Alysanne Tyrell

Alysanne, c.98 AC

**Alysanne Tyrell** is the eldest daughter and child of Gwayne Tyrell and his first wife, Rohanne Florent, the wife of Ser Lucien Hightower and the mother of Dorian, Damon, and Danelle Tyrell. Raised in Oldtown, Alysanne is famously pious, giving cause to her moniker among commonfolk, "Argent Aly."

Ever since her release from custody in 101 AC, she has been a leading social figure in Highgarden.

 **Appearance**

From her smooth, fair, lightly-freckled skin to her dazzling auburn curls and speckled hazel eyes, Alysanne is an undisputed beauty, still in the prime of her life, in spite of having given birth three times. None would be able to tell she'd had children at all, as nearly all of the weight she'd gained from the pregnancies has fallen off of her, though she can't quite squeeze into her older gowns as a result. She has sharp, pensive features that display little emotion even when in the midst of the strongest bouts of happiness or sorrow.

Her vanity shines through in the way she dresses herself, with opulent tastes, even for a lady of her status and wealth. Always wearing a large fortune in gems in her hair and along her neck and wrists, she prefers dramatic dresses with plunging necklines and exposed shoulders, preferring whites and greys and golds occasionally chased with the green tones of her house's sigil.

## **Personality and Character**

Vanity is the sole motivator for Alysanne. She has an immensely inflated sense of pride in her own social standing, and public appearance is everything to her, preferring that which looks better to that which is truly moral or just. In spite of this, she is also a traditionalist at heart; and as a result makes great strides to appear demure and quiet, pious and ladylike, in the most domineering sense. She is quiet, calculating, and largely emotionless, which has proved a stumbling block for her trained charms, as many find her lack of apparent humanity off-putting.

The primary way she projects her own identity is through her piety, as she grew up in Oldtown, in the heart of the nation's holy city, at the Starry Sept, and was trained to respect the Faith and the authority it's bureaucratic nature brought. Coupled with her noticing how much it pleased her own father and mother to see their 'sweet and pious' daughter delving into the Faith with such zeal, she continued to shield herself with a facade of holiness, a weapon she uses against her social and political opponents, for while many might dislike her generally uncharismatic demeanor, she is indisputably one of the most 'devout' women in Westeros.

Conversely, however, she is greatly adored by the Smallfolk, due in part do her 'heroics' during the siege of Oldtown in the Rosegold Rebellion, where she took charge of the city's women and children, ordering them all sheltered in the Starry Sept, partially capitalizing on a moment she knew would pay off later on. Coupled with numerous fairs, festivals, and holy celebrations she has thrown and attended, as well as making the Seven Pointed Star a far more accessible text through the learning edicts she's convinced her father to pass, the common people of Westeros love her.

Additionally, Alysanne has a particular obsession with her own fairy tail, idealistic life she has envisioned for herself since she was a child. The perfect husband, the perfect children, Highgarden all for herself, her voracious greed linked to her own pride and self image knows no bounds, and she is willing to topple anyone who would stand in the way of romanticized future she believes herself entitled to.

In spite of her many flaws, she is kind and cordial by nature, however hollow the intent might be. She is incredibly giving when happy, and incredibly vengeful when feeling slighted. Despite her quiet facade, she is a woman of action, and is willing to do what must be done to achieve her goals through subversion and manipulation. Though she has many attachments, people are ultimately objects to Alysanne, something to collect to inflate her own ego and esteem, although she does have passing affection for her family; her children, her sisters, and her husband, but sees them as part of that which she is entitled to, and takes them for granted, disregarding their own free will and agency in the process.

Extremely well learned, Alysanne is fluent in Common and High Valyrian, having been tutored at the Starry Sept. She is well versed in rhetoric, economics, literature, religion, and philosophy, and though she can be an uncomfortable presence in a room due to her stiff demeanor and quiet nature, she is a very good conversationalist. Her own stoicism is a learned trait from her father, whom she greatly looks up to, and wishes to emulate.

## **Background**

### **Early Life**

Since she was an infant, Alyanne has been a quiet, demure presence in Highgarden. Never one to squall or wail like some of her siblings after her, she was almost worryingly quiet as a babe, weaned at an unusually young age from her wet nurse and later caretaker, Esmerelda.

