Tryston Martell

## Prince of Dorne

Spear

**Prince Tryston Martell** is the eldest grandson of the ruling Prince Nymor Martell and the brother of Princess Aliandra. At 21 years old, he lives in Sunspear and serves as the sworn sword of his sister.

## Appearance

Scorched earth and glaring sunlight cause most things to wither beneath the Dornish sky, but not Tryston. He is strong and swift as the Greenblood and well mannered as a mild-tempered colt, but the tendency to rear his head in furious defiance is always there. The prince is broad and angular, tall like the Sun Tower and agile with both sword and spear. Baratheon parentage has left him a lighter shade of bronze than his ancestors, with the same straight black hair as his siblings and eyes equally as brown. What Bloodstone took from him it gave back in the form of stitched scars - long since healed and faded pink - though the memory is always there.

## History

Born a scant year after his eldest sister, the first son of Prince Qyle Martell was destined to come second in everything, but the life of a spare befitted the boy marginally better than one that might have been spent taxing away at studies and social graces. Born on a visit to his mother's ancestral home of Storm’s End, he was ever the most Baratheon of all his siblings, both in looks and decorum - though Saria was not a fair pace behind. Two more sons were also born to the heir of Sunspear, Horen and Drusan, but it was Aliandra to whom he felt closest, as thick
as thieves and nigh inseparable by any force of man or nature.

A childhood spent between the Water Gardens and the Old Palace was like a dream, surreal as though it could slip through his fingers like desert sand and tangible enough that he could remember most details vividly. While Aliandra was confined to her dancing lessons he shunned his tutors and the tedious stacks of books and scrolls and sheaves of parchment more often than not in favor of a game of come-into-my-castle or a forbidden romp through the treacherous back alleys of Plankytown, and the general abuse of the freedom he was given by his parents. Still, when the old maester managed to keep him seated long enough Tryston absorbed knowledge like a sponge; the histories of Westeros and the lands far to the East, sums and letters and half-hearted attempts at Valyrian dialects that his sister seemed to pick up on with ease.

He had barely begun walking before he was given his first steed, a willowy mare with an arching neck and a coat as inky black as the desert midnight, with a tail of pure flame. Soon enough he could ride without a saddle, and not long after he had begun to practice archery from horseback. The sword and spear were his real passions, which he practiced from the moment his arms bore enough strength to lift the weapons. Long days and some nights were spent in the courtyard with the master-at-arms, and the prince wore his bruises with pride as a homage to his efforts. With each passing year he grew taller, stronger, bolder and never chanced upon a stranger, while his sister seemed to struggle with simple greetings. He was always there at her side or lingering in the background, a calm, collected presence on which she could lean mentally in the face of such a daunting task.

Tryston was sent to foster as a squire for Lord Allyrion at the age of eleven, but his knighthood would not come for many years after. He was still a boy of four-and-ten when the sellsword Grazdan’s men came
for his family, having been allowed a short visit home by his mentor. Awoken in the night by gruff shouting and the screams of his mother and sisters, he bent to the will of their captors as easily as a leaf to the wind upon seeing the steel that threatened to spill their lifeblood without cooperation. Prince Qyle weathered the storm valiantly, attempting to free his family with fists and fearlessness alone, but it was not enough. They gave him a red smile before dumping his body into the sea, and the heavy stench of his blood lingered for days afterward.

If the *Bloody Maw* was hell, Bloodstone was the den of the devil himself, where the passage of time ceased to exist and there

was only the agony and abuse provided at the hands of Grazdan’s men. One by one his family perished under the disparaging cruelty of corsairs and brigands, until only the younger Martells remained, along with Prince Nymor and his mother. ‘You have a lion’s heart,’ his father had once told him, but courage alone could not break the chains that bound his wrists and chafed his ankles, courage could not shatter the dank walls of the cavern in which he was confined, and in the end courage could not save a brutalized Marya Baratheon, though he clawed at his bindings until his nails bled at the sound of her terrified pleas and tormented screams.

They came on ships bearing sails that billowed radiantly with the three-headed dragon, the trippant stag of House Baratheon and the sun and spear of his beloved homeland to break those chains and carry them out of that musty hole in the weathered rock that had been a hellish prison for the last four weeks of his life. Never one to step foot in the sept before then, Tryston found a devout renewal of his faith after returning to Sunspear, where wounds healed and his physical being became stronger with each passing moon, but every few nights he would awaken in his bed soaked with sweat and suffering from the nightmares of their ordeal despite the summer heat.

