Oonderteau Tidefall (Oonderteau Nops)

Country of Origin
## Summary:

Oonderteau Tidefall is a necromancer who took up a life of sail as a way to get over the loss of his home. During his time at sea he ran into some bad company and evenutally led him to be imprisoned in a water barrell. Through the events of the Orcish Clan Wars he became very close to the crew of A Corsair Named Desire/A Ship Called Wanda. This led to the discovery of an extraplanar plot to destroy the world, wher the crew went on a time travelling misadventure and gave up 50 years of their memories to return home. He currently travels the open water with his husband, Reese Whitehawk, and their beloved friend Crumsto Nops. They are well regarded map makers, with many of their creations living on in coveted collections.

## Backstory:

### Life on the Reef:

Oonderteau Tidefall, of The Grave Reef, was born the youngest child of the Tidefall clan, and only the third to choose the path of Necromancy over the Cleric order. He spent from his early teens to his mid thirties training under the Lich lords that helped protect the reef. He was being prepared to become one of the protectorates and take his own seat on the council, but his training was cut short by his family when signs of war on the reef were quickly approaching.

Oonderteau was only told briefly that something had gone wrong, that he had to get out of the Grave Reef as fast as possible. His family promised that they would find him when everything was over. His mother, Atolli Tidefall, gave him her necklace and placed it on his neck. Her last words to him were "*Never forget where you come from, we'll always be with you.*"

Sealed with a kiss, Oonderteau was put into a deep slumber and placed inside of a wooden container, taken out of the city just as the sounds of chanting erupted along the edge of the territory. When he awoke, he found himself aboard a ship called the Nightwake, captained by an aarakocra trader, Juniper Longfeather.

### Aboard the Nightwake

Juniper explained that during the night, their ship was approached by a small fishing vessel and told to take some cargo and get as far away from here as possible. As the ship was leaving the coast for more open water they watched as the few towers and statues above the water line echoed a deep hollow cry and then just seemed to vanish. The stench of the abyss reeking in their wake. What little Oonderteau knew of this he took to mean that the Lich Lords and Clerics had decided the battle was lost and instead of fighting for the reef they had plunged it existence. Distraught Oonderteau requested to be brought back, to see it for himself, Juniper agreed, if only to show him the barren waste where it should have been.

When they arrived at the mark, there was nothing beyond a slight outcropping of figure heads placed around the area, broken statues to things long dead, no sign of anything living in the entire expanse that Grave Reef once held. Juniper offered Oonderteau a place on her ship, seeing as his home was no more. The only stipulation is he never asks how old she was. He begrudgingly accepted, but deep in his heart though they just found the wrong place. That the reef wasn’t destroyed, it was just missing. That he would find it again, and everything would be normal. Oonderteau wanted to believe that he could be reunited, if only he could find them. His life with Captain Longfeather was an easy one, they worked as simple traders.

For fifty years, they moved goods along the coast. Their navigator, Reese Whitehawk, was a talented wizard who helped continue Oonderteau’s training in magic. Reese’s opinion of necromancy and aversion to fire slightly coloring their lessons. The two, through their time spent together pulled them closer and closer. One clear day Reese asked for Oonderteau's hand and they were married by Juniper, a little under the duress of a storm that Reese had created.

### The Betrayal

Riding the seas on the Nighthawke was easy living, until they came across the Orcish pirate Umurn. Their first conflict was easy to avoid, the Nighthawke sunk a patrol ship from Umurn’s small fleet, to help defend a Human galleon. They did not expect the galleon’s captain to betray them. Taking the young captain, Thomas Gailum, aboard for the night to speak of ways to pay for their aid, the night grew silent.

In the morning, Thomas and Juniper where no were to be found. The ship was besieged by a large vessel, both Reese and Oonderteau fought but were over powered. Reese died in Oonderteau's arms aboard the ship's prow, fire slowly growing around them. The vessel that shot on them disappeared as quickly as it arrived, leaving them to sink in the water. Grabbing all the able bodied sailors he could, Oonderteau rallied the crew and they were able to get the ship stable enough to reach a port. Though without a ship, a captain, and any reliable income the crew disbanded. Oonderteau eventually found passage on other ships, using his navigation skill and magic to continue his own search, one for the Grave Reef, another for the ship that attacked and killed his husband. He worked tirelessly at this for the next two hundred years.

### The Complication

Until one day, he finds himself in the position of navigator, for a captain who was a known gambler, he served under this captain for twenty-five years. With this current captain calling him Dert, because Oonderteau was too complicated. The captain had his own uses though, with a status high enough to allow Oonderteau access to official maps instead of scrounged scraps from pirate ships. After a night of drinking, the captain informs the crew that the ship was under the new order of Captain Umurn, the orcish pirate. Cries out outrage were quickly squelched with a look from the towering orc who made his way onto the ship's deck.

Watching Umurn, Oonderteau noticed something strange, a weird aura coming off them. Whenever they spoke to the crew, an amulet from their neck would glow. Keeping an eye on Umurn, he began to notice that they never ate, never slept, and never seemed to touch anything. Something about the pirate was off and wrong. This forced conscription continued for what felt like five years of labor.

When the ship made port and the crew were allowed to leave, Oonerteau noticed that this port seemed very familiar. It was the same port that they had brought the Nighthawke that fateful day all those years ago.  He asked the locals about the ship, and found out that almost five hundred years ago a ship that matches his description was brought here driven by a water elf named Undar. Shocked at the news of how long it had been, Oonderteau stopped listening and went to confront Umurn about the time he had lost.

Umurn only to be laughed at this, Oonderteau was knocked unconscious and placed inside a water barrel and abandoned in a store house. He was finally released when the barrel was opened on a trade ship, his memory fuzzy minus a few key points. No more confined places, he was going to find the grave reef, what happened to Juniper Longfeather, what was Umurn, and what happened in those last two hundred years?

## Current History:

After the time travel shennanigans Oonderteau and his husband Reese became well reknown cartographers among the seas, mapping out the land as they travel. The crew of their flagship named: *Homeward*, is composed of Crumsto, Reese, and Oonderteau.