Post by Maekar on Dec 27, 2013 20:12:04 GMT -5
Character's Name: Maekar Waters, also called 'Maekar One-Eye' or 'the Black Dragon of Dorne'
Character's Status: Lord of Darkheart Keep
Character's Age: 25 (b. 55 AL)
Character's Dragon: Cyrax; 78-PRESENT |Meraxes; 72-77 AL
Character's Weapon: Dark Sister; 80-PRESENT
Character's Seat: Darkheart Keep
Character's Skills:
--Expert Dragon Handling
--Expert Battle Command
--Noteworthy Long Blades
--Apprentice Political Intrigue
--Apprentice Intimidation
--Apprentice Espionage
--Novice Dragon Dreams
--Beginner High Valyrian
--Beginner Law
Character's Skill Improvements: 35 Points Unspent
Chapter 1: The Religious War (+35 Points, Noteworthy+ DH)
---Dragon Handling increased to Expert (-15 Points)
---Political Intrigue increased to Apprentice (-20 Points)
Interim 1: Before the Storm (+25 Points)
Gambling Winnings (+10 Points)
Character's Physical Appearance:
Maekar is a Targaryen through-and-through. He is tall, broad shouldered and powerful in appearance with purple eyes. His hair is silver-gold, and he wears it long, nearly to his shoulders though he often ties it back. His left arm bears several burn-scars, a legacy of his taming of the dragon Meraxes at six-and-ten. Maekar was missing the smallest finger on his left hand, which was bitten off by the dragon Cyrax when he tamed the beast in 78 AL, though Ser Hector Dragonbane took the rest of the hand in 80 AL at Oldtown, making the loss of the finger something of a wash.
During the battle of Oldtown in 80 AL, Maekar saved Rhaena Targaryen's life, shielding her from several explosive bolts but taking losing his right eye to shrapnel in the process. Later in the battle, while he fought Ser Hector Dragonbane on the ground, his left hand was severed in combat.
Character's Personality and Reputation:
Maekar is something of an enigma to the Lords of the realm and especially those who spend their time in court. He is a solitary man, and he tends to eschew the company of others although he is rather fond of his younger brother, Trajan Waters. While he was bonded to Meraxes, he never rode the dragon for more trivial purposes like simple travel, as did many other of his kin; rather he only mounted the Dragon when he was preparing to go into battle. He never rides in tournaments, though neither is he known to publicly distain them. He is known to be extremely generous and forgiving to opponents who bend the knee, but upon those who do not, his vengeance is harsh and terrible. He was knighted in his sixteenth year by his great-grandfather, King Maegor I, after his first battle aback Meraxes, and was granted wide tracts of land and rich estates surrounding King's Landing.
Character's Personal History:
Maekar Waters was born on Dragonstone in the year 55 AL, the son of Maegor Targaryen, by his cousin Daena Targaryen. Daena, who rode the dragon Dreamfyre, was of Aenys I's line and had been betrothed to Lord Lyonel Horroway of Harrenhal. On their wedding night, the eldest grandson of King Maegor I demanded his First Night privileges and he bedded the bride, begetting her with a son. She remained on Dragonstone throughout her pregnancy, and when Maekar was born, his mother departed for Harrenhal with her husband, and Maekar was raised at court, under his father's guidance.
The boy grew up golden-haired and fair eyed, and as a Dragonseed he was well regarded in the Red Keep despite his bastardy. As a boy he was quiet, rarely playing with other children, but rather practicing, either at the sword, or lance, or on horseback, on in the Dragon stables, speaking to the dragons. It was clear from an extremely young age that he has a better than average affinity to the beasts, and by twelve he could approach and even touch all of them without fear, even the Black Dread. In the year 72, when he was just short of sixteen, his grandfather Prince Maeron was killed in battle at Oldtown, making his father next in line for the throne. The day after the news was brought to King's Landing, Maekar made his way to the Dragon stables in the dead of night and bravely leapt onto the back of Meraxes, the dragon which had not been ridden since Queen Rhaenys died in 35 AL.
