Jaehaerys Storm

Jaehaerys Storm is the bastard son of Vaegon I Targaryen with Cassandra Baratheon, and elder brother to Daeron III Targaryen. Known for his ferocity in combat, white hot anger, and for his leadership of the Band of Bastards during the Dragon's Defiance.

Biography
The firstborn son of Cassandra Baratheon, and the second of King Vaegon Targaryen, Jaehaerys Storm was the source of a great deal of conflict. His conception created a divide between the once close friends Lord Lyonel Baratheon and the king the likes of which had not seen since the Prince of Dragonflies rejected the hand of the Laughing Storm’s daughter. The Lord of Storm’s End and the King had been close as brothers prior to his conception, but afterwards their relationship would never truly mend.

Even with the peace returned, Jaehaerys would not lose the name Storm, and he would grow up in Storm’s End, his uncle more a father to him than any of his mother’s suitors, or any king. From a young age it became quite clear he’d taken after both of his parents in terms of skill at arms

Even with tensions settled, the gray haired, gray eyed child would never be legitimized so long as Vaegon reigned. As a result, the boy quickly learned what it was like to hate. He loathed his father not only for his rejection, but for how the man thought so little of him that a marriage would simply make him disappear. For a time as a young boy he resented all those who crossed him that was not his mother or one of her growing bastard brood, though his cousins oft doted on him, it was not until Lord Lyonel, tired of the boy’s attitude gave him the tongue lashing of a lifetime.

The boy straightened up. From then on, the side of himself that he only showed to some became who he was. Jaehaerys was a kind boy, smart enough, not too proud, and most of all, a promising warrior. A cunt he might’ve been, but King Vaegon was one of the kingdom’s finest warriors, and his mother was quite dangerous with blade in hand as well, both of them passed their skill onto their son.

Be it pick or mace, sword or shield, even Dornish spear, Jaehaerys came to know his way around it like the back of his hand. Though in the end the boy, true to his mother’s heritage, came to favor two handed weapons, it was whispered that the young dragon would never be truly vulnerable so long as he could get his hands onto a rock. An embellishment of course, but one with some truth behind it, the young bastard indeed had the makings of a mighty warrior.

Chief among those who saw potential was his eldest cousin Boremund. A bastard himself, though legitimized, the man managed to connect with Jaehaerys in a way others could not, and soon took on the fledgling boy as his squire. The young boy never saw his cousin as anything less than an elder brother, and after the Lysene Spring, this was only further cemented.

At the tender age of eleven Jaehaerys saw war for the first time, and took his first life. During a skirmish the island of Pryr, the young boy was knocked to his back by particularly large sellsword and in pure desperation managed to gore the man upon his sword. Though a large boy for his age, he could not stop what happened next when the man fell upon him dead. For the rest of the skirmish he lay entrapped under the man, blood that was not his own drenching him as he struggled to be free.

In the aftermath the boy was left shaken to his core, unwilling to eat or drink, some questioned if he could truly be the son of stag and dragon. It was Boremund who saw him through it. His mentor coaxed the boy into taking nourishment and to make himself clean, and before the night was done Jaehaerys had rejoined the other squires. Whatever his mentor told him somehow managed to reinvigorate the boy, and gave him the strength he would need in the coming days.

The two sailed in the Battle of the Serpents, where among the chaos Jaehaerys killed again, and again, and again. Some said the boy refused to yield a single inch, while others more accurately claimed that he used his opponent’s overconfidence to land a score of lucky blows, regardless, it was not the killing that shook him in the aftermath. Of the squires who’d sailed with their knights to the battle, the boys who he had drank, eaten, and laughed with, only a handful remained after the slaughter. Again it fell to Boremund to help the boy reconcile the loss of so many he’d called friend.

Among those not slain was Beck Dragonfly, his distant cousin and squire to his uncle. The two boys shared heritage in House Targaryen, and bonded quickly over their duties as squires and their shared introduction to warfare at such a painfully young age.

