Sebaston Vaith was born in the year 150 AC, as the fifth and final child of Caston Vaith, the Leopard, and his wife, Lady Kerenza of House Uller. He is the younger brother of Lord Jossart Vaith, the usurper lord Caswald Vaith, Cassella Vaith, Danelle Vaith, and Ser Jarvis Sand. He is married to Rayne Blackmont, the future ruling lady of that house.
Strawberry blond hair falls to his shoulders, framing a heart-shaped face. His most striking feature is his eyes, green as spring, which seem as piercing as a leopard’s. His eyes are framed by high-arching white-blond eyebrows, which makes his expression seem permanently startled. Otherwise, his face is neither ugly nor especially handsome, and marked by a broad nose, pointed chin, and a thin, narrow mouth, which seems to naturally rest as a frown. This young man looks more a Dornishman of the mountains than of the sands, and was unluckily born with skin that reddens rather than browns under the desert sun.
He is dressed in court clothes, yet his garb is rather plain, with a dark brown hose and leather boots which come up to the knee. The most extravagant piece of clothing he wears is a sandsilk tunic coloured with the yellow pile upon orange of his house. A longsword is belted to his waist.
Sebaston Vaith is no longer the jolly little boy that he was before the Dornish conquest. Living through the horrors of the conquest as the son of a rebel lord, he learnt to be greatly proud of his homeland and House Vaith from a very young age. Though he would later become insolent and unruly during his early adolescence, he would mature into a dutiful young man, yet more shy and giddy than ever.
He still has the good heart and gentle nature of his youth. Sheltered after the war, he knows little and less about the world, having lived behind the walls of his brother’s castle for most of his life. But court life quells naivety and anxiety, even if they do still plague his character. In his recent marriage to Lady Rayne Blackmont, he has found a growing confidence in his love; likewise, there’s a growing political standing in his position as officer of the Warden of the Broken Arm.
In 150 AC, in the reign of Prince Marence Martell, Sebaston Vaith was born as the fifth and final trueborn child of Ser Caston Vaith, heir to the Red Dunes (who would shortly inherit after Lord Arros’ hunting accident), and Lady Kerenza Uller, and grew up as the baby of the family. A youngest child will always be the youngest, after all - and unlike his four elder siblings that had been born in quick succession, Sebaston was much younger than the rest. Still, he was doted on by his parents and siblings, and for the first seven years of his life, he was a jolly, if slightly spoilt, little boy.
But then war came to Dorne, and he saw his loving family fall to pieces. Jossart and Cassella were whisked off to King’s Landing, and his brother Caswald usurped the Red Dunes. His mother fell ill, and Danelle was burdened with ruling Vaith in their brother’s absence.
After the Dornish Rebellion ended, and Vaith was free of Northron rule, the once sweet and merry child that Sebaston had once been changed into a rather insolent lad when he entered his adolescence. Lady Kerenza, fearing for her youngest child’s safety if war came to Dorne again, forbade Sebaston for squiring for a great lord or knight: he would continue to be trained by the master-at-arms, the hedge knight Ser Pippen of Stinkpool. He despised what he saw as being coddled.
Yet, over the course of his adolescence, he developed into a dutiful squire under the tutelage of Ser Pippen, and he was skilled enough at arms to be dubbed by Ser Pippen on the first day of 168 AC, six months shy of his eighteenth nameday, even though he had never fought in a battle, or even left the Vaith lands since war came to Dorne. While he was skilled, some may have called his spurs half-earned.
A few weeks after earning his knighthood, he made preparations to leave his brother’s lands and join his beloved sister in Sunspear, in hope of rising high at court and making a good marriage. Like the creature on his sigil, the youngest leopard of the Red Dunes stalked the court of Sunspear, met with members of the northron embassy and attended a welcoming feast for the heroes of the Stepstones as well as the Toland wedding, though his shyness prevented him from being actively engaged in court life.
That changed with politics. A certain wife of Lord Blackmont—daughter of Lady Ysilla Vaith, had thought to search amongst her kin for a suitable match for her tempestuous granddaughter, the future head of the house. With his politically minded sister immediately seeing the great advantage of the Vaith’s youngest child being matched to an heiress, negotiations commenced in Sunspear. When the lady in question arrived at court, he was immediately taken by her in spite—or perhaps because of, her fortitude. It started with disappointment: he stuttered before her, and lost the tourney in anniversary of the embassy: but he continued to prove his resolve to love her, and it seemed that Rayne too had fallen for Sebaston even before they were wed.
