Shyra Grandison

Lyonel Grandison ✝

Lucinda Grandison

**Shyra Grandison** is the eldest surviving child of Lord Gerald Grandison, and the current Lady of Grandview. Once a ruthless and ambitious schemer, she has since settled down into a life of relative contentment with her husband, Alyn Storm.

## Appearance and Character

Standing above most of the women of the court - and meeting the height of several men, and with the stare of a lion toying with its prey, the Lady of Grandview makes for a rather intimidating figure. Her chestnut-brown hair falls down to her shoulders and does little to distract from her most notable feature - her eyes are split between the steel of a sword and a brown almost an equal to her hair.

While she is often cold and uncompromising, at her core she is driven by anger at a world which denied her so much for so long, and a desire to take everything she thinks she deserves in return. All of this is coupled with a certain sadism and mild paranoia to make her a woman who is feared greatly by those who serve her.

However, her marriage to Alyn Storm has tempered her somewhat, and while she is still a woman who it would be unwise to cross, while Alyn is by her side she seems more concerned with managing her holdings than growing her power.

## History

### Birth and Early Life

Born in Grandview to Lady Cassandra and Lord Gerald Grandison, Shyra never knew her father's love. Held in disregard by the Lord of Grandview for being a daughter, she spent her early years with a series of servants and was kept away from the rest of her family.

She was a tempestuous child, with a short temper and prone to lashing out when she didn't get what she wanted, and proved to be too much work for the servants on multiple occasions. On top of all that, she was far too curious for her own safety, and once she could walk she barely stopped exploring the castle - once even being found inside her father's chambers playing with the markers on his battle-map.

Yet her years at Grandview ended sooner than expected, and when she was only 5 years old she was sent to live with her uncle in King's Landing. She wouldn't see the walls of Grandview for another 14 years.

### Youth at The Roselily

There are many places in which a child shouldn't be raised, and Corwin Grandison's brothel could definitely be counted as one. At the time Shyra was taken to it, while it was not run down in any sense, it could certainly not be considered as particularly glamorous or luxurious. And yet this was where she spent many of her years.

Her youth and education was vastly different to that which would be expected of her. Rather than the usual education, her uncle taught her to lie, manipulate, and spy. She learned how to twist the politics of the realm to serve her purpose, and how to best wield that power once she had taken it. The most valuable lesson she learned, however, came from the whores she lived around for so many years. They taught her that the easiest way to learn a man's secrets is in the bedroom, and that sometimes the best spies are not those who she would have expected.

Several years after she arrived, however, there was yet another arrival at the Roselily - her younger sister, Lucinda. While initially somewhat wary, Shyra grew to be very close with her sister, albeit always ensuring to reinforce that she was the leader of the two. Over the years they spent together in the capital, Shyra even imparted some of what she had learned to the younger Grandison, though Lucinda seemed far more interested in coin than secrets. What they shared most, however, was a growing hate of their father, and to a lesser extent the rest of their family, for casting them out.

### The Veiled Mistress

After some time in the capital, when she was more comfortable with the way things were run, she found herself restless. She knew she wanted to bring down her Lord Father, but she needed preparations to be made before it could be done. It was to this end that she began building her first web of spies within the capital. Going under the alias of the Veiled Mistress, she found informants among the beggars, servants, and later even the city guard. They reported to her, and on occasion would perform more unsavory deeds in exchange for coin.

Over time, however, she found that she needed more space for these preparations. She bought and refurbished a relatively small - albeit befitting the status of a Grandison - manse. It was once she had this space that she ramped up her preparations. Having her agents meet with smugglers, mercenaries, and assassins - even on occasion meeting with them herself, she grew to have plenty of allies, along with those who worked for her solely for the coin of course.

It was at this time that she began reaching out once again to her father. She discussed in her letter to him that she wanted to be married, so that she could help House Grandison by making them an ally. A pretense which, of course, her father fell for quite easily. It was barely a few weeks after her 19th name-day when she rode for Grandview, a small company of her agents following behind her.

### The Night of the Red Rain

Shyra returned to Grandview, so many years after she had left it, in the late afternoon prior to what would come to be the most infamous night in her family's recent history. Upon her arrival, she signaled for her agents - disguised as peasants and servants - to enter the castle, and begin her plan.

Her father had arranged a feast for most of House Grandison to attend. Shyra, conveniently, sent a servant to inform her Lord Father that she had to attend to an urgent matter with the guards who accompanied her from the capital, and would be somewhat delayed. While she was conveniently absent, she had arranged for her agents - assassins and mercenaries new to her employ yet skilled in their work - to enter the chambers disguised as servants and kill the defenseless guests as they ate.

