Vaerona of Volantis

Vaerona of Volantis is the current pirate lord of Dark Den and its troops as well as captain of the Living Shadow. A minor scion of an even more minor noble family she took to the seas in order to make her fortune. She is a charismatic woman, employing any and all strategies to win regardless of morality.

Appearance and Character
Vaerona is tall, standing at five foot eight. Her face has the beauty of old Volantis, appearing almost to be carved out of marble with harsh features. Her skin is a chocolate brown, a mixture of her Volantene father and Summer Isles mother with long, flowing black hair and dark brown eyes. Her body is thinly muscled but still with womanly curves.

Vaerona often enjoys finery and excess. She has a love of jewels, and often wears many upon her person, as well as expensive tailored clothing as befitting a pirate lord. She also drinks frequently, though her crew is always well cared for. Her personality is best described as driven; while she takes no pleasure from killing others is willing to do anything to get what she desires, though she is naturally extremely persuasive.

History
Vaerona was born to a minor noble family in Volantis, the seventh of nine children and the fourth daughter. As befitting a free and noble woman she was largely brought up by her family's slaves, who spoiled the little girl rotten. As she grew she became bored with the city, a city that was boring, quiet and offered nothing to a teenager who would never be able to be much more than an average free woman.

When she was 15, Vaerona snuck down to the docks and onto the first ship she found, woefully inexperienced at such things due to her cosseted childhood. Two days out to sea she was caught and brought before the captain, one Syro Silvertongue. To survive she used one of the few skills such a life had given her; her convincing tongue, enough to prevent him from selling her to a Lyseni whorehouse or throwing her off the boat with her legs tied.

She trained under Syro, becoming a successful pirate in her own right. The previously pampered girl took to the pirate's life like a fish to water; she became thin and corded instead of delicate, even as she blossomed into a woman.

She learned the art of archery for ranged combat on ships and the art of swordfighting for boarding. She learned map reading, and how to navigate out of sight of land by the stars alone. But all of it wasn't enough for Vaerona; she wanted to do it herself, to be captain of her own ship as every true pirate does. In 413 she left Syro amicably with a wealth of experience in everything a pirate might need... other than actually doing any of it herself.

With the money Vaerona had saved as she rose through the ranks she purchased a small ship, outfitting them with men who she was able to convince into entering such a risky venture. Her piracy was extraordinarily successful and with the region in chaos she was remarkably successful, stealing enough ships to attract men to her cause with her silver tongue and proven results.

In late 413 Vaerona gathered a force of thirty ships, gathered under her flagship, the Living Shadow and attacked Dark Den, along with the forces of Loren Greyjoy. Despite being one of the largest ports on the Stepstones it was only weakly held and her ships were able to land and defeat the defenders easily. After splitting the treasure with the ironborn she took the port as her seat and crowned herself as pirate lord of Dark Den. When Aeryn Targaryen swooped low on his dragon she bent the knee and offered her assistance in exchange for not burning alive and being allowed to keep her new settlement.

Her men agreed enthusiastically to such an arrangement, and made a fortune off the battles during the Scouring of the Stepstones. By the end of the conflict Vaerona had increased her fleet's size to sixty ships of various suitability for warfare, including six ships large enough to serve as the head of one of her fleets.

In the past two years, Vaerona has spent most of her time at Dark Den, improving the quality of her ships and her own combat skills. However she often takes command of one fleet or another, the lure of adventure proving too much for her. On one such trip she met the beautiful Isidora Sathmantes, the two becoming intimate as Vaerona procured the goods the decadent young scion required while being more than willing to indulge in her stories of plundering foreign lands.

Vaerona starts the RP at Dark Den, her ship sailing for the festival at the Three Daughters.

Ships
- Living Shadow, Vaerona's personal ship and flagship

- Alyssa's Virtue, flagship, stolen from a Lyseni merchant

- Lady Rhaena, flagship, stolen from a Volantene merchant

- Morningstar, flagship, stolen from a Dornish trader

- Virtuous Isidora, flagship, taken from a Lyseni shipyard

- Dark Depths, flagship, taken from an Asshai'i trader