-=A Prologue to the First Lord=-
-{Part 2 of 2}-
By Archmaester Deacon
Ser Edwyn 'Rivers' Darkfish {282 A.C ~ 291 A.C}
Having taken leave of our first segment that dealt with the early years of Edwyn's youth, we now progress into the record of Edwyn's entrance into manhood and the unfolding events that led to the formation of House Darkfish. With due time taken to ingest previously scribed word, we shall sally forth to a period of time set some years after King Robert Baratheon seized the Iron Throne, to be exact we shall pick up the tale of Edwyn Rivers at the coastal keep of Seagard where after traversing the realm at Lord Jason Mallister's side during 'Robert's Rebellion', the young lad Edwyn and his guardian inevitably returned to the said Lord's demesne.
While time was taken to readjust back into less hectic routine than that of being on a war campaign, Edwyn was quick to get back into the duties that were expected of him as the sole ward and squire to his immediate liege. Edwyn's life at Seagard saw him resume daily training of his martial skill, this regimen of course composed of practice duels and exercises to increase strength, two skills acknowledged by many to have greatly served Edwyn and his ambitions throughout his later life. In addition to practical training, it is by records penned by the Maester at Seagard that Edwyn was also known to be subjected to lengthy, in-depth lectures articulating the various strategies of war. Whilst one would not believe Edwyn would be in need of such formal training for some years, the lad had already bore witness to one major conflict and history would prove this training invaluable when in 289 A.C after peace and relative calm had finally seemed to have settled throughout the realm of the Seven Kingdoms, tragedy, at long last, occurred when the Iron Islands rose in revolt against King Robert's rule. With it's liege Lord, the then serving Lord Paramount, Balon of the House Greyjoy having grown disillusioned with the Iron Thrones ability to hold influential sway over himself and the Iron Isles, the Lord of Pyke saw a feasible path to independence and the return of the Ironborn to a way of life commonly known as the 'Old Way'.
A portrait of Iron King Balon IX Greyjoy in 289 A.C
Declaring himself King of the Iron Isles in doubt of King Robert's ability to stop the Iron Isles secession, the Ironborn struck hard and fast, they first set the port city of Lannisport of the Westerlands aflame, secondly Balon's eldest son, the Crown Prince of the Iron Isles, Rodrik Greyjoy launched a surprise attack on the greenlands, their target. Seagard. While I could skim over such conflict, Rodrik Greyjoy's assault remains a pivotal point in the history of House Darkfish, as such I shall refer to writings of Seagard's Maester at the time who recorded the battle as it happened.
Said to have begun in the waking hours of the day as low hanging fog still nestled above the waters of Ironman's Bay, half a hundred or so longships bearing black sails adorning the golden Kraken of House Greyjoy appeared from the fog, their hulls drifting to sudden, skidded stops along the shallow waters of Seagard's coastline. As the reavers of the Iron Isles disembarked their vessels led by Rodrik Greyjoy, the Booming Tower of Seagard rang its bronze bell, the first time the bell was said to have rung in over three-hundred years.
A portrait of Rodrik Greyjoy in 289 A.C
Mustering his men to arms as the alarm of the bronze bell sounded, Lord Jason Mallister rushed forward from his keep with Edwyn at his side and a host of men trailing in his wake. Meeting them on the surrounding fields below Seagard's high walls, the forces met. Steel clashing like a symphony of death, blood ran thick as though it flowed from the Trident itself, amidst the carnage and onslaught Edwyn Rivers was said to have slain his first man as Lord Jason engaged Rodrik, an engagement that saw the Lord of Seagard's blade plunged deep into Rodrik's gut before the battles end. With their leader killed, the Ironborn are said to have lost the courage to continue on and turned to flee, those who were not captured ran like beaten dogs with tucked tails to their longships. Hailed as heroes by King Robert and sympathetic Lords across the Seven Kingdoms, this battle is considered by many a Maester to have served as the turning point in the Greyjoy Rebellion, within a year the Ironborn would be defeated and Balon Greyjoy made to bend the knee once more in fealty to the Iron Throne.
In recognition of his actions at the Battle of Seagard, at the age of seven-and-ten, as bid by his liege, Lord Jason Mallister knighted Edwyn in the Sept at Seagard where the young Edwyn Rivers, in turn, took up the sigil of a black trout leaping over a seven-pointed star as his personal banner. Though this act was perceived by many to have been done by Edwyn in humble homage to his father, Brynden who had earned the moniker 'Blackfish' by this point in time, it was also widely believed by many that Edwyn was to have taken the sigil as a slight to his father so the man who had long ignored his existence would have no other option but be made to look upon a closely held symbol of his own carried by his bastard.
A portrait of Lord Paramount Hoster Tully in 290 A.C
At the age of eight-and-ten, Edwyn left Seagard a man grown. The lad often described as having taken to dressing in sable garbs and black painted chainmail, an attire quite similar to that of his father, as it were, it wasn't long till Edwyn ascertained the moniker 'Darkfish', his ensuing reputation preceding him just as much as who his father was until his bastard name could no longer be separated from House Tully in recognized identity. Believed to have been viewed as a prominent sore on the honor of House Tully by his Uncle, Lord Paramount Hoster, the patriarch of House Tully seemingly grew tired of having to bear the stain of his brother and began petitioning his Goodson, Lord Paramount Jon Arryn of the Vale who had long served as Hand to King Robert to address the possibility of having Edwyn legitimized.
A portrait of Lord Paramount Jon Arryn in 290 A.C
As one would expect given Lord Hoster's backing of the King over the years, his request was granted in haste as he soon received the King's signature upon royal decree declaring Edwyn to be a legitimate bastard of the House Tully in the year 291 A.C. Rising from a place of low status, Edwyn was permitted by Lord Hoster to then form a cadet branch, with the opportunity open for the taking, Edwyn was quick to take ownership of his moniker and personal banner, the two identifiers he had come to be associated with now becoming the name and sigil of his House. So came to be the House Darkfish into the world.
Although records suggest Edwyn was gracious of his Uncle, the young knight was said to have proclaimed himself in great debt to Lord Hoster after the man entrusted Edwyn with a small plot of land in the northwest of the Riverlands that sat along the coast of Ironmans Bay, and stradled the border of the Westerlands.
An artist's rendering of the Lordship of Sea Breach in 291 A.C
Dubbed the Lordship of Sea Breach for its encompassing keep in which its name was derived from, the old keep, it walls caked in old moss and dew is believed to have been first constructed as a fortification by the Andals from which to launch their invasion on western Westeros, however, over the years since, petty River Lords who had assumed the Lordship built additions and expanded its holdings, yet no line lasted long enough for it to not fall back into the hands of the Tully's of Riverrun who long held it as a bastion of defence against Ironborn aggression, much like the Northerners who held Moat Cailin against Southron attacks. Now, after years of sitting an empty abode, Edwyn Darkfish was its appointed Lord, a seat he would hold for some time.
A portrait of Lord Edwyn Darkfish in 291 A.C
With the formation of his House and having attained the Lordship of Sea Breach, I shall conclude our second instalment of Edwyn Darkfish's history. From here we enter an intermittent period of peace and prosperity for the Seven Kingdoms, though as history has proven countless times before, peace is but a fleeting moment simmering just above a boiling pot of plots and schemes of men and women hoping to seize greater power and wealth for themselves.
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