Deron Botley

## Biography

### Life

When Deron's father, then just a boy of 18, took the daughter of Lord Lorch, a minor noble from the Westerlands, as a salt wife, he did so for prestige: to have a salt wife to begin with was a point of pride and a showcase of the teenager's ruthless talents, and to claim one, let alone a highborn salt wife, at such a young age was an almost unheard of feat. Deron was the result of this marriage between man and trinket, the second child to be born by the two after the firstborn, Aeron, passed in infancy from the toxic mold that commonly grew within the towers and keeps of the Isles.

Deron never knew his mother, executed as punishment for her attempted escape of the Iron Isles before the salt son had reached his fourth nameday. Likewise, he avoided his father at all costs: as a boy, he instead would look for any excuse to leave home and roam, whether in times of peace or war, and soon his talents would become apparent. The boy showed a natural grace (Acrobatics, Agility) that was uncommon for those of his build, the heavyweight still able to take as many blows as he gave in fights with other children (Vitality).

A man that's lived fifty years as a pariah in his own home, Deron is apathetic and unfeeling, with little regard for human life and emotions. When Deron's father took a Riverlander by the name of Elia to be his sixth salt wife in 262 AA, he thought little more of her than the pleasing way in which her hips were shaped. And when the salt wife was put to death after her and Deron were caught having sex in his father's bed, he felt no remorse nor longing for her. What little humanity the salt son has left in him is drowned in liquor, a vice that Deron has not once tried to abstain from. (Addict(Alcohol))

### Ship

Deron himself came to prominence at the age of 17, when he slew an acclaimed knight of House Swyft during a reave upon the Westerlands, taking the man's rooster-shaped helmet for a souvenir. The salt son's longship, *The Cock's Bane*, is named in memory of this event.

### Immediate Family

Deron's father had three brothers and one sister:

Harlan, the oldest son and eventual Lord of Lordsport after their father passed during Andrik Greyjoy's attack on Fair Isle. Harlan, along with his three sons, all fell during the Westerlands' attack on Lordsport, the pious Lord believing that the Drowned God would bring them victory against overwhelming odds. Following his and his sons' deaths, Ornild Botley was named Lord of House Botley and Lordsport.

Gorold, the third-born son, who was left to die on the shores of Pyke when he was found to be a dwarf shortly after his birth. His mother, struck with grief, named the child posthumously after her own father, and in later years would call out his name during her episodes of dementia.

Tessa, the fourth child and only daughter of Lord and Lady Botley, who would go on to marry Lord Weaver and have four children together.

Deron himself possesses a fleet of bastards, none of which have ever met their father.

### Extended Family/Salt Wives/Deron's Father is Kind of Crazy

At 18, Ornild Botley took his first salt wife: the fifth child of Lord Lorch, a minor noble, the girl was six years Ornild's senior and commanded almost nothing in ransom, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that she was a *noble*, a prized specimen for a salt wife, and when Ornild wed her it added to the boy's prestige immensely. Together, Ornild and Celia Lorch had two children. The first, a boy named Aeron, would die in infancy from the toxic mold that commonly grew within the towers and keeps of the Isles. The second, Deron, lives to this day.

At 31 years old, Celia would be burned to death, executed by Ornild for her attempted escape of Lordsport.

At 18, Ornild took both a salt wife and a rock wife:

Meria, a salt wife taken from the wreckage of a Dornish trading vessel. She bore Ornild no children, and died within a year of their marriage.

Wessa, Ornild's first rock wife and the child of Lord [IRON ISLANDS HOUSE TO BE DETERMINED LATER]. Together, they had two children: Aeron, named for his late half-brother, who also died in infancy, and Deron, who lives to this day.

Wessa, paranoid and jealous, would poison Meria's drink one night to remove all competition between her and her beloved Ornild. She would later take her own life upon learning the news that her husband had taken a third and fourth salt wife.

At 25, Ornild took two salt wives in the same raid: Alla and Alerie, twin girls from the Riverlands at nineteen years of age.

When Alla gave birth to a stillborn, Ornild put both her and her sister to the torch, believing their blood was cursed.

