Lysithea

Lysithea

### Siblings

Two younger sisters and one older brother - Lucifer (Aged 20)- Myra (Aged 16)- Leyla (Aged 12)

### Liege

None (However she treats House Martell as the true leaders of Dorne)

## Lysithea

Born simply as Lysithea to Rosa and a father whom she does not know herself due to her mother's reluctance to tell who fathered both her and her older brother Lucifer, Lysithea is a young woman whose pragmatism and determination for life is shadowed only by her desire to try and make the best situation she can for her family in a world where the top percentile rule without so much care for the lives of the common folk such as her. A merchant by trade but a talented and reputable provider of deadly poisons, for a girl of her age, rumours have spread quickly through the Shadow City and out beyond into the reaches of Dorne of the 'Belladonna of the Shadows'. She herself does not value this as a criminal act, poison is harmless on its own, it requires someone else to manipulate it after all.

## Appearance and Character

Lysithea for all intents and purposes does not dress or look in a manner which looks anywhere close to an attempt to big herself up more than she is. Her complexion is that of a salty Dornish, dark brown eyes and tanned skin are accompanied by soft facial features. While she is working she keeps her black hair tied in a loose braid behind her head which she often decorates with different colourful seashells or coral that she might find on the beach. Otherwise, she is fine just letting her hair go loose and wild with varying smaller braids and shells used to decorate the braids.
Her clothing is often a combination of various bits and bobs that she can find or use to make her own clothing. Anything from discarded silks, stolen satin or even fish nets. She is not too fussy in her choice of attire as most of the money that she manages to generate from the mixture of her work as a merchant and as an underground poison dealer goes towards helping provide towards her family.
For a woman who has a moniker of the 'Belladonna of the Shadows', Lysithea is genuinely a sweet and kind individual who tries her best to reach the most ideal solution in any situation that she faces. While she may smile and be polite to those even whom she may only just tolerate, do not mistake the sweetness for being naive or the ideal target to be stomped over. Lysithea, while taciturn for the majority of the time, has the capacity to stand up for herself and defend her own beliefs if need be. However in contrast to Serwyn, while he is bold and brash in his approach to conflict, Lysithea acts with a certain element of icy grace and politeness which is jarring and unnerving. Not one to raise her voice or let emotions get a hold of her, she will make her point clear with a calm composure befitting that of a merchant who has dealt with shady individuals in the underground.

Furthermore, Lysithea is generally a loyal person and will not deviate from her word should she promise to terms. However, in conjunction with this, whenever she sets terms or agrees to ideas or plans, she will always make sure to make a mental note of the exact words that the other person will use so that she can do her own thing whilst staying within the guidelines given to her. That way if they complain or show hostilities she can return them back to their agreement and point out the fact that they were not explicit enough in the information they provided as a part of the deal. Lysithea knows Westeros with all its beauty and finery still contains enough dirt to cover the Dothraki Sea and ultimately, the safeguarding of her family will always take priority over everything else.

## History

#### Sandheart

Born in 112 AC to an unknown father and a smallfolk seamstress going by the name of Rosa, Lysithea was the second of four children that would be born between 110 AC and 118 AC, however for her younger siblings Myra and Leyla they were born out of an actual genuine relationship Rosa had with another man, a smallfolk blood orange farmer who would often visit Rosa on whatever breaks he got from his work to see her and talk. This man was called Symon, a tall and broad man packed with muscle from manual labour and tanned to a healthy olive brown hue. Most of Lysithea's early childhood was unremarkable as expected for someone who was smallfolk in everything including name, while her family did not starve completely, food was something that her mother quickly taught the four children to appreciate and value - in turn the value and importance of respecting what you have was something that Lysithea took to heart. From a young age, Rosa encouraged her children to try and enjoy their childhood as much as they could and promoted freedom and exploration as forms of play. The mother was truly aware of the fact that their innocence would be forced to crack and shatter in time when the real world and the expectations of the nobility struck them but in the early years, Rosa could not bring herself to force her children into reality, protecting them in a bubble of play and fun.

Play for the children often involved going down to the coast and playing on the beaches away from all of the bustle of the city and the tight restrictions of the law. Running around across the sands, making sand angels and trying to build the magnificent Water Palace were a few of the many activities the children partook in as a part of their play. It was in fact the coast which heavily inspired what would be Lysithea's first main business venture as she quickly took to noticing the large array of beautiful and colourful shells that were dotted along the shores of Dorne. Many that were actually unique to the South coast of the region due to the arid surroundings and the warm water which they rested in. Making shell necklaces and bracelets was something of a hobby at first, so much so that both her sisters and her mother Rosa must have been drowning in the accessories by the time Lysithea had reached her eighteenth birthday. Her seashell jewelry business was one which was modest in its success, nothing out of the ordinary for the average merchant but enough to help provide towards the family and ease pressure on her mother.

