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Standing a shade beneath six feet high, this man of Westeros appears to be in good physical shape, and his movements are quick and confident. His skin is mostly fair—only lightly tanned—and his head is crowned with a thick mane of brown hair that is cropped about his shoulders. His square jaw appears to have been shaved meticulously. His green eyes are of an emerald hue. His brow is creased with the marks of one who is often of a pensive mood. He carries himself with a great deal of confidence, as one accustomed to wealth and influence.
He is clad in a tunic of velvet stitched with supple leathers, dyed crimson and trimmed about the neck with silver foxfur. The garment is held together in the midst of his chest with velvet loops and wooden toggles fashioned of aged oak, and his trousers are of a well-spun wool cut in the latest style. Silk shoes with hard leather soles are on his feet. Two blades, one long and one short, hang at either of his hips from a black leather swordbelt overlaid with silver leaf and buckled about his waist with a fine silver buckle. The scabbards are overlaid with silver filigree.
Ser Kendros Goodbrook is a Riverknight who has made a name for himself in the Reach, which is fitting since his father is a Mullendore. He is a famed Tourney knight there, and has won a goodly amount of coin for his efforts. He is a hero of the Dornish Conquest, where he fought with the Tyrell host in the Prince’s Pass and was involved in the taking of Starfall, Blackmont, Sandstone, Hellholt, and others. Many consider him to be vainglorious, and he dresses in a manner and keeps domestics that would befit someone of a higher social and financial station, but few remark upon these shortcomings openly. He is perhaps most recently known for his abduction of Ser Josmyn Reyne following the tournament at Highgarden, a vengeance for the death of Ser Obyn Meadows during a melee there. The Lord Protector of the Reach, Ardon Tyrell, banned him from the Reach for a period of five years.
Ser Kendros was born in on the 19th day of the second month of 134 to the Lady Ellenei Goodbrook and Ser Joffrey Mullendore. His grandfather, Lord Abros, married Lady Eldene meadows and had only daughters, and Ellenei was the oldest. She took to husband Ser Joffrey Mullendore, a well-respected knight of the Reach, and Ser Kendros was the firstborn and heir to the house. He lacked for nothing as a child, though the Goodbrooks were of modest wealth. His relations with his siblings were always close, though from a young age he had a tendency to act on impulse. This habit was indulged and laughed at, however, rather than corrected, and has had an effect upon his life.
On his seventh nameday, he was sent to the seat of his great uncle, Lord Manard Meadows, to serve as a page. At twelve he was squired to Ser Patrek Vance, the consort to Lady Tinessa Tully. Many considered this ambitious of his mother and remarked upon it, but the Lady Tinessa and his mother were quite friendly at the time and so was rather simple to arrange. Kendros learned the ways of a knight quickly; he regularly beat the hides of other boys his age in the practice field, including Ser Patrek’s own son Edmure. This did not endear him to Edmure, and Ser Patrek always seemed to find extra work for Goodbrook when Edmure would emerge from the master at arms’ training with fresh bruises. Kendros was not stupid, and quickly caught on to this, but he seemed to find that he could not help himself. Something about Edmure annoyed him, and he was never one to give ground to begin with. It was during this time that he discovered he had a real affinity for the poleaxe; a septon was watching one day and remarked to the master at arms that the way Kendros wielded it, the axe might have been part of him. From that day on he was often teasingly called Longaxe by the master at arms. The name stuck.
Around the time he was seventeen, he discovered that he could regularly defeat most knights with a blade and lance, and he became increasingly difficult to control. He acted impulsively; he took advantage of a few highborn ladies who would visit Riverrun from time to time. He would make japes at Edmure’s expense when the mood struck him, and he would frequently argue with Ser Patrek when he asked to be allowed to participate in tournaments and was usually told they were for knights, an answer which did not suit him. Patrek would always punish him, but Kendros was fairly stubborn.
When Kendros was nineteen, in 153, there was a tournament at Riverrun, and as usual, Ser Patrek was loath to allow him to participate. He rode in it anyway, donning a mask and calling himself the Knight of Sorrows. He unhorsed many of the finest knights in the Riverlands in that tournament, among them Lord Joseth Smallwood, Euson Mooton, and Balian Blackwood, the last of which he faced in the finale. He was only found out when Ser Patrek sought his squire and could not find him. It was at this point that Ser Patrek knighted him. It was obvious that Kendros merited spurs and by this point he was simply ready to be rid of him. Within a week, Kendros was gone from Riverrun.
