Name: Sergei Romanenko

Age: 40

Gender: Male

Birthplace: Ukraine

Religious Affiliation: Greek Orthodox

Secular Affiliations: Cossack Hetmanate

Level of education: Some education, (proficient in reading, writing, history, and simple arithmetic).

Social status (including wealth): Cossack noble (worth roughly $5 million by today’s standards). This is subject to change, as I don’t actually know how much a Cossack noble was worth in the 17th century.

Occupation: Plantation owner, trainer of the Cossack army, and most recently a self-proclaimed explorer.

Appearance:


Personality: Sergei is a man of good humor, but of short temper. He was feared as both a disciplinarian and a soldier, but those who knew him off the battlefield knew him as a man of charisma and energy.

Skill set: Swordplay, marksmanship, first aid, quite a bit of experience in training soldiers/apprentices/the like, sailing.

Languages: Ukranian, Russian, Polish. His Portuguese is passable, as he had a 9 year reprieve between war and setting out for Portugal.

Bio: Sergei Romanenko was born the son of Cossack nobles, a temperamental child prone to fits. At the time of his birth, Cossack aggression toward the Ottoman Empire had resulted in the razing of townships near and around Constantinople. Viktor Romanenko, Sergei’s father, was a firm supporter of this aggression. A successful plantation owner and smuggler, Viktor openly gave portions of his wealth to the Cossack raiders. Viktor’s intentions went beyond simply bringing harm to the Ottoman Empire, however. The Cossacks were currently subject to rule under the Polish Commonwealth, and by supporting the raids, Viktor was helping to create a strenuous relationship between the Ottomans and the Poles, the Poles ultimately being held responsible for the Cossack raiders.

Viktor would sooner die before allowing his only son to remain defenseless against the Polish Commonwealth, a political entity that was further expanding its borders into Cossack territory. As such, Viktor introduced Sergei to the arts of war, swordplay, and marksmanship as soon as he was able. The training tended to be rather difficult and physically exhausting, but strong disciplining made Sergei an excellent apprentice. A rigid schedule of training in war craft was also coupled with regular lessons in reading, writing, history, and arithmetic. Sergei excelled most at the arts of war, however, harboring a particular skill and interest in swordplay.

At age 22, Sergei was famous across the Cossack territories for his excellent swordplay and marksmanship, mostly known through his participation in raids against the Ottoman Empire, an act of defiance that he practiced regularly. Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, in particular, had developed a great interest in the young swashbuckler. Bohdan was a Cossack rebel, and was currently in the midst of making negotiations with the Crimean Tartars to thwart the Polish Commonwealth from Cossack territory, and end their rule over the Cossacks outright. Bohdan wrote to Sergei, and offered him the opportunity to train Cossack troops in preparation for war against the Commonwealth. Sergei, too anxious to write a reply, surprised Bohdan by arriving at his home, so that he might accept his offer in person.

Sergei was present at most of the war’s major battles, including the Battle of Berestechko, where the Cossacks suffered their greatest defeat, and the Battle of Batoh, where the Cossacks sought revenge for their defeat at Berestechko by massacring 8,000 Polish captives. At war’s end, Sergei had made a name for himself as a fierce disciplinarian, and an even fiercer soldier. In nine years, the Cossacks had succeeded in ridding the Ukraine of all Polish nobles, officials, and religious leaders.

Bohdan sought refuge with the Russian Tsar, signing a peace treaty with the great empire that would virtually end any further attempts by the Polish Commonwealth to reacquire the Unkraine. By doing this, Bohdan had sparked a chain of events that would eventually lead to the Cossack’s integration into the Russian Empire, leaving them with only a brief period of independence after the war. Sergei felt he had served his country well by aiding in the expulsion of the Commonwealth, and retired from his position in the Cossack military shortly after the war’s end.

Despite retirement, Sergei had no intention to live out a life bereft of excitement. Gathering a plethora of necessary resources, Sergei would spend only nine more years in the Ukraine before setting out for Portugal, a country on the cusp of frontier exploration.

Name:
Luysa Garcia

Age:
14 3/4

Gender:
Female

Birthplace:
Sintra

Religious Affiliation:
Catholic

Secular Affiliation:
Beggar

Level of education:
Very Low

Social status:
Very Low

Occupation:
None

Languages:
Portuguese

Personality:
Luysa is a rather stubborn and hot-headed soul who easily gets irritated and is not afraid to speak her mind. She dislikes being corrected, however, and prefers to do things her way, usually refusing any kind of help unless she asks first. Furthermore Luysa has no qualms about lying as long as she benefits from it, nor does she mind putting other people against each other if she feels it could give her an advantage in certain situations. On top of that she also is rather self-centered, her own well-fare being her utmost priority, yet still, somewhere buried deep beneath her tough outward appearance, she possesses a kind heart that is willing to endure great pains in order to help someone she cherishes.

Skill set:
Living on the street has taught Luysa various survival skills such as stealing, disguising herself, running away or gathering intelligence. For someone of her age she also is rather witty, being able to read hostile atmospheres and situations relatively well and fully capable of making split-second decision even under pressure. On the other hand she is a horrible fighter and easily overpowered, which is why she always keeps a knife hidden underneath her belt just in case.

Bio:
Born in 1651 as the daughter of a traveling sailor and a local prostitute, Luysa has never had an easy life. Growing up in her mother's brothel she had been forced to do difficult and physically demanding work from a very early age on in order to earn her food and not become a burden for the others, having to scrub the floors or clean up the used bedrooms. With most of her mother's income being confiscated by the brothel owner, in return for two meals a day and room to stay, they had never had much left to spend, which resulted in Luysa having to steal from the local market every now or then when she felt particularly hungry. Although Luysa had never had a particularly loving relationship with her mother, treating her just like the all other prostitutes and arguing quite often, Luysa knew that, if worst came to worst, she could always rely on her mother to help her if needed.

