Erryk Wylde

Erryk Wylde, affectionately known by his family as the Princeling, is a scion of House Wylde. He is the political power behind his elder brother's rule, and though the brothers don't flaunt it, it isn't that big of a secret.

He is the younger son and second child of Valerion Wylde and Jocelyn Baratheon, husband of Cassandra Vhassyl and father to Adrian Wylde.

He is fluent in both Common Tongue and Lysene.

Appearance and character
His affectionate nickname was not given in vain. Even in early childhood, Erryk reminded of a prince, beautiful and standing out in the crowd, and as he grew into adulthood, it has only increased. A willowy figure, with long limbs, the scion of the rainwood has a natural elegance befitting his standing.

Long, wavy raven black hair, much like his father's, falls around a Valyrian white face, an albeit strange combination, with high cheekbones and gentleness to his features his father lacks. His lips are full, and his eyes big, almost like a child's, pale green in colour. In many ways, Erryk reminds of his father Valerion.

In terms of dress, Erryk is a simple, but elegant man, with outfits suited for his lanky build. With a good sense of style, he oft dones one or two colours, and a few pieces of jewellery - an unnoticeable earring, hidden by his black mane, and a silver ring on his right hand.

Erryk is a man of curiosity and learning - determined and resourseful, but also controlled and aware of when his interests might harm him, he observes the world around him with quietness and attention, and only speaks when he deems the situation worthy of it. When he speaks, however, he is teasing, playful, taunting, but only with his family, out of fear that someone else might misintrepret his words and use them against him. He is self-centered, and views the world through the lens of self - but he can't be, by some standards, called selfish. A naturally charismatic figure, he is a good diplomat and listener. He is intelligent, and somewhat strong-willed, and independent.

The beginning
It was said that upon a rainy night in 410 AC, the future lady of Rainhouse was having a very difficult delivery, a result of a very difficult pregnancy. At one point, midwives and the maester were worried that neither the mother or the baby would make it, but somehow, they both did. The baby was quickly esteemed to be healthy, and mere days after his birth, baptised in the light of the Seven as Erryk.

Three years later, another child would follow, the only girl in the family, Serra.

Erryk was the second son born to the heir of Rainhouse, and as such, quite far down the line of inheritance, but no less important to the family itself. The boy's grandfather, Lord Cedric, cared deeply for his grandchildren, and little Erryk was no exception. Soon after his birth, Rainhouse was flooded with artists and poets. Erryk grew around them, but despite the words and music around him, he was a quiet child, rarely talking and mostly listening. He was, however, always running, always creeping up in places where perhaps a small child should not be in, despite his parents trying hard to keep him at bay.

The politician
Erryk was 7 years old when his grandfather passed away and his father became lord. Having been fond of his grandfather, who used to come and either tuck him in, oftentimes alongside his own father, or read him bedside stories when his health did not allow him to properly do his duties as lord, it was a shock to the boy, who now clung even closer to his father, and his books. But, even if he was grieving alongside his parents, it did little to soothe his childish curiosity. The room he shouldn't have been in was the solar of his father Valerion. His legs carried him to his father's solar most in the year of his grandfather's death, just as Valerion was assuming the full responsabilities of being a lord. Many have tried to keep the pretty child out, but it was of no use. No matter his father's inexperience, Erryk listened as Valerion tried governing his inheritance, tying the political connections and making decisions, and thus, the first great love of Erryk's life was born.

He got heartbroken once he expressed desire to do as his father did, and was told it was not his place. His place was to support his brother, his father told him. His brother was to be lord, not Erryk, so his brother got to make the decisions politically. It crushed his spirits, if only for a while, until he found a new passion to keep himself occupied.

The doll
The second son of Lord Valerion Wylde had always been aware of his own appearance. With so much alike to his father, with same high cheekbones, the same Valyrian pale skin that greeted him every time he stood against the mirror, who was doing what he was specifically because of his looks, in the troublesome teenage phase of growing up where most have doubts about their bodies, Erryk didn't. Reserved, Erryk spent his formative years only partially in the yard, where it was quickly discovered that he was useless with weapons, partially in the library in his own studies of Lysene, politics (without the explicit knowledge of his father), studying codes and breaking them (a thing his interests took him to, and something he devoted himself to), and partially in front of the mirror. The greatness of his curiosity, broken by the outside world, had to turn inside, and Erryk made himself the sole subject of his exploration and learning.

Once everyone noticed, it was too late to do anything about it. The forced inwardness of his curiosity produced a self-centered, overtly confident individual, one aware of himself, and above all, his own appearance. The Princeling, nickname he had since birth, was suddenly shifted to The doll, as Erryk had referred to himself at that time period. One more thing he unearthed in his exploration was a budding attraction to both sexes, a secret he disclosed to only his family.

The brother
Erryk and his elder brother, Alessander, had always been close. Alessander treated him as a younger brother, no more no less, with care, love and devotion returned as respect and support from the younger boy. Once Serra was old enough to join them, she did, and they gladly accepted her into their circle, ever since 417 AC, when Lord Cedric died, the brothers started drifting away. The knowledge of Alessander taking away what Erryk viewed as his could not have been forgiven, and although they continued having fun, especially after Alessander started squiring for his uncle, Ser Rhaegar, the topic was an open wound that kept festering.

That is, until the day Valerion realised that his heir was useless at governing lands. That was in early 426 AC, when on one sunny day, Valerion asked his sixteen year old son to go for a ride with him. At first, Erryk was not at all surprised by it - after all, he had maintained his relationship with his father even if the one with his brother kept deteriorating. It was during the course of the conversation that Erryk's life would get a new purpose. The lord offered his son an opportunity - study to be the mastermind behind Alessander's rule, the brainy half of a lord, the quiet maelstrom hidden safely, but impactful. Ecstatic, the son accepted.

It was only then the wound started healing. During the years, the brothers learned how to work together, as a team, rekindling a bond lost by something they'd never be able to reverse. It's a bond that lasts to this day, one of equals, unhindered by talks around it.

The lover
Another thing he had discovered during his early teens was his own innate charisma, which he mercilessly used during the later part of his teenage years to his own advantage. During the first few years since the discovery of his wandering attractions, Erryk had taken many lovers to his bed. Stable boys, maid servants, all thrilled by the prospect of spending the night with the lord's pretty son, could not refuse him, maybe for his noble status, and maybe for genuine affections they might've had for him. Those weren't mindless, sleepless nights, however, but short bursts of passion and interest, gone as quickly as they've developed, though some managed to last a little longer, as is the case of a young merchant's daughter.

But one relationship would overshadow all that came before, and never after it had there been the reckless pursuit of love and affection in Erryk's life like before. One faithful day, in early 430 AC, in a last (relative) calm before the storm of the Second Hammer Uprising happened, a knight made his way to pledge his allegiance to the Lord of Rainhouse with his family. The man was Ser Brynden Fell, then a 35-year old scion of House Fell's distant branch looking for luck elsewhere. Soon after his coming, he would find luck - but not in the way he had expected.

The first encounter between Erryk and Brynden happened by accident, as Brynden was assigned to Erryk for a single ride in the rainwood. Some would say it was love at first sight, as they had returned from the ride, it would prove, touched by the Maiden's hand. What happened, however, they never disclosed. It didn't matter that Brynden was 15 years Erryk's senior, nor did it matter that he was serving Erryk's father, nor did it matter that they were both undeniably male. It was only for Brynden that Erryk would lift a sword, claiming to want to learn as an excuse to spend more time in the older man's company, eventually bed. He was completely enamoured, and the love born, though a secret, was strong enough to withstand any challenge, or so it seemed.

The fiancé
The affair managed to last for two years in peacetime. At the end of that period, in 431 AC, just shortly before Lady Rhaena Vhassyl's death out of an illness, she had expressed a desire to have one of her grandchildren married to a Lysene. As a dying wish, her son could not refuse her, and Erryk, understanding the situation at hand, agreed to be the one taking part in what he dubbed "the breeding." Rhaena sent the letter to her brother, who had a recently widowed granddaughter of Erryk's age, but as it was an overseas operation, she wouldn't live to see the positive reply.

She died not long after sending the letter. The widow's name was Cassandra Vhassyl, married to her relative who had then taken his own life not long after the wedding. Erryk was told of her beauty, of her grace, but it never mattered to him. He continued his relationship, certain that the wedding was in the future.

The convert
In the year of 432 AC, Second Hammer Uprising truly took off in the Stormlands with the betrayal at Stonehelm. In the battles that ensued, Rhaegar, Erryk's uncle, Alessander and Brynden would go and fight for the Baratheon cause, all while their families were left at home, Erryk included. For the first time in his life, Erryk found himself in a desperate situation, fearing both the loss of his lover and brother.

He had been raised with the Faith all his life. While never fully religious, he did believe in the Seven, but the war's possible tolls didn't sit well with him, so in an attempt to bring himself peace should either his lover or brother perish in the war, he turned to Lys, his father's birthplace, and its local religion. With both his father and Lysandro following the local religion of the Goddess of Love, he asked them if they could iniate him. He had been curious about it ever since he was a child, and he did hear a few of the prayers when sneaking in the castle, but he never fully invested himself in it. Now, though, he felt he needed to, driven by both his frets and curiosity, and his father didn't mind teaching him about it. Soon enough, though there was no priest to officially convert him, the second son did pray with his father, and did believe in his father's secret religion that was further appealing to him, with its acceptance of people like him. Ones the Faith would call sexual deviants and sodomites.

The husband, the uncle, the father
With the war ended and Baratheons victorious, House Wylde stood in the light of success, having chosen the right side. With success, however, came not only favour, rewards, but a particular reward Erryk simply did have it in him to appriciate. The sister in law.

Falena Whitehead was one of Lord Whitehead's children, an innocent victim of her father's ministrations. After the taking of the Weeping Town, the Whitehead family was spared, but after the war ended, to ensure further loyalty of the House, Falena's hand was given to House Wylde as one of the loyalists. And to none other than Alessander, by then Lord of Rainhouse.

The dual wedding of late 435 AC was a grand spectacle indeed ; the Wyldes didn't spare any dragon on it. The previously arranged marriage between Erryk and Cassandra Vhassyl, who had come to Westeros with her lover Isander a moon prior to the big wedding, was celebrated alongside the one between Alessander and Falena. Ever since the wedding, Erryk has been harbouring suspitions about the new Lady Wylde, watching her every move and action, though all his family believe she is perfectly harmless.

But as displeased as he was with his brother's marriage, he was pleased with his own. Cassandra was his match on so many levels - intelectual, spiritual, personal, but as they were both in relationships outside of marriage, they agreed to tolerate it, and function primarily as friends, who keep up the appearance as spouses. Thus, a deep friendship was born, and Cassandra earned her rightful place among the Wyldes.

An essential part of marriage were children - and both marriages of 435 proved fruitful. In a year following her wedding, Falena gave birth to Alerie Wylde, the so far only heiress of Rainhouse. Cassandra and Erryk, seeing it fit to make a cover for his relationship with Brynden, produced silver-haired boy, Adrian, born just a year after Alerie.

Chapter III - Firebrand
TBA

Family
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