Queen Joanna Velaryon

Name Joanna Velaryon

Position Queen Consort

Rank Queen

Basic Info
Personality
History

Character Information

Gender		Female
Race		First Men
Age		30
Home Kingdom		The Reach

Physical Appearance

Height		5'11"
Weight		143 lbs.
Hair Color		Blond
Eye Color		Blue
Physical Description		Joanna is a strikingly tall woman who carries herself with confidence. Her blue eyes are thoughtful and sometimes hold a far off, dreamy look. Her golden hair spills in waves over her shoulders when not worn up.

Family

House		Hightower
Spouse		None
Children		None
Father		Brandon Hightower
Mother		Shella Fossaway
Brother(s)		None
Sister(s)		None
Other Family		Jon Hightower (Uncle, Commander of the Oldtown City Watch) Myrcella Cuy (wife of Jon) Alixander Hightower (son of Jon and Myrcella) Maester Edmure (Uncle) Uthor Flowers (Bastard cousin, guard)

Personality & Traits

General Overview		Joanna is a thoughtful, bookish, independent minded woman.
Ambitions		To be an effective patron of the Order of Maesters To secure a good match To promote learning and maintain peace
Hobbies & Interests		Ravencraft, history, cyvasse, astronomy, knowledge of other cultures

Personal History

Joanna was the only child of the fourth son of old Lymond Hightower, Lord of the Hightower and Voice of Oldtown. She was named in the Light of the Seven. As a young child, she had hardly any reason to expect the Hightower would ever be hers. Her father's two oldest brothers, Ser Urrigon and Ser Durran, were both skilled knights and capable leaders of men and both were wed to prominent ladies (Margaery Celtigar and Rhaena Westhill, respectively) that came with dynastic connections and high hopes of producing many heirs. Combined with the many Hightower cousins, things seemed secure enough for the next oldest son, Edmure, to become a Maester, growing in knowledge and further cementing the family's ancient ties with the Citadel. The fourth was Joanna's father and the fifth and last the ambitious Ser Jon. Lord Lymond's only daughter, Arianne, was married off to Brandon Blackwater to help that relatively new House polish their pedigree and restore the relationship between Oldtown and Highgarden after two generations of resentment.

Joanna loved Oldtown growing up. She loved to run through the narrow streets. She loved how the city came alive on a summer's night. She loved the heavy scents and the taste of fresh plucked melons, peaches, and pomegranates.

Joanna was fascinated by the history of her family and their association with the Citadel and the Faith. She learned from Maester Viserys, assigned to the Hightower, and from correspondence with her Uncle Leyton. She loved the idea that the Hightowers and the first people in Oldtown might have even predated the First Men, being the descendants of traders and explorers who dealt with the Children of the Forest. She learned of Uthor of the Hightower who had been a King in his own right who had commissioned none other than Brandon the Builder to construct it. She learned of how King Peremure had invited all manner of philosophers and healers and priests and magicians to Oldtown and how King Urrigon had granted them land along the Honeywine which became the Citadel. She learned how Lord Damon had been the first of the major First Men leaders to accept the Faith of the Seven and how Lord Triston had raised the Starry Sept. She learned of the wars between Hightower and Highgarden when House Gardener had ruled there before the Conquest and how they had intermarried and eventually formed one Kingdom of the Reach. Seated in Highgarden, yes, but the Lords of the Hightower never forgot their role nor when they had been Kings. Lord Manfred Hightower and the High Septon of the day had crowned Aegon in Oldtown after the last Gardener King had marched off to die by dragonfire and Manfred had bound his destiny to the Targaryens and the Tyrells who had been stewards of the Gardeners.

Even more than that, she loved ravens and mathematics and healing, knowledge of the stars and seasons and far off lands. She loved the maesters and the whole culture of learning. She could often be seen lingering when her father or grandfather had business with the Citadel and she constantly nagged her Uncle Leyton and Maester Edmure who was bound to the Hightower itself. However, as she grew up, she grew frustrated that women could not be maesters. She knew some boys who she thought knew less than her who would. Where some girls complained that they could not be knights or imagined themselves as warrior kings, she wished to be a scholar. She put off finding a husband. None of the suitors she'd had interested her. Even those she might have liked sought to reduce her to a role she did not relish. She briefly considered becoming a septa but she was too interested in other cultures. She did not want to be bound to such a narrow path. She had pleasure enough from her books.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck her family. Ser Durran and her father died in a storm at sea. Ser Urrigon and Lady Margaery were not blessed with heirs. They had one daughter, Rhaenys, who tragically died at the age of eight. Ser Durran also had a bastard son, Uthor, whom he loved dearly but who could never inherit. Ser Durran was struck down by illness before he had more children. Lord Lymond and his wife Lady Lynesse were heartbroken. So was Joanna.

When her grandfather passed a few years later, that left Joanna as the heir. It was a precarious position for a woman, especially one without a husband. Joanna was too young to be a grandame and too old to be a young maid. Her unmarried status and interest in scholarship led to unflattering comparisons with MalBeacon of the South, Defender of Oldtown, Defender of the Citadel, Lady of Oldtown, Lady of the Hightower, Voice of Oldtown. The House's situation was still strong by any objective measure. They had bannermen of their own, riches from the trade of Oldtown, and many sworn swords. True, she was not a Lady Paramount. She was subject still to the Blackwaters in Highgarden as her ancestors had been subject to the Tyrells and Gardeners before them but the House had held no other status since long before the Conquest. No, the precariousness was in her personal position, though it was one other Houses might exploit.

Many wanted her to marry. Others, including her Uncle Jon, wanted her to do no such thing, for that would place the ancient Hightower holdings in the hands of another House through mere chance of heredity. Of course, that he would succeed her must also have been part of the calculation. He clearly did not enjoy taking orders from a woman, especially not one so much his junior. She takes her duties as Defender of the Citadel very seriously but is not sure the Conclave or the Seneschal feel the same about her. Some of them still see the girl she was butting her head where it doesn't belong. Her greatest trust is in her own Maester, her Uncle Leyton, and her bastard cousin. Leaving both behind to tend her affairs, she has come to King's Landing to make the Voice of Oldtown heard at court, to chose a successor to King Waynn, and perhaps to find a husband.