Arianne Costayne is the Lady of Three Towers and the High Steward of Oldtown. An only child for much of her early years, Arianne was the expected heir before a newborn brother usurped her place in the line of succession. Relegated to an unremarkable future as a nobleman’s wife, she married Ser Emmon Greyjoy at the end of 418 AC and resided with him at Pyke for most of the next two decades.

Naturally introverted and studious, Arianne Greyjoy struggled to acclimate to life on the Iron Islands. Her talents, however, did not go unnoticed; at the recommendation of Alannys Harlaw, Lord Dagon asked her to assist his ailing steward. She excelled in this position, supervising numerous construction projects throughout the islands of Harlaw and Pyke.

The events of the Bleeding upended the course of Arianne’s life. While she endured the turmoil of the Black Prophet’s Rebellion within the walls of Pyke, her family in the Reach enthusiastically supported the Warsmiths during the Second Hammer Uprising. By the war’s conclusion, her brother had perished in battle and her father had been exiled to the Wall, leaving Three Towers without a male heir. Arianne was installed in his place at the end of 435 AC, reverting to her maiden name.

Since her return to the Reach, Lady Costayne has sought to improve the standing of a house with a long history of supporting failed rebellions - and to pull it out of the administrative ruin left by her short-sighted predecessor.

After his wedding to Naerys Targaryen, Lord Arthur Hightower appointed Arianne his steward at the request of his newlywed wife.

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Appearance and Character

Small and thin, the Lady of Three Towers might easily escape attention if not for her vibrant red hair. She unmistakably takes after her Florent mother, and at the age of forty, her inherited beauty has yet to fade away. Round green eyes and wide, full lips stand out among her rather angular features, and her infrequent smiles are well regarded for their charm. Arianne’s delicate figure is usually clothed conservatively; she tends toward simple patterns of fabric and relatively unrestrictive silhouettes.

Her natural beauty, however, is often muted by an awkward presence. She is disinterested in small talk and simple pleasantries, and incapable of concealing her insincerity when the occasion calls for trivial conversation. Arianne is slow to form meaningful personal connections - but when common interests are found, she can become surprisingly talkative. She is frustrated by the tedium of social conventions, and especially resentful of those that limit a woman’s agency - but in her capacity as the lady of her house, Arianne nevertheless tries to comply with expectations.

Lady Costayne can often project an image of aloofness, and struggles to relate to another’s feelings should she fail to share in their values and experiences. She is not without compassion, but she is ill-equipped to provide emotional support. Though her analytical mind lends itself toward self-reflection, Arianne excuses her own irrational impulses while quietly pitying the sensitivity she perceives in others. Decidedly left-brained, she cannot help but interpret the world around her in binary terms and through a mathematical mode of reasoning.

Cynical prejudices and high ideals are in constant competition within her mind; Arianne is inclined to doubt intentions but hesitant to defy higher authorities. Her compliance, however, should not be mistaken for contentedness: Lady Costayne’s restless work ethic make her loathe to wait for permission. Nothing gives her nearly as much pride as her inventive stewardship, and she cannot help but intimately involve herself in the most minute aspects of her grandest endeavors. In her greatest talents, she borders on overconfidence - but her recognition of her own shortcomings can pull her into fits of debilitating anxiety. Ambitious as she may be, Arianne’s hesitance to assert herself may compel her to begrudgingly submit to arbitrary limitations.

History

Early Life

The firstborn of Lord Kevan Costayne, Arianne was for long an only child. Complications from that birth - followed by a few miscarriages - kept Joanna Florent from producing more children for over a decade, leaving Arianne as the heir to Three Towers for most of her youth. The conservative Lord Costayne was always reluctant to accept this circumstance, but faced with the looming prospect of a female successor, he provided his firstborn with a thorough education. His traditionalism was counterbalanced by his more cosmopolitan wife, who frequently brought Arianne to Oldtown to visit her Florent kin. Despite her introversion, the young heiress preferred the bustling city to her provincial home; there she was exposed to academic knowledge, courtly customs and the outside world all at once.

Except for the friends she made among the Florent household, Arianne was a decidedly solitary child. She tended to pass the time with books, and a sense of entitlement brought on by her expected inheritance gave her little incentive to hone her conversational abilities. Moreover, she was often intimidated by the gregarious adults at her father's court, who seldom showed genuine appreciation for her scholarly pursuits. The young Arianne was content yet bored with her life at Three Towers; she found the most solace in her fantasies of her own future as the lady of her house.

Convinced that his heir needed to broaden her horizons, Lord Kevan warded Arianne to House Tarly for two years, beginning in 409 AC. The plan backfired; she felt even more out of place among a marcher house, and only turned further inward. However, the castle of Horn Hill - larger and more impressive than her decrepit home - incited a lifelong interest in practical architecture.

The Usurper

Arianne's security in her inheritance was put into doubt in 410 AC, when Lady Joanna at last produced a second child. Though another girl did not threaten to surpass the firstborn in the line of succession, her birth proved Joanna's potential to give her husband a son. Indeed, Lord Costayne's enthusiasm for the prospect was immediately palpable as he became more concerned with the health of his wife than the rearing of his heir apparent. Three years later, he at last received his wish with the birth of Jory Costayne.

The old heir was subsequently sidelined, relegated to a future more typical of a noble daughter. No longer needing a consort, Lord Kevan dispensed with every prior option for a betrothal, intent on finding a match to benefit his new heir's political standing. Arianne's already lukewarm feelings toward her parents soured even further; she began to perceive slights in word and actions that had previously left her unphased.

