Bessaro Nestoris

Bessaro Nestoris was a Braavosi nobleman who served as Sealord between 352AC and 367AC, most famously through the Ivory War.

## History

Laerys Vaelaros was a popular Triarch, hailing from the noble Old Blood family with long-ties to the Elephant Party of Volantis. Like his father and uncle before him, it was trade that was the centre of Triarch Laerys’ policies. Having recently secured an agreement with the city of Myr in 363AC, and another with Qohor two years prior to that, he had been working towards securing similar contracts with the Free City of Lys, as well as the city of Tolos too before his death.

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 some believe 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.

Among other accusations of murder, some 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 himself 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.

Rallying an army of nearly fifteen thousand to his command, the Governor of Valysar, Rhaemar Agnalor, had sailed up the Rhoyne and the Noyne, marching for the Braavosi foothills and the City of a Hundred Isles itself. The Triarchs of Volantis Taeros Qoheros, Vaelar Aerteris and Maelys Maegyr (the former two re-elected following promises of justice for Laerys, the lattermost signifying the first time a second Tiger Triarch had been elected in the city for over four hundred years) readied an army of their own, but instead found themselves engaged in battles to claw back control of their vassal states of Valysar, Selhorys and Volon Therys, for they did not share the sentiment that the Sealord and the Faceless Men were behind Vaelaros’ death.

In an effort to stay the growing risk of conflict with Braavos as they continued preparation for war with Lys, the Triarchs of Volantis sent a message to the Sealord of Braavos Bessaro Nestoris to denounce the actions of Rhaemar Agnalor of Valysar and declare him a rogue and vagabond. Heeding the Triarchs’ words, Nestoris dispatched an army to meet with Agnalor in the Braavosi foothills. At the Battle of Sweetwater Source, Valysarian infantry met with the forces led by Marro Antaryon, wielder of the Valyrian steel longsword *Titan’s Roar*. Reports state that the blade cut through two-score men that day, among them two of Rhaemar Agnalor’s sons, Aurion and Maevon. Governor Rhaemar himself was not among the slain however, and instead retreated with the two thousand remaining troops to the ruined city of Ny Sar, where Marro Antaryon finally caught up with him, seeking to put an end to the Governor. As his men were butchered by the larger host, Rhaemar turned once again to flee, seizing a passing trade cog and butchering the passengers with his own Valyrian steel blade when they refused to assist him in his flight. It would prove to only further turmoil when it would be made known that one of the passengers was Grogeo Maegan, heir of the noble Maegan family of Norvos. Blaming both Braavos and Volantis for the death, Magister Lyglo Maegan called for war with both. In time, this would be something resolved by trades mediated through the High Priest of the Conclave, who managed to claim territory from both cities in the peace accords of late 365AC.