Morgan Dayne

Ser Morgan Dayne, Knight of the Kingsguard/Queensguard, aged 28, is
known for a steady yet so far possibly never overly ambitious or otherwise outstanding execution of his
Kingsguard duties. Though he proved efficient, able, circumspect and persistent when recently accompanying Prince Rhaegar to Essos.

To the outside, in general, however, his suitability for the task, his dutifulness and his wider attitudes are hard to assess, for the
Order keeps much of these internal affairs to themselves. Nor does Morgan's reserved demeanour prove to reveal any of that. As a Kingsguard, for
sure Morgan fulfils what is required and gives a suitable impression. In King’s
Landing, he is known for being either reserved or sarcastic, socializing only with those he trusts and never causing excesses. He is famous for
spending a lot of time in the training yards, and notorious for being one of
the possibly most stunning fighters in Westeros. The lack of the at first
glance very suitable title of Sword of the Morning leaves many people in King’s
Landing to wonder why a fighter like him was obviously denied the title.

In wider Dorne, most people will still remember Morgan as a decent
commander during the war, though never one of the highest rank nor esteem,
certainly able to do better than he did. More than that, he is remembered as one
of the deadliest of fighters Dorne has seen for many years.

The closer one gets to Starfall, or the more informed one is about
Dornish gossip, the more likely it is that one will have heard rumours about
the background of Ser Morgan. Renowned for having devoted all his later childhood
and youth to live up to the ideal of chivalry – possibly to prove worthy of
being granted Dawn – he had been known as a very (possibly overly) ambitious
page and squire. Having trained weaponry as hard and persistent as few others
ever will, Morgan has also gone through a thorough education in warfare,
etiquette and other fields suited to a life devoted to chivalry, such as
religion and history. All of these distinguished aspirations, however, ended
abruptly from one day to the other. Residents at Starfall and the lands nearby
vividly remember the night Morgan Dayne, fully armoured, still not knighted at
the age of 20, went mad in the yard of Starfall, suffering a fit of rage,
insulting his family and killing his own horse. After that unforgotten night,
his so far devoted, composed and humble lifestyle changed into the complete
opposite: Morgan took to drinking, gambling and whoring, regularly insulting
and gossiping about his family, proving unpredictable, choleric, sadistic and
uncontrollable.

## Appearance

Morgan is 5’10 feet tall and is of an elegantly
muscular, well-proportioned build. Black, often pomaded and oiled curls frame a
slightly tanned face with dark grey eyes. He is found properly shaved unless
too busy or too lazy to do so, though certainly his hair and armour are granted
more of his attention than the state of his facial hair. Or than many other
things, actually…

## A Childhood and Youth devoted to Chivalry

Morgan is born as the second of three sons to Lord Arthur Dayne,
considerably younger than his older brother Ulrick, but just two years the
senior of his youngest brother Aron.

Always frowning upon the erudite aspect of his younger brother, and with
little contact to the way older Ulrick, Morgan from an early age onwards is
trained to become a skilled knight of his House. His talent for weaponry shows
early, and the best tutors are assigned to him. He spends his childhood and his
youth dreaming of warriordom and chivalry, with his family more than happy to
be granted such a skilled and proud son, suitably for the ancient warrior
traditions of the notorious House. It is soon that rumours go that Morgan would
soon be a suitable aspirant for receiving the ancestral blade Dawn, and the
superb title that comes with it. It is for that reason, and especially after
his father’s early death, that young Morgan devotes all his skill and strength,
his efforts and his time on living up to the task: He spends more hours in the
training yards than any other page or squire or even grown knight. He hones his
skills in riding and receives a masterful training in the arts of war. Though
he never finds interest in scholarly features – not considering them necessary
and, in secret, not finding himself suitable for such theoretical studies –
Morgan eagerly tries to make up for that by attending lectures of Septons about
chivalry, the Book of the Warrior, and learning etiquette, dancing and elegant
conduct. Though these things do not come half as easily to Morgan as fighting
does, and the harder they are for him, the more effort he invests. He eagerly serves
as a page at Sunspear and acts as squire both at Sunspear and to his uncle Ser
Valarr Dayne at Starfall.

