Benjamin Lascelles
Personality
Benjamin Lascelles was a man with a multifaceted personality to present in the faces of all of those who met him. When Benjamin Lascelles first came to Kara, he came as an angry peasant, coming from a land where being common was tantamount to being worthless, who felt he had something to prove. From a placce where one of his personality traits of refusing to pick up any item for fear of being kicked in the head, was born. It was there, in this anger and distrust, that formed the first facet that people came to identify themselves with. At a young age, Benjamin learned that if he just kept talking, people would listen, and he could spend any tale he needed to spin to rise above other people. If he simply acted as if he was strong, powerful, violent beyond any measure, then a handful of people just might believe it. Benjamin was egotistical and arrogant, but he was also meticulous and conniving, making sure that any enemies he had were the enemies he wanted. But to have enemies, you must also find yourself with friends.
This leads into the second facet of personality that less people certainly saw. A relatively goofy man who did things for the hell of it, especially if it was funny. After years of doing the wrong thing, he put himself in other's shoes and decided he didn't like how the fabric felt. But the same type of talking he did to get people to do what he wanted, worked just as well on his allies if he just made them laugh. It worked well on people he could care for. Through relationships he got to make with his future daughter, with his friends, and later with the King, he got to learn what he was missing his entire life. Many who knew Benjamin would say that he was a crazy son of a bitch who couldn't care less on what he did. That would be wrong on about 50%. Benjamin Lascelles was a man who cared so much about every little thing he did. He believed that if people thought he was a villain, or going to be the one to fear, then people would prepare themselves to fight someone like him or more.
Which leads into the third facet of Benjamin Lascelles personality. Benjamin was a solemn man filled with more regrets and more self-immolation towards his own actions than any other person ever was. He was a man that chose to regularly eat dinners alone, because he thought he deserved it. He believed truly in the things that he was doing, and that they were all things he could do with purpose- and as long as it was for the state, or benefitted the crown, then he was a happy person. However, his way of thinking also led him to believing that he always needed to be the scapegoat, or the Dirt under the Bay. That he always needed to be the one to make the mistakes so that everyone else looked better in comparison. This was a lonely existence for him. He was, at his core, a lonely kid that needed to be needed.
His personality after death obviously didn't change, but how people saw him after he died certainly changed. Several people saw him enough of a hero to allow him to die as one. This allowed those who knew him close to tell more people about the kind of man he was, combining all three facets of his personality into one man, and allowing those to comb into one well-known piece of history.
History
The life of Benjamin Lascelles starts before Kara under a name that he eventually burned away from himself in the Kingdom of Virdal. In a land where becoming educated when you aren't a noble, or without noble permission, is illegal, Benjamin learned how to read and write regardless. A young boy who was curious to the world and what it had to offer. Benjamin originally learned to read so that he could tell stories back to the other orphans who he lived with, but after being discovered for knowing how to read, he was ushered in front of a court and tried for his crimes against the state. Instead of being imprisoned or executed for his crimes, an argument was made that this child could not unteach himself but also was unable to know why his actions were his bad. The state librarian, who was already quite old and dying, would instead take him in and teach him how to run the library. This was the mistake of the state, allowing him access to information unfettered entirely by what the rest of the world held. On his 18th birthday, using everything he had taught himself, he broke out of his prison, folded himself into a whiskey barrel, and stowed away on a ship headed towards Dormas. It was from there that he ended up traveling to Kara when Stone Bay opened its doors to anyone.
Early Karan Life
Benjamins' life early in Kara starts at quite a period of time. He arrived at a time where he was looking for any ways to prove himself and looking for any way to become a figure of any relative renown. Quickly finding his way into a family that he personally found to be a group of way too trusting individuals; he joined a large family at a speed that no one should be able to rapidly form. The family he joined were the rulers of a small section of Kara referred to as The Mushroom Tribe. Young and impressionable at the time, having arrived at Kara at the age of 19, he chose to represent his family as a warrior and was introduced to the current head of The Ashen Rose, a pseudo-knight order that was working under and connection with the Diarchy of Lyrinth.