This quiet demeanor only grew with time as she aged. Though inquisitive and sometimes playful as any child had right to be, she was still more likely to only speak when spoken to, and sit back and observe rather than take part in any events playing out before her. While initially her mother and father had worried that it would be a sign of a simple minded daughter, their fears were quickly alleviated as she began to learn to read. Although never a voracious reader, she took to it as a swan to water, and learned other ladylike skills at a similar rate, clearly born suited to the role she would hold in life, which inspired great pride in Gwayne in particular, who fancied himself a traditionalist.

### **Education in Oldtown**

Eager to please her mother and father, Alysanne happily accepted her father's decision to send her to Oldtown. Already growing tired of the cramped, familiar spaces in Highgarden, the nine year old girl relished the opportunity to live in a metropolitan city such as the jewel of the south. There she found what she still today considers her true calling, in the Starry Sept. Under tutelage of the High Septon, as well as with access to the Citadel's foremost experts in all academic fields, Alysanne's education flourished greatly while in Oldtown, learning amongst the most learned men in the western world.

The longer she lived there, the less and less she grew to miss Highgarden and her mother and father and sisters there, feeling a true sense of belonging, and still feeling more at home in the City than back at the seat of her family.

It was there that she grew close with the Hightowers, the ruling family of Oldtown, and often came into contact with the sons of Lord Martyn Hightower, his eldest son, Lyonel and youngest son, Lucien, in particular. Unlike her more unruly sisters at Highgarden, the three were seldom scolded for their passtimes, as Alysanne often simply read or practiced stitching as she watched the boys practice with wooden swords, occasionally the three taking their caretakers into the heart of the city, exploring the market stalls and shops along the main boulevard, picking out whatever their hearts desired along the way to take back with them.

### **The Death of Rohanne**

One of Alysanne's greatest regrets relates to the death of her mother, Rohanne. Having been in Oldtown during her demise, and not able to return for her funeral, Alysanne was left pondering that which might've been. Despite Rohanne being anything but ladylike, Alysanne had created a sort of false image of her lady mother in her own mind, and constantly strove to meet that unrealistic standard she saw set for herself. And though she and her mother weren't close, Rohanne's passing is still felt by Alysanne today, though largely as a dull, echoing pain, not in the forefront of her mind. She still visits her mother's tomb in the Tyrell mausoleum any time she finds herself home once again.

### **The Wedding of Black and White**

*Main Article: The Wedding of Black and White*

In the year 77 AC, Gwayne Tyrell announced the betrothal of Alysanne Tyrell to Lucien Hightower, the youngest son of Lord Martyn Hightower. Few were surprised, as Alysanne had grown exceptionally close to House Hightower and Lucien in particular during her various stays in Oldtown at the Starry Sept, and the course of her education had lead them naturally towards one another, many seeing it as a marriage more likely arranged by the future couple rather than their parents.

But the realm was surprised once more at the wedding itself in 78 AC, the following year, when Gwayne announced that the marriage was to be matrilineal in nature, and that Lucien and Alysanne were named to heirship of Highgarden, with the understanding that their children would have the Tyrell name. Additionally, to make the already tense affair even more so, Lord Uther Peake was publicly and without warning stripped of his title as High Marshal of the Reach, Gwayne instead giving it to Lucien's elder brother, Lord Lyonel Hightower, in what was clearly a quiet political axis formed by the two. The broiling conflicts that the event created gave birth to the faction that would later see to prop up the claim of Lucien and Alysanne above her younger half brothers, the White Rose.

### **Motherhood**

Giving birth to their first son, Dorian, in 82 AC, and two children following him, Damon in 84 AC and Danelle in 89 AC, Alysanne has largely spent the time since her marriage devoted wholly to her children. Though a hands-off mother, especially shown in her use of the tradition of wet-nurses weaning her infants, she has invested considerable time in their future, and acts as she believes all mothers should, instead following the stereotypical, society example of what a mother should be rather than her own personal belief. She is closest with her youngest, Danelle, a girl of eight, whom she keeps by her side night and day, the two often sharing a bed when Lucien is not around, as was the case during the Rosegold Rebellion.

She is fiercely territorial over her children, though, and has a deep resentment of those whom she views as trying to take her children away from her, an instinct that has caused a great amount of contention between her and her father, who has made numerous arrangements for them in the past as he sees fit. The two have not spoken in person since he ordered that her eldest son, Dorian, squire under the Lord of House Caswell.

In spite of the rifts it has created in her family, she remains quite close to her sisters, all three of which have children of their own, something she is fond of speaking of when they do write to one another, to an excessive degree.

