Maekar Velaryon

Maekar Velaryon is the only son of Ser Lucerys Velaryon and Princess Gael Targaryen. A fixture at court, he is keen on obtaining influence in his own right as he struggles to crawl out of the shadow of his infamous father and venerable mother.

Appearance and Character
Neurotic, twitchy, and fatally preoccupied with appearances, Maekar is a lithe weasel of a boy with an unnerving grin and a perpetual stare. With Lucerys' silver-blonde hair and dark indigo eyes, he resembles a slighter, hungrier version of his father, tempered by the gentle porcelain features of his mother. He wears his hair in a jaunty knot atop his head, often woven with glass beads, and his nose is pierced with a small golden ring. Flamboyant and prone to excess, he is very fond of the fashions of the far east and fascinated by body modification - to Gael's horror.

His personality is just as challenging as his appearance - Maekar is changeable and decadent, delighting in extreme revelry but susceptible to a vicious temper. He enjoys pranks and wordplay, strong drinks, and curiosities from strange beasts to exotic trinkets, but like any magpie, his attention is quickly drawn to the next new shiny thing.

History
Maekar's birth was cause for more fear than joy on the part of his father, but Gael cherished her first child with ample maternal love and affection. Only as the months passed and the babe grew into a lanky boy did Lucerys begin to warm to him - more out of a sense of pride in his own creation than any real desire to know the child as a person.

Destined to be the only trueborn child of a turbulent marriage, Maekar was spoiled and lavished with gifts - the only form of paternal obligation that Lucerys Velaryon understood how to give. From an early age, he received only the finest of things, from silver rattles to velvet swaddling to whatever toys and fancies his heart might desire. Not the least of these gifts was his mother's dragon egg - yet it stubbornly refused to hatch in his cradle, and lies dormant and still even now, hidden away by Gael for fear that Maekar might wager it in a game of cards or sell it for a fortune.

The couple traveled often in Maekar's early years, visiting many of the Free Cities on dragonback at the invitation of dignitaries and magisters. Some months were spent in a Pentoshi manse as Lucerys engaged in diplomatic missions, and others at his King's Landing estate, while Gael served as her husband's surrogate on the small council. The toddling boy delighted in the sights and sounds of bustling cities, but spent most of his time in the company of his mother, never straying far from her side.

He kept chattering parrots and grasping monkeys as pets in the halls of his luxurious homes, and when they sometimes surfaced with their necks broken or their wings smashed, his father waved it off as mere coincidence. But the little boy was not content with only torturing animals - his bastard siblings, who were kept out of obligation and frequently omitted from the family's trips or celebrations, were his favored target. Gael did what she could to minimize the damage, but often could not help but take her own child's side - he was younger, after all, and seemed innocent enough. Yet he had already learned just what words could be used to cut and wound, and how many pinches or scratches could be left before an adult might notice something was amiss.

Lucerys fully expected to live long enough to guide his own dragon in the hands of his son, but when he passed in a drunken stupor in 426 AC, it was Gael who tamed Seastar instead, as Maekar was only seven years old. So, to, did she take on the task of raising a small child alone, who today has only hazy memories of his father, colored by a wistful idealization of a man that never told him no. Maekar deeply resents his continued reliance on the woman and his lack of a dragon of his own, but he is nonetheless well aware that he has no greater ally in the world. The last of the Summerhall line is a respected figure at court and a rock of stability for her son, advocating on his behalf, reestablishing ties to the main branch of House Velaryon, and managing Lucerys' considerable assets, which were left to Maekar in lieu of lands or titles. She has instilled in him a small dose of fear and respect, but he is a difficult son to love, and often a truly ungrateful one.

At court, Maekar has earned a reputation as a gossip and a libertine, happy to offend at any opportunity and delighted to cause a scandal. He has stolen the maidenhead of many a serving wench or petty nobleman's daughter, gambles often and cheats at cards, and can procure any illicit substance one can imagine - from opium to human flesh. Some among his extended family view him as a harmless fop or as a fatherless child to be coddled, but his cousin Lord Vaemond Velaryon is more concerned by the boy's absent morals and brutal streak - unwilling to fully trust him and uneasy in his presence.

Family

 * Vaemond Velaryon (345 - 407)
 * m. Vaella Targaryen (346 - 404)
 * Shiera Vance (371 - 430)
 * m. Lord Perceon Vance
 * House Vance
 * Aurane Velaryon (375 - 437)
 * m. Baela Targaryen b. 379
 * House Velaryon
 * Lucerys Velaryon (378 - 426)
 * Zahra Waters b. 410
 * m. __________
 * Issue
 * Aethan Waters b. 411
 * Alyn Waters b. 411
 * m. Gael Targaryen
 * Maekar Velaryon b. 419
 * Rhaella Dayne b. 378
 * m. Lord Ulrick Dayne
 * House Dayne
 * Corlys Velaryon b. 382
 * m. Queen Visaera Targaryen
 * Aerys Velaryon b. 410