𝖍𝖔𝖓𝖊𝖉 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖞

[whiteharboreda]

justicemarred‌ / erik umber . 

❛  if  i  didn’t  know  better,  my  lady,  i  would  say  that  you  wish  to  take  my  space  on  our  king’s  small  council.  ❜    the  master  of  whisperers  was  a  proud  man,  though  one  not  easily  able  to  manipulate  perceptions  like  alyssane.  she  was  cunning,  with  a  mind  as  sharp  and  beautiful  to  admire  as  any  rocky  outcropping  —  beautiful  to  look  at  but  willing  enough  to  sink  ships  far  bigger  than  her.  and  with  a  smile  like  hers,  he  couldn’t  imagine  how  most  would  not  melt  at  the  sight.  what  came  with  all  of  these  beautiful  things  about  her,  was  her  slight  stature.  where  others  would  see  a  woman,  a  disdainful  creature  meant  for  little  more  than  bearing  children,  erik  saw  a  master  at  the  art  of  perception.  

❛  she  can’t.  ❜  erik  agreed  softly.  ❛  and  how  is  the  little  lady  manderly  ?❜  it  was  a  bitter  thing  to  address  his  child  with  another  man’s  last  name.  but  this  was  safer, the  way  of  the  world.  ❛  i  trust  she  is  as  willful  as  her  mother.  and  hopefully  she  hasn’t  inherited  her  father’s  nose.  ❜  erik’s  nose  was  not  perfect  by  any  means,  though  that  might  have  been  more  from  it  being  broken  repeatedly  than  any  true  genetic  contribution.  

         ❛❛ I THOUGHT MY LORD WAS AWARE THAT MY ATTENTIONS TOWARD HIM  extended only as far as obtaining what i can- - including his position.  ❜❜  she raised her brow , knowing she would need do no more to convey that she was merely joking . deflections like these came naturally . they were far easier than unearthing the true state of things  , where her heart was far less unguarded in his presence . instinct prompted her to take lord umber’s arm , fingers lingering against his wrist for a moment. 

           ❛❛  she is well , thank you . ❜❜  another , more private moment , would allow her to disclose more . of how frequently lysa asks after him , of how quickly she is growing - how clever she is. the best composite parts of them both , without the sorrows & shame that her parents carry . ❛❛  telling me no is her favorite way to occupy time , and i’ve yet to find a fault in her nose. though , i thought she’d have my hair but it has yet to darken.  ❜❜ alyssane smilesd brightly , before her gaze focused more intently on him , and her voice lowered. ❛❛   i will send for her , you know . once our southern guests have vacated .  ❜❜

[whiteharboreda]

krakenbound‌  / gysella stark . 

                   𝖆  𝖐𝖓𝖔𝖜𝖎𝖓𝖌  𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖐  𝖕𝖆𝖘𝖘𝖊𝖘  𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗  𝖍𝖊𝖗  𝖋𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊𝖘.  for  the  ironborn  woman  does  not  buy  these  words  for  a  second.  she  knows  the  lady  manderly  well—  her  first  friend  made  in  the  north.  the  raven  haired  queen  mirrors  the  smile  offered.  she  is  amused  more  than  anything  else  by  the  display,  even  with  curiosity  biting  at  the  back  of  her  mind.        ❝  yes,  i’m  sure  that  is  exactly  what  the  note  says.  ❞        a  point  is  made  to  keep  her  voice  friendly,  lacking  in  sarcasm  or  an  accusatory  tone.  alyssane  is  perfectly  capable  of  reading  between  the  lines  and  seeing  that  herself.        ❝  keeping  up  with  business  even  in  the  midst  of  festivities,  i  see.  ❞

 ❛❛ HAVE I EVER GIVEN YOU CAUSE TO DOUBT ME , YOUR GRACE ?  ❜❜ the words fall from her lips sweetly , a knowing smile accompanying them. though well versed in it , she has no need for subtlety nor subterfuge where the queen is involved. to her , alyssane disclosed almost everything , and when they were away from prying eyes , it was an unspoken truth that she would reveal the contents of the letter to her friend .  to the queen’s comment , she tilts her head , brow raising in amusement .   ❛❛ would you rather i let the treasury dry up to enjoy a cup of wine , then ?  ❜❜

[whiteharboreda]

           A CORONATION DOES NOT WARRANT THE CESSATION  of tireless work . in fact , times like these are the most productive for ALL of her business ventures. men loosen their tongues & open their pockets around wine , and she is sure to reap the benefit of it.  it is for this reason that she does not shy away from the messenger boy that comes with a scroll in his hand ❝ were you seen ? ❞ she murmurs , receiving the immediate a small , emphatic shake of his head. she nods her approval before procuring a coin from somewhere within her skirts , and pressing it into his palm. ❝ hurry home now. ❞  she does not read the message in great length before tucking it in her bodice, away from PRYING EYES. she realizes too late that she has acquired company, but makes no real sign of distress. instead , she cants her head , placid smile settling on bowed lips before a lie flows from them. 

