Name: Horacio Engdal
Gender: Male
Age:31
Faction: Torn Sails
Deity: Hecate (Greek Pagan)
Skills:
Cult Hunter: The great skills of Torn Sail members varies a lot. Horacio has dedicated the past 7 years reading every single note and book the Torn sails can provide him on different cults, dwelling far to much on their operations and methods that is good for his own sanity. He hunts cultists most relentlessly, retracing their steps and getting into their dens guns blazing. Cult hunters are rarely long lived for this very reason.
Minor:
Sailing: He is accomplished sailor. He can man almost any position on deck.
Swashbuckling: He used to belong on a ships boarding crew for a reason.
Background; Horacio Engdal is a sailor formerly of the Swedish crown. But his story began far earlier then his first day on shaky legs on a wooden hull out in the Baltic Sea. His story began as a ever bright blue eyed boy in Stockholms slums. He was born to a poor shoemaker named Gustav Engdal who always dreamed big. His son, the only to survive past the first year, he named him Horacio, after the famed roman poet. His father was not illiterate unlike most of his kin, no he took proud in knowing both latin, swedish and even some english. And he taught his son, with discipline and a heavy hand if he had to. The result was a little runt with a mouth that could swear and sweet talk in no less then three languages.
Indeed, his talents came as a natural boost to a almost dangerous charisma. The boy was a natural talented beggar and pickpocket but also a very talented young conartist. He ran the streets with other young boys, ducking city guards as they knew full well what happened to thieves, regardless of their age. His father and mother would beat him, wanting him to see sense but it was all for naught. At the age of 13 he would have to leave his home for all time, after almost being caught stealing from a noble. He somehow managed to bribe his way on board a Prussian ship and left Stockholm a malnourished but eager apprentice on board. He was not yet a man, and the life as a cabinboy was hard. Sailors were not fair folk, they swore and kicked him around and his first month onboard was hell. But he adapted, he learned and became more and more usefull. The ship was only his first vessel. At the age of 20 he returned to Swedish docks. His family was now all dead, having died from poverty and sickness without their sons helping hand.
While he felt a little guilty, he did not stay to ponder. Instead, he found service on a Swedish warship. By now he was a experienced sailor despite his age and he traversed with the giant ship inot battle. In 1790 the Battle for Svensksund ended the Sweden-Russian war once and for all. The greatest victory of Swedish Naval warfare was now a fact. And survivors like Horacio either climbed the ranks quickly or became sought after by other, less savory types. Horacio found himself on a galley as a Privateer of the Norwegian coast. Mainly raiding Danish and English ships. One day his ship came upon a drifting, black vessel. Climbing onboard, they found that everything was soaked with blood, bits and pieces of struggle could be seen but no bodies. The captain was exctatic, the ship was mostly unharmed. If he manned it they could return it to Swedish shores and have it fitted. It would be the haul of the their life. Sadly, the crew was spooked and rightly so. A unnatural storm befell them and in the brief flashes of light that the fire of lightning provided, inhuman beings could be seen. When the storm was over, Horacio sat covering in a corner, their captain and half the crew was dead and gone. They barely made it home. None would believe their stories, and he along with most survivors were believed mad or became the laughingstock of the docks.
Horacio spent 1 year in the gutter when a similair ship came to port. The captain seemingly sught him up specifically. He was Benedict Troelger, captain of the “Dark Drake.” He asked the boy what he was looking at shadows as if they would kill him. Horacio told the man his story and the Captain knew he had found the man he had been looking for. He explained to Horacio that the ship had been a trap, a altar if you will. It drifted in place, luring sailors, often privateers and pirates to board it. And then the uneasy dead on board tear the living apart as living sacrifices . The captain offered Horacio the chance to learn more, to still his terror and get revenge. And so Horacio excepted, joined the Torn sails and the rest is as they say; History.