[fieldbox="Quinn Pierce, red, dashed, 10"]
Alias: The Baroness
Gender: Female
Age: 26
Occupation: First mate and de facto captain of
The Visitor during the inexplicable absence of Captain Lhiano Strye
Race/Species: Human
Appearance: Stands 5'6", short red hair (thought to be naturally blonde), brown eyes; whorl tattoos (thought to be religious in nature), favors light clothing in browns, blacks, and creams
Captain Lhiano Strye has a bad enough reputation within the Centrosi empire, having captured a small treasure fleet bound for Edgestone Bay, but his first mate of three years has already developed one much more fearful. When his black sails are seen on the horizon, sailors do not whisper his name, or that of his ship; they whisper of the Baroness, Quinn Pierce.
Fairly little that is known of the young woman is grounded in fact, but according to the stories, she was born in Canturn, the daughter of a sailor and a whore. Her father visited only occasionally, far more smitten with the sea than her mother, and she dreamed of sailing as he did. If the legends can be believed, she wanted to crew a ship so badly she enlisted on one at the age of 16. Several vessels claim to have been her first home, but the truth of it is, no one paid enough attention to her then to remember.
Scarcely a year later, Quinn Pierce forged her legend. By that time, she was sailing on
The Delight, a ship known for her debauched crew and lavishly appointed captain. Bored with taking simple merchant vessels laden with spices and textiles that had to be resold, she rallied the crew and mutinied against Boris Kulchin, ending his career - and his life - rather abruptly.
The Delight changed course and took a vessel from Canturn, the pleasure barge of Baroness Alliata de Marchiezi.
Tales of the battle are likely exaggerated, but they speak of Pierce cutting down half the enemy with her cutlass before her companions could swing across the gap between ships, of her leaping over a speeding cannonball, of countless bodies tied to the mast to prove a point, and most importantly, of a letter written under duress by de Marchiezi. Though no court has seen the paper and tried its legality, it's said that Alliata was forced to name Quinn Pierce her heir before being tossed overboard. Thus, the fearsome Baroness was born.
Pierce left
The Delight in the next port, serving as quartermaster, sailing master, and master gunner on
The Kestrel,
The Domain, and
The Bearded Bitch respectively. Her reputation for cruelty, malice, and spite only grew. Her fellow crewmen feared her, and so did her captains. Lhiano Strye, however, saw her as a valuable asset, and he bought her loyalty, offering twice the cut of booty she was allowed on
The Bearded Bitch. She accepted, and was named his first mate.
In the past three years,
The Visitor has been seen only a few times. People say that Strye's take from the treasure fleets allow him a great deal of freedom, unlike some pirates that plunder to survive. But whenever those familiar sails appear over the waves, what follows is never just a battle, it's a slaughter. It's unbridled brutality.
Such is the influence of Quinn Pierce, the Baroness. Some say she's a demon, others claim she's a witch. Rumor has it she sees the future and calls storms at Strye's command. Her sword drips blood she has yet to spill. Her life is steeped in myth and fantasy, a legend to be told to lubbers only recently come aboard. But the real Baroness is no less fearsome, a terror with a cutlass, subtle as sin, clever and cautious, but bold in combat. And evil. Very, very evil.
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Ship Name:
The Visitor
Ship Type: Frigate
Ship Captain: Lhiano Strye
Ship Description: Black sails, hull and sails decently kept but due for replacement, dragonic masthead, 36 cannons
Crew Count: 300
The Visitor began her life as a naval vessel, crewed by sailors from Hightowers. On her maiden voyage, a trip to Centros City and back, it was boarded by Belchin' Jack Bellows, a captain sailing in the pirate fleet of the woman known only as Admiral Shank.
The Visitor was towed to their cove, squibbed, and given to a rising captain named Pitro de Vinceza.
For around a year, de Vinceza enjoyed moderate success, nabbing a fat merchant vessel or two, but his luck ran out when mercenary pirate hunters found Admiral Shank's cove and brought her operation crashing down in one bloody night. Without someone else telling him what to do, de Vinceza buckled, and he was betrayed by his first mate, Lhiano Strye.
Up until this point, the ship had been known as
The Indomitable, but Strye rechristened her. He also commissioned the infamous masthead, the gaping maw of what appears to be a dragon. In the aftermath of Admiral Shank's unfortunate downfall, many of her captains went to ground. The mercenaries hunting her fleet down were capable, but they weren't the only threat. Other pirates saw an opening, a chance to become what Shank had been, by climbing over her underlings. Most of the captains were captured, killed, or brought into a fleet, but Strye maintained his independence. And when he finally felt safe, he demonstrated as much.
The capture of the treasure fleet bound for Edgestone Bay remains his greatest accomplishment, and is responsible for much of the wealth in the hold of
The Visitor, even to this day. It's this wealth that allowed Strye to maintain a reputation without regularly risking his neck.
The Visitor is a rare - but nonetheless unwelcome - sight in Centrosi waters, and more and more, folk say that Strye himself isn't actively in charge. He wears the big hat and claims the glory, but a young woman with red hair pilots the ship and barks the commands while he hides in his cabin. In fact, he hasn't actually been seen in several months, even when
The Visitor has made port.
Increasingly placed in Quinn Pierce's capable hands,
The Visitor occasionally feels as much like a prison as a ship. Many of the crew have been press-ganged into service, whipped by the bosun if they fail to cooperate. The Baroness has carefully selected the other officers around her, like-minded sorts who don't hesitate to stomp down uprisings immediately.
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