Piper

"*But that's life's great sorrow, isn't it? That one can be happy only where two are, and that our hearts are drawn to stars which want us not.*"
— Piper

 **Personality**

**Piper Saoirse Ward** was a soldier of fortune from the town of Ketsith in the outskirts of the Commonwealth of Dreiton. At various points in her career, she served in both legal and illegal capacity as a bounty hunter, filibuster, privateer, and general hired gun for a number of wealthy clients. Between official contracts, she often acted as an independent agent, finding fulfillment in hunting progressively deadlier marks across Aquila to test her mettle as well as engaging in occasional vigilante work, especially in the untamed frontiers of the Aphelian interior which served as a haven for the realm's most fearsome outlaws.

Known by the pseudonym of *The Nightingale* in the criminal underworld, Piper found a natural ally in the pirate Finn Hamm, who harbored ambitions to unite the disorganized smuggler and corsair factions of Dreiton into the first crime syndicate of the southern Meridian. The two shared a strong bond which eventually compelled her to join the crew of the *Adipocere* in a semi-permanent arrangement. Piper and Hamm, along with their many allies, engaged in a series of lucrative adventures across Aquila and maintained a fierce rivalry with the Sin-eaters and their leader Jeanne.

Piper was a daughter of Kent from her earliest days, coming of age in the town of Ketsith which was mostly populated by expats from the home country. As such, she ingratiated herself within the community's bardic tradition, learning to play a range of musical instruments in between her frequent jaunts into the Wyrd for lessons in archery and tracking. She was trained in the way of the *fili,* the ancient caste of Kentish warrior-poets who traveled the world in search of adventure whilst sharing the tales of the great heroes of eld with whomever they crossed paths in their great journeys. Her cultural heritage remained an integral part of her identity throughout her mercenary years, inspiring her to constantly seek new thrills to test and enrich herself and keep the flame of life bright.

## Biography

Piper was born in Ketsith, Dreiton, in the harvest season of 4830. Her father Gabriel was a constable by trade, one of a handful of elders who adjudicated land disputes and kept the general peace while being, at least de jure, expected to enforce the laws of the Commonwealth, though the locals were afforded enough autonomy to more or less maintain a wholly independent court system. Brenda, her mother, was one of the town's councilors, a member of the lawgivers' assembly specially tasked with maintaining the safe passage of refugees from Kent into the expat community in Aphelion. With little in the way of formal education and her parents too occupied with the runnings of the town to properly raise her, Piper became something of a miscreant in her youth, spending her nights vandalizing buildings and evading the authorities by dashing across the rooftops with her cohorts - ventures which often saw her come perilously close to arrest or serious injury. Whilst raiding an apiary one hot summer night, she was cornered by the town constables, narrowly avoiding arrest by the good graces of the landowner Mateo Wilde, who owned the land which the honeybees lived on.

Mateo was something of an oddity in Ketsith, with his Sivellan heritage making him one of the few non-Kentish folk in the entire town. Gabriel Ward had a great deal of respect for him, however, as he had fought with the Loyalists in the civil war and helped the initial caravans escape to the colony in the aftermath, including the Ward family. Thus was he given permission to take Piper under his wing, entrusted by Gabriel with the task of teaching the girl to become responsible and self-sufficient. His lessons were unorthodox in nature, teaching her to thrive in the wilds of the Wyrd as a huntress and survivor. Under Mateo's tutelage, Piper became a formidable archer and tracker, earning the sacred privilege to participate in the annual Hunt in which the town's most skilled bowmen journeyed into the forest to fell deadly predators such as Giant Skunks and Bunyips. In between her frequent and progressively dangerous hunts, Mateo taught Piper to play a variety of traditional Kentish instruments, including the cittern, the panflute, and her own voice. She delighted in retelling the stories of her most exciting hunts in epic poetry, to which she would set a tune and perform for her friends and family.

By 16, Piper had progressed far enough in her studies for her tutor to introduce her to the ancient ways of the *fili,* the renowned caste of Kentish warrior-poets who traveled the world and shared their rousing tales to cleanse the hearts of those who listened to their arcane music. In kinder years, Mateo had been counted as a prideful member of the Nightingales, one of the eldest and most respected fili brotherhoods before their clandestine order was all but wiped out during the turmoil of the civil war. They had been staunch allies for the Loyalist cause and thus summarily disposed of by the victorious rebels, who outlawed the bardic arts along with the rest of the Old Ways upon their triumph. Subsequently, the remaining Nightingales were hunted down and all who did not escape as Mateo did were tried and executed.

Tales of "the Last Nightingale" abound in the Commonwealth and across the continent; a masked foreigner cloaked in magenta walked the treacherous coasts and nightened forests protecting the innocent from the wicked, and strumming the lyre with as much deftness as his staggeringly ornate bow. Though the tales of his heroism were exaggerated, he did indeed rove the land as a popular vigilante for some years, and saw in Piper a spark of destiny which relighted his dream that the Nightingales would one day return from the cold brink of extinction. Thus did he continue her teachings, intending to one day pass on his cloak and mask before his inevitable end.

Three suns later, Piper, then 19, was on the verge of completing her path when tragedy struck in the form of Mateo's untimely death at the hands of the infamous assassin LaSchafe, a mercenary hussar in the employ of a mysterious benefactor who was connected to the rebel cause in Kent. Before dying, however, the Last Nightingale passed on his title and effects to his young charge, making her swear an oath to remain loyal to herself and never allow the fire in her heart to dim, as has always been the creed of the Nightingale.

*TBC*

## Combat proficiencies

* Bow
* Blunderbuss
* Crossbow
* Scythe
* Limit Break
* Personality

 Firebrand
 Grave Shackles

 Eagle Eye
 Bayonet Rush

 Heavy Shot
 Shrapnel Bolt

 Rip & Tear
 Unceremonious Execution

 Radiant Camisado (Rank III)