The storm that night raged so hard that it drowned out even the screams from the keep, and it was not until much later that the bodies of almost all of House Grandison were found at their table. Shyra ascended to the position of Lady of Grandview that very day.

### Rulership and Respect

From the day she took power, Shyra was a force to be reckoned with inside the walls of Grandview. She made heavy use of her spies in the capital, as well as building up further spy rings elsewhere among the realm. By the end of the first year of her rule, it was said nothing happened in the realm that she did not hear, nor an ear she could not whisper into - however accurate these rumors were is, as always with peasant rumors, questionable. What could not be doubted, however, was that her hands were bloodied. From the first execution - of scapegoated guards for the murder of her family - to the repeated disappearances of those who dared speak against her within the walls of Grandview, the thought of crossing the new Lady Grandison filled most around her with fear.

This was a reputation which she managed to maintain through plots and violence for years to come, and with such a reputation she of course attracted her fair share of rivals who challenged her schemes and her growing power. Rivals who she dealt with mercilessly when she could, though those who evaded her only served to feed her growing paranoia, and over time she would become prone to more and more frequent outbursts of violence - it's said once even driving a dagger through the heart of a servant who brought her bad news.

### Blossoming Love

It was while she ruled with such an iron fist, however, that she met Alyn Storm. A bastard without a family, who had found his way to Grandview for reasons he to this day has never told Shyra, when they met it was as though a harsh winter had thawed at last. It was a distinctly short time before they were married, and though it was not expected for a ruling Lady to marry a bastard, her reputation of old prevented even a whisper of disapproval, at least as far as she heard.

It was during this peaceful time that she settled far more into her role as the administrator of her holdings - growing th become quite proficient in the less malicious ways of ruling. Alongside this, she bore two children - Jon, perhaps the first male Grandison she feels anything but hate for, and Ravella, a daughter whom she holds in the highest of affections. For years the lands of Grandview have been secure in their Lady's attention, and prospered for it.

Though, it is said that the Lord of Grandview is bed-ridden with some sort of illness - and it is even whispered that the ever-pragmatic Shyra has ordered the preparations for a funeral. Such a thing cannot weigh easy on her newfound contentment...

## Family

***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.*

* ***Lord Lyonel Grandison b. 15 AC - d. 62 AC***
* *(m.) Joanna b. 17 AC - d. 55 AC*
	+ ***Lord Gerald Grandison b. 35 AC - d. 85 AC***
	+ *(m.) Cassandra b. 38 AC - d. 85 AC*
		- *Harlan Grandison b. 55 AC - d. 85 AC*
		- *(m.) Joy b. 57 AC - d. 85 AC*
			* *Arianne Grandison b. 80 AC - d. 85 AC*
			* *Argella Grandison b. 82 AC - d. 85 AC*
		- *Edric Grandison b. 56 AC - d. 85 AC*
		- *(m.) Floris Caron b. 58 AC - d. 85 AC*
			* *Rolland Grandison b. 81 AC - d. 85 AC*
		- *Lyonel Grandison b. 63 AC - d. 85 AC*
		- **Lady Shyra Grandison b. 66 AC**
		- (m.) Alyn Storm b. 63 AC
			* Jon Grandison b. 93 AC
			* Ravella Grandison b. 95 AC
		- Lucinda Grandison b. 73 AC
	+ *Willis Grandison b. 37 AC - d. 75 AC*
	+ Corwin Grandison b. 40 AC

## Household Members/NPCs

* Cyrenna - Castellan
* Steffon Flowers - Steward
* Tywin Hill - Spymaster
* Ser Gawen - Commander of the Grandguard
* Ser Lyonel - Marshal
* Reynard - Maester

## Additional Notes

* Shyra's character and personality are based largely in historical accounts of Queen Catherine de' Medici of France, the character of Scar from Disney's The Lion King, and the character Regan in Shakespeare's play King Lear.
* In the more recent years of her reign she has taken an interest in the arts, and has provided patronage to painters, sculpters, and musicians alike to create works in her name.
* Amongst the first projects she undertook as Lady of Grandview was to expand the dungeons beneath the keep to accommodate a veritable labyrinth of cells and torture rooms.
* She has kept the daggers which were used to kill her family during the Night of the Red Rain, and displays them on the wall in her study.
* Despite avoiding drink whenever scheming or enacting a plan, she has notably developed quite a tolerance for alcohol over the years, and could likely outdrink most who would celebrate with her.
* She carries a dagger hidden within her dress at nearly all times due to her lack of trust for nearly all those who surround her.
* The song which could best be described as Shyra's theme song is you should see me in a crown