House Waynrite

The most noble House of Waynrite is an extinct aristocratic family formed in 880AE as bannermen of House Blackthorne. They are among the few noble houses in the Thunderlands who cannot boast descent from the Stormlords. The first of the name was a lowborn soldier, the son of a butcher, who fought bravely enough in the Second Blackthorne Civil War to warrant a knighthood. Lord Arthur Hawthorne (the incumbent ruler of the Whiteoak Plains, a large island that served as the seat of the most powerful Blackthorne bannermen) had risen in rebellion, and thus had their lands and titles stripped from them. The plains were thus divided between several loyal knights, and Waynrite was given the largest share. Over the years, Waynrite's descendants managed to absorb the other houses and thus receive recognition as a noble house. The fertile lands of the Whiteoak plains give the Waynrites bountiful wealth through farming, but other noble houses know them for their "weaselly" features and uncouth personalities. The reigning lord is elderly Orys. He has four children; his daughter, Estelle, is wed to Dominic Blackthorne. He also has triplet sons, each a renowned military figure. The eldest, Daxter, is considered a "cripple" for his hunchback and clubfoot, while the secondborn Axl has a tarnished reputation due to his cruelty. It is thus believed that the House will be given to the thirdborn Jaxon Waynrite upon his father's death.
By 1015AE, Estelle Waynrite remains wed to Dominic Blackthorne and dwells in Everglow with their two children. Her widower father Orys Waynrite sits on the Bloodhawk's war councils and is one of his most ardent supporters. Daxter Waynrite, his firstborn, has been given personal command of the City Guard, enforcing Dominic's law in the confines of the city with an iron fist. Sir Axl Waynrite helps lead the Blackthorne armies and remains a favored pawn of the Bloodhawk. Sir Jaxon Waynrite was sent to kill a group of cultists by Jaster Blackthorne, but was captured and indoctrinated by their leader Steerpike. Jaxon's wife Hallie and their daughters returned to the Whiteoak Plains after the death of his son Jason at Jaster's wedding. His only living son Jenys Waynrite serves his cousin Jacques Blackthorne as a squire. 
Orys, Jaxon and Daxter were killed during the 2nd Demon War, leaving Axl in charge of the family. The Waynrites rose against the Blackthorne Monarchy in the Aradian Civil War, starting 1016AE. Lord Axl married Daena Thormund; she was said to have died in 1021AE in childbirth, though it is commonly thought he killed her himself in a fit of rage after she miscarried his heir. Axl went into hiding in Brecilidia until his death in 1024; it is thought that he sired one son from a High Elven woman who did not survive the birth, a bastard who had subsequently taken on the family name--the notorious mercenary, Baxter Waynrite.
Other members of the household have died out as of 1086AE; Queen Talia made a concerted effort to prevent the family from regaining their ancestral lands, preferring instead to gift the Plains to her more loyal followers in House Falmar. Axl's heirs were his brother Jaxon's issue. Jenys spent years in exile in the Nagari prison camp until his death in 1036AE, executed under the eye of Sir Caradoc Rookwood for trying to stir up sedition against the working conditions. Elsie Waynrite was at first married to Valus Thormund but after his death and the capture of Thunderclap Redoubt, she was taken into custody by the Crown; she managed to subsequently win the affections of Lord Gerold Highcliffe and became his second wife, giving him two sons named Caradoc and Thisobard before dying alongside him in the Red Death of 1075AE. Maisie Waynrite, the youngest of the three, was rushed into a marriage with Rafe Spinner in 1017AE and subsequently died birthing a son named Maddox, who was later taken into Crown custody while still an infant. Ser Arianne Wildthorne took an interest in the boy's upbringing and ensured he got raised by a decent foster family; he grew up without resentment towards the Crown and believing his family to be failed traitors. After pursuing a military career he later married Daena Falmar and was happy to allow his children with her to not take on the Waynrite name. Maddox died in 1075AE during the Red Death, the family ending with him.
While his paternity is questionable and his legitimacy even more so, Baxter represents the last user of the Waynrite name and the House is considered extinct as of 1086AE.
Category:Noble Houses