Background: Born in a community that existed in the gray area between a ship community and a floating village, Darse was the son of a slave woman and the Chief/Captain. Their story was a complicated one but it came and was mostly gone before Darse's time began so it will not be explained here. Those who are truly curious may ask Darse about it. He knows the story and might even be willing to share it, with the right audience.

The village itself was able to navigate well enough to follow large schools of fish, in spite of its ramshackle appearance. It had several sails and three large rudders. The main staples of this village were fish, algae, aquatic plants, and shellfish. All but the fish were raised aboard the village or on 'tail beds' that trailed behind the village like the tendrils of a jellyfish.

Life in the village was hard but not desperate. There was greater variety in food than many floating villages had and the surplus of fish jerky was constant enough to be consistently traded with vessels that the village encountered or settlements they visited. Darse was educated by his mother, like most of the few children in his generation. But, there was much work to be done and Darse was put to it as soon as he was old enough. He got along with the other children but formed no real friendships, in part because of his father's status. But, he worked and grew as life continued uneventfully for year after year. The village lingered around Denalika, Yelldera, and Hilo for much of Darse's youth before turning for more southern waters when the village encountered a run of bad luck in fishing, a bit after Darse turned 16.

He turned 17 in the ocean nearby Yucama and learned a harsh lesson. It was in this year that the last of the eligible girls in the village married other men. Some of them chose others in their generation but a few chose older men whose previous wives had died. He now believed that he had no real future in the village. But, he was about to have a stroke of good fortune.

A small raft boat that had been damaged in a storm drifted into the village's path. The only man aboard was a carver of bone and seller of hides. The man had refrained from giving his name, saying it didn't matter in the midst of the ocean. After simply trading for repairs and supplies, the man was preparing to leave when he was confronted by Darse with a knife of black bone. Darse had found it while he was snooping around on the stranger's boat to satisfy his curiosity. It had a better edge than anything Darse had seen before and he asked where the man had acquired it. Upon hearing that the man had made the knife, Darse immediately asked to learn how to make knives like that one.

Several long conversations with his parents followed, along with conversations between them and the visiting man. Some of these conversations became rather... loud. However, at length, both Darse's parents and the stranger agreed that Darse should become the stranger's apprentice.

He was apprenticed far later in life than usual, leaving home at 17 in the waters around Yucama. From there, his life changed drastically as he traveled from place to place with his master, slowly heading further east with a lot of wandering north and south along the way. His master continued to keep his name private, requiring Darse to address him as 'Master' and nothing else.

The work was much like back home but now it was mixed with lessons on various chemicals and plants, oils, alcohols, and kinds of flame. The years passed and Darse studied hard, developing his knowledge about the world as well as the tools of his trades and the methods of his Master. After years of work, his black bone blade knives were being traded alongside his Master's, although at a lower price. But, as he was coming to understand, the flow of time rarely allows things to remain the same for very long.

The peaceful but challenging life with his master ended in the waters around Aden. He had been an apprentice for ten years and his master had been calling him 'journeyman' for another four. He was 31. In his home village he would have been only a bit younger than the village's oldest generation. But, beside his master, he still seemed like a boy. His master was over 55, though Darse never got an exact age out of the man.

They were heading back to Aden with a load of shark leather, shark tooth fish hooks, and fish jerky for sale. But, they didn't return to Aden in the end. The two were attacked at dusk by an unfamiliar type of fish that was very aggressive, moved in a school, and could glide out of the water like flying fish. Both of them survived the attack itself but were poisoned by the fish. Paralyzed and hallucinating, both Darce and his master suffered for nearly a week before the poison finally lost its potency. After Darce could finally move, a severe fever set in that tormented him for nearly two full days. By the time he recovered his consciousness, Darce had lost his master. However, he quickly discovered that his blood had turned blue and that he didn't take long to heal from injuries.

Unfortunately, he didn't know a lot about such things. He knew that Blue Bloods existed from his mother's stories and what little chatter he understood in the places he visited with his master, but the details were largely unknown to him. What he did know was that strong winds had driven them north by a good distance. He did his best to give his master a respectful send-off at sea and headed for the nearest stable anchorage, arriving in Sigamyth nearly a month later.

It was the year he turned 36 that he finally found news of his birth village. It had drifted up against one of the Dominus ships in the waters between Colexi and Argencagu three years prior. No one was aboard, not even a corpse. The ocean had swallowed another community. The only odd part was that the village was recovered, providing another valuable vessel to aid in that Dominus ship's activities. Oddly enough, the rumors didn't include which Dominus ship was involved.

Since then, Darse has lingered in the area around Sigarmyth, Kechustan, and Elbrooska. He has quietly pursued his true craft while making a living off leathers, bone tools, and jerky. But something is odd about the wind today on the docks of Sigarmyth City. The weather is fine but it feels like a storm is creeping closer.