Velnias ‘Blackfish’ Blythe
Intent
Velnias Blythe, AKA Blackfish, is intended to be an antagonist, one of many colourful and villainous characters that make up the fearsome Red Fleet pirate faction. As second-in-command aboard the nefarious ship Crabclaw, and implacably opposed to the Imperium and all it stands for, this character will serve as a dangerous and capable foe.
Skills
Total Points Spent: 24
Physical
Fighting Style - Basket-Hilted Sword Fencing [Master] (6)
”To become a great swordsbeast, first you must learn to be a terrible swordsbeast. You have to learn how to lose, and survive losing. For the first twenty-eight years of my life, I thought I was a great swordsbeast because I could skewer pampered fools with ease. After we lost, after I was exiled… that’s when my lessons truly began.”
Fighting Style - Archery [Trained] (2)
”Have you ever been on a hunt? It’s jolly good fun. We used to hunt the poor. Just turn a few vagrants loose on the estate grounds. Foxes made the best quarry, of course. Nobeast missed them. I never missed them either. Hahaha!”
Ungentlebeastly Conduct [Trained] (2)
”The duel was arranged to be in three days. So, I paid the bartender to announce drinks on the house every evening. I had his most competent friends bagged and thrown in the river. I even hired a little runt to steal his boots the night before. Oh, and I had dabbed poison on my glove before we shook paws. That probably did it for him, but arranging the rest was a lark, I can tell you!”
Total Points In Category: 10
Mental
Sailing [Trained] (2)
”Let me deal with this. I’ve picked up a trick or two in this rotten tub. Helmsbeast! A good full, handsomely now! All paws! Ready about! Stations to stays! Ease down at the helm… rise tacks and sheets! Haul taut! Mainsail haul!”
Administration [Seasoned] (4)
”As ship’s Quartermaster, I claim the authority to allocate provisions, distribute acquisitions, and punish transgressions. I adjudicate over disputes, and at any time I may inspect weapons to ensure our battle readiness. Whilst I am the crew’s most strict disciplinarian, I am also their fiercest friend and advocate.”
Medium Unit Organisation [Proficient] (3)
“Seize your weapons, you scabrous rogues, it’s time to earn your pay! No quarter! No pity! Pity will kill you surely as steel! You three take the left, you four on the right. The rest, with me!”
Total Points In Category: 9
Social
Sycophancy [Trained] (2)
”Ah, my gallant captain! My, but you cut a dashing figure today, if I may say so! That bold swagger, that broad, strong chest, those flashing fiery eyes! What cunning strategem have you devised for us to ravage this bountiful coastline? Feasts and plunder aplenty, that’s our captain’s genius at work!”
Deception [Proficient] (3)
”Once you notice a lie, pay close attention. The truth leaves a shadow - work out what purpose the lie serves, and your enemy’s intentions become clear. Watch their eyes, listen when they pause to think, sense whether a paw is straying to a hidden dagger.”
Total Points In Category: 5
General Information
Age: 39
Species: Wildcat
Size: Extra Large
Physical Description
Velnias is a tall, bulky wildcat. He is built with brutish muscle, which is layered thick with fat particularly around his belly, and on top of that, he has thick, shaggy black-and-white fur. The overall impression is just overwhelming size. His fur is in a mask-and-mantle pattern, a glossy black on the top half of his head, his back and tail, and white elsewhere.
The clothes he wears could have been sewn for an Emperor, and much blood-soaked gold was spent making Velnias’ wardrobe look stunning for even the most banal of occasions. His favourite outfits are the Black (trimmed in gold), the White (trimmed in gold) and the Red (trimmed… in gold). Each of these is made up of a matching waistcoat and breeches, and a long double-breasted coat that reaches Velnias’ ankles, with buttons of narwhal tusk ivory inlaid with gems. Uniquely, the back of each coat is embroidered with an entire artwork in coloured thread. The Black features a Kraken devouring an Imperial ship, the White features a vulture feasting on a bleeding heart, and the Red features a pack of wolves tearing apart a fox. The front left breast of each coat is embroidered to look like the emblems of honourable orders (in much the same style as a certain one-armed historic admiral).
