#rfms.arc04

 hello  demons  !  per  the  poll  ,  we  will  be  moving  to  arc  4  on  july  5th  at  7pm  est  /  6pm  cst.  a  few  things  to  note  going  into  arc  4:

 all  threads  from  arc  3  will  need  to  be  dropped  by  this  time  /  date.  while  we  understand  activity  will  lapse  closer  to  the  date,  this  is  not  a  pass  to  completely  drop  threads  /  activity  across  the  board  over  the  next  two  weeks.  activity  checks  will  still  occur  until  closer  to  the  jump,  and  we  expect  full  activity  within  days  of  the  new  arc  beginning.  please  use  this  time  to  finish  threads  /  plots  /  communicate  with  your  plot  partners.

 our  characters  will  be  experiencing  a  6  month  time  skip,  putting  us  in  early  spring  in  highgarden  for  the  tournament  of  the  roses.  more  info  on  all  this  event  specifically  will  be  shared  closer  to  the  jump.  we  will  begin  immediately  in  the  event.

 please  send  all  significant  updates  to  the  main,  remember  certain  plots  are  first  come,  first  served.  be  sure  you  have  communicated  with  all  involved,  and  utilize  the  family  chats  when  comfortable  to  ensure  players  are  well  aware  of  what  is  happening  with  characters  they  share  houses  with.  if  we  notice  players  failing  to  update  all  involved  parties  there  will  be  admin  intervention.

 while  we  understand  not  everyone  is  the  strongest  at  plotting,  we’ve  noticed  several  instances  of  players  not  even  trying.  everyone  should  be  reacting  to  plot  with  new  players  /  characters,  and  everyone  should  be  monitoring  their  dms  and  not  continually  ignoring  /  dropping  them.  this  is  the  last  kind  warning  before  direct  dms  are  sent  to  players  we’ve  seen  this  repeat  behavior  in.  characters  have  been  lumped  together  3  times  now,  plots  should  not  be  limited  to  only  those  with  immediate  connections.  if  your  only  threads  are  with  the  members  your  character  shares  a  house  with  /  is  related  to  /  wcs  /  a  ship  /  the  same  characters  consistently,  there  is  a  problem.

as the joust concluded , so do the vibrant festivities welcoming all to highgarden. many areas are still open to visitors , but now is time for the real work to begin. lead by king aedar , talks of peace begin with each ruling royal and their chosen companions. over the next few weeks they shall begin to involve the ruling nobles of each region who will be responsible for communicating with their vassals as they see fit. only the fates know how this will go from here.

ALICENT ARRYN.        the lady alicent couldn't return to the eyrie fast enough, and once she was back within the familar, safe walls of her home, she didn't leave. raising her daughter was her main focus over the six months, rivaled only by her duty as ruling lady of the vale. while alicent didn't leave the eyrie save a few visits to her family at runestone, she did write to the vassals and invited some of her friends to the eyrie. her name day arrived in early autumn and a small celebration was held. she also wrote frequent letters to her good sister, sharra martell, and the lady serena karstark.

ARANYA BARATHEON.        aranya traveled straight to storm's end alongside her betrothed, rhaenys targaryen. the pair remained there for some time, anya showing the princess around her home and its lands, feelings growing stronger with each passing day, before embarking on further travels. there was no clear destination in mind; instead they traveled wherever they wished, oftentimes on the back of the dragon, meraxes. anya made sure to write frequently to her family and friends during the travels, particularly aravis baratheon and rowan hawthorne. she would've happily continued sharing her days with only her betrothed or returned to storm's end, but duty summoned her to highgarden.

DAERON.        homesick and tired of westeros, daeron boarded the first ship leaving dorne for braavos. he reunited with his mother there and ended up staying in the city for a while. he celebrated his name day while he was there. he also crossed paths with a group of islanders - qhorin drumm, melony drumm, and lukas harlaw. much to his surprise, daeron was pulled into their group and traveled with them around essos. eventually he parted ways with his new friends and returned across the narrow sea to summerhall where he remained until traveling to highgarden.

GUINEVERE LANNISTER.        she ended up traveling more in the six months than she ever had before in her life. first, gwen went to the arbor with lord mace redwyne, a long anticipated visit finally coming to fruition, and stayed there until it was time to travel to winterfell for the wedding of lyanna stark and sunwoo lannister ( though, due to greatly enjoying her stay at the arbor she was reluctant to leave ). after the wedding, she made a brief trip to karhold to visit with serena karstark for a few days before returning, at last, to casterly rock. returning to the rock marked the end of her travels. she spent the remaining time there stepping in and taking over certain duties from her older brother, who still hadn't gotten his act together. her disappointment only grew the longer she was home and by the time house lannister left for highgarden, gwen felt she was acting almost like a regent for her absentminded brother.