                ❛❛ a mother can never be too invested in the wellbeing                  of their child when she is away from them , can she ?  ❜❜  

[abigailcowen]

[persephonememes]

* (  LITTLE WOMEN /  SENTENCE PROMPTS.

These may have been edited for clarity or length or to better apply for roleplaying.

❛ Don’t try to make me grow up before my time. ❜

❛ Love is a great beautifier. ❜

❛ I never wanted to go away, and the hard part now is leaving you all. ❜

❛ I’m not afraid, but it seems as if I should be homesick for you even in heaven. ❜

❛ If I didn’t care about doing right and didn’t feel uncomfortable doing wrong, I should get on capitally. ❜

❛ When we make little sacrifices we like to have them appreciated, at least. ❜

❛ Don’t mind me. I’m as happy as a cricket here. ❜

❛ You don’t need scores of suitors. You need only one, if he’s the right one. ❜

❛ Love casts out fear, and gratitude can conquer pride. ❜

❛ I am lonely, sometimes, but I dare say it’s good for me. ❜

❛ When you feel discontented, think over your blessings, and be grateful. ❜

❛ Let us be elegant or die! ❜

❛ Hearts, like flowers, cannot be rudely handled, but must open naturally. ❜

❛ I do think that families are the most beautiful things in all the world! ❜

❛ Be worthy love, and love will come. ❜

❛ Oh, my girls, however long you may live, I never can wish you a greater happiness than this! ❜

❛ The sincere wish to be good is half the battle. ❜

❛ The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them. ❜

❛ I want to do something splendid before I go into my castle—something heroic, or wonderful—that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead. ❜

❛ I think I shall write books, and get rich and famous; that would suit me, so that is my favorite dream. ❜

❛ Don’t cry so bitterly, but remember this day, and resolve with all your soul that you will never know another like it. ❜

❛ I’d rather take coffee than compliments just now. ❜

❛ Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds. ❜

❛ I don’t like to doze by the fire. ❜

❛ I like adventures, and I’m going to find some. ❜

❛ I like good strong words that mean something. ❜

❛ Because they are mean is no reason why I should be. ❜

❛ I hate such things, and though I think I’ve a right to be hurt, I don’t intend to show it. ❜

❛ Conceit spoils the finest genius. ❜

❛ Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault. ❜

❛ I am angry nearly every day of my life. ❜

❛ I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship. ❜

❛ For love casts out fear, and gratitude can conquer pride. ❜

❛ I keep turning over new leaves, and spoiling them. ❜

❛ I make so many beginnings there never will be an end. ❜

❛ Some people seemed to get all sunshine, and some all shadow. ❜

❛ I don’t pretend to be wise, but I am observing, and I see a great deal more than you’d imagine. ❜

❛ I’m interested in other people’s experiences and inconsistencies, and, though I can’t explain, I remember and use them for my own benefit. ❜

❛ I’m not like the rest of you; I never made any plans about what I’d do when I grew up. ❜

❛ I never thought of being married. ❜

❛ I wish I had no heart, it aches so. ❜

❛ Wouldn’t it be fun if all the castles in the air which we make could come true and we could live in them? ❜

❛ You’re an angel! How shall I ever thank you? ❜

❛ I have nothing to give but my heart so full and these empty hands. ❜

❛ Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort. ❜

❛ Life and love are very precious when both are in full bloom. ❜

❛ I could have been a great many things. ❜

❛ Talent isn’t genius, and no amount of energy can make it so. ❜

❛ I want to be great, or nothing. ❜

❛ If we are all alive ten years hence, let’s meet, and see how many of us have got our wishes, or how much nearer we are then than now. ❜

❛ You have grown abominably lazy, and you like gossip, and waste time on frivolous things. ❜

❛ I hate ordinary people! ❜

❛ Now and then, in this workaday world, things do happen in the delightful storybook fashion, and what a comfort that is. ❜

