Lyanna Tarnish || 20 || Female || Sapiosexual || King 3
"The real heroes aren't people doing things. The real heroes are people noticing things, paying attention."
The defining trait of Lyanna, and the one that marked her era of ruling her kingdom is her powerful intelligence and wit. From a young age, she was a snarky child with a profound love for questions and the hunt that transpired after they were asked. Honestly, this began with her being a curious little brat, constantly bugging others to answer her questions or aid her in her search. This persistently annoying nature of hers, common in curious children, is what led to her constant punishment at the hands of her less-than-sane father. Due to such punishments, the inquisitive personality was eventually molded into what is known today: a woman with an insatiable desire to know as much as possible and a rather sly way of doing things. Still, she is an intellectual, and would very likely spend all day simply reading, were that ever an option. Or, perhaps simply watching people would be entertainment enough for her, as there is something far more amusing about learning through watching. The fact of the matter is, Lyanna has always very much wanted to know things. It isn't necessarily a desire to know more than others, though that eventually came about as a side effect. The list of books that she has read is long, and the theories that she have studied are rather numerous as well. Whether it be war strategy, the uses of various herbs, or philosophical ramblings of a man pronounced mad long ago, she wants to know it all.
When it comes to her as a leader, this also applied to people, because she is very well aware of the fact that what a person doesn't know is very likely to get them killed in the end. It wasn't nosiness in her, necessarily, but a sense of urgency and caution that compelled her to have information on everyone around her, so that she might always have the upper hand. Before becoming king, the title used because she was the ultimate power, not the arm candy to the ultimate power, Lyanna had been known as the spider, because she had a rather thorough and elaborate web of spies, so efficient that a person could hardly sneeze before it was reported to the sharp-witted woman. Knowledge certainly is power, and can cut far deeper than any sword, if used properly. She can be a very manipulative force, knowing that a bit of flattery and false friendship can go a very long way in the game of thrones. While she does have pride, Lyanna is often willing to cast it aside if it means furthering her own cause.
Of course, her tongue is known to be rather biting as well, when she isn't being infuriatingly cryptic by using riddles to confuse and intimidate those who may plot against her. What had once been a childhood habit of haughtiness evolved into a witty way of speaking, which could easily transform into the use of words that stung more painfully than a wasp. While she is perfectly capable of being the image of civility when the situation called for it, such as when dealing with foreign affairs, Lyanna otherwise has the tendency to be a sarcastic woman who could cut a person down to size between sips from her wine goblet. She needed to be, because she hadn't the sword mastery to keep people in line otherwise. Her fierce wit, which could be either playful or bitter, helped to confirm that she was not some soft-hearted woman, incapable of ruling, as many of her enemies would have people believe. In fact, more often than sometimes she would be more cruel than necessary, if only to remind people that they could not underestimate her on account of what was between her legs.
There is more to Lyanna than her intelligence, however, and her philosophy is one of those things. The woman doesn't have time for anything superstitious, and regards the religious, superstitious, and reliant as fools who are too dependent on mysticism to focus on what is in front of them. While she once saw religion as something for people who needed support, she grew to view it as more of a scapegoat, something to justify behavior or to try and pray away wrongdoings without actual repentance of any sort. She is quite the realist, in the end, who believes in timing and skill, rather than the existence of luck. Probabilities and people are far more sensible, in her mind. Because, for all of her pessimism, Lyanna would rather believe in the power of people than the omnipotent nature of some unseen force. She believes that, in this world, sweat holds far more value than whispered prayers or a thousand four leaf clovers.
Sweat also holds more value than tears, for that matter. Lyanna refuses to show vulnerability to anyone, because she considers it to be the greatest of flaws, the one which may allow someone to run a blade through you, or poison through your bloodstream, before you even feel the pain. Thus, she masks any pain or misery with cruel taunts, playful banter, or cryptic messages. To allow herself to become emotional or dependent on another person would be the greatest failure, as far as she is concerned, and one transgression that she fully intends to never commit.
While she refuses to show vulnerability, Lyanna has always been something of a flirt, though she believes far more in lust than she does in any sort of affections beyond that. When she herself is nervous, she takes comfort in making others feel flustered, or in dominating a situation. She is a controller through and through, and dislikes any situation otherwise. Arrogance is backed by intelligence and the ability to control, after all, as she hardly has an unwavering pillar of support by her side. In her youth, she had many affairs, though she always maintained control in them, and cut it off as soon as she felt herself growing any attachment. This was a way to both protect and teach herself, because affections that one doesn't have control over are a very dangerous thing. Still, she can be rather possessive, even when willing to simply toss a thing, or person, to the side.
Intelligent || Cunning || Witty || Defensive || Pessimistic || Humanist || Guarded || Hard Working || Cautious || Controlling || Playful || Cryptic || Manipulative
"There is no shortage of fault to be found among our stars."