HARRION STARK.        after a long journey, harrion arrived at winterfell. his divorce to roslin blackwood was finalized within the first few days and the former queen returned with her family to raventree hall. the two had come to an agreement that time apart was necessary, and that given the state of the realm, traveling back and forth between winterfell and raventree hall would be unsafe for benjen stark. therefore, benjen was to remain in winterfell with his father. arrangements were gradually made for a separate wing in the castle to be made up for roslin to stay in when her visits would begin but none occurred during the following months. harrion dedicated himself primarily to the north in the following months. he first visited northern vassals with the help of his sisters. during these visits, harry spent many hours speaking with the nobles, offering his support and assistance on issues they were facing, and also stepping beyond the castle's walls and speaking with the common folk. the visits and the king's actions during and after them, for he remained in contact with his bannermen and followed up on initiatives they were working on, resulted in many positive and strengthened relationships between house stark and their vassals. harrion also focused on preparing for winter by leading hunts in the wolfswood and ensuring that the stores were full and plans made so the supplies could be delivered efficiently to the people. thirdly, he worked on strengthening winterfell and winter town. construction was done around the castle, strengthening walls and defenses, and making sure the town was prepared for the influx of residents in the winter. the guards' training was also increased. winters were never easy, but under harrion's guidance, it passed as smoothly as possible.

his work did keep him busy, but harrion also made certain to spend time with his family and raise his son. he attended the wedding of lyanna stark and sunwoo lannister, a joyous occasion in winterfell. shortly after the new year, a celebration and feast was held for benjen's first name day, and a few weeks later harrion and alexia stark had a joint celebration for their name days. he then traveled to seagard for cailin mallister's wedding. throughout the months, many wrote to winterfell with the intent of putting their daughter in contention for becoming the new queen. harry, despite growing more annoyed as time passed, politely replied ( also met a few ladies while visiting the vassals ) and played the role expected of him, but often cited that his heartbreak was still too strong for active courting - not that it dissuaded families from trying. the king genuinely appeared in good spirits, especially around his friends and family, but there was a new cold, guardedness to him. not to mention he appeared much more serious, as if he'd aged far more than a few months.

HELAENA FLORENT MALLISTER.        helaena returned to her new life at seagard. knowing that her wedding was fast approaching, she spent most of her time further proving herself a worthy regent of seagard, visiting the town and speaking with the people frequently and also inviting nearby riverland nobles for tea. in her spare time, she began drawing up plans for a garden at seagard with the help of the castle's maester. winter and wedding preparations put that on hold. helaena florent became helaena mallister in a small ceremony attended by house florent, house tully, and the northern council. during the wedding, she gifted her wife a silver compass that, when cailin was at winterfell, would point in seagard's direction. against her better judgement, helaena found herself very smitten with her new wife and viewed their time in highgarden as their honeymoon.

KATERINA BLACKTYDE.        briefly, katerina returned to the iron islands. she spent only a handful of days there, mostly repacking for her next journey, before traveling to winterfell with her cousin, maery greyjoy. once there, she spent most of her time getting to know her betrothed, hugo mormont, along with adjusting to life in the north. she found herself opening up more as time passed and enjoying her time at winterfell, especially when the first snows arrive. hugo and she made a trip to bear island to visit house mormont. during her time in the north, kat keeps in contact with her brother, timur blacktyde, via letters. she remained at winterfell until she left for highgarden with hugo, excited to finally see a place she'd always dreamed of visiting.

KIERAN BOLTON.        he dutifully followed his older sister back to the dreadfort and there he remained. wanting to prove himself to his family after his blunder in sunspear, kieran threw himself into helping with repairs around the fort and strengthening its defenses. he also focused on overseeing the guards' training. the only time he left home was for hunting trips in the nearby woods and a brief trip to goldgrass at the invitation of belthasar stout - though he didn't answer the invitation, merely showed up with no warning. to say he wasn't happy about traveling to highgarden would be an understatement but he wouldn't remain behind.

LUKAS HARLAW.        lukas was unsure what he was doing when he was preparing to leave sunspear, but when he heard that qhorin and melony drumm were heading to essos, he all but invited himself along. it turned out to be the perfect choice. after weeks trapped in a castle, having the freedom to go where and do he wanted was exactly what he needed to brighten his spirits. lukas certainly got into plenty of trouble, alone and with other members of the makeshift crew. on the way back to westeros he split up from the drumms and sailed to storm's end to see aravis baratheon. the pair then traveled to highgarden together.