The dragon's shrieks woke the entire castle, and sent men streaming to the battlements thinking the city was under attack. All they found, however, was Meraxes flying over the city, with the boy on its back proudly nursing a left arm that was broken and burned, but otherwise unharmed. From 72 to 75 AL, Ser Maekar campaigned with his father on behalf of the King, covering himself with glory wherever he fought. After his first battle, he was knighted by his great-grandfather King Maegor I himself, and made a Knight Inquisitor of the crown, giving him vast authorities to prosecute the King's will throughout the realm. The dragon Meraxes was larger than all but Vhagar and the King's own Balerion, and while on campaign Maekar earned the moniker 'the Black' for the scorched battlefields that he and Meraxes left in their wake.
In 75 AL, at twenty, Ser Maekar was put in command of four thousand soldiers, among them six hundred mounted knights, and ordered by the King to cross the Dornish Marches. Word had reached the Red Keep that the Faith leaders in Oldtown were reaching out to the Principality of Dorne, and Maekar's instructions were to prevent such an alliance at all costs. He crossed the mountains easily, for Meraxes was able to easily see and disperse the Dornish ambushes that had plagued Stormlanders and Reachmen for centuries. They crossed into Dorne largely unopposed, and moved along the Northern coastline, burning every castle they found to rubble. Attrition wore down the royal army before they reached Sunspear, and even with two thousand reinforcements from the Stormlands led by his brother Ser Trajan Waters and the dragon Zyraxes, Maekar judged that he did not have enough men to invest Sunspear, even with two dragons.
He ordered his army to disperse into companies of twenty, and move throughout eastern Dorne with fire and sword, killing anything and anyone they could find. His men slaughtered hundreds of Dornishmen, women, and children, burning crops and houses and killing any livestock they could not carry off. As Maekar expected, the Princess of Dorne could not allow this to continue, and she sallied out of Sunspear with her army to attack Maekar's forces. What followed was one of the bloodiest battles of the decade; twelve thousand men lay dead on the field at the battle's end, three in every four of them Dornish. Maekar fought from the back of Meraxes, and personally slew two younger brothers of the ruling Princess Sarella Martell. The victory, however, came at great cost.
Witnesses say that Princess Sarella herself threw the spear that pierced Meraxes' eye, felling the dragon from the sky and nearly winning the battle for Dorne. However, a full dozen other men also claim credit for killing the great beast and all agreed that Meraxes' hide had been well bloodied in combat, and pierced with all manner of weapons at one point or another. Dozens more claim they saw Ser Maekar leap from the falling dragon's back, landing safely and killing two Dornishmen on the way down, though as many claim he was pitched off the dragons back into a sand dune that broke his fall.
Although three of every four dead men was Dornish, the loss of Meraxes largely ensured that neither side could claim a victory nor continue fighting. The presence of Zyraxes was able to strengthen Ser Maekar's negotiating position after the battle, but still the resulting agreement was that the status-quo would remain; Dorne was to remain independent, however the Princess and all her line swore a blood oath never to aid the Faith against the Targaryen Crown. A few border castles were also exchanged, and the Targaryen army finally departed Dorne in 77 AL, returning to the Stormlands just in time to be informed of the death of King Maegor I on the Iron Throne.
Ser Maekar raced to King's Landing, arriving just in time for his father's coronation as Maegor II Targaryen. Since Maegor II's coronation, Ser Maekar of Dragonstone, sometimes called the 'Black Dragon of Dorne' or just 'Maekar the Black', has given his father leal service and strong support at all times. In the year 78 AL, the wild dragon on Dragonstone known as Cyrax, or 'the Dreadwyrm' was becoming an ever present menace to the shepherds and livestock living on Dragonstone, and King Maegor ordered Maekar to get rid of the problem once and for all; either tame the dragon or kill it, but the command was clear. Do not return, if that dragon still roams the island wild.
