Anais Terrick

Background

Anais was born the fifth child and third daughter of Lord Erik and Lady Edith Banefort, a Westerlands lordship situated on a peninsula perilously close to Pyke and the Iron Isles. There would be two sons and a daughter after her, leaving her toward the end of the middle of the healthy brood. With the threat of reavers ever hanging over their heads, Lord and Lady Banefort made certain to secure the succession of their lands.

Anais had all of the usual tutors and minders as a child, though the sheer abundance of offspring often gave her the chance to escape the strictures of lessons. When she could, Anais often enjoyed tagging along with one of her older brothers to the docks and the ships there. The stories of distant lands and glory won against vicious Ironborn held her attention like little else.

Anais cherished her time at the docks, but particularly the few times her entire family would take ship for a day-long sail along the coast. It wasn't until she was older that she would come to realize that there was more to those expeditions than she had thought. Lesser lords and armsmen accompanied them, all the better to inspect the towns and villages along the coasts and their fortifications against the Ironborn.

As Anais reached her teens, however, her interests began to shift. With the unrest and rebellion stewing in King's Landing, the Baneforts were lucky enough to attract a skilled musician and dancing master to their home. Anais was quite simply smitten. Suddenly, dancing and music were all she could think of. And remarkably enough, she displayed an impressive talent for dance.

For once, the remoteness of the Banefort worked in her family's favor. With Tywin Lannister reserving his men and actions until victory was clear, the war hardly touched the Banefort. Her father travelled with Tywin's host to King's Landing, but returned home unharmed, and indeed richer for the trip.

With the men gone, however, those who remained were more indulgent of the occasional wild hair among the women. After all, it doesn't matter who shoots the arrow that takes out an Ironborn, so long as it takes him out. And so, when the dancing master was busy with her sisters, Anais would resume her trips to the docks, practicing archery with new recruits and challenging the armsmaster to complain to her father.

The dancing master didn't stay long after the war ended, leaving the Banefort for greener pastures. There was a small succession of others, as Anais certainly enjoyed it, but it seemed most thought there was little left to teach the girl. And so, when her next crush was a young shipwright in the village, Anais managed to complete her lessons in plenty of time to go and help him with his. Honestly. Well. At least part of the time.

For the most part, Anais was well-behaved, though perhaps a bit overly fond of any travelling troupe that managed to make it to their shores. Pretty and charming, she took easily to lessons, and just as easily to any chance to breathe a little fresh air. She was very fond of her home, of the sea and the sail, and never panicked when the black ships came reaving.

In time, Lord and Lady Banefort turned their minds to passing along some of their many daughters to other houses. When the possibility of a match with a Riverlands house, they decided to hedge their bets and send a few of the daughters. Four, in fact. Two of Anais' older sisters and one of her younger went with her as they travelled to the Riverlands.

Anais made quick work of finding herself a husband. During the wedding festivities in Stonebridge celebrating the marriage of Lord Ryker and Lady Isolde, she ingratiated herself with the spurned young Lord Jaremy Terrick, despite the presence of two older, unmarried sisters in her party. Within a few weeks, an agreement had been reached between Lord Banefort and Lord Terrick, and the betrothal was set for only two months.

Unfortunately, two months was too long. Only a few weeks before the wedding, after the execution of Amelia Millen, Jaremy Terrick disappeared from the Roost, embarking on an attempt to make up for the loss of Stonebridge and other mistakes. When he was disinherited, the betrothal passed along with the heirship to his younger brother, Lord Jacsen Terrick. Anais handled the shift with apparent aplomb, and was soon wed to the young heir.

There was little time for the two of them to get to know each other, however, as Jaremy's departure left crises in its wake. Tension between Anais and her goodmother regarding a disagreement about a lady's proper realm contributed to tensions among the family, and not long after the wedding there was a trip to Riverrun in support of Ser Gedeon Rivers' claim to Stonebridge. Yet even that was nothing in comparison to the invasion that has come just two short months after the wedding, with Ironborn reavers occupying the Cape of Eagles. The young couple have yet to be caught at odds in public, but there is still a formality between them, and one can only imagine the strains of an invasion are less than kind to a young marriage.