During these days, he is known as an ambitious young man, more skilled
with the blade than most even at Sunspear already, and getting better day by
day. Also talented as a rider and a lover of horses, Morgan is perceived as
patient – especially when taking his Dornish blood into consideration. He still
is temperamental, but can keep this aspect more in check than most other
Dornish youths would be able to. Among his peers, he stands out by very much
trying to live up to the role of Sword of the Morning he is sure will be passed
onto him one day: He stays away from girls and women, similarly avoids drinking
and gambling, spends more time in the Septs than is considered good for a
Dornish youth, and only his knightly aspirations prevent him from lecturing others.
He endeavours to be generous and welcoming, hospitable and just. And all the
other knightly virtues that he pursues from young an age onwards far more than
anybody else Morgan knows.

Towards his family, Morgan proves helpful and friendly, especially when
dealing with his cousins and nephews (one of them Aemon Dayne, future Lord of
Starfall), and tries to make things as easy and pleasant as possible to fit in
again when eventually his younger brother Aron returns to Starfall after long
years of being a page and squire far away. Above all, Morgan would always give
high-quality lessons in fighting to his younger relatives. Or anybody else who
would ask him.

## Not becoming Sword of the Morning

And though especially Morgan’s martial abilities make him the perfect
aspirant for Dawn, and, truth be told, Morgan has devoted his whole life to
revolve round the ancient, famous blade and the title, fame and status it
promises, his uncle Ser Valarr Dayne, acting as a father to the youth and being
the most senior of councillors to Lord Ulrick, remains hesitant to officially
arrange for Dawn to be passed onto the second-born son of the former Lord.
Morgan remains patient, guessing it is not to insult his other brothers and his
young nephews. But deep inside, Morgan gets more and more worried over the
years. And the only thing the adolescent knows to do to deal with the feeling
of insecurity is to train and try even harder. Ser Valarr Dayne, on the other
hand, is actually worried as well: He appreciates the efforts of his nephew as
nobody else does, and admires the youth for all of that. But he cannot help but
feel that there is something “hidden” behind the everlasting attempts of the
adolescent to prove himself and please his family and others around him. He
cannot shake off the feeling that “there is something dark to Morgan.”

Ser Valarr Dayne even manages to postpone that Morgan is knighted –
until his younger brother is actually knighted before him. Morgan either lacks
the deeper insight for sensing his uncle’s deeply-enrooted concerns, or he
turns his gaze away and does not want to realize what is going on in the
worried aging Lord.

At the eve before receiving the accolade at the rather advanced age of 20,
in 399 AC, Morgan finally approaches his uncle, with the question pending for
years, looming on the horizon of Starfall’s future prospects, subtly having
weighed down the mood for years and years now due to the insecurity of the
unresolved issue. Morgan, unusually nervous, asks his uncle in a way as
respectfully and carefully as possible, “whether he had ever thought about the
passing on of Dawn in the merely potential case something unforeseeable should
happen to him or to Ulrick.” It is a prudent question, actually. All the more
as the escalating War of the Three Thieves leads many lords intending to join
the war efforts personally to arrange for the succession at home. It is a
matter to be addressed, long overdue.

What happens after Morgan asking the question,
is something people keep speculating about. Morgan himself does not really
remember anymore what exactly it was, his uncle had replied. For after a heavy
silence had fallen between uncle and nephew at first, Ser Dayne tries to tell
his nephew with the most gentlest of words that he does not consider him
suitable for this position. He tries to show him alternatives, offering him
other positions, money, lands, horses, in return, informing him he has already
talked to the Martells to get Morgan a renowned position in their household, in
the army, whatever he wishes for. It is a very empathetic speech, words of
understanding, that Morgan encounters upon the question that the aging Dayne
knight had been afraid to be confronted with for years. And had taken
preparations to deal with for years, being aware of the shock that Morgan might
suffer – and the potential void afterwards.