Somewhat absurdly, Velnias wears heavy gold epaulettes on each shoulder when on duty. When entertaining or wanting to look extra special, he also wears a rich purple sash around his waist, and a red one for battle. He also has many, many shiny boots and increasingly fancy, pompous, feathered hats. On days when the sun is bright and reflecting off the sea, he will wear a pair of tinted pince-nez spectacles. The overall impression of Velnias’ fashion while on duty is, essentially, the appearance of a tinpot dictator.
Velnias has two dentures - both his upper fangs have been replaced by gold-coated steel duplicates. The rumour is he lost one tooth, then couldn’t bear to have an asymmetrical smile.
In battle, Velnias wears a blued steel breastplate that covers the front of his broad torso, as well as matching wrist bracers and greaves. Though he loudly complains of wanting a full suit of armour, there are few craftsbeasts in the world skilled enough to create such a piece, and fewer still that would accept a commission from him.
Velnias often paints his facial fur. When dressing up for special occasions, he will paint in vivid red ink a diamond on his left cheek, its top half in his black fur, the bottom in his white fur. He has learned that the ink tends to run in battle though, so he doesn’t bother with elaborate patterns for a fight. Instead, he paints his white chin red, and over the course of the battle, the colours seeps down his neck. This gives him both the appearance of having torn a foe apart with his teeth, and also disguises whether he’s sustained an injury.
Inventory and Real Estate
Secret Chests
Some pirates are cunning enough to build a little nest egg away from the greedy attention of their messmates. Velnias has multiple buried chests scattered around secluded islands. Should his career of power-tripping, plundering and feasting ever lose its lustre, or become unprofitable, he expects to retire comfortably.
Walk-in Wardrobe
Velnias has his own personal storage closet on the Crabclaw that contains ‘only’ twenty or so of the most ‘necessary’ outfits the wildcat possesses. Velnias owns almost as many chests of clothes as he does treasure, each outfit either sumptuous or utterly outrageous. The older parts of the collection certainly don’t fit him any more, but he is a fervent hoarder. He also still owns a more practical mottled green-brown cloak, completely unfashionable, but very good for quiet getaways.
Basket-Hilt Sword
A broad-bladed, heavy sword good at cleaving through flesh while protecting the swordsbeast’s paw. The inside of the basket is lined with red velvet.
Personality
More aristocratic than actual aristocrats, if that’s even possible. Being overly proud of his heritage and former life as part of the upper crust, Velnias does his best to make the world around him conform to his pretensions of having never left a position of privilege. He will act as though his equals and superiors in the Pirate Fleet are merely a bunch of yachting enthusiasts, he will affect over-the-top manners like sending personalised invitation cards for meetings, and generally act the aloof fop. Those below him, naturally, are treated like servants.
This mask of civility slips when he is angry. He would never be so blindly enraged to destroy his own property, but has been known to assault underlings instead. He also loses some of his smoothly diffident sheen when in the thick of bloody combat. The sight of blood, death, injury and pain brings out a kind of wide-eyed excitement in him that borders on animalistic.
Strengths
[Priority Number One]
Velnias is extraordinarily talented at looking after himself and his own interests no matter the occasion. If he is kind or generous to another beast, that’s a favour owed and kept mentally stored away for future use. If he is dividing loot, he is careful not to be regarded in any ways overtly greedy - but he will take the smaller, easier managed currency and jewels and leave awkward ingots of gold and fancy hard-to-maintain weapons to his subordinates in a false show of fairness. If there is ever a catastrophe, Velnias calls it an opportunity.
[Cult of Personality]
Velnias has worked hard to craft a reputation for himself amongst the pirates of the Red Fleet. While no pirate would ever call him ‘lord’ as he perhaps would wish, he uses his unofficial title of Blackfish with the same pride. The nickname comes from his chromatic similarity to a huge, many-toothed black-and-white fish the crew once spotted following their ship that seemed to display an unusual amount of intelligence. Velnias encourages the circulation of rumours about his darkest deeds as well as his glamorous past. He wants it known that he is a cut above the common drifters and desperadoes of the crew, but far more clever and deadly than all of them. This cultivation of respect, awe, fear, and even perhaps a little envy has served Velnias well over the years.
