Alyssare Arana (sister of Aerel I)

Titles | * Queen
* Queen Dowager
* Vaelthil Arana
* Viseriel Arana

**Alyssare Arana** was one of King Aerel I Arana's younger sisters, as well as his wife. Like her two siblings, Aerel and Rhaethen, Alyssare was a gryphonrider, and rode the gryphon Rhea. She had three children by her brother-husband, Daethen, Vaelthil, and Viseriel, the middle of which died in infancy, sending Alyssare into a deeply depressive state.

## Appearance and Character

Like her siblings, Alyssare possessed the classical Ayleid features: long silver hair, dark blue eyes, and olive skin. Hers was a harsher, more austere beauty than her sister, Rhaethen, who was considered the more comley of the two. A voluptuous, sensual, and passionate woman, Alyssare was also stern, serious, and unforgiving. Some claimed that Alyssare dabbled in dark sorceries.

Alyssare was both a gryphonrider and a warrior, comfortable in both silk and in plated ringmail.

## History

### Early Life

Born on the Stepstone Isles, Alyssare was the second of three children born to Naelor Arana and Helara Errinorne. Her elder brother Aerel was born three years prior to Alyssare, though her younger sister Rhaethen was born over a decade after the first two. Since young age, Alyssare trained together with Aerel at arms, and she became a skilled warrior.

As expected, Alyssare was wed to her brother Aerel following Ayleid custom. Prior to her wedding, Alyssare became a gryphonrider, having bonded with the gryphon Rhea while it as an egg in her cradle.

On the day of her wedding in 1E 351, Alyssare and Aerel conceived their first child, Daethen, who was born later that same year. She and Aerel raised him to be strong-willed and assertive, a representation of their House's dire straights at the time.

After the death of her father and grandfather, Alyssare would frequently argue with both her mother and brother-husband that they should turn their ire upon the King of Valenwood, Faldan I Camoran, for what he did to their family. Nevertheless, Aerel turned his gaze to the west rather than the east, and prepared for an invasion of the two weakened kingdoms of the Summerset Archipelago.

### The Invasion

Alyssare joined her brother in his conquest of the Summerset Archipelago's two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Summer and Sea, and the Kingdom of Auridon. Along with her two siblings, Alyssare mounted her gryphon Rhea and flew across the Blue Divide accompanied by their armada. Upon landing on the eastern shores of Auridon, Aerel began the construction of a small wooden fort to establish a foodhold, while Alyssare and Rhaethen flew to the nearby castles of Houses Silinor and Highre, wreaking havoc upon their structures using their mighty gryphon mounts, forcing the two ruling lords to bend the knee and pledge their forces to Aerel's own.

Alyssare accompanied her brother on his march northward across the long island of Auridon, assaulting and capturing settlements, castles, and keeps as they progressed. By the time the two were within reach of Firsthold, King Sandur III Rilis had managed to amass a large force capable of contending with that of the Aranas. Rather than engage, Aerel sent a messange to the king, bidding him to bend the knee to Aerel and avoid bloodshed. Understanding that he could not defeat a force with two gryphons, Sandur III met with Aerel and formally bent the knee, and was thus named the first Lord of Firsthold and High Kinlord of Auridon.

During the campaign against the Kingdom of Summer and Sea, Alyssare accompanied Aerel and fought at his side. In Shimmerene she was present when Lord Castien Liaren surrendered Shimmerene without a fight and the High Aldarch declared her brother King of All the Isles. She would then fly with him to the Aerie in the Vale of Eton Nir and demand the submission of Lord Saleth Harlore, who refused. With their armies poised for battle outside Cloudrest, Alyssare and Aerel together razed the Aerie, demolishing walls with the brute force of their gryphons and using coldfire magic to burn a great portion of it. The entirety of House Harlore was killed in the assault, and Lady Syllia Heleyn of House Heleyn was named the new Lady of Cloudrest and High Kinlady of the Vale.

After regrouping with their sister Rhaethen, the three Aranas flew towards Lillandril, though were intercepted by a great host led by King Coreriil III Arana himself. Their three mighy gryphons won them the battle, and Coreriil withdrew his host to Alinor. The Arana host advanced to Lillandril, where Lady Erandel Andorin had intentionally camped her army and not engaged with the ongoing conquest. Understanding that the armies of Lady Andorin were vast and well-equipped, Aerel agreed to a personal meeting, where after two hours he and Erandel emerged and she bent her knee to Aerel. An impromptu wedding was held between Erandel's daughter, Linaarie, and Aerel and Alyssare's son, Daethen, as it was a condition of Erandel's submission.

The combined host marched onwards for several weeks to Alinor, where King Coreriil III had his host prepared for battle. Aerel ordered an immedite assault, and the battle began. Coreriil's dwindled host could not withstand the sheer size of Aerel's own increased host, and the three Arana gryphons sealed Coreriil's fate. The king was eventually slain, and his son and heir, Prince Earron was at some point during the battle impaled by an gryphon. The Arana forces marched to Eldarhall in search of Princess Arannelya, the King's last child, though she could not be found. Aerel was satisfied with his victory and ended his conquest.

