Selaera Paenymion

Naelos Paenymion (Nephew)

Naela Paenymion (Niece)

Maelys Paenymion (Nephew)

**Selaera Paenymion,** formally addressed as **Her Most Gracious and Honorable Excellency Dragon Lord Selaera Paenymion, Triarch of Old Volantis** since her election to the Triarchy, is the most junior member of the Triarchy that rules Volantis, having been elected only in 279 AC (393 AD). She is the first female Triarch to have been elected in almost three hundred years, and one of the first Tigers to hold a majority since the Century of Blood.

## History

For all of their wealth and power, you would think the highborn of Volantis, secluded behind the towering Black Walls, were born in some ceremony utterly alien to the rest of us. You would be disappointed--and that is exactly why they keep such things so secluded. Save for her mother and the army of slaves that attended her during the process, none known the truth: that Selaena and all her kin entered the world as bloody, ugly nobodies, just like everyone else.

Fortunately for her, she was a bloody, ugly nobody born both of the Old Blood--her genealogy ran back centuries, to some of the greatest sons and daughters of Old Valyria--and to one of the most powerful families in the world. Not once in her youth did she want for something. She ate the best food, played with the best toys, studied with the best tutors, but that is not to say she rested idly on her laurels and subsisted off of the hard work of the generations who came before her. By the age of fifteen, she was already tangentially involved in the House's finances, perfecting her tradecraft and ensuring her family's fortune and power continued to grow far into the future.

And then tragedy struck. In the year 372 AD (After the Doom, equivalent to 258 AC), a Dothraki khalasar, incensed by what they called an "intrusion" into their lands (but Selaena held--and still holds--were rightful lands of Volantis), followed the fleeing army of Triarch Belar Aertaris originally bound for the former Free City of Essaria. No one is quite sure how it happened--rumor holds the cowardly slaves manning the gate panicked retreated rather than sealing it shut--but what is certain is that for the first time in hundreds of years, the Dothraki struck at the heart of Volantis itself. Pitched fighting occurred in the streets of Old Volantis, though the Black Walls themselves were never under serious threat. Upon entering the city proper, the light cavalry of the Dothraki lost much of their advantage, and were slowly forced out of Volantis by forces under the command of Qavo Maegyr but not before looting the parts of the city closest to the gate. Selaera's older brother, Irronos, and her father, Nyesso, died in the fighting, having led a portion of the Paenymion men from behind the Black Walls to fight back the invaders.

With the death of her father, patriarch of House Paenymion, her eldest brother Arenno took the reins after a brief struggle between himself and a less powerful branch of the House. Said struggle ends rather abruptly with Arenno's marriage to a daughter of House Vaelaros, and with Selaera's marriage to one Aerelos Qoheros, an up-and-coming politician with a promising career ahead of him.

Married life was not something Selaera was well-suited for. Aerelos was kind enough, even if their time in the marital bed was something she did not enjoy in the slightest. He, for the most part, left her to her own devices. Her business ventures prospered.

As the years crept on, she offered Aerelos no children. At first, it was assumed that they were simply having difficulty. Many couples, after all, struggle to conceive. As one year turned into three, and three into five, and five into ten, it became apparent that there was a greater issue--something that the greatest doctors in Volantis came to agree upon. Selaera was infertile, and their marriage would not bear fruit.

At first, Aerelos was devastated. He considered divorce for a long while until he came to realize that he was reliant upon House Paenymion's support for his political campaigns. In 384 AD (270 AC), he was finally elected to the Triarchy as an Elephant.

Finding herself freed of the burden of creating and raising a family, Selaera dedicated herself entirely to political pursuits instead. She was a constant presence at her husband's campaign events, and an even greater presence behind the scenes. A relative newcomer on the political scene, she became renowned for her Ruthlessness. There was not a single tool she did not consider using. Espionage and Sabotage were just more moves in her political playbook. It wasn't long before the nobility of Volantis came to view her as an independent political operator.

Even with her ruthlessness behind the scenes, she maintained a positive relationship with the freemen of Volantis. When her husband died of dysentery in 389 AD (275 AC), she fell out of the political scene for three years--what she refers to as a *period of mourning.* The most politically astute did not expect her to stay out of the game forever, though, and in the elections of 392 AD (278 AC), Selaera put herself forward as a candidate of the Tiger Party.

This change in affiliation came as some surprise to the people of Volantis, who had come to associate her with her husband, who was an Elephant. Many were willing to overlook this change in affiliation. After all, the times were changing in Volantis, and who was to say the woman could not have had these political opinions behind closed doors and behind her husband's dominance? Regardless, she did not win her first election, being narrowly defeated by an Elephant.

Her next campaign in 393 AD (279 AC) was more successful. Establishing a shaky political alliance through blackmail, bribery, and outright threats, Selaera was able to narrowly secure victory against the Elephant who had bested her the year before. She has served as a Triarch of Volantis since following another successful election (this one by a far larger margin after she was able to prove her competency in government) in 394 AD (280 AC).

## Recent Events

Though Volantis has been quiet on the world stage in the years Selaera has been Triarch, the expansion of their military has been plain for all to see.