The year is 286 AC. King Jaehaerys II has just passed, leaving the throne without a rightful ruler. While his three children fight for the crown, Winter creeps closer, and unimaginable darkness looms.
Not all alliances will be so typical this time. In fact, many people have a crucial effect on the way this story is told. As for the ending, we only hope there are enough people left alive to tell it after its passed.
Events
Join us for our first event, the wake of recently deceased King Jaehaerys II.
Updates
AUG. 19: So we are now officially open to the public. We have a mini-event flashback thread going on, and our main event just began. Feel free to make a second canon if you can keep both of them active enough.
Don't hesitate in pestering staff with questions; it's what we're here for! Let's raise a glass and make a cheer toward a successful launch of Winds of Winter.
Dali Martell, the first male heir to the Dornish Throne, prepared to leave to the Riverlands for a silly tournament House Tully planned to host. They received an invitation via raven from Hans Tully himself. His father didn't have time for such foolishness, so Dali volunteered to represent the Martell's and accompany Eryn (as she's chosen to compete) to Riverrun. Besides, the Prince had the desire to see other lands in Westeros. The Riverlands sounded like a practical start.
As his guardsmen prepared the caravan, Dali decided to take a stroll through one of Sunspear's oasis's. He wondered where the rest of his siblings were this hot day.
"Maybe I'll travel for a bit before returning home." he wondered aloud.
He's visited the Reach , the Stormlands, and even King's Landing. But farther up north? Well, why would any Dornishman travel to such a frigid godforsaken place? Still, Dali wanted to see it all. He felt that travel and forging relationships with other families would serve as invaluable experience if he ever were to lead House Martell. Dorne was his home, and he wanted to serve it as best he can, while he can.
MADE BY MINNIE OF GS
Last Edit: Jun 25, 2015 6:00:12 GMT by Dali Martell
"I wouldn't put it past you to explore. You always were the curious case out of my lot." A wayward voice croaked, reflecting the authority of a figure that was all too convenient for the younger Martell's olive ears. The crimson tipped Prince of Dorne lumbered to his son from a distance, a soft grin accompanying his presence. Mere moments ago, he had finished a conversation with Katsa regarding the pros and cons of attending the outside event. It was rare that they exposed themselves to the world. Partly because of their rampant past in the Free Cities and voyages in Westeros had sated the majority of their exhilaration.
They had seen a grand portion of the world, and outside of worthy rumors or ensuing politics, the grandeur of travel didn't do it for them as it once had years ago. Or at least, there had never been a reason to beside the gaudy shows of wealth by the other Great Houses. Nonetheless, they didn't tolerate their worldly experience to hinder that of their progeny. If he had a thirst for the world, then there was only a single option to quench it - to indulge in travel.
"You didn't think I'd let you gallop off to Riverrun without seeing you off, did you boy?" The viper hummed, peering at his mirror image. Truth be told, features of Katsa resided in his countenance, but a father's pride dissuaded him from the course of honesty. The ever complex prince, Ebon always managed to find grains of time to squeeze in with his immediate circle. He remembered when they were poop producing runts in his image. The only glory to be found in them the pungent odor of their cloth diapers, merrily dragging along the ground. Reaching his son, his hand momentarily rested on his son's shoulder.
"Did you inform your mother that you're leaving?" Ebon urged, making sure to remind the boy if he hadn't. The Cat was an extremely violent monster when it came to those that didn't share her lineage, but she was the ever concerned mother for the mixed children that did, and hopefully his Eryn as well.
Taking his shirt of cotton from it's edges, the Prince pulled the cloth off over his shoulders. His copper skin glistened in the sun as he approached the oasis' pool of water. It was scorching and a swim would prove refreshing before he ran off to finish the preparations. That's when he heard his voice....
Prince of Sunspear, Ebon Martell stood before him in all his looming glory. His father was a handsome, strict, and wise man with a unique sense of humor. Oh, how he loved him so. "Father!"
