House Tyrell[]
The Crest of House Tyrell
House Tyrell is one of the Great Houses of Westeros. It rules over the Reach, a vast, fertile, and heavily-populated region of southwestern Westeros, from their castle-seat, Highgarden, which was granted to them by Aegon 'the Conqueror' Targaryen the first of his name in the aftermath of the War of Conquest.
Before the War of Conquest, we were stewards of House Gardener, the ancient ruling line of Kings of the Reach. Following the defeat at the battle known as 'the Field of Fire' and the death of King Mern Gardener, Lord Harlen Tyrell, high steward of the Reach, surrendered Highgarden to Aegon Targaryen and was thus granted the castle along with domion over the Reach as Lord Paramount.
We owe our prestige and power to house Targaryen, and so have remained loyal to the them and their crown thus far. But Tyrell loyalty has it limits....
The Tyrell sigil is a golden rose on a pale green field. Their house words is,"Growing Strong".
Westeros In 8262[]
King Jahaerys has passed, passing the throne to his son Aerys Targaryen. The lion finally stirs in the west, the young Lannister heir Tywin having brought the rebellious Reynes and Tarbecks to heel, destroying two ancient and proud houses. In the North, Lord Rickard stark celebrates the birth of his second son, Eddard, and to the south, the fires of Summerhall have finally died out along with the Blackfyres pretenders.... the last of their line slain on the stepstones by a young knight named Barristan Selmy.
Luthor Tyrell[]
Despite Tywin Lannister's bloody victory in the westerlands, the realm breath peace. To the south, Luthor Tyrell, grandson of the legendary Leo 'the Longthorn', rules the blooming lands of the reach from his fortress of Highgarden. Here he finds pleasure in the simplest of lives gifts, hunting the wild in the castles grand gardens and surrounding woods.
Lord Luthor Tyrell
Many claim that Luthor is not the brighest of minds. At court he is at times mocked for his lag of diligence in reprensenting the reach among the lords of the realm, and for his unfortunate and unlucky comments during visits from foreign lords and noblemen. But Luthor is a Tyrell! He will show them all how capable a man he is! He shall claim glory for himself and his house!
Lord Luthor's hopes for glory and fame lead him to an early confrontation with Tywin Lannister, the newly ascended Lord of Casterly Rock and the Westerlands.
The quarrels with Lord Tywin, which eventually would result in battles throughout the Westerlands, was a result of the most unholy and vile behaviour of Lord Tywin. For in his rage, he had his kinsmen, the lover of his wife, assasinated. The crime was quickly discovered and Lord Tywin became known as a dishonorable kinslayer.
When word reached the High septon, he immediately had Lord Tywin excommunicated and thus separated from the gods. Hearing of this, Lord Luthor openly declared his despise for Lord Tywin and asked the king, Aerys Targaryen, to bring him to justice for his crimes.
Aeryes Targaryen, refusing to do so, and even declaring Lord Tywin under the protection and forgiveness of the crown, sparked outrage and discontent among the most powerfull lords of the realm. This discontent and outrage led soon after to rebellion in the Westerlands, as Lord Tywin's sworn bannermen rose against him.
The great Westerlander rebellion against the rule of Tywin Lannister
Being amongst the lords of the realm that had disagreed with the kings decision, Lord Luthor Tyrell along with Lord Brynden Tully and the Starks of the North joined the rebels in their efforts to depose Lord Tywin.
The rebellion was succefull, and Tywin's young daughter and only heir, Lady Cersei Lannister, was installed as Lady of the Westerlands.
King Aerys seeing his decree ignored, called Lord Luthor Tyrell and Lord Rickard Stark to the capital to face judgement for their disobedience. The kings trial was quick and without many quarrels, ruling both Lord Tyrell and Stark to pay a fine to the new Lady of the Westerlands. Lord Stark quickly agreed to this and was thus forgiven by the king.... but Lord Luthor refused to pay such a fine! Complaining that HE be judged, a zealous and good man, and not the vile creature... Tywin Lannister.
The King in outrage of Lord Luthors complaints, had him arrested and imprisoned, accused of treason and disobedience.
The Trial of Lord Luthor was a grand spectacle, drawing lords, low as high in status to the capital to witness. As the grand crowd expected the 3 judges to soon be appointed, King Aerys decreed that 'Fire, Crown and blood' was to be the judges of the trial.
Silence fell over the crowd as Lord Luthor was brought forth.
As no judges were appointed, King Aerys acted as the supreme ruler of the trial... quickly ruling that Lord Luthor was guilty of treason and should be sentenced to imprisonment till death.
Luthor, horrified, immediately demanded a trial by combat since the King had denied him the right of 3 independent judges. As the tention rapidly grew among the crowd, everyones eyes were fixed upon the king.
