Albin Massey

Albin was born the third son of Lord Massey, a place in the line of succession that usually led nowhere. A curve in his spine left him lame from childhood, and his family sent him to the Citadel to forge a maester's chain, the path reserved for sons who would not inherit.

That future came apart in 47 AC, when a sudden fever killed his father and the two brothers ahead of him. Albin left his studies and returned to Ballarroca to take charge of a house that suddenly had no one else to lead it.

When Jaehaerys I came of age and reshaped his Small Council, he gave Albin the office of Master of Edicts in 50 AC. The leg he dragged did nothing to stop him from earning the king's trust.

When Daemon Velaryon stepped down as Hand four years later, Jaehaerys considered Albin for the post, but worried his limp would make the realm see him as ignorant or sinister. Albin settled the matter himself, in words that have stuck to his name: "They look at me and see a villain. I can serve you better from the shadows."

He stayed on the council instead, and from there joined a small circle the king liked to joke was his council within the council: Septon Barth, Grand Maester Benifer, and Queen Alysanne, all bent on folding every scattered law of the Seven Kingdoms into one code.

Lord Albin died in 59 AC, in King's Landing, when a particularly harsh winter wore down his health until the chills took him.