Luwin

Luwin is a former maester of the Citadel.  Expelled for secretly having a wife and child, he currently makes a living as a back alley Oldtown physician.  Never getting over the death of his wife, he secretly studies the forbidden arts in hopes of one day returning her back to life.

## Appearance and Character

Luwin's craggy face features raggedly cut yellow locks, sunken blue eyes, and a sullen scowl. Standing a few ticks under six feet, his slight build exhibits a sallow complexion and a prominent paunch typically associated with decades of lack of fresh air or exercise.

Though he possesses a sharp mind, especially in areas of medicine and biology, he has little skill in other facets of life.  Obsessed with resurrecting his late wife, he is solely focused on his studies, and has little time or patience for much else.  While generally kindhearted and generous, he has no qualms with the criminal measures required to continue his pursuits.

## History

### Early Life

As a newborn, he was left outside the gates of the Citadel, with only a note stating, ‘Please care for little Luwin, for I cannot’.  Although not typical for the maesters to raise babies, it was the powerful Archmaester Gulian who found Luwin, and decided he would take responsibility for the child.  Thus little Luwin spent his formative years trailing behind his foster father, from laboratory, to lecture halls, to libraries. Fortunately for all involved, Luwin was a quiet child that rarely complained, and did as he was told.

### Acolyte Luwin

When he reached the appropriate age, Luwin joined the ranks of the incoming novices.  Although Archmaester Gulian was careful to never favor his young charge, Luwin’s years of exposure to the Citadel gave him a significant head start. In less than two years he forged his first link - silver for medicine, his favorite subject.  Other science related links soon followed at a steady pace.  However links for such mundane subjects as warfare and history gave him trouble, and he did not progress as quickly as he would have liked.  Nonetheless, at the age of twenty-six, in the year 103 AC, he had completed his chain, stood his vigil, and swore his vows, as a maester of the Citadel.

### Forbidden Love

As an acolyte, Luwin would spend time in the taverns of Oldtown, attempting to socialize with his peers  Growing up in the Citadel, he had not had many playmates, and his social skills were quite stunted.  Often found reading a tome in a back corner, with only a tankard of mead to keep him company, adult Luwin was not successful in making many friends.  However, one fateful night, a comely lass with bright green eyes slid into the seat across him.  Leyla, as she called herself, was hiding out from some ‘bad men’, and proceeded to chat his ear off. When Luwin revealed his silver link, Leyla’s eyes glistened with interest.  She had a use for a physician, one who didn’t ask too many questions, like the Citadel did.  Transfixed by this beauty that had stumbled into his life, Luwin soon began a side career of treating the wounds of criminals.

Working closely with Leyla, their relationship eventually developed into an intimate one, and they were secretly wedded by the grace of a crooked septon.  In 105 AC, the couple gave birth to a healthy baby girl, whom they named Margot.  Of course all this bliss in his life had to be kept secret, for he had sworn to not take a wife and remain celibate, but Luwin somehow managed to keep his life at the Citadel separate from his personal life.  Indeed to ensure he would not be sent to serve some far off lord, he implored his foster father Gulian to grant him a permanent maester position within the Citadel.

### Impressing the Hightower

As an esteemed expert on the subject of medicine, Luwin was granted a position of lecturer of the silver link, despite his lack of Archmaester status.  Making liberal use of his duty, he organized several symposiums a year, inviting those of noble birth to attend, to discuss the latest advances in research.  The young Lord Loras Hightower was in attendance when Luwin led a debate on the merits of vivisection.  Of course the topic was centered on animal models, for a living human model is forbidden.  However, the lecture Luwin gave on the inner workings of the living body left a lasting impression on the young Hightower lord, and Loras would return a few more times to ask follow up questions.

### Riots and Tragedy

Luwin lived a contented double life for several years, until the consequences of the Cobbler Rebellion finally reached Oldtown.  Riots wreaked havoc on the streets of the city, with the poorer neighborhoods affected the most.  Upon hearing news of the violence, Luwin raced to find his wife and child.  Young Margot was hidden safely in the attic of a relation, but his spirited wife Leyla had taken to the streets to quell the uprising.  Luwin’s life was shattered that day, when he found Leyla bleeding out in an alley.  Sobbing uncontrollably as the light of her eyes blinked out of existence, Luwin himself would have been trampled by rioters, if not for the intervention of a young Liam Hightower.  The young nobleman helped Luwin carry his wife’s body to safety, before resuming his duties in the streets.

### Expulsion

The Stranger was not finished with poor Luwin, for several days after the riots, his foster father Archmaester Gulian, passed in his sleep.  Already fragile from the loss of his wife, this blow pushed Luwin over the edge, causing him to lapse into bouts of grief stricken rage whilst performing his duties in the Citadel  Under disciplinary review, the secrets of his wife and child were uncovered, and without his powerful foster father to protect him, he was summarily expelled from the Citadel, and stripped of his chain. Hearing this news, Lord Loras offered to intervene, but a broken and defeated Luwin no longer had the strength to fight his fate.

### Luwin the Physician

The disgraced Luwin retreated into the seedy areas of Oldtown, and expanded his services as a criminal physician to provide for his daughter.  Margot herself began integrating herself in the underground world, using her mother’s connections, and would eventually gain the reputation and backing to form an organization of her own.  Luwin himself became obsessed with the study of the living ruffian subjects bleeding out on his table, and began to entertain notions of resurrections he had studied, the histories of in the Citadel.  In the past he had dismissed the subject as foolhardy mysticism, but now he slowly formed theories on how to turn the myths into science.

### Reunion with the Hightower Brothers

Many years after Luwin’s fall from grace finds him fully immersed in his study of necromancy, and for the most part, relying on Margot’s legitimate and illegitimate ventures to fund them. One such legitimate venture, the Violet Beacon, a popular playhouse located in an honorable part of Oldtown, was visited by Loras Hightower, a known patron of the arts.  There he reconnected with Luwin, and was pleased to find the former maester had continued his research.  Recalling Luwin's intellect and progressive ideas, he offered to set up a meeting to discuss a possible patronage.  Over a couple of days, Luwin presented his advances in medicine, being careful not to make any mention of forbidden arts.  Impressed, the young lord agreed to secretly fund his research, on the conditions of periodic updates of his progress, and a possible demonstration of a miraculous treatment.

With this surprising source of revenue secured, Luwin suddenly had the resources to acquire the rare foreign items his research required.  In search of trading galleys down at the Oldtown harbor, Luwin came across a familiar face.  The boy from the days of riots, who had protected him in his grief, whom he remembered as ‘Lee.’ Of course this boy, now a young man, was Liam Hightower, heir of Oldtown, but uncaring of politics and titles, Luwin only knew him as Captain Lee.  Taking pity on the widowed man, and somewhat relishing the anonymity, Liam agreed to procure the items Luwin sought; a simple task for a man charged with confiscating smuggled goods.

## Recent History

It has been nearly thirteen years since the devastating loss of his wife, but Luwin is finally confident enough in his research to put his theories to the test.  Trained in the scientific method, he has a carefully thought out, methodical experimental plan in place.  First step, small animals.

## Family

Luwin b. 77 AC

m. Leyla b. 82 AC, d. 117 AC

* Margot b. 105 AC

## **Household**

Igon, Expelled Maester b. 110 AC

Ser Franklyn Flowers, Disgraced Knight b. 100 AC

## Meta

Attribute: Gifted

Mastery: Medic

Skills: Botany, Medicine, Alchemy, Necromancy

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