Safera the Huntress

> "**All hail the blood-red queen
> All hail the huntress of the seas
> All heed the Captain's call
> Paint the seas with demon gore!**"
> ―
> Song of the Crimson Captain, popular sea shanty (English translation)
>
>

Safera the Huntress, also known as the Crimson Captain, was a Vampire naval commander serving the Kingdom of Saveria during the Imperial Civil War, rapidly rising to the rank of Admiral and gaining fame for her relentless pursuit and decisive destruction of the Black Navy, a vast coalition of Witch-Pirates. She was immortalised as a martyr in the Battle of the Blackstorm in 1849, in which she decisively crushed the Black Navy but suffered fatal wounds which killed her soon after the battle.

Despite Saveria's ambiguous, semi-independent status during the Civil War, Safera was happy to serve alongside Imperial forces and never came into conflict with them, and on numerous occasions she also fought alongside Republican fleets in service of the greater aim of destroying the Black Navy.

## Early Life

Little is known of Safera's early life before she became an Ensign in the Saverian branch of the Imperial Navy in 1837. She possessed a birth certificate (not unusual given the highly rigorous record-keeping of Saverian society) but had no record of her biological parents, and she never spoke of them.

From the age of 3-4 she had been raised by Elvish adoptive parents, though it is entirely unknown how she came into the care of this family and what happened to her Vampiric biological parents. Her adoptive father was a fisherman, and her mother was a florist. Like her adoptive mother, she was a great lover of flowers, but her father taught her to adore the sea and she soon decided that was where she was going to spend her future.

## Military Service

Safera entered the Saverian navy as an Ensign in 1838, serving on the 60-gun twodecker *Oakcrusher* under Captain Eluon Samora. She soon proved herself to have a mind far beyond her station, and she took part in one of the first naval engagements of the Civil War in 1839 when *Oakcrusher* was attacked by a Republican ship, which did not show its true colours until the last second and devastated the ship with an up-close volley. Captain Eluon had both his legs blown off by a cannonball, and when falling he struck his head and was knocked unconscious. Many of the other officers were killed or badly wounded by a sudden volley of accurate rifle fire, and so Safera personally wrested control of *Oakcrusher* and her crew and, along with several other Elfkin on both sides in the skirmish, discovered that she could use magic. She grasped this faster than the other new mages present in the fight and directed an accurate plasma bolt at the sails of the Republican ship, setting them alight and forcing the Republican captain to retreat before his sails were totally destroyed and he was left stranded before the enemy.

Following this engagement, Captain Eluon - once recovered - reccommended to the Saverian Naval Office that Safera be immediately gazetted as Captain, given the exemplary display of her ability to quickly take the initiative, and the present lack of suitable naval officers. Eluon, now legless, was unable to serve any longer and was honourably discharged, but he successfully pestered the Naval Office enough to have them relent and appoint Safera as Captain of the ship *Waveshaker*, a 28-gun frigate. Though Captain Safera's naval career was jumpstarted by fighting the Republicans, that was in fact the last occasion she would fight them, as she was directed against the rapidly mounting threat of piracy. As it soon turned out, the majority of these pirates were an extremely dangerous new strain of Witch-Pirates, allied to Dreadfolk - or worse - whose savagery quickly became dreaded across the continent.

Although *Waveshaker* was not heavily armed, it was very fast, especially given that Captain Safera found a group of Harpies at a tavern in an Onshian port she stopped at, who were happy to provide their powerful air magic to the sails in return for a share of the plunder recovered from the pirates. Technically, this made them mercenaries and not actual sailors in service of the Saverian crown - something which was prohibited - but, understandably given the circumstances, she was never prosecuted for this offence by the few who noticed. *Waveshaker* also made up for in magical talent what it lacked in guns; Safera herself was a powerful mage, and she made sure she was joined by other powerful mages who could match if not overcome the unnatural magic of the Witch-Pirates. Captain Safera made good progress against the pirates, but could do very little on her own with a small frigate, so she politely and carefully petitioned the Naval Office for a promotion.

