https://grieman.github.io/worldbuilding/
Captain Ector Caveer, known to the port towns and to other sea captains as “Antlers” Caveer, and known to his crew as “Cap” or “Cap’n”, is a charismatic and jovial man who always has a story up his sleeve. As a boy and a young man, he had always been a dreamer and a storyteller. He could enchant listeners and passersby with his fantastical stories, weaving tales of make believe that sounded so real it stole the breaths of those listening to him perform. It was an act, of course, as Ector had never seen any of the grand things he was talking about and didn’t come from a faraway place of wonder. He was from a small village and had never seen the monstrous beings he talked about in his tales.
When he couldn’t flee into his stories, he fled into drink, dulling the dissatisfaction he felt about his own life with cheap alcohol. What little coin he earned from his performances that wasn’t spent at the bar, he either lost or doubled at the gambling tables, spending some nights sleeping off his drunkenness in a feather bed and others waking up, dirty and cold, in a dark alleyway. Ector’s charms started to wane as his drinking problem became worse. He spent more hours drunk than sober, and the friends who had once supported him were turned away by his fouler mood and his habit of begging them for coin. Young and handsome, he had been the talk of the town among the younger residents, all pining after the emphatic storyteller. Now he was a cautionary tale, a warning of what happens to those who dream of the grand life Ector once preached.
Ector’s life changed the night he won his ship. On that evening, the fool’s luck that kept him alive gave him a night of unbound winnings. Placed against a nobleman with his pride to defend and money to lose, Ector’s luck shone through, drawing him an ace of hearts to win the hand. With it, he stripped his rich opponent for all he ad to bet—including the slender trading vessel sitting in the harbor that the nobleman had just purchased. With a mind foggy from drink, Ector staggered to the harbor to take a look at his winnings, finding a beautiful ship made of dark wood and scarlet sails, with the nobleman’s crest, the head of a stag, embroidered on the largest sail. Falling asleep in the ship’s hold, clutching his earnings and dreaming of the adventures he once told of so vividly, Ector was unconscious for several hours. He only woke when a bucket of cold sea water was thrown in his face, leaving him sputtering for breath and harking loudly for a few moments before he was able to speak.
Before him stood the crew of the ship, his crew now, and none of them seemed terribly impressed with their new captain. The one who spoke for them, a male human calling himself Trammitch, who turned out to be the ship’s quartermaster, was not afraid to let Ector know how pathetic of a sight he was making for himself, starting laughs amongst the other crew members. When Ector didn’t laugh, still coughing and now vomiting as well, Trammitch, or “Whiplash” as the crew called him, found what pity he could muster for the drunk young man and led him to the captain’s quarters, ensuring that one of his crewmates cleaned up after their captain’s mess.
Ector, comfortable with his miserable life, attempted to bargain with Whiplash to let him leave the ship, but he refused, instead confining him in the captain’s quarters until he sobered up. When he eventually did, and started asking for wine, he was brought water and light food instead. When he wanted to go to a nearby tavern, Whiplash went with him, commenting on the disgusting floors and tables, as well as the equally foul patrons sitting at the bar. Ector did what he usually did when anyone gave him attention: started telling stories. Grand stories of faraway places and lost treasures, all things present only in dreams and children’s tales. Whiplash wasn’t impressed.
Instead of wanting more stories, Whiplash asked him about his life. He told him he merely wanted to know more about how troubled his new captain was, and he would find those answers quicker if Ector stopped telling stories. Ector began talking about himself. For the first time in years, he talked about his own life. About his parents and siblings he hadn’t seen in years. How they believed he was off to make his fortunes in the big city. How proud they were of him. He told Whiplash of his years sleeping in alleys and his drinking. About the gambling and the winning and the losing. About the friends he’d lost and the enemies he’d made. He talked honestly for the first time in his adult life, and Whiplash was there to listen to it all.
The days that followed were not easy on Ector. Whiplash was patient with his blubbering captain, teaching him the tools of the trade and introducing him to the other scoundrels on the crew. Without the smell of wine clinging to him like a shadow, the charms that had abandoned Ector started to return, and he made friends with the crew surprisingly quickly. He laughed with Galt, the old, jovial cook of the ship, and was taught nautical terms by Devan, the agile and enigmatic Riggermaster. He even taught Harper, the first mate and the only woman of the crew, some basic dance steps, much to the amusement of the crew, who could see that the elegant way Harper moved around the ship definitely did not translate into her dancing.
As he rose to the occasion, Ector became as much the captain of the ship as a true part of the crew. A crew, he found out, that had more than a little experience running gambits against the more fortunate parts of the aristocracy. Before it became the Ace of Harts — a name Ector had chosen and was quite pleased with, as it played on the final card of the hand that won him the ship as well as the extravagant crest on the mainsail — the ship had been a privateering vessel that fell on unsuspecting trading ships owned by the rich and wealthy. The crew would then take what they needed before vanishing in the night, taking care to only hit those ships carrying the belongings of the wicked and corrupt. It took very little convincing to get Ector excited about this idea. The best of his tales had always involved the lives of scoundrels and loveable villains, and the life of a pirate promised Ector the thing that he had always dreamt of: adventure.
Ector is a jovial, charismatic storyteller, always full of tall tales and fun anecdotes. He is the perfect foil to Whiplash’s strict, no-nonsense leadership, and the crew loves him. He has sworn off drink, and refuses to touch alcohol, lest he fall back into old habits. Despite his sobriety, he is always the life of the party and has no trouble making friends and charming ladies. Called ‘Antlers’ by many, after the vessel he commands, Captain Ector Caveer is a lovable scoundrel who is not afraid of cheating and lying to get out of a troublesome situation. His charms are his most lethal weapon, and he uses them happily whenever he has the chance. To those who get close to him, he is a relaxed and loyal man, who believes in the goodness of others. These qualities make it so some consider him an idealist and hero, while others see him as a filthy and lying pirate, intent on nothing but plunder and robbery.