LORD PHILIP MARBRAND of ASHEMARK attends the season within the capital! before the court, they are SHREWD and DARING. but every man has his shadows, and when darkness descends, they are ARROGANT and CAPTIOUS. another face appears in duskendale, reminiscent of the long drip of blood down a blade, shining on silver; a drowned man, hair matted to brow, winded even by breathing; hands grasping for something too vast to close around, but what can they possibly hope to achieve in the aftermath of the flames? for the west to matter more than it has these past years; to wrest control of it to his and house marbrand’s benefit, however he can. gods protect them from these dark winds.
BASICS
full name. philip marbrand nicknames. will respond to phil, but you may be met with a withering look if you aren't on good enough terms titles. lord of ashemark age. eight-and-thirty gender. cis man (he/him) marital status. widowed religion. faith of the seven affiliation. house marbrand
APPEARANCE
height. 5'11" build. lean but with developed muscles in his arms and legs from years of training at arms eyes. dark brown, nearly black hair. dark hair with a very faint curl, worn long enough to reach the back of his neck, though usually tied up for convenience distinguishing features. rings on three or four fingers, always including the marbrand signet; thin but characteristic facial hair; a slightly downturned lip stretched into something sharp
PERSONALITY
moral alignment. lawful neutral. mbti. ESTP. enneagram. 8w7. element. fire skills. good hunter, good swimmer, great rider. agile with a sword and prefers close combat to spears. quick to learn things when he feels they're worth his time
CONNECTIONS
parents. lord jason marbrand Ⅹ and lady rhea brax Ⅹ. spouse. lady prudence marbrand, formerly plumm Ⅹ. siblings. two younger siblings. children. a son, quenten marbrand. connections. the knight he squired for; perhaps a past fling he ended when it was time for him to wed, his current squire's family, house plumm (family of his late wife)
tw: drowning, death
Philip Marbrand was born to Ashemark’s hills and rivers, not only to live through them but to rule them. Lord Jason Marbrand was a hard man with the Warrior’s spirit, and the same spirit passed to Philip. From a young age his skill lay in the yard, finding expertise with sword and shield, spear and horse. If anything made Philip less than ideal as heir, it was his propensity to take lesser and greater arguments to the yard, if only because he knew that when he had a sword in his hand, he would win.
Time tempered him, as it tempers all; as a squire, Philip learned something more of patience and ceding to others demands, though it never did come easy to him. If his father had taught him to act fast and work hard, the lord he squired for taught him another lesson: to watch, and wait; to observe others’ actions; what influenced them, and what did not. Lord Jason held that might was right. Philip found it was not right enough, not where prides were concerned.
When he returned to Ashemark, knighted, his focus was clear: to establish the same ties to Casterly Rock as other houses in the West had, and to see its influence lend lands and offices to House Marbrand, and set his sights on the Lannisters. But for one reason or another [to be plotted!] his attempts were fruitless, and Philip did not find himself a Lannister bride… before the deaths of Lord and Lady Lannister sent the house into mourning, and the question was put, quietly, away.
When the Greyjoys rebelled, Jason was one of the first of the Westermen to lead a return against their ships, with Philip right at his heels. Battles with the Greyjoy fleets were rarely on land, where he excelled. But the unsteady battlefield of a ship would be no impediment to his sword arm, he told himself, and pushed on… until, in a moment of imbalance, Philip found himself falling over ship’s edge and drowning.
Philip had grown up swimming the Tumblestone and diving into ponds and lakes. It did not matter in the open sea, with ships on either side and wood and netting and weapons and the dead around him. He could not rise; there was but one thing to do: sink.
He woke pruned like a corpse and choking up seawater. The Maesters said he had been dead, for a time. Lord Jason said only that it did not matter, when he was alive now… but the drowning left its mark. For weeks afterwards, Philip found himself short of breath and overtaken by long, hacking coughs. Cold became his enemy and water moreso: even as Philip gritted his teeth and forced himself to swim so he would never drown again, stepping foot in the water turned his heart and lungs against him. And even as the initial weakness faded, the rot in his lungs has only grown, giving him a tendency to take ill or cough often.
Yet for all Philip had done to serve his lieges in this rebellion, that had not so much as touched Ashemark and its lands, the Lannisters did not see fit to offer him the reward he wanted. Philip took the hint, and turned his sights elsewhere; Lord Jason shortly thereafter found him a bride in the second daughter of House Plumm. “A plum prize,” Philip would joke, for the magnitude of her dowry… and the redness of her round cheeks. There was little affection between them. and it was years before they had even the one child.
Lord Jason had scarcely seen his desire for a grandson come true when apoplexy claimed him, making Philip the new Lord Marbrand. And only two years later, an ill winter storm brought Ashemark near to a halt, as half its people took ill. Philip, ever prone to illness and liable to grow worse by the day if allowed freedom of the castle, had to be shut away by himself… and discovered, when he emerged, that Prudence had succumbed to illness.
Disappointed, but not particularly moved, Philip claimed mourning colours and closed himself away, if only for the appearance of politeness. He emerges from Ashemark again two years hence, summoned to swear his fealty to a new king… and eager, in this new, changed landscape, to make House Marbrand’s influence better known across the realm, not merely in the Westerlands.