Booker

Official image of Booker, drawn by @graec.pptx on Instagram

Booker Sailship is a Player Character of Arc 5 and played by Owen.

## Description

Booker is a High Elf Bladesinging Wizard of moderate height with short red hair and an eyepatch. He uses a whip, and lost an eye to that while training, so he wears an eyepatch. The other eye is green, and he usually wears eyeliner around it. Most of the spells he casts include his whip in some way.

He is accompanied by his raven familiar Samuel, who doesn't talk and usually sits on Booker's shoulder. Instead of using words, Samuel can telepathically communicate with Booker by sending him images of things he saw. Technically, though, Samuel could try to imitate a humanoids voice.

He is a pirate and works as the quartermaster on the Plague Rat, a position that not only makes him second in command after the captain, but also handle the finances. This leads to him sometimes being not on the best terms with the other pirates, but usually, they get along well enough, and he is well-respected on his ship. He got into piracy to pay off his student debt, and even though he managed to do so, he does not plan on ending his career soon, since it's a job that he knows how to do and an income that he can use. When talking to other people, he does try to keep his job a secret, but other pirates (even sky pirates) can easily see that he is one.

For Booker, it is important that he never harms those of a similar level to himself, but only steals from the rich.

Like most sea pirates, Booker has a bit of a rivalry going on with sky pirates, even though he never really had close contact with them before.

He has come to the Festival of the Dawnfather's Rest on his shore leave, the first one in some months, to have a good time and get some rest. While the other pirates from his ship most likely are there, too, he is not explicitly hanging out with any of them.

## Backstory

Booker grew up in Glaceria and did not have the most affluent upbringing. He worked hard to make his way into college, into the Arcane Academy, where he studied for years in order to become a wizard. He is very smart and competent, did good work at the Arcane Academy, and was often praised by his professors.

In order to afford college, he accrued a lot of debt as a student. To pay it off, he went into piracy. By the time of Arc 5, Booker has been serving as a quartermaster on the Plague Rat for quite some time, and managed to pay off his student loan just that year.

The Plague Rat is the only ship Booker ever was on, since he started being a pirate up until Arc 5, where he has been a pirate for about 60 years. He has been a member of the crew for longer than anyone else, including the captain, who is only about 30 years old. During this time, he has owned himself quite some trust and respect on the ship.

To pay off his debt, Booker regularly went back to Tyle to the Academy, and usually took the time to say Hi to people, too. One time, he met Onyx there, who was a student at the time. He realised that the Tabaxi was quite anxious, and taught him a few spells, including Find Familiar.

## Character Arc

Even though they have only briefly met before, Booker immediately approaches Onyx as he sees him at the festival. When Onyx competes in Snowdrop, Booker expresses a certain pride about being his mentor.

The first time the festival starts over again, Booker looses all his memory, not only from the previous six hours, but from approximately the previous six decades. These memories include all of his pirating life, and as he arrives again at the festival, he has no idea how or why he got there, and since he made sure to keep his pirating life a secret from the other party members, they cannot really help him, either. He only gets his memories back from Therum in the mirror maze, after facing the worst possible version of himself.

This worst version is a Booker that is standing straight and tall, dressed in beautiful silk, and not missing an eye. He is looking at the real Booker with disgust, like at something he found under his shoe, as the real Booker is nearly bleeding to death. Terrified that this version might actually be what he had become in the sixty years missing from his memory, he later asks Therum if what he saw could be him, but Therum answers him that it would only be him if he "weren't so very what [he is]".

When he finds out that Shi'elle is the reason for the time loops, he at first is rather hostile towards her, although passively. He generally does not think a lot of her, due to the rivalry between sea pirates and sky pirates, and the fact that she is endangering his crew and himself, and the reason for his previous memory loss, does not help her case. During one loop, he actively seeks her out to tell her to remember that her actions have consequences, without providing any context. He is the first in the party to openly consider just murdering her. However, when they come closer to resolving the time loop, and Shi'elle is visibly distressed, he also shows compassion towards her, tries to calmly explain as much as necessary, and then guide her towards Wren, whom she remembers, and who is good at talking. He tries to relate to her experience and be there for her. After a little hint from Onyx, he offers her to join the ship and become a sea pirate, an offer she takes after apologising to the crew, which is her own decision.

Later, Booker becomes the Pirate King in Blue Haven, a title he keeps until at least 133 AE. At least until the same year, Shi'elle is his lieutenant.

## Trivia

* Booker's free expertise is Arcana.
* His favourite festival food is something fried.
* Booker usually tries to cover up his "pirate voice".
* He does not wear a pirate hat, because he is not the captain and thus does not need to.
* He has a rivalry with sky pirates.
* All the pirates thought it was funny that his name was Sailship.
* He is a little bit scared of heights and gets vertigo from being in the air, but it's fine as long as he doesn't look down.
* Booker might be the only PC of Arc 5 that has killed someone before the Arc.
* He is a lightweight when it comes to drinking, and his captain likes to slightly tease him about it. Usually, he doesn't manage to keep up with the others for more than an hour.
* He has seen college demonstrations of planar travel before.