History
Lyanna Antoinette Tarnish was born into the kingdom of Yvon, a place with wealth that fluctuated based upon the king and the crops of the year. It was dividied into three main territories: the East, which was known for its mining and silks, the West, known for its bountiful trade, as it was the coastal region, and the South, where the majority of the kingdom's crops were grown and harvested. In the center of these three territories was the capitol city, Kingstone. It was the center of kingdom politics, and the place of residence for such people as the royal family, the master of coin, the leaders of the military, and such. Lyanna was born in Kingstone, into a somewhat unhappy era. It was the era of Gregory the Vicious, a king known for his vile temper and his apathy for the well being of the people. While the South flourished, trade diminished due to his poor relations with the monarchs of neighboring kingdoms, and the people were unhappy under his rule. Murmurs of rebellion were the background music to his reign, but were often crushed in cruel manners which, more often than not, lacked any form of subtlety. This is the king under which Lyanna was born, as well as the only father that she has ever known. Yes, Lyanna is, or perhaps was, the daughter of that much-hated king of Yvon. By association, she hardly had the love of her people, even whilst still a small, innocent child. Her mother was kind enough, but seemed to live in constant fear of her own husband, kept from fleeing only by threats against her daughter's life, and guards that were constantly with her- treating her like a queen, but watching her like a hostage.
It honestly didn't help that Lyanna was a frightfully inquisitive little soul, who had the tendency to pester people until answers were supplied. There were days when her father found this absolutely charming, and doted on her as though she were some rare and precious gift. Those days were somewhat rare, however, though they did keep her from ever being able to completely denounce him as her father. It was far more common for him to grow tired of her questions, or simply of her face, and have her locked in the dungeons, where she was treated only marginally better than a street urchin, kept in the dark, shivering on a cot to avoid the rats, whom she could hear scurrying across the floor at all hours of the night. The worse her father's mood, the longer she would be left in there, and it wasn't entirely unheard of for him to completely forget about his only child, and not call for her to be released for weeks at a time. She was only a girl, after all, and as thus did not demand much of his attention. It is due to this, due to her father's temperamental nature, that Lyanna grew up half prisoner and half princess, born in one world but raised with one foot in the other. Still, she was ever the clever girl, and learned eventually how to tread lightly in the court. She was half a child before she began to learn how to play the game of thrones- the noble, wretched game. Of course, no matter how carefully she planned her steps, there would still be the days when her father disliked her nose, or the shape of her eyes, or the fact that his queen had only ever borne him a daughter, not the son which he needed to continue the bloodline.
As Lyanna grew older, she became even more intelligent, and even more masterful in the game. She had learned the ways of the court, and could manipulate by the age of thirteen, capable of wrapping people around her finger rather easily. It did help that everyone desired her hand in marriage, knowing that her hand was the key to the throne, as the queen had grown to old to have another child, and the King, strangely, seemed to have no intent to discard her. The only person whom she could never manage to control continued to be her volatile father, who took turns doting on her and beating her down with curse words and the sheaths of swords. Both of which she learned to take gracefully, knowing that to do otherwise would be to risk an even more vile fate. Of course, she did face something like that when she was thirteen, and walking through the city with her guards. A riot started, and in the riot she was pulled, anger against her father and the corruption of the upper classes vented against the king's daughter. In that riot, she was defiled and beaten bloody, before finally being pulled away by her guards. A month later, she begged that her mother convince her father to allow her to take a vacation in the South, playing the part of traumatized. And she was, of course, but Lyanna was an intelligent girl, and there was more to it than that. She succeeded and went to a secluded area, where she remained on her own, with the exception of one serving maid and a cook, for nearly a year. Within that time, she gave birth to a bastard child, the DAUGHTER of some member of that riot whose face will never be remembered. The cook took the child and left it to a farmer in his wife, an elderly couple with no offspring of their own. The princess took a few extra months to recover, and returned to court, as though nothing had happened. She suppressed the memories, because there is no place in the game for a deflowered princess.
She grew up to be precisely the sort of player that one sees in the game- the sort who plays to win. When she was fifteen, she had an affair with a serving girl, but was discovered by a stable boy. He was dead within a week, though the causes of it remained something of a mystery to the court, who honestly couldn't care less about the fate of some common boy who cleaned up their horses' shit. After that, Lyanna was much more careful about what she did, and even began to acquire her own spies, ranging from lovestruck youths to greedy nobles who wanted her favor, so that she might marry their sons. No longer was she a pawn in the game, but one of the youngest players. And she saw the potential she had to change the country for the better, to undo the damage of her father's reign. She also saw how unlikely it was that she would have the chance to do so, given her gender. This was especially concerning when her mother passed away, and her father married a noblewoman of the East. In order to ensure that no son would be born, Lyanna had a serving girl put special herbs in the woman's food that caused infertility. She was willing to do whatever necessary to win the game, knowing that the alternative would be being married off to the highest bidder, so that she would watch helplessly, as her mother had, whilst some fool of a man greedily ravished the kingdom.
As it happened, her foolish father was assassinated before he could begin setting up these matches, as they had waited until her eighteenth birthday before beginning the courting process. Of course, the small counsel made the decision to say that he had died in a hunting accident, not wanting to give any ideas to the people of Yvon. While public mourning was required, the common folk celebrated behind closed doors, toasting to the gods for delivering them from the wretched, vicious King Gregory. They allowed Lyanna, after much coaxing, blackmail, and bribery, to ascend the throne on the condition that she actively seek a match, to find a suitable king to rule the kingdom. She agreed, of course, knowing very well that no such search would ever actually occur. But she played their games, feigning a near-marriage and then finding some excuse at the last minute. She was brilliant, of course, and they could never quite pin her to anything. The master of whispers was under her thumb, and she had more spies than birds in the sky.
