The self-styled lord of Stargazer Keep (19.04). The grandson of one of the younger sons of one of the lords of the night men. This younger son was driven out in disgrace and founded Stargazer Keep.
The current Lord Ward is a thin man who is prone to inaction and fits of depression, but he still retains the mastery of the blade that made him famous (but never wealthy) in his youth and is a man of honor. He welcomes all guests and never asks payment for food and bedding beyond sitting still and listening to his acid tongue. Rare guests that please him are given a young blind dog as a gift, which is a rare honor, as he will not part for them otherwise for any amount of money. Although Lord Ward is now a widower, his wife bore him many children before dying in childbirth and his three daughters are remarkably beautiful.
The Childhood of Mikhal Ward
Mikhal Ward is a bore and an eccentric these days, but few have had more extraordinary childhoods than he. According to castle gossip, at least, he was the son of an imprisoned cataphract from the Golden Realm and the Thringish sorcerer who dared creep into the oubilette and tell her of the outside world.
The cataphract’s bindings were too strong for the sorcerer to break, but after Mikhal turned two the sorcerer spirited him away to be raised free.
Unfortunately, father and son passed through the Kingswood and were set upon by the Bastard Prince. The sorcerer was known to the Prince, and had promised his firstborn son in thanks for some forgotten favour. Mikhal was handed over.
For the next ten years, Mikhal was raised by the cold Prince, who taught him the art of astrology and warned of the dangers that stare out of the stars.
There he may have remained, but for the return of his father. The sorcerer bore triumphantly a shrivelled body. According to the sorcerer, he had fathered another child two decades ago, who had died in its first month. The mother had kept the pregnancy and birth from him until then.
The Prince solemnly accepted the body, and released Mikhal into his father’s arms. A few days later, the cries of a child could be heard from the tower.
Connections
- Lord Ward keeps watch at night for falling stars so that he can recover them before they hatch (22.10).
Hooks
- What did Lord Ward do with his sword when he was young that won him fame?
- Tell me more about the beautiful daughters!
- What adventures did Mikhal have in the Prince’s tower?
- Who was the cataphract, why was she imprisoned and who was keeping her?
- Was the dead child truly the sorcerer’s? And did the Prince bring it back to life? It must be an adult now, if so.
- What does Lord Ward think of the Prince now?
- Is the sorcerer still alive? Did he ever free the cataphract?
- Wait, is Lord Ward the great-grandson of a lord of the night people, or the child of a Thringish sorcerer and a Golden Realm cataphract?