Arys Connington is the Lord of Griffin's Roost and current head of House Connington. A knight of fame and a warrior by birth and training, he has spent many years strengthening his lands and his people, after the horrors of the Second Hammer Uprising left his family scarred.

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Appearance and Character

Due, perhaps, to his Baratheon blood, the second son of Rodrik Connington is a rather tall and impressive man. Strong of arm and light of foot, he's trained since youth to be a warrior -- first intending to be his elder brother's right hand, and then later his father's heir.

Arys is a man of faith, but not quite a man of the cloth -- he enjoys drinking and fighting alongside his men, and reveling in the luxuries his rank provides him. Though not a man of great administrative abilities he retains a deep-seated interest in his people and his lands, leaning upon those in his close-held confidence to aid him in matters of judgement and rule.

History

Early Life

The eldest of a pair of twins, Arys' early life was characterized by one thing; the presence of his brother and shadow, Jon, who men would call Scarlet. Where Jon was red-haired and lithe and lean, Arys was a much more robust child; and his hair was pale as wintry snows, prompting many to whisper of his parentage. These whispers died as the boy grew and his mane darkened, though some still joked of the White Griffin and the Red. As the two creatures on their sigils the pair of brothers seemed diametrically opposed -- even from their earliest days as boys.

Youth

Born a second son, like many others Arys did not expect to inherit his father's titles. Thus, he turned his attentions toward what interested him most; warcraft. Eager for tales of great heroes and warriors from the past, Arys poured himself into the life of sword and saddle. His brother, Jon, never one to be left behind, joined his brother in his martial pursuits -- and for the first time the boys found common ground.

Pleased with the interests of his youngest two sons, Rodrik sent for a warrior that could teach them. After months of searching, he uncovered a man famed across the Kingswood for his skill -- a knight named Reynard Herston.

Reynard began to teach the boys swordplay, and all the tenets of knighthood that one must know. With this, of course, came teachings of the Seven; a dangerous subject in a bastion of the Red God. Arys drank deeply of the tales of great knights who fought in the name of the Warrior, and soon came to hold the gods of his grandfathers in his heart. Jon, however, rebelled against such teachings, and in time told their father of the lessons.

The quarrel between Rodrik and Reynard was loud -- loud and heated, filling Griffin's Roost with the sound of their shouting. It ended only when Arys himself burst in, joining his mentor against his father and threatening to follow his brother Stannis to the Wall unless Rodrik allowed the man to stay. The Lord Connington angrily relented -- but it would prove the beginning of the distance and coldness that would shape the relationship between father and son from thence forth. A notable issue between the pair was the subject of House Penrose's offer of betrothal -- Arys was adamant that they accept, whilst Rodrik was much less willing. Quarreling between the two delayed any progress for months.

The Uprising

In 433, tensions in the Stormlands at large reached a new height. Open conflict took place all across the southern Stormlands, with religious zealots and the followers of the revived Warsmiths seeking out the followers of the foreign Red Faith. As their chief defender, many of the wronged fled to Rodrik Connington and his household, begging for a reprieve. With Storm's End unable or unwilling to act, Rodrik took matters into his own hands, and began to call his banners.

The fight between Arys and his father that night was greater even than the one betwen Rodrik and Reynard. They would have come to blows had Criston Connington not stepped in, holding the two men apart before things could escalate further. Rodrik departed his keep in a fury, his men at his side and third son Jon Connington, and Arys remained to brood in the castle; cursing his heathen kin.

The Elder Griffin

Rodrik set about arranging an armed and patrolled perimeter that he hoped would shield his lands from continued assault. With no true armies yet in the field in the latter days of 433AC, he focused his attention on rooting out traitors and criminals who had harmed their neighbours, as well as any professing allegiance to the Warsmiths. This only seemed to galvanize much of the population against the once-Master of Laws; many of the commonfolk seeing only a Red God follower using his soldiers to oppress the masses. Warsmith support grew, and as Swann soldiers began to make further incursions Arys could only look to the castle's defenses.

By the end of 433AC, dread word came from the field. The countryside was rife with a conflicting series of stories, but one aspect of them remained true -- Lord Rodrik Connington was dead.

Disbelief and horror filled every heart of the keep as rumours continued to pour in. Some said not only Rodrik had died, but Jon as well -- others said that Rodrik had been butchered by septas and Jon lit the septry afire around them. Yet others claimed both men died fighting valiantly against Warsmiths -- but there was no confirmation, and no bodies, that could be found. Arys sent what men they had into the field to search for answers, but the Connington forces were already spread thin with Rodrik's order to police their lands. Key figures of the administration -- converts to the Red God under Rodrik's command -- refused to acknowledge his young heir without sufficient evidence of his lord father's death. Thus House Connington halted in its tracks, and Griffin's Roost grew more barren by the day.

