Maerona

== Biographical Information ==
Full Name: Maerona
Other Titles: Steward of House Drallion
Culture: She considers herself a citizen of the world.
Allegiances: House Drallion
Goals: Security
Player: Solana
== Appearance and Character ==
Appearance: Maerona stands slightly taller than her feminine counterparts. Her posture is confident, shoulders squared but tilted slightly to one side. There is a defiant tilt to her chin which gives off the perpetual illusion she is looking down her nose at people. Her build is athletic as her class dictates. She sports a natural hourglass figure – she certainly fills out her gowns quite nicely. Her movement flows, her gait is fast and her stride is long. Her head is never down.
Her skin has a nice healthy tan - indicative of how much time she has spent outside. It would seem she prefers to work on her business outside of the confines of her office. Her complexion is nigh on perfect, however. With the exception of the light sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of her nose and the tops of her cheeks. Her features are feminine – elegantly slanted green eyes surrounded by long lashes (the envy of all women, I swear!), an upturned nose, full lips, and a jawline that is just begging to be kissed. She keeps her hair in immaculate condition – swept upwards in an elaborate hairstyle when she has the time - otherwise she lets it hang down in a simple braid or when even less time allows for it - she lets it hang down in its wild glory.
Her long fingers are almost always adorned with rings – gold and silver. Nearly every single one of them has at least one eye popping gemstone (or a cluster, or studded with tiny but super expensive gems of vivid color.) She loves to hang bangles from her wrists and takes pleasure in adorning her neck with fine and expensive jewels. Being a seamstress in her own right - she ensures that her wardrobe is varied from most traditional courtly appearance and unique.
She has a natural allure that draws people in, most finding her to be quite attractive. For those whom she is focusing her attention, she has a charm and warmth that is difficult to deny.
Personality:
Maerona is a survivor. Her history is far from clean and it taught her at a very young age that she would have to do whatever it takes to survive. She's seen a lot of the worst that humanity has to offer and precious little of the kindnesses that makes existing worthwhile. She's learned to live with a lot of suffering, both physically and mentally - her pain threshold is quite high. She has a patience that runs deep below the surface and has no issue with biding her time. She's learned the art of saying and behaving one way whilst thinking and feeling another. 
Amazingly, she's still able to appear as a functioning human being. A capable negotiator and a fearsome merchant who drives a hard bargain - though she always appears to deal on the side of fairness. She is quite capable of interacting within the community though she would rather spend time on her own for the most part, preferring the company of her plants, reading (a skill she has fought to obtain and is quite proud of),or even the comfort of her own bed. 
She has no desire to be a trumped up kept woman with not an ounce of life in her still breathing body. As such, she's happy to take what she wants and do as she please as far as she can get away with it. Something about expectations vs disappointments. She will lie when it suits her and she's not above stealing. Her loyalty is a flux arrangement at best, for the most part - since most of her contacts are purely for business. However, while she is on your side (or if she's chosen you as a personal contact) she appears to be, quite possibly the warmest, best friend you could ask for. She knows how to have a good time, after all.
She is quite territorial - perhaps even a little materialistic. She is reluctant to share. The things she has for herself mean a great deal to her. After all, having grown up with less than nothing has given her an appetite for beautiful things. An appetite she fights to sate. At a cost. Her need for security (something she views as a thing that can be bought, and so she craves gold as well) has turned her heart to ice. Behind the façade of social grace and warmth she is capable of projecting - she's little more than a monster on the inside. Calculating and weighing always the value of those she encounters vs her own personal profits and the security of her future. A snake in the grass.
== History ==
For the most part, Maerona will redirect questions about her youth or she will be slow to engage in a conversation regarding the past. Partly because she is not entirely proud of it and partly because she does not remember most of it. Whether it is because she has chosen to force it from her mind or not remains to be seen. As such, this section is not something that a person in passing would know.
Maerona doesn't recall most of her childhood. She remembers having a mother and a father - together, so she assumes she was of legitimate birth. Who they were or what they did remains a mystery. Vague recollections shrouded in smoldering embers, sparks, and flame. Their faces in her memory have turned to blackened ash. Her earliest memories are filled with fear and chaos. 
