I was thinking it was someone like Hoster Tully’s order that I be sent to away to raised elsewhere.   There is an alliance between the Vale and the Riverlands. Given this house is lower on the pecking order in the Vale may have convinced to take me on.  It might be instead of being a ward I am a squire.  Works with the backstory and is possibly a better reason to be in another house.

Eddard Stark was fostered by Jon Arryn, but he wasn't a Ward, the way Theon Greyjoy was.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:25, Thu 18 June 2020.

From Wiki of Ice and Fire: The custom of fosterage is common among the nobility of Westeros. It is seen as a way of establishing friendships and alliances.[1] For example, Lord Jon Arryn became a second father to his two foster children, Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon, during the years they were fostered by Arryn at the Eyrie.[2] Additionally, fosterage is seen as a means of education.[1] For example, boys can be fostered out as squires, training for knighthood.[3] Most commonly the fostered child is male,[1] although it is not unheard of for females to be fostered. The fostered child can be trueborn or bastard born.[4] Hostages may be fostered; for example, Theon Greyjoy.[5] In the Free City of Norvos, children are usually not fostered out.[6][7]

So yes, terms are somewhat interchangeable.

I just checked that too Orange! And it seems that they use the term interchangeably.

I haven't done that. When you are a hostage, I have called that a ward. When it's voluntary, I have called that fosterage. You only get the Ward drawback when you are a hostage.

I think being fostered just means the child is cared for and given an education. My takeaway is that you can be fostered as a ward, but being fostered doesn't make you a ward.

Yes, both those who are willingly fostered and hostages are referred to as "fostered".

So what are your thoughts on being a squire?  Is there a knight I could be squire for in the group?

As we have been using the terms differently, let me ask a clarifying question. Is it your intention that your character has the Ward drawback?

No I am scrapping the idea of being a ward.  As I can't see a decent reason for my to a ward in the agreed definition.

I am asking what are people's thoughts of me being a squire to someone.

I think there might be a few opportunities to squire for one of the characters. I will let them speak up definitively.

The reason why I was asking, in addition to understanding if we were talking about the same thing, was that even though your story doesn't exactly match the description in the rules, I can allow you to take the Ward drawback. If that is still what you want.

In regards to knights and squires, you'd have to ask the other players or be the squire of an NPC knight.

 I am thinking of playing a knight and didn't have any locked in thoughts about squires yet.

How old do you want your character to be?

About 14-15.  I think that is classified as young adult.

Okay, so they were born during or just after the rebellion. That works just fine. Would they still be part of the scandalous Riverlands house? That would probably mean House Sylvayn was fostering you, since most children who are to squire, start as pages around the age of 7 or so and become squires around 10 (though some go straight to squiring).

I think I will keep the scandalous Riverland house.  So this would mean I’ve been fostered longer than I had originally thought but that’s ok.

In reply to Silver (msg # 50):

Sounds good! Can't have too many childhood compatriots.

Out of curiosity, is it uncommon or frowned upon for knights to have more than one squire?

For me, I wouldn't have a problem with a knight having more than one squire.

I can't recall anyone explicitly having more than one or it explicitly being stated that you cannot have more than one in the TV series.

Neat, good to know.  I think Silver and I have come to an agreement as far as their character being a squire (and former page) to mine.

  So one of the events I rolled for Corwyn's backstory was that he was present at a significant tournament as a young adult. My kneejerk thought was perhaps he had competed at the Tourney at Harrenhal, but I also considered that maybe House Sylvayn had its own great tourney that drew knights and the like to our mighty castle. Alternatively, there could have been significant tournaments elsewhere in the Kingdoms.

  What do you all think? What tournament was Corwyn at and what made it so significant?

In reply to Gray (msg # 55):

Hmmmm... maybe you met the young Robert Baratheon? He used to live in the Vale and probably competed here.

  Ah, perhaps!  I forgot briefly about Robert and Eddard having fostered at the Eyrie.

In reply to Gray (msg # 57):

King Robert seems like he'd care more about his old tournament buddies than high nobles.

I suppose Corwyn is around the same age as the two of them, this is an interesting line of thought.