Mateo Jose Guam Estaban Diego hijo de Senor Ernesto Diego de Barcelona Escobar el Pajaro Mas Guap de Juan Ruiz la Giuseppe Picasso

Mateo is the leader of the Mercs on a Dinghy and the Captain of the Tortuga IV. He is an expert gunslinger and has a fondness for milky liquors and his home culture.

## Backstory

Mateo never knew his real parents.

The earliest memories he knew were those of growing up on La Armada, surrounded by those damn elven mercenaries that would berate the poor boy for his freakish appearance. Without his parents around, no one ever knew quite what he was. The only thing he had from his parents was a small pearl wrapped in waterlogged paper, but no matter how many sleepless nights Mateo would spend studying it, it gave no insight to his origins.

He had the ears of an elf, but brown feathers grew mixed with black hair all over his body. His face was deformed and he had no lips or eyebrows. His lower right leg was horribly misshapen, and his left eye was fogged, blocking most sight through it. To try and avoid torment from his crew mates, Mateo began covering his face and exposed skin with papyrus, only taking it off when he would swim or if he had any privacy.

As the youngest sailor, he became the ship’s boy, taking up the lowest jobs cleaning the head of the ships and mopping the decks. His fellow sailors would ridicule and beat him for the smallest mistakes, but despite his wounds, Mateo sucked it up and kept to himself, refusing to become anyone else's burden. By the time he reached the age of 11, young Mateo had taken up drinking to cope.

When he was 12, the unbearable pains that ached from his leg made him nearly unable to walk. The captain of the ship threatened to abandon the young boy in the next town if his inability to walk made him unfit to be the ship's boy. Desperate, Mateo for the first time sought out help, finding and begged the ship's doctor to amputate it. Feeling pity for the child, the doctor, a large, old and stocky elf nicknamed Tortuga, did, removing his leg from the knee down as best he could and replacing it with a peg leg.

It was after this that Tortuga took Mateo under his wing, giving him protection and safety from the other elves, standing up for him and splitting his rations with him. Though originally wary of the old elf’s intentions, Mateo began to finally accept help. Tortuga was not just the only healer on board, but he had also come from a long line of elite privaters. He taught Mateo how to handle a firearm and protect himself. With his company and training, Mateo began to realize he was actually good at something.

His training didn’t last long however, for soon after, the old elf grew sick in his age, leaving him bed ridden. With nothing to provide to the ship, the captain sought to abandon the former doctor and find a new one. Mateo tried to stand up for his friend, but being 13 and the laughing stock of the ship, he had no say. They beat him and ridiculed him, and when they left his friend and all his belongings on shore, Mateo was forced off as well.

For nearly a year Mateo worked hard to provide for the elf who once provided for him, taking any jobs he could to get by. Finally one day, Tortuga began to peacefully pass right by Mateo’s side. But as he drifted away, he reached into his bag, drawing a polished revolver and a shiny helmet.

“They’re yours now, niño, use them wisely,” he said groggily. “Just do me one thing.”

“Anything.”

“You find those damn assholes on La Armada, and you kill them all. Show those hombres what loyalty means.”

Mateo nodded, and his only friend was gone.

From that day forth Mateo set out to fulfil the dead elf’s last wish. He needed a ship and crew of his own, but before that he needed to learn how to lead. He joined countless crews and sailed countless miles, learning to manage a crew along with the ins and outs of naval travel and combat. He met friends and made connections, receiving pledges of loyalty from several men willing to join his cause.

For decades he continued, honing his craft and saving for a ship. He had an expert system of savings, putting 50 percent into savings, 25 percent into alcohol, and the final 25 percent into everything else. Finally after 50 years he did it. He had saved up for a galley, which he promptly named, La Tortuga. With a big ship and decades of experience under his belt, he assembled an entire crew and learned the location of his former ship in less than two years.

Setting sail with a full crew ready for war, he hit the open seas, charting his way in pursuit of the elves that did him wrong. It wasn’t long before their bright red and yellow sails came into view, and before they knew what was coming, Mateo unloaded a full side of cannons into La Armada’s hull.

But La Armada was quick to shoot back, locking the ships in a brutal back and forth. Finally, Mateo called his crew to board, grappling the rival ship and pulling it close. Mateo was among the first to swing over, landing on his one good foot and blasting his way through the men that once tormented him.

Finally, he burst into the private quarters of the ship, coming face to face with his former captain. Now old and weak, he struggled to stand. As he began to slowly pick himself up, he drew a sword from his side.

Mateo shot him in the head before he got to his feet. The captain gave no pity to the elderly, so neither would he.

An explosion drew Mateo back onto the deck, where he saw La Armada beginning to become engulfed in flames. He ran and jumped back to his ship with the fraction of what was left of his crew. Despite his best efforts, flames began to reach La Tortuga. He needed to get to shore before the whole ship went up. He set route to the closest city he could think of.

As he sailed, crew members began to jump from the boat, fleeing the flames into the ocean. Mateo, refusing to give up and with nowhere else to go, jammed the steering wheel in one direction and climbed up the mast, bringing two barrels of his finest drink with him and standing in the crows nest as the ship sank below.

By the time the port city of Calafort came into view, the body of his ship was entirely in flames and half submerged under water. As he pulled into the harbor, the crows nest was all that was visible as he stepped off the ship and onto the dock.

He turned and watched as the top of the ship he had once worked so hard for sank beneath the waves. But before he could turn around, bubbles began to rise from the depths, and all of a sudden, a brute of a man splashed up to the surface, gasping for air. He pulled him out of the water, and the man staged as if he was drunk and had just woken up from a nap.

Despite recognizing him as part of his hired crew, he couldn’t quite place his name. Either way, Mateo slowly walked onto the busy dock, looking around.

Well… What do I do now?

He wondered, looking back to what was left of his crew. He grinned at his unnamed drunken friend. He realized there was only one thing he could do.

Approaching an empty shop stand, he tore a piece of papyrus from his arm wrapping and a quill and made a sign.

Need to go somewhere?

Need some adventure in your life?

Need some pecos?

Then join Captain Mateo José Guam Estaban Diego Hijo de Señor Ernesto Diego de Barcelona Escobar el Pájaro Más Guapo de Juan Ruiz la Giusseppe Picasso on

La Dua Tortuga!

Destination of and location of La Dua Tortuga tbd

Drinks will be provided upon sworn loyalty