With the end of the Greyjoy Rebellion, Terrick's Roost was left with a good deal of damage to both supplies and town. In hopes of finding some remedy to this, Anais focused her efforts on repairing the family's relations with the Naylands, traveling between Stonebridge and the Roost on a regular basis. Some speculated that relations between her and Jacsen had deteriorated, and there were a few whispers that Lord Riordan Nayland was overly fond of the young Terrick bride.

Attempts to foster relations between the families failed, however, when negotiations to arrange a betrothal between Lady Roslyn Nayland and Lord Justin Terrick went south on the matter of the dowry, and the lady was shortly betrothed to Lord Kittridge Groves instead. The death of Lady Evangeline saw Lord Jerold withdraw into his grief, and an inflammation of his old injury saw Jacsen take to his bed in pain. Just as it seemed there would be no food or resources for the Roost, Anais brokered a deal between the Terricks and the Charltons, arranging for monthly deliveries of food and seed in return for the services of some of the Roost's craftsmen in the new settlement of Highfield and non-participation in the conflict between the Naylands and the Charltons.

Efforts turned with more focus to rebuilding and repairing the damage left by the Ironborn, and Anais struggled to hold on to the hard-won peace and burgeoning prosperity, looking to Justin to supply both the force and legitimacy that might otherwise have been provided by husband or goodfather. She was still young, but forged on the anvil of the Ironborn and through the fires of adversity, and it seemed there was some steel beneath the pretty facade. But her crucible was not yet finished.

In early October 289, her husband disappeared in the night. Unflattering tales emerged, telling of countless liaisons with chambermaids and rumors of even worse. At the same time Lord Jerold's brother Lord Bolland and his family returned to the Roost. In the wake of so much chaos, Lord Jerold stepped down, passing his seat to his brother and his brother's line. In late October, almost exactly one year after her marriage, Jacsen's body was found and returned to the Roost.

Left behind by two Terrick heirs, Anais remains at the Roost. But what becomes of the young woman who arrived in the Riverlands only a little more than a year ago, already a widow? Only time will tell.

Family

Erik Banefort: Father
Edith Banefort: Mother
Quentyn Banefort: Eldest brother and heir.
Shayla Banefort: Sister, seven years older than Anais. Was married, but lost her husband to a reaver raid.
Torsten Banefort: Brother, five years older than Anais.
Elinor Banefort: Sister, three years older than Anais. Presumed dead in the fall of Tall Oaks.
Gwyneth Banefort: Sister, two years younger than Anais.
Joseth Banefort: Brother, three years younger than Anais.
Justin Banefort: Brother, six years younger than Anais.

Shayla, Torsten, Gwyneth, Joseth, and Justin are open for application! Bastards welcome, too. Page Anais on-game if you're interested.

Physical Features

Anais is sunlight over stormy seas, a glimpse of sun through the clouds. Around average height, just short of five and a half feet tall, she is lightly built, with a certain quickness and grace of limb in her bearing that sets her apart from other women. She's fair, with fine, ash blonde hair that falls in loose waves to her waist and long bangs that brush past her brow. Her eyes are the changeable blue of northerly seas, wide-set and sharp, and her features are fine, with a pointed chin and apple-blushed cheeks. Her lips are full, and if her features seem inclined to somberness, she herself is quick to smile.

Her clothes are suited to a lady of noble birth, in silks and linens shaped to her form. Though the colors of her house may be black and grey, she favors pale blues and greens, paying homage in silver grey or flame-touched trims. Most of her gowns allow for a comfortable range of motion, and the sharp of eye may note the marks of frequent mending around hems and vulnerable seams.

The World of Steel and Stone

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