At 29, Ornild took a second rock wife: Unella Shepherd, the fourth child of Lord Shepherd. The two remained married to this day, and have had three children as a result of their union: Aeron, named for his two late half-brothers, Deron, named for his still-alive half-brother, and Qoren.

At 34, he took a particularly prized salt wife: a merchant's Lyseni wife, imported by her portly husband to the Reach at extravagant cost. Ornild took her for his own shortly after ending the merchant's life during a raid, and they remained married for two years until her death at the hands of a Drowned Priest who had failed to resuscitate her in time following the practice of symbolically drowning converts to the Drowned God. She was with child at the time.

At 40, Ornild took his sixth salt wife: a Riverlander by the name Ella, Ornild would only refer to her by his dead wife's name of Alla and kept her locked inside, fearing that her beauty would make the other lords jealous. When it was found that she and Ornild's oldest living son, Deron Pyke, had been having sex in Ornild's bed, she was put to death by strangling.

Ornild took three more salt wives between his fourtieth nameday and the present: Alanis, Brella, and Denyse. All three are still living.

## Timeline

228 AA: Ornild's oldest brother, Harlan, is born.

232 AA: Ornild is born.

233 AA: Ornild's baby brother, Gorold, is born a dwarf and left to die.

234 AA: Ornild's sister, Tessa, is born.

250 AA: Ornild takes his first salt wife, Celia Lorch.

252 AA: Ornild's first child, Aeron, is born and later dies in infancy.

251 AA: Ornild marries his first rock wife, Wessa, and his second salt wife, Meria. Celia Lorch bears Ornild a child, named Deron.

251 AA: Ornild's third son, named Aeron in memory of his late half-brother, is born and later dies in infancy like his namesake. His salt wife, Meria, is killed by Wessa.

251 AA: Celia is put to death.

257 AA: Ornild takes two salt wives, twin Riverlanders by name Alla and Alerie. When Alla bears Ornild a stillborn later that year, he has both sisters burned to death, believing that they have cursed blood. Ornild's first rock wife, Wessa, kills herself upon hearing the news that Ornild has taken the twins for his own.

261 AA: Ornild marries his second rock wife, Unella Shepherd. Their first child, named Aeron for his late siblings, is born.

262 AA: Ornild and Unella's second child, named Deron, is born. Deron Botley's naming is seen as an insult by Ornild's oldest living child, the salt son Deron.

264 AA: Ornild and Unella's third child, named Qoren, is born.

266 AA: Ornild takes the Lyseni wife of a Reachmen merchant and makes her his fifth salt wife.

269 AA: The Lyseni dies during the drowning ceremony held for those that convert to the faith of the Drowned God.

272 AA: Ornild takes his sixth salt wife, a Riverlander by the name Ella. Ornild refuses to call her by anything other than his dead wife's name Alia, and, when it's discovered that Ornild's oldest son Deron Botley and her have been having sex in Ornild's bed, the woman is strangled to death at the order of Ornild.

278 AA: Ornild takes his seventh salt wife, Alanis.

280 AA: Ornild takes his eighth salt wife, Brella.

286 AA: Ornild takes his ninth salt wife, Denyse.

298 AA: Ornild, along with his son Deron, attend the hollow kingsmoot. Afterwards, Deron accompanies the Greyjoys as they begin to reave the western coast line, including the attack on Bear Isle.

298 AA: Ornild's brother, Harlan, and his three sons die in the defense of Lordsport. For the first time in his sixty-six years of life, Ornild is no longer a scion, but instead the Lord of Lordsport. Deron Botley rises in power alongside his father, to the disdain of both of them.

299 AA: Deron and his father attend the second kingsmoot and see Andrik Greyjoy crowned as the King of Salt and Rock.

## Supporting Characters

Yun Xi, Yi-Tish ship captain that joined House Botley during King Victarion Greyjoy's Great Reaving of Essos in 265 AA and captain of *Rising*, Ship Captain

Zhaqu, corsair of the Basilisk Isles that joined House Botley during King Victarion Greyjoy's Great Reaving of Essos and captain of *Exotic Thighs*, Ship Captain

Ullen Pyke, bastard in both senses of the word and captain of *The Whore's Gash*, Ship Captain

Gan Xi, son of Yun Xi and captain of *Red Light*, Ship Captain