the toughest and most hardy people in the North, and Domeric is no exception to this. He has chestnut brown eyes and dark brown hair, nearing blonde. His beard is neatly trimmed and covers over his jawline. A single small scar blemishes the skin of his face, running from below the left ear to the start of the cheek. He is lanky but well-built and sports a toned physique from years of hard work. The tip of his ring finger is missing on the left hand.

Domeric, when compared to many Umbers before him, was at one point a somewhat lively and joyous man, never without a tankard of ale in his grasp. After the death of his wife, he was never quite the same again yet still attempts to cling onto some of the remnants of his former self. A strategic mind, he is also a man well learned in the art of war and troop management, specifically managing supply lines and overseeing the construction of fortifications with a deft hand.

## History

Born during the 8th Moon of 70AC, Domeric is the firstborn son to Harkan Umber and so was brought up accordingly. Early days as a child were spent with either the maester or his father, learning to write and read as is expected of a highborn, and eventually learning about the history of the North and its holdings. Lessons about the management of a keep and its defences were emphasised at an older age in virtue of the ever-present chance of wildling invasion, due to how near the Wall is to their home, and it was found that Domeric was rather capable at overseeing the builders' fortifications of the Last Hearth. His younger brother, born in the 11th Moon of 73AC, was practically attached to him in the coming years, the pair always looking to make trouble with the maester. In his spare time, Domeric frequented the training yard under the watchful eye of the Master-at-Arms, who assured his father that his son too would grow to be a very talented warrior like every Umber before him.

In 75AC when the Winter of a Hundred Kings swept across the North and unleashed its wrath, Domeric and his family felt it the harshest. Being so far North only proved to make the harsh frost harsher, and in a particularly sharp and extended cold spell he was afflicted with frostbite which resulted in the loss of the tip of his ring finger. When the crops died, even the Umbers of Last Hearth would feel some of the desperation the commonfolk felt. Rationing wasn't enough to spare them from hunger and by the end of winter they were left with next to nothing. A year after the end of winter, some time in 79 AC, Domeric and his family went on a tour of the North, visiting most of the major keeps and meeting the other lords of the kingdom.

In 83 AC, Lord Harkan was killed by a sudden onset of fever, leaving Domeric to assume the lordship of the Last Hearth. His mother Lady Lyarra, unable to cope, would rarely be seen after his death and often heard wandering the halls of the Last Hearth late at night in a restless, almost delirious state. The year after, he was wed to Lady Donella Cerwyn who he had met and caught the eyes of many years prior during his family's tour of the North, who bore him a single son in 90AC. It was this marriage that brought joy back into Domeric's life after the passing of his father, though this was all instantly undone when she fell deathly ill due to complications in childbirth. He sat by her day and night doing what he could to soothe her until she finally passed. Domeric, as a result, secluded himself, sick with grief and refusing to eat for some time, from all but his son who he kept a very watchful eye on at all times. Only a select few beside his son - the maester and his younger brother Harlon - would see Domeric, to make sure the necessary duties were carried out to ensure the smooth running of Last Hearth. The maester was treated with much disdain when visiting, as he was the one Domeric blamed for his beloved wife's death because of his inability to treat the sickness that killed her. During this time, he started to deviate from his firm beliefs in the Old Gods, instead cursing them for their cruelty.

The coming years were kinder to Lord Domeric, and he slowly settled back into his role as ruler. When the biggest outbreak of Dragonblight began to spread across the North, he had the gates to the Last Hearth kept shut from all visitors. While there were no known cases of this deadly plague in the nearby areas, he couldn't risk his only son's life by allowing someone in that could potentially spread it. Many of his subjects called him paranoid for it, but there was not a single death from the illness on his lands.

When news of a group of fanatics acting in service of the Old Gods reached Domeric, he made the easy decision of sending his brother, in charge of a small handful of Umber men, to assist Edric Stark in his attempt to rout them and bring an end to their attacks. The rumours he'd heard of the atrocities they'd committed against the Winter's Shepherd disgusted him, and in his mind they were no better than the wildlings that his father fought against many years ago.

## Family

http://www.familyecho.com/?p=OT7BV&c=lf05hfjcyz&f=277161754557686156

## Household

* Maester Reynard
* Jon Umber, Castellan
* Harlon Umber, Master-at-Arms
* Brandon Snow, Captain of the Guard