Bastard-Lord Sirena Köhler-Rast

Old Patriarch Köhler did three things on his deathbed. He assigned the foundry to his eldest legitimate son. He assigned the family seat to his eldest legitimate daughter. And he put his hand on Sirena's head and named her his, in front of seven witnesses, the family doctor, and a Confederacy notary. The third act was in no will. He did it anyway.

She got nothing material but the Acknowledged, a long-range siege gunner with the family crest hammered over the original Rast house-mark. Neither mark has been filed off. She fights at the far end of her batteries' reach and writes her reports in the formal style her father taught, signing both surnames with the bastard-bar between them. The legitimate children have stopped attending dinners she is invited to. She still sends the invitations. Acknowledgment is older than their objections, and she likes reminding them on house letterhead.