Lynora Antaryon

House Antaryon

Donapho Antaryon (†)

Daren Antaryon

Essia Antaryon

Noricho Antaryon

**Lynora Antaryon** is a Sword of Braavos in the service of the Sealord and his family. She is currently assigned as the protector of the latter's daughter, Denya Nestoris, in the city of King's Landing. Hailing from the ancient House of Antaryon, she is a noblewoman of Braavos.

## Appearance & Character

Lynora is a young woman of average height and slender build, who is rarely seen without a jovial smile, and a hint of mischief in her curious, cinder eyes. Her sun-kissed, fair complexion is not unusual among the Braavosi, but her brunette hair is often positively remarked for its amber highlights when she’s mingling among the city’s patrician elite.

Extravagant gowns and rich jewelry that match her family’s renown are the expected wear for such occasions, and though they don’t make her uncomfortable, they are certainly not her preference, either. When the former gets too dull, the daughter of the Patriarch of Antaryon roams the streets in colourful shirts, long leather boots, and with a svelte blade hanging by her hips to challenge water dancers in the moonlight.

While most women of her standing are fought for and over in her city, Lynora chose to be the one who *fights*, aspiring for no less than the First Sword of Braavos ever since. She has come a long way, but there is yet much to temper; were it not for her sex, she would fit exactly the common perception of Essosi bravos. She is flamboyant in style, quick with her tongue as she is with her sword, and a tad bit overconfident.

## History

Lynora was the only child born to Naqario Antaryon and his second wife, Oreya Zalyne. Hailing from an esteemed family of magisters and bankers, she was royalty in the city of Braavos in all but name. She was looking ahead to a privileged life, and as a daughter among many, one of little responsibility, too.

Power always comes with a price though, and young Lynora was exposed early to the consequences of ambition and greed. She was only four when a feud with another family of keyholders claimed the life of her mother, leaving her without her only parent, who had ever shown her affection. She felt as though she was the odd one out among her half-siblings, and would purposefully avoid having a relationship with her stepmother after her father had remarried.

Throughout her childhood, Lynora preferred the company of street kids as opposed to her peers, and shenanigans that required a little guile and stealth over the lessons given by her tutors. Pulling pranks on servants and stealing from merchant stalls were the types of trouble the girl often got herself into, but it was something far less dishonest that truly captivated her young mind.

Every once in a while, she would sneak out with her friends at night to watch the famed water dancers duel upon the Moon Pool, then try and imitate what they had witnessed with wooden sticks. Lynora wanted to learn how to wield a real sword, only to be dismissed when she brought up the idea with her father. It was but a childish dream, the old man would say, one she would grow out as soon as she started to fancy boys. He was wrong.

Ten-year-old Lynora took matters into her own hands; if not with her father’s permission, she would learn on her own. One cool evening while roaming along the city canals, she spotted a bravo entangled in conversation with a few ladies by a barge, and she saw her chance. Sneaking up on the young man, she seized the sword from his hip and ran. But she wasn’t as clever as she had thought. Her victim had wielded that weapon for a reason in the first place, and though letting the girl steal it was a shameful mistake, he was sure on her tail.

After a chase across the city, the bravo caught up to Lynora at the Moon Pool, and knowing there was nowhere else to run, she drew the stolen sword and pointed it at its owner. She threatened him that if he came any closer, she’d stab, but he laughed her off; she was a plucky one, he remarked, and promptly proceeded to retrieve his property from the girl.

Lynora slashed and thrust at him, but the bravo dodged her untrained strikes with ease, and before she could tell what was happening, he caught her hand and disarmed her. To any other kid, the game would have been over, but the scion of Antaryon still felt righteous in her cause. Despite being locked in his hold, she was still desperate to win the fight, and in the midst of her flailing and kicking, she bit his arm.

If the bravo wasn’t infuriated already, that surely did the trick. He lifted the girl from the ground and he tossed her right into the Moon Pool. If she wanted to dance, there was her chance, he spewed, then trotted off. Disappointed in herself above all, Lynora crawled out of the water and walked home shaking. Her father demanded she explain what happened and she did, but contrary to her fears, he didn’t scold her, nor did he seem ired.

He told her that if she survived, he would hire a swordmaster to teach her - for if she was going to take on bravos, she might as well learn how. First, she had to live though; the cold she had caught from her swim quickly grew into a fever, and she lay in bed for several days until it finally passed. The agony she would forget, but that her father never left her side, she would not.

Lynora’s training began as soon as she had recovered, and the tutor Naqario hired for her was a former Sword of Braavos, Jaqarro Lenos. However, the first lesson he gave wasn’t quite as she had expected. When she was prompted to reach for her sword, her tutor struck her hand with the blunt side of his own, breaking two of her fingers. It was punishment for stealing another man’s blade.