Still, despite the fact that the land flourished under her rule, for she was far more intelligent and far less insane than her father had been, people insulted her and berated her for foolishly trying to play a man's game. Any sign of vulnerability of fault was a reason for further contesting of her right to reign, and so she learned to wear her intelligence and her biting words around her like a skin-tight armor. She was known as King Lyanna, for she was not her gender, but her ranking. Lyanna ruled a great nation, and yet struggled to maintain her position for the entirety of her reign, knowing that one sign of indecision, or even a glimpse of weakness, would be enough for the people to wrestle her off of the throne of Yvon. While she hardly had a line of spiked heads outside of her throne room, as her father infamously had, she was not hesitant to make an example of those who tried to bring her down. She manipulated people through blackmail and threats, but covered her tracks so brilliantly that nothing could be proven. She died at the age of thirty, after eleven years of ruling, because she had the slightest mistake in judgement. And that was in trusting the cook who had helped her secretly birth the bastard child all those years ago. The cook had been bought out, not nearly as genuine in her loyalties as Lyanna, in an uncharacteristic sign of optimism, had believed. In the end, Lyanna died of poisoning. She realized what was going on as soon as it was too late, and immediately excused herself from the table, because she didn't want people to see her die. Lyanna Antoinette Tarnish died at the age of thirty, running to her bedchambers. She was the first and last of the female kings of Yvon, as the throne was afterwards taken over by the most influential family of the South, due to her lack of heirs. She died without ever having met her son, and with last words that seemed rather strange for death, but fitting for the situation.
"Please excuse me, my lords and ladies. I have urgent matters to attend to."
"At some point we all look up and realize we are lost in a maze."
Chess
Debates
Intelligence
Challenges
Messing with People
Riddles
Literature
Strategy
Long Naps
Education
Opportunity
Probability
Popsicles
Strawberries
Power
Confidence in People
Strange Things
Questions
Curiosity
Dislikes
The Warmth
Summer Rain
Stupidity
Poor Answers
Helplessness
Dependence
Tobacco
Misogynists
Dogs
Mice
Watermelon
Low Self Esteem
Being Woken Up
Luck
God-Complexes
Easy Things
The Impulsive King
Satisfaction (The pursuit of knowledge is often more enjoyable than the knowledge itself.)
Secrets
"I'll never tell."
She gave birth to a bastard child after being raped during a riot. Given that it was a mob incident, the father went forever anonymous.
Lyanna used bribery and blackmail in order to ascend the throne.
When she was a youth, Lyanna had a brief affair with one of her serving girls. And with one of her serving boys, for that matter.
As a result of the first affair, she devised for a stable boy to be murdered.
She had a serving girl put herbs that cause infertility into her stepmother's food.
Fears
"There is nothing to fear but fear itself. Mostly."
Lyana is actually quite terrified of mice, as embarrassingly prissy as that sounds. Well, not mice, but rats. They were once companions of hers, but not welcome ones.
Despite being royalty and such, Lyanna is frightened of very large crowds, something which is a direct result of the riot incident from her past. She can address them, but not be part of them.
Although she seems to exude a natural confidence, and she is very self-assured in her own intelligence, Lyanna is frightened of being seen as only her gender, and not the rest of her. She had to claw her way to the throne, the first female leader of her kingdom, and is constantly on the lookout to make sure that she does not seem weak. Vulnerability, to her, is the ultimate flaw.
Crush N/A
Boyfriend/Girlfriend
"My paramour- oh, that's right. Nevermind."
N/A
"We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken."
Lyanna is both fascinated and enamored with the fact that people in this era, for the most part, are treated equally regardless of gender. She is also quite enchanted by modern styles, and has the tendency to wear shorts and pants, because she enjoys the freedom that they grant. She doesn't dress as conservatively as one might assume that a person from her time period would, but this is because she finds the more modern clothing to be a symbol of an age in which women are less restricted by rules.
Height 5'9"
Build
Lyanna is tall and slender, or rather stick thin. She lacks the womanly figure that most seem to find desirable, instead being much of the same straight up and down. That is to say, she has the figure of a pole, with a head spiked on top. A lovely image, of course, but given her upbringing, it does tend to be what comes to mind when she thinks of a pole.
Distinguishing Features
Well, the most distinct feature about this body Lyanna has been placed in would likely be the hair, which is cotton-candy pink all over, with a few traces of a shade so pale that it is nearly white. It certainly sets her out from the crowd, to some extent, and is how she can be easily distinguished. Other than that, the body lacks any tattoos or piercings, or anything else of that sort. Well, that isn't entirely true. For whatever reason, their is a small white bird just above the inside of her left wrist. It is rather simple and often overlooked by others, though she became somewhat fond of it after becoming accustomed to being alive again.