Weaknesses
[Creeping Cowardice]
Velnias was not born a coward, nor was he one for most of his life. It has only been in the past few years that he has caught himself flinching at danger, listening to the fluttering fears in his gut, suggesting more caution and analysis of the risks and costs. He knows deep down his lifestyle doesn’t promote longevity, that he’s slowing down, collecting aches and pains. He wants to retire early, and enjoy the fruits of his bloody career, and the more danger he faces, the more he fears the indignity of having it all snatched away from him at the very last moment. One more job. Just one last job, and he can cut them all loose. Disappear. He’s almost ready, but timidity can cost effectiveness in the present…
[Existential Ennui]
Velnias is prone to poor moods that affect his thinking and judgment, thanks to his growing anxiety about the meaning of his life. He lost everything from his former lifestyle, spent a decade clawing most of it back, and now realises that his desire for status does not extend to serious leadership, and that he is still a spoilt idle princeling at heart. With no family but an estranged brother, no wish to be captain of a filthy rabble, and no prospect of going home, the only future Velnias can see for himself is a lonely, paranoid retirement, full of regret that slumming it with a bunch of ignorant, uncultured, filthy cutthroats might have been the happiest days of his life. The mood swings this causes can lead him to sudden bursts of anger, misery, or manic acts of hedonistic fervour.
History
Velnias Blythe was born in 1726 in the Insanely Rich Area, and spent his childhood in between the family estate there, and at their summer residence at Tully Shore. He was the eldest of two Blythe brothers. For the first 22 years of his life, Velnias seemed an utterly unremarkable copy of any other young aristocrat in his neighborhood - ambitious, ruthless, and cruel. He would inherit his father’s position at the MinoCom, he had the head for arithmetic after all. He would marry some vicious wildcat heiress, have lots of vicious kits, and repeat the generational cycle to its end.
Then the revolution came.
Velnias had fought for seven years for the Ministerial forces, delighting in skewering democrat and monarchist alike, when Traitor Talinn inexplicably sided his forces with a deluded artillery captain and made her Empress. In that time, Velnias had lost his father and mother both, and his little brother had gone monarchist, becoming madly obsessed with the letter of the law that stipulated that everything the Ministers had done was illegal.
Velnias was not one to hesitate to save his own hide, disappearing quickly and effectively from the sight of the new regime. Though he hid it under cool indifference and a ‘gentlebeast of mystery’ persona, it took a long time for the shock to wear off, and the denial to turn to rage. This was the first time Velnias had ever truly been defeated, in any meaningful sense of the word. It had also come on the cusp of what had seemed total victory, which made it all the more bitter.
This bitterness turned to hatred of Talinn Ryalor, which Velnias nursed into an all-consuming monster in his heart. He hated Talinn, he hated the Ryalors, he hated the upstart artillery officer pretending to the throne, he hated blasted foxes, oh, he hated. Grandiose plans of revenge and reconquest rose and fell in amidst Velnias’ bid to survive amongst criminals and exiles like himself.
After some time, he came to understand the true source of the fury burning within him. It wasn’t political, Velnias found he actually hadn’t cared there was no Emperor, as long as the system had worked. He had fought for the status quo simply because it suited him and his family. He was angry because Talinn and Amelie had taken his neat little life away from him. No more family fortune, estate, title, legacy, vicious backstabbing family to intrigue against, nothing. He craved status, and he craved comfort. The fire dulled to embers, he no longer cared about settling the score, though now anybeast of the Imperium was now an enemy in his eyes.
He was hungry. Day and night, whether low on rations or fit to burst from an ill-gotten feast. It was a hunger for gold, pretty clothes, the taste of butter, to be hungered after by pleasant and attractive company. In the absence of his real, former life as an aristocrat, Velnias was free to crave not just what it had been, but all it had not been as well.
Really, he made the perfect pirate.