Morgan himself hardly listens. His uncle stands
there, in his study, speaking to him with nothing but the most prudent and
gentle, reassuring and understanding words. But Morgan hardly listens. He
stands there in shock and paralysis. Finally, he turns around, and leaves
without another word.

It is six hours later, in the middle of the
night, that Morgan leaves his chambers again, having meanwhile stayed there
with locked doors and not yielding to the request of his Lady mother and uncle
to talk to him again. Starfall has fallen into a restless sleep in the
meantime. However, the castle is awake shortly after, when the alerted
guardsmen deny Morgan to leave the castle. His uncle had taken precautions,
forefeeling that his nephew might be so shocked he would try to leave – and
maybe never return. What happens next is a catastrophe still remembered vividly
to the present day at Starfall: Always so prudent and composed Morgan Dayne
literally goes berserk. Everything that had been suppressed for years and years
explodes within the inner yard of Starfall. One of the best fighters of Dorne,
armoured, fully armed and atop his horse, losing control, suffering a fit of
rage, and filled with nothing but the sheer lust for blood and chaos, for
destroying whatever and ripping apart whoever gets in his way. But turning his
intense frustration and breathless rage against somebody turns futile: The
guards have quickly withdrawn into the guardhouse, and Lord Dayne and Ser
Valarr, who had quickly appeared on the scene, have ordered all gates and
entries to be closed. Morgan finds himself literally locked in the yard, on his
own, with the eyes of whole Starfall watching with bated breath, as the young
man’s pent-up fury explodes in the deserted yard. It is a sight as terrifying
as pitiful, for surges of formerly absolutely unknown curses and insults erupt
from the else so composed young man, directed mainly against his family,
especially his uncle and brothers. Yelling, shouting, damning them and
everybody listening, Morgan soon turns to desperately hacking at several gates
with a war axe, and destroying everything that gets in his way. The whole scene
lasts for more than an hour, and leaves an absolutely desperate Morgan kneeling
in the middle of the yard, amidst the blood of his own horse, both shocked and
exhausted, and having ruined the reputation he had built up ambitiously for
years and years within a single night. The accolade scheduled for the following
day is cancelled.

## A Life of Vices

The next days find him exhausted, confused and
hopeless. He rejects food and talking to anybody. The 20 year old is clearly
overstrained with dealing with a situation that some people say he should have
been expecting for years. But all of them are wiser in retrospective. All but
Morgan. No gentle word of understanding nor generous material offer can appease
him.

As soon as he is strong and composed enough
again to be allowed to leave both his chambers and Starfall, he obviously seeks
to make up for all the deprivations he had accepted during his youth in order
to live up to a humble, righteous, pious and chaste lifestyle that had once
been intended to make him a worthy aspirant for the title of Sword of the
Morning. But this attempt runs riot: Morgan spends all the money he has with
him on drink and the services of whores for the whole day. When he does not
return after several hours, his family proves desperate yet reluctant to send
somebody to get Morgan back, clearly remembering what had happened that one
night a week ago. Things prove more difficult when this condition starts to
persist: Morgan starts to sell his armour, horses, clothes, and other
belongings to fund excessive stays at taverns, gambling houses and brothels. It
proves difficult to stop him from doing so, for whatever his family taught him
on the sparring yards is now used as a threat against them. Nor would
threatening the own son with military might make things better.

## Leaving for War to find Relief and Alleviation

When after several weeks, no improvement is in
sight, Morgan is finally subdued in a brothel while sleeping, forced to return
to Starfall, and put under arrest. His fits of rage continue, proving unwilling
to get assistance by anybody, until from one day to the other, the shocked and
overstrained youth seems to have been overcome by a mixture of exhaustion and
desperation, rendering him helpless and unable to defy being helped by others.

