[hider=Taryn Rogers] [b]Name[/b]: Taryn Rogers [b]Nickname[/b]: “[i]Teacup[/i]”, but only to those that know her [i]very[/i] closely. It was her nickname as a child and has followed her throughout her life. She would take offense to anyone using it that she hadn’t approved. [b]Age[/b]: 26 [b]Gender[/b]: Female [b]Appearance[/b]: [hider=Taryn][img]https://i.ibb.co/cw4JMwK/Screenshot-20230804-234638-Pinterest-1.jpg[/img][/hider] Taryn is 5’4” with long black hair and blue eyes. She is petite and fairly lean from being outdoors and keeping an active lifestyle and profession. She takes genuinely good care of herself, however doesn't mind indulging from time to time. Her skin is naturally on the fair side, but she tans easily and is careful not to get burned. Clothing styles are a little more towards tom-boyish, though she still tailors her looks to highlight her figure. Flip-flops, tank-tops and frayed jean shorts are the norm. Rarely wears anything formal. [b]Personality[/b]: When she first arrived as a semi-resident of Islas Azules, Taryn was as brash, straightforward and demanding as ever. She remains all of those things into the present day, however a few years on the islands, learning to really live on “island time” has mellowed her to some extent. The outer circle of acquaintances she has around the area would probably consider her no different than when she first arrived, but the closer cadre of friends she keeps would say with a smirk and a shrug, “Well, she’s not as bad as she was.” When it comes to the government and politics of the islands she keeps a fairly neutral position with neither side truly working completely in her favor. The Flores keep the majority of the tourists and prospectors at a tolerable level and thus exclude the bulk of any competition she may have from outsiders, however they hide and withhold information for their own benefit. The Cardenas, on the other hand, are more willing to be open, but will invite in the same foreigners the Flores are keeping out. Taryn has no interest in digging in the seabed for diamonds, but is most definitely keen on keeping fewer ships on the horizon. At a personal level, Taryn has a restless soul that is rarely satisfied. She’s extremely self-critical which contributes to her seemingly random mood swings and eccentricities. Her whims don’t always lead her to success though sometimes she can really find the unpredictable to be exhilarating despite the outcome. In relationships, she has used this to guard herself and her reputation maybe too much to give anyone a legitimate chance. Instead, she is endlessly testing and putting down hurdles for her ego to judge people unworthy. Out on the open water when she’s running downwind at full canvas and the hull is gliding over the water of the Caribbean is when the most noticeable difference in attitude arises. She never felt the same sense of self or belonging when she was a child learning how to sail. It was there to some extent, but wasn’t the same feeling as having her own boat. Oftentimes when she needs to think, she’ll turn off the autopilot and steer the boat manually. It is a complete contrast to her normal pretentiousness. [b]Likes[/b]: +Sailing +Puzzles +Spicy Food +Ornate Dishes +Sunsets +Country Music [b]Dislikes[/b]: -Politics -Inactivity -Effeminate Men -Authority -Insects -Cruise Ships [b]Special Talent[/b]: Taryn has a shockingly good memory, though it is not fully photographic in that she remembers certain specific details about people, places and events rather than complete images that let her recall the rest of the memory like labeled tabs on file folders. If she couldn’t place a name or a face from her past, she might remember what a person was wearing or where she saw them and the rest will come back from there. [b]Biography[/b]: The Rogers name is among the oldest within the Fort Myers seaboard commercial district dating back to the post-Civil War period and the original foundation of the city. Those early settlers, migrants and their descendants operated the first steamboats along the Caloosahatchee River and the earliest commercial fishing enterprises into the Gulf of Mexico. As the town grew so did the family and the business that eventually divided into two separate entities: one within the state, following the Okeechobee Waterway for internal commerce and one into the open waters of the Gulf and beyond. The current iteration of the Rogers family by its male survivors migrated south first to Cape Coral, but pragmatically fostered ties with the growing port of Miami and shed its commercial fishing holdings to solely focus on the growth of international container traffic into and out of Miami to South America. After several mergers, lines of credit and careful negotiations, SouthEastern Apex Lines was born. A combination of Rogers Cargo Southeastern and the Miami-based, Apex Lines South. Growing up with this pedigree, there was never a time when Taryn was without family, friends or followers that just wanted to be associated with a dominant name among the upper echelons of the Naples area. As a young teen there was a certain power and mystique associated with being able to jet off to Miami for a long weekend while her classmates took two hours to drive I-75. This exclusivity wasn’t without challenges though. Classes were extreme in both primary and secondary and partly served as a metric for parents to determine who would be suitable to follow in the family business. Taryn was not a particularly strong academic and clearly satisfied to leave the accounting and executive acumen to her older brother, however she excelled at the more practical disciplines of physics and geometry. As with