### **The Rosegold Rebellion**

*Main Article: The Rosegold Rebellion*

When war broke out in the South after her father declared himself King of the Reach, Lucien left Alysanne and their children for the call of battle, leading an army under her father's command at Bitterbridge alongside several other large hosts that converged there for the bloodiest of the battles in the war, the Slaughter of Bitterbridge.

When House Redwyne finally took to the field in favor of the Iron Throne, amassing their colossal fleet and blockading Oldtown, Alysanne aided in the keeping of law and order in the city, as well as ensuring that the women and children were kept safe and well fed, having them all funneled into the Starry Sept, which had more than enough room for the city's civilian population. There, she oversaw the rationing of the short supplies of food they had, as well as holding constant prayer vigils alongside the High Septon as they waited day and night for the siege to end. When the Golden Truce ended the war and the siege was broken, Alysanne was lauded by many as a hero for her decisive actions, much to her pleasure.

After the war, Lucien was appointed to the Small Council, forcing Alysanne and the children to move to King's Landing. Though at first excited at the prospect, Alysanne found she hated the capital city of Westeros, finding it gloomy and inhospitable, with rampant crime and poverty unlike that which was seen in Oldtown. Despising the Red Keep in particular, Alysanne keeps her own complaints quiet, waiting for the day that she can return and claim Highgarden as her own.

## **Timeline**

* **62 AC** - Alysanne born to Gwayne Tyrell and Rohanne Florent.
* **63 AC** - Lucien Hightower Born.
* **67 AC** - Florence Tyrell born to Gwayne Tyrell and Rohanne Florent.
* **71 AC** - Perenelle Tyrell born to Gwayne Tyrell and Rohanne Florent. Alysanne sent to Oldtown to study at the Starry Sept under tutelage of the High Septon.
* **74 AC** - Arwyn Tyrell born to Gwayne Tyrell and Rohanne Florent. Moons after, a plague strikes the Reach in force, killing Rohanne, and nearly killing Arwyn and Gwayne.
* **77 AC** - Early in the year, Gwayne remarries, taking Perianne Caswell for a wife. Two days before the end of the year she gives birth, and dies of complications that night, though the sickly girl she left behind survived; Bethany. Alysanne returns to Highgarden, with Mervyn Florent.
* **78 AC** - Wedding of Black and White. After a decade of study, Gyles returns to Highgarden, deciding against becoming a fully-fledged Maester.
* **82 AC** - Dorian Tyrell born to Alysanne Tyrell and Lucien Hightower.
* **83 AC** - Fourth Dornish War begins, Gwayne and Gareth lead hosts to Nightsong and the Prince’s Pass respectively, both resulting in disastrous losses. Lucien accompanies Gwayne, leaving Alysanne alone at the Hightower with their infant son.
* **84 AC** - Damon Tyrell born to Alysanne Tyrell and Lucien Hightower.
* **89 AC** - Danelle Tyrell born to Alysanne Tyrell and Lucien Hightower.
* **93 AC** - Rosegold Rebellion. House Tyrell and House Lannister rise in revolt together, resolved by the end of the in the Golden Peace. Lucien leads part of the Tyrell host at Bitterbridge, while Alysanne aids in the defense of Oldtown with her brother-by-law Ser Lucas Hightower. After the war, Lucien is made Master of Laws on King Viserys' Small Council, and the two move their family to King's Landing for the time being.

## **Family Tree**

*Foreword: **Bolded**names indicate those that were lord of their respective house at some point or another. Italicized names indicate that the character is now deceased. (m.) denotes a marriage into the family.*

