Marquarro Malvassar

Name: Marquarro Malvassar
Status: Zaldrīzes Dāezōrēs, Freeholder of Volantis, former Triarch
Age: 37

Dragon: Malvos, the Tiger’s Fang
Weapon: Glaive

Character Skills
Expert Land Battle
Noteworthy Dragon Handling
Noteworthy Fighting (Polearms)
Apprentice Athletics
Apprentice Common Tongue
Novice Intimidation
Novice Political Intrigue
Beginner Engineering
Beginner Stewardship

Appearance
Marquarro stands above most men with a lithely muscled frame that reaches a few inches over six foot. He has the swarthy complexion and refined looks of the old Valyrian bloodlines, the athletic body and health of good breeding. A closely trimmed goatee frames a strong jaw, his black hair well kept and worn long down to his shoulders smelling of scented oils. Across Marquarro’s cheeks are inked the markings of the family Malvassar. His forehead is tattooed as well, detailing great victories made on the battlefield.

Marquarro dresses in silks and fine linens appropriate for the climate in Volantis, colored black and green and yellow. Necklaces of gold and silver rope the man’s neck, some set with emerald and diamond. He frequently wears a great black and golden-white striped tiger’s fur across his shoulders to complete the ostentatious display, slung over the black cape signifying him a Freeholder of Valyriarlie.

Background
Marquarro Malvassar was born to an esteemed aristocratic family in Volantis of the Old Valyrian bloodline. Just as his father, and his father before him, and so on back to the Bleeding Years, Marquarro was bred a loyal member of the Tiger party. He was taught the three-fold techniques of the glaive in personal combat and trained in the arts of warfare and strategy. Living behind the Black Wall as a boy he wanted for nothing, and devoted himself entirely to his studies.

When he came of age, Marquarro served as a captain in the Volantene military. He lead companies of slave-soldiers and freedmen during minor conflicts with Myr, Tyrosh, and Lys in the Disputed Lands to some success. Returning home, glory was heaped upon the generals and triarchs, but never any for himself. In his heart, Marquarro hungered for more.

A Dothraki horde united under the Khal Kroso had plagued the Rhoyne's eastern banks for years. The khalasar was of modest size, but well known and feared for its ruthless and bloodthirsty nature. Khal Kroso razed villages, burned and salted fields of crops, besieging walled towns after receiving tribute and scaling the walls to slaughter men and capture women.

On the road home after fighting in the latest territory dispute, Marquarro heard the rumors. Kroso’s khalasar had set the town of Sar Mell aflame and were reveling in their spoils. With a company of slave-soldiers and freedmen under his command, rather than seeking the approval of the triarchs, the captain Malvassar crossed the Rhoyne at Volon Therys and brought battle to the khal. Marquarro’s numbers were the lesser, but the unexpected strike at his command crippled the khalasar in a decisive victory.

Kroso was beheaded at the end of Marquarro’s blade, as were his bloodriders. Those that remained were given a choice: join their fallen khal in death, or submit to chains and be taken as slaves back to Volantis, with the warriors that served the family Malvassar offered a chance to earn their freedom with leal service.

Many refused, and for that they were slain, but many more bent the knee. They would journey to Volantis to meet chains, while the captain Marquarro was met with fanfare and ovation. The people would praise him for his victories and prizes taken, even with the elephant triarchs’ disapproval, and the family Malvassar would be known by all behind the Black Wall.

In the elections of the year following, Marquarro ran for a seat on the triarchy of Volantis. Helped in part by his renown at war and by a healthy number of votes bought by Malvassar influence, the young tiger secured his seat amongst the elephant party. In the following six years Marquarro would be reelected and return to his seat. Much of his efforts would be restricted by the two elephants that reigned alongside him, but nonetheless he managed to swell the ranks of the Tiger Cloaks and slave-soldiers with brief forays of conquest. In his years of service, it would never be enough for Marquarro. He would come to resent the elephant triarchs that he had been shackled to and their timid, stubborn ways.

It was then, in Marquarro’s seventh year, that wings of the Black Dread would darken Volantis. Fire and death came in the dragon’s wake, and taken with it was the entirety of new Volantis. Those of the old bloodlines that remained behind the Black Wall were given to despair. The elephant triarchs had out of outrage and fear sought to resist the Burned Rider and prepared for a siege. In their foolishness they had believed in the safety behind the Black Wall.

Marquarro, an ambitious man and trained tactician, knew the folly of his fellow triarchs but was unable to sway them. The tiger triarch summoned the elephants to convene and with the support of his party and military behind him had his fellow triarchs torn from their mounts. With his own glaive Marquarro separated the two triarchs from their heads, and ordered the gates to be thrown open.

He strode out from behind the Black Wall alone, tossed down the pair of heads at feet of he who would become known as the Burned Rider, and knelt in submission. Marquarro pledged his loyalties to the one who had obliterated half of the city he called home. His fealty was rewarded with the title Zaldrīzes Dāezōrēs, and in the following years with the gift of a dragon’s egg. Marquarro had little love for the Burned Rider, but the tiger knew the futility of resisting such a beast and recognized the opportunity for power within reach.

Personality
Ambitious. Urbane. Proud. Merciless. Hungry.