Jade Keane's page

Jade grew up in a small fishing town called Rayall, on the coast of Malyss. Her father, Ivan, was one of the town’s many fishermen and her mother, Julia, helped him sell the fish to people in other towns. Jade admired her father and often went fishing with him. Ivan taught his daughter much about the sea, fishing, and much more while they were on his boat. On one such day they spent together on the fishing boat, a ship sailing a black flag with three skulls and a crescent moon on it approached the town. Before the ship would spot them, Ivan sailed his boat as far away from the town as he could. He’d recognized the flag for what it was: a pirate flag.

Two days later Ivan and Jade carefully made their way back to the town, which they found razed. There were many corpses scattered in and near the razed buildings, but there wasn’t a single sign of Julia. Ivan and Jade eventually headed back to the boat and sailed west, to Bretona. The large city state was only a couple of days removed from their town and Ivan hoped his wife had fled there, because it was where her sister lived. Once they arrived in Bretona, they were shocked to see the very same pirate ship that attacked their town in the city’s port.

Ivan immediately headed to the authorities, but he was told the ship’s captain was a privateer named Baxter Morley and in the service of Lord-Mayor Haldmeer Grobaras. The city’s guards refused to take any action against Morley and his crew. In a fit of rage Ivan took matters into his own hands and went to the tavern where the privateer’s crew was spending part of their loot on drinks, demanding they’d tell him where his wife was. The men feigned ignorance and mocked Ivan, telling him that if they’d come across his wife they’d take good care of her for him. Ivan’s rage grew and, completely forgetting who he was up against, grabbed a chair and hit one of the men on his head. In the moment that followed Jade saw Morley rise from his seat and shoot the strong father she admired so much in his chest.

In all the commotion that ensued nobody paid attention to ten-year-old Jade. Before Morley saw it coming, his pistol was pulled from his hand and another shot could be heard. The tavern grew quiet as the privateer’s hand went to his face. The shot hadn’t killed him, but it had destroyed one of his eyes. Jade pulled the trigger again, but the pistol had no more bullets in it. Morley then hit Jade with his other hand, knocking her out.

Jade woke up aboard Morley’s ship, amid other captives. Despite the painful loss of her father and her own capture, Jade was filled with relief when she spotted her mother next to her. Julia wrapped an arm around her daughter and they both cried. It didn’t take the ship’s crew very long to realize that Julia was Jade’s mother, and so their happy reunion didn’t last long. Morley had heard that Jade had awoken and had ordered one of his men to bring her and Julia to his cabin. There he made Jade watch how her mother was beaten up, as punishment for the loss of his eye. Morley made the beating part of his daily routine.

One day Morley and his crew ported in Mag-Abyra. Morley had grown tired of beating up Julia and decided to sell both her and Jade as slaves. He found a minor noble, Harbin Alazar, who was interested in buying the two women. In the years that followed, Jade and Julia worked in the Alazar household as servants. Their lives were good compared to those of other slaves, which was mainly due to their pretty faces. The humans who weren’t as blessed as them all magically disappeared soon after their purchase. Yet as Jade became prettier with the years, Julia’s beauty slowly waned. What was more, old injuries from Morley's beatings gave Julia more and more trouble keeping up with her household chores.

Not long after Jade had reached the age of nineteen, she overheard Harbin and one of his relatives talk about replacing Julia with a younger maid. Julia was to have an accident and Jade shouldn’t learn about it, because they wanted to keep Jade around. Jade told her mother about the Alazars’ plan and together they made a plan of their own. That evening dinner was served with poison, and Jade and Julia escaped the Alazar mansion. They made their way to the port, where they hid aboard a ship that set sail next morning. It was only when they were already at sea that they did realize they’d accidentally boarded a slaver’s ship, headed toward distant shores to catch new slaves. If the ship’s crew would discover them aboard the ship, Jade and Julia would be in deep trouble.

The next day, however, the women’s luck took a turn for the best. An Aroulan warship approached that of the slavers, and due to the tide the slavers were unable to escape it. The slaver’s ship was boarded, the slavers killed, and the Aroulans didn’t take long to find Jade and Julia hidden on the lower deck of the slaver’s ship. The Aroulans’ captain, James Kirkwood, and his crew treated Jade and Julia well. They were allowed to use the captain’s cabin during the night, while he himself slept with his crew, and were given clean clothes and proper food.

As the ship made its way to Synéra, Jade helped the crew with whatever task she could. The many things her father once taught her on his fishing boat quickly earned her the trust of the crew, who taught her much more in the days they spent together. Meanwhile Julia found comfort in James’s presence, and the feelings were mutual. In the year that followed the women’s escape from Mag-Abyra and arrival in Synéra, Julia and James married.

Jade joined the Aroulan navy, determined to follow James’s example to fight against slavery. Due to her motivation and prior experience, Jade was quickly accepted by the crew aboard the warship where she was stationed. She rose through the ranks at an incredible speed and two years after her escape from Mag-Abyra, at age twenty-one, Jade became the right hand of captain Audrey Warden. All went well, until one day Audrey’s ship encountered a ship sailing a black flag with three skulls and a crescent moon on it.

In the battle that ensued between the two ships, Audrey was killed when a cannonball hit her ship and caused one of the masts to collapse on top of her. Morale plummeted on the Aroulan side, and even more so when Morley’s crew boarded their ship. Jade, now highest in command on the Aroulan vessel, led what was now her crew in the melee versus Morley’s men. It was a heated battle, but eventually Morley had his men retreat. Morley’s crew had suffered massive losses and the privateer realized he had to retreat. With one of its masts down the Aroulan ship was unable to pursue the enemy ship, but as the distance between the ships grew there was a moment when Jade and Morley locked eyes. Slowly, an expression that was a mixture of surprise and anger appeared on Morley’s face. Then, what seemed like a hint of fear or regret.

