Ulwyck Toland

Ulwyck Toland is the recent Lord of Ghost Hill, after the tragic and untimely passing of his father by his hand.

Appearance and Character:
Dark, beautiful and suave, Ulwyck Toland is a enigmatic man, possessing long black hair, thick eyebrows and a piercing glare. Dark green eyes that seem to change with his mood; shining with mirth or glittering with barely concealed rage. He is powerfully built, a lifetime of battles and warfare leaving him toned and chiselled. His movements are deliberate and purposeful, moving with an elegance and grace more at home in a dancer or bravo.

It had been said that Symon Toland had been blessed with the perfect sons; one adept at leading and statecraft, governing a household and dealing with his people, and one proud and dangerous, to bring fame and honour to their family line. It was only a pity they were born out of order. Ulwyck has been described as mad, quick to take fault and quicker to draw steel. He possesses no sense of conscience or moral compass, instead demonstrating a sense of hedonism worthy of a Targaryen. He has said that all men’s fates are written, and that if fate is immutable, there is no point doing anything that just not bring you some carnal pleasure. How many bastards Ulwyck has sired is unknown — he had less than little interest in caring for them, only for their creation. His moods are legendary, he is commonly found laughing and jesting with his companions, only to change to a cold fury at the slightest thing, or to a dour lethargy. He believes in the immutability of time, the cold grip of fate and the threads that lead all men’s lives, and thus cares little for life and death, or what is right or wrong. Honour is a foreign concept to him, and poison said to be his most faithful lover.

The Beginning (411 - 422)
Ulwyck Toland was born in the early moons of 411AC, to his parents Symon and Loreza Toland. It was a surprisingly easy birth, one that was said to contrast greatly with the difficulty of his later life. Ulwyck was born a curious and precocious boy, bold and reckless even as a young child. Only two years later his sister Jynessa followed, and even with the small difference in age they were said to be go everywhere together. Ulwyck was the leader, deciding where and what they were to do, and when Mors was born but two years later, he quickly joined their small gang. He was the terror of Ghost Hill, Ulwyck getting into scrapes with the other boys, looking at every which thing, and quickly becoming a nightmare for frankly everyone present, apart from his siblings.

His sister Ysilla was born when he was six, and if he and the others were close, he was closest to the frail girl born last of the four, challenging anyone who he thought might do her harm, and proving protective even at a young age. Their mother died but a year later, a victim of a violent illness.

It was at the age of seven that he, due to his brazen disregard for his own life, happened upon a nest of snakes, and was bitten by a young nestling. He was confined to bed for a month, flickering in and out of life and dreams, apparently hallucinating with fever. Everyone around thought him dead for sure, but when he pulled through, each and every one counted it as a miracle.

It was when his father was gifted an ornamental Arakh that Ulwyck’s true nature was revealed, begging his father to let him train with it instead of the traditional spear of dorne. He was denied again and again, and took to stealing into his father’s study at night, and training instead of sleeping. When after a few months, his habit was revealed, his father laughed and declared that if he would be so stubborn, he had no choice but to permit it, and hired a trainer of gladiators from the Free Cities to be his teacher.

The most prominent revelation of Ulwyck’s character came at the tender age of nine, when he found his younger brother Mors being taunted by a brutish older youth of fourteen. Mors had chosen not to tell Ulwyck, fearing his reprisal, a decision that ultimately proved wise but pointless. The youth died but 4 days later in a horrifying manner, and the fact that Ulwyck had been seen milking the venom of vipers only two days earlier was willfully ignored. The accident was deemed an unfortunate accident, though it was said that Symon Toland first began to grasp the monster that was his son.

It was also in this year that Ulwyck met the young Sibella Sand, a bastard of Spottswood who found herself in Ghost Hill. He took an instant interest in her, taking trips around Ghost Hill, exploring the wastes and the caves that surrounded their castle. Even then Ulwyck found her different in a way that he could not quite understand.

The Shadow of Ghost Hill (422- 426)
As he grew older, Ulwyck Toland began to spend equal times at Ghost Hill and Sunspear, his noble father wishing to mould him into a true lord by subjecting him to other noble families. It was a foolhardy prospect, and he was often sent home for moons while Symon struggled to make amends for the insults or challenges Ulwyck made to other heirs. But he would be called back, each time to attempt his life at court anew. Ulwyck was not said to hate either of them, even as a youth he found malicious interest in everything he did, though often contorting it to some dark end, taking pleasure in the shock and disgust of others. It was also here, in 424 AC that Ulwyck Toland met the Prince of Summerhall. A young man he took an instant dislike too. He found him rash, brazen and arrogant; traits that he was too young to understand the irony of disliking. He hated the prince’s prestige and status of a prince of House Targaryen, and sought to surpass him in every way, leaping into his training with a new vigour. He frequently sparred with the young prince, considering him his nemesis, and every time he was sent back to Ghost Hill in disgrace he spent the days training.

Spent the days training, and with his often companion Sibella Sand, their previously youthful relationship becoming something far less innocent. It was at the age of fourteen that they explored each other fully, fumbling and confused as such things often are; though they had experimented before, it was out in a cave in the hills of the Toland lands that they found the true purpose behind their attraction to each other. It was a relationship that was doomed to last, for good or ill. While Ulwyck’s mind and body would be captured by other noble ladies of dorne, though he would not get as far as he had that night until the age of sixteen, it was Sibella he returned to each time he stepped inside Ghost Hill, her dark beauty and dangerous charm making her his favourite among those he had met, even compared to the highest born dornishwomen of the Sunspear court.

