Key

Key was born on a spire in the eastern soars of the Andi Mone Sky, poor, but loved by a family of troubadours. Key's childhood name is lost to ages, though it is known that he young, he tumbled and climbed, bounced and darted around campsites and trees, scaling cliffs and buildings whenever he could sneak away. His family raised him as an entertainer, teaching him their showmanship and those skill that interested him, which resulted in a scattering of skills without focus, though it left him a happy child.

He lost his parents early, not to death, but to a draft. In the waning years of the Ages of Rule, the King of All Skies' last draft pressed countless into Blue ranks, as the Royal Guard swelled one last time before the Ages of Piracy took hold. And so, Key lost his parents, continuing with his group for a time before striking out on his own, a sailor on a merchant ship as the Fortuna began its infamous voyage across the newly shaped skies.

## - First through Fourth Year of First Age of Piracy; Nobody to Matey -

His first adventure out on the skies by himself had Key acting as a deck and apprentice to the cook of his ship, the Fairwind. He pursued what interests he could, listened to every sailor and was well-liked. He was known as the "cook's kid" or just kid. He kept with the cook, a heavy set man named Emerald Jones, and on one incident of boarding, held a staircase with a cleaver and a stewpot lid. Not long after--when the Fairwind was struck by pirates again, a growing occurrence--Key found himself rallying his crew around him, cutting down through combat, spinning with his cooking sickle in his left and whatever weapon he wrenched out of his attacker's hands. By the end of the fight, he was praised, and as Jones was injured and crippled in the attack, Key became the Fairwind's cook.

Several months later, Jones is dropped off in Eitlif (check, town south of Eperine), where Jones chooses to take his shares and start up a kitchen once he recovers. Jones gives Key his treasure, as Key saved his life and can still travel, a mask bearing a key inside it. Key is told that it's magic and that he should never sell or show it, that wearing it will protect him, but may able his mind, that the key unlocks a hidden door, but Jones was never able to find the lock. This mask will become Key's signature visual in years to come.

Key, now Cook, keeps on the Fairwind, which goes through several retrofits. Responsible for feeding a crew of a mid sized merchantman, Key strives to learn. As the year draws to a close, he is remarkable as a proper jack of all trades, knowing a bit about everything, and is able to hold is own. He earns a reputation as a bit of a daredevil, at once injuring himself as he narrowly avoids certain death, all with a broad smile and a manic laugh. It's during his second year on the Fairwind that he earns notoriety as a cook to be desired, though a strange and eclectic sailor that fortune keeps an eye on, for better or for worse. Key also becomes known as the Fiddling Cook, as he has a fiddle warsmithed by a tinker who travels with the Fairwind for a time and gets a reinforced bow and fiddle. so when fighting breaks out, Key may appear on deck both fighting and fiddling, which throws off attacking forces, both pirates and Dark Blues.

## - Fifth Year of First Age of Piracy; Matey to Journeyman-

After a series of brutal defeats, the Fairwind is scuttled and its surviving crew taken as ship hands on the Lady Swing, a pirate gull helmed by Captain Isabell Ilua, an avoral who would soon swear fealty to the Wind Chasers. Key is kept as entertainment and supplement cook to the Lady Swing's, an old avoral named Beji Brass. Not needed but proved in several clashes against Blue pirate hunters, Key is given leave to depart once the Lady Swing makes port, which it does in southern soars of Thani, in the Ushua sky. Key finds a home in Sintah, where he works as a cook and performer.

Enjoying a home, but soon tired of the lack of travel, the unease of staying on ground that doesn't bob or tip, Key sets out with a small explorer's ship, the Intrepid, which gets sunk, then the Romance, which is scuttled, the Caravell, which gets decommissioned and chopped after a month.

As lagur draws to an end and fall approaches, Key finds himself enlisted with a pirate crew, and soon after disappears from history. Two years later, as the first age draws to a close and the storm years approaches, Key reappears with a splash.

## - Seventh Year of First Age of Piracy; Journeyman to Adventurer -

Key pops up as Dalaam's civil war reaches its peak, and appears to flit close to history, without ever coming in full contact. He acted as cook for a transport carrying the Rebellion's leaders, though left at landfall. He reappeared as an travelling entertainer and fiddler of note to play at several tavern in Centrespire where some of the King's Court were known to frequent. When fighting broke out in the spire-high city, several taprooms reported a musician carving up any who brandished weapons, protecting those who hid within.

The Battle of Centrespire is the first instance known of Key wearing the mask that would make his name. This bone-white, wooden mask was skeletal at glance, though spiked with the patterns of bells. Underneath its right eye was an odd glyph at once similar to a teardrop and a rounded key. Perhaps this more than any other reason is where Key's name rose. Most odd though, while there were divots for eyes, one could not see out of it, yet Key performed and looked and acted as if he were wearing nothing at all.

Many taverns reported after the fact that they were under Key's protection, then called the Masked Fiddler, the Fiddling Jester, The Performer, the Entertainer...it is not clear which of the many, many establishments were actually protected by Key, or if rumour of the bloody massacre he carved into the fighting rebellion and royal guard with indiscriminate malice was more potent.

At the end of the Battle of Centrespire, once the King himself had swept through the streets, Key the Masked Fiddling Jester, by many names, had a signifigant bounty on his head, though no allegiances were listed, nor was any face drawn. His picture of his masked, however, would spread, along with rumours of his violence, protection, and excellent musical talents.

## Eighth Year and the two storm years of First Age of Piracy; Journeyman to Adventurer

As the Dalaam civil war died down, Key sailed north, jumping from town to town as an entertainer and bard. The longest he stayed with any crew was a month, and for the first time since he was a child, he travelled as a passenger, though he would often find himself in the galley or mess hall, cleaning or asking the cook if he needed any help.

Key ended the eighth year in the Hozavi sky, which was only then begining to grow accustomed to its new identity (carved out by the winds at the begining of the age. He found me in one of the larger San Vito soar cities, settling into a routine of playing for various taverns, pubs, and public houses, always masked. Doing so brought him both danger and wealth, and Key began to amass fortune. While he did train and learn, always the voracious appetite and curiosity for knowledge, most of his wealth he poured into local establishments.

Tavern's and barrooms that hosted performers would sometimes find themselves them patrons of this masked bard. Rumour of ill-gotten fortunes grew, though any who heard his music would never speak ill. There were several attempts to capture the Fiddler, but each ended bloody, and as the storm years tamped down even the most ardent persecutors, Key's reputation pushed him on.

## - First Year of Second Age of Piracy; Adventurer to Rogue -

As the storm years broke and sun returned to the skies, Key was quick to find a crew and venture out with the rush of airships filling the skies between settlements. He returned to his roots of a decade past, finding comfort in a place as cook to a ship, the Clearwater Jewel, and its captain, an surely ursa with a soft spot for gentle music. While several of the crew rumoured and gossiped about Key's origin and the mask he hung on a rafter of his kitchen, they could not fault his cooking or the pleasant fiddle music they heard from his quarters or from the mess whenever his mates asked him to play.