House Bracken
Oh! Bracken! Bracken! Thoroughbred’s True! Dyeing the Rivers a Crimson Red Hue! Riding, Striding, to conquer and claim! We Ride like a Storm with Hearts Never Tame! Racing and Pounding, our Steeds do not Tire, The Riders of Bracken are Born to Inspire!
House Bracken is one of the oldest families of the Riverlands. They rule from Stone Hedge and remain bitter rivals of House Blackwood. [1] They are also known as the "New Brackens" or "Bastard Brackens".
History edit
According to Bracken tradition, their forebears held great expanses of the Trident long before the Blackwoods arrived from the North.[2] The Brackens insist they gifted Blackwood Vale to the newcomers, only to be betrayed. House Blackwood, however, claims the opposite—that the Brackens usurped rightful Blackwood lands.
Though both houses once bent the knee to the Mudds during the so-called “Millennium of Mudd,” they have regained independence after the weakening of Mudd power. Their ancient rivalry continues unabated in the face of the Andal invasion in the Riverlands.
The Brackens established themselves as a new power in the Riverlands after forming an alliance with Armistead Vance. Vance had married the eldest daughter of King Brogg Bracken, thus forging the first alliance between the new Andal host and himself. Through this, King Brogg was able to greatly expand the Bracken lands, seizing territory from the Smallwoods as well as from other minor independent kings in the southern Riverlands.
Later, Armistead Vance and Brogg Bracken conspired to strike against King Arik Blackwood and King Tristifer IV Mudd. However, the two had already formed the alliance of the Four Kings—Blackwood, Mudd, Darklyn, and Mooton—and the ensuing war became known as the the Clash of Six Kings. During the conflict, Brogg Bracken was captured and ultimately sacrificed by Kings Tristifer and King Arik beneath the weirwood at Raventree Hall.
In the aftermath, Armistead Vance capitalized on the situation. While Tristifer took Brogg's heir, Edgar Bracken, as a hostage, Vance appointed Yorick Rivers—a own bastard son by Brella Bracken—as the new lord of Southstone, claiming several of the lands previously won by Brogg. As a result, three competing claimants emerged for Southstone: Edgar Bracken, considered Brogg’s preferred heir but held hostage by Tristifer; Yorick Rivers, the installed lord supported by Armistead Vance and the Andals; and the trueborn eldest son, Willis Bracken, who had been declared mad and deemed unfit to rule.
House Bracken of Stone Hedge, aptly named the "New Brackens" or "Bastard Brackens" is an offshoot branch of the original True Bracken family coming from humble, yet opportunistic beginnings. The founder of the house can either be considered Yorick Rivers who was the first new lord of Stone Hedge, or his mother Brella Bracken, daughter of King Brogg Bracken.
During the war of the six kings, with Edgar Bracken, the considered rightful heir of King Brogg, taken as hostage, and his brothers Willis and Dommen deemed missing, an opportunity opened within the Vance warlord's host. Princess Brella Bracken, the wife of the warlord Ser Vorian Vypren, had twin bastard children from an unknown traveler brought up with Andal customs, religion and favoritism. The son, Yorick Rivers, now a squire and ward of Armistead Vance after Vorian Vypren's untimely passing, was declared the rightful lord of the Stone Hedge. This claim was desperately contested by Edgar Bracken, now a subject and son in law of the Mudd King, and twice the lordship was attempted to be retaken, but with both attempts ending in failure.
Yorick Rivers, now the head of a powerful family, created a new banner to reflect his Andal influence not only from his upbringing, but from his wife, the princess Amyria Vance. Gold for the piercing eyes of the hungry Vance adventurers, and a black and grey lozenge for the humblest of colors, always eager to support the bright and powerful. Yorick Rivers owed his life, his generous sized lordship, his legitimacy, and his many, many descendants to come to both treachery and loyalty, ambition and convenience. Despite not the most noble of beginnings, the New Brackens of Stone Hedge have shown fierce loyalty to their Vance Kings, never once attempting to separate from the realm, and embracing the gods of the seven and a more hybrid andal-firstman way of life.
Their zealous efforts sparked several rebellions among the First Men still loyal to the old ways. Most notably, Lord Walder "the Heartbreaker" Bracken distinguished himself during this period. He ordered the burning of High Heart for a second time and commissioned the construction of a sept on the site, crowned with a statue of himself.
Walder Bracken made his house notorious as a family through his ten sons by different women, all of whom he had legitimised with the help of King Armistead “the Fool” Vance. He saw no distinction between a bastard and a trueborn son and marked the occasion with a grand tourney, for which his vassals were required to pay higher taxes, an act that stirred further unrest, adding to the troubles that had plagued his entire rule.
Aside from this, he also lent his support to King Armistead “the Fool” Vance in the retaking of Seagard and had later on take down even more rebellions after a tax tour. The succession of Lord Walder was settled in an unusual way, through a gtorunament. To Walder’s mind, all of his sons were equal, and so he left the choice to trial by contest. In the end, Hosteen prevailed, remembered above all for his peaceful nature.
House Bracken soon entered a time of crisis. In the summer, a dreadful sickness broke out near Lavehaven, while at the same time the First Men rose in rebellion and the dead marched from the River and the Hills. Amidst this turmoil, Lord Hosteen died, leaving only daughters. His eldest, Willow, inherited Stonehedge but survived her father only briefly. The lordship then passed to her much younger sister Lilac.
Seat and Region edit
House Bracken rules from Stone Hedge, a fortified seat near the Red Fork of the Trident. Their territory includes nearby forests and hills, notably the area around High Heart. The Brackens maintain a cordial relationship with the Children of the Forest, who occupy their lands and mainly reside within the forests of High Heart, where a grove of weirwoods exists.
Notable Members edit
- King Brogg Bracken – Known for his exceptional strength, skilled horsemanship, and deep-seated hatred of House Blackwood. He had formed a alliance with Armistead Vance.
- Lord Yorck 'the Heathen' Bracken - Lord of Southstone during the reign of King Armistead Vance. A bastard of Brella Bracken who was appointed by King Armistead Vance as the new lord of Southstone. He embraced the Andal way, adopted their religion, and began enforcing it upon his people.
- Lord Walder 'the Heartbreaker' Bracken - Lord of Southstone during the reign of King Armistead 'the Fool' Vance. Has sired so many children and bastards, that some thought that he needed to build additional rooms for Stone Hedge.
- Lord Hosteen Bracken - Lord of Southstone during the reign of King Armistead III Vance. Died due to Bloody Flux.
- Lady Willow Bracken - Lady of Southstone during the reign of King Armistead III Vance. Killed herself due to flagellation.
- Lilac Bracken - Lady of Southstone during the reign of King Marq Vance.