Daemon Darklyn

Sleuth

Maric Darklyn

Ethan Darklyn

Elsabeth Darklyn

Ella Darklyn

Raina Darklyn

**Daemon Darklyn** is the current Lord of Duskendale, the head of House Darklyn and Master of Whispers for the Iron Throne.

## Early Life

Daemon Darklyn was born in 211 AC, the firstborn son of Lord Jason Darklyn of Duskendale and Aemma Royce of Runestone. In the year 219 AC, when Daemon was only 8 years old, his father was named the Master of Laws for King Daemon II Blackfyre, and he took his sons Daemon and Aegon with him. Jason was a talented fighter and had always hoped that his firstborn would be the same. This was not the case. Daemon eschewed the drill yard and the constant clanging of metal-on-metal, preferring to spend his time wandering the Red Keep and ferreting out what secrets he could. Oftentimes he would find a shadowed corner of the Throne Room and sit and stare at the skull of Balerion the Black Dread while he absent-mindedly listened to the king and the Hand render judgments.

Other times, Daemon would seek out the company of the cooks and maids and chimneysweeps and stable boys, and over time he managed to amass himself an informal spy network that grew quite efficient at gathering information from around the Red Keep. Daemon, for his part, took good care of his ‘informants’, mostly through small remarks made to his father about the good work one or another servant was doing. Jason Darklyn would inevitably pass along some small reward, whether it was an extra stag or a warm meal. Because of the close proximity of Duskendale to King's Landing, Lord Jason often took his sons back to their home for day trips, to see their mother and escape the hectic life of the capitol. It was on one of these such occasions that suddenly there appeared ships on the horizon.

## The Bloodraven Rebellion

In 224 AC, Targaryen armies invaded Westeros looking to re-establish the Targaryen dynasty. Several Crownlander lords rose in support of the Targaryens and gathered an army led by House Sunglass of Sweetport Sound. Knowing of the close ties between House Darklyn and House Blackfyre, Lord Sunglass invaded Duskendale with his forces and took them completely by surprise. Daemon was taken as a hostage for Jason's loyalty and the Lord of Duskendale was forced to sit on the Targaryen war council and advise his captors. When Lord Sunglass marched south to the capitol to join with Maekar Targaryen, Jason and Daemon accompanied him. The two would spend the remainder of the war confined to the Red Keep, until the day it was liberated by King Aerys. Upon meeting the king, whom Lord Jason had earlier known as a prince, Jason dropped to one knee and knelt in front of him. He begged the king's mercy, and explained that he was very much a prisoner forced to serve the Targaryens. King Aerys relented, absolving Lord Jason of any crimes and renaming him to the Small Council.

It momentarily looked as though things would finally be peaceful in Westeros until a year later, in 225 AC, with the outbreak of the War of the Wicked.

## The War of the Wicked

Following the death of King Aerys I Blackfyre in 225 AC, the Hand of the King called a Great Council to help determine the matter of succession. Aerys' only son, Aenar, was only three years old, and most lords sought to avoid a long regency. Therefore, the Great Council agreed to hear the claims of Princess Daena Blackfyre, the late king's younger sister, and Aegor Bittersteel, Lord Paramount of the Trident. Surprisingly, Aerys Targaryen also shows up at the Council, having been deceived by Bittersteel to come make his claim. The Lord of the Trident betrayed and murdered the Targaryen.

This move by Bittersteel left a bad taste in the mouths of many lords at the Council, and support for his claim dropped.

Following an assassination attempt on Bittersteel, the Council devolved into chaos. In that chaos, Lord Jason Darklyn managed to retrieve the sword Blackfyre from the late kings chambers, after which the Lord of Duskendale and his two sons fled the capitol to return to their own lands. Upon returning to the Dun Fort, Lord Jason went straight to the vaults beneath the city and sealed the sword away. The young Daemon asked his father why he didn't use the sword.

> "*That sword is the sword of the King, and a powerful symbol to the people of Westeros. One should not wield Blackfyre, Daemon, unless one is ready to sit the Iron Throne. We are not kings, only servants. It will stay here until one of the claimants proves themselves worthy of sitting the throne. And I'll be damned if Aegor Bittersteel wins the throne. There are some of us who still remember when he was Aegor Rivers."*
>
>

Soon after, Lord Jason rallied his men, along with many volunteers, who began calling themselves *Darklyn's Demons,* and rode off to war, leaving the 14-year-old Daemon as acting Lord of Duskendale.

