Lance Wymund

Born a bastard of Beatrice Dacre and an unknown man from Lockeheart, Lance was a brilliant young man who climbed the ranks of Avalot from commoner to noble. He was infamous for his hand in destroying Castle Dacre and being a member of the Midnight Hands.

Background
Lance was born out of adultery to Queen Beatrice Dacre during one of her spells of loneliness in 632 AU. His birth nearly killed Beatrice and before he could even be given to her to hold, he was taken away by Gunter Newgate to be placed in an orphan home by a former prostitute named Matron Eva. He grew as a child believing Eva was his real mother, and she treated him specially over all the other children. Unfortunately, in 635 AU, Eva had returned to her old ways to help pay for the orphanage and got pregnant with the child of a young Baron Radolf Maynard. When she revealed this information to the Baron, he proceeded to stab her in front of all the children and had his men burn the orphanage down.

With her last breath, Eva gave birth to the deformed and blind child which Lance named Anathema. Lance got out with the babe just in time before the entire building came crumbling down, but Newgate assumed he had been killed in the fire. One of the other matrons at the orphanage took care of the two boys for a time, but even she abandoned them to the streets of Avo.

History
In 636 AU, Lance and his baby step-brother was struggling to survive in the gutters of Avalot's capital city. By fortunate, one of the people he had attempted to steal from to survive happened to be the Count Thaddeus Wymund. While being visited by his partner, Jamie Narvineous, Thaddeus was looking for a child whom could be trained as a member of the Court of Nobles to infiltrate them and eventually cause their downfall when he came of age. Lance agreed to become this assassin provided that Thaddeus would aid him and his dying brother. Lance was sent to Pokol for training while Anathema was given to a wet nurse. In Pokol, Lance was introduced to other fellow child assassins including Grit Maynard and Isolda Drago. Grit and Lance quickly became fast friends due to similar origins. They revealed everything to each about their pasts, eventually learning that Baron Maynard had been the cause of most turmoil in their lives. Lance, however, proved to be the most cool-headed and was assigned to Avalot, as Thaddeus had originally planned. In 647 AU, Lance passed all his assassins training and went to live with Thaddeus to pass as his adoptive son. There, he was reunited with Anathema, who had been trained in the art of medicine since they had been separated.

After learning the ways of Court, Lance was eventually ordered to assassinate Thaddeus and assume direct control over the Wymund family, committing the Midnight Hand's plans into motion. He poisoned his adoptive father in 649 AU, after Thaddeus had restored the orphanage he had grown up in for him. Lance then sent to work on the plot to destroy Avalot.

The Masquerade
Lance had a lot of preparation to line up before he could destruct an entire nation. In 650 AU, he discovered Rollin Hodgkin worked as a black market racketeer and was able to convince the killer to work for him under the promise that he could kill Lord Jop Carnell. With the proper minions, Wymund took to building a strong relation with people of Avo to eventually sow the seeds of discord when the time was right. Furthermore, he established a friendship with the Stout family, secretly began to swipe gunpowder from Maynard's supply, and amassed enough fame to personally be invited to a high spot in the Court by King Alric. It was then, in 652 AU, that he met Mary the Mute. Though their meeting was by complete accident, Lance was taken aback by the girl's strong determination and positive outlook despite living a rough life under her father, Gunter Newgate. He became fascinated with this girl and spoke with her often in secret, though he kept in touch with his old friend Grit. When he learned that Mary was, in fact, Alric's heir, his plans changed completely and he found himself falling in love with Mary.

In 655 AU, during a masquerade party, Wymund ordered the assassination of King Alric, purposely framing Mary in order to get the commoners of her side. After working with Newgate to break her out of prison, he took her away to the Stout's home of the White Hills. It was there that he faked his own death to allow himself to move freely among Avalot without being a suspect. While guiding Mary from the shadows with his agents, Anathema and Rollin, Lance started to rally the citizens of Avo against the Court of Nobles, eventually inspiring violence from both sides. He sacrificed many people in his mission to both protect Mary and weaken the Court slowly. In a matter of months, he succeeded in bringing the city to a boiling point with Emperor Juilus Narvineous burning half the city in a mad bid to cleanse it. Wymund could no longer remain in the shadows and made his reappearance. In one final assault on Castle Dacre, Lance led a riot of around one thousand commoners on the palace, only to hand the reins to Mary. Then, using his skills as an assassin, he infiltrated the most secure places of the party and murdered both the Emperor and Maynard before saving Newgate from his rogue subordinate, Rollin. After explaining to Newgate an outline of what had been transpiring these many months, Lance was sure to leave out details concerning the Midnight Hands for the captain's protection. He also insisted Newgate take Anathema to safety as he performed his final service to Mary by eliminating the very symbol of Avo itself, Castle Dacre.

Through gunpowder kegs placed throughout the castle ahead of time, Wymund detonated the palace but not before he came to the conclusion that Queen Beatrice was his real mother. Overwhelmed by the sudden revelation, the two embraced as the castle exploded in a fireball killing them both.

Legacy
Wymund's actions in the last months of his life inspired the commoners to be more vocal against the Court of Nobles. In addition, Mary found herself desiring to follow the path he set before her and become a Lady of the Court in order to bring change to Avalot. The nobles, however, saw his name as taboo and attempted to completely scrub him from history altogether. Grit, on the other hand, cursed Wymund's name, whom he had believed had betrayed him. Regardless, Lance's actions had caused a ripple that would change everything for the rest of the world.

Personality
While in his early life, Wymund held a bitter and cynical outlook on things caring only for revenge, in time he grew to appreciate the beauty of life and family. To his friends, he would often seem cocky and confident, though that was merely a mask to hide his true intentions. He was never in love until he met Mary, and even then that relation had more to do with respect more than anything else. Above all, Wymund excelled at manipulating people into doing things for him. It was one of the reasons why he was chosen to lead the mission to destroy Avo. In the end, he realized all he truly wanted was a family.