Malcolm Blackthorne

Malcolm Blackthorne was the secondborn son of Arthur Blackthorne and his wife Therese Mannister. He succeeded his father and became the Fourth Lord of House Blackthorne at the age of only 14 years, but would go on to rule the family for almost 40 years. With three wives, he sired 8 children, in addition to a single bastard son. Malcolm was mentored for the lordship from a young age by his mother, in addition to his uncle Gyles Blackthorne who served him as Hand of the House. Malcolm's ownership of the title was associated with a long period of relative peace for the Blackthorne family; his valuing of stability and co-operation with the mainland, especially following on from his often harsh predecessors, earned him the nickname of "The Good Griffin." Malcolm was well-liked and admired by the realm, and his sudden and violent death at the hands of his cousin Sir Lucas Blackthorne was seen as an outrage that almost plunged the realm into war.
== Appearance and Character ==
Even as a very young boy, Malcom was as tall and powerful-looking as his father. As he matured he developed a large, muscular frame and a distinctive deep, booming voice which would have seemed intimidating if not for the cheerful persona of the man who owned them. Malcom had Stormborn coloration with red hair and grey eyes; by the time he'd turned 20 he'd grown a scarlet-colored chest length beard, and though he went bald in the later years of his life, he was still considered an attractive and charismatic individual.
Malcolm was a cheerful man with an easy laugh and a ribald sense of humor; he enjoyed feasting, drinking and singing, and had a reputation as being rather lustful, though this exterior masked his canniness and cunning when it came to dealing with other Lords. He was not a martial man and valued stability and peace over military dominance.
== History ==
Malcolm was the second son of the Conqueror Griffin, Lord Arthur Blackthorne. He was the youngest in the family, and was not expected to inherit any substantial power; that honor would go to his elder sibling Jarvis, while his sisters Clara and Serra left home early in life (though for very different fates). Malcom showed early military promise as a squire for his grandfather Lord Walter Mannister, and received a knighthood at 17, but never really had a great deal of interest in the arts of war. Those honors went to his elder brother, who outshone him at every martial task. Malcom was not resentful of this and was happy to leave the warfare to someone else, though he did not anticipate having to take lordly duties for himself, for in 382AE his father and brother died, leaving him in charge of the house at only 14 years of age.
but Malcolm did not take control of the House until he was almost twenty, for his young age meant that he was inexperienced in the role. To assist him, his mother took the role of regent before her death in 389AE, and his uncle Gyles took on the newly created position of Hand of the House. In the first year of his lordship he was wedded to Jacinta Highcliffe, a girl two years his senior. It was an arranged marriage and the two did not immediately warm to each other; it took several years before their first child, named Jason after the founder of the family, was born in 385AE. That was followed by another son, Gareth, in 388AE and a daughter Gwenavere in 390AE. A bout of influenza swept Stormrise Isle in 395AE and carried Malcom's wife and infant daughter off with it, though his sons survived. Malcom tried not to allow this to dampen his spirits, for his negotiations with the Everglow Senate had resulted in the de-escalation of tensions with the Orcs in the Marshlands. Malcom vowed that his men would not have to march to war so long as he lived, and once exposed to his personal jolly charisma many of the lords in the realm soon agreed with him.
One of the last acts by Gyles before his death was to decree that Malcolm should marry again. To placate his aging Hand, Malcolm took the first bride offered; he wed Rhaenora, daughter of his bannerman Lord Boros.Thormund in 398AE. The girl was 12 years his junior, and was not impressed with the wenching her new husband had grown fond of since becoming a Widower. Their unending arguments and fights resulted in a disastrous marriage. They had four daughters together, the two eldest of whom were executed for witchcraft before they turned ten; the two that lived to adulthood, Helaena and Mae, were married into the mainland nobility. Malcolm continued his use of prostitutes throughout the marriage, and by one girl he produced a bastard son called Arthur in 401AE. When Rhaenora found out about this she was so furious that she refused to ever be in the same room as him again; the couple formally separated thereafter.
Towards the end of his life Malcom had achieved a peaceful realm that contrasted sharply with his tempestuous past marriage. His son Jason had married a High Feline woman for love and therefore could never have heirs, but his second son Gareth was wed to Vivienne Karhall and they had a son together named Glendon, plus a daughter, Felicity. Seeing his sons happy in their unions made Malcolm want a bride of his own choosing, and he achieved that with his marriage to the Brecilidian merchant's daughter Megara in 420AE. Megara was pregnant with a son when a war broke out between the Everglow Senate and the Eastern king, Kronos. Malcolm pledged to lend his fleet to help the effort. The Blackthorne Armada engaged with Creon's ships in the Battle by the Tropics; they won a pyrrhic victory that day, for Malcom watched the ship containing his sons and grandson sink and cause their deaths. As he watched this over the railing of his dromond, his cousin Lucas gave him a single push, and the Good Griffin went to his death in the sea below.
== Legacy ==
Lucas, who had murdered his predecessor, ignored the child Megara was pregnant with and declared himself Lord in 420AE, forever after cursed to be known as the Usurper Griffin. Lucas had grown to despise his cousin's placid, peacemaking ways; he was a fierce warrior, and spurred on by his sorceress lover, came to believe the whole realm ought to be subjugated under House Blackthorne's might. Megara fled to Brecilidia and gave birth to Malcom's son Lancelot while sheltering with her family. Lancelot grew to adulthood while Lucas put down uprising after uprising, turning all his friends against him, and by the time the boy returned to Stormrise Isle in 436AE he found Lucas dead upon his own sword. Lancelot Blackthorne took hold of the realm as the 6th Lord of House Blackthorne thereafter, and thus Malcom's legacy won out over the man who had killed him.