Alyssare took part in the following coronation ceremony, naming Aerel the King of the Summerset Isles, Lord of the White City, and Protector of the Isles.

### Motherhood

The day-to-day governance of the realm was often left in the charge of Alyssare, Rhaethen, and Aerel's councilors.

In 1E 374, years after the Invasion, Alyssare fell pregnant and gave birth to a second child that was named Vaelthil. Some nobles at court whispered that the Aranas intended on marrying the young girl to her comparatively much older brother, Daethen, though Vaelthil died early in her infancy and it is unknown if Alyssare and Aerel had intended on betrothing her as was rumoured or not. The death of her daughter shattered Alyssare, who fell into an uncharacteristically depressive state. She adopted several methods of coping with the trauma, though gardening was what caught her fancy. When she was not busy at court, Alyssare worked on various gardens, even making a visit to Gryphonrock while it was under construction to build into it a vast garden. This addition by Alyssare came to be known as Alyssare's Garden, and was filled with tall blooming trees, wild roses, and cranberries.

In 1E 399, Alyssare fell pregnant for a third a final time, giving birth later that year to Viseriel. Like Vaelthil, Viseriel was born a sickly child, and the sapiarchs made clear that death as a distinct possibility. Rumours swirled at court that Viseriel was doomed to die, some even daring to whisper that the Aranas, specifically Alyssare, were cursed and recieving divine punishment from the gods for their sins. However, when Viseriel bonded with his gryphon X his health recovered and the rumours died. Those nobles that still resented the Aranas whispered that Alyssare had made a bargain with a Daedric Prince, and that his son's gryphon had nothing to do with his recovery.

### Reign of Daethen

When Aerel died, Alyssare accompanied the two month-long funeral procession that brought his body from Alinor to the Monastery of Serene Harmony in Shimmerene to be enterred, a custom that would remain for all kings of the Summerset Isles.

Alyssare worked with her son, then King Daethen I Arana, to quell unrest over her husband's death, and to put to rest fears about a renewed conflict against the Aranas. For two years it seemed that peace would endure, until late in 1E 440 when the High Aldarch of the Monastery declared an anathema upon Daethen, calling upon all those loyal to the Church to join in overthrowing the "abominations" sitting on the Marble Throne of Alinor. The ensuing conflict came to be known as the Church Uprising, and many Houses from various regions of the kingdom joined on both sides of the war. Among those that joined against House Arana was House Liaren, whose ruling Lord answered the holy call of his High Aldarch.

Alyssare rode her gryphon Rhea, and joined her son, who rode his father's mount Nereon, and worked together during the war to assault various castles and overwhelm various armies. During this time Alyssare's younger sister Rhaethen remained in Eldarhall with the Warden of the Isles, Lord Tranian Rilis, to maintain stability at court and effectively rule the realm while Daethen was on campaign. The Uprising was unlike any conflict the Aranas had experienced, as pockets of rebel lords would emerge seemingly at random across the archipelago, pledging themselves to the High Aldarch's cause. Eventually in 1E 543 Shimmerene was besieged and captured, though while marching to the Monastery of Serene Harmony Daethen was ambushed in the streets and stabbed to death. His meager guard were also overwhelmed, as Daethen believed that his gryphon alone would keep him safe. After the event, Daethen's gryphon Nereon flew into the distance and was never seen again.

### Reign of Anumaril

After Daethen's death Alyssare flew into a rage that lasted many months, mounting Rhea and flying across the vast archipelago destroying and burning every temple and chantry she came across using both her gryphon and spells. During this time contact could not be made with her, even by her own sister Rhaethen, who aided the Warden and Protector of the Isles, Lord Tranian Rilis in ruling the realm in the stead of her nephew, the recently crowned King Anumaril I Arana, though the ocassional report and news of destruction gave clues to her whereabouts. She eventually returned to Eldarhall and demanded that a renewed campaign be organised to sieze Shimmerene once more, even suggesting that the city be razed, killing its inhabitants as Aerel had done with the Harlores in the Aerie decades prior, though was refused by Tranian.

Alyssare never again left Eldarhall, serving instead in an advisory capacity to her grandson, Anumaril I, though her desire for vengance remained and coloured her council to the king. Many of her proposed campaigns against the Uprising were overly-aggressive, which resulted in several defeats, bringing her into great verbal conflicts with Tranian and Rhaethen, who both preferred a more tactful approach to the war. Alyssare eventually died in her sleep in 1E 444 at the age of 114, and a ceremony was held for her in the royal chantry in Eldarhall, where she was enterred.

Alyssare's remains were never moved to the Monastery of Serene Harmony after the war, presumably because the many acts she committed against the [religion] would have been cause for increased tensions between the Throne and the new High Aldarch.