* ***Leo Tyrell, the late Lord of Highgarden, b. 12 AC - d. 59 AC***
* *(m.)* *Barba Tarly, the late Lady of Highgarden, b. 9 AC - d. 59 AC*
	+ **Gwayne Tyrell, Lord of Highgarden, b. 44 AC**
	+ *(m.)* (*Rohanne Florent, the late Lady of Highgarden, b. 45 AC - d. 74 AC*
		- Alysanne Tyrell, the Heir to Highgarden, b. 62 AC
		- (m.)Lucien Hightower, Knight of House Hightower, b. 63 AC
			* Dorian Tyrell, Heir to Highgarden, b. 82 AC
			* Damon Tyrell, son of Alysanne, b. 84 AC
			* Danelle Tyrell, daughter of Alysanne, b. 89 AC
		- Florence Tyrell, daughter of Gwayne, b. 67 AC
		- *(m.) Osbert Osgrey,*
		- *(m.) Lucamore Crane,*
			* Alesander Crane, son of Lucamore, b.
			* Alys Crane, daughter of Lucamore, b.
		- *(m.) Leo Oakheart,*
		- Perenelle Tyrell, Lady of the Arbor, b. 71 AC
		- **(m.)****Urrathon Redwyne, Lord of the Arbor, b. 72 AC**
			* Vanessa Redwyne, daughter of Urrathon, b. 95 AC
			* Victaria Redwyne, daughter of Urrathon, b. 97 AC
		- Arwyn Tyrell, Lady of Horn Hill, b. 74 AC
		- **(m.)****Brus Tarly, Lord of Horn Hill, b. 61 AC**
			* Robin Tarly, Heir to Horn Hill, b. 93 AC
			* Jon Tarly, son of Brus, b. 95 AC
			* Margaery Tarly, twin sister of Jon, b. 95 AC
	+ *(m.) Perianne Caswell, the late Lady of Highgarden, b. 50 AC - d. 75 AC*
		- Bethany Tyrell, daughter of Gwayne, b. 75 AC
	+ *(m.)* Samantha Peake, Lady of Highgarden, b. 60 AC
		- Theodore Tyrell, son of Gwayne, b. 78 AC
		- Thaddeus Tyrell, son of Gwayne, b. 79 AC
		- Meredyth Tyrell, daughter of Gwayne, b. 81 AC
		- Margot Tyrell, twin sister of Meredyth, b. 81 AC
	+ Gyles Tyrell, son of Leo, b. 47 AC
	+ Gareth Tyrell, Master-at-Arms of Highgarden, b. 50 AC
	+ (m.) Ellyn Lannister, daughter of Tommen, b. 48 AC
		- Gwynesse Tyrell, daughter of Gareth, b. 70 AC
		- *Lyonel Tyrell, son of Gareth, b. 65 AC - d. 74 AC*
	+ *Galladon Tyrell, son of Leo, b. 54 AC - d. 76 AC*
	+ *Margaery Fossoway, daughter of Lord Fossoway, b. 52 - d. 76 AC*
		- Harlen Tyrell, son of Galladon, b. 72 AC
		- Alerie Tyrell, daughter of Galladon, b. 72 AC
		- Lucius Tyrell, son of Galladon, b. 76 AC
	+ Gerold Tyrell, Lieutenant of the Stormbreakers, b. 57 AC
	+ *(m.) Josephine Mullendore, wife of Gerold, b. 57 AC - d. 76 AC*
		- Osmund Tyrell, son of Gerold, b. 75 AC

## **Additional Notes**

* Alysanne's personality is heavily influenced by both modern portrayals and historical accounts of Elizabeth I, of the English Royal House of Tudor. Other inspirations include Alicent Hightower, a historical figure in George R. R. Martin's series "A Song of Ice and Fire", as well as other characters from the events of the story, such as Olenna Tyrell and Cersei Lannister.
* Her favorite pass-time is silently stitching patterns with her ladies in waiting, listening to the most scandalous gossip they can provide, without ruining her own view of herself by chiming in.
* Alysanne has written several books on religious rhetoric that she had published for the Citadel, all of which the Archmaesters agree are "Rudimentary, lackluster, and dull reads over all, with far more knowledgeable and enjoyable texts in circulation."
* She considers herself a purveyor and patroness of the arts, often surrounding herself with mummers and painters, musicians and storytellers in court.
* Her easily greatest skill is her horsebackriding ability, proficient and trained well enough that she could easily unseat veteran knights in a tilt given practice with a lance. She owns many expensive, exotic horse breeds from Westeros and Essos alike, all housed in a private stables in Oldtown, near the postern gate of the city walls.
* Her closest friends take the form of her ladies-in-waiting; Alicent Fossoway and Leona Hightower, her sister-by-law.
* She has a particularly strong sweet tooth. In order to combat excessive weight gain as a result of her indulgent disposition, she tends to go without for days on end as an effective counterbalance.
* Her favorite color is blue.

## **Meta**

### **Character Build (PC)**

Attributes: Attractive, Imperious

Skills: Leadership, Champion (Free Skill), Logistics, Safeguarded, Counter-Intelligence, Piety, Economics

Aptitude: Erudite