Shiera Waters

Steward of Duskendale

Baelor I Targaryen

Jaehaerys Targaryen

Ayrmidon Targaryen

Daenys Targaryen

Shiera Waters is the eldest surviving child of Viserys Targaryen, the first of two bastards sired by the late King. She is the daughter of Meredyth Darke, a lady in waiting to the Princess Alysella. Shiera was raised in Duskendale by her mother and in the comfort of House Darklyn. Shiera inherited many of her mother’s alluring features, as well as her soft temper.

## Appearance & Character

Shiera is a short woman, standing at only 5’3”, just short of her mother. She has her father’s silver hair, maintaining a slender, healthy figure, never prone to excess. She is beautiful, with dark lilac eyes, a firm jaw and tight lips, all of which seem to emphasize the sharpness of her stare, or the prettiness of her carved features.

Her presence is one of charm. The effort she places into her appearance is gaudy and sometimes overreaches; her preference for clothing tends to change day-by-day, though many agree that she looks her finest in dark silks, meant to draw the eye to the light hair atop her head.

A woman decorated in the wealth of her own earnings, adorned by earrings of silver and ornaments the color of fire, Shiera Waters wears her legacy with pride. Wealth and extravagance are rare to come by, but she wears that well, flowing over her in a never-ending array of beauty that assails her from head to toe.

## History

Born in 99 AC, the bastard child of Viserys Targaryen and his mistress, Meredyth Drake, Shiera’s youth was spent in the Dun Fort at Duskendale. Though she was not a Darklyn, it must be said that House Darklyn treated her much as a child of their own. Housing a royal bastard came with some small amount of prestige, even if she was only a bastard.

The eldest child of Viserys did not grow to learn about her heritage. It must be said that Shiera did not see King’s Landing until she after her tenth name day, and longer still after that until she saw the Red Keep in all its splendour. Nevertheless, Meredyth proved a tedious, if loving mother, tasking Shiera with the most basic of academics, teaching her when she could. Offered the most expensive of tutors, many assumed that Meredyth had a myriad of plans for her daughter. Whether it be to sell her to a wealthy Lyseni magister, offering her tours of Pentos, Volantis, and Myr, or simply to marry her to a common knight, it cannot be said.

The truth of the matter was that Shiera proved a precocious child, well learned and ever-curious. Though the Maester of the Dun Fort sought to discourage Shiera from certain studies, Shiera proved ever the sneak, stealing old dusty tomes when she had the chance and returning them before the Maester had ever noticed she was gone. Despite this tutoring, Shiera did not travel to King’s Landing until she was ten years old when House Darklyn was among the many houses invited to celebrate the King’s nameday.

During the feast, Shiera was not permitted near the royal family, though multiple accounts say that Shiera interacted with her half-siblings more than a few times that evening, most often in private halls far away from the feast. Despite their connection, Shiera did not feel close to her kin in King’s Landing, preferring instead the Dun Fort and Duskendale, and the company of her lady mother, an esteemed woman in her own right.

After the feast, Shiera returned home with Meredyth, where she spent the following years studying and writing. She was an excellent poet, composing literature that drew the ears of many. Her first poems were given out at the local motherhouses, where Shiera practised her art daily, oft accompanied by her mother as they read and played with orphaned children.

Shiera was beloved in Duskendale, and sought to create more arts that might be widely recognized. Such was not the true path she was destined for, however, as she soon came into the service of the Steward of Duskendale, managing both ledgers and finance as wealth flowed in and out of the city. Therein she focused herself on these matters, though it must be said that she has not stopped her pursuit of the arts in her years.

It was during this time that Shiera began to amass a wealth of her own. Though a pittance compared to what the royals in King’s Landing made, Shiera was able to afford her and her mother a manse of considerable size in the city, and was able to establish trade routes with cities as far as Lys, Tyrosh, and Volantis. The yearly stipend from His Grace the King only seemed to further her ambitions.

Thus we come to the matter of love of a Targaryen writ. In the years 118 AC and 123, Baelor and Shiera often entertained each other whether it be in a private chamber of King’s Landing or a visit to the forests around the Dun Fort in Duskendale; the matter of such entertainment oft went beyond what was considered proper. They met several times during these years, and though their affair was quick, the effects were long-lasting. Letters exchanged between the two have been kept to reminisce of younger times.

It should be said that their affair was not wholly lustful. Indeed, when the King visited the Dun Fort, Shiera entertained His Grace with plays and invited him to stay for two weeks that they might hunt and hawk and perhaps even sail together. Such consummate affection did not go unnoticed by courtiers in both King’s Landing and Duskendale. Whispers of Shiera becoming with child proved unfounded, however, as long after the two stopped meeting Shiera proved not to be with child.

Letters exchanged in the years after rarely brought up the affair, rather inquiring about the personal health of one another, the status of both marriage and life, though Shiera frequently inquired as to his wife, wishing her good health and praying for her after her death. There are reports of the two meeting in wake of her death; these reports, however, seem unfounded.

To this day questions are still asked. Despite her personal wealth, beauty and no shortage of hopeful suitors Shiera has opted to remain unwed - appearing little interested in seeking a partner for herself or having a family of her own. The dragon's bastard remains aloof and free.

### Recent History

In the coming years, Shiera’s wealth grew, and House Darklyn’s as well. With the former Steward growing old and tired, Shiera nominated herself among the three candidates to be chosen to take up the position after his death. Furthermore exacerbated by her charm, Lord Robert chose Shiera to manage Duskendale’s finances in the year 128 AC.

## Skills, Mastery & Attributes

**Attribute**: Gregarious

**Mastery**: Steward (Statecraft)

**Skills**: Civil Engineering (STA), Commerce (STA) | Romance (CHA), Silver Tongue (CHA)

( Learning Checks - Cha + 1 in M5.)