The Siege

In 434AC, emboldened by their recent successes and the chaos that gripped Connington lands, the Swann forces pressed in force toward the keep. They broke through the too-thin border guard, their vast army supported by factions of the countryside. Griffin's Keep had not the supplies or defenders for an extended siege -- and the Swanns knew well the internal weakness of its court, hoping to use such information to make the fighting swift. They stormed the took the lower gatehouse and then stormed the griffin's throat, charging up the narrow ridge into the teeth of the Roost's reduced defenders. They poured arrows and oil and fire into the ranks of the invaders, but it was not enough; and all within knew what would come next.

Reynard Herston gathered what soldiers remained; greybeards, levies, and soft knights that had not been in Rodrik's favour, bringing them together at the main gate of the Roost. Arys, his uncles Criston and Hugh, and his cousin Gerald - the last of the Conningtons - gathered there with them, ready to defend their keep to the last. As the gates shuddered and broke, and the foe poured through the breach, Arys raised his silver sword to the sky. As one came the cry - a griffin! A griffin! - and there was the last battle joined.

The defenders fought bravely, and nobly, and with all zeal and valour -- but they numbered too few against their foes. Criston Connington was struck down by a Swann soldier's halberd, the last words on his lips a feeble "Arianne", the name of his daughter in the distant Reach. Hugh took an arrow through the thick of his thigh, slaying three more men before collapsing on the field. Gerald kept to his cousin, shielding his back and protecting his flank -- as Arys Connington cut a scarlet path towards the man who had orchestrated the assault.

Meryn Swann was an easy enough target to find - he stood tall on his warhorse, laying into the crowd on either side with his weapon already scarlet with gore. Try as he might, Arys could not pierce the embattled throng of fighters; but Reynard Herston, sword in hand, found his way through.

The fight between Reynard and Meryn was swift as an arrow, and deadlier still -- the older Herston was slower, and already weary, but he knew his work. Soon enough he had the Swann heir off his horse and upon the ground; but before the final blow could come, Meryn rallied, and came forth once again. The Connington forces around them began to retreat, or merely throw down their arms in surrender; too many were dead, and the invaders continued to come, pouring through the breach like water through a sundered dam. Arys could not pull his eyes from his mentor as Herston and Swann fought -- but as Gerald took his arm and tried to pull him away, Meryn's blow finally struck true. Down through the gap of at the throat of his armour came the strike, sending Reynard to his knees. One last rise and fall was all it took. The Herston fell. The Swann was victorious. And Griffin's Keep was lost.

Arys beat a hasty retreat, but there was little else to be done. As the victorious Swann forces swept over the castle, the young Connington surrendered his sword for the sake of his men.

What followed were days of imprisonment in the dark of Griffin's Keep. Meryn Swann did not waste much time; though Arys and his kin were too valuable to slaughter, much of Rodrik's previous administration did not find themselves so dear. Over thirty knights and minor lords were hung at the Swann's command, each for the crimes of treason, murder, and heresy, for following the foreign Red God.

The Liberation

It would be weeks before word came at last that the Baratheons had arrived at the keep. Though imprisoned in his own keep, Arys was not without recourse - many of the servants brought him news and tidings. The Swanns, it seemed, had expected relief that did not come; and now with the Baratheons at the gate, it did not seem luck was in their favour. Worried about the actions desperate men might seek to take, Arys arranged to escape; and as the Baratheon forces stormed the keep, he led his own rebellion from within.

Ultimately it was the soldiers of Lord Gwayne that retook Griffin's Keep, breaking the hold of House Swann and capturing Meryn just as Arys and his fellow captives emerged from below. Wasting little time, Arys bent the knee before his liege; rising thereafter as the Lord of Griffin's Roost -- and as a newly minted knight, with a heart full of naught but loyalty to House Baratheon.

Surprisingly enough, Arys found his brother Jon amongst Gwayne's ranks; the Connington boy having aided the Lord Baratheon in the assault. Jon seemed similarly surprised to see his brother - but the realities of war put any further discussion of the matter in the back of their minds.

The Young Griffin

Leaving the keep and its people under the command of Hugh Connington, who had survived the fighting with little more than a badly wounded leg and a bad limp, Arys at once set out to aid the Baratheons in scouring the lands clean. He fought in several engagements, most notably at the Siege of Weeping Town where he was the first through the town's sundered gate. With the settlement once more in Baratheon's hands, the Second Uprising was all but over.

Afterwards

In the aftermath of the Uprising, Arys fufilled his oath and wed the Lady Ceryse Penrose, taking her as his wife. With her wisdom at his left hand and his uncle's experience at his right, the young Lord of Griffin's Roost set out to right the wrongs of the past five years.

Rebuilding is always the more difficult task - but in time and with great effort it was done. The years saw Arys at the head of a renewed house, and father to two children whom he doted on without shame. Twins, just as he and his brother were. Though not, he hoped, destined to be as he and his brother were.

Recent Events

A staunch loyalist of Storm's End, Arys Connington answered his liege lord's call and raised his banners to prepare the Stormlands for coming conflict. As the Great Council approaches, he sees familiar signs -- the hints and whispers that proceeded the Uprising now magnified ten fold.

Family and Household