Lysander Rogare

Lord Director, Captain-General Lysander Rogare

History

Born in Lys the Lovely, one would think Lysander's life was marked with the luxury and comfort often associated with the Rogare name. This couldn't be any further from the truth. A whore's son who taints the Rogare name. That's what the Magister’s mutter when they think he can't hear. What is known of Lysander’s mother? In truth, very little. The history of her origins are muddled save for two facts. The first being that she once served in the opulent Perfumed Garden, a famous pleasure garden which is selective of not only their courtesans but of its customers, and the second fact being that Moredo Rogare enjoyed her company. She would discover some moons after one of Moredo’s visits that she was with his child. It was standard practice for the working women of Lys to take moon tea in such cases, but for one reason or another she kept the child. Greed? Ambition? We can only speculate. One night Moredo went to see her, and that was when she revealed the secret, begging him to recognize their child as a Rogare. The begs turned to sobs as Moredo left the Perfumed Garden, never to meet with her again. Following this incident she was dismissed by the Perfumed Garden and fell onto hard times. It was on Lysander’s fourth name-day where his mother’s body would be found on the downtrodden streets she’d raised the boy on. That same day Moredo sent for Lysander and would recognize the boy as a Rogare in the Emerald Palace. The young Rogare was left in awe at the splendor he’d seen there, and so much food to eat! It was paradise. It was paradise until Moredo shattered the boy's fantasy, offering him to a man by the name of Areus, who accepted. Brother Areus led a fleet of ships for the Bakkalon order and accepted Lysander without question. At six years old Lysander learnt how to read and write from Areus while working as any other crew member on the ship. Searching for shipwrecks and compiling information on pirate activity and dangerous storms, the fleet scrolled the Southern Narrow Sea. What made Areus's mission different was their rescuing of survivors, prioritizing orphans. These children would join the crew, carrying on the rescue and service cycle. Years spent at sea developed not only Lysander's maritime skills but also a sense of community and leadership. He’d also pestered Areus on how to use a sword, only rewarded these lessons when finished with his errands. By thirteen Lysander grew tall for his age with a frame to match and felt ready for a new chapter. Driven to set his own path, he said goodbye to Brother Areus with a mix of thanks and ambition. The Lyseni Navy came next. It was here he was surrounded by tough mariners and barnabotti officers, once aristocratic people who had lost everything but their titles. It was here where the boy became a man. During these formative years, Lysander would thrive, even seeing combat as early as fourteen. It was at sixteen where he had become a Captain of his own ship. Unlike most captains who hoarded their plunder, Lysander distributed much of his wealth back to the barnabotti and common people of Lys. He became known for hosting lavish celebrations at the pleasure gardens, opening the doors to those normally barred from such luxuries. His generosity extended beyond revelry, he funded repairs for the poorest quarters of the city and provided for families of sailors lost at sea. Though these charitable endeavors nearly bankrupted him several times, they earned him something far more valuable: a reputation as a man of the people. The common folk began to speak of him not as Moredo's forgotten spawn, but as Lysander, their patron. At seventeen Lysander put his name on the ballot for Captain-General. His mother had been a courtesan, so the College of Pleasures voted his way. The few barnabotti senators held a massive disdain for the Patrician candidate from across the aisle, so they also supported him. Still, these votes wouldn't have been enough, but it was none other than Moredo Rogare who forced the issue. With the First Magister's influence working behind the scenes, it became a landslide victory. Upon swearing his oaths, Moredo bestowed upon him their family relic with the Senate as witness; Truth, a Valyrian steel longsword. It was a bittersweet occasion with what followed soon after. His rise to Captain-General sparked predictable outrage, and equally predictable whispers about Moredo's influence. With aristocratic leadership insulted at the prospect of serving under him, half of Lys’ fleets threatened mutiny and disobeyed orders. Lysander didn't waste time by convincing them with rousing speeches or bribes. Instead with the forces available, he committed to a successful anti-Piracy campaign in the Stepstones which left him, his supporters, and the city of Lys richer than before. Later that year, any remaining doubts about his competence were silenced during the Stepstones Crusade of 420 AC, where his sixty ships helped secure Prince Alexander's victory. The Pentos affair of 421 AC earned its place in tavern tales. For two months, Lysander rotted in a Pentoshi cell, the kind where guards took bets on when each prisoner would break. His crime? Sailing to aid Empress Ellyria against the Dothraki, only to find she'd married their Khal and that his supposed ally, Captain-General Moraqo, had handed him over to Pentoshi authorities upon landing. The third month saw him relocated to a manor under house arrest. A gilded imprisonment, but imprisonment nonetheless. But then one night, a peculiar gathering assembled in that manor: Empress Ellyria, the legendary Shano Moraqo (a man said to have killed a lion with nothing but a rock), and an overconfident Daemion Mopatis. By morning, Daemion was dead, Moraqo had pledged his mercenary company to Lysander with a grim expression (and, witnesses say, a broken finger he was permitted to keep), and Ellyria had gained a husband while losing a brother. The exact details of that night's conversations remain sealed in private correspondence, some credit Lysander's cunning, while most whisper about Moredo's invisible hand. The servants still talk about the screams from that night, but nobody alive seems eager to clarify whose they were. Now at twenty-six he runs the East Essosi Trading Company, a private state with its own courts and military. His "charitable donations" secure guaranteed votes in the Lysene Senate, while two major Lyseni guilds, the Society of Merchant Venturers and the Corporation of Masters of Arts and Crafts, have pegged their operations to the EETC. The Compagnia della Disputa officially subservient to the Gonfaloniere find their interests increasingly aligned with Lysander, their ranks both in leadership and soldiery swelled with barnabotti & the people of the Disputed Lands, an area where the Company reigns supreme. Those who knew the barefoot boy begging for scraps in the streets now find themselves negotiating terms across his polished desk. When in Lys, whether from the deck of his flagship or at his office overlooking Lys’ harbor, Lysander's gaze occasionally drifts towards the Emerald Palace on the hill above.