#𝒾𝒾. there is a savage beast in every man.

[palespawn]

ᵃˢᵒⁱᵃᶠ ᵛᵉʳˢᵉ : 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒏.

⁰⁰¹. background: astarion was born and raised in lys, a mercantile city and one of the nine free cities of essos. despite the title, the city is best known for its roots in the slave trade, which his family profited off of and rose to prominence as magisters of lys. astarion's father was a magister on the elected council, a position he took over once he studied and came of age, and as his father's health declined. his family also profited off of astarion's looks, features strikingly similiar to the unique traits of valyrians ( white / silver hair, which is revered in lys ) which invited many propositions and potential consorts [ sidebar: while astarion may have a valyrian relative lost somewhere in his ancestry, this is purely speculation ]. during his last years as a magister, astarion met cazador ― one of the city's most prominent procurers. the two had been in the early stages of brokering a wealthy alliance, of sorts, before cazador orchestrated astarion's downfall and capture.

⁰⁰². magister turned vampire slave: astarion's disappearance had been sensationalised throughout the city, and he was soon declared missing. while rewards were offered for his safe return, days after he was presumed dead. in actuality, he was beneath the city, in an oubliette of cazador's making. for weeks he was abused and tortured, all manner of cruelty was inflicted upon him. a month into his captivity, cazador introduced him to the white bat. the white bat, or white vampire bat, is a creature that originates from sothoroyos ― an uncharted continent south of essos. during his early years as a procurer of less illicit means, cazador had come across the white vampire bat in his travels and was bitten. the decades that followed had involved experimentation on both himself and captured lower class civilians, with some exposed directly to the bite of the bat or it's blood. those exposed often died, and any who survived were later killed as they posed too much of a threat to cazador's existence. those he sought out much later, such as astarion, were instead bitten by cazador, and named his " vampire spawn ". these spawn, much like their master, presented with traits reminsicent of the white vampire bat ( red eyes, pointed fangs and ears, a taste for blood and longevity ).

⁰⁰³. dance of dragons: during this time, astarion is subtly reintroduced to lyseni society. his past life is gone, too many years have passed now for people to recognise him ― his family and those he once knew are now dead. he is a slave of cazador's, found primarily in any of his pillow houses scattered throughout lys. he is made to act as both a courtesan and scout, attracting prominent clientele to bring back to cazador. he's eventually permitted to neighbouring cities and beyond to procure on behalf of his master. near the end of the dance, rumors begin to circulate as more and more noble men and women go missing, coincidentally in the vicinity of cazador's establishments and often last seen in the company of his spawn. this prompts cazador to go into hiding, which by extension prompts astarion to try and abscond. this attempt fails and he's brought back and sealed in his old oubliette for a century.

⁰⁰⁴. post-dance to present: astarion continues to serve as cazador's puppet following his release for another fifty years. however, during one of cazador's many banquet's for the lyseni elites, astarion flees again― this time, for good. he makes it to braavos, and after weeks of thieving, deceiving and begging on the streets for the sake of survival, he ends up being indoctrinated into a known assassin's guild, the faceless men. here, he acquires the necessary skills to take on contracts and avoid recognition and recapture. however, he struggles to uphold the faith in the guild's god of death. the constraints of the guild coupled with his increasing desire for revenge on cazador interferes with his ability to abide by the creed of the faceless men. he defects and flees once more, and his whereabouts from here on out depends on the thread. he traverses essos in search of power and purpose or seeks passage on a braavosi ship, sun seeker, on route for westeros.