Based on her excellent record and the critical necessity to destroy the threat of the Black Navy, which by this point had grown monstrously huge - as many as two hundred ships - she was promoted to Admiral in 1841. She was also given the opportunity to command a new ship, and she seized upon a newly constructed 80-gun ship of the line with a unique dark red paint job. Amused by the coincidence of the colour matching her eyes, and desiring a flair for the dramatic, she named the ship *Crimson Tide* and decided to fly (alongside the Saverian naval standard) a blank crimson banner which would serve as her identifier. She soon gained the nickname of the Crimson Captain (even though she was actually an Admiral) amongst her crew, a name which the excited press seized upon.

*Waveshaker* remained under Admiral Safera's command, though she no longer commanded it directly, as she was situated on *Crimson Tide*. In a peculiar coincidence of fate, *Oakcrusher* joined the squadron under her command, which was joined by two new ships, *Queen Rixa* (a ship of the line equal in size to *Crimson Tide*) and *Bloodhawk* (a 32-gun frigate). Safera accumulated more ships over the following months, most notably the former flagship of self-proclaimed Pirate King Kelen Goldtooth, whom Safera defeated in battle; a large 100-gun threedecker named *Foulheart* which Safera renamed to *Trueheart*. By the time of her largest engagement at the Battle of the Blackstorm in 1849, Safera was in command of twenty ships.

In late 1845 (or early 1846), Admiral Safera also secured the allegiance - but not submission - of Ghostbride Elourie, a Witch-Pirate Queen who sided with Safera in recognition of her martial prowess after being defeated by her.

## Ships Under Command

This is a list of all the ships that Safera ever commanded, listed in the order they were acquired - except her flagship *Crimson Tide*, which is at the top.

Throughout her career, Safera commanded a total of 23 ships, one of which was reassigned to another commander (a threedecker ship of the line) and two of which (both frigates) were destroyed in battle. Of the 23, six were twodecker ships of the line, five were threedecker ships of the line, seven were frigates, two were sloops and three were brigs.

This list is not finished. At the moment, it lists 14 of the 24. Of these, four were twodecker ships of the line, two were threedecker ships of the line, five were frigates and three were brigs.

* **Crimson Tide** (Flagship, 80 guns, twodecker ship of the line)
* **Waveshaker** (28 guns, frigate)
* **Oakcrusher** (60 guns, twodecker ship of the line)
* **Queen Rixa** (80 guns, twodecker ship of the line)
* **Bloodhawk** (32 guns, frigate)
* **Galloper** (16 guns, brig)
* **Seahound** (18 guns, brig, captured from the Black Navy)
* **Princess Marika** (28 guns, frigate, destroyed in 1844)
* **Marika's Revenge** (Formerly *Grimfire*, 30 guns, frigate, captured from the Black Navy)
* **Trueheart** (Formerly *Foulheart*, 100 guns, threedecker ship of the line, former flagship of Pirate King Kelen Goldtooth)
* **Ironsoul** (30 guns, frigate, captured from the Black Navy)
* **Ceaseless** (14 guns, brig, captured from the Black Navy)
* **Dreadbane** (74 guns, twodecker ship of the line)
* **Phantom** (110 guns, threedecker Demon Ship, belonging to Ghostbride Elourie)

## Character

Safera is a beloved hero of Inecuria who was immediately catapulted to continent-wide fame for her destruction of the Black Navy and her glorious but tragic death in battle, but her achievements have long been tarnished by the reports of her behaviour and tendencies outside of combat, and her treatment of captured enemies. The popular image of Safera usually ignores her exploits outside of warfare entirely, to avoid the uncomfortable topic of her character.

Safera was described by those who knew her as a merciless sadist, a drunkard and a prolific womaniser and visitor of whores. She took enjoyment from using particularly torturous methods of execution, and rarely left any prisoners alive. She would mostly feed on captured prisoners, and had a habit of eating the flesh of prisoners whilst they were still alive, seemingly finding their agony and terror to be comedic. Much of her time spent at port and not tending to military affairs was spent drinking, gambling, visiting whores and attempting to seduce anyone who caught her fancy. Her officers also reported that she knew exactly the effect that her presence had upon her male crew who were cooped inside a floating wooden box for weeks at a time without contact with the outside world, and that she "deliberately inflamed" this effect for her own amusement, but would instantly kill any man who laid hands on her.