Lokson

*You are right here in your story. Don't skip ahead.*
Massie Burnson, *The Wreck and Rise of Whitson Mariner*, p. 32
**WARNING: SPOILERS FOR *THE ARCHER'S CUP* ARE AHEAD; CAUTION IS ADVISED.**

**L****okson** is the son of the late Lord Lokken and the fiancée of Amber Hewson. He is the leader of a small army, who joined him in his stint at Blackstone Citadel, where he hoped to reclaim his father's title as citadel lord.

## Biography

### Early life

Born as the first child, or at least son, of Lokken, Lokson loved both his father and their home in the region of Black Lake. In his youth, he met Cole and Heyna Blackstar, his father being an acquaintance of fellow lord Victor Blackstar. A rather mischievous buck, Lokson trapped Heyna in a tree fort, which proved the seed of her long-standing dislike of him. Sadly, Lokson's happy childhood was marred by his father's death due to disease.

Young Lokson came to view his father's death as suspicious, and resented Ronan for assuming the mantle of citadel lord. Having proven a disruption at Blackstone, Lokson was sent away to Harbone Citadel to continue his education. The bitter Lokson came to view this as a sentence of exile. However, at Harbone he met Amber Hewson, with whom he fell in love; the pair became engaged, though Lokson swore Amber to secrecy.

At Harbone Lokson also met and befriended Cheltham, who became like a brother. From shared mischief as children, the two grew up to be among the finest archers in Natalia. Unfortunately, Cheltham fed Lokson's growing ambition to return to Blackstone and reclaim his family's ancestral lordship. The pair eventually trained an army, recruited from Harbone's elite archery corps; rumors indicated that they did so in the mountains west of Corby.

Around the time of the Battle of Rockback Valley, Lokson and his army traveled to Blackstone. Lokson soon ascended to the office of Keymaster, replacing the recently deceased Stovall Ganes, while seeking to supplant Ronan as lord. This added to division already present at Blackstone, as Lokken's supporters vied with those of Ronan and Blackstone Hospital Matron Breelia Wilder. On top of this contention, an unknown villain calling himself Bane Graveheart began sending threatening messages to Lord Ronan.

### *The Archer's Cup*

Lokson and his army approached the newly arrived Coleden Blackstar, Heyna Blackstar, Jo Shanks, and Emma with his army behind him. After asserting that he was only concerned for Emma's safety, Lokson introduced himself as the son of the late Lord Lokken and introduced his captain Cheltham to the group as well. Lokson chatted with them briefly, then invited them to breakfast with him. Jo and Heyna joined him in the mess hall, where he introduced them to Slimmo and made idle talk.

When Cleeve Hapson approached with an abrupt summons for Emma, Lokson and his army gathered around the messenger intimidatingly. Emma joined them shortly, and Lokson introduced himself, promising to see her at the Lord's Council later. They then parted ways, with Lokson taking his seat in the council chamber. He was shocked to witness the tardy arrival of a fuming Emma, who demanded to know the cause behind her horrendous treatment. The council fell underway, with most of the discussion revolving around accusations, many of which Lokson both hurled and received. Ronan also explained the importance of Blackstone Citadel's three keymasters—himself, Lokson, and Matron Wilder—and the fact that Bane Graveheart had had keymaster-exclusive accesses in the past.

The council was suddenly interrupted by the frantic arrival of Elisabeth, who presented a new Bane Graveheart letter threatening the imminent destruction of the water gate. Lokson, accompanied by Cheltham, Jo, and Truff, rushed to the water gate and found a lit blastpowder barrel within. Cheltham was able to extinguish the fuse, and they proceeded back to the council chamber. There, they discovered that Ronan had retired, a fact that stoked Truff to accuse Lokson of being behind the attack. Lokson defended his innocence, with Matron Wilder, Emma, Cole, and Heyna joining in the fray. Matron Wilder tried to present a piece of evidence designed to deny any involvement on her behalf, but she misnamed one of Ronan's children in the process, prompting Truff to arrest her on suspicion of being Bane Graveheart.

As Matron Wilder was led away, Lokson informed the group that he must now attend to other matters, but invited them all to dine with him in his chambers that evening. At the dinner, Lokson convinced everyone to take part in a morale-boosting archer event, called the Ultimate Archer's Cup.

That night, Lokson and his army were roused by the news that Matron Wilder had escaped. At Truff's request, Lokson divided his force and spread out around Blackstone to look for her. However, their search yielded nothing, and they returned empty-handed. Lokson then had some sort of meeting with his fiancée, Amber Hewson, wherein she revealed to him Jo Shanks' interest in her. This prompted Lokson to greet Jo coldly when he returned from his search.

The next morning, Lokson breakfasted in simmering silence, unwilling to speak with Jo. The Ultimate Archer's Cup began shortly, and Lokson made it past round one easily. In the midst of round two, Jo approached him and inquired as to whether he still loved Amber, to which Lokson claimed that though he would do anything for her, he was afraid he would never be worthy of her. The competition proceeded, and Lokson was the last archer to compete in the second round. As he prepared to make his shot, he caught sight of Jo embracing Amber, who, unbeknownst to Lokson, was distraught over the discovery of yet another Bane Graveheart letter. The sight made Lokson seethe, but he focused on the competition, performing well enough to take him to the third round.

