Name:
Jaera "Jace" Fisher

Age:
Twenty two years of age.

Titles:
Squire

Origin:
outskirts of Caerleon

Allegiance:
House Ralei

Family:


Personality:
A loyal member of the knights, Jace is a rather straightforward individual. Jace prefers actions to words and would rather get something done than hear nobles squabble over it for hours at a time. Jace's bluntness often results in trouble, even if that bluntness comes from a kind place. Jace trains often, preferring to hone her skills of the blade in order to fufill her dream of being in the Kingsguard one day. She also recognizes that what she's doing could get her killed, if not on the battlefield then by a noble insulted by her lies. She simply doesn't seem to care, as long as she is able to do what she loves. She is actually very polite spoken when in formal settings, still blunt, but often eased with many pleases and thank yous. Around people she knows fairly well, her more rural accent comes out and her words tend to slur together. Often times, when she speaks with her accent, people ask her to repeat things they didn't understand the first time.

Background:
Born on the outskirts of Caerleon, she was raised by two farmers. "Jaera", or Jace, was content to remain with her family. Until she saw a knight in action when she was five years old. She followed the knight around whenever they arrived in town, and when she was six she managed to scrape up the courage to talk to him. She told him that she wanted to be a knight too, and was told by the knight that girls can't be knights. They're too afraid of blood and weak.

This of course, had the opposite effect on young Jace. She'd been mistaken for a boy before, when she had decided to childishly cut all of her hair off, so why couldn't she try and see how far that lie could be taken? She cut her hair off and tried to enter a tourney, but the knight she'd previously admired caught her. He insisted that she couldn't be a knight, and she kept trying to be one anyway.

Eventually, he relented and trained her some, hoping that she'd grow tired of the training to become a knight quickly and decide to settle down with a family of her own and his tasks he required her to do were increasingly pointless and effort intensive. However, her skills with a sword grew by leaps and bounds and he reluctantly admitted that he would help her become a squire, because the House needed good swordsmen on their side.

Thus, Jace became a page to the house through the sponsor of the knight, and has trained rigorously to become a knight while balancing cleaning and taking care of her rude knight's armor. After she became a squire, she redoubled her efforts to become a knight, now closer than ever to her goal. She hopes to become a knight after the tourney, which would set her ahead of her plan by a large margin, and make her that much closer to becoming a Kingsguard.

Name: Isla Lear

Age: Nineteen Summers (TBD, Waiting on her brother)

Titles: Princess Isla of House Lear.

Origin: Penkarth Castle

Allegiance: House Lear and The North
Family:
Appearance: Isla has the typical color of the house Lear. Dark hair, grey/blue eyes and pale skin.

Personality: Isla has all been a very cheerful, playful and mellow soul. When she was a baby, she hardly ever cried and was quick to smile. This carried on through to her adulthood. Hard to ruffle, quick to smile. However, she is also hard to convince and, some might say, lacks the ambition to play social games. She does what she is told, but is far to content in her life to ever take the initiative that many of the lower houses’ daughters might.

Background: Still under construction

Isla was the first born child of Lord and Lady Lear. Although not the son they craved, she was a joy in her own right. A clever and pleasant child ,she hardly ever caused mischief out of lack of ambition to try and get herself out of trouble. Happy to always follow the rules. A little after her first birthday, she lost the title of 'heir' to her younger brother. As the story says, when she was told she was no longer going to rule the North, she laughed and then squished a bug.

Isla gets on well with both of her parents, always willing to hunt with her father or take tea with her mother. However, she is her father’s child in heart as soul. Always willing to listen to and sympathise with all of his plights. A step closer to friends then father and daughter. Her relationship with her mother as always been more formal, yet still loving.

Throughout her childhood, she doted on her younger siblings, occasionally calling them 'our children' when talking to her parents. Although, she wasn't spared the typically sibling mischief. To this day, she still jokingly refers to Siguard as her ‘less good looking replacement’ and Joane as her 'little copy cat'. Isla spend many sleepless nights staying as close to Siguard as her parents and nurses would allow. After, while he was still weak, she'd still try to take him outside or to various other place, willing or otherwise. Isla was also very fond of here sister and liked to think that she was the first one to know about her secret sword practice, but she could be sure.

Although Isla in nearing the age of marriage, she doesn’t have her heart set on one particular lord or even a particular house. Knowing that, thanks to her rank, she could generally have her choice of houses. She also trusted her father to select someone who would bring her contentment and that her Lord father would respect any…misgivings she’d have about an individual to save herself from marry someone she found distasteful.

"I have too often found greedy to be a word that the jealous thrust upon the successful to protect their fragile egos."

Name: Edwin Lysander

Age: Twenty eight

Titles: Lord of Whitehill, Master of Coin

Origin: Locksley Town, the West

Allegiance: Rathmore

Family: (Sister)

Personality: Ambitious and avaricious, Edwin is a man who is extremely diligent and is always looking for days to enhance his fortune... And ways to spend it, for if there is one thing he has it is a love of wealth; It is sweeter than honey and stronger than the sword, for any blade can be turned aside with a gold coin. His greed has become nearly as widely known as his ability, having acquired him the nickname "Magpie" for his efforts. He embraced it fully and went so far as to use a Magpie for the sigil of his house.