In the aftermath, they rejoined his uncle and for perhaps the second time in his life, his father. Jaehaerys attempted to make himself seem worthy, as much a dragon as Prince Daeron who was but a few moons his senior, but King Vaegon gave the boy nothing. He hated the man, yet in that moment he craved nothing more than to be acknowledged.

He fought in the brutal assault of his father’s design, striking down another four men over the course of the brawl. Bloodied and tired, in the aftermath the boy took a moment to clean his sword he was approached by none other than the king himself, Blackfyre in hand. The two simply looked upon one another for a moment before Vaegon spoke.

“Any son of mine best learn to swing his sword better than you did today.”

An entire life of waiting, only for the man to insult his swordplay and walk away. Jaehaerys was angrier than he’d ever been, and it was only Boremund’s quick intervention that spared the boy from whatever retaliation Vaegon might have had in store if words had left his lips. Instead, Boremund muffled the boy with an armored hand while the king walked away, only looking back to give the boy a sinister smirk.

The war came to an end, but with every passing year his spite towards his father grew, not only for his rejection, but for the traits he had passed onto him. Though often kind, Jaehaerys found himself prone to bouts of intense anger and impulsivity, with some remarking how he was much like the king when young.

Time passed, and for the first time he truly met his brothers at the wedding of Daeron Targaryen to his cousin Argella. The groom he saw in passing, Aegon did little more than cast a glance in his direction, as did his sisters, the only one to speak with him did not even know who he was. Little Baelor spoke to him eagerly about his new toy knight without the slightest inclination who Jaehaerys was to him. The entire affair up until that point had brought him nothing but anger, and loathing towards his Targaryen siblings, but the smiling young boy reminded him that it was not their fault.

It was Vaegon’s, and that only made him hate the king more.

When a steward found Baelor talking to his brother he was rushed away, but the boy gave his brother a smile as he went, something that he counted as a good outcome for the day among all the bad.

At the tourney celebrating the nameday of his uncle, Jaehaerys rode well and won the joust, though soiled his victory with his impulsivity. Naming Rhaena Velaryon Queen of Love and Beauty, the two Valyrians found themselves having a tryst in his tent in the aftermath, and were discovered in the aftermath. For the the lady’s sake the incident was kept quiet, suppressed by the lords of Storms End and Driftmark, but the arguing between Boremund and Jaeahaerys, both bastards born, could be heard throughout the night.

In the Stormlands he was often seen with his uncle and Boremund wherever they went, including to court. When the rare lord did take offense to his presence, Jaehaerys possessed the silver tongue needed to soothe their worries with polite overtures and flattery.

He rode at tourneys, wooed maidens, and lived his life in a way that at the very least made him happy. No offers of marriage came his way, as he’d largely expected. Then the mad king slew Argella, and his indifference turned to rage.

When Daeron came to Storm’s End, Jaehaerys learned that he had lost a sister. Argella had been a shy girl, but he’d always found ways to make her laugh, then she was gone. One would think in their shared grief the two sons of the dragon might’ve come closer, but Jaehaerys’ rage left him bitter, and somehow cold.

Before the first of many battles Lynoel bestowed Jaehaerys his own coat of arms. A single black dragon on a yellow field.

“You’re a dragon boy, but you’re our dragon.” He’d told him.

In the brawl that followed not only did Lord Lyonel cross blades with his father, so did Jaehaerys with his brother. He and Aegon Targaryen clashed on that field. Aegon was a brother he loved none, but he did have to regard his younger brother’s skill at arms when the boy fought him as an equal. Fire and blood ran in both their veins, but Jaehaerys with all his fury was determined to slay the boy he’d hardly ever known and have some kind of justice for his fallen cousin.

Or did he just want revenge on his father?

Regardless, the duel was cut short by the intervention of none other than the Sword of the Morning, Vorian Dayne. Pulling the prince from the fray and fending off the bastard, it would not be the last time their swords crossed.