❛ You are like a chestnut burr, prickly outside, but silky-soft within, and a sweet kernel, if one can only get at it. ❜

❛ Love will make you show your heart someday, and then the rough burr will fall off. ❜

❛ We’ll all grow up, no pretending we won’t. ❜

❛ If I didn’t care about doing right and didn’t feel uncomfortable doing wrong, I should get on capitally. ❜

❛ I can’t help seeing that you are very lonely, and sometimes there is a hungry look in your eyes that goes to my heart. ❜

❛ Love covers a multitude of sins. ❜

❛ It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women. ❜

❛ But, like all happiness, it did not last long. ❜

❛ I do think that families are the most beautiful things in all the world! ❜

❛ How happy and good we’d be, if we had no worries! ❜

❛ I think we are all hopelessly flawed. ❜

❛ Where’s the use of looking nice, when no one sees me but those cross midgets, and no one cares whether I’m pretty or not? ❜

❛ Nothing remained but loneliness and grief. ❜

❛ I don’t think secrets agree with me, I feel rumpled up in mind since you told me that. ❜

❛ Nothing seemed impossible in the beginning. ❜

[whiteharboreda]

tags !

╰  ♔ ––    why live life from dream to dream ? /    musings & aes.

╰  ♔ ––    nothing there sings /   memes & asks .

╰ ♔ –– there was a foundation of wildness and bravery in her / visage.

╰ ♔ –– wanted / connections & plots.  

[whiteharboreda]

the  courts  offer  bread  and  salt  to  ALYSSANE  MANDERLY  née  CERWYN  of  HOUSE MANDERLY.  many  say  that  the  TWENTY - SEVEN  year  old  RULING  LADY / REGENT  of WHITE  HARBOR  is  known  to  be  SHREWD  and  CHARISMATIC ,  though  ill  tongues whisper that  she  is  CALCULATING  and  OBSTINATE .  when  her  name  is  uttered  ,  one  is reminded  of  bitterly  cold  breezes  tousling  dark  curls  ,   the   glint  of  silver  catching  the light & footprints  in  the  snow  straying  from  a  well - trodden  path .

content mentions : relationship age gap / possible murder / forced marriage / death

         she was born the eldest child of a great fool . while he garnered northern respect , harald cerwyn was a northern fool - -  with a typically foolish northern pride . perhaps , equally , he was a fool for allowing his daughter access to an unfiltered world , one that would see her discontented for the rest of her days as she began to understand her place in it . he was a fool for allowing her not to be a fool.

lady alyssane was educated in the fashion of a little lord. much to her mother’s dismay , dancing & sewing came secondary to the very minutia of ruling a house & commanding a crowd. she learned sums , history , & policy. in his daughter , harald saw a brilliant mind , a silver tongue , and a keen ability to solve problems before problems arose. what choice did he have but to cultivate such a girl ? particularly when it seemed as though she would one day rule castle cerwyn , with no male heir to contend with. to placate his wife , alyssane was subjected to the ‘education’ of a proper lady. a cunning mind was veiled with pretty smiles & elegant courtesies. she became just enough of a northern beauty that she was no apparent threat to suitors that might one day court her. 

house cerwyn itself was not the force it had been centuries prior. never quite recovering from the financial & personal tolls of the northern rebellion , and then struggling once again during the ironborn skirmishes , the house stood on its name & reputation alone. as alyssane grew older , she assisted her father with the thankless task of fortifying the coffers of her family to the limited degree that they could. 

the freedom which governed her childhood turned a headstrong girl into an emboldened young lady. no sooner could a lord arrive at the castle gates on business with her father , than alyssane would find a critical flaw in their character & engage in a verbal sparring match to prove to them that she was smarter - that she was better. she was her father’s right hand  - she would restore castle cerwyn one day. she had nothing to fear. 

alyssane’s fifteenth year saw the introduction of the biggest competition for both her father’s time & affection. an unexpected infant brother now dominated the discussion , and replaced her as heir. while she doted on the child , she could not help the resentment she felt for being so swiftly unseated. 

at nineteen , tragedy changed alyssane’s life permanently when a seemingly incurable fever took her father from her. she had mourned no more than three months before her mother informed her of her fate : marriage.  the aging lord manderly , taken by her beauty and blissfully unaware of her nature , offered the widowed lady cerwyn a financial security she could not ignore , not for herself nor for her family. alysanne would be well taken care of in the new castle , her mother reasoned. there was no need for her to remain at home. 

