Lester Starcraft
Master of Entertainment

From humble beginnings (his first notable form of entertainment involved a performance where he lay concussed on the floor whilst the assembled crowd discussed amusing things they could do to him), Lester Starcraft has worked tirelessly to make his name as one of Erdreja's more notable bards. What he lacks in actual talent he makes up for with the size of his ego, the size of his trousers, and if all else fails, Good Old Fashioned Plagiarism. Amongst other things, Lester is known for his shambolic performance style, his stoicism when faced with extreme pain, discomfort or humiliation in the name of entertainment, and for being able to offend at least one member of the audience with every song in his repertoire. He has been a strong advocate of Bardic Privilege and the proper payment of entertainers, although it's suspected that he adopts this stance largely for selfish reasons.

He gained notoriety when, one night in the Vanamoiinen forest in 1102, during the height of the fear and paranoia surrounding the re-activation of the Mordred Device, he helped to write The Offensive Song (the other authors have since died or gone into hiding). He followed this up with a tasteful 7-minute epic love song involving the forbidden love between a man and a zombie - "'Til Death Do Us Part" has been the bane of his existence ever since. In 1102 he was helped by the Wolf Faction to become the Champion of The Heartland Games ("Because it was funny"), and later that year became the Wolves' High Bard, a position he immediately renamed to "Wolf Faction Chief War Jester Wot Is Dead Good". Before stepping down from the position in 1105 as a protest against artistic freedom, he fought hard for the reinstatement of Bardic Priviledge in the Wolves, but failed due to the controversial nature of his material. Bardic Privilege was immediately reinstated when he left the faction in 1107.

Cosaint has remarked that Lester may be eligible for the "John Tapper" award for the most second places in the Bard's Guild entertainments competitions. Lester has won once, in 1106. Several of his performances during the contests over the years have been songs complaining about how the contest is biased against him, or repeat performances of songs he felt should have won in the past. Other titles Lester has held over the years have included Survivor of the Great Jester Cull of 1102, Pope of Cassius, Alchemists Guild Alpha Tester, Saviour of the Dragons and the Gryphons, L'Arlequin (Avatar of Tatterdemalion), Master-In-Chief of the Starcraft Chaos Legion, Ward of Loki, Chronoclaw, and the Worst-Dressed Man on Erdreja.

Lester announced his semi-retirement from touring the factions in 1108 due to other commitments, and his public performances are less common than they used to be, although he is still available to hire for weddings, funerals, and diplomatic incidents. Lester is here all week, and recommends that you try the veal.