Bardkat Rev

## ***BACKSTORY***

Rev began as a street urchin in the colonies, learning both his street smarts and his musical acumen from his parents. They both perished poor and homeless when he was quite young, however, so he continued his education in survival on his own. He eked out a living for years as a scamp and a traveling minstrel, until one day he was fed up with his destitution. That day, he walked into a Naval recruitment office and signed up, eager to begin a new tack into fortune and adventure.

It was during his first posting that he earned the epithet ‘Bardkat’. He spent a large part of his free time abovedecks playing, composing, and teaching songs and shanties to his fellow crewmen, to the point that his commanding officer eventually named him the Official Bard of the Ship. He also befriended the mascot of that ship, a black cat who usually kept himself confined to the captain’s cabin. After hearing Rev’s minstreling, however, he could thereafter almost always be found curled up next to the Bard, purring contentedly as his melodies washed over the ship. The crew appended ‘Kat’ to his sobriquet in reflection of this change.

On the day his life changed yet again, he was sitting atop the gunwale at the bow of his ship, picking out a complex series of harmonies on his guitar, when he suddenly heard jingle bells, keeping time along with his strumming. The sound soothed him and his mates, and so they were caught completely unawares when the Rudolph’s Vengeance slammed into them and her crew boarded, screaming with animal fury and cutting down any opposition. All action stopped when the behemoth form of St. Nicholas stepped onto the deck, and bade the captain come forth and parley for the lives of his crew. It was at this time that Rev’s cat finally stepped away from him for the first time in months - and set about slinking in and out between the pirate captain’s legs. Taking it as a sign, Rev turned his coat immediately, and helped the invaders make off with the Navy’s goods and scuttle his old ship.

He arrived at the Isle, and immediately carved himself a place onto it with his wit, charm, and of course, his unmatched musical tastes and abilities. Upon Nick’s bizarre disappearance, a new captain was needed in the Fleet, and he stepped up to the role with honor and distinction, crafting his own ship, the Jazzbox, and setting her to work building her own legend. That legend was somewhat short-lived, sadly; he was called up to the Council at the passing of Alice Fairfax from its echelons, and serves a long and valued term as a Lord of the Isle.

## ***APPEARANCE AND GEAR***

* Rev is large, but not imposingly so, with dark curly hair and a beard that reminds one of a lumberjack. He can often be seen sporting a somewhat wine-colored leather jacket, a blue hat, and black leather pants, and guitar picks are slung about each of his coatsleeves in multiple bands, so that he is never very far from breaking out in song.

* In battle, Rev prefers melee, so he most often wields a unique falcata sword, with musical notes engraved along the blade, for close quarters combat. He does carry a blacked out flintlock pistol in case of emergency, but he never uses or maintains the thing, so it is likely to be better suited to scrubbing the deck than killing or maiming. His favorite weapon, however, is his left boot. He is especially fond of kicking the shins of his opponents, and has lined the toe of that boot with riveted steel for maximum pain and crunch factor.

## ***PERSONALITY AND ABILITIES***

* Rev is something of a linguist, due to his musical and cosmopolitan background, and his mix of exotic accents is useful to him in many situations, whether it be melting hearts or commanding his crew. He favors such calming tactics in raids as well, in order to put his opponents into a contented fugue whilst he goes about pillaging their goods. They are often entirely unaware that they have been taken for all they are worth until long after the Jazzbox has put their ship or town a-stern.

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