everyone in the family she learned to sail both at home and in the young yachting club offered by the school. A firm understanding of the art of sailing and the family’s legacy on the water was simply a requirement. In her teen social circles, Taryn began to develop the brash character for which she is mostly known. At a glance she is every bit the spoiled child that many would expect, but this stems from two separate facets that she realized as a teenager: The first being the roles people fill themselves into as leaders or followers. In her group of friends, she innately recognized how the girls followed the example she set or the advice she gave even if it was to their detriment and that she had a talent for their manipulation. Skirting on the edge of plausible deniability was one of her favorite games, staying just out of reach of disciplinary action. The second and less obvious was her growing rejection of her parents’ lifestyle. Throughout high school, Taryn was becoming more and more aware of the actual dysfunctional nature of their relationship. There was no violence or substance abuse, but there was most definitely a facade that was curated for appearances. She wasn’t sure if they even loved each other, but they stayed married despite seeming to lead completely separate lives. Finding out about her mother’s nonchalant infidelity made her even more repulsed and she found herself becoming as much the opposite as she could. Taryn continued through college at the University of Miami and was glad to be away from home even if it was only a few hours away. She could feel the rift growing between herself and her mother particularly and separation felt like the best antidote. She majored in Marine Science and Maritime Archeology and finished her professional diving certification. The choice of curriculum was supported by her father who understood long ago that she would never be satisfied working from an office for the company and he largely suppressed the quips from her mother about Taryn throwing away her education to be, “Indiana Jane” instead of a dominant member of the family business. For Taryn, the choice wasn’t wholly rejectionist, but more of a want for something different while not completely removed from the familiar. She had an interest in both history and archeology as well as the science therein, however it was the puzzle that came alongside those events that was more captivating. The ecosystem of a setting or the deliberations of high-politics from ages passed were sometimes useful context, but the personal decisions of the man, or woman, standing behind the ship’s wheel were much more enthralling. As a graduation gift, Taryn’s father chartered a boat to give Taryn and her chosen “crew” a chance at an actual treasure hunt, though the gesture was intended more as leisurely vacation, she could choose the destination and for fun, whatever “mystery” she wanted to hunt down with her newly minted qualifications. Having vacationed in and around Islas Azules since she was a child, she was familiar with the waters not far from the commercial shipping lanes. The chosen target was to be the unfound wreckage of the pirate vessel, [i]Dire Wolf[/i], originally built as a Spanish Man of War and captured by the British during the islands’ turbulent colonial period; it was eventually hijacked and taken again by pirates where it was given its final naming. The reason for the sinking was unknown, but is presumed to have gone down in a storm after an alleged sacking of the town following a heated disagreement between the crew and leaders of the settlement. The loss of the ship and the circumstances surrounding it stoked the legend of [i]La Mujer Fatal[/i], but in terms of pure investigation, most treasure hunters and historians point out the quick changes in ownership and lack of reliable records by pirates as the real reason the location of the wreck was never found. For Taryn, the search for the ship and the thoughtfulness of the gift of adventure was exhilarating- [i]at first[/i]. The entire excursion seemed to be cursed from the beginning. One of her friends got sick during the initial passage and the weather was terrible. Choppy waters made their time on the boat even more unpleasant and the underwater current seemed to drag them away from any prospective dive site. Over the course of two weeks of dogged sailing in and out of Isla Zafrio, much to the amusement of the locals, she was nearly ready to quit and rethink her whole trajectory in life. It was on the last day that the weather broke and an anomaly appeared on the deep water sonar scan… The [i]Twilight Sonnet[/i] was the shipwreck that waited below and ultimately the discovery with which Taryn is forever credited. Further research after the dive revealed the ship arrived at Islas Azules during the colonial period of British victory over the Spanish with a load of dynamite and other equipment for mining. After unloading her cargo, the ship took on a number of exports and spoils bound for London, including a cache of unusual blue diamonds, but was subsequently lost in a squall on its way to a rendezvous in Port Royal before the Atlantic passage. The discovery immediately changed everything in Taryn’s world and set her squarely on her path as a “full-time” treasure hunter and adventurer. She even enjoyed some time as a minor celebrity in South Florida, on the internet and among various diving exploration organizations. She took it as a sign that Islas Azules were meant to be her home in the Caribbean Sea and after using part of the spoils of the discovery to set herself up in a way that she could only have dreamed, she sailed back to the Islands like a conqueror