Aeryes declared, that Lord Luthor was to be BURNED alive, as fire was the champion of house Targaryen!
The crowd, horrified of this decision, was forced by the king to look upon the execution.
The execution of Lord Luthor Tyrell
The king ordered firewood be carried into the audience hall so that a grand fire could be build, where the Lord Luthor was to be tied and placed in the middle.
As servants of the king lighted the fire, the fear in the lords eyes were clear. And as the fire consumed him, the crowd witnessed the terrifying screams of Lord Luthor.
And thus the realm saw the end of Luthor Tyrell and his grand ambitions.
Mace 'the Bold' Tyrell[]
Mace Tyrell moments before hearing of his fathers death
Mace Tyrell was the son and heir of Luthor Tyrell and Olenna Redwyne. He had from the age of 8 been tutored in Storms end by the hands of Lord Steffan Baratheon. Lord Mace ascended to be lord of Highgarden and ruler of the Reach at the age of 22.
Hearing of his fathers horrendious death, Lord Mace was at first devastated, though his grief quickly turned to a deep and lingering rage. But instead of rushing forward and with arms, Lord Mace chose to appease the King, and thus sweared an oath of loyalty in the capital. This decision suprised many of the lords of the realm, who had expected a grand rebellion led by the newly coronated and young Lord of the Reach... but thus it did not happen, which can be owed fully to Lord Leyton Hightower of whom served his liege lord with invaluable council after his fathers untimely death.
Lord Mace, now committed to his eagerness for revenge and thus the politics of the realm, have not let much time for him to produce a legitimate heir. Though in Lord Mace's younger days, he acted more reckless.... and thus he came to have a bastard son, Lyonel Tyrell.
Lyonel Tyrell was at the time of Lord Mace's ascension a bastard, not legitimized and thus not in the line of succesion. But Aerys Targaryen, perhaps as a sign of 'good' faith, had Lord Mace's son legitimized and thus made heir of Highgarden and the Reach.
Aerys Targaryen, insecure of Lord Mace's intention following his father's dead... had Lyonel Tyrell brought to the Lord Hand, Brynden Tully, to be raised and educated, so that he could secure Lord Mace's allegiance.
Lord Mace would come to be known as 'the silent' for time, for his rather quiet behaviour concerning his fathers violent death.
Not long after the horrific events that took place during Lord Luthor Tyrells trial, the king summoned the lords of the realm to the capital, to witness and participate in a grand tourney! But it should soon be known that the kings real intentions had not yet ben revealed. For as the tourney came to an end, the king ordered all lords join him in the throne room. As the crowd of lords, high as low in status, gathered in the throne room, the Hand of the king, Lord Brynden Tully, stepped forward and began reading from a scroll with the kings seal upon it.
King Aerys' grand tourney at Kings Landing
The King had decreed that all lords sign a new set of laws, further increasing the kings authority in all temporal matters within the realm. Refusal to do so, would be considered treason.
Clearly outraged, but with not much choice seeing that the throne room was packed with gold cloaks and ofcourse the kings guard, the lords of the realm began lining in up to sign the decree.
As the king and his hand in silence watched as the lords one by one signed the decree, lord Brynden Tully, the hand, suddenly dropped to the floor and begang coughing up blood..... Lord Brynden died within minutes, having drowned in his own blood....
Horrified, the king ordered the gate and doors of the throne room be bared, and decreed that no lord was to leave untill the one responsible for the lord hand's death was brought to justice!
Moments after, the kings finger fell upon Lord Mace Tyrell, and with a wild glimt in his eyes, Aerys declared lord Mace to be the traitor and ordered him seized!
Lord Mace, in shock, drew his sword along with his sworn guards, Lord Rodrik and Harras Harlaw.
In the confusion, many lords and their guards drew their blades and turned in suspicion upon one each other, idle and ready to defend themselves!
In the total confusion, a gold cloak suddenly stormed through one of the doors and into the throne room, rushing towards the king! With staggering breath, he informed the king that an Iron born host had breached the capitals gates and was heading towards the red keep!
It would later be revealed, that the cautious lord Quellon Greyjoy had assembled his banners and sailed for the capital upon hearing of the kings grand tourney, suspicious that the king had other intentions.
As the Iron born barged through the gate and into the throne room, Lord Mace and his guards succeded in cutting their way through the kings soldiers and escape the capital. Lord Mace, Lord Rodrik and Lord Lyonel Hightower embarked upon Lord Rodriks ships at the harbor of kings landing, sailing for Highgarden with all haste.
Upon arrival in the reach, lord Mace called his banners and begang assembling his armies.
Other noble lords had, as lord Mace, escaped the capital in the confusion of the Iron born attack. Among them was the lords Arryn and Lannister, whom themselves had called their banners upon returning to their domain.