Several months later, in 226 AC, Lord Jason returned to his home and family, bloodied and tired, but with a renewed resolve. When the war began, Lord Jason sought to fight only to prevent the coronation of Bittersteel. However, during the course of his battles with Darklyn's Demons, he grew close to Ser Duncan the Tall, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, whom supported the claim of Princess Daena. By the time of Ser Duncan's death at the hands of Bittersteel, Lord Jason had become a full supporter of the Princess as well.

With the Demons temporarily defeated, Bittersteel captures King's Landing and then moves on Duskendale itself. However, following an exhaustive search of the city and castle, Lord Jason and Daemon were nowhere to be found. It would be Aegon Targaryen, Jason's second son, who would tell Bittersteel that his father and brother had reformed the Demons and were off fighting. Bittersteel names Aegon the Lord of Duskendale and takes him as a hostage and squire.

This, however, turned out to be a ploy, orchestrated by Daemon himself, who brought his ideas to his father. While Bittersteel moved on the capitol, Jason and Daemon had sailed for Dragonstone, and after some negotiations, got the soldiers and navies of Dragonstone and Driftmark to declare for Princess Daena.

Returning to the mainland, Jason and Daemon learned of what had occurred at Duskendale, and Lord Jason quickly rallied men to return to the war. Daemon sent a message to his contacts back in the capitol and managed to arrange for the freeing of his brother Aegon from under Bittersteels control.

Meanwhile the Princess Daena had been traveling through the Riverlands trying to reach Duskendale, but was finally cornered in an inn by the God's Eye by Bittersteel's troops. All through the night, things looked lost for the Princess, but at daybreak, the Demons, under Lord Jason, arrived and routed the Bittersteel men. Lord Jason took Princess Daena back to Duskendale to recover from her wounds.

Once in Duskendale, the Princess learned of all the work that Lord Jason had done to rally Dragonstone and the Velaryons to her cause, and within a fortnight, their forces joined. The landing of the Dragonstone and Velaryon troops also brought about an rush of minor Crownlander lords raising their banners for Daena, and soon the Crowlanders had a sizeable army.

Having had a chance to speak with Daena, Lord Jason was assured that she was worthy to sit the throne, and he revealed his possession of the sword Blackfyre, giving it to the princess and adding to the legitimacy of Daena's claim.

The Crownlander forces and the armies from the Stormlands finally met Bittersteel on The Field of Tears, where midway through the battle, House Frey unexpectedly turned on Bittersteel, shattering his army and routing him. Bittersteel fled to Harrenhal with the few men that escaped the slaughter, where he was quickly surrounded by Daena's supporters.

Bittersteel's body was found at the base of the tallest tower of Harrenhal, though whether he was pushed or jumped will never be known.

Daena was crowned Queen, and in gratitude for Jason's service, confirmed him to his old position of Master of Laws on the Small Council, which he would hold until his death.

## Time in Essos

By the time Daemon was 20, he was ready for something bigger. His father allowed him to book passage on a ship and he left to the Free Cities, settling in Lys. In Lys, Daemon quickly established a network of informants. His Lyseni network worked tirelessly to catalog and report the various wares that were brought into the city by merchants. Using this information, Daemon then contacted his agents in King’s Landing and elsewhere in Westeros to arrange lucrative trade contracts. Several of Daemon new trade deals brought new goods and wealth flowing into Duskendale, vastly revitalizing its previously struggling port. Daemon, as a middleman, began accruing a significant fortune.

The manipulation of their trade networks soon caught the attention of the Rogare family, who used their connections to track down Daemon in their city. Instead of punishing the young man, however, Medraro Rogare was impressed by Daemon and began working with him to the profit of both houses. After five years in Lys, Daemon received word that his father and brother Aegon had both passed away, and that he must return to Westeros to take up the mantle of the Lord of Duskendale at 25 years old. His relationship with the Rogare’s of Lys would continue over the years.

## Lord of Duskendale

After becoming the Lord of Duskendale in 236 AC, Daemon’s thoughts turned to the continuation of his family. He quickly made a good match with Lord Mooton of Maidenpool for the hand of his daughter, Myrcella, a plump but comely girl of 21 years. They would go on to have four sons: Baelor, Darryn, Maric, and Ethan; as well as three daughters: Elsabeth, Ella, and Raina.

Once married to Myrcella, Daemon’s mind turned to Duskendale and his small fortune that he had begun to accrue in Braavos. A careful application of the gold soon saw new networks of informants springing up all over Westeros. Daemon quickly discovered, however, that even more than exotic goods, the lords of Westeros hungered for information. And so, Daemon began the gathering and selling of information to the highest bidders, often selling information to the Master of Whispers for the Iron Throne.