After the Aroulan ship had returned to Synéra news spread quickly and Jade was given a hero’s welcome at Fort Synéra, the headquarters of Admiral Harley Corby, head of the Aroulan navy and an elected member of the City Council. With her quick and coolheaded thinking, Jade had successfully assumed command of the ship in the captain’s absence and thus avoided the deaths of her fellow marines. Jade was promoted to captain and was to be given command of Audrey’s vessel and crew, as soon as the ship had been repaired and the crew had enjoyed some rest.

Jade requested permission to pursue Morley, but it was denied. Admiral Corby told her that actively pursuing Morley could lead to severe political friction with Bretona, and that the City Council wanted to avoid war with the large port city. Even though the Aroulan navy would not cooperate, Jade vowed to herself that she’d deal with Morley one way or another. He had to be brought to justice, and she’d make sure it’d happen.

In the weeks that followed Jade’s return to Synéra, she carefully asked around if there were fellow marines with sympathetic minds. Marines who wanted to fight for a good cause, but saw themselves restricted by the bureaucracy the navy imposed on them. The first person Jade approached was Emery Bray. Emery was the navigator on what was about to become Jade’s own ship, and they had become the best of friends over the past two years. She turned out to be sympathetic to Jade’s ideas, and together they decided to pursue Morley. Together they started recruiting other people in secret. Ex-marines, current marines, former slaves, sailors, and many more. It did, however, not take the navy long to find out.

Jade and Emery were summoned to Fort Synéra by Admiral Corby and informed that he had heard of their plans. Though he said that he regretted having to do it, he stripped both of them from their ranks for high treason and ordered them to be imprisoned till there would be a trial. Jade’s short lived crew was disbanded before it was even properly formed and both she and Emery ended up in Synéra’s prison. It was here that they met their next best friend.

Two days after Jade and Emery were imprisoned another prisoner was brought in. A half-elven woman about the same age as Jade and Emery, who introduced herself as “just Valda.” The women talked about the reasons why they’d been imprisoned. It turned out Valda had had a hard time earning food the proper way, eventually turning to theft to feed herself. Valda showed a lot of interest in Jade and Emery’s plan to take justice in their own hands, but didn’t really comment on it. Later that night, Jade woke when someone gave her a push. When Jade opened her eyes, Valda was standing next to her. The half-elf grinned and asked Jade if there was room for a petty thief among her crew, and Jade replied there most certainly was.

With the aid of some small tools Valda had managed to hide on her person, the three women were able to get to their gear. Through intimidation and reluctance from the guards, as those had heard the heroic stories about Jade, they escaped Synéra’s prison. The women made their way out of the city and traveled to Malyss on foot.

After a month or so they reached the city state Maxon. Though slavery was officially not condoned in Maxon, there was a black market for slaves. Jade and her friends went aboard a slavers’ ship and killed the slavers. Jade then gave the slaves aboard the ship a simple option: “You can get off wherever we stop, or you can continue to sail with me. For now, let’s just get out of Maxon!”

Before anyone else in the city was aware of what had happened, the small ship with the three women and former slaves had left Maxon’s harbor. They sailed to various places on the Malyssian coast, dropping off former slaves. Yet a portion of the former slaves stuck with Jade and her friends, becoming Jade’s crew. In the course of the months that followed, Jade and her crew became known as the Jade Pirates. They freed slaves by attacking Gyrdanian slavers’ ships and slave markets, and earned gold by selling said ships and the possessions of the slavers in neighboring countries.

Nearly a month ago Jade heard a rumor that Morley had recently returned to Bretona after a long voyage. Jade had constantly kept an ear and eye open for information about him, but thus far she’d never had the resources to face Morley in battle. However, Jade had recently traded her former slaver’s ship in for a proper pirate ship, with which she expected she could defeat Morley. Thus the Jade Pirates headed to Bretona, where they coincidentally arrived at the exact moment Morley’s ship left the port. In the battle that ensued, Jade’s ship came too close to Bretona and received fire from both Morley's ship and the city's fort. The ship sank, and most of the Jade Pirates with it. Those of the Jade Pirates who made it to shore, like Emery and Valda, were quickly captured by Bretona’s guards. Jade saw this happen and, unable to do anything against it, hid between the floating wreckage of her ship. When she finally got to shore Jade fled to the nearest town, Fort Willow, and stayed there until she had recovered.

Now, two weeks after her ship sank, Jade’s headed back to Bretona. She’s heard rumors that part of her crew, among which her two closest friends, are being held in Bretona’s prison. Jade’s determined to infiltrate the prison and escape with them.

Jade's a very charismatic person who follows her own set of ideals. She can be stubborn, but will usually listen to reason. When something new presents itself, Jade's often eager to learn about it. She has a great deal of patience for many things, as long as at least moderate progress is made with said things.

Jade has a strong hatred for Gyrdania as a nation. She has a soft spot for Aroulan and its navy, and will try to avoid conflict with that nation. Due to her past with it, Jade hopes that she may one day restore her relationship with the Aroulan navy. She does, however, not expect it to be possible.

Jade's 5'7" (170 cm) tall and weighs 125 lbs. (56.7 kg), which gives her an average height and posture. She has long, brown with a couple of beads in it, and wears a blue headband. Her eyes are brown, and her skin's tanned by the sun. She has gold earrings.

The outfit Jade wears consists of cloth breeches, and a sleeveless top over which she wears her ring mail. Over this jade wears a leather coat with many pockets. On her feet she wears sturdy brown boots. She has a black coat, but usually keeps it in her backpack.