Balerion Otherys

Balerion Otherys is the bastard son of Maegor Waters by way of Belladona Otherys, the Black Pearl of Braavos. After exile from Braavos in 413AC, he was due to be fostered with his paternal grandfather, a Prince of the Summer Islands -- only to escape and take refuge in the Stepstones, there to find and tame the dragon Sunburst in 414AC.

Since he has spent most of his time in the east, returning to the Free Cities only in recent years.

Appearance and Demeanor
Balerion possesses a fairly dark complexion - closer perhaps to a Sandy Dornishman or a Sarnori than the lineage of either of his parents. A sharp nose rises to meet serious, violet eyes; the one mark of legitimacy his father left him.

The young Son of the Black Pearl has a fierce temper, and is rarely one to turn down a challenge. His pride is apparent in everything from his speech to his walk to his manner, the youth unwilling to settle for anything less than what is perceived as his due. Despite this the young Otherys is deeply religious; believing in the Braavosi faith called the Pattern.

Birth
Balerion was born on a warm day in 398AC. His mother, the Black Pearl of Braavos, had entertained a short tryst with Maegor Waters - and claimed that he had been the father of her child. Some, of course, did not believe the claim; the Black Pearl vied for the position of the most famous courtesan in the city, and she had many admirers. But when the boy opened his eyes, they were a dark, violent amethyst -- and that was all the proof that many needed.

Childhood
Belladona had no intention of handing her son over to his father; she was more than capable of raising the boy herself, she decided, and that was precisely what she did. Armed with coffers made deep by her work as a courtesan, and deeper by her burgeoning mercantile business, she gave her son all the education she could; in arts, in history, in warcraft. The boy learned from magisters and scholars and wizards alike, and trained with famous swordsmen and dastardly rogues. He roamed the streets of Braavos without fear or care; for none would dare touch the son of the Black Pearl, lest the bravos who fought in her name took exception to the deed.

In time Balerion came to be close with the young son of the Sealord - accompanying the boy on adventures through the palace and even throughout the city. They were all but inseparable as youths.

The Pattern
Balerion was eleven when he was first exposed to the Pattern. As part of his vast education he was sent to the House of Black and White, though he was turned away from training there and began to wander the canals instead. For a time he roamed freely, enjoying those hours where his mother thought him at the House and he had no need to worry about watchful eyes or chiding chaperones. All until he came across the Patternmaker's Maze. The Priests of the Pattern ignored the boy at first, allowing him to explore as he wished. For a time he was content with this, watching from the shadows as men and women came and went. But soon, curiousity took hold. He ventured into the maze - and from then, he was hooked.

As the maze frustrated the boy with its defiance of his efforts, the priests offered him advice and council that began to shape him to their will. Slowly the boy began to look beyond the maze towards the philosophy that gave it life; and in time, he came for teachings - not exploration.

Even as Balerion grew into his own, he would not forget the teachings of the Patternmaker's Maze. Though it could not curb his naturally brash nature, it gave him a sense of order and destiny that made his actions not mere whims -- but acts of fate.

Pearls and Sealords
It is unknown what began the altercation between Balerion and the Sealord's son. Some say they fought over money, some say over honour, others say for a woman. What is known is that afterwards, the Sealord's son lay dying. And Balerion stood over him, with a bloody blade.

He fled at once for his mother, even as bells tolled through the city, and sought to take refuge in her palace. Belladona heard her son's pleas - he begged her to hide him, to protect him, to aid him - but in the end, she knew she could not defy the city's master.

She set her son upon a ship in secret, bound for the Summer Isles and his grandfather in Ebonhead. Balerion was distraught to leave; but he knew that it was necessary. As the ship pulled from the docks he watched as long as he was able; the city of Braavos slipping away into the mists, perhaps for the very last time.

The Stepstones
The ship follows the coast towards the south, hoping to cling to Tyrosh and skirt the Stepstones all but entirely. But a storm drove them westward, deep into the lands claimed by the Stepstone pirates - and it was not long before corsairs were on their tails.

They are waylaid by pirates, who capture the ship and battle its crew - whilst Balerion escaped over the side and into the sea. The current, by luck, carried him off towards the shore - and deposited the youth upon one of the many islands.

Balerion lived amongst the people of the Stepstones for two years, unable to send word to his mother or kin to inform them that he was alive. It was during this period that he trained all the harder with spear and sword, eventually joining with a pirate crew and sailing the seas. The Scouring of the Stepstones was in full swing, and it was during this conflict that Balerion first saw a dragon. When he heard another beast yet roamed the Stepstones, untamed -- it seemed to him that destiny and the Pattern had led him there for a reason.

The Black Dread
Balerion deserted from his crew, slipping off into the night with a small boat and some supplies. He searched the Stepstones for weeks, hunting for Sunburst. At night he would hide from the corsairs who roamed the seas and shores, while by day he would cling low to the choppy waves and pray fervently, hoping to eventually find his goal.

After long months at sea, the son of Braavos found his target at last; the isle of Grey Gallows was not quite so populated as some of the other Stepstones, and the fortress that had once sheltered Alequo Silverband was a blackened ruin. It was within those dilapidated halls that Balerion would find Sunburst. And it was within those halls that he would become a dragon rider.

At once he rose into the sky, flying east towards the Disputed Lands. Balerion would continue on past Valysar and the Selhoru, disappearing into the wilds of Essos without so much as a word.

Return
It was not until 417AC that word came again of the boy and his dragon - they were spotted on the northern coast of Essos, rounding the Axe and heading into the hills. Balerion skirted the upper reaches of Norvos and flew across the azure waters of Lorath Bay - there to visit the strange mazes that dotted the landscape. He lived in Lorath for a time, and sent word to his mother in Braavos - petitioning her to allow him home. Belladona - shocked to hear that her son yet lived - asked the Sealord for a pardon. But the master of Braavos was yet bitter against Balerion, and refused.

Belladona petitioned the Sealord on her son's behalf for months with every ruse and bribe at her disposal. Eventually the man relented; and offered to lift Balerion's exile for the ten days of the Uncloaking. At midnight of the tenth day - he would once more be outcast.

Both of the Otherys agreed to the terms, and on the dawn of the Uncloaking's beginning Balerion appeared above the city. He spent the ten days with his kin, making up for lost time, and remembering the city he had once known. When the Titan roared at the conclusion of the festival, Sunburst roared along with it; the sound of great wings rending the air echoing through the night as Balerion lifted up and away.

He would return to Lorath for a time, brooding over the life and home that he had lost.

Recent Events
At the dawn of 418 AC, with word of the Festival having spread through the Free Cities, Balerion began to make his way south towards Myr. He stopped briefly in the Velvet Hills and the Flatlands, even enjoying the hospitality of the Prince of Pentos. But he did not long tarry - it was Myr that he wanted, and it was only a matter of days before wings darkened the sky.

Family
Balerion's kin - the Otherys Family - are based in Braavos, though several members live in other Free Cities. In the year 418, its members are as follows;
 * Bellemere Otherys, Black Pearl of Braavos
 * w. Xalahandar Vho, Prince of Ebonhead
 * Belladona Otherys, Black Pearl of Braavos
 * w. Maegor Waters
 * Balerion Otherys
 * w. Azzak zo Merreq, Ruler of the Pyramid of Merreq in Meereen
 * Bellegere Otherys
 * w. Izembaro Prestayn, Son of a Sealord
 * Belandra Otherys
 * Narha Otherys
 * Isabelle Otherys
 * Betharios Otherys
 * w. Daarius Vendramyn, of Myr
 * Daario Otherys
 * m. Alia Antaryon
 * Their Children