♛ → THE VALE presents NORBERT “NORBIE” GRAFTON, the LORD of GULLTOWN. when the dragons danced in the sky they thought the BLACKS would still fly, but in the blink of an eye, they would all die. the THIRTY year old CIS MAN who was ECCENTRIC & ENTHUSIASTIC before they saw the first of the flames, is now BUMBLING & FUSSY after seeing the last. they’re often associated with tall buildings contrasting against the sky, a pile of books stacked haphazardly on a messy desk, the smell of burnt hair from singed eyebrows ( jonah hauer-king )
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tws: none
history.
at the beginning
norbert angus grafton was the first-born son of house grafton. in contrast to his louder younger siblings, norbie was a quiet, serious baby who hit all his mental milestones way before most of his peers, but was slow to learn to sit and to walk. maesters were consulted, but there wasn't anything wrong with him. he just didn't want to do it.
as a child, he had a mild speech impediment he grew out of- but not before he acquired the nickname most people, friends and enemies alike, know him as. he struggled with pronounced his own name, and thus, became simply norbie.
socially, norbie has always struggled a little, too awkward and too wrapped up in his own interests to make a good conversationalist. he also lacks any physical or martial gifts. as a child he was bullied and laughed at when in the company of other boys, and still feels more comfortable in the company of women to this day.
norbie has always stuck out as the black sheep of his family. whilst the other graftons could be described as ambitious and extraverted, his demeanour was far different, more interested in his hobbies than any personal glory.
somewhere in between
as he grew older, norbie was fostered with the swann family in the stormlands. during this time, he forged a friendship with wylliam swann.
when leaving the swanns to make his way in the world. he first went to oldtown to begin training as a maester of the citadel, believing his natural intellect would make him a good fit to wear the chain. this suited his family too, as if norbie became a maester, one of his brothers could assume lordship, all of them more given to martial pursuits than norbie ever waas. however, he hated his time there from the moment he arrived. norbie found he took little joy in learning what they wanted him to learn, and the maesters didn't like that he questioned their teachings. he lasted only a few weeks before leaving, returning to his family in gulltown.
he fought briefly in the dance, but fell off a horse and broke both of his knees and thus never returned to his short-lived military career. he recovered from his injuries at ninestars, where he became close to ginevra templeton.
midway through the dance, his father would pass away, leaving gulltown in norbie's hands. whilst not given to displays of strength, norbie proved a capable lord, his interest in architecture in particular aiding him in bringing more gold to the grafton's already full coffers and revitalising gulltown.
the here and now
norbie has many hobbies, ranging from botany and geology to philosophy and astronomy, but the thing he gets most excited about is architecture. he is incredibly knowledgeable on the subject and often involved in plans for construction around gulltown. nothing gets him as excited as interesting buildings. he also loves to experiment with inventing, though his experiments fail more often than they succeed.
he’s aware of current events, but tries to keep himself out of it, as a chronically non-confrontational man. if asked, he will respond with something like “terrible business, that,” or “yes, it’s nice to have some good news,” before steering the conversation towards something he’s more comfortable discussing. when pressed on his opinion on politics, he will often launch into a lecture comparing the topic at hand to a historical event that bores others to tears. he does have a strict loyalty to the arryn family and is happy to support whoever is sitting on the throne at any given time as long as it doesn't bring trouble to his door.
since becoming lord, norbie's relationship with his family has soured. he views them as spoiled leeches, always asking for money, or trying to tell him what to do. whilst generally amiable, he has not taken kindly to this, and tries to keep his distance from his relatives.
personality.
basics
norbie is an eternal scholar who prefers to pursue his own hobbies and interests when it comes to matter of academia rather than be told what he should be interested in. fortunately for him, his hobbies are incredibly varied, and he's good enough at them to be considered genuinely insightful and intelligent. whilst architecture is his first love, he also loves science, botany and gardening, geology and the natural world, and if you ask him anything about the law, politics, or history, and he can explain it down to the last detail. he spends an ungodly amount of hours searching for books he hasn’t read yet. however, he doesn’t much care for works of fiction, though he has a soft spot in his heart for poetry.
norbie suffers from face blindness. he repeats peoples names too many times when speaking to them in order to make sure he's talking to the right person, and he tells people apart by their mannerisms, but he needs to get to know people a little better before he’s able to accurately do so. as such, he often confuses the names of people he has only a passing familiarity with unless they have a really distinct feature he can focus on.
he possesses no martial skills, but he does have good business sense and near-genius level intellect. unfortunately, this makes him rather pompous. in conversation, he tends to ramble. he’s a sensitive man and easily flustered.
he loves to complain about everything to anybody who will listen. his favourite topic to whinge about his his knees, which are weak and crack when he stands up. If you journey with him to the eyrie, he will spend the entire trip up the mountain and a few hours after his arrival moaning about his bad knees.
norbie is socially quite awkward, but a chatty man nonetheless and pleasant enough company. in contrast to his childhood, as an adult he has many friends.
despite having an outwardly nice persona, norbie's sense of morality is ethically dubious. he is interested in science and progress, what he can do rather than what he should do.
rumours
i imagine most people don't really know what to make of norbie. he's an odd man with a strange manner, but very obviously harmless.
he owns an extensive library of books and doesn't gatekeep them. it is not uncommon for him to receive letters, even from people he's never met, asking for information on obscure topics and rare tomes and he's happy to lend out any resources he has. he's read them all before anyway.
goals
he's happy to live his life continuing to learn and expand his knowledge. he's very curious about the world around him and once he gets stuck on a topic, he doesn't stop until he knows it inside and out.
his ultimate dream is to turn gulltown into a city of splendours. he takes an active role in building and architecture work around the city (and elsewhere, if asked), and his grand vision is to turn his home into something truly special.
fears
norbie is a closeted gay man. this is not known to anybody at this moment in time, though those close to him may be suspicious. he is very much not looking forward to the concept of marrying a woman, but will do so to keep his secrets. his greatest fear is this aspect of himself is revealed, and the disgust and rejection of his friends.
other.
he follows his faith in a sort of clockwork, methodical way, to keep up appearances, however, he does question the ideals and teachings of religion and follows them out of habit more than anything else. in general, he'd consider himself an atheist, a man who requires proof that the faith of the seven does not offer him. he's interested in science, and how things work, and so this puts him in conflict with faith in general. similar to enlightment era thinkers, he looks for rationality when it comes to matters of magical and mythical.
he loves his creature comforts and staying at home amongst his luxuries, but whilst he complains about it the entire time, norbie does take time to travel around westeros - largely to observe the different geological features and architectural styles. it's not uncommon to see him tramping around the different kingdoms making notes. it's all part of his research to combine the best, most impressive and well-functioning aspects of each region as part of his designs.
he does have a pet - a small hedgehog named hazel. she can often be found curled up asleep inside of his shirt pocket.