Intent
Velnias Blythe, AKA Blackfish, is intended to be an antagonist, one of many colourful and villainous characters that make up the fearsome Red Fleet pirate faction. As second-in-command aboard the nefarious ship Crabclaw, and implacably opposed to the Imperium and all it stands for, this character will serve as a dangerous and capable foe.
Skills
Total Points Spent: 24
Physical
Fighting Style - Basket-Hilted Sword Fencing [Master] (6)
”To become a great swordsbeast, first you must learn to be a terrible swordsbeast. You have to learn how to lose, and survive losing. For the first twenty-eight years of my life, I thought I was a great swordsbeast because I could skewer pampered fools with ease. After we lost, after I was exiled… that’s when my lessons truly began.”
Fighting Style - Archery [Trained] (2)
”Have you ever been on a hunt? It’s jolly good fun. We used to hunt the poor. Just turn a few vagrants loose on the estate grounds. Foxes made the best quarry, of course. Nobeast missed them. I never missed them either. Hahaha!”
Ungentlebeastly Conduct [Trained] (2)
”The duel was arranged to be in three days. So, I paid the bartender to announce drinks on the house every evening. I had his most competent friends bagged and thrown in the river. I even hired a little runt to steal his boots the night before. Oh, and I had dabbed poison on my glove before we shook paws. That probably did it for him, but arranging the rest was a lark, I can tell you!”
Total Points In Category: 10
Mental
Sailing [Trained] (2)
”Let me deal with this. I’ve picked up a trick or two in this rotten tub. Helmsbeast! A good full, handsomely now! All paws! Ready about! Stations to stays! Ease down at the helm… rise tacks and sheets! Haul taut! Mainsail haul!”
Administration [Seasoned] (4)
”As ship’s Quartermaster, I claim the authority to allocate provisions, distribute acquisitions, and punish transgressions. I adjudicate over disputes, and at any time I may inspect weapons to ensure our battle readiness. Whilst I am the crew’s most strict disciplinarian, I am also their fiercest friend and advocate.”
Medium Unit Organisation [Proficient] (3)
“Seize your weapons, you scabrous rogues, it’s time to earn your pay! No quarter! No pity! Pity will kill you surely as steel! You three take the left, you four on the right. The rest, with me!”
Total Points In Category: 9
Social
Sycophancy [Trained] (2)
”Ah, my gallant captain! My, but you cut a dashing figure today, if I may say so! That bold swagger, that broad, strong chest, those flashing fiery eyes! What cunning strategem have you devised for us to ravage this bountiful coastline? Feasts and plunder aplenty, that’s our captain’s genius at work!”
Deception [Proficient] (3)
”Once you notice a lie, pay close attention. The truth leaves a shadow - work out what purpose the lie serves, and your enemy’s intentions become clear. Watch their eyes, listen when they pause to think, sense whether a paw is straying to a hidden dagger.”
Total Points In Category: 5
General Information
Age: 39
Species: Wildcat
Size: Extra Large
Physical Description
Velnias is a tall, bulky wildcat. He is built with brutish muscle, which is layered thick with fat particularly around his belly, and on top of that, he has thick, shaggy black-and-white fur. The overall impression is just overwhelming size. His fur is in a mask-and-mantle pattern, a glossy black on the top half of his head, his back and tail, and white elsewhere.
The clothes he wears could have been sewn for an Emperor, and much blood-soaked gold was spent making Velnias’ wardrobe look stunning for even the most banal of occasions. His favourite outfits are the Black (trimmed in gold), the White (trimmed in gold) and the Red (trimmed… in gold). Each of these is made up of a matching waistcoat and breeches, and a long double-breasted coat that reaches Velnias’ ankles, with buttons of narwhal tusk ivory inlaid with gems. Uniquely, the back of each coat is embroidered with an entire artwork in coloured thread. The Black features a Kraken devouring an Imperial ship, the White features a vulture feasting on a bleeding heart, and the Red features a pack of wolves tearing apart a fox. The front left breast of each coat is embroidered to look like the emblems of honourable orders (in much the same style as a certain one-armed historic admiral).