Lord Mac, still eager to revenge his fathers death, marched along with the Arryns of the Vale and the Lannisters of Casterly Rock on the capital.
King Aerys had in the meantime assembled a significant force and pushed the Iron born host out of the city. But immediately realising that he was besieged on all sides by lannister, Arryn and Tyrell forces aswell, he commanded his army to march beyond the walls of the capital and engage the enemy!
Aerys' forces quickly suffered defeat by the hands of the combined forces of the Tyrells, Arryns and Lannisters, and was thus scattered for the wind.
Aerys, mad of rage seeing his army destroyed, ordered his son and heir, Rhaegar Targaryen to lead the defense of the walls against the besiegers. Not soon after issuing his commands, a soldier informed the king that his son had fallen on the walls, struck down by Harras Harlaw.
Aerys, sick of rage and sorrow, cut himself on the sharp blades of the Iron thrones and bleed to death on the floor of the throne room, though no one knows if this is true....
As Lord Mace was informed that the king had died, he and his ally's lifted the siege of the capital and returned home.
With the death of Aerys and his son Rhaegar, the heir to the Iron throne was Aerys' second son, Aerys III.
As Aerys the third of his name ascended his throne in a capital city marked by war and covered in blood, he found his father and brothers bodies lying in the pile of death that the attackers had gathered and burned to prevent disease from spreading.
In his rage, the young King commanded Lord Mace and his ally's to present themselve in the capital and decreed that refusal to do so would be considered treason.
Lord Mace angered and in shock of the new kings demands, refused to come to the capital, and instead declared his former ward and old friend, Lord Steffon Baratheon, the true king of the Iron throne.
With the royal army scattered and the crowns treasury depleted, Tyrell and Baratheon soldiers poured through the gates of kings landing with ease, meeting little resistance.
Lannister and Tyrell Soldiers pouring through the gates of Kings Landing
As Lord Mace and his men entered the throne room, he had his men scourer the royal palace of any members of the royal family. The king and queen, along with the kings 2 cousins was quickly captured and brought before Lord Mace.
Lord Mace knew that no new dynasty could truely be established without scourging the old one, and so he had the king and his family executed.
With the royal family gone, Lord Mace had Lord Steffon crowned and coronated, while instating himself as hand of the king.
Shortly after the slaughter at kings landing, word that one last Targaryen remained alive reached the kings ear, and so he had the Lady paramount of the Vale, the wife of lord Denis Arryn, the last of the Targaryens.... killed.
Lord Denis Arryn in his grief and with the news of the targaryen slaughter reaching his ear, knew that it was the king and his hand that had sought the life of his beloved wife... and so, the great Valemen rebellion came to rise.
Lord Denis Arryn quickly called his banners, demanding the head of the king and the right to take it from the lords of the realm! But the newly appointed hand, Lord Mace Tyrell, swore to protect the royal family and thus raised his banners and marched north against the Valemen threat.
At the beginning of the war, Lord Mace succeded in forcing the rebels to retreat north of the trident and back into the Vale, but Lord Denis Arryn would soon show to be a brilliant commander, and to present quite a challenge for the Lord hand and his ally's... leading to a stalemate between the two sides for many months as the lord of the Vale chose to occupy the Bloody Gate, a mighty valemen fortress.
The assault on the Bloody Gate in the Vale lowlands
Eventually, Lord Mace ordered what was later to be known as the 'the Great Assault', an attack upon Valemen positions. And with the help of Lannister soldiers, Lord Mace won a great, but costly victory at the Bloody Gates.
Upon his defeat at the gates, lord Denis Arryn surrendered and thus the rebellion was crushed.
Years would follow with peace, and the realm thrived with Lord Mace as hand.
Lord Mace, now and old man and weakened by many years of carrying his sword into battle, was forced to retire as a battlefield commander and focus on his council appointment as hand of the king.
King Steffon had in the late months fallen ill, being an old man himself, and eventually died.
Lord Mace, still a man of decent health, mysteriously fell ill in the days following the kings death, and died shortly hereafter. Whispers of poisoning was heard for a long time at court, but eventually, like everything else, died out into the night.....
Lord Garlan 'the Wild Flower' Tyrell[]
Garlan Tyrell was the second son of Mace Tyrell, and rose to be the heir to Highgarden when his half-brother, Lyonel Tyrell fell ill and later died during the events of the great Valemen rebellion.
Garlan Tyrell ascended to be lord of Highgarden and the Reach at his fathers death.
Garlan had not much love for his farther, the late lord Mace Tyrell. He despised him for making his bastard of an older half-brother, Lyonel Tyrell, his heir over himself, the only trueborn son!
When Lord Mace died and Garlan ascended as lord of the reach and head of house Tyrell, he withdrew all Tyrell influence in the realm and retracted from the capitals politics.