By the time Luysa turned 7 she slowly started to explore the world beyond the brothel, spending more and more time away from home and even staying out overnight every now and then, mingling with other members of the lowest classes of society, homeless beggars and orphans, with whom she got along greatly. Over the following years she continued to spend most of her time away from the brothel, only occasionally visiting her mother to check on her or bring her one or two little accessories she had stolen. By the time Luysa turned 11, however, her mother suddenly died, having contracted a foreign illness from one of her clients. Although Luysa was filled with sorrow and sadness at her mother's death, she also realised that this meant that she now was free to do as she pleased, completely cutting her ties with the brothel and instead living on the street with the other orphans, surviving by stealing and begging.

Although life was anything but easy on the street, having to fight for daily survival, Luysa never regretted her decision, on the contrary, she enjoyed this kind of life much more than having to work in the brothel all day long. She could go where she wanted, do as she wanted and didn't have to answer to anybody. Instead of scrubbing floors she played with the other orphans all day long or listened to all the wonderful stories the older beggars could tell, of far-away places and life years ago. To Luysa, living on the street was a never-ending accumulation of wonders and adventures, if possible she'd want to continue living like this forever.

Appearance:

Name: Richard Breckenridge
Age: Twenty-Three
Gender: Male
Birthplace: Manchester, England
Religious Affiliation: Church of England (Though, he wouldn't be considered very pious)
Secular Affiliation: WIP
Level of education: High, if not the highest. Educated within the halls of Cambridge University.
Social status: Upper class
Occupation: Scholar, adventurer, historian, general know-it-all.
Appearance: WIP
Personality: WIP
Skill set: WIP
Languages: English (Naturally), Latin, Portuguese, Spanish and some Dutch and German.
Bio:
Notes:

Name: Emilio Cicatrise (seek-AH-trees)
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Birthplace: Madrid, Spain
Religious Affiliation: None
Secular Affiliation: Blood Pirates, former Spanish nobility
Level of education: High
Social status: Outsider; he was born of high birth but his current office makes him lower than a beggar to some.
Occupation: Pirate, Adventurer

Appearance: Emilio has a solid figure, he’s rather fit and tough. He stands just under 6 feet. His hair is a jet black, generally very straight, usually shoulder length. His skin is a light brown almost gold color. Most would consider him a handsome man with slight angular features which are cooled by his skin tone. He sometimes has a beard, ranging from a shadow to a full beard.

Personality: Emilio is a cool tactician with a penchant for pensivity, generally getting lost in his own thoughts. He can be flirtatious and friendly and charming if he is in a good mood, but generally he allows his prestige and notoriety to work for him in social situations.

Skill set: Swordplay, pugilism, acrobatics, sailing, marksmanship (firearms), navigation, keen observer.
Languages: Spanish (original tongue), Portuguese (fluent), Arabic (fluent), English (okay), French (poor), Latin (passable, remnants from childhood), and German (poor)

Bio: Emilio was born to a Spanish noblewoman Humerta de Vallente who was married off to an even more important Spanish noble, Geraldo Cicatrise, his father was an Egyptian pirate known as Khal al Rushdi. During childhood he was treated as any other Cicatrise child and given all the amenities as if he were the nobleman’s own son. Primarily this was done because Humerta insisted and her family would defend her honor to the death. And so Emilio was cared for. He learned myths and history and languages and horse-riding, and all the other kinds of education a Spanish noble could afford, which happened to be a great deal.

Throughout his entire childhood Emilio was a difficult child. He felt the scorn from his supposed father and he knew that he was different from all of his siblings, and even his own mother; he always felt like an outsider. When he was 12 he learned of his birthfather from his mother, after a heated argument. He felt so relieved to learn about his true father, but the information wasn’t enough, he needed to find him. Emilio hatched a plan at the age of 13 to run from his home and find the pirate father that had left him in this prison. He stole a great deal of valuable jewelry and other things he could sell to make his way. He immediately found a home on a pirate vessel, working as nothing but an errand boy.

By the time he was 18 Emilio had learned so much from his adventures on the high seas, as well as amassed a small fortune. And, he was on the heels of his father. Not long after Emilio found his dad lying on a beach somewhere in the Mideast. Once the old man knew that Emilio was truly his son, he took him aboard his famed vessel, The Blood Brigands. Emilio sailed with his father for 7 years until he was killed during a raid in the Caribbean. Emilio, at this point a wise and fearsome man, took the reins of the ship without issue. He took the ship back to the Mediterranean and set the little sea aflame. He raided all along the coasts there, eventually making his way to the Adriatic where he encountered a sea creature the likes of which no one had ever known.

In the last year of his time aboard the vessel he took the ship to Portugal, where he began causing trouble since the countries forces were wrapped up in dealing with the Spanish. Eventually, as tends to happen aboard Pirate ships, Emilio was mutinied by a trusted ally and thrown overboard right off of the Portuguese coast. He swam back, utterly dismayed by the staggering turn of events, tried to make his way through Portugal. As it happens, he was apprehended in the north and brought down to Sintra, where he was wanted the most. He was destined to have his head chopped off before another twist of fate would turn his luck around.
Notes: Emilio currently has a huge scar on his chest, a new addition. It looks to be a burn scar, in reality it is a mark of his recent encounter with magic.