Aerion Targaryen

Aerion Targaryen is the Prince of Summerhall and the second son of King Rhaegar II Targaryen and his sister-wife, Queen Rhaenys. Aerion rides the dragon, Vhaegon, known as the Black Scourge. Willful and passionate, Aerion is known equally for his proclivity for violence and easy charms. What doesn't bend before the Prince of Summerhall, he is more than happy to break.

Appearance and Character
A head taller than most men and with shoulders like an ox, Prince Aerion was blessed with a build akin to Maegor the Cruel or Robert Baratheon. Such is his physicality, he nearly killed his mother Rhaenys upon entering the world. Despite his impressive physique, Aerion chooses to clad himself silk and soft fabrics, oft dressing in a style of eastern and Dornish influence. The Prince of Summerhall prefers loose tunics and flowing robes that leave little and less to the imagination, but can quickly transform into a mountain of steel when he dons his black plate.

Aerion wears his wealth with pride. Gemstones and rare metals litter his body in the shape of rings, chains and necklaces. Most treasured of all, on his right hand he wears a ring of Valyrian steel, a remnant of the old world left behind by his mother Rhaenys. Two gold bands depicting Valyrian runes wrap around the thickest part of each of his arms.

Altogether, Prince Aerion looks as though he hails from a different age. He presents as a lost warrior of Valyria, living in a culture ruled by Andal ideals and appearances. His dissonance with the modern world is reflected in his dominant personality. Might makes right, and for Aerion, raw power is the ultimate equalizer in any situation. He's a man who loves as fiercely as he hates, and finds strength in his wild passions.

Early Life (412 A.C. - 422 A.C.)
Aerion's first day alive was nearly a tragedy. Queen Rhaenys fought her way to the Stranger's doorstep to deliver her second son, but in a stroke of beautiful irony, the harrowing labor would forever bond them. So too would the event hang a shadow of violence over Aerion's entire life. But as they so often are for children of royal blood, Aerion's earliest days left him without want. He was spared nothing, not even a mother's love. The genuine affection Rhaenys showered him with left Aerion feeling secure, and more importantly, endlessly confident.

As time passed, Aerion's confidence grew exponentially, and so too did he. At four, he ran the halls of the Red Keep like a wild little beast, chasing cats and the other children. By five, Aerion could lift a practice sword and a tiny wooden shield. By six, he learned to love striking with it, and by his seventh year, his exceptional strength had grown to the degree he could wrestle with boys three years his senior and spar with the pages and squires littering King's Landing.

It seemed predestined that Prince Aerion should grow up to be a warrior. However, it wasn't the stories of Aemon the Dragonknight or Ser Arthur Dayne that Aerion begged to hear at night, but those of Aegon the Conqueror, Daenerys Stormborn and most of all, his own Grandmother, Queen Visaera. He cared not for chivalry, but instead, his young mind yearned for tales of fire and blood.*  By his tenth year, Aerion's boldness manifested in increasingly violent ways. His prodigious strength and size coupled with his untouchable status as prince of the blood was the perfect storm to create a proper bully. Terrorizing his peers became a pleasant pass time. None received Aerion's juvenile wrath more than his baby brother Baelor, who fancied himself a young knight and regularly stood up to Aerion in defense of the other boys roaming the Red Keep. Perhaps in spite of his proclivity for violence, Aerion developed many softer, 'feminine' habits throughout his early years. None so prevalent as his adoration for poetry and music. When in a fit, it's said only a melody sung by the Queen mother herself could sooth Aerion in his most turbulent moments. It was often to his half-sister Visenya Silvermoon that he would express himself away from the tourney yard, for his bastard sister was instrumental in teaching Prince Aerion the Valyrian tongue and of the literature of their fallen forebearers.

Dornish Nights (423 - 428 A.C.)
Much to the reluctance of Queen Rhaenys, by his eleventh year, it became increasingly apparent that Aerion could do with time away capital. The decision ultimately came to King Rhaegar that Aerion should be fostered in Sunspear by none other than Morgan Martell. Again, Aerion would be thrust into a perfect storm. Being the most willful and passionate of the royal children, it seemed terribly fitting that he should spend the most formative years of his life in a land where these characteristics reigned paramount above all else.

