Christopher Dove

It has only been a year since Christopher Dove discovered Tenebrae, but he is already being lauded as the man of the new age who will transform the Accord Lands as surely as Basarab the Purple or Martin of the People did past ages.

Christopher Dove was born in Othery's Elephant and Tower ward to a family of wool weavers and cheese salesmen. At the age of ten he was a ship's boy on board a trading vessel plying the trade routes between Othery and Port Prester. Since then he spent almost his entire life at sea, traveling to almost every port in the Accord Lands, sometimes as a simple sailor, sometimes as a business agent for Marlian or Prestish wool and lumber merchants, sometimes even as a ship's marine engaged in the petty struggles of Vortish warlords. There are rumours that he was even a pirate or a wrecker. By 241 AT he had set up a permanent home in Marlhaven and had partial ownership of half a dozen small trading ships in cartel with his brothers Bartholomew, John and James, all of whom had also moved to Marlia to work with him.

Nobody knows exactly what inspired Dove to attempt to cross the Grand Line, a task many skilled Captains had attempted before and failed. Perhaps it was the same arrogance that had driven other adventurers, desperados and fanatics to believe they could achieve what no other among the Free Peoples had achieved before. Perhaps Dove knew some deep, buried, hidden secret that gave him insight into the minds of the Archons, the schemes of Malik Nous, or even the nature of Aeol itself. Perhaps he acted in confederation with some power or powers unknown. But whatever the case, when Dove and his brothers passed the northern point of Mordwick in 251 AT aboard their ships the *Saint Mary*, the *Maiden* and the *Painted Lady*, the tavern bards of Othery were already composing songs of their foolishness. But the Dove brothers did what no other sailors had ever done since the earliest days of the Purple Emperor. They returned.

When the *Saint Mary* docked at the Imperial Docks of Othery, the hard-bitten salts of the Black Lobster tavern believed they had seen a ghost. Dove presented himself before the shocked people of Othery, informing them that the Grand Line was gone and beyond it lay a newly discovered land known as Tenebrae. Dove further stated that his expedition had in fact been under the patronage of King Mercer VII, a fact confirmed by the Marlian ambassador a few days later. Dove went from the foolhardy star of tavern bard's mournful sea ballads to the toast of the Accord Lands.

A year later, in 252 AT, Dove has been enobled as the Duke of Truewater and proclaimed Admiral of the Emperor's Sea. Sailors, priests, researchers, explorers and merchants from across the Accord Lands have flocked to join him in the grand fleet he is assembling in Othery's harbour. The Admiral of the Emperor's Sea has proclaimed his intent to lead the colonisation of Tenebrae for the good of the Free Peoples, and few doubt that he is the man to command such a momentous effort.

The Admiral is taller than average, with pale skin that is often sunburnt, red-blonde hair and beard which are beginning to whiten, blue eyes and a light dusting of freckles. When at sea he wears the serge-green and white uniform of a Marlian admiral, but when going about business on land he dresses quite ostentatiously in the fashion of an Otherite high merchant. He still speaks with a strong Otherite accent, a legacy of his youth among the shopkeeper's sons in the Elephant and Tower. He always wears a sword and dagger, and usually carries with him a war trident, the symbol of office of a Marlian admiral. He has several tattoos from his time as a sailor, including one on his left wrist showing a sinking ship (believed to be a charm against shipwrecks) and one on the back of his neck showing a bat flying across the waves, a common devotional image among sailors who follow the Archon Roland.

The Bay of Doves is named after him. His flagship is the Mary the Gallant.