In the battles that followed Jaehaerys took it upon himself to serve as his uncle’s outrider, assembling a band made up not only of he and his brothers, but of any boy bearing the last name Storm. Casualties in their group were high, but the Band of Storms held fast and won themselves glory on more than one occasion.

During the Battle of Summerhall, Jaehaerys would engage the aging Lord Crakehall in a pitched duel. Though younger and in possession of all the advantages that came with that, the old boar was fearsome and infinitely more experienced. The two clashed fiercely, neither able to gain the upper hand on the other over the course of an increasingly brutal duel before a wayward horse split their engagement, and Jaehaerys lost his target among the chaos.

The war went on, and Jaehaerys’ rage grew stronger. By the time the close of the conflict came, he practically forced his way alongside the prince as they moved into the Red Keep to slay the Vile King. When he finally set eyes on the man, there were no words. Lost in anger, and years of resentment he charged for the king, only to be intercepted by none other than the Sword of the Morning.

Fighting alongside the young Lord Connington, the two fought as fiercely as they could, but luck did not favor them. The young Stormlord was knocked aside an instant before Dawn came and cleaved through his face. But he did not die.

Clutching and the bloody flapping skin, Jaehaerys would pull himself up off the stones of the throne room fueled by nothing but anger and see his father run through with Dawn. It was over in an instant, and he’d never so much as crossed swords with the man. Twenty two years of life, and his father had spoken to him only once, then he was dead. The monster was dead.

He wanted to feel some satisfaction, but instead he only felt empty, and pain. Though Dawn had missed his eye and the wounds would be healed in time, his face would remain grievously scarred along with some lasting damage to the use of that side of it.

In the immediate aftermath of the battle Jaehaerys began to roam the halls of the Red Keep once it had been fully surrendered to Daeron, filled with melancholy and wondering what life might’ve been for him had he lived in the palace like his brothers and sisters. It was only then that he had the clue to see to the prisoners.

Rallying his brother Criston and several others of the Band of Bastards, he saw to the release of Vaegon’s prisoners within the black cells, including his distant cousin Lady Jenny Dragonfly of High Heart among others. Then he sought nothing more than to be alone.

He did not attend his father’s burning, instead venturing across the Stormlands to let the many tavern wenches, whores, nurses, and ladies of the Stormland’s whose sons had died under him know of their deaths. The fathers certainly couldn’t be counted on to do it. The band ought to have disbanded, but instead the group remained together, tight knit and inseparable, brothers one and all.

So they went on together, as one.

Family
Jaehaerys has a complex relationship with his family. While incredibly close to his fellow Storms and Baratheon cousins, he hardly knew his Targaryen kin for the majority of his life, only growing close to Daeron and Heleana during the Defiance. Raised as more or less the son of Lyonel Baratheon, his uncle's children are also essentially his brothers and sisters as well.

Two of his cousins, Lady Rhaena Velaryon and Princess Heleana Targaryen each at one point had been lovers of the bastard thanks to his ever present impulsivity, a trait passed down from his mother.

Tourneys & Battles
Being the warrior that he is, Jaehaerys has competed in numerous jousts and melees, having won the joust at the tournament celebrating his uncle's nameday in 378, and having faced his father several times in melee and tourney. Despite being bested by Vaegon in the final duel of the melee at Casterly Rock, he managed to defeat the former king in the joust at the tourney of the royal wedding at Storm's End. Neither earned him even a passing remark from Vaegon.

Present
Jaehaerys has kept his Band of Bastards from the Defiance together, now as a sellsword company. What the future holds for him is uncertain.

Timeline
358: Born

369: Fights in the Lysene Spring

377: Is knighted by Boremund Baratheon

378: Wins the tourney at Storm’s End

379: Participates in the Dragon’s Defiance alongside his younger half-brother. Notably duels Aegon Targaryen and Crake Crakehall in separate battles, each with no clear victor. Slays the uncle of Lord Oakheart. Is present in the throne room to see his father day, his face is badly damaged by Vorian Dayne.

Family tree
https://www.familyecho.com/?p=UT90B&c=2pmx7qjv3b&f=537446847500925035