Varys Halford's birth parents are unknown. He was adopted as a baby by a prominent English family. Like his adoptive father, at 17 he entered Oxford. After completing a Masters degree in languages he signed up as an officer in the Royal Marines. The first conflict he saw was the Anglo-Zanzibar War, which lasted 38 minutes. Near the end of the Second Boer War he took an injury to the groin and soon after retired from the military.

In 1909, fluent in German, Italian and French, he was asked to join the fledgling Secret Service Bureau (which was to become MI5). Very little is known about his actions after he joined the intelligence unit, but among his superiors he was known for his abilities with disguise and interrogation. With his work in the intelligence community he is known only by his first name or a pseudonym. In intelligence reports he is referred to as the Spider.

RP Journal for Answer the Call ASOIAF AU.