It was at fifteen that his dislike of the prince came to an end, when both of them were sent with Prince Martell to deal with a small rampaging band of pirates. Side by side, with Aerion’s powerful stabs of his spear, and Ulwyck swinging his dothraki *arakh* about his head. Perhaps it was the bond shared in battle, or the realization that they both shared the siren call of war and blood, but after that fight they found themselves fast friends, until Prince Aerion left in 428 AC. Prince Aerion would also retreat to Ghost Hill for a time, going back and forth between the two, which is where he met Ulwyck’s sister, Jynessa Toland.

A Spectre of Death (426 - 434)
Even with Aerion gone, Ulwyck continued his trend at court, though apparently Prince Aerion had proved a moderating influence on the young dornishman, for if he had been bloodthirsty and hedonistic before, this only got worse as the years passed. He spent the years studying his blade, as well as delighting and tormenting the courts of Sunspear and Ghost Hill in equal measure. While his roaming eye would often catch different dornishwomen in Sunspear, when he returned to Ghost Hill his only interest was in Sibella Sand, eschewing any other ladies who found themselves at his father’s court. His father despaired at the youth, and shouting matches between father and son were common, though they were said to reach an uneasy truce every time. In 431 AC when Ulwyck's lover, Sibella Sand gave birth to their first daughter, though she emerged stillborn. Ulwyck was present, as he would be for all her births, and whether or not he showed emotion at this is not known.

However, it was later that year hat he surpassed his prior record for brutality, an impressive feat even for him. Ysilla Toland was to be betrothed to a man several years her senior, one who Ulwyck found apparently unbefitting of his sister, though it was wondered whether he would view *anyone* as worthy to wed her. He challenged the man to a duel, to first blood, and several days after the duel, the man’s wound festered, and he was found dead shortly after. While never proven or said in the light of day, the suggestion was that Ulwyck had poisoned his blade. To avoid further accusations as well as shield him from any worse misdeeds, Symon Toland recalled his son to Ghost Hill in disgrace.

For the next few years Ulwyck continued his training in exile, taking a renewed interest in reading, particularly books about time, the occult and what lay after death. He found solace in books on spirits and the afterlife, looking into the Mother Rhoyne and Essos. It was an interest he shared with his brother Mors, and they would often discuss books and concepts, searching for more forbidden texts from both the Free Cities and essos. When she was present, he would go on escapades with Sibella as well, travelling out into the hills and sands for unknown purposes.

Whether or not either of them wished for it, it was in 433 that their next bastard was born; a healthy boy. He was quickly taken care of by others in the Toland household, with neither Ulwyck nor Sibella showing him much mind.

Ulwyck Ascendant (434-435 AC )
It was with the rise of the Vulture King that Ulwyck found his true calling, the siren-song that had echoed in his blood since the day he first laid eyes on his arakh: the giving of death and the taking of life. With the capture of Starfall, Ulwyck was one of the foremost nobles braying for blood, looking for the execution of those responsible and the maiming of those close. He condemned each and every house, deeming them traitors and cutthroats. Whether or not he truly believed any of his words is fairly obvious, the man’s true allegiance to battle was well known. Symon Toland took half his forces to Godsgrace, leaving the other half in command of Ulwyck, fearing that committing fully might lead to a surprise attack on Ghost Hill, close to the stormlands who might prove sympathetic to the Vulture King’s cause.

It was after a series of defeats that Aerion Targaryen was called, landing first at Ghost Hill, where he met his former enemy-turned confidant, eager to spill blood with him once more. It was then that Ulwyck and several of his most loyal men entered the fray, racing to join the Dornish army, confident in their victory and Ghost Hill’s protection now that their Rogue Prince had entered the fray. It was under the shadow of Vhaegon that Ulfwyck Toland fought at Godsgrace, twisting and twirling, meting out a bloody dance as men burned and melted around him.

Waiting for Death (436 - Present)
Ulwyck Toland returned much the same, his views on life and death and the cycles of time only reinforced by the horror he had seen in war, and his place as a primeval force moving through the river’s of time only secured. His father, heavily concussed by the fighting, began to show symptoms of insanity, and was put under constant care. He had good days and bad days, but more often than not Mors Toland and his young wife lead court, with Ulwyck only there occasionally to provide input or commands. More commonly Ulwyck was found training, searching through the wilderness or between the legs of his lover, Sibella Sand. In 437, she gave birth to another girl, Silvianna, who passed just three months after, from a violent illness. Only two years later, early in the year of 439 AC, they had their next living child, a pale, white skinned girl once again given to the care of the Toland household, though her Ulwyck showed some affection for, naming her birth a "sign."

When the great council was called, the entirety of House Toland went to the capitol, Ysilla, Mors and his wife leaving with a retinue to represent House Toland. Ulwyck deigned to stay, believing their father to be in his last days. His thoughts had proved correct, as his father was found dead, and with a small ceremony, Ulwyck was established as Lord of Ghost Hill, a prospect that filled many within the castle with dread. He left for King’s Landing the day after, he and the enigmatic Sibella wrapped in robes, with no guard or retinue, merely two horse and supplies for the journey.

Family and Household

 * Lord Symon Toland d. 439 AC
 * m. Loreza Toland
 * Lord Ulwyck Toland b. 411 AC
 * Jynessa Toland b. 413 AC
 * Mors Toland b. 415 AC
 * Ysilla Toland b. 418 AC