Stricken by sorrow and grief, his family
finally allow him to leave for the raging War of the Three Thieves, hoping
Morgan would be able to calm down while having a \*real\* opponent to turn his
rage against, and hopefully being in a position to regain his feeling of
self-worth, his self-confidence and, unfortunately, also the renown he has
dramatically lost in the eyes of others.

Morgan Dayne serves in the forces of Lord
Martell, and gets known for having lost not only his ambition, but also many of
his abilities and skills. It is just when directly facing the enemy, engaged in
combat, when hell has broken loose around him that Morgan Dayne’s eyes are
found to be sparkling again. Yet sparkling with something that strikes fear not
only in the hearts of his opponents, but also in the men serving alongside him.

During the long course of the war, his
condition gets more stable again, and finally Morgan is able to show at least a
bit of interest again in what is going on around him. He settles for being
average and never doing more than what is necessary during routine operations
and when dealing with his own countrymen. But he gets renowned more than ever
before as one of the deadliest of fighters that Dorne has seen during many
decades. It is also during these days that he is finally knighted. Not that Morgan
would still be interested in it, it just serves to reinforce his status among
other lords, knights and soldiers.

## Return to Starfall

After the war, Morgan returns to Starfall. He
spends one day locked in his chamber, three days failing to converse in a
reasonable way with all of the local friends and residents that are happy to
have him back safe and sound, and then returns to an indecent lifestyle.
Thereby, Morgan also gives away most of the renown war has earned him.

It stays like this for nearly a year, with
Morgan increasingly suffering from the first indications of compounding
addictions (alcohol mainly) and venereal diseases.

## A new Life in Sight - As a Kingsguard

As these excesses, however, are rather known on
a local level, behind the scenes, his uncle has finally succeeded in his
continuing requests sent to King’s Landing. Known to only few people, he had
been trying for several years already to ensure that Morgan would be considered
for the next vacancy in the ranks of the Kingsguard to arise.

When this rare incident occurs in 403 AC,
Morgan is indeed considered, and a letter reaches Starfall. Ser Valarr
addresses his nephew with the very unexpected offer. Morgan’s reaction is one
of pure cynicism and feeling insulted. Yet, not expected anymore by anybody at
Starfall, at the very evening of the offer to end, Morgan – in a rare state of
having been sober for a week now – informs his uncle that he will indeed leave
for King’s Landing. To become a Kingsguard.

He leaves a few weeks later, with, as people
say, few words and no glance back.

## Beginning of a Kingsguard Career

In 403 AC Ser Morgan Dayne is anointed a Knight
of the Kingsguard, and quickly takes to his new duties. The imposed rigid
structure of Kingsguard life and routines helps the young man to gain a
foothold in normal social life again. The flair of the metropolis and getting
to know new people that he holds no grudge against also assist him in returning
to a rather normal life again. A Kingsguard’s way of living, that is. And a
Kingsguard’s way of serving.

Among his brethren in White, Morgan does not
particularly stand out. Aged 24, he is rather young, and his fighting abilities
are more than adequate for his new position. He returns to training and to the
outside becomes known for suiting well into the Order.

When in 405 AC Lord Ulrick Dayne dies, after
two years of hearing nothing from Morgan, a letter reaches Starfall. The
content is a (possibly by then drunken) Morgan asking to be reconsidered to be
granted Dawn. After, however, his younger brother Aron becomes appointed Sword
of the Morning, nothing is ever heard of Morgan again.

## Recent Events

In  406
AC, Ser Morgan Dayne is assigned to accompany Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Ser
Alester Steelsong to a journey round Essos. Their return in 407 AC finds him
exhausted by his demanding guard duties that he hardly partakes in the
Tournament at Harrenhal at all, and in the few fights he does, performs poorly.