Somewhat absurdly, Velnias wears heavy gold epaulettes on each shoulder when on duty. When entertaining or wanting to look extra special, he also wears a rich purple sash around his waist, and a red one for battle. He also has many, many shiny boots and increasingly fancy, pompous, feathered hats. On days when the sun is bright and reflecting off the sea, he will wear a pair of tinted pince-nez spectacles. The overall impression of Velnias’ fashion while on duty is, essentially, the appearance of a tinpot dictator.
Velnias has two dentures - both his upper fangs have been replaced by gold-coated steel duplicates. The rumour is he lost one tooth, then couldn’t bear to have an asymmetrical smile.
In battle, Velnias wears a blued steel breastplate that covers the front of his broad torso, as well as matching wrist bracers and greaves. Though he loudly complains of wanting a full suit of armour, there are few craftsbeasts in the world skilled enough to create such a piece, and fewer still that would accept a commission from him.
Velnias often paints his facial fur. When dressing up for special occasions, he will paint in vivid red ink a diamond on his left cheek, its top half in his black fur, the bottom in his white fur. He has learned that the ink tends to run in battle though, so he doesn’t bother with elaborate patterns for a fight. Instead, he paints his white chin red, and over the course of the battle, the colours seeps down his neck. This gives him both the appearance of having torn a foe apart with his teeth, and also disguises whether he’s sustained an injury.
Inventory and Real Estate
Secret Chests
Some pirates are cunning enough to build a little nest egg away from the greedy attention of their messmates. Velnias has multiple buried chests scattered around secluded islands. Should his career of power-tripping, plundering and feasting ever lose its lustre, or become unprofitable, he expects to retire comfortably.
Walk-in Wardrobe
Velnias has his own personal storage closet on the Crabclaw that contains ‘only’ twenty or so of the most ‘necessary’ outfits the wildcat possesses. Velnias owns almost as many chests of clothes as he does treasure, each outfit either sumptuous or utterly outrageous. The older parts of the collection certainly don’t fit him any more, but he is a fervent hoarder. He also still owns a more practical mottled green-brown cloak, completely unfashionable, but very good for quiet getaways.
Basket-Hilt Sword
A broad-bladed, heavy sword good at cleaving through flesh while protecting the swordsbeast’s paw. The inside of the basket is lined with red velvet.
Personality
More aristocratic than actual aristocrats, if that’s even possible. Being overly proud of his heritage and former life as part of the upper crust, Velnias does his best to make the world around him conform to his pretensions of having never left a position of privilege. He will act as though his equals and superiors in the Pirate Fleet are merely a bunch of yachting enthusiasts, he will affect over-the-top manners like sending personalised invitation cards for meetings, and generally act the aloof fop. Those below him, naturally, are treated like servants.
This mask of civility slips when he is angry. He would never be so blindly enraged to destroy his own property, but has been known to assault underlings instead. He also loses some of his smoothly diffident sheen when in the thick of bloody combat. The sight of blood, death, injury and pain brings out a kind of wide-eyed excitement in him that borders on animalistic.
Strengths
[Priority Number One]
Velnias is extraordinarily talented at looking after himself and his own interests no matter the occasion. If he is kind or generous to another beast, that’s a favour owed and kept mentally stored away for future use. If he is dividing loot, he is careful not to be regarded in any ways overtly greedy - but he will take the smaller, easier managed currency and jewels and leave awkward ingots of gold and fancy hard-to-maintain weapons to his subordinates in a false show of fairness. If there is ever a catastrophe, Velnias calls it an opportunity.
[Cult of Personality]
Velnias has worked hard to craft a reputation for himself amongst the pirates of the Red Fleet. While no pirate would ever call him ‘lord’ as he perhaps would wish, he uses his unofficial title of Blackfish with the same pride. The nickname comes from his chromatic similarity to a huge, many-toothed black-and-white fish the crew once spotted following their ship that seemed to display an unusual amount of intelligence. Velnias encourages the circulation of rumours about his darkest deeds as well as his glamorous past. He wants it known that he is a cut above the common drifters and desperadoes of the crew, but far more clever and deadly than all of them. This cultivation of respect, awe, fear, and even perhaps a little envy has served Velnias well over the years.
