Runa Blacktyde

Runa Blacktyde is the twin sister of Isolde Blacktyde and one of the five surviving children remaining to Lord Dagmer Blacktyde of Blacktyde. A fickle man, Dagmer wed thrice, but only managed to get children of two of his marriages. A large part of his family died with the Scarlet Winter that hit Blacktyde particularly hard, leaving him, and his four children by his last rock-wife, Maria.

Appearance and Character
A woman just come to her twentieth year, Runa does not lack for an Ironborn sense of beauty. With sandy blonde hair, she stands out from her siblings with an aura of command. Though she is not tall, standing at just above five foot five, she projects herself with impunity, as if the salt and sea could never harm her. Her eyes are a light blue, slightly tilted. Her face is slender, framed by strands of blonde hair.

Bold and charming, Runa has worked her way into commanding the ship Nightfire. She has been drowned once, upon her own behest, and emerged stronger for it. Her commanding personality makes her enemies and favorites of many, typically tending to polarize towards the former.

Runa often dresses herself in heavy roughspun leathers and prefers to wield a shortsword and a shield. She almost always wears a coat over her leathers, buttoned up on the chest. Her hair is almost always tied back, kept in rough braids.

Early Life
Born in 387 AC, Runa Blacktyde was the first of five children to be born of Lord Dagmer Blacktyde’s final wife, Lady Maria Tawney. A twin sister of Isolde Blacktyde, the two were raised together in Blacktyde castle, often overlooked when compared to the main branch of the family. Lord Dagmer had taken two wives before Maria, and of his first, had two boys with children of their own. It was Maron Blacktyde, his eldest by his first marriage that he groomed for succession, and none of the Blacktydes by the Lady Maria.

For all her faults, Maria was a strong, capable woman. It was her that Runa and Isolde had grown to admire in their early years, before they could walk, and before they could very well speak. Elend Blacktyde came next after her twins, and Maria proved her fertility twice more before she was deemed unfit to bear any more children. Lucille Blacktyde, born in 390 AC, was strong and healthy, mirroring the children that had come before her. Harlan, in 392, was as strong as all of Dagmer’s boys.

By this time, the two heirs of Blacktyde both had children of their own. Blacktyde was filled with children, each rivaling one another, and growing within one another’s constant presence. Runa took a particular liking to her nephew, a boy three years her elder, finding his pursuits and roguish natures interesting.

The Bastard Nephew
Dagon Pyke was the bastard of her elder brother, Roderick. A boy born in 384 AC, he was three years Runa’s elder, and as they grew into their preteens and teens together, Dagon and her would spend a great deal of time with one another. Though her mother actively discouraged her from such, it was Roderick who saw their relationship bloom. They matched each other for personality and wit, and by the age of fourteen, had come to revere him. It was during these years that Dagon showed her the practices of womanly love – practices that would remain until the disaster of 403 AC.

The Nightfire
Furthermore, it was Dagon who assisted his younger aunt in obtaining a crew. Shortly before the Scarlet Winter began in earnest, Runa began scouring the island of Blacktyde for friends and likeminded individuals to construct a ship for herself. It was eventually decided that they would not build a ship, however, but they would take one instead.

The Nightfire, belonging to captain Euron Pyke, of insubstantial lineage to House Saltcliffe of Saltcliffe was the ship they intended to steal. Runa was only thirteen when Dagon convinced her to move with him, and bloody her sword, so to speak. Together, with a crew of young men and women, they took to the Nightfire at night, slaughtering Euron and the rest of his crew while they slept, tossing them overboard shortly after.

And so it was that the Nightfire took her first voyage with Dagon and Runa at the helm. They sailed once around the Iron Islands, visiting the ports that would pay them heed. When they returned, Runa's father was furious, but was quickly placated by his second son Roderick.

Deceit and Hate
The Scarlet Winter began in full in 402 AC and the Iron islands saw a significant brunt of the frost. By the time they had any warnings, the ports had frozen over and disease slowly grew along the island of Blacktyde. First the fever, then something much worse. Grayscale began to emerge in the lowest parts of Blacktyde, reaching from man to man as Drowned Men quickly put those souls to rest, only to find themselves too infected by the disease.

Runa's crew amongst the Nightfire were some of those affected. Though Runa refused to believe it, Dagon insisted that they needed to be dealt with, and so in the dead of night, with his own crew, Dagon burned the Nightfire to the ground with almost every single crew member inside.

When Runa went to confront him about it, he sailed away on his longboat, and she threw an axe at him, striking him in his temple.

The Disaster of 403 AC
What followed was a disaster of paramount proportion.

The sickness had spread through the island of Blacktyde, and taken root in her family, as well. Lord Dagmer lay sick; his wife, Maria Tawney, at his side, both wasting away. Only Dagmer emerged alive. Maron's wife, Delonne, was also taken by the sickness, followed by their daughter, Amaria. Roderick died as well, and Dagmer's last son, Harlan, perished shortly after as well of the disease that wasted them away.

Leaving Lord Elend as the sole heir to Blacktyde, followed by Runa and her sister, the eldest of them resolved to defend and keep her brother safe, in the eyes of their father. A great burial at sea was held in 404 AC for those that died during that disastrous year, while Runa held her head high, consistently worried about Dagon returning.

407 AC
The year 407 AC came and went without effects. Though Blacktyde has largely recovered from the diseases of years ago, there are abandoned towns that once gave home to life, and the mood has soured significantly. Lord Dagmer, sixty-four years old, remains healthy in his old age... as healthy as a man of his age could be, constantly taking vigil over his young son and encouraging his daughters.

Dickon Pyke also left early in the year, to an unknown destination.

Towards the end of the Tenth Moon, Dagmer received word that his troops were to be levied at once. He sent Runa to make certain that the job got done.

Family

 * Dagmer Blacktyde, Lord of Blacktyde, b. 343 AC
 * m. Cecilia Blacktyde, d. 375 AC,
 * Maron Blacktyde, d. 400 AC,
 * m. Delonne Saltcliffe, d. 403 AC,
 * Amaria Blacktyde, d. 403 AC
 * Roderick Blacktyde, d. 403 AC
 * his bastards,
 * Dagon Pyke, b. 384 AC
 * Dickon Pyke, b. 390 AC
 * m. Addysen Hill, d. 377 AC,
 * No issue
 * m. Maria Tawney, d. 402 AC,
 * Runa Blacktyde, b. 387 AC,
 * Isolde Blacktyde, b. 387 AC,
 * Elend Blacktyde, b. 389 AC,
 * Lucille Blacktyde, b. 390 AC,
 * Harlan Blacktyde, b. 392 AC, d. 403 AC