Samantha Willum

The Black Rose

Artys Upcliff

Samantha Willum is the daughter of Ser Wyman Willum and Lady Ceryse Redwyne, and the heiress to Swordcross.

## Appearance and Character

Samantha is a petite person, short in stature and small in frame. She has straight darker brown hair that falls down to her shoulders. She is fairly tan from her frequent hawking trips and her general love of being out in the sun. Samantha is somewhat immature and is a gossip at heart. She has a love of learning secrets and spreading them, not out of ambition but for fun. She tries to be everyone's friend while talking behind everyone's back, and to do this she tries to be as friendly and supportive as possible. She is quick to anger, but also quick to forgive, though her brand of anger is far more passive-aggressive than aggressive.

## History

### Early Life

She was born in a quiet year in a quiet place. Her parents, Wyman and Ceryse, had married in the year 75 AC in a somewhat small ceremony. When she was three her uncle Lyonel, heir to Swordcross, was killed by Ser Anders Dayne in the Fourth Dornish War at the Battle of Skyreach. This left her cousin Addam as heir, but only for a short amount of time as Addam died to an illness not two years later, which left her father Wyman as heir to Swordcross. Up until then, she had been raised alongside Lyonel's bastard son, Leo Flowers, but after the death of Addam it was decided by Lord Emerick that the bastard was too great of a risk to leave in Swordcross, and the boy was sent to ward at Starpike. After a very difficult pregnancy in 86 AC, it was determined that it would be too great a risk for her mother to have another child, and Wyman was forced to accept that his heir would be his eldest daughter, Samantha. From then on, he begrudgingly had her educated in the necessities of governance, though the minutia of statecraft never much interested her in the slightest. What interested her was the discovery that the little boy that she would play with who disappeared was the bastard son of her uncle. It was by no means a secret in Swordcross, Leo was an acknowledged bastard, but to her, the revelation was mind-blowing and gave her the first taste of what she would come to love, the accumulation of secrets. She loved hearing secrets, and she loved telling them, and she loved watching as the secrets became public.

### Heiress

As she got older, her mother and her began going on trips to the various keeps of the Reach. She visited her mothers home of the Arbor, she visited Oldtown and Battle Isle, she visited Highgarden and Starpike, and Old Oak and Goldengrove and Cider Hall. The two traveled and dined and Samantha learned the rules of courtesy and etiquette that were, and she learned how to get people to talk to her. She would sit and talk with the local serving girls and younger kids who didn't know any better, and she learned the dirty little secrets of the locals. This pattern continued for a few years as her skills and connections with the loose-tongued children and those just entering the world of adulthood. But eventually, in 93 AC, King Viserys said his insults and the Rosegold Rebellion began. Her father and her uncle marched off to war. They didn't make it very far from home though, both of them ended up at the Slaughter of Bitterbridge, and both of them ended up being killed in the fight. Wyman by Lord Edric Connington, and Robyn by Lord Daemon Brune. This left Samantha as the direct heir of her grandfather, Lord Emerick, and with a large amount of responsibility suddenly thrust on to her, as her father was soon to reach his ninetieth year, and she knew she would soon find herself as the Lady of Swordcross. Knowing she would never become an expert on the particularities and details of governance, her mother sent her to court, hoping that her penchant for the courtly ways would help her establish strong ties and friendships in the kingdom of the Reach.

## Meta

Skills: Entertainment(CHA) Networking(CHA) Espionage(INT) Infiltration(INT) Clandestinity(STE) Concealment(STE)

Aptitude: Cloak and Dagger(INT)