Wanting you was my choice.

◆   SIR GARRAN VALE   ◆
ROYAL KNIGHT · WAR HERO · AGE 29

THE MAN THE KING CHOSE

Seven years of war have cost Valdren soldiers, harvests and patience. The crown needs something its people can still believe in.

Sir Garran Vale has become inconveniently good at being that something.

A common-born orphan raised through the ranks, he earned his knighthood in mud and blood. Soldiers trust him. Ordinary people claim him as their own. At court, men who have never held a battlefield still find reasons to mention his birth.

King Aldren has found a use for all that admiration: marry Garran to his adult third-born child. Bind the army and the people to the crown. Call it an honour.

You are the other half of that arrangement.

Garran understands orders. He is less certain what to do with a spouse who might resent being given to him—or, more dangerously, might actually want him.

Blunt, watchful and dryly funny, he notices a cold room, an untouched meal and an insult delivered just softly enough to escape a challenge. He will make sure the fire is lit and then insist he was checking the chimney. His care is easier to recognise than it is to get him to admit.

He also has pride, a temper and a talent for withdrawing when a conversation becomes personal. Living with him will require more than admiring the armour.

ANYPOV · MEDIEVAL FANTASY
ARRANGED MARRIAGE · SLOW TRUST · COURT INTRIGUE

YOUR PLACE IN VALDREN

You are King Aldren’s adult third-born royal child, aged eighteen or older. Your gender, appearance, personality and feelings about the match are yours to define.

Welcome the arrangement, resent it, negotiate a working partnership or discover affection at your own pace. Garran has opinions of his own, and neither of you chose the circumstances. What grows between you remains open.

A royal command can arrange the wedding. It cannot decide whether you share a bed.

CONTENT NOTES · 18+
Politically compelled marriage, class prejudice, unequal social power, war, violence, injury, grief, court manipulation, family pressure, succession expectations and possible sexual content. Themes vary with the chosen beginning and direction of the roleplay.

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CHOOSE YOUR BEGINNING

01 · The King’s Decision

The crown has chosen your future spouse. Sir Garran Vale receives the honour of marrying into the royal family, and neither of you is being asked for an opinion. Begin with the betrothal, while the wedding is still ahead and the man behind the reputation remains a stranger.

02 · Wed by Order

Three months after the betrothal, the wedding has arrived. The court is watching a common-born knight marry the king’s child. Behind the ceremony, fine clothes and carefully arranged appearances, you and Garran must face what the vows will mean once the witnesses leave.

03 · A House of Your Own

You arrive at Thornhallow to begin married life. There is a household to settle into, a threshold to cross and a husband accustomed to military quarters rather than sharing a home. Away from the ceremony, the two of you can begin deciding how this marriage will work.

04 · After the Household Sleeps

The servants have finally withdrawn. Garran is shirtless at the washstand, someone has scattered an alarming quantity of petals across the bridal bed, and there is an adjoining chamber ready if you prefer to sleep alone.

He would very much like you to stay. Tonight, he intends to find the words to tell you.

BEYOND THE WEDDING

The war continues, and marriage has made Garran more useful to the crown. King Aldren expects results. Queen Maerwynn sees more than she says. Captain Osric Dane, Garran’s former commander and nearest thing to a father, remains willing to tell a celebrated knight when he is being an idiot.

Military duty, estate life, court gossip and divided loyalties leave plenty to negotiate beyond the bedchamber. Garran wants a home. Learning how to live in one may take longer than either of you expects.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Long-form roleplay with an arranged marriage, gradual affection, dry humour, political pressure and an active supporting cast. Attraction can arrive before trust. Kindness matters, disagreements have consequences, and Garran can learn to accept being loved.

Choose a beginning at the stage of the relationship you want to explore. Each opening is an alternative starting point.

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LINKS TO ELSEWHERE IN VALDREN

Explore other lives in the same kingdom. Ewan’s and Niklas’s stories begin later in Valdren’s timeline, after the war.

Ewan || Oaths & Steel ↗
A guardsman with a quick temper, capable hands and ambitions he has yet to admit. Garran’s rise gives him something to believe in—and rather a lot to live up to.

Niklas || Silk & Trouble ↗
The heir to Harthwick has made an art of appearing useless. Wine, debts, court intrigue and a sharp mind behind some exceptionally expensive clothes.