Maekar traveled to Dragonstone and made his way across the eastern end of the island alone with only provisions for himself, a sword, shield, bow, and a dragon rider's whip. For three months no word was heard of Maekar or the Dreadwyrm, and the world thought him a dead man, though in truth he was merely roaming the honeycomb of caves on the stony island, methodically searching them for the dragon's cave. When he found the correct cave, he made his preparations and then moved inside, challenging the dragon with a shout. A gout of white flame revealed the beast's position, missing Maekar and melting a small section of the tone wall to his left. The cave was covered in similar marks, in addition to claw scratches, and by the number it had made this its lair for a long time. Maekar eventually lured the dragon outside, with shouts and the smell of a mountain goat that he'd shot earlier in the day. As Cyrax came to eat the animal, Maekar attempted to leap onto its back; a grievous mistake. By the end of the day, he was sporting half a dozen minor burns, and was missing the left pinky finger that had literally been bitten off by the dragon. He tried again the next day, and was given more burns in exchange with no positive result.
When Maekar returned to Dragonstone three months after he had left, he refused to reveal how he had tamed the dragon, merely stating that he served at the pleasure of his grace, King Maegor II. Soon after, he was appointed by the King to assemble an army at Bitterbridge, which would eventually march south to Oldtown against the Faith stronghold there. He spent two years at Bitterbridge, gathering men and training them into one of the most fearsome fighting forces that had ever been seen on Westeros. Much of that time was also spent flying around the continent, meeting with this lord an that, recruiting them to fight under the King's banner with their men. By the time Prince Aegon arrived in 80 AL to take command, with a flight of dragons behind him, the army numbered more than eight thousand and counted among it some of the most renowned warriors from all across Westeros.
During the Battle of Oldtown, Ser Maekar distinguished himself in battle, dropping specially crafted bombs of wildfire and pitch on both the city's gate-houses and on the enemy army itself. He was wounded by shrapnel from the Hightower's ballistae fire; he purposefully left himself inside their range to shield Rhaena while her dragon was speared by the Father's Fist, and he lost an eye in the process. Later in the battle, on the ground, he was nearly killed by Hector Dragonbane, losing his left hand to the legendary knight's sword, but ultimately dealing a strike that allowed Prince Aegon to land a killing blow of his own. After the battle, he was raised to a Lord by the King, and given Darkheart Keep and all its lands and incomes as a reward for his actions during the war.
Assassinated by Daenerys Velaryon and Baelon Waters.
Character's Coat of Arms: A Black dragon on a mountaintop with its wings spread, on a blood-red field.
Character's Status: Lord of Darkheart Keep
Character's Age: 25 (b. 55 AL)
Character's Dragon: Cyrax; 78-PRESENT |
Character's Weapon: Dark Sister; 80-PRESENT
Character's Seat: Darkheart Keep
Character's Skills:
--Expert Dragon Handling
--Expert Battle Command
--Noteworthy Long Blades
--Apprentice Political Intrigue
--Apprentice Intimidation
--Apprentice Espionage
--Novice Dragon Dreams
--Beginner High Valyrian
--Beginner Law
Character's Skill Improvements: 35 Points Unspent
Chapter 1: The Religious War (+35 Points, Noteworthy+ DH)
---Dragon Handling increased to Expert (-15 Points)
---Political Intrigue increased to Apprentice (-20 Points)
Interim 1: Before the Storm (+25 Points)
Gambling Winnings (+10 Points)
Character's Physical Appearance:
Maekar is a Targaryen through-and-through. He is tall, broad shouldered and powerful in appearance with purple eyes. His hair is silver-gold, and he wears it long, nearly to his shoulders though he often ties it back. His left arm bears several burn-scars, a legacy of his taming of the dragon Meraxes at six-and-ten. Maekar was missing the smallest finger on his left hand, which was bitten off by the dragon Cyrax when he tamed the beast in 78 AL, though Ser Hector Dragonbane took the rest of the hand in 80 AL at Oldtown, making the loss of the finger something of a wash.
During the battle of Oldtown in 80 AL, Maekar saved Rhaena Targaryen's life, shielding her from several explosive bolts but taking losing his right eye to shrapnel in the process. Later in the battle, while he fought Ser Hector Dragonbane on the ground, his left hand was severed in combat.
