| Vitaerys |
[April 28, 2008 @ 5:59pm] |
(ooc)
Name: Rachel
Age: 18
E-mail: zestina@gmail.com
AIM: qweendomcome
RP Experience: You know.
(ic)
Name: Vitaerys Waters, Bastard and Lord of Driftmark
Journal ID: driftmark
Date of Birth and Age: 881, 27yo
Gender: Male
House: Velaryon, bannermen to Dragonstone. The Citadel says:
The Velaryons are of the ancient blood of Valyria and have three times provided brides for Targaryen princes. Their motto is, “The Old, the True, the Brave.” The lords of the house, of which the current one is Monford Velaryon, style themselves as Lords of the Tides and Masters of Driftmark.
(Is it just me, or is Monford a really embarrassing name? I mean, would you name your kid Monford?)
Stronghold(s): Driftmark
Occupation: Master of Ships
Desired PB:
Boyd Holbrook
Gabriel Aubry
Okay. I know I suck at finding PB's so this may just be me, but where on earth have all the blond prettyboys gone?
One-Shot
"We've a courier from King's Landing," said Maester Florian. He was a young man of Vitaerys's own age, barely initiated with just enough links to his chain to be called a maester, but he was a sailor's boy with wits as sharp as steel, and Vitaerys valued that far more than any number of years he could've spent studying. "They want you back to replace Ruthard Redwynne, my lord."
Vitaerys didn't react at first, seeming as if he hadn't heard Florian speak at all. He sat at his cherrywood desk with an array of recordbooks and ship models in front of him, carefully taking notes of how the Velaryon fleet stood while nursing a glass of Arbor Red. After he finished updating the records with the latest reports, he looked up with the lilac eyes that marked the blood of old Valyria. "But they just sent me here with my lordly raiment," Vitaerys complained. "Why, I haven't even earned the hate of my smallfolk yet, but I have already earned the hate of half my sworn men just by having the name Waters. Impressive feat, really, but I'm nowhere near done stripping them of their power. I'd forsake all my lordly duties if I left Driftmark now."
"If you're out to win the smallfolk's hate, you're not doing a very good job of it," the maester replied lightly. Florian stepped around Vitaerys's desk to stand beside him and glance over the open books. "Your brother made an unworthy lord, and you'd be hard-pressed to outdo his misdeeds. You've brought in flour with your coming, as well as sheep and cattle from the Riverlands. They say that the discovery of the ruby mines in the south is a gift from the Red God, a sign of their approval. As for the disloyal, I've already told you that you can trust in my judgment on that matter. If you wish to leave for King's Landing, I can finish your work in your stead."
"My half-brother made an unworthy lord," Vitaerys corrected, moving his books around so Florian had space to sit on his desk. "The food train is only because I have old favors that needed repaying in Gulltown, and Lord Redwyne sent everything he could down the Roseroad. I had little option in that anyhow. I'd be lord of bones and dust if all my people starved to death." He grinned at Florian with his trademark ease and good humor. "You don't seriously think I'd leave Driftmark without you, do you now? Who would I be honest to if I haven't you around, hm? Tell me, Florian, what is your counsel?"
"To stay."
A succinct enough answer for sure, but it said all that needed saying. "Because they mean to use me? Of course they do," he said. "I'm young. One-and-twenty, even-tempered and well-liked; amiable, mutable, and pliable, what more could a scheming wretch want?" Vitaerys leaned back and propped his feet up onto his desk, nearly upsetting a vial of ink and his drink as he did. "The two battles I won last year against the Summer Islanders make me a war hero, and that gives them enough reason to offer me the position and conveniently ignore all the truly qualified and experienced sealords out there. I'd make an enemy of Lord Manderly and Lord Seaworth if I accepted, not to mention half the lords of the Iron Islands. There are already too many that think I've risen too far too fast, and it'd be unwise to upset any more noblemen than I already have, wouldn't it, Florian?"
"You mean to leave for King's Landing," Florian accused.
"The red priest has already seen it in the light of the fire weeks ago. Who am I to fight against the will of R'hllor?" Vitaerys laughed, and it was a pleasant sound, filled with a gentle, natural mirth that lent him the appearance of good humor. "I mean to let them use me, Florian, and I mean to use them in return."
Plot suggestions?
1) Vitaerys has been married twice in the past and castle rumor claims that he's murdered them both. This is partially true; the first was an aging Manderly, and she died naturally of a winter cold. The second was a Hightower girl of stunning beauty, and Vitaerys did poison her. Turned out she was the "I bathe in virgin blood" sort of girl, and Vitaerys saw that habit as a threat to his reputation. He's seeking a third marriage now, and he's hoping he won't land a serial killer this time around.
2) Driftmark, like many of the Dragonstone tributaries that Stannis once ruled, has adopted R'hllor as its deity of choice. Vitaerys himself is adamantly of the red faith. I suppose if the Red God's deus ex machina is ever needed for story purposes, Vitaerys keeps an esoteric coterie of sworn men, almost all of them red priests and many from outside of Westeros.
3) For the most part, Vitaerys is a cunning plotter, independent and a solitary predator. However, when a red priest speaks, he listens and obeys, no questions asked. His faith does not, can not, falter. For all his flippancy and materialism, he's a zealot. Vitaerys has no interest in converting the unfaithful, but nor does he respect the Seven or any of its worshippers (which probably accounts for half his arrogance). He does respect those that hold to the old gods though.
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