Captain Valentine Blaye

The third child and only son of Augustus Blaye, a successful merchant of San Serifino, and the daughter of a nomadic tribal chieftain of the Sipsi peoples, Valentine was offered a midshipman’s birth aboard the old Seraph then the flagship of the small San Serfine fleet at the age of twelve. Serving in that capacity at the battles of Ellerasath and Hell’s Gate he was commissioned as an Ensign at the remarkably young age of seventeen. Given his first independent command aboard the revenue cutter Egret as a twenty-one year old Lieutenant, he served for eight years before being posted as Second Officer aboard the Obdurate. During the battle of the three fleets he took command of the Obdurate at the death of her commanding officer and was able to save her from the fate of the rest of the San Serifine fleet when it was obliterated by the Imperial Fleet under Grand Admiral Toctalus. Although San Serifino managed to avoid complete absorption into the Empire under the terms of the treaty of Heliopolis, the peace terms called for the disbanding of the entire San Serifine Navy.

Three years after the treaty was signed, Blaye took command of the Revenge, the first Letter of Marque ship to fly the San Serifine flag. Although his commission as master and commander only permits the pursuit of smugglers and sky pirates, stories report that the Revenge has destroyed no less than three Imperial patrol craft and a Tantalus class Light Cruiser. Now in his late forties, Valentine Blaye is something of a folk hero to the San Serifine people, and a thorn on the side of the Empire. The government of San Serifino awarded him the order of the Golden Badger and denies all reports of illegal activity on the part of the captain of the most heavily armed “merchantman” in the whole of the San Serifine merchant fleet.

Commissar Tribune Volusius Maltho

Tribune Maltho is overseeing operations on the western front in the Empire's ongoing War with the Burbah.

Emperor Theodore Suleiman

Emperor Theodore Suleiman

The current Emperor is Theodore Suleiman, who has reigned for five
years since the death of his father, the Emperor Tam Suleiman II.
Theodore may also be the last of the direct line, for as yet he has
expressed little interest in marriage and regards the droves of
eligible noblewomen paraded before him by hopeful advisers with bored
indifference.

This is unusual behaviour for a man of the Suleiman family, who
normally pride themselves on their virility (besides his twelve
legitimate children, Theodore's father acknowledged twenty-seven
bastards during his reign and probably sired many more) but Theodore
is an unusual Emperor in many respects. The youngest of seven royal
brothers, he was born with crippled legs and a rare stomach disorder
that makes it impossible for him to ingest protein, defects that have
forced Theodore to rely on walking aids and sustaining drugs since
childhood.

Theodore's physical afflictions met with little sympathy from the rest
of the Imperial family, who from his birth regarded him as a genetic
accident. His own father made no secret of the fact that he was
embarrassed by Theodore and thought him a living insult to the
Suleiman reputation for producing strong healthy males, openly
deriding him in front of the Imperial Court as 'the runt of my
litter'.

Starved of affection by his parents (his mother, the late Empress
Constanzia, was so horrified by his deformities she refused to
acknowledge his existence) and alternately mocked and bullied by his
siblings, Theodore endured a nightmarish youth. He briefly found
solace in a homosexual relationship with a young nobleman named Count
de Villiers, until his father discovered the affair and sent a platoon
of Amber Guardsmen to drag the Count from Theodore's bed and butcher
him before his helpless son's eyes.

Following his lover's brutal death Theodore became quiet and
withdrawn, much to the relief of his family who dreaded the thought of
him appearing in public. But though he seemed to be devoting his time
to music and learning, Theodore was in fact plotting revenge against
his hated relatives. He focused on building up a complex network of
professional assassins and used them to murder every one of his
brothers, all from carefully contrived explicable causes such as death
in battle, sickness or accident.

Theodore saved his final and worst revenge for his father, who he
slowly poisoned over years using a slow-acting odourless poison that
hardened the old Emperor's arteries and induced symptoms deceptively
akin to the onset of chronic rheumatoid arthritis. At last, when all
his brothers were dead and his father lay virtually paralysed and
speechless, Theodore entered the dying Emperor's chamber and whispered
the truth into his ear. His last words to his father, as the old man
writhed feebly on his deathbed and attempted to call for his guards,
were 'See, father: your runt is the head of the litter now'

It might be expected that Theodore would make a disastrous Emperor,
but this twisted and embittered young man could be the Empire's best
hope for the future. He is desperate to prove his worth and pours all
his considerable intellect and repressed emotional needs and desires
into the business of ruling and expanding the Imperial territories.

