✦ ✧──── 𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐋 ────✧ ✦

       HOUSE ESTEMORE'S sigil is a fox with a white salmon on a blue winter's ground. Their house words "One struggle, one people, one destiny" represents  the unification of the house under the founder Henrik the Fisher, who pulled together the people of Long Lake during a horrible winter seven hundred years ago.



✦ ✧──── 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ────✧ ✦

HOUSE ESTEMORE of the North is a vassal house which holds fealty to House Stark alongside House Mandal of the Northern region of Westeros. Their seat is Lakewell, located east of Winterfell and at the southern point of Long Lake. It is currently ruled by the Lord Henrik Estemore.

House Estemore is known famously for their timber and small fishing industry, which is ran out of Long Lake and provides much of the timber to the central north. During winters, the people around Long Lake manage to stay fed by carving holes into the ice that freezes of the lake and fishing out of huts that are temporarily constructed. During summers, fishing is plentiful and boats can be seen on the lake quite frequently.



✦ ✧──── 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐓 ────✧ ✦

Lakewell Keep was built into the side of the rocky hills on Long Lake's shore by the founder of House Estemore, Henrik the Fisher. After receiving lordship from one of the old Stark kings, construction of the castle was put into place immediately. The structure consists mostly of granite, which was mined from the small surrounding deposits of the rock along Long Lake.



✦ ✧──── 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 ────✧ ✦

The founder of the house was once simply a lone hunter, born a commoner with nothing to his name. As a young man, Henrik Estemore allowed himself to be hired onto farmers land to defend against predators and Wildlings that managed to slip passed the Wall every now and then. As payment for his services, he was granted food and board. Skilled in the ways of axe and bow, Henrik was a fine hunter as well as swordsman when the occasion called.

As a hunter, a soft foot was required to effectively hunt game that was hard to find. When he would return to the villages around Long Lake with uncommon pelts of animals such as grey foxes that he would sell to craftsman, he was often jokingly called "the grey fox".

During one of the hardest winters the north had seen in generations, Henrik managed to conjure a way for the north to stay fed despite the harsh conditions. Coining the idea of ice fishing on Long Lake once the ice was frozen solid saved the village and many of the areas surrounding it, including the Starks in Winterfell.

As reward for his service, he was made a lord and was presented with the Valyrian steel tomahawk that became the Estemore's ancestral weapon, "Winter's Bane".



✦ ✧──── 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐎𝐍 ────✧ ✦

House Estemore has practiced the religion of the Old Gods since creation of their house. As most northern castles, their ancestral seat was built around a Weir Tree, specifically one that was found in the low mountains surrounding the eastern bank of Long Lake. As the religion is practiced, there is pantheon of innumerable and unnamed forest spirits that the Northmen worship. Once the chief religion of the country, it is primarily worshipped in the North and smaller numbers elsewhere in Westeros. There are no major customs practiced like the Faith of the Seven in the south, which was brought by the Andals.

Worshipers of the Old Gods do not have elaborate ceremonies, holy texts, hierarchies of priests, or large structures of worship like followers of the Faith of the Seven. Instead they practice quiet contemplation in godswoods, small areas of forest which have been enclosed within a castle's walls. Worship in a godswood is centered on heart trees, which are great weirwood trees with a face carved into the bark. Weirwoods are considered sacred in the religion, and heart trees are the closest thing to a "shrine" that it possesses. Oaths and promises sworn in front of a heart tree are considered binding. The only ceremony of their religion we have seen is the ceremony of marriage, during which the bride is brought before the weirwood tree in the Godswood to beg the blessing of the Gods for her marriage.

The old religion is very low demanding, unlike the Faith of Seven with its countless rules. The only thing upheld fiercely by the religion is that of the offense by the crimes of kinslaying, incest and violation of the guest right, but homosexuality is apparently not considered sinful or blasphemous.

━ ( 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐎 HOUSE MANDAL. )

House Estemore and House Mandal have held good relations for centuries. With countless arranged marriages, their loyalty to each other has been honored ever since the initial binding by marriage when a Mandal lord took on an Estemore woman as his wife. After the initial union, marriages were forged throughout the centuries.

✦ ✧──── 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐒 ────✧ ✦

          ° LADY HELEN ESTEMORE, formerly known as Helen Mandal, wife of Lord Henrik, Lady of Lakewell; alive.
         ▪ SER UNKNOWN NAME, former guard for House Estemore; presumed dead.
          ° RORIK SNOW, bastard of Lakewell, Sworn Brother of the Night's Watch, Watcher of the Wall, Ranger; alive.
         ▪ LORD HENRIK ESTEMORE, known as "Lord Estemore", Lord of Lakewell & Long Lake; alive.
          ° LORD LUKAS ESTEMORE, their first born, Heir to Lakewell & Long Lake; alive.
          ° LADY EVOLET ESTEMORE, their only daughter and second born; alive.
     • HENRIK THE FISHER ( ESTEMORE ), the founder of House Estemore; deceased.
° BRIANNA SNOW, bastard and commoner of Long Lake, wife to Henrik the Fisher, and First Lady of House Estemore; deceased.

MEMBERS OF HOUSE MANDAL

• LORD BRODERICK MANDAL, former Lord of Cotherstone; deceased, died during Robert's Rebellion.
     ▪LADY ESTER MANDAL, his wife of House Tallhart; deceased, taken by suicide.
      ° LORD TOBIAS MANDAL, their eldest son, former Heir of Cotherstone; deceased, died during Robert's Rebellion.
      ° LORD DARREN MANDAL, their second born son, known as "Lord Mandal", Lord of Cotherstone; alive.
         ▪ LADY VIVIAN MANDAL, his late wife of House Varik; deceased, taken by child birth with their second daughter.
          ° LADY AUBREY MANDAL, their eldest daughter, Heir to Cotherstone; alive.
          ° LADY ENITH MANDAL, their second born daughter; alive.