Weaknesses
[Creeping Cowardice]
Velnias was not born a coward, nor was he one for most of his life. It has only been in the past few years that he has caught himself flinching at danger, listening to the fluttering fears in his gut, suggesting more caution and analysis of the risks and costs. He knows deep down his lifestyle doesn’t promote longevity, that he’s slowing down, collecting aches and pains. He wants to retire early, and enjoy the fruits of his bloody career, and the more danger he faces, the more he fears the indignity of having it all snatched away from him at the very last moment. One more job. Just one last job, and he can cut them all loose. Disappear. He’s almost ready, but timidity can cost effectiveness in the present…
[Existential Ennui]
Velnias is prone to poor moods that affect his thinking and judgment, thanks to his growing anxiety about the meaning of his life. He lost everything from his former lifestyle, spent a decade clawing most of it back, and now realises that his desire for status does not extend to serious leadership, and that he is still a spoilt idle princeling at heart. With no family but an estranged brother, no wish to be captain of a filthy rabble, and no prospect of going home, the only future Velnias can see for himself is a lonely, paranoid retirement, full of regret that slumming it with a bunch of ignorant, uncultured, filthy cutthroats might have been the happiest days of his life. The mood swings this causes can lead him to sudden bursts of anger, misery, or manic acts of hedonistic fervour.
History
Velnias Blythe was born in 1726 in the Insanely Rich Area, and spent his childhood in between the family estate there, and at their summer residence at Tully Shore. He was the eldest of two Blythe brothers. For the first 22 years of his life, Velnias seemed an utterly unremarkable copy of any other young aristocrat in his neighborhood - ambitious, ruthless, and cruel. He would inherit his father’s position at the MinoCom, he had the head for arithmetic after all. He would marry some vicious wildcat heiress, have lots of vicious kits, and repeat the generational cycle to its end.
Then the revolution came.
Velnias had fought for seven years for the Ministerial forces, delighting in skewering democrat and monarchist alike, when Traitor Talinn inexplicably sided his forces with a deluded artillery captain and made her Empress. In that time, Velnias had lost his father and mother both, and his little brother had gone monarchist, becoming madly obsessed with the letter of the law that stipulated that everything the Ministers had done was illegal.
Velnias was not one to hesitate to save his own hide, disappearing quickly and effectively from the sight of the new regime. Though he hid it under cool indifference and a ‘gentlebeast of mystery’ persona, it took a long time for the shock to wear off, and the denial to turn to rage. This was the first time Velnias had ever truly been defeated, in any meaningful sense of the word. It had also come on the cusp of what had seemed total victory, which made it all the more bitter.
This bitterness turned to hatred of Talinn Ryalor, which Velnias nursed into an all-consuming monster in his heart. He hated Talinn, he hated the Ryalors, he hated the upstart artillery officer pretending to the throne, he hated blasted foxes, oh, he hated. Grandiose plans of revenge and reconquest rose and fell in amidst Velnias’ bid to survive amongst criminals and exiles like himself.
After some time, he came to understand the true source of the fury burning within him. It wasn’t political, Velnias found he actually hadn’t cared there was no Emperor, as long as the system had worked. He had fought for the status quo simply because it suited him and his family. He was angry because Talinn and Amelie had taken his neat little life away from him. No more family fortune, estate, title, legacy, vicious backstabbing family to intrigue against, nothing. He craved status, and he craved comfort. The fire dulled to embers, he no longer cared about settling the score, though now anybeast of the Imperium was now an enemy in his eyes.
He was hungry. Day and night, whether low on rations or fit to burst from an ill-gotten feast. It was a hunger for gold, pretty clothes, the taste of butter, to be hungered after by pleasant and attractive company. In the absence of his real, former life as an aristocrat, Velnias was free to crave not just what it had been, but all it had not been as well.
Really, he made the perfect pirate.
Last edited:
