House ForresterVassals of House Stark :: "Iron from Ice"
HISTORY
History forgets most of the original founding of House Forrester, instead choosing to tell a slightly more mythological version. During the days of the Andal invasion, King Theon Stark saw the need for a fleet of ships to be able to stand against the invaders on their own terms. It is said he took his forresters into the Wolfwood and there found the largest trees any in Westeros had ever laid their eyes on: the ironwoods. Recognizing them for the treasures they were and knowing the need his kingdom would have, the king ordered them protected and the harvest carefully rationed to ensure too much was not taken from the woods. Thus was born House Forrester.
In time, however, the need for a navy in the North began to wane and the Forrester line proved infertile, dying out within a handful of generations. The fortress town they had built wasted away, maintained only by the few peasants who eked out existence in the Wolfswood.
It was not until the Dance of the Dragons that the ironwoods would once again be turned to. Seeing that war was coming, Lord Cregan Stark ordered a fleet built for the North once more – not the southron ships of the Manderlys but a sturdy northern fleet built in the ancient traditions. The ironwoods were cut down once more and crafted into massive vessels that would carry the Stark soldiers southwards – but too late to join the war. Lord Cregan determined the fleet should be maintained and kept personal watch on the Wolfswood until his death.
With Cregan’s death and his heir Jonnel’s issues with the wildlings raiding the North, the issue of the ironwoods slipped away from the Starks and various houses began to quarrel over who should have the rights to harvest the trees. As the income that could be gained from harvesting the trees was so great, the situation nearly erupted into war in the North. It wasn’t until the death of Jonnel, the rise of Barthogen Stark, and the murmurs of rebellion from the south reached Winterfell that the Starks stepped in – knowing that the Ironwood needed secured, Barthogen went to his maester for a solution and found one in the oldest tomes of history.
With the help of his maester (and some say some creative interpretation of bloodlines), Barthogen reformed the defunct House Forrester and placed one of his distant cousins – Eddard Stark – at its head The repairs had just begun on the ancient fortress town that would become Ironrath when the Blackfyre Rebellion began in the south. While the war never truly came to the North nor did the Starks or their vassals get involved, the Forresters were hard pressed to defend their new claims against those same houses who had fought over the rights earlier.
To solve the matter, Lord Forrester bent the knee to House Glover; while close by, the Glovers had traditionally stayed out of the matter of the Ironwoods. This gave the Forresters some protection from the would-be rivals without directly involving the Warden of the North in the matter.
As the years passed by and it became clear that not all of their neighbours would withdraw their claims to the woods, Lord Forrester approached the Flints of the hills north of the Wolfwood; Lord Forrester’s eldest daughter would marry the Flint heir and the youngest Flint would come to Ironrath to be raised and serve. This brought the martial prowess into the sway of the Forresters, giving them a modicum of protection to raise against would-be enemies.
But even through all of this, one rival still remains: House Whitehill, the closest neighbours to the Forresters, still lay claim to over half of the land the Forresters do. With the problems with the Skagosi keeping the Starks too busy to settle the matter, Lord Forrester searches for a way to solve the problem once and for all – without yielding his family’s land to their rivals.
HOLDINGS
The reconstructed fortress that has become known as Ironrath consist primarily of a wood hall – built from ironwood – surrounded by the defensive measures of a low stone wall and a watchtower eyeing the approach to the fortress. Inside, it’s fairly well decorated from the limited (yet growing) wealth of the Forresters, matching traditional Northern design with styles brought from the south by Eddard’s wife. It’s clear the Forresters haven’t spent excessively yet live a life of relative comfort, protected from the cold winds of the North.
Eddard Forrester’s quick moves in the political landscape have given him something of a reputation in the North that grants him a level of prestige such a young house usually lacks. The marriages of his eldest son to the Flints and the betrothal of his youngest to the Glovers have cemented the house’s place and will, no doubt, produce a long line of heirs to extend the already well-padded line of succession.
Being in the Wolfswood, the lands of House Forrester consist primarily of vast stretches of forested lands backed onto hills that give way to the mountains that Ironrath is perched upon. A number of small logging camps exist throughout their land but the primary population center lies near Ironrath in the form of a small town that bears the same name. As a whole, this offers the Forrester’s fortress a considerable amount of defense against would be invaders.
Like much of the furthest stretches of the North, the Forrester lands are occasionally plagued by banditry in the forms of poachers and those who would clear the woods illicitly and the far more dangerous wildling raiders. Fortunately, the wildling raids rarely reach as far south as the Wolfswood, leaving the primary strain on the Forresters being bandits. The vast stretches of woods often make it difficult for Lord Eddard’s law to extend everywhere and often the Forresters find themselves having to turn a blind eye to what happens very far from the roads to Ironrath in order to ensure that their work camps remain safe.
While the wealth of Ironrath is not yet great, the potential wealth of the Wolfswood is currently beyond measure. What wealth has been brought into the house has been used to increase the defenses of the town and hall while tending to the family’s spiritual needs – as part of a long line of the North, Eddard has ordered a portion of the forest nearest the hall, home to weirwoods, be left as a godswood. He has also accepted the assistance of a maester of the citadel and has begun developing the infrastructure to begin producing better weapons for his people with the help of the Flints.