Sea Princes: Crew Profiles 4

Avast me hearties! It's time for another pair of profiles from my Hold of the Sea Princes campaign. Last time I introduced the captain and first mate of the NPC companion ship, Osprem's Kiss. Today I'm featuring the last two integral members of the Kiss' female crew. Enjoy!

Sister Merci of Osprem hails from the warm southern land of the Lordship of the Isles. The youngest daughter of a wealthy Duxchan lord, Merci's early career was spent training in a coastal temple of Osprem, blessing captains, their wives and their outgoing ships. Despite their devotion, her order was normally secondary to the mercantile minded temple of Xerbo. Adventurous at heart and not content with the female roles given to her and the order, Merci pulled a favor with her father to gain a healer position with a merchant fleet. Merci rose in prominence over a decade at sea, first from her expert care and stirring funeral services, then later as a trusted counselor and diviner for most of the fleet's captains.

Two turns of fate then changed Merci's demeanor. During a routine venture to the free city of Rel Astra, Sister Merci had wandered off deep within the harbor district as she was apt to do, looking for a hedge mage to do business with. One wrong turn and she found herself cornered by a gang of orc-blooded thugs. By Osprem's grace Merci survived and returned to her ship tattered, bloody and with a pathological hatred of orc-kin. Mere months later, politics in the Aerdi Sea had worsened and so in a chance battle with a Sea Baron privateer Merci displayed her hidden talent with a trident. Barely winning the sea battle, all the Lordship officers were slain including the captain whose last breath was to confer Merci with command of his damaged ship: Osprem's Kiss.

Upon returning to Duxchan, the newly promoted Captain Merci lost most of her crew due to injury or a reluctance to serve a woman captain. Undaunted she bought and repaired the broken vessel with her life savings and by selling family heirlooms. Turning to her order of Osprem, she then crafted a small crew of loyal sisters and other lay female members who sought to take more action for the Iron League nation. To round out her deckhands Sister Merci bought and trained a cadre of eunuch sailors who quickly embraced their new lot in life. Merci and Osprem's Kiss spent the next several years hunting pirates in the Tilva Strait and fending off attacks on Duxchan ships in the Aerdi Sea. Through it all, she has kept a personal debt, pledging to sacrifice 333 orcs to the sea gods.

Over the years Merci has added and lost various crew members, but none have changed things more than Jet Cassidy whom Merci rescued from the sea after Osprem sent her a vision. By then Merci had aged and was slower due to old injuries, so taking a chance she gave captaincy to the obviously talented Jet provided Merci could still remain aboard as master in order to finish out her blood feud with orcs. Osprem's Kiss remains a force to be reckoned with in the east seas.

Half-Pint Moira is originally from the cold marchland of Ratik. Tomboyish and bold, she stowed away on a Marner ship at a young age to see more of the world. Moira's wit and fast talking nature secured her spot on the voyage. The ships' bosun took Moira under his wing, teaching her all the lore of ropes and knots, and her nimble small frame became suited working among the rigging. It wasn't long before her bossy know-it-all attitude even had her male deckmates taking orders without realizing it. The burly Ratik sailors came to nickname her Half-Pint due to her petite size. After their successful return to Marner, Moira begged the captain to let her remain with the ship, however he only agreed as a favor to her mentor that was retiring.

The next voyage took Moira to the city of Rel Astra where she was overwhelmed with the vast urban landscape. Wanting to dispose of the mouthy stow-away girl yet keep his honor, the captain tasked a couple of his loyal men to get her drunk and leave her to the mercy of a rowdy Aerdy bar the night before they were to leave port. Half-Pint was left behind in a foreign city and with no money. She spent the first few days working off her bar debt as a common serving girl. Her mouth and rustic Ratik upbringing soon got her thrown out of the establishment without a place to stay or any money. Wandering down at the docks, she contemplated stowing away on a new ship. Perhaps by divination or merely noticing Moira's desperation, she was spotted by a trio of Osprem priestesses guarding the gang plank to the Duxchan carrack Osprem's Kiss.

Moira was ushered aboard, where the sisters fed her and heard her story. Captain Jet Cassidy also drilled Moira on her knowledge of rope use and nautical lore and was impressed enough to keep her on as an assistant to her eunuch bosun. A few years later, Moira's loyalty and hard work paid off as she was promoted to bosun of the Kiss. Moira's mouth and brazen attitude still gets her into loads of trouble much to the amusement of her sailing sisters.