Lackner Wrencrest

Ser **Lackner Wrencrest** is a knight of House Wrencrest and is the younger brother of Lord Bennard Wrencrest. He was a friend of Felix Carter and Lord Jarys Barrmount from teenagehood until the Brother's Rebellion divided them.

## Biography

Lackner was born in 363 as the thirdborn child of Lord Harald Wrencrest and Lady Ivagneth Cobner, two years after his brother Bennard. During childhood, the brothers did not spend much time together; Bennard had an affinity for sewing clothes and tapestries and engaging in other visual arts, whereas Lackner was a rowdy, bull-hearted boy who enjoyed wrestling, racing, and other traditionally masculine activities. To channel his boorish nature into something productive, Harald sent Lackner to the nearby Castle Barrmount to be fostered by his liege lord, Lord Barrmount. This way, he met Jarys Barrmount, and, through him, Felix Carter, and the three became legendary friends.

Lackner eventually drew Bennard into their antics, and though he participated in much of their carousing, he was never a true part of the mischievous trio. Harald eventually sent Bennard off to Sol for university. Lackner was a great soldier, and eventual knight, of great renown. He was known for being a deft rider atop his fine horse Storm, a destrier of the Wrencrests' own white-haired Daraldian breed. Alongside Jarys and Felix, he often fought for Felix's father, Ice Lord Quinton the Cruel. One of Lackner's most notable kills was that of his second cousin Wolff Skagerlly, whom he slew in single combat after Quinton sent him, Felix, and Jarys to bring the marauding Skagerlly to justice.

After many years of whoring with his friends, he fell deeply in love Cleina, the beautiful daughter of his brother-in-arms Sir Abner Baben, and Abner rewarded Lackner with her hand in marriage after he saved his life in battle. Their wedding celebration was an extravagant event to which much of the Iron Plaines elite were invited, as well as House Torck, Lackner's in-laws via Bennard's marriage to Adelhayd Torck. Notably, the wedding was attended by House Wrencrest's estranged Reaper's Skull: Lord Edwald III and his sister-wife Harmitana, along with their decadent, troublemaking son Edwald IV and his new Araedian wife, Esmeralda. Lackner's marriage was a happy one, and two years later his daughter Feineth was born.

Lackner's entire life began to come undone from the moment Felix began his rebellion against Marshall. Lackner was with Felix when he made his declaration, and he was at Snowhall when Lord Gareth Torck, his brother-in-law, swore his loyalty to the rebel Carter. Felix sent Lackner to secure the loyalty of his brother at Wrencrest and lead his house's army against Marshall. However, when he arrived, he found that Bennard was staunchly in support of Marshall, believing that no good would come from closing off the Witherlands to their neighbouring kingdoms.

Lackner tried to convince Cleina to grab Feineth and run off with him to Snowhall, but she refused. Lackner had not chosen Felix's side after deep deliberation on the political issue, but out of an instinctual devotion to his friends. He soon made the bitter choice to put his family first and fought alongside his brother for three years of bloody conflict. The relatively short stretch of forestland between Wrencrest and Castle Barrmount became a blood-soaked battleground, and Wrencrest endured three long, dreadful sieges during the conflict. The Wrencrest's would have been defeated if Yaron Barrmount had not chosen the loyalist side, weakening Castle Barrmount's military strength and fostering a robust pro-Marshall element in the Iron Plaines. Bennard and Lackner rode out with their skilled cavalry force to fight across the region, and even against Torck forces in eastern Great Walk.

At the end of the rebellion, things took a terrible turn. When the war began, Lackner's nephew Hulward had been one of Jarys' squires. Cut off from his kin, Hulward had fought for Felix under Jarys for all three years of the conflict. Not long after Adelhayd escaped back to Wrencrest after her brother had taken her in a hostage transfer two years earlier during the war, the family received word that Hulward and Jarys' other squires had escaped back to Castle Barrmount after the failure of the Siege of Grand Stead. Lackner, Bennard, and Adelhayd all road to Castle Barrmount and, along with the family's of the other squires, begged Yaron Barrmount for clemency. Yaron relented, and subjected the squires to public humiliation instead. When Yaron had Jarys and his fellow traitors in his grasp, Lackner pleaded for him to spare them as well. His request was denied, and he watched his friends, as well as Jarys' wife Jenneth, lose their heads.

Lackner became bitter and depressed and fell into alcoholism. Though Hulward became Lackner's squire so that the boy could finish his journey to knighthood, Lackner has barely tended to his duty, along with the rest of his responsibilities. Sir Baben, his old friend and father-in-law, had been brutally executed near the gates in full view of the household during a siege; Lackner failed to commiserate with his grieving wife and daughter in the wake of this loss. His marriage has been slowly decaying ever since.

With Lackner having not the inclination nor energy to do his marital duties, Cleina was even caught in bed with Sir Jeremias Beer. Sir Jeremias was disciplined, and Cleina was called a whore and a flighty adulterer by many. Lackner did not join in this namecalling. He barely reacted to the discovery; in fact, he'd been aware the entire time, though never said it out loud. It is suspected that Cleina and Sir Jeremias continue their affair with his full knowledge. Lackner barely speaks to his daughter Feineth, anymore. When not drowning his sorrows in strong ale and wine, he takes Storm out for rides around the Wrencrest land. Many fear that he is on his way to being too fat to ride.

## Personality

In his golden era with Felix and Jarys, Lackner was the shining star of House Wrencrest. In contrast to his timid brother, Lackner was bold and sociable. He was known for being deft, direct, and daring, though often insensitive, impatient, and fond of risky activities such as gambling and duelling. He was a handsome, charming youth, and he and his friends were famous for their philandering. Since the end of the war and the execution of his closest friends, Lackner has become a gloomy drunkard. These days, he is lazy, irritable, and speaks mostly in withering sarcasm.

## Appearance

Lackner is of slightly below-average height for a Witherlander man, as tall as his older brother. He has always had a slightly wider, softer face than the more angular Bennard, this trait becoming exacerbated now as he puts on weight from his drinking. The handsome, athletic youth has become a soft, tired-looking drunkard.