Emphyria Bolton

## Lady of the Dreadfort

Myriame Bolton,

Bethany Bolton,

Arthor Bolton

**Emphyria Bolton** was born in the eleventh moon of 358AC to Allyria Dayne and Elric Bolton.

## Appearance

Emphyria is ghostly-pale with yellow-blonde hair. Her steely grey eyes are piercing, exposing no evidence of love nor weakness. Believing herself to be a type of reincarnation of the Red Kings of old, she often dresses in blood-red materials.

## Biography

### Early Life

Emphyria was the only child born to Allyria Dayne and Elric Bolton; and, as a result, was the sole focus of her mother’s obsessive behaviour and delusional beliefs.

A Dayne of High Hermitage, Emphyria’s mother appeared to the young Royce an exotic beauty of the distant Red Mountains of Dorne; her dark, flowing locks falling like black silk over her pale-olive skin.

The two were quickly married, Allyria becoming pregnant soon after. The child would never see the light of day, however, and several young Boltons were pronounced ‘stillborn’ to the masses; inciting speculation and rumour in the surrounding populace. With the smallfolk growing increasingly wary of the *Witch of the Red Mountains* as she was there named, the couple bore a living girl of golden hair, naming her Emphyria.

The birth of her daughter began Allyria’s descent into a world of paranoia and delusion, her obsession focusing on the history of House Bolton as she pored over scripts depicting the Red Kings of the Dreadfort, the conflicts that they fought, and the power that they wielded over the northeastern lands. Her mind spiralling into a confusion of Red Kings and Red Mountains, she convinced herself that she herself was a sign; a sign of the return of the reign of the Boltons. *Surely*, she had brought into this world the harbinger of this new age; a new Red King… No, a Red *Queen* of the Dreadfort.

Determinedly delusioned, Allyria raised her daughter to believe her apparent ‘destiny’; arranging her life so that her only child could be in the best position to join the ruling branch of House Bolton. For the young Emphyria, however, this pressure coupled with the inherited psychosis of her mother caused she herself to frequently become heavily disillusioned with reality; often causing her to fly into **homicidal rages** targeting anyone around her, believing them to be scheming assassins plotting her demise. After this **sickness** resulted in the death of an unlucky kitchen hand, Emphyria’s father confined his daughter to her room in her wing of their keep to be guarded and restrained by his own armed men should she snap into one of these manic episodes.

### Betrothal and Marriage

Once the young Emphyria came of age, her mother began to teach her the ways of the artful **saboteur**, in order to propel her towards the title of Lady Bolton, as she used her own wiles to arrange the betrothal of her daughter to her second cousin, Ser Harrion Bolton, heir to the Dreadfort itself. The heir, however, was less than interested in the merger; preferring the company of his whores, upon which he bestowed grand gifts of jewels and coin, to the possibility of a marriage bed shared with the red-cloaked Emphyria.

It was during this time, in which Harrion was expected to ‘court’ Emphyria, that she found herself introduced to his younger brother, Royce. Meeting her in place of his brother, the pair found themselves set upon by a desperate, bedraggled man clearly deserting his post at the Wall. The man was armed with a small blade, yet Royce descended upon him, defending Emphyria with his bare fists, beating the man into a pulp… and discovering that he *enjoyed* it. Watching him, Emphyria herself found herself entranced by the scene before her, finding a deep pleasure in the sight of the crimson blood, and the **pain inflicted upon the man**.

The deserter died, his demise forging a deep and passionate bond between Emphyria and Royce, before which only one man stood in the way.

After Harrion’s *unfortunate* death, Royce became the heir, marrying Emphyria and having their own son, Edric, to secure the continuation of their line. As their family grew, and they became Lord and Lady Bolton, Royce would often find himself on the receiving end of Emphyria’s homicidal episodes; leaving him with scarred and broken features. However, his love for the woman spurred him to help her contain herself, protecting them both from any repercussions her actions may cause for them.

### The Red Queen of the Dreadfort

Having been exposed to her mother’s deluded conditioning from a young age, deep inside Emphyria truly believes herself to be the Red Queen of a new age of Northern leadership and, although she is typically intelligent enough to know not to express her ideas to the world, Royce soon realised that her fits of rage needed controlling so as to not jeopardise their House and livelihood. With their protection in mind, Emphyria is often subject to her husband’s experimental medicines and potions, which he creates in an attempt to stave off her mania, or at least to subdue her into placidity.

Due to Lady Emphyria’s *unique* personality and beliefs, it became vital for her to have a tight grasp on the Bolton domain and the people residing there. Developing her own **spy rings** within the Dreadfort’s surroundings allows Emphyria and Royce to detect any stirrings against them within the community, with several outspoken individuals disappearing mysteriously. Her own *father* lost his tongue after the sudden death of Emphyria’s eldest son, soon after Edric’s return from squiring in another House.

What fate awaits the folks who disappear? Many rumours would be shared at the private hearths of the smallfolk; of the Red Boltons and their bloodthirsty ways, of the way that even kin of theirs would die before their time in strange accidents. Stories that would not be shared further, for fear of the teller becoming the subject of one themselves.

## Timeline

* 358AC - Emphyria is born

* 366AC - Emphyria’s psychotic episode results in the death of a kitchen boy. Emphyria is to spend most of her days in her room under armed guard
* 371AC - Emphyria is unofficially betrothed to her second cousin, Ser Harrion Bolton
* 372AC - She meets Royce Bolton, who defends her from a Night’s Watch deserter. Emphyria and Royce begin their romance. Harrion Bolton dies whilst hunting with Royce and Emphyria
* 373AC - Emphyria marries Royce Bolton and becomes pregnant with their first child. Allyria Bolton (Dayne) dies after throwing herself from a tower of the Dreadfort
* 374AC - Edric Bolton, her son, is born
* 375AC - Lord Rogar Bolton, Royce’s father, dies. Royce becomes Lord of the Dreadfort
* 376AC - Jory Bolton, her son, is born
* 378AC - Myriame Bolton, her daughter, is born
* 380AC - Bethany Bolton, her daughter, is born
* 382AC - Arthor Bolton, her son, is born
* 387AC - Edric Bolton leaves to squire for another House
* 391AC - Ser Edric Bolton returns having been knighted for his efforts as a squire
* 392AC - Ser Edric Bolton dies suddenly. Elric Bolton, Emphyria’s father, has his tongue cut out and is rendered dumb. Jory Bolton becomes heir

## Family and Household

* Elric Bolton, her father (67)

* Allyria Dayne, her mother [d.373AC]
* *Lady Emphyria Bolton* (40)
* Lord Royce Bolton, her husband (45)
* Ser Edric Bolton, her son [d.392AC]
* Jory Bolton, her son and heir to the Dreadfort (22)
* Myriame Bolton, her daughter (20)
* Bethany Bolton, her daughter (18)
* Arthor Bolton, her son (16)
* Ser Harrion Bolton, her brother-in-law [d.372AC]
* Meera Bolton, her sister-in-law (38) and family
* Rickard Bolton, her brother-in-law and master-at-arms to the Dreadfort (35)
* Eyron and Lyra Bolton, twin nephew and niece (19)
* Arya Bolton, her sister-in-law (28)
* Lyanna Karstark (Bolton), her sister-in-law (25)