Lyra Caron

## Lady of Nightsong

Lyra Caron is the current Lady of Nightsong and swears fealty to Lord Paramount Alyn Baratheon. She is famed for being widowed three times, as well as being a skilled swordswoman.

## Biography

Lyra Caron was born the only child of the aged Lord Myles Caron, who was in his fifty-third year upon siring her. Myles’s brother, Allar Caron, contested the succession upon Lyra’s birth, claiming that Myles would not sire a male son before the end of his life. Allar went as far as to petition the other Stormlander lords for support in the matter. Unfortunately, Allar was uncharismatic, and garnered naught but laughter. Myles stood his ground, forcing his brother to back down, and Lyra was raised as the heir to the Lordship of Nightsong. This included both a courtly education and martial training, from an early age.

When Lyra was but six years old, her mother (Lady Ravella Cole) ran off with Ser Lucias of Sandstone, a handsome Dornish hedge knight in Lord Myles’ employ. Lady Ravella had roused Lyra out of her bedchamber, hurriedly dressing her in dark cloaks and attempting to take her with her. Ser Mortimer Gower, the captain of the guard, sounded the alarm and chased the fleeing trio. He engaged Ser Lucias in a fierce duel, their swords ringing beneath the Singing Towers of Nightsong. Despite Lucias’s sword piercing his helm and rendering his left eye useless, Ser Mortimer had managed to delay the trio long enough for fellow guardsmen (and Lord Myles) to grapple with Lady Ravella, pulling the young Lyra from the saddle. Ser Lucias had seized this chance, with Ser Mortimer reeling from his injury and the guardsmen with Lyra in their arms, to take Lady Ravella and flee. They made it out of the city, and as of 398AC had never returned.

Lyra grew into a fine young woman, wit as sharp as the blades she took to, but her upbringing was not without faults. She led a lonely childhood, often finding herself jealous of the other children she might spot in the grand castle or in the towns found throughout the Marches. While the girl had the occasional group of friends, she never felt close to any of them and would often fall out with them over the most menial of things. Lyra also felt soured by the court’s treatment of her, too; as her father was always busy running the Lordship Lyra was often seen as a burden rather than a loving child. Lyra poured this angst into her training, becoming a reputable foe with a Sword. She often felt like the only time her father would listen to her was when she sang. Lyra would often sing for the court as a girl, for her Voice was enchanting and beautiful.

Lyra’s father died when she was five-and-ten, at the ripe old age of sixty-eight. The now-Lady Lyra Caron suddenly became one of the most eligible women in the Seven Kingdoms, offering any future offspring the Lordship of Nightsong. There was an abundance of offers, from fellow lords to heirs to hedge knights seeking to raise their lot in life. However, all were in vain; Lady Lyra had fallen for the heir to Storm’s End, Alyn Baratheon. They had met and danced at several tournaments throughout the Stormlands but he was always seen bedding someone else, most notably Elinor Penrose. Lyra grew jealous of Penrose and the child that grew inside her, up until the day she died.

At the age of seven-and-ten Lyra accepted her first husband; Ser Richard Wagstaff, a famed tourney knight. Wagstaff was a beautiful man, which was partly why she had given in to his courtship, but was found to be cruel and adulterous as the months passed. Soon, they attended the tourney of Stonehelm, where Richard would employ all his charm in an effort to bed Jeyne Swann, a young maiden. Jeyne rejected the man’s advances, and sourly he accused her of fornicating with several knights the next morning. Richard used his champions purse (for he placed highly in the tourney) to pay several other men to be his witnesses. The Lord Balon Swann decided his own daughter was guilty, but decreed that Richard should face a trial by combat. Corvella Swann, Jeyne’s older sister, defended her sister and slew Ser Richard. Richard would later be given the moniker ‘the false knight’, for his cruel antics and lack of chivalry.

It was several years before Lyra remarried, this time at the age of twenty. Her next husband was Ser Wyman Webber, the son of the Master of Whisperers Lord Ryam Webber. Wyman was a dashing knight, but this time an honourable one. He had courted the lady Lyra for several months, bringing her exotic goods and winning tourney after tourney in her name. Lyra fell for the man, and they were wed under the Singing Towers of Nightsong. Their happiness did not last; Ser Wyman disappeared whilst travelling back to Nightsong from King’s Landing, having been visiting his father. It would be several months before his corpse was found, in the basement of a tailor’s shop thought to have been owned by Baelor Sunglass. Lyra would never forget the look on Lord Ryam’s face when he had told her the news, how she had wept over Wyman’s rotting corpse.

It was a mere four years later, though, where Lyra would get her revenge. So-called ‘King’ Aelyx Targaryen invaded the Seven Kingdoms, in what would come to be known as the ‘Third Targaryen Rebellion’. Lyra had kept up her swordplay all this time, and marched with her men under the Baratheon banners. This was her proving ground, her chance to show the Lords of the Stormlands that she could fight just as well as any man. That she did; Lyra was oft found in the thick of the fighting and later rode with Alyn Baratheon to the Harrying of the Dragonspawn. She would also spend time with the wounded of her men, especially her bodyguard, helping the maesters nurse them back to health. By the end of the conflict, Lady Lyra was just as handy with a needle as she was with a sword.

Lyra returned to Nightsong a changed woman; despite having made a name for herself during the fighting and having taken her revenge on the Targaryen foe she struggled to be happy or motivated about anything. Her sour moods got worse, going for days without smiling or laughing. Many of the courtiers would wonder what caused the once-joyous lady Caron’s mood to change; from her failed marriages to her combat experience there was much to discuss. Nightsong seemed closed, for the foreseeable future. Despite her foul moods, Lyra would try once more for a successful marriage, wedding Ser Harlan Hardyng. Their marriage was wrought with arguments, and whenever they would ‘try for a child’ Lyra would take moontea to spite her “lover”. Two years before the Great Council of 398AC, a plague swept through the castle and surrounding town, indiscriminately killing nobles and smallfolk.

Ser Harlan was one of the deceased, thus cementing the smallfolk rumour about her being cursed to never bear children. Lyra now remains at Nightsong, overseeing the rebuilding efforts now that the plague has been eradicated completely.