Alaric Snow

Alaric Snow is a bastard of House Ryswell from the North, currently serving in the Citadel of Oldtown as the Knight of the Body.

## Biography

Born in 336 AC to whom his mother purported to be Lord Ryswell, Alaric was not the luckier breed of bastards who were acknowledged and taken into the lord's castle. As it stood, his future would be the simple and dull life of a content villager.

But Alaric would not suffice with this. Curious by nature since childhood, he would brave the wilds and fringes of the forestry near his small village, collecting plants, flowers, even snakes (which he often released shortly after). The gathering itself was not the end of it, however, as the boy took to oft observations and extensive studies on these sundry objects.

In 352 AC, he decided he had enough of this boring existence. Stocked up on food and general travel supplies, he made up his mind regarding the greatest journey of all time (at least for him, who had never been to the South, or anywhere, for that matter). Having even learnt some amount of reading and writing from an old knight dismissed from service, Alaric left his mother a letter (which, of course, would have to be read to her by someone else), explaining his disappearance and the necessity of it.

The travel was hard and arduous for someone who had to go by the faintest of directions and only the broad idea of where Oldtown *could* be. Many times did he get lost, but never did he give up. Soon, he ran out of money and food, but with a little creativity, that was taken care of.

Snow's experimentations had come to borne fruit, as it seemed. In several inns, he was able to find work as a neophyte alchemist and healer, treating with both concoctions and herbs, whose nature he had discovered by himself while growing up. All he asked for in exchange was food and a warm bed. Sometimes, he even shared the little knowledge he had in literacy. On the roads too, he would sometimes find a man wounded by outlaws, bitten by a snake, with a sprained ankle, and so on.

His arrival at Oldtown occured in 353 AC. He was no longer a boy, but a man now - experienced, more or less, in the dealings of the world, unlike the figure he had once been as the subject of Lord Ryswell. He was still considered a tad young for the Citadel, for which he had come all this way.

Yet, with assiduous learning, he finally prevailed and forged his first chain - in alchemy, no less, by 360 AC, at the age of 24. He was finally and truly devoted to the arts of medicine and chemistry, now an inveterate master of the workings of the human body.

His second chain would come as a no surprise, being the silver link of medicine, acquired after six years of hard work, in 366 AC. By this point, Alaric was fully engrossed by his knowledge, oblivious to the politics and happenings of the outer world. For him, all that remained was the dusty smell of the library, and the soft brush of his fingers against the thin papers on which he based all his works.

His thirst for what the Citadel could offer remained unsatiated. In the next few years he forged a black iron link for his competency in ravenry, and finally bronze, for mastering the eclectic teachings of history. This was all finished in 374 AC, wherein he was a man by not only his beard and body, but also by his mind, equal to even the highest of erudites in Oldtown - that is when he is made an Archmaester.

The second phase of his career at the Citadel was applying all that he had learned to practice. He learned all that he could, now, and he needed to benefit the world for it. A memory was burned into his mind, haunting and cringing, making his fingers shudder still; a man screaming out of lunacy, threading through the snow, as a company of Ryswell's levies shouted warnings and threats. The man was grey and scaled, a minatory sight to look upon, but more menacing were his screams and complete disregard for where he was or what he was doing. He ceased when one of the levies put a crossbow bolt through his skull.

For the next sixteen years, he worked diligently, with obstinate vehemence, on a cure, hell, a treatment, or a confirmed method of even delaying this horrifying disease that was greyscale. For all his mastery of the healing and alchemical arts, he ended in failure. Sixteen years. Nothing.

The year 54 of his life dawns on him now, in 390 AC. He has not given up, nor will he. Alaric Snow is a Knight of the Body, now, made as such, in 383 AC. He will tame this parasite, virus, or whatever it is - or spend the last of his days trying, locked to his barely lit room, eyes glued to papers and ink.

## Timeline

* 336 AC: Alaric is born.
* 336-352: Alaric, to the extent of his abilities, learns literacy, slight healing and alchemy.
* 352 AC: Alaric sets out to journey to the Citadel, in Oldtown.
* 353 AC: Alaric arrives and immediately begins working on his first link.
* 360 AC: Alaric forges his link in alchemy.
* 366 AC: Alaric forges the second silver link in medicine.
* 374 AC: Alaric forges both a bronze link in history and black iron in ravenry. He also begins his extensive study of greyscale and becomes an Archmaester.
* 383 AC: Alaric is made a Knight of the Body.

## Supporting Characters

* Septon Arryk (56) - Zealot: Unlike most other members of the faith, Septon Arryk shares a thirst of knowledge with Alaric, and is not as dogmatic as his counterparts, open-minded about most things.
* Eldric (23) - Negotiator: Eldric is a boy Alaric often uses for courier work himself, although his wit and glib of tongue is admirable.
* Wylis (32) - Warrior (Blunt Weapons): Wylis is a hedge knight who's made Oldtown his residence. Alaric has surprisingly become easy friends with him, and does employ him in a few occurances where he trusts the task to be dangerous.