Claret Holiday

Golden Lance

**Claret Holiday**, also known as **Tamsyn** or **Lance Noble Violet**, is a human vampire who grew up in Red House and later came to lead a mercenary force known as the Red Rank Irregulars, while secretly being a member of the Golden Lance, later forming a splinter version of the force outside Marielda. She appears as a player character in the *Winter in Hieron* Holiday Special.

## Appearance

Claret has curly, dark red hair and a dark complexion with pouty lips. She wears a military-style jacket and pants and carries a sabre. She walks intently, and rooms feel cold when she is in them. Her skin appears more flush when she is draining life from others.

## History

### The Quiet Year

After the chaos and upheaval of Marielda being pulled from the mainland, the young Tamsyn found herself orphaned, living alone in the large Red House of Canopy Row. Soon thereafter, when a young nobleman demanded rights to her family home, she ended up killing him with a fireplace poker.

Over the course of the year, Tamsyn became a community leader in Canopy Row. As class tensions flared, she led a mob to the Golden District where they destroyed and sank the magical boat that the wealthy had built to sail the flaming seas.

However, Tamsyn eventually parted ways with the community, when they chose to accept the 'other Hedy' even with the knowledge that the real Hedy had died in the forest. She chose to leave Canopy Row, and joined the newly formed army. When Maelgwyn disappeared during training exercises, she stepped up as their leader, and would soon see heavy fighting as Samot's invading forces arrived.

### Later endeavors

Claret and her Red Rank Irregulars held an alliance with The Six during the events of the interlude season. Though the origins of her vampirism are unclear, it is at this point that she clearly was one. After The Six retrieved Bolster Valentine's *Mortal Liminality: On the Space Between Life and Death* for her from Memoriam College, she helped them win their war with the Fontmen.

During the extended downtime after The Valentine Affair, Claret extended her control over all of Violet Parish and the northwestern parts of Quince and Chrysanthemum. Her goal was to make inroads through Quince to gain power in Orchid, and at this point she started going by the name Tamsyn again to make it clear why she felt she has rights to the area. She also maintained her Golden Lance commission as Lance Noble Violet but, ashamed of being an authority figure, was never public about it. As the Lance Noble assigned to remain in Marielda on High Sun Day, Claret does not ride the train to Samothes' palace with The Six.

Claret returned in the *Winter in Hieron* Holiday Special, looking to regain control of Red House. As the leader of the Red Rank Irregulars, she could provide a degree of protection from external forces such as the church, but her own interests did not always dovetail with those of the shopkeepers.

After the events in Red House, Claret fled Marielda with Lilith R'ion and the two of them established the Golden Lance outside of the city as traveling justice-bringers outside traditional conventions of law and order. A separate entity from the Golden Lance inside the city, they forged treaties which seemed to give them authority in other lands.

## Origin

Claret was named with her vampirism in mind; "claret" is a British term for red Bordeaux wine that can also be used as slang for blood.

## Notes

1. ↑ Claret becomes a major character after County leaves the Fellowship.

## See also

* List of characters in the Quiet Year
* List of characters in The Six's arc
* List of characters in the *Winter in Hieron* Holiday Special

## References

1. ↑ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/claret

*Winter in Hieron*: "Homes and Promises" · "Pits and Ladders"