He stayed at Goodbrook for only a short time before setting out to tournaments, making a good name for himself and a fair amount of coin as well by competing. He competed frequently in the Reach, for that was usually where the biggest purses were to be had, using Grassy Vale as a base and striking out from there to every competition he could find. He occupied himself with this for several years before the conquest of Dorne begain in earnest.
When word reached him of King Daeron’s intent to invade Dorne he was in Oldtown; he quickly rode to his father’s people in Uplands and offered his axe, which was gleefully accepted; he rode with the Tyrell host through the Prince’s Pass. He schemed incessantly to have himself placed in the van; some called him a gloryhound, but they could not deny that he had an aptitude for war. He was frequently among the first over a wall, and delighted in a pitched battle. The frequent skirmishing in the Prince’s Pass was not to his taste at all. He acquired a sincere taste for religion during this time due to Pepin Preachfire’s sermons. He fought like a wounded tiger during the battle against Lord Fowler’s forces on the southern end of the Prince’s Pass. His axe cut a bloody swathe through the Dornishmen as he led from the front. Longaxe attributed his prowess to the Warrior’s blessing on his life conferred by Preachfire. To this day, he will not go out of his door or start a fight without saying a prayer for strength and cunning, and he believes he lives a charmed life.
He fought in the rest of the conquest admirably, earning much acclaim and taking a great deal of plunder from Dorne. He returned home briefly after the Conquest and then resumed the tournament circuit, riding all over the Reach and Stormlands, to wherever there was a tournament, to finance himself. Then, in 162 he visited a tournament at Highgarden, and events took a turn. His cousin, Ser Obyn Meadows was slain by Ser Alek and Ser Josmyn Reyne in a manner that Longaxe found cowardly and vile. The Queen ordered the payment of a blood price—an old custom that was never destined to be completely accepted. During the court’s journey back from Highgarden, Longaxe and his distant kinsman Ser Edwyd Bulwer conspired and in a surprise attack made off with Ser Josmyn as a captive. Knights of the Reach under the command of Ser Dagur Saltcliffe gave chase, catching up just outside the walls of Grassy Vale. A short battle was fought before Longaxe made it into the keep with his captive. Parlay was granted and it was agreed that single combat would be arranged, at which point Alyard Corbray slew Ser Edwyd. Ser Dagur took Longaxe into custody through trickery, holding Lord Manard and his men in the shot of dozens of arrows, and sent him to be tried before Lord Ardon Tyrell, the Lord Protector of the Reach, at Highgarden, for breaking the peace.
Tyrell decided that Longaxe would serve an exile of five years, punishing him by cutting off his main source of income. Longaxe returned home briefly before riding for King’s Landing. The best tournaments left open to him would be held there, and he had bones to pick with several people living there now, including Ser Dagur, Ser Alek, and Ser Josmyn.
2nd month, 20th day - Ser Kendros departs Goodbrook for Grassy Vale, where he is to serve as a page to his great-uncle, Lord Manard Meadows.
6th month, 13th day - Ser Kendros is taken as a squire by Ser Patrek Vance due to his mother’s relationshp with Lady Tinessa Tully.
10th month, 15th day - A tournament at Riverrun. Though still a squire, Ser Kendros enters the lists in diguise as the Knight of Sorrows and unhorses all challengers, including Lord Joseth Smallwood, Euson Mooton, and Balian Blackwood. He is found out by Ser Patrek, and in the sight of everyone he is awarded his spurs, long after Kendros, in his opinion, thought he merited them. Kendros departs Riverrun shortly thereafter.
1st month, 29th day - The news of King Daeron’s intention to invade and subjugate Dorne reaches Ser Kendros, who is at a tournament in Oldtown. He immediately rides for Uplands to offer his aid to the Mullendores.
4th month, 9th day - Ser Kendros enters the Prince’s Pass in the company of Tyrell’s host.