while the white harbor invigorated alyssane’s senses , her marriage stifled every portion of her spirit. her husband , apart from being nearly thrice her age , was demanding & unkind. he overspent the profits earned on his behalf & managed his finances poorly.  he cared very little for his wife and sought only to control a woman who deemed very early on that she would not be controlled. 

alysanne’s wifely duties soon saw her withchild. dread filled every day of her pregnancy as she imagined her husband raising a son in his own image , or treating a daughter with the same contempt & disregard that she had suffered for the better part of two years. whatever her child was , they would be the heir. her husband’s brother had fought & died protecting the port against the ironborn 22 years prior, alongside his son & heir. 

nearly two weeks before the birth of his child , after a night of heavily indulging his cups , the lord manderly was found dead in his bed. many attributed his sudden passing to his age & lifestyle , while others imagined his young wife slipping him poison, or smothering him in his sleep. alyssane did little to dissuade the rumors , knowing that they would exist regardless of her involvement. no sooner was he buried than a daughter , lysa , was born to his widow,

alysanne made no show of mourning. she wore black as she was bid , but engaged fiercely in her duties as a new ( and entirely devoted ) mother & regent.

 immediately , she took over the books of her husband , and sought out areas where revenue could increase , and spending decrease. she became a woman of the people , doing everything a lady of repute should have avoided, and frequently venturing into white harbor to converse with commonfolk about their business & the import and exports of the city. she used  personal funds to buy up brothels , converting them into more hospitable environments for both workers & patrons. she began to heavily invest in the port city , and soon reaped its rewards. within the span of a few years  , she had transformed the city & the house alike . 

all the while , gossip surrounded her. she paid little mind to the criticism & outrage. she was , for once , entirely herself.  she flaunted her wealth in the means of furs & silks & jewels , fueling the fires of conversation even further. those who did not support her, she reasoned, at least needed something to talk about.

as a result of her keen financial & political sense , alyssane secured a position as the northern kingdom’s mistress of coin. she is the first woman in the northern kingdom to hold the title .

despite all of her successes , she is very lonely . creating a reputation for herself has created more controversy than it has born new friends & allies. men are typically intimidated by her unapologetic nature , and women are scandalized by her very presence. 

for this reason , alyssane has set aside any foolish notions of romantic love , knowing that she will never marry , as she refuses to allow her independence to be taken from her , and will protect the security of her daughter’s future until her last breath. 

PERSONALITY , SUMMARY , & OTHER TIDBITS

     this is where i switch off my  ‘formal’ writing mode to give you the nitty gritty.

while alyssane is a pretty unapologetic ‘bad bitch,’ she’s far from heartless and unkind. much of her sentiment was covered with a layer of ice when she married , but she is a woman of great feeling. she cares very deeply for others , and does everything in her power to better their lives utilizing her own methods. she’s very kind in her own sort of way. almost everything she does & feels is hidden under the veils of the image that she’s created for herself. if you manage to crack the veener , you begin to see glimpses of who she might have been , and maybe still is , before life altered her so dramatically. 

she literally will not take shit from a man ( or anyone for that matter ). while she’s wildly charismatic , and has an extreme gift for speech , she does not hold any punches when she feels threatened or questioned. 

she’s also wildly wealthy , but i feel the need to clarify that that was largely of her own making in the last five or so years. nothing has been handed to her , and she’s taken great pains to create a legacy for herself & her daughter.

speaking of her daughter , she loves lysa more than she will ever love another living soul. that girl is her whole heart. 

she’s so ?? lonely ?? on a variety of different levels , but will never admit to it , because she refuses to be vulnerable.

she literally does not give ONE SHIT ( at least externally ) about what other people think about her. she uses her wealth and its ostentatious display as armor. the fact that she is very frequently entering and inspecting the books of northern brothels & interacting with folk well below her station in a professional capacity has largely made her a laughing stock to most ( at least npc’s -- i know that many of the characters here are going to be way more welcoming than i’ve characterized for her and for that i thank you ). she very much acts as though it doesn’t phase her in the slightest.do at this point , the fact that she very-well-could-have-murdered-her-husband is a pretty open secret among polite company. at this point , her wealth and the expertise she brings the northern kingdom , as well as the fact that she play the part of a lady exceedingly well is what saves her among other nobility. 

other stuff TBA as i think of it. 

she’s not as mean as she seems okay ? i love her with my whole heart pls. ..  . love her & plot with me.

[romelzacarnes]