#### Belladonna Twist

In contrast to her business selling seashell based accessories, perhaps what Lysithea is more well known for by those who try to dig deep into the truth behind her life is her work with poisons, both collecting the ingredients as well as knowing how to brew the different concoctions to sell to those in need of the lethal tinctures. The history behind her knowledge for poisons was not one which was based on casual exploration into the topic. In fact, for a long time she had always seen causing harm to others as a horrible thing to do regardless of the methods used to harm the other person. Such a perspective is one that now as an adult, she could only wish she could maintain such an innocent and optimistic approach to the reality of the world.

Her mother Rosa's choice to protect her children in a bubble ended up popping in the most violent of manners during 128 AC. Around the time of the scandal that was emerging between Quentyn Toland and Tyene Martell, one of the nights when Rosa was expecting Symon to return to their basic accommodation, he had not returned even after a couple of hours and a small search around the local area conducted by herself and Lucifer. It was a strange occurrence that he would not return without any warning or asking one of his fellow workmates to let them know on their way back from the farm. In a state of worry and concern, Rosa took herself and her whole family out into the evening streets of the Shadow City (afraid to leave her children alone even though Lucifer was eighteen at this point). On their walk, noises could be heard, conflict and shouting, talks of rumours and of scandals. Yelling followed by screaming after a woman mentioned feeling sympathetic for Quentyn Toland for being harassed for love alone. Lysithea was naturally afraid, as she was hurried through the streets by her mother she bore witness to hidden alleys where different supporters of the noble houses were at scraps over the rumours. Slit throats, trampled bones and concussed bodies were the least of what she witnessed until the eventful encounter. The encounter which made Rosa scream and never be the same woman again. Slumped on a wall, face the colour of Winterfell snow, Symon lay beaten and broken. His head partially crushed and oozing out globules of brain matter onto the sandstone slabs. This sight would stay with her forever, never would she know the person who did this but still... Symon was a victim of a conflict caused by the attrition of the noble houses. Yet again they caused harm and yet again they trampled over the smallfolk with their own squabbles for power.

On its own, it would be hard to understand how Lysithea's present came to be. Her positive relationship with House Martell surprisingly came from a chance encounter with a scion of House Martell. A week after seeing Symon's dead corpse on the streets of the Shadow City, Lysithea took a day to herself, going to the beach where she used to play for hours upon hours with her siblings. There, she saw a taller boy, dressed in a silken red robe and decorated in swirls of deep orange, he seemed in his own head as he stared out towards the Dornish sea. Approaching the boy, who had to tell a few guards who has not noticed before to stand down, Lysithea asked him for his name. He seemed dour and frustrated in his own right and explained that his name was Serwyn Martell. Lysithea was stood in front of a member of one of the biggest noble houses! She didn't know what to say, how to react... yet he just sighed and asked her if she wanted to take a walk with him. Agreeing, the two walked along the beach talking about their issues and problems. Serwyn vented about how he felt betrayed by Tyene's actions whilst Lysithea vented about her problem with those in power abusing it for their own good. At hearing Lysithea's story, Serwyn suggested that it might be a good idea for her to have a skill to help prevent that from happening again, he offered to train the girl in the art of the polearm however with a frown she explained that her skillset was more along the lines of mental capacity. She knew of different shells and plants from her time in nature but beyond that she was not exactly a good pick for tutoring. Despite this however, Serwyn encouraged Lysithea to look into her skills and see if she could use them for good - not to give up and to maybe look into some of the texts in Sunspear under his permission to enter and read different information to help her in her path.

Lysithea took a lot of time reading, researching, it was more than a hobby. Knowing that the words the Martell had said to her could ring true, she felt the need to find something that would allow her to make a difference and help stamp out the oppressors and tyrants who graced the world and stomped over the lives of the smallfolk. Poisons popped up, something that was related to her inherent talent for botany and a skill that with enough practice in she could use to provide to the right people and be a catalyst in changing the structure of current Dornish society. After finishing her day at the market stall, Lysithea would spend whole evenings practicing and experimenting with making different poisons and honing her craft. It was not a quick process and it took a solid six months before she was confident enough to start trying to sell her first batches of poison in the underground. At first, it was quiet, she was young and criminals especially were unsure as to whether her poisons would compromise their plans due to her inexperience. It took the rest of 128 AC and the majority of 129 AC to be able to build up her client base and develop herself a name as being a reliable and affordable purveyor of poisons in the underworld. As she got more business, more of her free time was spent into developing new types of poisons and even successfully brewing batches of 'Essence of Nightshade' thus contributing to her underground alias of the 'Belladonna of the Shadows'. Perhaps it was just Serwyn Martell sparking her desire to follow her skillset and ambitions that brought her to where she is now... or perhaps this was truly what the fate of Lysithea was destined to be. Either way, as 130 AC continues, Lysithea dreams of doing more to help the smallfolk and restore to power the people who inspired her to fight for her beliefs.

## Meta

Attribute: Agile

Social Status: None ( Lysithea is a merchant by trade )

Skill Points: 14

Skills: Evasion (Stealth), Poisoncraft (Intrigue), Botany (Education)