6th month, 12th day - Ser Kendros is blessed by Preachfire before a battle with Lord Fowler’s host. He fights so fiercely that day that he becomes convinced that Preachfire’s blessing means he is touched by the Warrior himself. Kendros becomes markedly more religious by this point, though many remark that it serves to inflate his own ego than anything else.
8th month, 24th day - During a tournament at Highgarden, Ser Kendros’ close friend and kinsman, Ser Obyn Meadows, is killed by Ser Alek Reyne and Ser Josmyn Reyne. Ser Kendros takes this as a murderous act, and tensions run high. The Queen orders that the Reynes pay a blood price, but Ser Kendros is not placated by this act. In his view, a house as rich as the Reynes is not even inconvenienced by the sum ordered.
9th month, 21st day - During the return of the court to Highgarden, several nobles leave the barges upon the Mander to hunt. Having left previously and made for Grassy Vale, Ser Kendros springs a surprise upon the nobles. Several Meadows men at arms, led by Ser Kendros and Ser Edwyd Bulwer, another kinsman, assault the hunting party and abscond with Ser Josmyn Reyne. They make for Grassy Vale with a party under the leadership of Ser Dagur Saltcliffe in pursuit.
9th month, 29th day - After his kinsman-by-marriage Ser Edwyd Bulwer was killed in single combat against Ser Alyard Corbray, Longaxe was prepared to fight on despite it all, for honor and a glorious death if nothing else. But the Iron Serpent, Ser Dagur Saltcliffe, had bowmen at the ready, even as Kendros held a sword to his throat. In the end, Ser Kendros saw sense and gave up his arms, and was taken prisoner to be sent to the Lord Protector of the Reach, Ser Ardon Tyrell, for judgment.
10th month, 15th day - Ser Ardon Tyrell judges that Ser Kendros did greivance wrong as a guest of the Reach, by taking part in the illict seizure of Ser Josmyn Reyne, a matter which might have precipitated a private war as various allies of the parties joined in. IT was fortunate that the king’s trusted servant, Ser Dagur Saltcliffe, was on hand to prevent matters from worsening. In judgment, out of respect for the loss Ser Kendros suffered at the melee in Highgarden, with the death of his kinsman and dear friend Ser Obyn, Ser Ardon bans Ser Kendros from the Reach for the period of five years.
12th month, 15th day - Ser Kendros arrived in King’s Landing with two domestics and most of his possessions to take up residence in the Red Keep for a time.
12th month, 16th day - MEET THE LONGAXE: A rare day of pleasant autumn weather in King’s Landing found a few of its noble denizens taking their leisure in the Southern yards. The Lady ALYCE Bar Emmon and the Valeknight Ser URSTON Coldwater conversed cordially enough, and then Ser Urston invited an unfamiliar face to join them. This unfamiliar face belonged to Ser KENDROS Goodbrook, the Longaxe, who introduced himself, which naturally provoked a response.
Others made themselves known then: Ser LUTHOR Rivers, the Warden of the Kingswood, and Ser ALEK Reyne the Goldcloak (and a man Longaxe considers a mortal foe). Tensions flared quickly, but most people simply seemed confused. For indeed, Longaxe was not a snarling, drooling barbarian, nor a sun-crazed Dornishman; he was polite enough, though perhaps prickly about his honor, and convinced that the cool reception he had received was due to Reyne machinations.
Ser Urston made a brief comment upon learning Longaxe’s name which roused Longaxe’s ire—notably the use of the word craven, which Ser Urston claimed came from the lips of Ser JOSMYN Reyne, though Longaxe called Ser Urston to account for his words with his blade. ser Luthor intervened here, stating that any who threatened his knights would answer to him. Longaxe commended the demeanor, that a good knight should always protect his subordinates, but then argued that if Ser Luthor’s subordinates made a habit of insulting their fellow knights, then he was a poor excuse for a Warden. This was a sentiment with which Ser Luthor could agree. Ser Urston apologized, however, and all was well, though Longaxe issued a decree that any man who dared called him craven could meet him on the field of honor to answer before the Seven.