The Departure

In the year 418 AC, a regional tournament was held at the Arbor, with all of the lords of the Reach invited. With his daughter a few moons shy of twenty and still unwed, Lord Costayne saw the occasion as an opportunity to find a valuable match. Arianne's natural beauty was enough to capture the attention of numerous lordlings, but even those of the most respectable lineages failed to entice her. She lent no effort to winning their favor, as her sights were immediately set on the most unlikely suitor.

Ser Emmon Greyjoy proved a most unusual guest at the tourney; the brother of the Lord Reaper was a convert to the Faith, yet unmarried at twenty-nine, and only present for a diplomatic mission. The attraction, however, was immediate. He seemed to show more interest and respect in Arianne's thoughts than any prior suitor, and his humor and energy brought the Costayne girl out of her shell. At the Arbor, Lord Kevan was quick to reject Emmon's offer, believing that no ironborn - not even one of the Faith - would be an acceptable match for a house that had so often experienced the wrath of reavers throughout history.

But Emmon was persistent, and instead of sailing home at the tourney's close, he took a detour for Three Towers. Lord Costayne was cordial enough to allow him a week's stay, and in that time he exhibited a surprising knowledge of Andal customs and doctrines of faith. Convinced that it would be valuable to form ties with the Lord of the Iron Islands, Lord Costayne relented. Two moons later, the Costayne household sailed to Pyke for the wedding, and Arianne parted ways with her family and home.

The Steward

Arianne struggled to acclimate to the foreign customs of the Greyjoy court, and was relieved by Lord Dagon's decision to assign Emmon to a diplomatic role. For her first few years as Arianne Greyjoy, she regularly accompanied her husband on his visits to numerous holdfasts along the western coast, where she took solace in the familiarity of Andals while he worked to improve the mainland's relations with Pyke.

While pregnant with her second child - who, at her insistence, would be her last - Arianne became better acquainted with Lord Greyjoy's trusted yet aging steward, Sigorn Weaver. Sympathetic to his decaying vision, Arianne began assisting him with his clerical work. At first only writing and reading on behalf, she soon proved competent enough to perform Sigorn's work on her own. Though he could not give an Andal woman a title in his court, Lord Dagon heeded the advice of his wife, Alannys Harlaw, and appointed Arianne as his steward in all but name.

Another talent was tapped during a subsequent visit to the island of Harlaw, where Lady Alannys discovered Arianne's natural aptitude for architectural pursuits. She helped to supervise a number of construction projects, quickly gaining a grasp on the logistics of such endeavors. Though Arianne still remained an outsider on the Iron Islands, her work gave her pride and purpose, and she became content with her life at Pyke.

The War

Like every other noble of the western coast, Arianne had been raised on folk tales depicting the ironborn as merciless, chaotic brutes. To her relief, the Iron Islands seemed peaceful, orderly and stable under the direction of Dagon Greyjoy and Alannys Harlaw. Lord Greyjoy's death, however, exposed the underlying tensions that his rule failed to completely eradicate.

In 432 AC, Loren Greyjoy declared his claim to the Seastone Chair, rallying the most reactionary elements of the Iron Islands against his brother's rightful heir, Aeron Greyjoy. The subsequent Black Prophet's Rebellion threatened to unravel the progress achieved by the late Dagon, compelling her husband to take up arms on the side of their nephew. Arianne awaited helplessly within the walls of Pyke as the war raged outside.

The Rebellion was decisively quelled two years later, but the concurrent Second Hammer Uprising continued on the mainland - keeping Arianne apart from her daughter, who was visiting Three Towers when the war began. The next year, Arianne Greyjoy received news of her house's part in the war: her father had given his full support to the Warsmiths, and her brother Jory had died in battle for that same cause. At the Highgarden Tribunal, Lord Costayne was stripped of his titles and sentenced to spend the rest of his life on the Wall. With his only surviving son deceased, his eldest daughter was recalled to Three Towers.

The Return

Arianne was installed as the Lady of Three Towers, reverting to her maiden name and likewise changing the names of her children from Greyjoy to Costayne. After nearly two decades of residence on Pyke, Arianne returned as a stranger to her own kin; neither of her sisters had ever had the opportunity to become acquainted with her. Still mourning the loss of Ser Jory and angered by the exile of Lord Kevan, the remaining Costaynes were reluctant to accept the authority of a dispassionate outsider. Per the terms of House Costayne's punishment, Arianne's daughter, Alannys, was sent live as a lady-in-waiting at the court in King's Landing, and her widowed sister Olenna was taken to Oldtown, where she was remarried to Osmund Mullendore.

A cold reception, however, did not discourage Arianne. She immediately set out to correct the misrule of her father, who had neglected his lands even before the war. Within a year, the financial state of the Costaynes' holdings was dramatically improved, and the castle itself received dramatic renovations. In the meantime, her ironborn husband was appointed castellan and charged with the restoration of the Costayne fleet. By the third year of her rule, Arianne had distinguished herself as a remarkably effective administrator; her work had not gone unnoticed by the other lords of the southern Reach.

Recent Events

Arianne attended the wedding of Arthur Hightower and Naerys Targaryen, and while she was in Oldtown she became reacquainted with her daughter, Alannys, now a close companion of the princess. After the close of the wedding celebrations, Lord Hightower appointed Arianne the High Steward of the Hightower and Oldtown, at the request of his newlywed wife.

Family