Merdyn Gilyard

Psychological description

A cheerful sort. Merdyn enjoys social gatherings and time spent with friends, when not doing that he can be found with his nose in a book or hovering over an oven. He is generally open with his opinions and considers everyone his friend until they give him a reason not to. He is cold and quiet around those that he does not consider trustworthy. Merdyn has dreams of his father’s acceptance and a life as the High Lord of his own house.

Physical description

6’0”, broad-shouldered and slim figure, pale skinned, light blue eyes, honey blonde hair cropped tightly to the scalp, neatly trimmed beard. Merdyn prefers a more dandy manner of dress in his House’s colors.

Biography

Born the first son of the head of one of Andor’s 19 Great Houses. Merdyn wasn’t what his father wanted. Before Merdyn’s birth, his father prayed day and night for a daughter. He was a man of great ambition, but being a man, he could not ascend the throne of Andor. If Lord Gilyard had a daughter, then she might one day make a claim to the throne. When Merdyn was born, disappointment was the only thing Lord Gilyard could muster.

It wasn’t long before Lord Gilyard came up with another plan. If his heir could not be the Queen of Andor, then they could at least wed her. The next fifteen years of Merdyn’s life would be a never-ending storm of tutors, parties, and more tutors. Lord Gilyard expected perfection from his son and Merdyn usually delivered. When Merdyn fell short of his father’s expectations, a swift and (sometimes) painful punishment ensued.

Merdyn always knew what his father’s plans were, and he loved his father dearly, but deep down Merdyn knew that he could never fulfill his father’s wishes. Merdyn didn’t want to wed the Queen of Andor, in fact, he did not want to marry any woman. He preferred the company of other men. It took him a while to figure it out, but at the age of 15, Merdyn met a boy named Kyllian Na’chiso and everything started to come together.

Kyllian was the son of a farmer that worked on Lord Gilyard’s lands. Merdyn first spotted him in the markets of Caemlyn and wasted no time in introducing himself to Kyllian. The two hit it off instantly, becoming fast friends. Merdyn knew his father would never approve of Merdyn consorting with ordinary farmers, so he needed to make an excuse whenever he wished to visit Kyllian. It wasn’t very hard, seeing as Merdyn was very popular at his age. If Merdyn was out forming relationships with the children of other nobles, all the better for Lord Gilyard.

Merdyn would run off at least once a week to spend time with Kyllian, whether they met at the Markets of Caemlyn, in the groves of the Gilyard Estates, or Kyllian’s father’s farm. This would continue on for a few years before it all came crashing down.

The summer of Merdyn’s eighteenth name-day is one he won’t speak of to many. Kyllian and Merdyn had grown increasingly careless when arranging their meetings, and so it was not too difficult for Lord Gilyard to finally catch wind of what was happening. Merdyn had started to contradict himself at times when speaking of his plans, and so Lord Gilyard grew suspicious.

One night Merdyn snuck off to meet with Kyllian, and Lord Gilyard sent a few soldiers to follow his son to spy upon the boy. If the soldiers had chosen to burst into the room sooner, they might not have found Merdyn and Kyllian in a compromising position, but that is precisely what happened. The soldiers ripped the lovers apart and dragged Merdyn back to his father, kicking and screaming.

Lord Gilyard beat his son within an inch of his life and had Kyllian murdered shortly after.

Merdyn tried to keep a stiff upper lip throughout all of this, but upon learning of his lover’s death, everything inside of him broke. That was the first time that Merdyn channeled. It wasn’t on purpose. Merdyn wasn’t a violent person and no matter what his father did he would never try to harm him. The flames just burst out of nowhere. Lord Gilyard was caught in the blaze but thankfully escaped with only a few burns and some structural damage to his manor. The official cause of the fire was a candelabra that had apparently gotten knocked over by a careless servant, but Merdyn knew the truth.

It was him. He had caused that blaze. Merdyn left his father’s estates shortly thereafter, sneaking off to Tear to find the Dragon’s Amnesty…