The competition took a break before the third round, during which time Lokson greeted his admirers but made no attempt to approach Amber or Jo. Shortly, the third round of the competition began, but just before his turn, he received word that Amber was in danger. He forfeited his place and made haste to the Lord's Quadrant, where he discovered that Amber had been sedated by Bane Graveheart, who was actually Slimmo, as the cook made his way to kill Ronan. He took Amber's hand where she lay, tears coming to his eyes.

Two days later, Lokson stood beside Lord Ronan as he pledged his support to The Cause. Afterwards, he and his army met Jo and Slimmo at the main gate, where he accepted a penitent Slimmo into their band to provide for them as they traveled to Halfwind Citadel. Lokson then announced his renunciation on Blackstone's lordship, asserting that he wished only to be a weapon for The Cause. He and Jo apologized to one another, with Lokson thanking the archer for showing him his own shortsightedness—especially concerning Amber. He added that he would try harder to be worthy of Amber's love in the future. He also offered his keymaster's key to Jo, but upon the latter's declination, he simply bid him farewell, expressing good wishes for the archer's future.

## Physical appearance

Described as "vibrant," Lokson is a young buck with pale red fur. Like the rest of his army, he dresses in all black.

## Personality and traits

Lokson is a courageous and honorable buck who strives to do the right thing in any situation. Despite having suffered a hard childhood, he is gallant and has excellent manners, and his natural charm and sensitivity to the needs of those around him attracted a multitude of devoted supporters. Despite these admirable qualities, however, Lokson is also extremely ambitious, to the point that he let his own desires blind him as to what was truly important. Luckily, he eventually realized this fault and corrected it, letting go of his desire to reclaim the past and focusing instead on becoming the kind of rabbit he believes his fiancée, Amber Hewson, deserves.

## Skills and abilities

Though not as well known as his right hand, Cheltham, Lokson is a skilled archer. This is demonstrated by the fact that he was one of only four archers to make it to the final round of the Ultimate Archer's Cup.

## Relationships

### Lokken

As a youngling, Lokson harbored a great love and respect for his father. After Lokken died, Lokson resented Lord Ronan for usurping his position, viewing it as an act of disrespect against his father. Later in life, Lokson strove to do justice by his father by aiming to reclaim the mantle of Blackstone Citadel's lord. However, he ultimately gave up these ambitions, finding them fruitless.

### Amber Hewson

Lokson first met the beautiful Amber during his stint at Harbone Citadel, and the two at some point entered into an engagement, though Lokson swore Amber to secrecy. Amber's loyalty to Lokson was tested, however, when Jo Shanks expressed an interest in her. This created tension between both Lokson and Amber and Lokson and Jo, with Lokson beginning to believe that he wasn’t good enough for his betrothed. Luckily, after the villainous Bane Graveheart was found and subdued, and peace returned to Blackstone Citadel, Lokson reconciled with Amber. Lokson subsequently renounced his claim on the position of Blackstone's lord, just as Amber had always wanted him to do, and made plans to journey for Halfwind Citadel, conveying to Jo a hope that he might be worthy of Amber in time.

### Cheltham

Lokson met Cheltham during his time at Harbone Citadel. Sharing a love for archery, the two young bucks became fast friends, nigh inseparable, and close allies. As they grew older, Cheltham encouraged Lokson to return to Blackstone Citadel and reclaim his father's lordship. Together, they trained an army comprised of Harbone archers, of which Lokson was leader and Cheltham captain. Although Lokson referred to Cheltham as being akin to "[his] own brother", his regard for Cheltham seemed to dwindle during and subsequent to the Ultimate Archer's Cup, as he expressed shock over his captain's fraudulent behavior during the competition.

### Ronan

Lokson spent most of his youth being resentful of Ronan, whom he believed came about the position of Blackstone Citadel's lord - a position Lokson believed was rightfully his - falsely. He even trained a small army, encouraged by his friend Cheltham, for the purpose of reclaiming his lordship, a decision which immediately put Ronan on edge about Lokken's son. In the end, however, Lokson decided to renounce his claim on the position of Blackstone's lord and travel instead to Halfwind Citadel, leaving Ronan to rule the citadel without worry of revolt.

### Jo Shanks

Lokson and Jo Shanks got off to an amiable start, due to their shared affinity for archery, but as soon as Lokson learned of Jo's intentions towards Amber Hewson, his fiancée, he treated the archer coldly and even with hostility. During the Ultimate Archer's Cup, Lokson's jealousy was heightened when he observed Jo embracing Amber, making matters worse. However, Lokson and Jo ultimately reconciled, with the both of them admitting their shortsightedness concerning Amber and expressing good wishes for the other's future.

### Cole and Heyna Blackstar

**Coleden Blackstar**: You have us. But we have met before, I think, when we were small children. Our fathers share history, I believe.

**Lokson**: I was afraid you didn't remember. Perhaps I was hoping you didn't. I was a bit of a naughty young buck.

**Heyna Blackstar**: A bit? You trapped me in a tree fort and left me there.

—*The Archer's Cup*, pg. 42 |  | ”

Lokson became acquainted with Cole and Heyna Blackstar as a youngling due to their respective fathers being friends. At one point, he trapped Heyna in a tree fort, an act which seeded her long-standing dislike of him. As an adult, Lokson was reunited with the Blackstar twins while at Blackstone Citadel for a stint. Cole's reception to his greeting was fairly amiable, but Heyna received Lokson coldly, allowing him little attention despite his verbal resentment of his mischievous actions as a child. Despite this, Lokson and the Blackstars worked together to eventually discover and bring down the villainous Bane Graveheart, and it is likely that Lokson departed from Blackstone Citadel on decent terms with both Cole and Heyna.