He found himself quickly joining the ranks and regularly showing up to meetings with [[The Iron Council, which was the ruling council for the Diarchy. He attended these meetings with no say but found himself regularly whispering political ideas to Blue Curtania and trying to engage in anything legitimate to raise up in works. He found himself being shut down again and again, and filling with relative rage. Even after engaging in activities for the Diarchy that could have gotten him killed by Stone Bay such as breaking into Arimaex's Tower to steal the soul of Danias of Mhede. Despite his attempts at becoming more and more, he felt underutilized and disrespected.
Eventually, he was whispered to by the known terrorist Newlin Khaster, stole a sizable amount of copper from the Diarchy, and then under plots from the terrorist; he engaged in activities that led to an assault that led to the death of his adoptive mother, and the permanent demise of his adoptive father. Afterwards, being so full of guilt, he returned the money he got for the copper to the Diarchy, leaving them, and then opening up a general store known as Bajamart across from his former home. Needing quick money and believing that he still needed to find a way to gain connections, he hosted a tournament in The Pits, an underground arena underneath The City of Stone Bay.
The Birth of a Soul Dealer
Several weeks before the tournament, Benjamin attended a journey to rescue the soul of Danias of Mhede. During this, he learned of an individual there from the talks of Phobos that had taken their own soul and put it into a blade to make it stronger. This power attracted the young Benjamin, which led him to finding that exact person and becoming informed on how to write and collect Soul Contracts. Convincing two people that he was quite close with at the time to sell their soul away, he began to host this tournament attempting to find strong souls and connections to be able to create weapons out of, though he didn't even know the first way to go about doing that.
Luckily or unluckily depending on who you ask, a certain individual arrived to emcee the tournament and make an offer to the winners. That is the archdevil known as The Gambler. After the tournament ended, the two winners and Benjamin were brought to a private area to be asked directly what they desired. One wished for the end of Stone Bay as a whole. The other wished for the help handling Arimaex who they believed to be the root of many of the problems at that time. Benjamin asked for money, as money became something that would grant him power. The Gambler laughed and began describing to Benjamin how to get soul contracts. When Benjamin stated, "Like these" and handed over two contracts, every single person there was in shock.
Thus began a long and dangerous haul that led to Benjamin scamming 89 people out of their souls. Some for a little coin, and many for wishes that were never granted. As reward for his great work, Benjamin was made "The Jack of Diamond's", which was a name reserved for one of the four representatives of The Gambler. Benjamin quickly overtook the other three, and through a menagerie of his early schemes, became the favorite- even being granted access to a gamblerborn demon molded into the shape of his favorite style of hat, which was known as The Unassuming Uriel.
Becoming Lord Chamberlain
During his several monthlong journey into becoming a scumbag damning many others to an eternity of pain and suffering, Benjamin was brought into the Eulen Family. This family was one of the premiere noble families of Stone Bay, and of the prime military families filled with various honors. It was through joining the military and this family, while also using his connections through the soul trade, where Benjamin found himself achieving various uses for the state. He used money earned through his illicit dealings and through his legitimate gains caused from lauding coin around to become informed by as money individuals as possible. It was through this personal triumph, where Benjamin was made second in command of the Military Intelligence branch of the Stone Bay Navy.
The murder of Dragone Collins is one that caused quite a stir within Stone Bay. As a foreign envoy for The Grand City of Nieseat sent here by the The Archon, his death in foreign lands gave right for the powerful mage to launch a meteor directly at the City of Stone Bay. Military Intelligence was tasked with finding out who murdered the envoy. Quickly being informed by one of their own agents, not knowing that that agent was covering for someone, Military Intelligence was brought to interrogate a man who was well known for doing criminal actions against Stone Bay. Benjamin interrogated this man for 7 grueling hours throwing everything the book had at him.
Military Intelligence at the end of this were quite aware that the accused was not the one who committed this crime, but several figures still wanted to put him forward because "at least it gets rid of one problem". Before the accused would be the one lauded, Benjamin went to the Lord Mayor Ulysses Mountbatten to inform him that they were putting forth the wrong guy, and other members of his division were aware of this. When Macadier Maldore arrived and read the mind of the criminal, the state was prepared with an answer that could work. His ability to gain information and knowledge on where to use it earned him the right to become the Private Secretary to the Throne.