Following further advice to rise amongst the ranks of court, Sebaston found employ sufficient and respectable enough: a position as officer under the Warden of the Broken Arm, Lord Aryard Manwoody. With a position that legitimised his knighthood and martial aspects, the Blackmonts must have had any doubts about the suitability of Rayne’s consort-to-be quelled.
At the age of eighteen, Sebaston spoke his vows before a septon before the court of Sunspear and was united in matrimony to Lady Rayne. Though anxiety still clings to the leopard, he appears to have found a new confidence in loving his new wife.
2nd day, 6th month, 150 AC - Sebaston Vaith is born as the fifth trueborn child of Ser Caston Vaith and his wife, Lady Kerenza. As the youngest child, he is destined to be the baby of the family.
23rd day, 11th month, 153 AC - Sebaston’s grandfather, Lord Arros Vaith, dies after falling from his horse whilst hawking in the desert. Sebaston’s father Caston becomes the Lord of the Red Dunes.
11th day, 10th month, 157 AC - Sebaston sees the war for Dorne with his own two eyes as Northron forces begin to beseige Vaith.
27th day, 1st month, 161 AC - The Battle for the Red Dunes; Sebaston remains inside the Red Dunes whilst the battle outside rages, and finally the Dornish outside free the keep from the Bright Banners.
6th day, 2nd month, 161 AC - While the keep attempts to return to some semblance of normalcy, the interminable siege of the town of Vaith - the Bright Banners inside, and the Dornishmen outside - finally comes to an end - with the deaths, it seems, of every male over the age of 12 years within the town. Their heads are cast over the walls of the town, and Ser Laurent Dalt takes the head of Beslon the Bad. Vaith is free.
3rd day, 3rd month, 162 AC - Sebaston asks his brother Jossart, now lord of the Red Dunes, if he may squire for a great lord or knight. However, his mother Kerenza, in hearing this, explicitly forbids him from doing so, fearing for her son’s life if war should come to Dorne again. Instead, he shall squire for Vaith’s master-at-arms, the hedge knight Pippen of Stinkpool.
1st day, 1st month, 168 AC - Over the past six years, Sebaston Vaith has matured into a dutiful, if slightly shy, young man. On the first day of the new year, Ser Pippen deems him worthy of knighthood and dubs him as Ser Sebaston of House Vaith. A jolly occasion, though some wonder if this knighthood is unearned - while Sebaston is well-trained at arms, he is by no means a master, and he has never been in battle, nor left his brother’s lands since the Northrons’ conquest. Mayhaps Ser Pippen took pity on the young boy, after all, there was never one so dishonourable as a hedge knight. Even Sebaston himself has doubts about his knighthood, and does not look back on the day as fondly as most knights would.
9th day, 2nd month, 168 AC - Sebaston Vaith arrives in Sunspear, joining the household of his sister Danelle, in order to make a good match.
14th day, 3rd month, 168 AC - Sebaston attends the Lord’s Protector’s feast to welcome the heroes back from the Stepstones. In quiet attendance, he sees northrons feast with Dornishmen, though he does not take it upon himself to speak to anyone noteworthy.
14th day, 7th month, 168 AC - Sebaston attends the wedding of Lord Neilyn Toland and Lady Richelle Gargalen. It is here that he is properly introduced to quite a few noteworthy members of Sunspear’s court, including Prince Rhodry Nymeros Martell, Lady Tanyth Toland, and Lady Mylene Gargalen.
30th day, 10th month, 168 AC - Sebaston competes in a tourney which celebrates the fifth anniversary of the embassy of the Iron Throne’s presence in Dorne. While he does well in the early rounds, he is unhorsed by Ser Hurin Costayne and Ser Osmon Beesbury in the latter rounds.
30th day, 11th month, 168 AC - Word arrives that Lord Andrey Blackmont and Lord Jossart Vaith have confirmed the betrothal between Sebaston and Lady Rayne Blackmont.
11th day, 1st month, 169 AC - Sebaston and Rayne host a hunt to celebrate their betrothal, attended by Selara Dalt, Ravenna Dalt, Mycah Sand, and Josella Mallister, among others of the king’s caught. As the ladies bring down birds, Sebaston and Mycah gather the game. Heading back to the Feasting Hall, revelry occurs, and the couple seem to be congratulated by most on the event.
