Ylva

"There's nothing that can't be accomplished with a bit of elbow grease, if at first you don't succeed, add more grease."

### Relatives

Xander (Adoptive father - current whereabouts unknown)

## Physical description

### **Appearance**

Ylva is a young human woman of above average height and an athletic, well-toned build. Her midnight blue hair flows free, barring a violet headband. Her hair reaches down to her waist, which is adorned by a makeshift skirt that exposes her left thigh, held in place by a plain belt. The rest of her attire seemingly follows this makeshift style, her upper body clad in a leather corset over a red vest, a second belt crossing over her chest from her right shoulder to the left side of her waist.

To complete the look, Ylva wears a pair of wrist-length gloves and thigh-high boots, her left forearm covered by a bracer bearing two buckles to ensure a proper fit.

### **History**

Born to a prostitute and an unknown father in The Shackles, Ylva was abandoned early on in her life, learning quickly to fend for herself. The young child often had to steal to get by, and when she couldn't steal, she hunted, regardless of whether or not the animal in question belonged to someone.

On one such occasion, she happened to hunt a cat that belonged to a member of the Crimson Fingers Pirates, and the owner of the cat caught her in the act before she could deliver the final blow, and would have cut the child down, had that pirates' captain not intervened, the captain was a hulking Oni by the name of Xander, bulging with muscle and standing just shy of eight and a half feet tall, despite the size difference between them, the young girl stood her ground, which the pirate captain found rather amusing, and so offered her a home, provided that she work for them by cleaning their weapons, it was an offer the child gladly accepted.

As the years went by, Ylva graduated from cleaning weapons, to maintaining them, and had even participated in raids using spare firearms on occasion, something Xander, whom she would later come to know as her adoptive father, took note of, and so allowed her to join the crews' marksmanship drills, which uncovered a natural born affinity for firearms of all kinds.

While Ylva was talented, she was still well within her fathers' shadow, as there were a great deal of rumors regarding his feats, such rumors include; that he could throw a man with such force that the body could do as much damage to a ship as a shot from a cannon, that he was capable of swimming up a waterfall, that one stormy night he was stuck down the throat by lightning, and simply responded by complimenting the taste and demanding seconds, and that he once scrubbed the barnacles off the ships' hull using the face of an insubordinate crew member. Ylva knows all but the last one to be true, as when she had left her childhood years behind and had become a woman, her more adult figure caught the eye of a particularly drunk crew member, who attempted to take what he wanted by force, her response was to pick up the nearest flintlock, blow his kneecaps out with it, and drag him out to the deck, giving the other crew members there a brief summary of what had happened, before going down to get rid of some persistent barnacles.

Despite this incident, Ylva and the rest of the crew still viewed each other as family, and none of them dared to touch her like that, regardless of how intoxicated they got, which taught the young pirate a valuable lesson, that lesson being that when you have to dirty your hands, it sometimes pays to go overboard, in a manner of speaking. While this painted a picture of Ylva being a chaste woman, this couldn't be further from the truth, as she is every bit as rowdy as her male counterparts during visits to the brothel.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and during the winter months Ylva fell ill and had to be left behind while the others went out on another raid, and so she waited, recovered, and waited some more, but as more time passed, she realized that the crew she had come to call her family were not coming back, but rather than write them off as dead, she made preparations to go find them, for she knew that even if something had befallen then, her father at the very least would still be alive. The determined young woman set out for the city of Absalom in search of answers.

### **Personality**

At first meeting, Ylva is an assertive, sharp-tongued young woman oozing with confidence, more than happy to engage in friendly banter and flirtation, hard drinking, and a spot of gambling with just about anyone, provided that they do not attempt anything underhanded.

However, every coin has two sides, and Ylva likewise possesses a side to her that is cunning, cruel, and endowed with a sick sense of humor, being prone to inflicting disproportionate, yet ironically fitting punishment upon those who cross her, even for minor infractions.

Overall, Ylva understands that as a pirate, she must step out of her adoptive fathers' shadow to become respected and feared in her own right. Because of her inability to match his extreme physicality, she came to the conclusion that ruthlessness is a useful tool to that end, and thus has learned to take a more measured approach to handling her business as opposed to most other pirates.