Edwin is a proud, or arrogant as some would say, man who does not forget slights easily, even if it was never meant as one in the first place. For example, he is quick to become defensive and brazen if one should suggest that his success can be attributed to divine blessing; in his own words, he did not toil tirelessly forging business partnerships and clawing his way from the dirt to have the success attributed to a magical sky fairy.

Edwin is manipulative and cunning, with a silver tongue and a talent for 'enhancing' the truth. He is capable of donning different personalities in order to get what he wants and is good at discerning what other people want.
For all his faults however he is quite a philanthropist; There are a number of orphanages in the capital which rely upon the generous donations and the tax breaks to charities that were given by the Master of Coin, though he would never admit his softness. Likewise, despite his lack of piety he remembers quite clearly that it was men of the church who taught him the skills he needed to have gone so far. Indeed, the few places where a poor man can rely on any form of charity are the churches. Though the upper clergy have found themselves hit much harder by their taxes, the poorer rural parishes have found themselves relatively secure and with occasional donation.

Background: Edwin was born in the town of Locksley some five miles from Caelorn, land belonging to Sir Richard of House Blackfly. His family were freemen who owned a moderately sized farm outside of the town and mostly made their living through herding sheep and selling the wool to the local clothier, Robert. As freemen, they were in a much better position than many of the peasants however they still lived poorly compared to the merchants and lords of the land.

The children were taught to the rudimentary aspects of literacy  by the monks of the nearby monastery in exchange for them acting as servants for the monastery. As a result of this upbringing, Edwin was raised with a strong faith however this was shattered around his twelth birthday

Edwin and his siblings often went to play around the abandoned watchtower in their youth. Tragedy struck however when his brother Aidan tripped and fell for the tower during one of their games, breaking his young body upon the rocks below. Edwin lost his faith and never regained it.

Robert was married to Edwin's aunt Lynne and it was through her that an apprenticeship was acquired for Edwin at the young age of 13 with the hopes that Edwin would eventually be able to use his training to pull the family up towards the middle classes.
To say Robert was an immoral man was to put it lightly; He often travelled to the capital on business and while there he would whore and gamble. Edwin found Robert in bed with a whore one day during one of his visits to the capital and was quick to turn the opportunity to his advantage; The young apprentice blackmailed his master and in doing so became an equal partner in the business which was characterised to the village as being part of a strong master-student relationship. In truth, Edwin held the cards and played then to his advantage.

The boy might have remained a comfortably off if unnoteworthy clothier if not for a twist of fate. The Lady Blackfly cared greatly for fashion and appearances and as fate would have it she passed through the town of Locksley on her way to the capital and was drawn to one of the display dresses that were kept in the window. Edwin was more than willing to oblige her ladyship and managed to ingratiate himself with her through discussing the various designs and fabrics and Lady Blackfly requested that a dress be made for her. 

Lady Blackfly became a frequent visitor to the clothiers and became a major patron of the business, ordering many extravagant garments be produced. Before too long Edwin had built up a trust and friendship between himself and the impressionable noble woman and had manoeuvred his sister Elizabeth into being a handmaiden to Lady Blackfly.

Six months later Sir Blackfly was rendered incapable from an injury sustained in a drunken duel and thus Lady Blackfly took over his duties as his regent; Elizabeth convinced Lady Blackfly to allow Edwin to become the treasurer of the Blackfly's estate and although there was a great deal of opposition to it amongst the landed gentry Lady Blackfly appointed Edwin to the position of treasurer.

Edwin was illiterate save for being able to recognise a few select words from memory, however he was capable of using numbers and quickly proved competent as treasurer and forged many trade links and connections. The young treasurer returned to many of his old tricks and as he handled taxation and trade, his business partners and allies found themselves subject to far better deals and his rivals found themselves strapped for cash. Before too long, Edwin had accrued an outrageous amount of money and expanded his businesses across the entire Blackfly holdings.

Edwin did not cease there however and used his new found fortune to invest in business ventures throughout the entire west and became a major banker in the realm.

In doing so he developed a reputation as a financial wizard who could seemingly draw money from thin air; Edwin could squeeze blood from a stone if need be and as such caught the attention of the crown and his appointment as Master of Coin coincided with a massive donation to the royal treasury. The self made man was considered to be a very controversial appointment by the crown and was granted a noble title and a barony as part of the arrangement in order to prevent a commoner from holding such an important position. Having ascended from being the son of a shepard to being one of the richest and important men in the realm, it was inevitable that Edwin and the newly established House Lysander would be seen as social climbers and tricksters; a reputation which is not entirely undeserved.

Edwin has spent the past three years running the affairs of the royal treasury and doing an admirable job: the crown is in surplus and has access to cheap loans through Edwin's banking connections when required. While he may never have been particularly popular among the upper echelons of society, his ability is not in question and he is well known for looking after his friends; This has given him a number of allies and secured what would be an otherwise precarious position.

"Rising with the wind."

A white Magpie carrying a golden chain, emblazoned on a field of black

The families seat is Whitehill Castle, a moderately sized castle sitting atop a hill in the West with the town of Whitehill built around the base of the hill. Although they are not a powerful family in the sense of owning a lot of land and holding a number of vassals, they are a rich family and are capable of using their wealth to exert political influence. They are often seen as social climbers by members of the older noble dynasty's at court.

Arthur Lysander
Mary Lysander
Lynne Tailor
Edwin Lysander, Lord of Whitehill and Master of Coin
Sir Peter Lysander
Elizabeth Lysander
Amelia Blackfly
Jasmine Woodvile