27th day, 3rd month, 169 AC - Sebaston enters the employ of Lord Aryard Manwoody, as an officer of the Warden of the Broken Arm.
28th day, 3rd month, 169 AC - Sebaston spars publicly with Mycah Sand (before Rayne Blackmont, Selara Dalt and Tamara Fowler), and though he begins with a poor start, he clearly wins the day—only to humbly declare them both as equals. Much to Sebaston’s chagrin, the sly Dayne bastard brushes that honour off.
24th day, 4th month, 169 AC - As a spring haze rose over the deserts of Dorne, Lady Rayne Blackmont and Ser Sebaston of House Vaith stood in Sunspear’s sept this morn, to recite their vows before a holy septon. Vows were spoken with all the natural coolness; and even the nervous groom mustered a modicum of growing confidence. No maiden cloak was to be seen in the wedding of the future head of House Blackmont, but that mattered not - for all could see the growing, genuine tenderness between the couple when they were united as they kissed.
After a long night of feasting, it came to a moment of dancing in the energetic passions of the Dornish style; which of course led to Lord Blackmont calling for the bedding ceremony. With the bride and groom swiftly carried to the Blackmont chambers in the Spear Tower, naked to the skin.
25th day, 4th month, 169 AC - A wedding tourney is held in honour of Sebaston’s union to Rayne Blackmont. Though he manages the morning well, the afternoon is his struggle, falling to a mere squire, Digory Dalt (no doubt fuelling talk of unearned spurs of the young Vaith), and then Ser Valerin Dayne, captain of the guard at Sunspear.
He tries to mediate the ugly conflict that breaks out when the victor—the Knight of Bleeding Hearts, a mystery knight—reveals himself as his half-brother Jarvis’s squire, Mycah Sand. But his words fall on deaf ears, and he can only seek the love of his wife in the scandalous and shocking day at the beginning of their marriage.
Member of House Vaith.
{Caston Vaith}, the Leopard, Lord of the Red Dunes - Sebaston was but a boy of eight when his father was killed by Northron sympathisers. His father has become a personal hero to him, a reminder to be proud of his Dornish heritage and his house.
Kerenza Uller, Dowager-Consort of the Red Dunes - Sebaston is somewhat embarassed by his overbearing mother: she has forbade him from squiring to a great knight or lord, and kept him sheltered at Vaith. Still, she is his mother, and some part of him knows that all she does is out of her love for him.
Jossart Vaith, Lord of the Red Dunes - Jossart was so much older than Sebaston that he hardly knew the eldest Vaith child before he was whisked off to King’s Landing. However, he admires Jossart for acting honourably, and the two have grown closer since the war’s end, though Jossart seems to always be busy being Lord Vaith.
{Caswald Vaith}, “Lord of the Red Dunes” - Though many in Vaith despise Caswald’s name, Sebaston only remembers his child-self who loved his brother. He knows that the political situation was impossible; and refuses to allow the northerners deepen the wounds and rifts in House Vaith—even if they are just in memory.
Cassella Vaith, Former Mistress to Prince Aegon Targaryen - Cassella and Sebaston were never close - she always wanted little and less to do with her youngest sibling. Following the war, they have only become more estranged; they pay attention to one another as little as possible, and Sebaston has heard some shocking rumours about her having been a paramour to a northern prince.
Danelle Vaith - Danelle cares for her younger brother Sebaston, a suitable stolid affection that will only waver if he does. But to Sebaston, Danelle is his favourite sibling, and is honoured to be part of her household in Sunspear.
Jarvis Sand, the Bastard of the Red Dunes - Ser Jarvis Sand is fifteen years Sebaston’s elder, yet he displayed a great affection for his youngest trueborn half-sibling as a boy. However, despite the fact that the stigma of bastardy is not as great in Dorne as it may be further north, and Lord Caston fathered the boy before he was married to his lady wife, Lady Kerenza limited Jarvis’ access to her children. However, they have grown much closer since the war’s end, perhaps even more than his trueborn siblings Jossart and Cassella.
Nicola Santagar, Dowager-Consort of the Red Dunes - Sebaston has a close relationship with his lady grandmother, and respects her wisdom.
Forthcoming.
Forthcoming.
Forthcoming.