Benedar of Bloodstone

Benedar of Bloodstone, more frequently referred to as Ser Ben or Ser Ben the Black, is allegedly a knight of humble origins, born in a village in the Red Mountains. After being levied into the armies of House Yronwood during The War of the Three Thieves, Ben distinguished themselves in the skirmishes in the Stepstones, where he was knighted by Prince Maekar Targaryen. After returning home to find his family had died in the opening days of the Scarlet Winter, Ben traveled north to King's Landing, where he joined the newly-formed Rainbow Guard. His sigil is a drop of blood, gules, upon a sable field.

In reality, Ben was born Patrice Drinkwater, the fourthborn of Garen and Ysilla Drinkwater. Far removed from inheritance and faced with the prospect of an unexciting marriage to a controlling Stormlord, Patrice disguised herself as a man and joined the forces of House Yronwood. She has not returned home since, and has been known as Benedar ever since.

Appearance and Character
Ser Benedar is far from the picture of masculinity. With a soft jaw and lithe physique, he seems a far cry from the larger knights he so often stands beside. Still, none who have seen him in combat doubt his skill with a blade. With his mop of blonde hair and pale blue eyes, the world is blind to the ruse of the past decade, instead seeing only the valiant knight of humble origins. He is hot-headed and eager to prove himself, and is not as preoccupied with honor as his brothers-in-arms, making him by far the most pragmatic of the Rainbow Guard's numbers.

History
Patrice Drinkwater was born in the opening moons of 380 AC to Garen and Ysilla Drinkwater. The fourth and final child of their union, Patrice for the most part fell under their notice. The septa that took care of her was more familiar to her than her own mother, and the maester of their small castle always had a more tender hand than her father.

The Great Famine struck early in her life, before she had reached ten years of age. She does not remember them especially well: she remembers hungry masses arriving at her father's keep, searching for some sort of sustenance, and the insistence of the septons on collecting alms. Beyond that, she was spared the true horrors of the period.

When she finally became old enough to serve as a lady-in-waiting, Patrice was the first one to suggest the idea. It took many moons for her parents to relent, but relent they did. By 393, Patrice had been sent to serve as a lady-in-waiting of Lady Obara Dalt.

Obara took a far greater interest in Patrice than her parents ever had, and the same was true in reverse. The ruler of Lemonwood, Obara was a vibrant woman who was not to be told no. Her parents, who had expected the older woman to drill manners and obedience into a daughter who had habitually lacked it, would be sorely disappointed when she at last returned to Clearstream, for Obara herself was lacking in those qualities. Rather than teaching Patrice to braid hair and curtsy properly, she took the young girl into the yard with her, teaching her the art of the blade and spear.

Finally presented with a true outlet for her physicality, Patrice bloomed. She took to the blade faster than any boy would, even as slight as she was. By the time she was sixteen, she was already beating full-grown knights in spars, using her slender form and fleetfootedness to her advantage.

Like all good things, these days had to come to an end. On her seventeenth nameday, word arrived that her family had arranged a match for her with the heir of House Trant of Gallowsgrey, Ser Brynden Trant.

The girl that arrived at Clearstream was very different from the girl they had sent away to Lemonwood. Though her family was Dornish, and therefore accustomed to seeing women in warrior's garb, they had not expected it of their own daughter. Her husband-to-be, come to Dorne to secure his new wife, was thoroughly unamused. In their first meeting several days before the ceremony, he made it explicitly clear to her that he would not tolerate her meddling in business meant for men. Her place to give him heirs, and nothing more.

Patrice would have none of that. On the day of her wedding, before the servants came to rouse her, she crept silently through the halls of Clearstream to freedom. When the servants arrived later in the day, they discovered her room empty. The patrols her father sent to locate her did not succeed.

Hidden away in the foothills of Dorne, Patrice cut her hair, muddied her face, and took on the name Benedar. When she slipped into the mustering grounds and joined the forces of House Yronwood, which was levying forces for the renewed offensive in the Stepstones, no one batted an eye. Bodies were more important than backgrounds, there.

Her experience with a blade meant that Patrice, now Benedar, quickly distinguished herself in the battles to come. For five years, he served honorably and with distinction, earning no small renown among his brothers-in-arms, many of whose lives he had saved more than once. When danger reared its head, he was the first to face it. When the retreat was sounded, he was the last to leave.

Eventually, her valorous service drew the attention of the nobility above them in 401 AC. After his quick thinking and skill at arms fended off a particularly vicious ambush on one of their supply trains in the mountains of Bloodstone, Prince Maekar Targaryen took notice of the peasant man's service. After being assured of the man's piousness, he knighted him the next day, after a night long vigil in the makeshift Sept at camp.

When the war finally ended the next year, Benedar returned home. Only, Benedar had no home to go to. He spent the year traveling through Dorne, trying to decide what to do with his life. More than once he considered returning to his previous life at home, though he talked himself out of it every time. That life was not for him anymore--not after what he had seen, and what he had done.

It was then, in the depths of the Scarlet Winter, that Benedar made the journey north to King's Landing in order to find Maekar Targaryen, who had since been granted a seat upon the Small Council. There, after a brief conversation and a rekindling of bonds, he was offered a spot in Maekar's newly-founded Rainbow Guard, which he eagerly accepted. He has served Maekar faithfully ever since.

Recent Events
Ser Benedar intends to compete in the Tourney of the Red Comet.

Household
A farmer's boy from the vicinity of Summerhall, Desmond has been Benedar's squire for the past three years, following the death of his parents in the Scarlet Winter. Even though he is the person that, by far, spends the most time around Benedar, he does not suspect his secret.
 * Desmond