Don I. Flores of Aragon

## Physical description

#### **Overview**

A head navigator, marine officer, and leader of "The Inquisition" fleet serving under David Jones, Don is above all else a seasoned veteran. Enduring through as much pain and strife his life could throw at him, he still persevered. He is known as a council to David B. Jones and one of his close friends, alongside Delarose Diane.

#### **Early Life**

Don's life began after his family was discovered on a once infamous merchant ship; The Aragon. They were found out once his mother had gone into labor with him in the bowels of the ship. Had the captain not been so sympathetic towards his birth, his parent's and siblings would of been thrown overboard. Managing to guilt the captain with his birth, his father, mother, older brother and sister managed to come to harbor on a small island that was known for it's growing economy.

Opportunity was ripe here with jobs that gave livable wages to those that were willing to put in the time and effort. Since a young age, work was the only thing Don knew as he tended to livestock and garden with his mother and siblings while his father was on the seas as a whaler. They were practically self-sufficient in terms of food. It was not until a drought struck the still budding island for ten years that things took a turn for the worst.

Not just this, but marines eventually arrested the captain of The Aragon for having affiliations with pirates. The island was no longer self-sufficient, so with heat and the economy's biggest and most important merchant ship gone, things began to look bleak. Crime quickly became a lucrative way of life; eventually enticing a young Don to lead a life as a mediocre pirate at the age of fourteen.

#### **Pirate Career**

Life as a pirate showed to hold many benefits as well as many disadvantages. To live selfishly, without any concern for those around you was, above all else, liberating -- true freedom! Raiding small island villages, weak marine ships, and kidnapping nobles were but a few things he did to get on the wrong side of the law. Half of the money he got from the spoils, however, was sent back to his family and a fourth to his neighbors and friends.

With his illegal acts he helped jump start the economy again, and even with the drought people were able to band together to finance ways around the lack of natural water. His father and mother became heads of the island as they held most of the money thanks to what Don sent them on a regular basis.

On his twenty-fifth birthday however, the captain made a grave mistake in a certain marine ship to pillage. It was larger than what they were used to, and far more intimidating. The ship was ghastly, but their small successes had gone to the captain's head and he ordered them to fire and prepare to board as they passed by it. The moment they dropped the planks to board a large wound appeared in the middle of the ship. Splinters and broken planks of wood flew through the air.

The only thing Don could remember from that day was him shoving his crew members overboard trying to get over the last plank connected to the marine's ship in an attempt to get off that sinking vessel. Leaping over the railing of the enemy ship, he was subdued as he shouted his surrender. This was where his pirate life had ended, and Hell began.

#### **Life in The Locker**

Weeks after his pirate title was forcefully revoked, he learned that death would of been a blessing instead of working as a slave beneath David B. Jones. The devil of a man was cruel and preached that if they wanted this all to stop, they had to submit to his cause. Memories of torture, famine, and pain plague Don even to this day as testament to the cruel and unusual punishments suffered on that ship. Don could remember how he'd fight like a feral beast for the small amounts resources that he was given and even going as far as strangling his once best friend Calloway with his chains over bread and water. There are times when Don swears he can still feel the chains in his hands, smell the iron, and sometimes even hear his friend's neck snapping again.

There was but one memory that could rival the brutality of that experience, and that was when he had finally broke and submitted to David. He had the scars on his left hand still, and from time to time they ached from the joint tuning David had performed on it. Four cuts had been made over his left hand's knuckles all the way to his wrist, and using pliers, the joints and tendons were moved side to side. It'd be a gross over-simplification to just say it hurt, because this was something more than simply pain -- it was agony.

#### **Marine Life**

The joint tuning had been the final act of which made Don finally submit and join David's crew as a shipwright. He was by no means worth more than a slave, but he was at least put to work and the torture had finally ended. It was here were he began to learn about being a true marine, where he was taught by David and others once he began to show promise as a soldier. For all his buffoonery as an incompetent teenager, he knew how to take orders, and that made him a valuable resource. David practically preached to him, taught him what his mentor had taught him about honor, respect, and justice, and gave him the tools to forge a more positive legacy in the world.

A decade passed, and as David became Admiral, Don grew as well. Fighting his way to becoming a well respected officer he showed skill in managing people, interrogation, navigation, and combat. Now well into his mid-thirties, he's become leader of "The Inquisition" -- the largest fleet of The Locker. It was the brother fleet to Diane's smaller army of ships known as "The Broken Grail", both of which were ultimately governed by David Jones and his own personal fleet.