Garlan became a ruler at a young age. He cared little for the matters of state, but instead spent his time courting beautiful women and hosting lavish feasts. Though Despite his regular courting of women, he did not manage to produce a male heir for over 10 years, which eventually, now in his thirties, began to worry him now.
Lord Garlan decided thus to marry into house Harlaw, the once trusted ally's of Lord Mace, his farther.
Many months would pass with no heir after the marriage, and Garlan would lock himself up in his chambers... afraid that any harm would come to him and thus end the line of Tyrells.
Though finally, Lord Garlans wife gave birth to a little girl. Garlan had ofcourse wished for a boy, but a girl would due for now.
In years to come, Garlan would produce 3 male sons and another daughter to carry on his dynasty...
With his baby daughter born, and thus his line secured, Lord Garlan atlast turned his attention towards the politics of the realm.
In the years of his recklessness, carelessness and lack of interest in the politics at court in the capital, tention had mounted throughout the realm.
Rumors had it that the last Targaryen, Aegon 'the Dragonknight', had returned from across the Narrow Sea and had taken up residence in the lands of the Vale.
The King, Robert baratheon, had grown restless of these rumors, and thus sent an envoy to the Eyrie... demanding the lord of the Vale extradite the Targaryen 'pretender' to the crown.
Lord Arryn, in his spite for the king, refused this demand and instead declared Aegon Targaryen the true king of Westeros!
Glimsing an oppurtinty to rise along with the new king, the houses of Tully, Stark and Lannister rallied to the pretenders banner and declared king Robert Baratheon's rule invalid.
The king outraged by his vassals disobedience and traitory, called the royal banners and began assembling an army in the capital. Envoys was sent to the houses of Tyrell, Caron and Martell.... asking for their support against the rebels.
As word of the rebellion reached Highgarden, Lord Garlan knew that if the Targaryens rose to power once again, house Tyrell would suffer for the actions of his farther, Lord Mace Tyrell, had committed during the sacking of the capital and the installation of the Baratheon dynasty a more than a decade ago.
Thus, Garlan decided to call his banners and march alongside the king against the rebels. Along with House Tyrell, house Lannister and Caron honored the kings call for aid aswell.
The rebel armies of house Tully, Arryn, Lannister and Targaryen had taken up positions on the borders of the capital and its surrounding land, in preparation for an assault on the city.
A messenger reached Lord Garlans camp in the night, reporting that house Stark and their bannermen had not yet even crossed the Crossing, ruled by house Frey, so no Northern support to the rebel armies was to expected when battles commenced.
With this news, Lord Garlan and the Crown loyalist armies of Caron and Martell prepared to march against the rebels.
But not soon after, news reached Lord Garlan that a combined Arryn, Tully and Lannister force had laid siege to King's landing!
The battle would come to be at the foot of the walls of Kings Landing. For as dawn broke, Lord Garlan lead the Royal forces into the greatest battle the realm had ever seen.
133.000 loyalist troops clashed with 65.000 rebels in what would later be known in the history books as 'the battle of the Eternal Day'. From dawn till dusk the battle continued to rage on... even through the night the noice of swords clashing and men screaming was heard. But as the fog of the night lifted, the break of dawn revealed a vast field assundered by war. Everywhere the anguished cries of dying men and horses were heard.
As Lord Garlan scoured the battlefield, only the dismembered corpses of soldiers, rebels and loyalists alike, met his eye.
Nonetheless, the battle had been won and the rebels had been forced to retrieve North.
The following months of loyalists advancement into the Riverlands and Vale would reveal a not just defeated rebel army, but a totally broken one. Not soon after, Valemen riders bearing white flags surrendered to the King and his bannermen, thus ending 'the great war' between the Stag and the Dragon.
King Robert punished the rebels without mercy. He stripped the Arryns of the Vale, the Tullys of the Riverlands, and the Lannister of the Westerlands, while he spared house Stark, since they had not raised their swords against him.
The Riverlands he granted to house Frey, the Vale to his loyal bannermen, house Velaryon, and the Westerlands to house Lefford, who had supported the crown.
As reward for his valor and service to the crown, Lord Garlan was named Hand of the King.
In his period of office, Lord Garlan saw numerous wars between himself, as representative of the crown and its authority, and house Lefford of the Westerlands, House Caron of the Stormlands and House Martell of Dorne.
As he grew older, Lord Garlan saw the pending danger of his death and the following instability and vulnerability that his son would experience in the early transition as ruler of the Reach.
Lord Garlan thus decided to sign a treaty of peace with house Lefford of the Westerlands, the most powerfull of his enemies. The treaty was to be valid for 15 years and thus secure his son's future dominion of the Reach.