Jocelyn Farl was born to the sea. She inherited a sailor’s heritage from her grandfather’s grandfather who shipped his first oar in a fisherman’s boat in the Aldoran city of Almas long before she was born. Her grandfather took the jump from poor fisherman to struggling merchant, hiring on as a deck hand when he was young and climbing his way through the ranks to the captain of a merchant vessel. Making his wealth, he and his son (Richard) went together and bought their own ship. He named it for his first daughter, ‘Jocelyn’s Jewel.’
Soon, the Farl’s were doing brisk business visiting ports all across the inner sea. Their futures looked bright. The lure of larger opportunity called to Richard from Absalom and the family sold its holdings in Almas and sailed with all their belongings to the city at the center of the world.
Fate had other ideas in mind for the young Jocelyn and her family. Not far out of harbor, the black flag of a pirate frigate rose over the horizon. The fat merchant vessel encumbered with the family’s wealth could not outrun her pursuers. She was overtaken.
That’s where the real story of Jocelyn Farl starts. At the age of sixteen this young girl was clapped in irons and taken to the slave markets where she was sold to a Wellenthal family, a minor Chelaxian noble family in the city of Ostenso. The family needed a nanny and a pretty, well-mannered slave girl was just what they needed. She was given care of Ilira Wellenthal, a sickly girl of six who read books all day and asked Jocelyn questions about everything she read. Jocelyn took care of Ilira and came to love the girl as a sister, she was so bright and so inquisitive that Jocelyn could not think any ill will toward her.
Living under the oppressive Chelaxian government had its more subtle effects on her personality and set her up for the events that would later play out.
As Iliara turned ten, Jocelyn was instructed to take her out for a fine day on the town, to enjoy anything that she wanted to do and was given a purse of gold coins. Jocelyn took her cake and ice cream and to see a circus troop that had come into town. They also went down to the docks to see the ships being built and come and go. On their return from the docks, they were set upon by a gang of young bandits who roamed the streets. With no one around and both of their futures in question, Jocelyn did the one thing she thought she could. She grabbed a nearby axe handle and lashed out with all the indignity that had been heaped upon her by life.
In retaliation, the bandits killed Ilira before running off. Jocelyn was heartbroken. The only other person in her life she had ever considered family was dead. She ran after the bandits, trying to strangle them with her own hands, but soon lost them in the twists and turns of the city.
She returned to the place of Ilira’s death and found the place swarming
with Hellknights looking for her. She was wanted for murder.
She ran to the docks and booked passage on the first ship that would take her.
It turned out to be a disguised pirate crew bound for Port Peril. The captain (Captain Tarik) knew she was a runaway slave and a fugitive but hid her away on his vessel anyway, he had a soft spot for former slaves. He showed her the ropes and how to be a deckhand. At night, when there was time, he showed her how to fight, how to survive on the seas, and they talked. They talked about how the strong seemed to prey on the weak, taking what they wanted and leaving the weak to fend for themselves. Captain Tarik agreed. Pirates saw what they wanted and took it. Jocelyn thought about her family and Ilira. If she had been strong, she could have defended them. She could have kept them safe.
She decided to be strong. To no longer allow anyone to take from her. She would do the taking.
Then Tarik taught her how valuable perception was, how it kept his men in line and under his command, how it kept the vessels they boarded from resisting more than they should. How fear and intimidation were valuable tools to a pirate.
Jocelyn took these lessons to heart. She found an old war scythe in the ships hold and began to practice with it at night. Tarik gave her pointers. He called her Red Reaper as a jest. The name stuck and the crew started calling her by it.
Soon they came to Port Peril and though Tarik was sad to watch her leave, he had no room for young girls on his ship, no matter how promising they were. The two parted ways and Jocelyn set out to find her way in the world of pirates.