While her fingers healed, Lynora was taught only balance, and Jaqarro gave her several chores to do each day to not only strengthen her but to also build discipline - something she severely lacked. *Valar dohaeris*, he would always remind her. She protested only in silence, for she dared not disrespect the man, and eventually she took his teachings to heart.

The first time Lynora was invited to spar with him, the sword’s weight was lost on her arm, and she knew that she was ready. Jaqarro oversaw her training as a water dancer for years to come, and she came a long way under his tutelage. At the age of fourteen, she had her first duel by the Moon Pool, and soon her first victory as well.

At last, Lynora Antaryon had everything she had aspired for as a child, but as she grew and changed, so did her ambitions. In 376 AC, Jaqarro Lenos passed away in a sudden illness, and though his loss left a great hole in Lynora’s life, it also brought his student closer to finding her true purpose.

Inspired by none other than her teacher, she made it her goal to join the Swords of Braavos - the city’s foremost warriors, who were led by the famous First Sword and served as bodyguards to the Sealord. To get there, first she had to serve Braavos like all other citizens, and she knew only one person who could show her how.

During the years she had spent training by Jaqarro’s side, her father had elevated himself to the position of First Keyholder in the Iron Bank, which made him one of the most influential men in the known world, with power to rival the Sealord’s in the Secret City. Naqario deemed his daughter’s ambition worthy and took her under his wing to lend her insight into the politics of Braavos.

The Swords weren’t chosen for their martial ability alone - to protect the city’s interests, they must’ve possessed the cunning to navigate its politics too. In the next few years, Lynora was given various assignments within and without Braavos, usually to escort envoys of the bank as to negotiate with magisters from other cities, or to accompany her own father to meetings as his personal guard.

With a dragonrider building her empire to the south, the Braavosi lived tumultuous times. The citizens were uncertain when would the self-proclaimed Queen of the Narrow Sea turn her gaze to their city, and clients from cities as far as Qarth turned away from the Iron Bank. After news came of Volantis’ incorporation into Daena Targaryens’s empire, many believed that Braavos was next. It came as a bitter relief to the citizens that the dragon queen chose to invade their Western neighbours instead.

Braavos won time, and with Daena being occupied in Westeros, also an opportunity to weaken her power-base in Essos. There were talks between the keyholders to issue a call-to-arms to their debtors and form a grand alliance to combat the dragon before it would be too late. As her father’s shadow, Lynora was privy to most of these conversations, which with or without her input yielded no result.

They had one plan that could work, but reaching the Iron Throne was critical to its success, and Prince Viserys’ blockade of King’s Landing made the latter next to impossible. Their attention turned to the Three Daughters then, where a rebellion was brewing, and according to intelligence from the House of Black and White, a band of Westerosi agents acting on King Garlan’s behalf was at the epicenter of it.

A package had to be delivered - the contents of which could not be seen by anyone but the king himself - and Mace Wildflowers, who was known to be among his closest confidantes, was the next best person to hand it to. Lynora volunteered to be the courier, and despite a few keyholders suggesting that a Faceless Man should handle the delivery instead, Naqario trusted his daughter.

However, to avoid any suspicion, she wasn’t sent alone - or sent at all. In an official capacity, the Iron Bank only sent an envoy to talk loans with Myrish magnates, and Lynora merely accompanied him as his guard. That she carried the bank’s most treasured possession on her person was unbeknownst to all.

Due to the Prince-Admiral’s lockdown, getting into Myr was difficult on its own, and once inside, his household guard would surround her and the envoy wherever they went. This made Lynora’s task a notch more difficult, but fighting with a sword wasn’t her only skill. She knew how to conceal herself and had a talent for moving unnoticeably, and when her escort’s attention faltered, she slipped away.

The city was engulfed in the flames of rebellion shortly after her arrival, and all she had to do was follow the trail of chaos to get to the bastard. She didn’t introduce herself, only handed him a satchel along with the message of her employers. Her own contribution to the war was ultimately minimal, but after the blueprints she had delivered helped the Westerosi to a decisive victory, the leaders of Braavos would remember her part.

Not a year later, when a position opened up in the Swords of Braavos, she undertook the challenge fully prepared. As tradition dictated, she had to track down three members of the order and challenge each of them to a duel upon the Moon Pool, and the key to finding them was utilizing one’s ability to *listen*. The latter was the part where she could put to use what she had learned from her father, and once she succeeded, she honored the teachings of his late master.

Under the eleventh full moon of 381 AC, she challenged and defeated her final opponent, and earned her place among the twenty-three Swords of Braavos. Since then, she had served the Sealord and his family with diligence, but in a place and capacity, she had not initially anticipated.

Lynora was sent to King's Landing to look out for the Sealord's daughter, Denya Nestoris, who had joined Queen Myrcella's court as a lady-in-waiting.