Character's Personality and Reputation:
Maekar is something of an enigma to the Lords of the realm and especially those who spend their time in court. He is a solitary man, and he tends to eschew the company of others although he is rather fond of his younger brother, Trajan Waters. While he was bonded to Meraxes, he never rode the dragon for more trivial purposes like simple travel, as did many other of his kin; rather he only mounted the Dragon when he was preparing to go into battle. He never rides in tournaments, though neither is he known to publicly distain them. He is known to be extremely generous and forgiving to opponents who bend the knee, but upon those who do not, his vengeance is harsh and terrible. He was knighted in his sixteenth year by his great-grandfather, King Maegor I, after his first battle aback Meraxes, and was granted wide tracts of land and rich estates surrounding King's Landing.
Character's Personal History:
Maekar Waters was born on Dragonstone in the year 55 AL, the son of Maegor Targaryen, by his cousin Daena Targaryen. Daena, who rode the dragon Dreamfyre, was of Aenys I's line and had been betrothed to Lord Lyonel Horroway of Harrenhal. On their wedding night, the eldest grandson of King Maegor I demanded his First Night privileges and he bedded the bride, begetting her with a son. She remained on Dragonstone throughout her pregnancy, and when Maekar was born, his mother departed for Harrenhal with her husband, and Maekar was raised at court, under his father's guidance.
The boy grew up golden-haired and fair eyed, and as a Dragonseed he was well regarded in the Red Keep despite his bastardy. As a boy he was quiet, rarely playing with other children, but rather practicing, either at the sword, or lance, or on horseback, on in the Dragon stables, speaking to the dragons. It was clear from an extremely young age that he has a better than average affinity to the beasts, and by twelve he could approach and even touch all of them without fear, even the Black Dread. In the year 72, when he was just short of sixteen, his grandfather Prince Maeron was killed in battle at Oldtown, making his father next in line for the throne. The day after the news was brought to King's Landing, Maekar made his way to the Dragon stables in the dead of night and bravely leapt onto the back of Meraxes, the dragon which had not been ridden since Queen Rhaenys died in 35 AL.
The dragon's shrieks woke the entire castle, and sent men streaming to the battlements thinking the city was under attack. All they found, however, was Meraxes flying over the city, with the boy on its back proudly nursing a left arm that was broken and burned, but otherwise unharmed. From 72 to 75 AL, Ser Maekar campaigned with his father on behalf of the King, covering himself with glory wherever he fought. After his first battle, he was knighted by his great-grandfather King Maegor I himself, and made a Knight Inquisitor of the crown, giving him vast authorities to prosecute the King's will throughout the realm. The dragon Meraxes was larger than all but Vhagar and the King's own Balerion, and while on campaign Maekar earned the moniker 'the Black' for the scorched battlefields that he and Meraxes left in their wake.
In 75 AL, at twenty, Ser Maekar was put in command of four thousand soldiers, among them six hundred mounted knights, and ordered by the King to cross the Dornish Marches. Word had reached the Red Keep that the Faith leaders in Oldtown were reaching out to the Principality of Dorne, and Maekar's instructions were to prevent such an alliance at all costs. He crossed the mountains easily, for Meraxes was able to easily see and disperse the Dornish ambushes that had plagued Stormlanders and Reachmen for centuries. They crossed into Dorne largely unopposed, and moved along the Northern coastline, burning every castle they found to rubble. Attrition wore down the royal army before they reached Sunspear, and even with two thousand reinforcements from the Stormlands led by his brother Ser Trajan Waters and the dragon Zyraxes, Maekar judged that he did not have enough men to invest Sunspear, even with two dragons.
He ordered his army to disperse into companies of twenty, and move throughout eastern Dorne with fire and sword, killing anything and anyone they could find. His men slaughtered hundreds of Dornishmen, women, and children, burning crops and houses and killing any livestock they could not carry off. As Maekar expected, the Princess of Dorne could not allow this to continue, and she sallied out of Sunspear with her army to attack Maekar's forces. What followed was one of the bloodiest battles of the decade; twelve thousand men lay dead on the field at the battle's end, three in every four of them Dornish. Maekar fought from the back of Meraxes, and personally slew two younger brothers of the ruling Princess Sarella Martell. The victory, however, came at great cost.
