The Tourney at Ashford

House Algood
Vassals of House Lannister :: "With Virtue, We Stand"

HISTORY
Established in the mists of the Age of Heroes, House Algood is a perfect warning to the rest of Westeros of a house overstepping its bounds. Through sheer luck, the Algoods managed to remain free from both the Kingdom of the Isles and the Rivers and the Kingdom of the Storm while avoiding most of the conflict between the two powers.

When the Targaryens came from Dragonstone with their massive dreads, the wise of Lord of Algood was amongst the first to bend the knee to Westeros’ new Valyrian king. This gave them something of a favoured status among the united Seven Kingdoms; in the early days before Loren Lannister knelt, it was believed that the Algoods might even be given Casterly Rock when the war eventually ended. Even when that fell through, the Algoods continued to expand their lands, quickly becoming one of the largest houses in the Crownlands.

But the infamous Algood luck was not to hold out; with so much wealth, Karl Algood found his family approached by agents of Daemon Blackfyre. As the last snows of winter were melting, Karl Algood and Aegor Rivers came to agreement that the Algoods would provide money and men to Daemon Blackfyre when the time inevitably came; in exchange, the Algood heir, Arryk Algood, was to be betrothed to one of Blackfyre’s daughters. Thus, when the time came some six months later, Lord Algood led his forces westward to secure the Goldroad and waylay any support coming to or from the Lannisters, allowing Quentyn Ball to lay siege to Lannisport and rebuking an attempt to resupply the battered forces of Damon Lannister.

As Ball turned south towards the Mander, the Algood army marched after Damon Lannister’s pursuit force. Soon, though, Lord Algood found his force surrounded as the Lannister force turned to face the pursuers and the armies of Edmund Reyne appeared from the north, having resupplied fully at Lannisport. What followed was a series of battles best described as a fighting retreat for the Algood forces who soon found themselves pushed all the way back to Riverwatch as the combined Lannister force pushed eastward towards King’s Landing. Although they were able to hold Riverwatch from being captured, the town of Blackwall was burned to the ground during the siege. Eventually realizing he would be needed elsewhere, Damon Lannister simply had the castle bombarded with burning pitch and rubble; the resulting fire destroyed most of the magnificent castle that had housed the Algoods for generations.

At the war’s eventual conclusion, the Algoods were stripped of most of their lands; Karl Algood was executed for his part in the rebellion. House Algood itself might have been rendered extinct had it not been for the intercession of Damon Lannister himself; instead, he suggested, why not make them vassals of the Lannisters, putting the boy Arryk in charge of the house with a Lannister overseer and to take his younger brother and sister as hostages. With that, Brynden Algood was sent to King’s Landing and Cassana Algood sent to Lannisport. The Lord Arryk would be betrothed to one of the Lord Tarbeck’s daughters to help control them further.

With the help of his little court, Arryk has consistently – yet quietly – worked with the limited tools he had to slowly rebuild the family’s fortunes. While a Lannister overseer from a house loyal to Damon was always present, serving as Arryk’s regent, the position seemed to be dangerous; by the time Arryk had come to age and thus took control of his house, no less than five overseers had died in the position though all were believed to have been natural causes.

With the marriage of Arryk Algood to Moira Tarbeck, it was believed that, finally, the overseers might finally be removed. If anything, the grip on the Algoods was tightened; with Arryk now a full-fledged lord, the Lannisters believed he could possibly pose a worse threat. When it was reported that Arryk sought to reopen one of the disused mines on Algood lands, a Lannister delegation arrived, leaving behind a new overseer and Arryk’s until-then hostage sister. In exchange, Arryk’s two children – his heir Mathieu and daughter Rosling – were taken to serve as hostages and keep the ambitions of the Algoods in check…

HOLDINGS
Redwall, a short distance north of the Goldroad on the fringes of the Westerlands where it borders the Corwnlands, is dominated primarily by the tower fortress that, during the past, had been known as Riverwatch. The only portion of the old Riverwatch still standing, the tower is backed by the ruins of the larger castle destroyed during the Siege of Blackwall during the Blackfyre Rebellion. Despite the relative wealth of his house, Lord Algood keeps his halls sparsely decorated and showing little of that wealth. The top floors of the tower are reserved exclusively for the Algood family – with two rooms kept empty as a reminder of the currently absent children.

Despite their status as subservients to the Lannisters, the Algoods are fairly well respected throughout the rest of Westeros; through a series of quiet alliances and trade agreements, the Algoods have managed to rebuild some of their lost stature. As of yet, however, Lord Algood has not betrothed either of his children to others – some say to keep from angering the Lannisters with poor decisions.

With a majority of their lands seized at the end of the Blackfyre Rebellion, House Algood has been striving to make the most of the territory it retains. Small shepherding communities exist throughout their lands and the small town built at Redwall serves as a central point to gather the wool and wheat from outlying farms; most of those goods are then sold at market to other houses, particularly those in the Crownlands with whom the Algoods have had traditionally good relationships.

Positioned at the edge of the Westerlands and the Crownlands, the lands of Algood are subject to a usual level of banditry; the nearby Goldroad, however, sees frequent patrols by both the Lannister forces and the various houses of the Crownlands themselves. This has saved most of the population of Algood lands from any serious problems with bandits – and also served as a way for the Lannisters to keep an eye on the Algoods.

The wealth of Redwall, while not a match for the Lannisters or even many other houses of the Westerlands, is still surprisingly large; with the help of Moira Algood, the house has managed to carefully manage the resources it does have to good ends, slowly expanding the reach of the house. Lately, work has begun to reopen an old iron mine on the northern edge of the lands that was closed when the Lannister army rampaged through during the end of the Blackfyre Rebellion.