Dali's eyes gleamed excitedly. Ebon and Dali looked nearly identical, his fair a shade darker (thanks to his mother's iron borne blood), pulled back into a wispy pony tail. He inherited his father's eyes, sharp, serpentine, and quick. His single touch made the boy shiver with forbidden sentiments. The Prince loved his father, perhaps a bit too much.
The boy had no shame in wrapping his arms around Ebon's neck and kissed him on the cheek, before resting his head against his father's chest. His stature was that of a lover than a son, but he didn't care. Ebon was the man Dali admired most in his life. The fires of his love for him flared with Dornish passion, he couldn't help it but desire him.
The Prince sighed; "Of course not. Knowing I won't be seeing your proud faces for awhile proves boredom rests in my future." he chuckled. "Come take a swim with me father. Like we did when I was a child...." he cooed. Dali closed his eyes. If only this man could take him. He wanted to feel the scorching venom of his love.
MADE BY MINNIE OF GS
Last Edit: Jun 28, 2015 2:52:41 GMT by Dali Martell
Post by Katsa Martell on Jun 25, 2015 14:43:20 GMT
"well tell her that I miss our little talks"
Katsa had not been far away. The sun had risen hot and blistering and had grown all the harsher in the time that had passed during hers and Ebon’s talk. It had been enjoyable countering his cons with a few pros before switching sides and investing in negatives to his every positive, but, ultimately, Katsa had no true interest in attending the tournament in the Riverlands. She could think of better means in which to invest her time, rather than ogling knights for their games. Or enduring the road in Eryn’s scathing company. Or the then inevitable gloom of her younger sister, Sarra, still as morose and resentful as the day she had taken the name Tully. Hans Tully would need a great deal more wine than he possessed the means to obtain before Katsa would submit herself to those horrors.
”Between seeking out his mother and taking a dip, he chooses the water.” Mockery laced her warm feminine voice, indeed Katsa seemed utterly incapable of sternness, but, at least when she addressed her children, there was a lack of discomforting sting. ”And a stagnant little pool at that. Tsk.” The water did look inviting. And the beads of sweat that had formed along her smooth pale flesh in response to the humidity in the air were a mild but unwelcomed distraction. But Katsa could easily have overlooked the oasis, the heat and sweat for the nearby harbour. She hated enclosed spaces, water included.
She raised the pewter flagon, which she had fallen behind to obtain, to her lips, soothing her throat with the Dornish red that it held. Katsa wasn’t so delicate that she required a goblet to sate her thirst. Or that the sight of her son pressing himself, shirtless, up against his father’s chest caused her to batter an eye. Rather, it didn’t invoke any true reaction from Katsa whatsoever.
Coming to stand beside the two, Katsa reached out and poked, teasingly, at Dali’s smooth cheek. ”Clearly, I’ve spoiled you. Which means the only course left to take is to briefly exile you to your aunt Sarra’s side. An afternoon spent listening to her rebuke every breathing smiling thing and you’ll quickly realize just how fortunate you are to have such a warm and loving mother.” In truth, Katsa would miss Dali no matter how long or how short he was gone for. She always did.
It was a strange form of pain, a mother being separated from her child. Kat could honestly say that she knew of no comparison in which to better describe it by. It was not so terrible that she held her children close, smothering them to avoid its sting. Yet, she could not ignore how it crushed against her chest, insistent at gnawing away at her heart. What mattered was that they always returned to her arms. It was the only consoling factor to a pain that she had never learnt the secret of hardening and numbing herself to tolerance.
Dropping her hand, green hues turned up to meet Ebon’s molten stare, her lips curling into a smirk. ”Isn’t it an awful thought? You could have woken to the same sour face every morning for the past twenty years. A nagging voice chastising you for your manners, never letting you call her ‘princess.’” She paused to sharply draw her breath, her eyes dramatically wide in her enthusiasm to continue the charade. ”Sarra is far too sensible to ever have hatched up the idea of adding red to your hair! Why, you would be unrecognizable, my heart.” As she spoke, Katsa had deliberately walked a slow path around Dali and Ebon so that she came to stand between them and the pool’s edge. Her smirk deepened into a grin. Her gaze bright with dancing green fire, all playful wickedness.
