Cora Marthaine-Sirdach

### Relative(s)

Doyle Sirdach (Husband), Lowell Sirdach (Son), Lussani Sirdach (Daughter), Fazumar Faelcree (Son-in-law), Audra ir'Trouin (Mother), Lucien ir'Trouin (Father), Nadiya ir'Trouin (Sister), Six sisters

### Student(s)

Ituha Sandbanks, Otekah Sandbanks, Skeevers, Parrot

- Cora Marthaine-Sirdach

**Cora Marthaine-Sirdach** (neé Marthaine, born Viviene ir'Trouin) is a smuggler operating out of the city of Esson and a former elected member of the Pirate Princes of Esson, in charge of the Adrian District for eighteen years. Now semi-retired, Cora works as a consultant and liaison for the Pirate Princes while assisting her husband's business. Her ship is a custom-made Arthesian caravel that she dubbed *Folly of the Eight*.

## Biography

### Early Life

Cora Marthaine was born Viviene ir'Trouin, the eldest of eight daughters of Lucien and Audra ir'Trouin of Lhelidoria. While her father was a kind, albeit meek, man, Viviene's mother Audra ruled House Trouin with an iron fist. As the heir apparent, Cora was raised with the notion that she would take over her mother's duties when the time came. This thought, however, dismayed the young Viviene, who yearned for a life outside the walls of her family's estate. She received little praise from Audra, yet her mother did not hesitate to let her know when she was shirking her duties. This created within Cora a rebellious streak. She often tested the limits of her mother's boundaries, leading to harsh punishments.

Audra arranged for Viviene to marry a young nobleman of similar social status when she was an infant. Viviene and her future husband often saw each other at social gatherings and she found him repulsive. He attempted to impress his fiancée with feats of strength, but he lacked intelligence or cunning. She dreaded the thought of spending the rest of her life with someone she found incredibly boring and one-dimensional. This only served to drive a larger wedge between her and her mother, who constantly reminded Viviene that it was her duty to marry him as the future head of the house.

Viviene developed a close friendship with the daughter of her tutor, Basilie. While Viviene had taken some interest in boys her age, she couldn't deny her growing feelings for Basilie. Their friendship eventually blossomed into young love, something she knew her mother would highly disapprove of. It made the relationship all the sweeter. When a house guard caught the two during a romantic tryst in the estate's hedge maze, he reported the incident to Audra. As punishment, she fired the tutor and sent his family, including Basilie, away. Viviene was then confined to the upper levels of the estate and not allowed contact with anyone under the age of thirty. Audra arranged for her eldest daughter's wedding to be moved up two years, coinciding with Viviene's sixteenth birthday. This was the last straw.

### Runaway

During her confinement, Viviene's resentment of her mother grew into a hatred. In the months leading up to her wedding, she plotted her escape in such a way that would strike the hardest blow to Audra. Her chance came, ironically enough, the week of Dulcis Matrem, five months before her scheduled nuptials. The house's guard would be lighter due to the celebrations. She scouted their routes and, when the time was right, it allowed her a relatively easy escape out of her third story window using a makeshift ladder she created out of her finer clothes.

Disguised as a townfolk, Viviene escaped into a nearby town in the midst of a festival celebration. All she had on her was her simplest clothes, a purse of coins, her mother's tiara that she stole just before her escape, and the golden falcon necklace her father gave her on her eighth birthday. From there, she was able to avoid detection from the search party that she knew would inevitably come after her.

### From Noble to Sailor

Viviene escaped Lhelidoria without being noticed, making her way to Mithidoria where Basilie and her family are from. She tracks Basilie down and is taken in by her former tutor. During that time, Viviene changes her name to "Cora Marthaine" to further vex her mother's search.

She takes a job with a merchant shipping company as a sailing master due to her formal education and ability to speak several languages. Traveling the world, Cora picks up a few bad habits: drinking, gambling, frequenting pleasure houses. Each time she returns to port, to Basilie, she finds her beloved increasingly more dull. She has no adventure in her. She's safe. Cora dreads breaking the girl's heart, so she puts off the task. One return trip, she comes home to find that Basilie died of a sudden sickness. Heartbroken, Cora doubles down on her vices.

### From Sailor to Pirate

Cora's debts begin to catch up with her. She's drank herself out of a job. Basilie's father, no longer able to justify keeping Cora around, turns her to the street. She lives a life of vagrancy before the gambling house chooses to sell her to the Mithidorian army, who are collecting debtors and convicts to fight in the Long War, rather than kill her outright.

While in jail awaiting transfer, she meets Jeremiah "One-Eyed" Savage. A pirate by trade, he has no plans to die on the battlefield. "I'll die at sea, Eight willing!" Savage's crew come to break him free. Cora begs him to take her with him, offering her services as a sailing master. He accepts her offer, telling her, "I was always gonna take you with me. Fierce Lhelidorian bird like you has no business being locked up in a cage. You are meant to fly free." And like that, at the age of eighteen, she ends up a crewman of *The Eight Willing* and Captain Savage's lover.

Under Savage's tutelage, Cora learned the ways of piracy firsthand. Savage was an experienced smuggler, working jobs for many of the princes of Esson, including the Lord Mayor himself.