Antario

Sellsword

Gambler

Antario is the owner and Captain of the light cargo ship, *'The Lusty Lyseni'* operating in the area of the Free Cities and Westeros. He's often employed as a smuggler, though has been known to operate as a sellsword.

## Appearance and Character

Antario was always a small child, and that fact did not change when he entered adulthood, standing slightly shorter than the average man. He is lean, yet muscular from years at sea and conflict, his size only helping his agility. Antario often allows his brown hair and beard to grow out, that being a consequence of his time at sea, though always attempts up before meeting with a contact. His image and words sell as much as his sword does, after all. A fact he makes sure to remember.

The smuggler himself comes off as a charming, talkative person. It's not a rare sight to see him telling tales of his deeds in taverns when docked into a port, enjoying being the centre of attention at times. Though Antario also knows when to blend in and keep a low profile, as is required of a man of his profession, being able to alternate between his two states.

Antario is skilled with a sword, along with his dagger, a trait he'd be dead without, for the man often finds himself on the receiving end of a blade. It's for that very reason a dagger is always on him.

## History

### A Humble Beginning

Antario was born in a pillowhouse in King's Landing, his father a sailor, and mother a prostitute. The first few years of his life was as easy as it was ever going to get, growing alongside the other bastard children of whores, and from as soon as he could walk, he was taught to work. Sweeping, cleaning, fixing, these were all things he did to earn his keep within the pillowhouse, his mother being as loving as caring as she could to him in this time, from what little he can remember.

It was at the age of nine where his life changed for the worse, his mother dying to a pox. Antario found himself kicked out into the streets a few months following her death, the madame claiming they simply could not feed a mouth which brought in no coin. And so he found himself alone, friendless, in the slums of King's Landing. It did not take long for Antario to resort to stealing, pickpocketing whatever little coin he could find, if only to keep alive. He made a few friends, often other children abandoned by the city, though they rarely stuck. It took a certain kind of child to survive in such conditions. But Antario was a survivor, and though many, many nights he went hungry, he survived.

### The Stowaway

At the age of 12 in 394 AC, Antario would find his home by the docks of King's Landing, in a darkened alleyway with two other children, making his living by stealing from blissful merchants and travellers. Being by the sea, however, had an effect on him. It would remind Antario of the tales his mother would tell him of his father, a sailor who explored the seas, who saw the world when very few even left their cities. She told him of fights with pirates, of exploring unknown lands, of all the gold and treasure a boy could dream of. And that was what sparked his terribly thought out plan on sneaking onto a poorly guarded merchant vessel. He'd get of King's Landing, he'd explore the world, and he'd be a sailor.

His plan appeared to be a success, sneaking onto the vessel with ease. Though it was not long before he needed food, and water, and so the boy began to steal what he could from the crew. It did not take long for him to be discovered. The Captain was unsurprisingly furious, the first time Antario truly feared for his life. The Captain claimed a great many things, that he'd take the boy's hands, that he'd take his tongue, that he'd throw him overboard and force him to swim back to land. Though, ultimately, Antario would end up sweeping the decks, and assisting on board the ship.

It would be the Free City of Pentos where the ship docked next, and Pentos where the Captain barred Antario off the ship, swearing he'd kill him should he ever come back.

### A New Life

The city of Pentos wasn't exactly how Antario imagined it, but it sure was exciting at first. Seeing so many different people, the new accents, it was everything he wanted, yet he found himself back at page one. Antario would find himself back to a life of stealing right again, as life seemed to have destined for him. Though the boy had hope within him, and felt a life of greatness and fortune ahead.

Several years passed until at the age of 15, Antario now found himself working as a sellsword. He'd go with a few close friends from company to company, often providing services of protection to Free Cities which required it, and earning the first honest coin in his life. It wasn't always so easy, however, and he'd often find himself in trouble when it came to the cutthroat politics of a mercenary company, but he was well fed, and actually had possessions in that of a sword and dagger.

Though this wasn't the life he'd imagined, it would do for the time being. He'd fight, train, and drink, with dreams of a different future. There were, after all, very few old sellswords.

### The Makings of a Man

It was in 403 AC that Antario found himself again unemployed. He'd made too many enemies over the span of his time as a sellsword, his rather large mouth and short-tempered sellswords creating a problem. The former sellsword would find himself in taverns within Myr, living off what coin he had left, and telling tales to drunken patrons who would listen. Antario would go into detail about his clash with a Khal in open battle, of the time he took a tower from a Warlock of Quarth who had raised the dead, of the time he had narrowly avoided death at the claws of a dragon. Though this would all be lies, it was the life he wished to live, and the life those who regularly saw him would come to believe. One day, he'd caught the ear of the man who would change his life forever.

Irros Sanoris was a smuggler, born and raised in the city of Tyrosh, who had grown deeply interested in Antario the moment he'd heard him speak. Irros was no fool, and able to easily discern the lies from the truth, but the potential for such a great liar was not one he'd pass up. He'd offer Antario a place in his crew abroad the *Sea Falcon,* and though Antario had attempted to keep a business-like demeanour, he couldn't help but pounce at the chance. And so began his life as a smuggler.

Antario would quickly adapt to this life, working up his way in the ranks. Finally, he had accomplished his childhood dream. He'd see cities from White Harbor in the cold north of Westeros, to the distant cities of Qarth and those within Slaver's Bay. Run ins with pirates and marauders would become commonplace, and he'd come to thank his days training as a sellsword. He'd learn the ins and outs of smuggling, of the patrols cities placed, of the shallow waters and safe routes you had to take in order to finish a job. He had finally found a home, in that of the sea.

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