Maester Clydas

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**Maester Clydas** is the Chief Archivist of the Citadel Library. He is responsible for an untold amount of information, arranged almost haphazardly as the ages go by. He occasionally uses the alias **The Antiquarian** in more secret correspondence.

## Appearance

At the age of 59, Maester Clydas, though rather young for a Maester of his standing, is an aging man, with a face that bares telltale pockmarks and lines of age. He stands rather sturdily, though has no muscle to boast of. In general his demeanor is pleasant, he will joke and smile with the rest of the crowd, and genuinely enjoys conversation with those younger than him.

## History

Born in the aftermath of the War of Repayment, Clydas has lived a long time. Growing up poor in Lannisport, having scarcely anything to eat, he worked in whatever backbreaking conditions he could find to feed himself, while supporting an infirm mother and a dead father. Eventually, this lead him to a docks job, where he learn the value of keeping **a reliable ring of informants**, as well as the subtleties of **smuggling** goods from one place to another, right under the guards' and customs' nose: all for a fee, of course. His **business** acumen, of course, helped in this regard.

Inevitably he was caught. An old hand on the docks, never sailed a day in his life, things like that get noticed right quick. Luckily, however, he was let loose from his imprisonment in order to serve, however poorly, in the War of Exile. By some miracle, he managed to survive, and was left listless in the battle's aftermath, unable to return to his smuggling ring, which had moved beyond him. Eventually, he fell into banditry, and even rode with Arrec of the Burning Brand for a time in the early years, long before his own war. In fact, it was his reluctance to join in Arrec's more militaristic dreams that lead to his desertion. This, in turn, caused his own **castration and branding, marking him a traitor** as Arrec's bandit army captured him once more, before turning him loose as he was of little use to anyone after that.

Healed by a Maester in a small keep, Clydas found his true calling there, and was encouraged to educate himself at the Citadel, where he enrolled at the ripe age of 34.

Despite the age gap between he and his classmates, Clydas soon proved himself a formidable student upon his arrival in Oldtown. Within six months he'd gained his first link, copper for History, where he learned complex **ciphers and scribe techniques.** His tin Philosophy link soon followed, as did his Economics and Geography links which taught him the value of **Navigation**, and finally his Astronomy and Politics links closed the chain, making him a full member of the order. All this, while working day and night in the sunless Archives, **copying text after text in strictly examined calligraphy** to pay for his expenses. It was here, most of all, that Clydas found his innate love of books. He devoured every tome he came across as though it was his last meal before dying. This passion quickly lead him to rise in the ranks at the Archives, even leading a few to believe he would take the mantle of Archmaester of History one day.

Within two years he'd forged his chain, however, he had been assigned to Crakehall for a period of years, raising children and for the first time knowing what it is to be noble. However, his desire for books never went away, and with reports of hundreds of recent scholars' findings overturning the work of earlier Maesters who continued to be taught, Clydas published his first treatise *Against Tradition.* Eventually as the Head Librarian of the Citadel grew old and sickly, with Clydas' treatise on contemporary literature running around the hallowed chambers of the Citadel, Clydas was naturally picked as the next head of the Library, due in part to his extensive experience copying there. Now he tackles catalogs of a thousand different Maesters all with different ideas where books should go, and with varying levels of completion with said cataloging processes, thinking more and more about who it is, exactly, who'll read all these books.

## Important Events

322 AL: Clydas begins work as a dockhand as his mother grows frailer. He quickly becomes a favorite on the dock, due to his youth.

324: Clydas joins the smuggling ring, mostly contraband such as moon tea or poisons and herbs not found by Maesters.

328: Clydas' first experience with smuggling books, as he intercepts the rogue Septon Ronnel's *Justifications.*

330: Mother dies.

336: Takes lead position among the smuggling ring boys.

340: Caught and thrown in jail for smuggling a political prisoner into the city. Deferred to military service as the War of Exile starts.

342: Military service ends, left wandering the realm afterward, no home to go back to.

343: Falls in with bandit bands, especially upon hearing Arrec of the Burning Brand speak.

344: Deserts Arrec's 'army'. Castrated as punishment, beaten, and left to die. Saved by a maester, who nurses him back to health and encourages him to enroll in the Citadel.

345: Enrolls to become a Maester. Gets his first link by the end of the year.

349: Completes his chain.

350: First year with the Crakehall Nobility, Clydas adjusts to noble life.

354-57: War of the Burning Brand, Clydas is reminded of the horrors of Arrec.

364: Writes *Against Tradition* in which he examines evidence from new Maesters which contradicts older Maester's precedents on a variety of subjects scientific and historical in nature. Among the learned it causes quite a stir, with a few more political souls believing this to be an attempt to become Archmaester of History.

365: Named Chief Archivist and Head Librarian of the Citadel, possibly a political maneuver to first quash any intrigues he might be laying.

## Recent Events

Currently in Lannisport, establishing a publishing company outside of Citadel control.