She does remember being torn from her mother's side... Or was it her father's? Either way, she can vividly recall their slumped forms on the ground, blood soaking into the sand - left for the carrion birds to come collect their feast, the only one who would survive to miss them thrown over the shoulder of a slaver.
Fortune saw fit to have her sold off to a somewhat wealthy family. She was chosen because even as a young child she was something of an exceptional specimen. Adorable with wide green eyes, beautiful dark tresses. The woman that was her owner found her to be delightful and keen to learn - after all, she was not so fearsome of those who had captured her and this woman seemed to only offer warmth and kindness. 
She learned many of her more finer mannerisms from that woman. It was with this household that Maerona had originally begun to learn to read and write. But the years that she was protected by her youth passed and as she passed from child to young woman and she became plausible as a threat to the harmony of the household (namely, the woman was concerned that Maerona would prove too much for her husband to resist and promptly sold her on).
And so she stayed on the market for some time. The things she witnessed and was exposed to were... Horrifying at times. She learned many things as she passed from owner to owner (sometimes of means of her own manipulating and creating) and between slavers. But they were not moments wasted, every chance she got to learn something new, she did. She first got her skills with sewing when she was stuck on board a slaver ship for quite some time - spending much of her time after leaving the household of that kind woman, on ships. 
She started with repairing sails and eventually ended up on a merchant vessel to serve certain needs. By this time, such things were no longer new for her and so she used it to her advantage. But with less savory occupational duties came the access to finer goods. Silks and linens. Additionally, the expanse of a pillow proved to be a wonderful time to utilize the brains of those who presumed to own her - she picked up quite a lot of her business acumen during these times.
== Recent Events ==
It was a few years back that Maerona had manipulated and navigated her way up the food chain. She allowed herself to be sold to a particularly good natured fellow who had a fondness of drink and gambling. Opportunity saw her in a tavern, a rather nice one at that. She had spent several days appraising the crowd and those of House Drallion stood out to her. 
She did not make many efforts to hide the fact that she was practically running her owner's life. Through conversation between the two, she let slip displays of her skills.
 
When it seemed time for Rylo to leave, Maerona had firmly convinced her owner at the time to challenge him to a game of dice. So drunken she had gotten him that he completely spaced over the fact that Maerona had given him loaded dice that she purchased from... A mysterious fellow.... to present to Rylo - ensuring that failure in this game of 'chance' was impossible. So riled up and so keen was he that he wagered his slave, Maerona. And, of course, Rylo could not lose.
Afterwards, Rylo must have decided he like the skills she possessed and saw the benefits to having her in the Household and so he saw fit to bring her into the fold. Benefiting from a raise of status and position in life, Maerona has been adjusting to having freedom. The kindness she has received from House Drallion has inspired great loyalty within her. 
Having very few personal connections, those who know her have met her through business (namely trade or through her occupation as a seamstress) and know her only as a capable Dornish woman with impressive business acumen with a mind for management.
== Quotes ==
“If you can't you must, and if you must you can.”
"I would like you to be of my station I want you to be a lady so I can treat you as my equal , friend and ally consider marriage Maerona dear"
- Josephine Lannister Heimdell trying to convince Maerona that marriage is the way of the future for happiness.
"My wife seems to adore her, and I must admit I'm still quite flustered from the first conversation I properly had with her at Seaguard. I'm still not sure what actually happened, but I feel closer to her House now."
- Raaf Heimdell
"What a strange woman... Who delivers a gift by hiring a swindler to slip it into one's coinpurse rather than simply handing it to them? I may never understand the Dornish"
- Raaf Heimdell, displaying the classic signs of having lost an intrigue
"The years have changed you my dear, you were a beauty then but grew ever more beautiful tho the venom at your disposal frightens me I tought you how to kill where to cut and stab, but you have taken it to an art of vocal assassination your play at the spoken word could kill an army by the time I had reached the front line. 
Kader Carin - reflections after reuniting with Maerona
== Family ==
* Mother - Deceased
* Father - Deceased
Category:Signature Characters