from old being the only person, to this day, to confirm the presence of ultra-rare blue diamonds from the island mythos. At present, Taryn has not discovered anything else of serious note over the course of her few years being a semi-resident of the islands leading many of her skeptics and naysayers to regard her as a “one-hit wonder” in the maritime archeology community pointing out the sheer luck in her defining discovery and that she didn’t even come close to finding the wreck that she had originally sought. These criticisms are normally met with an eye-roll after hearing them for so long, not to mention that no one else has had any discoveries around Azul since despite the rush of attention after her initial success. Deep down though, the words still sting to some extent because she knows until she can replicate her success, [i]they are right[/i]. She vehemently wants to make another to prove herself and believes at least one of the island’s dominant families, likely the Flores, have been withholding information that could point her to the actual location of the [i]Dire Wolf[/i]’s wreck. The rest of the townspeople generally regard her as something of an enigma. The image on her mainsail is meant to represent La Mujer Fatal and believers in the legend are unsure how the Mujer could have cast such favor on an outsider. [hider=Misc/trivia] -Taryn’s home among the islands is her sailboat, the [i]Bella Donna[/i]. A [url=https://i.ibb.co/Cb8sCKh/191422918-2936797156560022-197447920779838713-n.jpg]2003 53’ Amel Super Maramu[/url] sailing ketch. It has enough room to comfortably sleep 6 people, though it is rarely full with guests. “[i]’Donna[/i]” is able to turn salt water into fresh water, sun into energy, provide food and shelter, and is capable of traveling for months on end without visiting a dock. Taryn paid for the boat and its upfitting outright with her funds from the discovery of the [i]Twilight Sonnett[/i]. When she’s not out, the boat can usually be found at anchor in the western waters of Isla Ramilo. It is most recognizable when it’s underway by its distinctive mainsail with mural of a [url=https://i.ibb.co/7QfPc35/Screenshot-20240727-034424.jpg]woman holding a lantern.[/url] -Taryn speaks Spanish fluently having learned it throughout her years in private school and is very accustomed to the local iteration of the dialect though she rarely speaks it and mostly uses it as a mechanism to eavesdrop on those that think she’s oblivious to what’s being said. In English, she speaks with a somewhat [i]strong[/i] southern accent that no one in her immediate family can seem to explain the origin. She’s aware of it, but doesn’t hear it in her voice and is known to lay it on thick if she thinks it will more easily get her what she wants. -[i]Teacup Tours[/i] is the name of the small dba LLC business Taryn uses to recruit crew members to the ‘[i]Donna[/i]. She mostly uses an instagram page that has garnered a sizable following and features many of the dives, exploits and discoveries that have happened around the islands and further out to sea. There is a significant screening process that comes with even being considered for a position on the crew and she tends to keep a rotation of her favorites as well as a couple regulars that help with sailing the ship on longer outings. The exclusivity of the venue is what she markets and it’s not uncommon for her to have a waiting list of experienced divers and sailors waiting to get onboard. -Taryn is a fairly decent singer, though she’s never had any formal training. She wasn’t even aware of this talent until some of her most popular videos wound up being her sometimes off-key singing. She doesn’t mind singing into the phone camera or with small groups, but gets nervous in front of crowds unless she’s been drinking to the point that she can be talked into song. Her accent gives her a strong bias for country music and she likes a lot of the greats from the past and a few recent songs. Any prospective divers of crew on the boat get special consideration if they can play guitar or sing or both. -South Eastern Apex Lines - SEA Lines Cargo or “SEAL” Containers are bright pastel colors with a cartoon waving seal as a mascot, They ship primarily out of Florida ports to South America along the coastal shipping lanes and through the Panama Canal. All of the ships have a naming scheme of early Hollywood actors: CS [i]Gregory Peck[/i] or [i]Rock Hudson[/i] are some examples and invite some flavor of exclusivity among the crews and their appearance in the ports. Currently the [i]Humphrey Bogart[/i] and [i]Audrey Hepburn[/i] are the two newest ships. Taryn has been known to talk to them on the radio out on the open water just for fun or to get the scoop on other traffic or weather. [/hider] [b]Character Concept[/b]: Taryn is a semi resident of Islas Azules in that she still keeps her US citizenship, but spends most of her time around the islands and being majority separated from her family which has been a good thing for the most part. She has a few close friends and relationships in the area and after a few years as a “local” has a good feel for island life. Most people find that she can be hard to deal with and that subtlety is not exactly one of her strongest traits. She’s aware of this to some extent and has tried to be more personable for the good of those that she allows to come sailing or diving. Personally, she’s very guarded about commitment and feels lonely when she doesn’t have her mind set to some task. For the time being, she’s set on extracting whatever information she can from whichever native family ends up becoming the dominant leadership on the islands. [/hider]