Barqa mo Aihl

### Titles

Good Master of the House of Aihl, Speaker of the Custodians of the Old Blood, Seventeenth of that Old Name, Vishmon Reborn in Flesh

## Other Information

### Alternate Characters

Archmaester Alester

Barqa mo Aihl is one of the Good Masters of Astapor in Slaver's Bay.

## Appearance

Barqa is, thoroughly, Ghiscari in both body, mind and soul. His skin is dark but not black, rich and dense, kissed by the sun. He is tall and strapping, but not strong nor bulging with muscles. His eyes are no different, dark in color yet piercing. It is this very withering gaze that has been said to be able to stop arguments.

## History

Barqa mo Aihl was the first son born to his father, Barqa mo Aihl the Elder, in 270. The line of Aihl is among the most ancient in Astapor, and even so in all of Slaver’s Bay. Barqa’s father, Barqa the Elder, was a man of few peers. He wielded words as well the spear, and lead the House to heights beyond even his *own* father, Barqa mo Aihl.

Barqa mo Aihl’s uniqueness began at a young age. His tutors described him as joyless and stubborn, forthright and stern, supported by an unyielding will at the age where boys were troublemakers and enjoyed playing games. When other boys were still struggling to pay attention at lessons, Barqa had taken to debating with the Graces and nobles of the city.

Once, when Barqa’s father was entertaining a delegation from the House of Ullhor, the ambassador had grown passionate and argumentative, when Barqa entered the room and dressed down the delegate for his rudeness and impropritary. When the man’s guard moved to strike Barqa for his reaction, the boy turned his gaze upon the man and quelled him with a mere disapproving look.

As the years passed, Barqa mo Aihl’s honor would grow unquestioned, his reputation amongst Slaver’s Bay quite divided. He was a man who moulded himself on ancient traditions, honing his wit and presence until he became a paragon of Ghiscari virtues, known throughout the lands. Some believe that everything about the young man was true and virtuous, others - particularly his enemies - believe that he only drapes himself in the flag of the Ghiscari to further his own selfish means.

Throughout it all his father Barqa mo Aihl the Elder, lead the House until the fateful year of 288 AA. That was the year that the Kingdom of Sarnor lead an attack unto Slaver’s Bay, on the city of Meereen. Some of the other Good Masters argued that they should not intervene, and let the city fall. But Barqa mo Aihl stood before the amassed Masters and gave a rousing, impassioned speech. He spoke on Ghiscari blood bonds and superiority. On brotherhood with the Great Masters of Meereen and the dangers of Sarnor. About how centuries ago, no Kingdom without monstrous dragons would dare step on Ghiscari soil, for fear of the Harpy.

The speech was a rousing success, and Barqa mo Aihl the Elder lead a force of Unsullied north as the High King lead the attack on the Ghiscari himself. Barqa mo Aihl the Younger was there in the coming battle, watching as his father, fearless as any Ghiscari should be, lead the wing in a surprise attack against a supporting army the High King had squirreled away, hidden, for a surprise attack once the initial Meereenese defenses were strained.

But fate was arrayed against Barqa mo Aihl the Elder, and he fell that day, under the swords of some of Sarnoi’s finest warriors. It was out of the shadow of his father’s death that the legend of Baraq mo Aihl was solidified. He took up his father’s spear and roused the Unsullied to heights rarely seen, even for those storied warriors. Every bark of his orders came before a crushing maneuver against the Sarnori, and the opposing army seemingly melted away from his mere presence. Before long the Unsullied, though inferior in number, doubly enveloped the Sarnori detachment and spent a long day killing and enslaving the men they surrounded. It was in the midst of this bloody slaughter that Barqa mo Aihl earned the name that would be whispered on the lips of everyone in Slaver’s Bay - Vishmon, Reborn in Flesh. This name, coming from Vishmon the Great Destroyer, was quite fitting for a man of stern morals, stubbornness, and unwavering will as Barqa.

This was exemplified by a popular rumor that flit across all levels of society; it is said that Barqa knelt next to his father in the ground as he was dying with the Sarnoi sword stained with his own blood laying next to him, and made his son swear a vow to the Gods of Ghis to always be an enemy of Sarnor. If it truly happened, it was a vow that Barqa has followed since that day. There was no enemy in Slaver’s Bay more virile, more outspoken, more eloquent, than Barqa mo Aihl. To that end, with every speech he gave to the Good Masters, he finished it with, “Sarnor must be destroyed."

Since then he had earnestly continued the work of his father. While his main opponent in Slaver’s Bay - House Ullthor - urges him to unleash the Unsullied and seize the rest of Slaver’s Bay by force, Barqa knows this will only weaken the Ghiscari and make them easy prey. He has tempered them as he could, promising to unleash them when the time was right. First he knows he must consolidate power in Astapor, then bring back the Ghiscari in general to the true heights of power they were before.

He married into House Erdaz, gaining their fealty and loyalty. He married his two sisters to the Dazhazn and Shaqiz families, gaining their support as well. He carefully husbands his two twin exceptionally beautiful sisters, knowing he can further gain support with them. He reaches out and makes deals with his brother cities in Astapor and Yunkai, when the Ullthor would do nothing but make war with them.

When the recent slave revolts of Grazdan the Golden occurred, the city turned to Barqa, rightly. He drove them quickly out of the city, then immediately began marshalling sellswords to put down the embers of the revolt. By the end of the year, Barqa had crushed the revolt with the help of the sellswords, and has been refocusing his efforts on the true danger - Sarnor.