When the Great Officers of State roles were created, it came to his knowledge that despite not being a noble at the time, that he could try for one of these roles; and with the role of Lord Chamberlain already being so similar to what he did as the Private Secretary, Benjamin decided to go for a long shot and aim for the role. He received it, left the Eulen Family and formed his own family known as The Lascelles Family.
The Nieseatian Occupation
Ten years passed while Benjamin Lascelles was Lord Chamberlain. He hadn't convinced anyone to take any souls in these years, allowing his number to die at 89. He worked hard for the state, doing what was needed in these newfound years. He found himself between several different rocks and hard places, but he did this best with what he could do. He became the 5th Prime Minister of Stone Bay, found family, and held onto what relations he had. During the time that Nieseat formed a colony within the Isles of Kara, they continued making moves that had Stone Bay watching tightly, but unable to prepare for. Benjamin did what he did best, finding friends and using them to gain as much information as he can, even going so far as to have direct meetings with the mind reader that was Macadier Maldore.
When Stone Bay adopted the Power of Three system directly from Nieseat, Benjamin did his due diligence and helped establish the Chancery of the Throne with his now longtime friend Blue Mountbatten. It was through this organization and his normal information gathering skills that led to the knowledge of the murder of Morgantha and Ordren Stoneheart, one being an infamous hag and the other being a famous priest of Gunterra, using a 3-Use dagger with the ability of absorbing ones soul into the blade. This blade had already been used once by Macadier Maldore and then was given for the express purpose of murdering Morgantha. The murderer came to Benjamin, where he offered the Azure Blade for Benjamin to take from him, where Benjamin gave the blade of heroes back to the state.
During one of these Prismarine Court meeting meant to accrue points between the powers, Macadier Maldore came in announcing that he was almost done with what he needed to do and needed certain people gone to achieve this. He teleported Ulysses Mountbatten, Blue Mountbatten, and Arthur Justice away from Kara, and then declaring an occupation of Stone Bay. While other members of the Chancery fled into hiding for the night, Benjamin set up a tent in front of the Throne Room. Various members of the different powers of Nieseat offered deals to other high ranking members of Stone Bay, but as Benjamin had been a thorn in the side to the Old Blood, who was the counterpart to the Chancery, he was simply told to stay out of the way.
Since staying out of the way was something Benjamin Lascelles was not famous for, he instead joined The Halcyon Guild, using his old days as a scumbag merchant to his advantage and become the Vice-Guildmaster in one week. It was here he used his knowledge and desire to make money to trick various members of Nieseat and dismantle the guild from the inside. Eventually, Benjamin was given access to the same dagger that had been used to slay the hag and the priest. Under permission from The Church of the Deep, he helped the dwarves get the Gunterran priest back. He then took the dagger to make a deal with The Gambler, where he got the soul that was previously in the dagger removed. However, he had to make a bet with the demon, since Benjamin had not helped the evil being in quite some time. This bet was designed for him to lose. He then, with help from lieutenants from The Ordenza (Nieseats Military Force), murdered Drace Latimeer, who was the current Captain of the Ordenza. He then gave the dagger to Elmes Domnhall, who used the dagger to murder Folkmod Erendellen who was the Castellan of Stone Bay. He then got the dagger back to the Church, where they resurrected the hag Morgantha, and used the knowledge provided by her to rise Sillas Deepcreek to become king, sit on the throne, and bring the three that were taken away back.
The Death of Benjamin Lascelles
After an intense 48 hours of direct standoff with Nieseat, there were two things that needed to be done. One of the first was securing Nieseats base of operations, the Colony of Ehrtfort. The forces of Kara gathered together to siege the Ehrtfort, while Macadier Maldore and several of his closest allies were brought into The Arcane Battery which was his tool to activate the magic of Realitas. During this siege, several hired thugs and the enchanted necromancer Metinos were sent to defend the siege. It was during this battle where Benjamin Lascelles watched his daughter fall, not knowing if she was dead or not. It was during this battle where Benjamin Lascelles perished permanently, falling dead next to Hazel Firwen. His last words uttered were "I'm fine." which keeping in tune with how he lived his life, was a lie.
Benjamin Lascelles was awarded several posthumous honors, the hat known as the Obituary being made in his honor, and the street known as Lascelles Lane being named after him. He is preceded by his daughter, the current Lord Chamberlain Malena Lascelles and his hat who earned his way into the family [[Uriel Lascelles].