A worrying development is the growing influence that the ISSC has over
him, for the organization appeals to Theodore's belief that Imperial
security is best insured by covert State control over all aspects of
Imperial life. The ISSC also offers an alternative to Theodore's
difficult relationship with the more democratic Senate. Intelligent
and highly educated but incapable of trust, the young Emperor has the
ability of a great ruler but the inclinations of a petty tyrant. It
remains to be seen which aspect of his character will prevail.

Mairlynn

Daughter of Rowlan and (her Skyborn mother) she is one of the central characters in the (???) story arc.

Rowlan

Rowlan was born in a typical Burbah clan, though he would not be described as a typical Burbah. His mother, Eolwon, was young when she met Rowlan's father. He had been a wanderer that traveled with the clan for a season while constantly asking questions and making scribblings into a book. Most people found him to be very perculiar, but Eolwon was intrigued by him. She spent more and more time with the man, enough so that he began trying to pull away, saying that he was likely to leave at any time and shouldn’t get to involved. When the winter came around the man was grossly unprepared for their journeys, and was forced to seek residence within the Burbah’s own dwellings, and Eolwon was more than happy to share hers. By spring it was obvious that she was pregnant.

After Rowlan’s father was adopted by the clan, he went to war the following season with the new warriors that had come of age. The wanderer returned several times to help teach Rowlan about many things, but mostly about writing. One year the wanderer didn’t return, and Eolwon and Rowlan knew that they were on their own.

Since then Rowlan has spent much time reading his father’s journals and learning about many things. Many people in his village treat him as a bit of an outsider because of how much resemblance he has to his father. He is very hard working, trying to prove that he is both his father’s son as well as a true son of the Burbah.

The Hammer of Rectitude

The Hammer of Rectitude is a prototype airship built by the Empire. The ship is powered by Fuganite crystals which allow the ship to be both heavier than air and faster than other airships in the Imperial navy.

Tristram Faolan Saverio

Tristram Faolan Saverio is the youngest son of Duke Labatha Numesi Saviero of the duchy of {Imperial province}. The Saverio family has a long history of supplying gifted officers to the Imperial navy. His Two older brothers, {name} and {name} are both Officers in the Imperial Navy. Following in the family tradition, Tristram took a commission as a Captain in the Atmosolde corps and quickly distinguished himself during the Kalavos 40 days war where he led troops of the 22nd Atmosolde in four operations deep behind enemy lines. It was his experiences during the early part of the war and the subsequent aerial bombardment of Kalavos that first planted the seeds of discontent in Tristram.

"Once a loyal soldier of the imperial guard he became sickened by the needless brutality he was ordered to carry out. He was taken into custody for refusing to execute captured Burbah children during the Tremehjian campaign. Facing the death penalty he would have doubtless been put to death had a determined group of men under his former command not launched an operation to rescue him.
In intense and bloody fighting they managed to free him from his detention. Amazingly they were able to take control of an Prototype armored airship and fled deep into Burbah controlled territory. Landing to effect repairs to the gunship they were surrounded buy Burbah forces on the retreat from the front. Out numbered, out gunned and facing an extremely hostile force it looked to be the end. However in a turn of incredible good fortune some of the Burbah were from the same group whom the Captain had refused to execute. They persuaded the others to spare them. They were taken prisoner but after providing crucial information on Imperial troop positions they earned the trust of their captors and their release. With letters ensuring safe passage through Burbah lands they headed south.
Now they travel the air currents as Sky pirates. Hunted by the Empire they are always on the run. They have survived this long under the Captains inspired command but who knows what dangers tomorrow will bring?"

--original story concept, historical accuracy is in contention pending historian review.

Hitomede Idataki

Hitomede (Kind Eyes) Itadaki, presumed a mute, has no friends, no surviving family, and no ties to the present days. While the age of technology whirls around him, he sees none of it. Or perhaps he acknowledges none of it. Nobody has gotten to know him well enough to tell. With a quiet presence he moves amongst the ghettos and crowded alleys of the Asian megalopolises where only the very elderly claim to have seen him before. They claim they were young then. They claim he has not aged.
Man or Myth is still to be settled, but for patrons of quiet bars in early hours, for children lost and found in the endless rows of buildings, and for the lucky few criminals who dodged his blade, Hitomede Itadaki is, if nothing else, real.

Nebuchadnezzar Rodriguez

Eldest of the infamous Rodriguez brothers, Nebuchadnezzar was once the most notorious pirate in the empire. His glory days now faded memories, he lives his life with help of the bottle.