Sea Serpent

Weakness: Possessive Jealousy. Off deck, his icy composure cracks. The woman he loves is a trophy, never to be shown; if he had one, he'd keep her secluded in the captain's cabin, flaring into a dull, suffocating rage at the mere glance of another man in her direction. But his jealousy isn't limited to his feelings for women. There's something he inherited from his father—a map. An old, tattered map with directions to a mythical island his father, who died when James was only four, dreamed of finding—a sacred relic he'd kill for if he touched it carelessly. This isn't just for nothing; he lost his parents too early. As stated earlier, his father died when the captain was four years old, and his mother—a woman with light eyes and an infinitely kind look that still smolders in his memory—died from someone else's saber when James turned 14. On that fateful day, he took command of the entire Sea Serpent.

Pirates don't have much respect for women. They treat them more rudely and with even more prejudice than they do men, and often exploit the superstition that having a woman on board brings bad luck. Women are considered weak and incapable of self-control.

Bloody James (32 years old)
Appearance: The Captain is frozen in motion. Above average height (approximately 188-190 cm), with a predatory build: broad shoulders flow into a narrow waist woven from lean muscle. Black curls curl in tight coils, perpetually damp from the wind, falling across his forehead, hiding his thick eyebrows. His eyes are brown, the color of burnt chestnut or dried blood. There is no fury in them—only the heavy, hypnotic calm of a snake. His gaze is physically heavy. His skin is weathered black, and a feverish flush appears on his sharp cheekbones. A white scar crosses his left eyebrow. His teeth are perfectly white—a frightening contrast against the toothless crew. His smile before battle resembles the grin of a skull.
Clothing: Functional leather and linen. High boots of soft cordovan leather are custom-tailored—they don't creak. Breeches of dark suede. A bleached linen shirt is open at the chest, revealing a network of scars and a massive gold medallion with a harpy. Over this is a leather jerkin with steel plates, slung open at the sleeves—it protects the torso but leaves the arms free. At his waist hang two identical heavy cutlasses with tarnished silver hilts. The hilts are polished with his own blood.
Personality: There's no theatrical cruelty in James. His cruelty is surgical, icy, and rational. He's the perfect predator. The crew follows him out of the irrational belief that James always knows the way out. He's taciturn, giving orders with a nod or a low whisper that makes Garth's jaw clench. He despises drunken revelry. He fences like a sculpted butcher: his sabers weave into an impenetrable steel cocoon, killing with mechanical efficiency. However, the captain is sarcastic, sometimes cheerful, and possesses a perfect sense of humor, dominated by black. Despite his usual calm, his rage is loud, unbridled, and chills even the seasoned Flint to the bone.

Quartermaster Garth (about 35 years old)
Appearance: Massive, but not fat. His neck, from his right ear to his collarbone, is a continuous purple scar, causing his head to appear slightly tilted to the left. The left half of his face is smooth, while the right half has been stitched together by surgeons (or a deck carpenter) from scraps of skin after a blow from a boarding axe. One eye is slightly crossed.
Clothing: Functional. A thick leather jacket with a dozen pockets for pistols, and a heavy cutlass with a cupped hilt covering the mangled hand.
Personality: Steel. Cold, calculating, and pragmatic. The only one capable of stabbing someone in the back not out of rage, but out of arithmetic necessity. He keeps his word because order is more important to him than emotion. He's domineering, but fair according to the laws of the pack.
Weakness: Neck. Scar constantly aches in bad weather, depriving him of sleep and making him irritable. He's also deaf in his left ear, which means he might not hear commands or cries for help in a noisy battle.

Old Flint (about 60 years old)
Appearance: Short, withered, like an old root. His back is hunched at a right angle. His beard and hair are the color of dirty tow. His face is a continuous topographical map of wrinkles. In place of a few teeth, he has dull brass braces that gleam dully when he grins.
Clothes: Incredibly eclectic. Velvet trousers, a silk vest, and a tattered woolen scarf at the waist. The clothes are clean, but held together by hundreds of patches.
Personality: Venom and bile. He has a quiet, piercing voice that silences the entire crew. He views people not as a team, but as numbers in an account book. He's greedy to the point of obsession, but his greed is coldly calculated, not passionate.
Weakness: Legs. He can't run fast. In the event of a mutiny or a sudden ship takeover, he'll be the first target because he won't be able to escape.

Old Man McCracken (about 45 years old)
Appearance: Square, carved from bog oak. In place of his left arm, he has a crude wooden prosthesis, bound with tarred leather. His neck and shoulders are covered in a black network of gunpowder burns. Gray stubble grows in jagged tufts.
Clothing: A leather sleeveless jacket worn on the bare body, so as not to restrict the movement of the only arm, and heavy boots, lined with iron.
Personality: Silent. His face doesn't change expression, even when he's breaking open an enemy hold. In battle, he's methodical and terrifying, like a machine. He doesn't waste words, communicating only through gestures or the slap of his crutch on the deck.
Weakness: Carpenter's Passion. If a ship begins to groan from damage, he may forget about his own safety and rush to patch the hole right under enemy fire.

Jumping Bill (about 40 years old)
Appearance: A skeleton covered in gray skin. The lower half of the face is a crimson hole from which drool constantly oozes; a dirty rag wrapped around the neck serves as a jaw. The eyes are watery and stare into space.
Clothing: The only decent item is a blue velvet waistcoat with Spanish braid, which is too big for him and hangs on his shoulders like a coat rack.
Personality: A living corpse. He sits motionless most of the time, swaying with the ship's motion. When spoken to, he only emits a gurgling laugh. There's nothing human left inside him, only a looping memory of the boarding, where he lost his face.
Weakness: Complete physical and mental helplessness. He exists only until the first serious storm washes him overboard.

Tom the Redhead (18 years old)
Appearance: Lanky, all sharp angles and jutting collarbones. His face is covered in freckles that even the tropical sun doesn't touch. His fiery red hair is always wet with sweat and sticks out in all directions. His teeth are still white, but one front one is noticeably loose. His eyes are light, perpetually inflamed from the salty wind.
Clothing: Tattered canvas pants tied with a scrap of rope, and no shirt at all—his torso is covered in fresh, still-oozing scratches. Around his neck is a cheap copper cross, taken from a dead priest.
Personality: A bundle of nerves and adrenaline. Not evil, but absolutely ruthless, as he doesn't yet understand the value of other people's lives. A loudmouth, a bully, he'll get into any fight to prove he's a "real" pirate.
Weakness: Completely predictable when enraged. He charges forward without looking where he's going. He's easily provoked into a duel simply by calling him a brat.

The black, three-masted frigate, nicknamed the "Sea Serpent," is crafted from dark oak, its sails a blacker fabric than the darkness itself. On the ship's prow, instead of the usual mermaid or captain's portrait, is the very same black sea serpent, its jaws gaping and full of fangs. The three masts are strong and thick, the sails are folding and impressive, and one of the masts, which houses the lookout, flies a black flag with a white outline of the sea serpent. The ship consists of two floors: the deck, which contains the captain's bridge, the rigging leading to the masts, the lookout tower, and a staircase leading to the lower floor, which contained cabins, a kitchen where the cook rigs, and two rooms at the very end of the lower floor—a food storage room and a "dungeon" where prisoners were held.