NYMERIA MARTELL.        it took some time even after all the guests left for nymeria to feel safe again at sunspear. she kept close to her family and guards, after they were investigated, at first but with time she drifted back to her normal demeanor. desiring to become more involved in politics, she became her mother's cupbearer, allowing her to observe council meetings and other meetings. in the later months, she made visits to some of the dornish vassals. timur blacktyde returned and nym introduced him to her parents before the two embarked on a sailing trip. the fun trip turned dangerous when a shipwreck occurred. nymeria escaped with nothing more than a few cuts and bruises, but her parents and grandparents were extremely upset. their anger only fed into her fears that she'd soon be betrothed to a dornish noble in order to quell any lingering tension following the attacks. impulsively, nymeria and timur secretly eloped. so far they have not told anyone, nym unsure how to and hoping the right time will emerge soon.

SEBASTIAN MANDERLY.        ever the faithful sworn sword, sebastian spent the six months making certain that alexia stark was safe. wherever the princess went, the manderly wasn't far behind. most of his time was spent at winterfell but he did return to white harbor to visit his family for a little while.

a hush has fallen over highgarden as day one of the joust commences. eyes are glued to the jousters as they file into the arena, waiting in buzzing anticipation to see who will be asked for their favor ;  and who will be rejected for another.  

above the cut is the quick listing of who went against who, below the cut are details on favors + match insights if applicable. bolded names are the winners who advance to day two.

1. grand maester kaina upcliff vs. kai rogare

2. prince doran martell vs. lord corlys velaryon

3. lord andar royce vs. prince consort sunwoo stark

4. lord cemal tyrell vs. lord qhorin drumm

5. prince abraxas martell vs. lady betha tully

6. king harrion stark vs. prince jon stark

7. victario of lys vs. ser tharon redsmith

8. lord timur blacktyde vs. liege vika ryswell

9. daeron of braavos vs. lady aranya baratheon 

10. lady aaliyah mormont vs. lord vorian dayne

11. lord connin chyttering vs. lord osric arryn

12. lord darnell arryn vs. lady myriah yronwood

13. lord sebastian manderly vs. prince rhaegar targaryen

14. lord maron harlaw vs. prince ryon martell

15. lord rodrik arryn vs. lord brynden tully

16. prince cregan stark vs. lady lusia botley

six months is quite some time, our nobility and the like see many ups, many downs, and celebrate plenty in their durations home. but the darkness they've faced does not simply disappear due to a name day, and the call to highgarden comes eventually to all. in  a  grand  showing  king  aedar  targaryen  has  claimed  he  wishes  to  follow  in  the  path  of  his  ancestor,  writing  to  kingdoms  and  requesting  their  participation  in  making  all  of  westeros  safe  once  more.  and  what  better  way  to  discuss  peace  than  to  be  surrounded  by  the  beauty  of  the  reach  in  spring?  the  tyrells  have  graciously  agreed  to  host  this  peace  summit,  timed  perfectly  to  be  around  their  spring  tournament  of  the  roses  that  has  now  been  opened  to  anyone  who  wishes  to  participate. once  again  the  nobility  are  called,  but  the  hope  that  talks  of  peace  will  bring  them  all  back  to  what  they  once  knew  is  shared  amongst  many.  can  they  achieve  it  once  more ?

it’s  no  secret  that  tensions  have  risen  between  the  kingdoms  and  even  amongst  their  own  vassals.  mere  years  ago  westeros  knew  peace,  now  only  death  and  destruction.  in  a  grand  showing  king  aedar  targaryen  has  claimed  he  wishes  to  follow  in  the  path  of  his  ancestor,  writing  to  kingdoms  and  requesting  their  participation  in  making  all  of  westeros  safe  once  more.  and  what  better  way  to  discuss  peace  than  to  be  surrounded  by  the  beauty  of  the  reach  in  spring?  the  tyrells  have  graciously  agreed  to  host  this  peace  summit,  timed  perfectly  to  be  around  their  spring  tournament  of  the  roses  that  has  now  been  opened  to  anyone  who  wishes  to  participate.

once  again  the  nobility  are  called,  but  the  hope  that  talks  of  peace  will  bring  them  all  back  to  what  they  once  knew  is  shared  amongst  many.  can  they  achieve  it  once  more ?