”But you shouldn’t let that distract you, not when Dali wishes for you to get in the water.” It was a quick motion, orchestrated seemingly effortlessly, for agility had always come easily to the Cat. Rotating her leg down and then across, a crescent-arching kick. Her ankle rotating slightly, better for the curve of the sole of her foot to collect more water to be splashed. Dali would likely be caught in the cross-fire but Ebon was Katsa’s true target. Just as he had been whenever both parents had sought to introduce their children to the joys of swimming.
Genuinely assaulted by his clone, the Martell jovially bounced with an expression exalting his clear happiness. A tier above what Ebon accommodated himself to, the viper continued to shrewdly smirk at the boy given his elation. The youth nearly appeared to take the illusion of a fan of the viper of old, the gaiety ever present in the most flamboyant of his brood. Lightly gracing his father's cheek, Ebon considered little of the act beyond that of familial ecstasy. He knew of his son's taste and even his heart's desire, but the former was the only suitable option that Ebon cared to recognized. For the other was a topic that the elder never indulged in as he freed himself of the lad's restrictive hold, tacticlly laying a hand on his shoulder bone in order to control the length they stood apart.
Mischievously, the ruffian declined when asked if his mother knew of his upcoming journey. An answer that authored the sarcastic shake of his head, astonished by the boy's independence. Had he the enthusiasm to prepare for his journey earlier, then perhaps Dali may have found an easy departure from his father's kingdom. Garbed, the prince peered at the waters, determining if he had the will to swim with the boy. Encouraging his illicit behavior wasn't on his agenda, but a swim with his son sounded harmless. Though the spry Prince of Dorne wasn't imprudent enough to underestimate his seed.
Fortunately, Katsa was known for more than beauty and her timely interruption restored the weight of their conversation in Ebon's hand. If Dali planned on escaping his mother's playfully aggressive nature, then his only option was to run as the feline stalked them, narrowing the area between them with every lengthy step. Katsa lightly scolded her firstborn in jest, and in turn his father grinned at her uncanny brilliance. Whispering, the fatherly prince humored his son with his own exaggeration. "My my my. I'd say you likely wish you made it out of here sooner now that your mother has found you. She'll spare not a single word for you if it meant to allow you to have a grain of sand."
To say that Dali was in any present trouble was a lie. Katsa was as harmful to her children as water to a trout. Being that he was her first, Ebon expected her to feel a bit miffed, but understanding of his plans. Noticeably, she took target at the tourney hosted by the distant Lord Tully. Appropriately, Sarra sliced her tongue and loveless words were swift to diminish the former Greyjoy's value. A stickler for his family, it was difficult for him to reprimand Katsa given his limited knowledge of her parallel. The authority to which she deconstructed her sister left Sarra little room to explore grace. Contorting her bull's eye, she loaded for her husband, preaching of his luck that only made his eyes mockingly roll. The hypothetical scenario that she was right remained, so he didn't audibly disagree. Truth be told, he couldn't prize himself with another than the one he currently shared a bed with. That much she knew, but the satisfaction of hearing him birth the ego pumping words would have to wait for another time. Repeating Dali's request, the agile Cat kicked up a plethora of droplets at him, but with Dali standing where he was, the boy took the brunt of his mother's playfulness.
"She says she lets me call her princess Dali. Can you believe your mother? Unless she wants to sleep in a bed of sand, I think it's in her best interest to be call whatever pleases me. Don't you think so?" A trap devised from Ebon's lips as soon as it erupted, he knew better than to think he would go without the Cat snapping on his heels. So by leaving room for his son to agree, he hoped that he too fell prey to Cat's assault. And as he eyeballed the water once more he came to a standstill with his previous collection of thoughts.
"I'll have to pass my son. I'm not a fan of drenched garments, especially with opportunity coming up later today. However, you know your mother is a fiendish kraken. If there's anyone that enjoys the love of swimming and water, then she would edge beyond me." A commendable substitute in his place. She wasn't better than he overall, but this was a rare skill that Ebon accepted that she bested in. Even so, he knew of his wife's strong preference of the opnness of the sea, leaving Dali 50/50 with the offers that stood before him.
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