Upon arriving in Sunspear, Aerion seemed to forget about life in the capital all at once. Sure, King's Landing was a hotbed of exoticism, but nothing could have enticed the princling more than the silk-swathed, spice filled streets of his new home. The people were swarthy, clever and crass. The men were fierce. The women were the most beautiful he'd ever seen. He became fast friends with Trystane Martell, the heir to Sunspear, instantly. While he still carried the name Targaryen, in this wild land, he would have to earn the respect of the Dornish by merits, not by merely having the right blood. The next five years would be the ultimate test of Aerion's confidence. It wasn't long until Aerion picked up a spear and began to learn how to fight like a proper Dornishman. His first spar ended utter disaster. Not only was he swiftly defeated, but he was knocked to his arse by a little girl. Young Nymella Uller was the one to teach Aerion his first lesson of Dorne. In the scorching south, the women were far more dangerous than the men.

Aerion quickly adapted to the idiosyncrasies of his new home. Spicy food and sweltering nights became the new norm. Gone was the everlasting comfort of the royal court, for in Dorne, it seemed as though a subtle danger lurked in the undercurrent of the entire society. Aerion ever wild, ever yearning for adventure, loved every day of it. He was taught pride in place of humility, passion in place of temperance. All that was inherent to him as a child became justified under the tutelage of Morgan Martell and the courts of Dornish nobility. By his fourteenth year, Aerion stood eye to eye with most grown men and could wield a spear as well as any Dornish footman. By fifteen, he'd at long last made a name for himself as a promising young warrior. Dorne's close proximity with the Stepstones made its prosperous shores ripe for piracy. It was on a cool summer night that Morgan Martell brought his ward and a retinue of men to eliminate such a threat. Aerion killed not just his first man that night, but half a dozen more. His years of training paid off with deadly efficiency, and in the death cries of the untrained, unprepared pirates, Aerion learned yet another facet of himself: bloodlust.

Near the end of his tenure in Dorne, Aerion was not only known for his love for a proper duel, but for a much more blind lust. Of all the tenants of Dornish society, Aerion embraced its fluid promiscuity. The Prince did not discriminate between male or female. Beauty was beauty and when not listening to the sigh of a lover, Aerion embedded himself further into music and poetry.

The Prince of Summer (428 - 430 A.C.)
Aerion's wardship in Dorne ended with the Springtide celebrations and marked his true ascent to manhood. Though he oft visited the capital during his stay in Dorne, Aerion returned north significantly changed. Dorne had tempered him, and in the same stroke, emboldened his fiery passions. As a boy, he'd been raw iron, sturdy but unwieldy, but now he was steel. His newfound dress, tastes, interests and desires were all foreign to those he'd grown up alongside.

None of that mattered, however, for Aerion would soon be given lordship over Summerhall. A grand palace where his word would be law. The wedding of Aegon and Rhaenyra passed as a joyous affair and Aerion embraced the opportunity to reconnect with the family he'd spent so many years away from. Most of all, he was elated to be back in the constant company of Queen Rhaenys and young Naerys who he'd hardly known since she was a suckling babe. Genuine, brotherly love blossomed in Aerion's heart and he was quick to the take the bookish girl under his wing.

Beneath the Iron Throne and his mother's proud gaze, Aerion would take on the title of the Prince of Summerhall and all the splendor that came with it. What followed was a daze of wine and women. A celebration that stretched from King's Landing all the way to the Summerhall and lasted months. Such was the whim of a sixteen-year-old prince who'd lived a life without restraint.

Once the celebrations settled, Aerion turned his attention

It was a proper tragedy when Aerion learned he would have to curtail his whoring, but the blow was soften when he discovered exactly who he would be marrying. Elyana Dayne, a proper Dornish woman, one of the most beautiful in the realm and one of the few who resisted his charms years earlier.

Waking the Dragon (431 - 434 A.C.)
431 A.C. opened with a scandalous bang: The Silver Wedding. At first, Aerion was simply relieved to no longer be in the spotlight of court gossip, but as the event drew ever nearer, something far darker festered in the Prince of Summerhall. The rest of the realm postured at the political consequences of the marriage, but Aerion could think only of his own jealousy. And what pitiful jealousy it was. Aerion had by his side one of the most beautiful women in Westeros, charm and wealth enough to obtain whatever his heart desired, but he couldn't find an ounce of happiness for his brother and half-sister's union. During the