Important Note: The Great Ruling Houses of Westeros are roster only Houses. Every other Westerosi House may have some to a lot of canon characters in them as well that can also be found on the roster, but additional characters can be added to the family tree. If you wish to have a fuller control of a House's family tree please select one of the numerous unused Houses (Preferably a Reach House) and flesh that empty house out.
Biography Requirements
- Third-Person Perspective: For the in-game biography, just give us the facts. If you want to tell your character's story from his or her point of view, or some other interesting perspective, please do so on their wiki page.
- Keep It Concise, But Complete: Please give us roughly 300-400 words. As mentioned above, feel free to put an expanded BG on the wiki. In fact, we encourage this. But we prefer more concise, easy-to-digest biographies in the game itself.
- It can be tough restricting one's verbosity. But it makes it easier on staff and speeds up the approval process, and it also obliges you to focus on what's really important about your character.
- When trying to reduce your BG to fit the preferred size, try cutting out words like "very", "that", "quite", and "almost".
- Word Counter is a great tool for keeping track of your BG size while you work on it.
- If an extended biography is done on the wiki, please don't have anything left out of the in-game biography that will later have staff going, "Uh, you're from a family of Wargs!? That wasn't in the in-game biography!" As stated above, it's the in-game biography we use to establish approval. These sort of discrepancies are not looked well upon (as if you were trying to slip it through), so please be aware of such things when making the biography.
Biography Guidelines
You don't need to answer every single question below. You don't need to use what's below at all. But if you're stuck, or running dry this should hopefully give a boost to the biography.
- Born: Full name, date, location.
- Family: Mother's name and maiden name. Father's name. Siblings? How many? What are their names? How old are they and where does the character fit in the birth order?
- Family Dynamic: Does the family get along? Militant and disciplined? Loveless? Too lovey? Tight-knit? Scattered to the winds?
- Upbringing: What sort of wealth level is the family the character was raised in. What sort of upbringing was involved in your character's childhood?
- What sort of schooling or education did/does your character have? Please note that not all noble houses have maester's assigned to them. The family must have a Wealth: Rich to have a Maester assigned to them.
- In what subject(s) did your character excel or do poorly?
- What is the character's occupation?
- What sort of wage/wealth/earning does the character make?
- Has the character started a family?
- What sorts of recreations and hobbies does the character engage in?
- What sort of personality has been shaped by the events above?
Biography Pitfalls
Here are a few things that come up in biographies frequently that almost always require revision or removal. Avoiding these pitfalls will expedite the approval process.
- Dragons! After an accident of a dragon nearly burning down a huge amount of the Reach's crops that crippled food production for the whole of Westeros, it was a royal decree that in times of peace, no dragon may be flown or ridden, or enter in any form within the borders of the Reach. This includes ickle cute 'harmless' baby dragons, disabled dragons, dwarf dragons, disobedient dragons, no dragons whatsoever. If the character has the ability to be a dragon rider, it is being kept in King's Landing or Dragonstone while they are living in/visiting Oldtown.
- Heads of Houses and Heirs Being a Lord that is Head of House or even the direct heir to a house can provide tricky grounds to develop reasoning for being in Oldtown.
- Psychological Disorders It may seem fun to play someone with mental instabilities. But usually, it just makes others uncomfortable, paints you as an attention-hog, and is rarely played realistically. Mental illness isn't a wacky fun time. It is very serious, very sad, and frequently disturbing. In theme, such people are typically confined to a motherhouse. If you are actually considering playing a character with a mental disorder of some kind, please talk to staff first. We want to handle this subject with the respect and seriousness it deserves.
- Moustache-Twisting Villains It isn't that we don't want villainous characters. We do! We just want them to have depth and motivation for the things they do. Remember, most villains feel entirely justified in what they do, and many see themselves as heroes. The sort of villains that are evil for the sake of being evil just isn't going to be approved. The Song of Ice and Fire setting is filled with near entirely "grey hats", a rare "white hat", and a small handful of "black hats".
Biography Mad-Lib
Below is a Biography Mad-lib that was put together to help give a boost if one needs one.
<NAME> was born on <BIRTHDATE>, <a/an> <ADJ.> <winter/spring/summmer/fall> <day/night> in <BIRTHPLACE> to <FATHERNAME> <SURNAME> and <MOTHERNAME> (<MAIDENNAME>) <SURNAME>. <FATHERNAME> <is/was> a <RANKING> <STATUS> who <is/was> <a/an> <OCCUPATION>. <MOTHER> <is/was> a <RANKING> <STATUS> who <is/was> <a/an> <OCCUPATION>. They were <ADJ.> parents to <NAME> and childhood for <him/her> was <Rearing Description>. Since the family was <WEALTH LEVEL> <she/he> <had/didn't have> access to <adj.> education and activities. A few of <her/his> favorite things to do growing up were <HOBBY1> and <HOBBY2>. The <SURNAME> and <MOTHER MAIDEN> families are both <adj.> and <adj.>, and <NAME>'s relationship with all of them is <adj.>.
Due to <her/his> <adj.> and <adj.> nature, <he/she> <is/isn't> usually well liked among the smallfolk and among the nobility they are normally <adj.>.
Knights Add-on
When he was <6-10> <Name> became a page for House <Housename>. During that time he ran messages, served at meals, cleaned clothing and weapons, and learned the basics of combat. Several years later when he was <10-16> he became a squire to Ser <Firstname> <Surname>. They got along <adj.> and <Name> learned a lot about what it takes to be a Knight. When he turned <16-20> he stood vigil in the Sept of <Location> before the Warrior's figure all night. Once the vigil was complete he was anointed with seven oils by Septon <PriestName> and then dubbed by the sword of <KNIGHT/LORD/KINGsname> and he became Ser <NAME> <SURNAME> thereafter.
Godsworn Add-on
When <he/she> was <born-15>, <NAME> was given to the <Sept/Temple> of <Location>. There they were educated and raised in <pious austereness/adj.>. On their 16th year, they took solomn vows and became a <Septon/Septa/Priest/Priestess/Silent Sister/> and has thereafter served <Deity> <adj.>.
Marriage (Faith of the Seven) Add-on
<Name> had been betrothed to <Fiance's Fullname> since <he/she> was <born-15>. Upon reaching the age of majority at 16, the wedding plans began and the wedding took place on <date> at <Location>. It was <a/an> <adj.> occasion. When the cloaks were exchanged it was decided that <Bride> <would/wouldn't> take the <House> name for her own. The bedding <was/was not> eventful. <PG-13 description.> The next day they went to <Location> to spend their newly joined lives together.
Children Add-on
It was a <adj> <day/night> of <Date> when <MOTHER> gave birth to their <1st/2nd/3rd/4th/etc> born child, a <son/daughter> that they named, <BABYname>.
About Pets
Characters, of course, may have them. Even quite weird, exotic ones. However, unless the character or the pet is a warg, they are not going to resemble a D&D Druid's Animal Companion. This is a low fantasy setting. Animals act like animals. Unless it's a horse, or a dog, or a maester trained raven, it's not going to be an obedient and useful companion. Wild animals can and often do make engaging, charming, and affectionate companions, but they're not helpful. Wild animal pets, when properly cared for and given a great deal of attention, become engaging, charming, affectionate pains in the ass.