Longaxe and Ser Alek, for all the enmity between them, exchanged words only briefly. They made a show of ignoring each other for most of the interlude, though in one instance Ser Kendros made a note of the black ribbon he wore about his arm: mourning for Ser OBYN Meadows, a man closer to the Longaxe than a brother, who he still claims was murdered by Ser Josmyn and Ser Alek; his hatred of them seems to have spread to the entire Reyne clan by now.
Challenged on his opinions by the Lady Alyce, Ser Kendros only argued briefly, though mostly he seemed perplexed and confused that anyone would defend a Reyne. She left presently for her daily prayers, leaving Ser Kendros with Ser Urston, Ser Alek, and the recent arrival of Ser MATHIN Lannister. Ser Mathin and Ser Alek had been making small talk about Alek’s duties as a goldcloak before Ser Mathin chose to educate the Longaxe about the little lion’s recent exploits in the Joust of Devotion. Longaxe, a famous tournament knight in his own right, seemed at least mildly impressed. Ser Alek quickly departed for the sept.
Then Ser WILLARD came, having only dark words to offer in greeting for the Longaxe. Ser Willard demanded to know why the knight dare show his face in the city, but Longaxe did not seem interested in arguing about it. Ser Mathin quickly lost interest and departed, but Ser Willard pressed the issue, accusing him of running from Ser Willard on two occasions now. Longaxe made a remark about a tactical withdrawal, as he had achieved his objective when he had fled. Ser Willard mocked this, and Longaxe replied with a disparaging remark about Ser Willard’s service in the Dornish conquest. Then he left, clearly tired of being harried by the Ryger knight.
12th month, 17th day - KING’S LANDING: Longaxe, Rose, Key… Kraken?: On an evening in the Old Keep, Ser KENDROS Longaxe came face to face with the sister of the man who exiled him from the Reach: Lady REYNA Saltcliffe, the Silver Rose. Lady Reyna was in the company of the Veiled Ladies when Kendros approached. For all the enmity that would be suggested between them, they were cordial enough. Ser Kendros exhibited a great deal of piety and the two discussed certain things which do not merit a public airing, yet one thing that most agree upon is that they got on well enough, and there was some discussion of Reyna arranging an audience with the Queen.
Then a Northman, MARIC Locke, recently arrived, entered, and they engaged in some brief discussion about the state of the court and recent events, including Ser AMMON Massey’s handling of the death of his sister, DORYSSA.
This continued for some time until Ser DAGUR Saltcliffe arrived. He and Longaxe were polite enough to each other, though few who saw it believe they will be sharing a tankard any time soon. Ser Dagur soon departed with his lady wife in tow.
Lastly, KATLA Greyjoy made her entrance. She spoke with Maric and Kendros briefly, though Maric soon made his departure. Whatever they discussed, it seems that Ser ALBYN Crane was a topic.
6th month, 2nd day - Word spreads throughout the Red Keep and into the streets, for Ser KENDROS Goodbrook, the Longaxe, is known throughout the realm as jouster of some repute and a hero of the Young Dragon’s conquest: he is to be married.
In fact, he himself learned of the good news only this afternoon, on receipt of a raven from his family’s seat in the Riverlands. Lady Ellenei Goodbrook has concluded a marriage contract with Lord Kennald Buckler to wed her heir to his only daughter, Eddane. The terms of the betrothal are rumored to be favorable to the Goodbrook heir, at least judging by his upbeat demeanor.
Melee at Grassy Vale - The search for Ser Josmyn Reyne turns to blood upon the fields before Grassy Vale.
Reach Justice - As the knights in pursuit of Edwyd Bulwer and Kendros Goodbrook, the Longaxe, pause on the banks of the Blue Byrn to take a short rest and meal and consider their next steps, Ser Myles Hightower begins a discussion with Ser Janden Melcolm, a Knight of the Vale, on the culpability of this feud between the Reynes and Meadows. Ser Willard Ryger interjects and questions Ser Myles’ knowledge of chivalry, and Ser Myles takes umbrage at Ser Willard’s haughty tone and presumption to dispense justice in the Reach. Before the altercation is done, Ser Myles promises that Ser Willard will be called upon for satisfaction upon the return to the capital.
The Spooky Woods - A twilight hunt turns horribly wrong as kidnapping ensues.
Category://King’s Landing -> People