Evelynn Hooke

Captain Evelynn Hooke

**Captain Evelynn Jayn Hooke** (born 3rd Year's End 1641), known to some as Evie, is a Cape Hoper, trading captain of the *Dark Horizon* for the Hooke Family Traders, and sitting member of the Captain's Council. She is the second oldest of four siblings, and the middle of three sisters. As a trader, her speciality includes textiles and fine wines, but she extensively carries other goods that will turn her a tidy profit. Her passions include sailing, cartography, and sabre fencing. Particular dislikes include attempts to pigeon-hole her into a home-making role, dances, and work-shy attitudes.

## Physical appearance

Evelynn is tall for a woman, with a tanned complexion from her time at sea. Her hair is the colour of burnished copper, and falls in waves to below her shoulders. To her alternating irritation and delight, she is strikingly attractive, with a pleasing hourglass figure. To conceal much of her figure, she is prone to dressing in the manner of a military naval captain, which is a role that is not occupied by women in the Free States. Despite this propensity for dressing in a masculine manner to inflame sensibilities and mask her femininity, she can still be found in gowns and dresses for formal events. Running along her low back, she has a long, straight scar about the width of an index finger. Though the mark is faded by age, it is still visible as a pale pink against her tanned skin.

## Biography

### Early life

Evelynn's early years saw a lot of change, as the family's fortunes began to rise rapidly in the years before her birth, continuing on its good fortunes from the the days of her grandfather

### Education and career

Evelynn enjoyed a good education during her time ashore, including mentors to teach her the various things that a woman with her eyes on high society would be expected to know, including business affairs and matters of social propriety. Many of these lessons were taught by her parents, though a professional dance instructor was brought in to take a strong hand against her refusal to engage with the art. As is fitting of the captain of a vessel, much of her life has been spent on and around boats, learning how they work, and about the problems and intricacies. Like her siblings, she has served on her father's boat, the *Charlatan's Oath*, in a variety of capacities from the lowly ship's boy and up, including a stint as the Mate.

Since taking command of her own ship and earning her own way, she has also taken it upon herself to hire a professional sword master to teach her the art of the sabre. Like most of her behaviour, the choice of the Fraszian sabre raised eyebrows around Cape Hope, as the rapier has always been the weapon of high society in the Free States, to say nothing of the notion of a woman learning to swing a blade in the first place.

### Personal life

Despite coming towards the age at which it is expected that someone should be married, Evelynn remains stubbornly single. Her habit of mocking suitors, or using them for a night of pleasure before casting them aside, has garnered her something of a reputation as a wild child and nuisance amongst high-status families, but her looks and the family's growing success ensure, to her annoyance, that there seems to be no shortage of men seeming to 'tame' her. No amount of persuasion on the part of her increasingly troubled father has succeeded in convincing her to surrender her controversial lifestyle and embrace a role as a family-woman of any kind. Owing to this kind of conduct, all manner of rumour-milling has sprung up surrounding her. Some speculation that her disposition is the result of a curse on the family; others suggest she is simply maliciously trying to bring her family into disrepute because of some injustice against her; some sailors go so far as to conjecture that she has merblood in her veins, making her behave so unconventionally; however, the most common theory seems to be that she may simply be gay and acting out. Whatever the theory, many believe that her behaviour is not okay, and a waste of a good woman.

Openly, Evelynn has little time for superstitions and theology, but privately embraces a few beliefs of her own. Additionally, despite her often-harsh nature, she has embraced the advice of her first mate and become mindful of a number of old sailors superstitions so as to not alarm her crew and lower morale.

## Personality

> "*Evelynn Hooke? Woman's got demons in her, that one. I've never met a woman with a nature so sour. It'll take a special kind of man to fix that one. A priest, I imagine.*"
> ― **Anonymous nobleman, on the nature of Evelynn Hooke**
>
>

Evelynn is a confident and driven woman, motivated primarily by the desire for individuality and excellence. Whereas most of her family work together for the betterment of the Hooke name as a whole, Evelynn's primary desire is to see the *Dark Horizon* -and, by extension, herself - be the most successful trading entity on the seas. At every turn, she is willing to stand against the social expectation that women of high society be wallflowers and home makers, and has an established reputation for inflexibility and confrontational conduct that extends to trading blows.

Her general nature is cold and unwelcoming, but she is more than capable of turning on the charm and using her good looks to leverage an advantage, or to win the affections of whatever lover she might fancy for the night. This changeable nature is also reflected in her Council work, where she can be callous and charming depending on the people she needs to win over. As part of the Hooke Trading Family, her voting history tends to reflect that which best suits the organisation, but it is well-recognised by her father that this is because it aligns with her own interests, not out of a sense of familial loyalty. In hearing grievances, she is impatient but exacting in her application of her status. Where a wrong has been committed, she will see it righted; however, where no wrong has been committed, she is quick to punish the appellant to ensure her time is not wasted in future.