Witnesses say that Princess Sarella herself threw the spear that pierced Meraxes' eye, felling the dragon from the sky and nearly winning the battle for Dorne. However, a full dozen other men also claim credit for killing the great beast and all agreed that Meraxes' hide had been well bloodied in combat, and pierced with all manner of weapons at one point or another. Dozens more claim they saw Ser Maekar leap from the falling dragon's back, landing safely and killing two Dornishmen on the way down, though as many claim he was pitched off the dragons back into a sand dune that broke his fall.
Although three of every four dead men was Dornish, the loss of Meraxes largely ensured that neither side could claim a victory nor continue fighting. The presence of Zyraxes was able to strengthen Ser Maekar's negotiating position after the battle, but still the resulting agreement was that the status-quo would remain; Dorne was to remain independent, however the Princess and all her line swore a blood oath never to aid the Faith against the Targaryen Crown. A few border castles were also exchanged, and the Targaryen army finally departed Dorne in 77 AL, returning to the Stormlands just in time to be informed of the death of King Maegor I on the Iron Throne.
Ser Maekar raced to King's Landing, arriving just in time for his father's coronation as Maegor II Targaryen. Since Maegor II's coronation, Ser Maekar of Dragonstone, sometimes called the 'Black Dragon of Dorne' or just 'Maekar the Black', has given his father leal service and strong support at all times. In the year 78 AL, the wild dragon on Dragonstone known as Cyrax, or 'the Dreadwyrm' was becoming an ever present menace to the shepherds and livestock living on Dragonstone, and King Maegor ordered Maekar to get rid of the problem once and for all; either tame the dragon or kill it, but the command was clear. Do not return, if that dragon still roams the island wild.
Maekar traveled to Dragonstone and made his way across the eastern end of the island alone with only provisions for himself, a sword, shield, bow, and a dragon rider's whip. For three months no word was heard of Maekar or the Dreadwyrm, and the world thought him a dead man, though in truth he was merely roaming the honeycomb of caves on the stony island, methodically searching them for the dragon's cave. When he found the correct cave, he made his preparations and then moved inside, challenging the dragon with a shout. A gout of white flame revealed the beast's position, missing Maekar and melting a small section of the tone wall to his left. The cave was covered in similar marks, in addition to claw scratches, and by the number it had made this its lair for a long time. Maekar eventually lured the dragon outside, with shouts and the smell of a mountain goat that he'd shot earlier in the day. As Cyrax came to eat the animal, Maekar attempted to leap onto its back; a grievous mistake. By the end of the day, he was sporting half a dozen minor burns, and was missing the left pinky finger that had literally been bitten off by the dragon. He tried again the next day, and was given more burns in exchange with no positive result.
When Maekar returned to Dragonstone three months after he had left, he refused to reveal how he had tamed the dragon, merely stating that he served at the pleasure of his grace, King Maegor II. Soon after, he was appointed by the King to assemble an army at Bitterbridge, which would eventually march south to Oldtown against the Faith stronghold there. He spent two years at Bitterbridge, gathering men and training them into one of the most fearsome fighting forces that had ever been seen on Westeros. Much of that time was also spent flying around the continent, meeting with this lord an that, recruiting them to fight under the King's banner with their men. By the time Prince Aegon arrived in 80 AL to take command, with a flight of dragons behind him, the army numbered more than eight thousand and counted among it some of the most renowned warriors from all across Westeros.
During the Battle of Oldtown, Ser Maekar distinguished himself in battle, dropping specially crafted bombs of wildfire and pitch on both the city's gate-houses and on the enemy army itself. He was wounded by shrapnel from the Hightower's ballistae fire; he purposefully left himself inside their range to shield Rhaena while her dragon was speared by the Father's Fist, and he lost an eye in the process. Later in the battle, on the ground, he was nearly killed by Hector Dragonbane, losing his left hand to the legendary knight's sword, but ultimately dealing a strike that allowed Prince Aegon to land a killing blow of his own. After the battle, he was raised to a Lord by the King, and given Darkheart Keep and all its lands and incomes as a reward for his actions during the war.
Assassinated by Daenerys Velaryon and Baelon Waters.
Character's Coat of Arms: A Black dragon on a mountaintop with its wings spread, on a blood-red field.
all alone and also really bored 
Hopefully going to kickstart the festival too