Laerys Vaelaros

Laerys Vaelaros was a member of the Volantene Old Blood, and an Elephant Triarch most famed for his trade deals and the events that followed his death as part of the Ivory War.

He was much loved by the people of Volantis, its vassal states of Valysar, Selhorys and Volon Therys, as well as throughout the Free Cities and beyond.

## Death and Aftermath

After celebrating a successful continuation of the negotiations with representatives of the Magisters Pendaerys, Ormellon and Vhassyl, he had enjoyed an evening’s entertainment provided by pillowslaves provided by Magister Ormellon himself, said to the finest in the world for they came from the Goddess’ Touch, the most famed pillowhouse in all of Lys. With fine wines from the Arbor, delicate cheeses made from goats grazed within the Golden Fields and olives cultivated along the Skahazadhan they revelled, but come morning one of his companions found him dead, his mouth and lips crusted with the blood upon which he had choked in his sleep.
While many now suspect that the Ivory King’s powdered ivory, supposedly cursed by its production within the city of Gogossos, was among the items enjoyed by Triarch Laerys that night, it is to little surprise that the Triarch’s guards concluded their liege had been poisoned, nor should they be condemned for such an assumption for there are a great number of agents known to cause its victim to cough up blood in their death throes.

The surviving Triarchs - the Elephant Taeros Qoheros and the Tiger Vaelar Aerteris -  found themselves in agreement on something. It had been the Lyseni that were responsible, for the city was after all famous for the Spire of the Alchemists, the acolytes and masters within creators of such poisonous substances. It was the Lyseni that had offered him food and wine and it was in this opportunity that they had enacted their ploy to weaken the city of Volantis, knowing it to be greater than their own city.

The Lyseni instead accused the Myrish of the treachery, naming Magister Jaerano Naerin himself as being guilty of poisoning the Triarch, claiming he was fearful that the city of Lys would be granted the same boons afforded to him by the trade deal between Myr and Volantis agreed upon a year prior. Not wishing to see the Perfumed Sister prosper, and knowing his own deal to be secure, he had sought to end the negotiations before a final agreement could be reached.

Further to the east, accusations carried across the Bay of Dragons, raising tensions between the cities of Tolos and Elyria and those of Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen. Tolos, and by indirect measure Elyria, had sought to gain much for the deals proposed by Triarch Laerys, which may have resulted in reduced trade into the Bay of Dragons as a result. The timing of Vaelaros’ death mere moons before he was due to sail for the Gulf of Grief proved too suspicious for the rulers of the City of Slingers, and thus they petitioned the Queen of Elyria, the intrepid Aerea Calgaris to ready a fleet and an army as they send messages forth to captains of a great manner of sellsword and sellsail companies.

Others too whispered along the Rhoyne that surely the Braavosi had been involved in the Triarch’s death. They opposed slavery after all, but the Bay of Dragons was too far away for even the fleets and lackeys of the Sealord to reach and thus the gaze of Bessaro Nestoris had turned to Volantis - or so the Governor of Valysar Rhaemar Agnalor claimed. Had cooler minds prevailed they would have surely noted that the Faceless Men of Braavos (the Sealord’s chosen means of assassination, if Governor Agnalor is to be believed) are famous for their ability to make their killings, or gifts as they prefer to call them, appear natural.

Triarch Laerys Vaelaros’ death was anything but natural.

Despite it, Laerys had been well-loved among the vassal states of Volantis, and soon the cities of Valysar, Selhorys and Volon Therys cried for Braavosi blood in return.

And thus, seemingly overnight half the Free Cities and the cities of the Bay of Dragons found themselves on the verge of war, and all had reason to cast the first stone.