Life took a relatively normal turn afterward - as normal as it could
be in lieu of past circumstances - and while Tryston returned to Godsgrace to finish his training under the reluctant permission of his grandfather, a marriage was arranged for Aliandra to Ser Morgan Jordayne. The wedding held in Nymeros Sept was a splendid affair and the birth of his nephew was the highlight of the following year. As before, happiness would not have a lasting hold, and his sister withdrew into herself, taking up residence within the Water Gardens and even deeper still when Ser Morgan returned from the Stepstones in late 369, carried in a solemn black casket on the shoulders of his comrades.

When Aliandra attempted to end her life by her own hand it was as if someone had stolen the sun right out of the sky and replaced it with endless night, though with coaxing from himself and the resident maester she slowly recovered. The return to Sunspear was less than celebratory, but there he found a confidant in Ser Daemon Fowler, whom he had met once in passing during his time under the tutelage of Lord Allyrion. They were as different as black and white; Tryston’s cool nature seemed to ground the high-strung knight, who in turn managed to coax the prince’s demons out of hiding just long enough to prove a nuisance. Despite the firm disapproval of his grandfather the two young men transitioned quickly from steadfast friends to lovers.

The sudden arrival of news concerning the death of old King Maekar had little effect on day to day life in Sunspear, until the aging and ailing Prince Nymor - in a show of his finite wisdom - declared that Aliandra would travel with an entourage to King’s Landing in his stead to swear fealty to the newest dragonlord to sit the Iron Throne. As her ever-faithful sworn sword and shield, Tryston set out reluctantly with the remainder of the Martell retinue in 372, bound by way of Summerhall for the Crownlands and whatever awaited them within the walls of the red city.

## Recent Events

Tryston left Dorne with the retinue of Princess Aliandra, traveling as her sworn sword and by way of Summerhall to attend the coronation of King Aemon Targaryen.

## Timeline

* **351 AC :** Tryston is born the second child and first son of Prince Qyle Martell and Lady Marya Baratheon, a scant year after his sister Aliandra.
* **362 AC :** He travels to Godsgrace to foster as the squire of Lord Allyrion; the sellsword Grazdan establishes his kingdom in the Stepstones.
* **365 AC :** Tryston is captured along with the remainder of the Martell family and taken to the Stepstones as a prisoner of Grazdan and is rescued a month later.
* **367 AC :** Newly knighted, he attends the wedding of his sister and Ser Morgan Jordayne, swearing his fealty as both her sword and her shield.
* **369 AC :** Aliandra attempts to commit suicide after the death of her husband in the Stepstones, but is revived by her brother and the maester and they return to Sunspear.
* **370 AC :** Ser Daemon Fowler becomes a steadfast companion and eventually the prince’s lover, despite the reluctance of Prince Nymor to allow such behavior.
* **372 AC :** Tryston travels to King’s Landing with his sister and a small retinue, where Aliandra swears fealty to Aemon I Targaryen in Nymor’s stead.

## Family

Prince Nymor Martell (b. 310AC), and his wife, Lady Lorella Qorgyle (b. 311AC, d. 360AC)

* Prince Qyle Martell (b. 331AC, d. 365AC), and his wife, Lady Marya Baratheon (b. 334AC, d. 365AC)
	+ Princess Aliandra Martell (b. 350AC), and her husband Lord Morgan Jordayne (b. 342AC, d. 369AC)
		- Her son, Prince Garin Martell (b. 367AC)
	+ Prince Tryston Martell (b. 353AC)
	+ Princess Saria Martell (b. 360AC)
	+ Prince Horan Martell (b. 361AC)
	+ Prince Drusan Martell (b. 364AC)
* Princess Rhya Martell (b. 334AC, d. 365AC), a septa of the Faith
* Princess Priya Martell (b. 336AC, d. 365AC), and her paramour, a Braavosi merchant lord
	+ Tya Sand (b. 350AC)
	+ Yandry Sand (b. 351AC)
	+ Arian Sand (b. 353AC)
* Prince Qorin Martell (b. 338AC, d. 365AC) and his wife, Lady Catrin Dalt (b. 339AC, d. 364AC)
	+ Prince Quentyn Martell (b. 355AC)
	+ Princess Yllsa Martell (b. 355AC)
	+ Princess Tysa Martell (b. 364, stillborn)

## Supporting Characters

* Ser Daemon Fowler - A knight of House Fowler, Tryston’s closest friend and lover.