Sylas
Lord Sylas Volmark
Paul Shelley
Paul Shelley as Sylas Volmark
Name: Sylas Volmark
Aliases: The Young Leviathan; the Black Scion; the Volmark
Faction: The Iron Islands
Organization: House Hightower
Occupation: Exiled Lord and Head of House Volmark
Rank: Lord of Volmark
Age: 25

Description

Lord Sylas Volmark is to men what longships are to merchantmen; he stands lean, wiry and manoeuvreable, set apart by a bleak aspect, a darkly favoured colouring, a cold eye and a cruel smile. Shorter and lighter than most knights and noblemen of Westeros, he is nonetheless scarcely to be taken any more lightly than the heartiest and boldest. His garb is a mixture of the martial and functional, a complicated lattice of sable fur, ring-mail hauberk and leather, with lurid and unlikely flashes of colour and jewellery. Much of this latter category has a vaguely Dornish air, but he also bears silver vambraces decorated with the scythes of Harlaw - an Ironborn sigil, to be sure, but not his own, purchased, no doubt, in an internecine perversion of the iron price. An arming sword, as a point of pride, is never otherwise than hanging from his belt. In time of peace, at any rate…

Background

Ever since Black Harren’s male line ended at the Conquest, and House Greyjoy was raised anew to the lordship of Pyke, there has, perforce, been bad blood between the Kraken lords and their powerful bannermen of House Volmark. For Harren’s only daughter wed among the House of the Leviathan, and though few among the Ironborn dare to allude to this fact, fewer still have forgotten it.

There were simple quarrels over precedence, bitter private feuds, and even a few turbulent rebellions, but at last House Volmark seemed content to make a truce and accept a Greyjoy bride for their lord, a great and generous compliment, in exchange for leal and lasting fealty. Until, that is, the next generation.

For the kraken and and the leviathan, combined with the temperamental legacy of Black Harren’s blood, proved a heady and perilous combination in the veins of young Lord Sylas. Lord he became, indeed, all too soon, as his father the elder Lord Volmark fell in the Stepstones, on one of his Greyjoy overlord’s reavings. Some said the death was convenient. It is thought that the young successor to Volmark heard them. Certainly, he did not long permit his Greyjoy lady mother to restrain him. He was youthful and vigorous, and had the gift of winning men to him. Soon enough he was blooded with canny and well-chosen raiding, chiefly upon the Dornish. Why, Lord Sylas was heard to complain, should he continue to crawl to his cousin of Pyke?

This was dangerous talk; not only were the Krakens themselves potent and swift in wrath, but their rule had been settled by the Dragon Kings. Sylas learned perforce to curb his tongue, to be one thing to his own followers, another to the Greyjoy, yet another to greenlanders. Nonetheless, his overweening habits and speeches grew too much for Pyke, and perhaps King’s Landing, to tolerate. In the end he defied the Krakens when they came to set him in irons, and fled from his own holding in his sole longship, Mourning Maw.

Though he still commanded a swift vessel and a faithful crew, Lord Sylas’s next step seemed uncertain – till he chanced to find the spicer out of Oldtown endangered by a raider of House Harlaw. To the astonishment of all concerned, his crew boarded and took not the spicer, but the other Ironborn vessel. Sylas then set a course straight for Oldtown, with the relieved captain to vouch for his saviour’s credit. And so, for the time being, has begun a strange chapter indeed in the Volmark’s life; the heir to Black Harren, whiling by the months as a sellsail for Lord Hightower’s coast guard. But one day, surely, the time for the Young Leviathan must come again.

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Quirks

Blood of the Black Line - The Volmark is, through the female line, the last trueborn remnant of House Hoare, the greatest dynasty the Iron Islands ever saw, who held all from the Neck to the sound of the Blackwater in thrall. Harren's line is rumoured to be bedevilled by madness, and undoubtedly is haunted by a besetting pride, but Lord Sylas will never forget or abjure this legacy.

Dispossessed Malcontent - Lord Sylas can scarcely rest easy until his own fief of Volmark is restored to his rule, whether by mediation or by force of the iron price.

Kin to Krakens - Though he may posture as Harren's lawful descendant, Lord Sylas is not one rashly to forget the lordly blood of his mother's house, and is quite as willing to make trouble with his claim as a Greyjoy on the distaff side as he is as a Leviathan. He is also loth to take orders from his Kraken cousin.

Leal Following - With a proud bearing and a tongue born to command, Lord Sylas excels in knitting followers inextricably to his forlorn cause. The crew of Mourning Maw are all enthusiastic partisans of his cause, who are convinced they shall one day see him secure upon the Seastone Chair, and be rewarded accordingly.

Poet's Soul - For all his rough, martial and truly Ironborn exterior, Sylas has a finely judged, aesthetic temperament. He far prefers poetic to true justice, and is constantly playing a constant inward part, that of some long lost hero of saga and lament.

IC Events

Sylas Logs Related Logs
Logs featuring Sylas. Logs that refer to Sylas.

Relationships

NoImage_icon.jpg Grodan Greyjoy, Lord Reaper of Pyke
Cousin and Former Liege - Why should I cringe to my overweening kinsman, who is nonetheless the dragonspawn's lackey? The Greyjoys were raised in a farce of a choosing, and no true kingsmoot. Besides, I am as kraken myself as any of them.
NoImage_icon.jpg Alfgyth, Dowager Lady and Usurpress of Volmark
Greyjoy First, Mother Second - My mother holds my fief against my will. One way or another I shall see her pay for her betrayal of her husband, her son, and the black line of Hoare.
Maera Maera
Sullen, Vengeful She-Bear - Lady Mormont seems determined to regard me as a personal enemy and distinctly partial to the notion of killing me herself. I persist in treating her with as much courtesy as an old and fond acquaintance ever should. The results are delightful. The woman, they say, and say it truly enough, can fight, but words and thoughts and stratagems all slip through her gauntlets like sand.
Ulyka Ulyka
Jolly and Juvenile She-Bear - The younger Mormont may never grow into her sister's outer charms, but at least she has a certain politeness and pert friendliness her sister begrudges.
Peri Peri
Blacktyde's Saltwife - Amiable, even properly servile, but I have yet to see proof she is as fawningly loyal to her ox of a Blacktyde as she insists.
Thadeus Thadeus
Fine Plump Trout - Too long have the Tullys of Riverrun prospered from their complacent treachery towards my forefather, Black Harren. I mean to wreak his vengeance upon this braggart heirling of theirs.
Riderch Riderch
Heir to Carrion - Another unsteady Riverman, and an eagle's chick, into the bargain. The kind of foe I can understand. I will not deny him spirit, in a moping sort of way.
NoImage_icon.jpg Dalton Pyke
Bastard son - The by-blow of passing congress with one of my Greyjoy lady cousins, I forget which one. The brat must be five or so by now. As I recall, he's a squalling boy of some spirit.

Gallery

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