Prologue \ Pallas History

If you were a Pallas, you were born with a gift. A gift that made you able to see into the future of anyone that you touched. The future they saw, wasn't, weren't of that of the distant, but of what was to come in days, or even in the shortcoming months. Once this was discovered, many houses recruited a Pallas to be by their side as a personal advisor. To aid them in their decision making. The position and the knowledge of their gift put a target on their heads to whoever wanted to oppose the person they were working for.

Marcus Pallas, first of his name, and the eldest of the Pallas clan, was called upon by the Mad King, Aerys Targaryen. To stand by his side and advise him. As time went on, Marcus began to realize what type of man his king was going to become, and soon turned to his hand, Tywin Lannister. Not to turn him against the king, but to help him rule the kingdoms so the bloodbath he saw in one of his visions wouldn't come to pass. It worked, for a time. Until people began to whisper that Tywin was the one true king. Aerys didn't enjoy such rumors, and because of it, he tormented Tywin. Using his wife's name in discussions that were foul.

To try and regain footing in his position as king, Aerys asked how he was going to die in the audience of his council. Marcus placed his hand on their king's shoulder. Hoping that the vision he was about to see was one that his king would want to hear, and would equally match his ego. The vision that he saw was something that he didn't want to repeat. He looked at Tywin for a moment before returning his attention to the mad king as he demanded to know what he saw.

When his personal advisor told him, vaguely, that a man draped in a cloak of trust and honor, wasn't going to look him in the eye and ask to take his life. He was just going to take it from him. Through the shadows where he would be blinded. Aerys Targaryen didn't take his fortune lightly, or as a sign that maybe he should change his ways. Instead, he took what was said to him as a threat, and accused Marcus of plotting against him, of treason.

Soon after, the Pallas name became the blame for anything and everything that was treacherous. Their heads became nothing more than trophies to give to the king for coin. People want to know their future until it is told to them. Especially when it's not what they want to hear. The Pallas name was no longer one spoken amongst pleasantries. It was better suited in the discussion of traitors.

Their gift of telling one's future with a simple touch was turned into something twisted. Making it more a curse than a blessing. It caused many small battles between them and other small houses until the Pallas family, and their name seemed to vanish from existence.

They had excluded themselves deep inside a forest that had been long forgotten. What was left of their name was passed by Messengers of their own planting. Spreading lies about them, their gift, and how it worked. They even went as far as to proclaim that their gift fades with each generation. In hopes that in time, these lies could lay down the foundation of their return.

When Robert Baratheon started his rebellion, he needed men. He didn't care who as long as they fought beside him. When the Pallas' were brought to his attention, he knew that they probably wanted vengeance and what better way for them to get it than to join his cause. So he sent out a messenger to find them, and to have them bring what was left of their army. When they appeared through the fog covered forest, Robert thought he had made a mistake. Their army looked few but, once they fully emerged from hiding, Robert was more than pleased with what they had.

Very few words were spoken between Robert and Marcus' firstborn son, Aldis. Other than a promise. A promise that if Robert won his war, the Pallas name would be honored again, and they would be given their own land where he would be a lord. When Aldis agreed to the terms, he and his army were ordered to join under Robert's younger brother, Stannis Baratheon. To help him hold Storm's End. The ancestral Baratheon castle.

When Storm's End came under siege by Lord Tyrell, Stannis was true to his orders. He resisted and refused to yield despite being forced to eat the horses, cats, and dogs of the castle. Some believe that Aldis' son Oliver, gave him the hope that they would get through this troubled time by telling him: Be Prepared. Our salvation will come, and it will come with a price. Stannis found out what those words meant once they were saved from starvation with a delivery of onions and salted fish. Thanks to the smuggler named Davos. A man Stannis knighted as a reward and punished by cutting four of his fingertips. The price.

Once everything was over, and it was time for the men to part ways. Stannis walked up to Oliver while he was packing up his horse, and asked him if the time that he touched his shoulder, he saw what was to come in one of his visions. This amused question caused the young Pallas to stop what he was doing, as he thought about what he should say as he glanced over to his father. Instead of answering the question, he continued his task at hand and retorted with a question of his own. He asked Stannis if that is what he believed. When the Baratheon answered with an I do, Oliver got on his horse and replied back: Then there lies your answer.

After their duty, Robert kept to his word after he claimed the Iron Throne, and Aldis became lord of the forest that they excluded themselves to so many years ago. Their sigil was that of an owl, a symbol of knowledge sitting on a branch, and their motto was simple. Be Prepared. Even with their rebirth of honor, and respect from the new king, they still kept to themselves. Excluded from the rest of the world.

They were different in how they ruled their lands. Even though Aldis and his family were considered royalty, they did nothing their common folk wouldn't do. Everyone was clothed and fed. If one starved, they all starved. If one was bare, they all would be bare.

The people that lived there choice what they wanted to be. Man or woman. If a woman wanted to fight, she would be trained to fight. If a man wanted to learn how to mend, he would be taught to do so without question. Same went with the Pallas' family. They would all learn one common thing, however, and that was survival. To be prepared. Everyone was required to know how to hunt, butcher, skin, farm, and defend themselves. So if one day they would be scattered across the land again, they could live by their own terms, without having to depend on someone to take care of them but, things were changing.

Adlis knew that before he passed away, leaving his son Oliver to be lord of the forest. They needed to expand, they needed to grow. Oliver knew it too, but he also knew it wasn't going to be easy. His family's beliefs, beliefs that he had them grow under needed to be broken. So they could continue to thrive.

They never believed in wedding within another family for a stronger alliance. They believed an alliance was as good as it's word, and that one should marry the one they love. Oliver needed to find a way to create alliances with other houses without dishonoring himself, his family, and who and what they fought for during the rebellion. The only thing he needed to figure out, was how.