In 241 AC, there was a freak accident where Daemon's horse broke a leg while he had been out riding. The horse collapsed, pinning Daemon's right leg beneath it. It would be several hours before Daemon was found and brought to the maester, who was unable to completely heal his leg. Ever since, Daemon has suffered from a pronounced limp and is unable to walk more than a few steps without the aid of a cane.

In 252 AC, Medraro Rogare sent his eldest son and heir, Lysaro Rogare, to foster in Duskendale. Over the next four years, Daemon instructed the young Lysaro in the ways of espionage and intrigue. Though young, Lysaro showed an aptitude for the craft. By the time he had returned to Lys in 256 AC, Lysaro was an accomplished spymaster in his own right and loved Daemon nearly as much as his own father.

## Master of Whispers

Upon the death of that Master of Whispers in 264 AC, Daemon was summoned to King’s Landing and was made the Master of Whispers by the Mad King Maelys I Blackfyre. At the age of 53, he returned to the capitol for the first time since his youth. Daemon had no great love for Maelys I, but his new position gave him opportunities that he could have never had staying in Duskendale, so he served his king dutifully for four years. He leveraged his new position to arrange for Prince Aemond, then a boy of 12, to foster at Duskendale and squire for his son and heir, Baelor.

Upon the death of Prince Aenys Blackfyre in 268 AC, Daemon began investigating the Prince’s death, only to be ordered to stop by King Maelys. While he had no proof, this cemented a distrust in Maelys that Daemon would hold until the king’s death. This distrust came to a head in 270, when during a Small Council meeting, Maelys slit the throat of his Hand, Durran Baratheon. As the Small Council chambers descended into chaos, Daemon retreated from the room and sent his agents to inform Prince Aemond. His agents would also help Aemond, the Queen, the young Prince Daemon, and Ser Domeric Dayne of the Kingsguard escape the city.

## Durran's Defiance

Sensing that war was on the horizon, Daemon quickly had all his things packed and relocated the center of his operations to his home of Duskendale. He raised his banners against the king, for Prince Aemond, and Ser Baelor led Darklyn troops into the Riverlands to support Aemond. From Duskendale, Daemon set his spy networks to constantly sending him information on the Crown loyalists, such as their troop movements and strengths. Daemon sent a raven to Dragonstone, informing Ser Domeric Dayne of the impending invasion, giving the Sword of the Morning time to prepare the island’s defenses. In addition to this, Daemon also used his networks to spread stories of Maelys madness and accusations of Aenys’ murder. While many lords didn’t believe the stories at first, Daemon’s letters gave them cause to abandon the Crown once the war looked certain for Aemond.

Following the war, Aemond as regent reaffirmed Daemon’s position on the Small Council, on which he has served ably since. In recent years, some have taken to calling Daemon “the Wraith” both because of his advanced age and his habit of referring to his informants as ‘shadows’.

## Timeline of Events

* 196 AC - Blackfyre Rebellion
* 211 AC - Daemon Darklyn born
* 218 AC - Aegon Darklyn born
* 219 AC - Lord Jason Darklyn takes his two sons to King’s Landing
* 231 AC - Daemon departs Westeros for Lys
* 235 AC - Rhaegar Darklyn born, Lady Darklyn dies in childbirth
* 236 AC - Ser Aegon Darklyn killed in a tourney accident
* 236 AC - After months of depression, Lord Jason Darklyn dies, Daemon is recalled from Lys
* 241 AC - Daemon's leg is maimed in a freak accident
* 242 AC - Baelor Darklyn born
* 247 AC - Darryn Darklyn born
* 253 AC - Rhaegar leaves Westeros to travel the world
* 254 AC - Maric Darklyn born
* 255 AC - Miklaz Waters born in Astapor
* 257 AC - Ethan Darklyn born
* 258 AC - Van Waters born in Yi Ti
* 258 AC - Elsabeth Darklyn born
* 261 AC - Ella and Raina Darklyn are born
* 262 AC - Chataya Waters born in Qarth
* 262 AC - Rhaegar returns, with three children, a 7 year old, a 4 year old, and a baby
* 268 AC - Daemon Darklyn born
* 270 AC - Durran’s Defiance
* 273 AC - Cyrenna Darklyn born
* 279 AC - Alys Darklyn born

## Family Tree

http://familyecho.com/?p=START&c=yulhedsr63&f=756983779359684130