Non-Player Character Guide

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Captain Arden Tellini

• Age: 23
• National Affiliation: Pirate (Brethren of the Coast)
• Home Port: ????
• Ship: Frigate Crimson Saber of 32 guns

In the Name of the Father

The life of a buccaneer was never Arden Tellini's calling, but once she tried her hand at it, she learned she had the knack. Born Ardenna Tellini to Italian nobles during a summer's excursion in Spain, little Ardenna's first few weeks of life were spent as a hostage. Spanish renegades took the newborn child and her mother as prisoners to negotiate the release of their brethren languishing in Inquisition dungeons. The subsequent attempt to rescue Ardenna and her mother resulted in her father's death, but Rafael Tellini did not die in vain-Ardenna and Arabella survived, and were well taken care of by the embarrassed Spanish crown. Well taken care of, and well disposed of. Spanish officials hastily shipped mother and child to the West Indies with a small fortune in gold and thinly veiled threats assuring Arabella Tellini that if she or her offspring were seen in Europe ever again, her life-and the life of the little girl-would be forfeit.

Tellini and Daughter

The Countess Tellini took the Spanish at their word, but instead of disappearing from society and taking on an assumed name, she carved a plantation from the Spanish Main and turned her small fortune into a substantial sugar empire. As luck would have it, gold was discovered in the hills around the small port town of Bella Ardenna when the town's namesake, Arden Tellini (who had taken to shortening her name among the non-Italians), was 14. The town owed its existence to the Tellini plantation, but the ensuing gold rush seemed to make the inhabitants forget that they had once respected the Tellini name. The port lookouts disappeared, heading into the hills to find instant wealth. Shops closed, farmhands left their homes and fields, and even the church bells stopped ringing. Two days later, Captain Clay Holly and his Seadogs laid waste to the port, aiming to take the gold, and the town, for their own. To Arden's horror, her mother was killed in the collapse of the burning manor house as the girl watched, restrained by the few loyal employees the family had left. The plantation was burned to the ground.

Blood for Blood

When the fire was extinguished, the plantation, the fields, and much of the town were no more. Worse, a few days later the truth began to spread-the gold rush was a hoax. The pirates had destroyed Arden Tellini's life for nothing. From that day forward, she vowed not to rest until Clay Holly's bones lay at the bottom of the sea.

With no remaining family fortune, she took the direct route to revenge. Unrecognized by the pirate captain as the heiress of Tellini, Arden was able to find a berth on the ship with relative ease as "Ariel Mendoza. " Savage he was, but Clay Holly was a good judge of character, if not necessarily identity.

The girl sailed with Holly for four years, and rose from cook's mate to first mate in that short period of time, during which the pirate took the ship of the line King's Mace from Captain - and later Admiral - Tasca of the British Royal Navy in one of the boldest boarding maneuvers ever attempted. Arden Tellini helped herself along the route to promotion by encouraging dissent and arguments among the crew, tricking the pirates into doing for her what she could not openly do-murder each other. Fights over card games turned bloody at a whisper from Arden Tellini's convincing lips, and a simple meal might end in a duel, or better yet, a brawl.

The Wrong Man

Promotion also brought her closer to Holly, and to her dismay she found him difficult to hate. He was a murderous dog, but an able commander of men and fair in his way. He was also smart-nearly as smart as she was. Despite the constant vision of her mother dying in flames, she could not fight the growing respect she found for the man. They became close, and some said they were very close indeed, though only a fool would ask Tellini to confirm that rumor.

To Tellini, Holly was like a force of nature. The word "gold" had drifted out on the morning tide, and brought that destructive force down on Arden's world. But this Clay Holly did not knowingly call down death on Bella Ardenna, someone else did-the architect of the gold hoax. In perhaps her boldest move yet, Captain Clay Holly's new first mate did the unthinkable -- she met her captain in his cabin, as she often did, but this time to confess that she was not Ariel Mendoza, but Arden Tellini. She did this with a loaded pistol in her hand aimed at the helpless captain's chest. Then she demanded to know who had told Holly about the gold at Bella Ardenna.

Holly had little reason to lie. The word had come from a Spaniard named Diego Ortiz, known to Holly as an Inquisition spy and a reliable source of information. Arden Tellini thanked the captain for his honesty and blew his hand off.

The Crimson Saber

Tellini had lived too long as a pirate to give up the life, and now she had a new target for her revenge-the Inquisition, for which she already bore a grudge. But that new information would not get her off Holly's ship. She had, however, wisely formed her own group of loyal allies among the female members of the crew. Arden Tellini stormed out of the captain's cabin, a smoking pistol in one hand and a howling, bleeding Captain Holly writhing on the deck behind her, and called the women to her banner. They cast off in boats and easily took the captured French frigate Sabre from the mostly female prize crew Holly had put in place. Most of the prize crew, in fact, joined Tellini, eager to rise through the ranks themselves and earn larger shares of the loot than Holly had given them. The ship, rechristened the Crimson Saber by her new captain, was over the horizon before the remaining crew of the King's Mace could bring a single gun to bear.

Captain Arden Tellini and her so-called Iron Maidens now scour the seas for fat Spanish treasure ships. All the while, Arden seeks clues to the whereabouts of Diego Ortiz, the Inquisition spy. Clay Holly has not forgiven Tellini, but to his mind the loss of a brilliant first mate-and first-rate sailor-like the young Italian emigre was a much crueler blow. Though his crew may at times think him mad, he intends to capture her and bring her back to the fold. His loyal shipmates are with him to the last, but Arden Tellini will die before she takes orders, let alone affection, from Clay Holly again.

10 Questions for Arden Tellini

1. What is your favorite word?

"Revenge. " 'Tis a noble word, and a noble calling.

2. What is your least favorite word?

"Surrender. " I don't believe in it.

3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Spanish blood, and the promise of more.

4. What turns you off?

Captain Clay Holly's promises. The man's insane if he thinks I'll ever be joinin' his crew again. I'm me own woman now, for better or worse.

5. What is your favorite curse word?

"Hellfire. "

6. What sound or noise do you love?

Cannon fire.

7. What sound or noise do you hate?

Cannon fire . . . directed at me.

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

In another life, I might have been a plantation magnate, so I would. I doubt that life would hold much interest for long, but I'd be willin' to try it . . . once Diego Ortiz is shark food.

9. What profession would you not like to do?

I think I made that clear, now didn't I? First mate to Clay Holly, o' course.

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

"Yer mother and father would like to meet ye for a mug o' grog and a long chat. "

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Captain Clay Holly

• Age: 32
• National Affiliation: Pirate (Brethren of the Coast)
• Home Port: ????
• Ship: Ship of the Line King's Mace of 50 guns

Old Privateers Never Die

In his time, Clay Holly served every nation in the West Indies as a privateer; his loyalties up for grabs and much in demand. His renowned skills as a sailor and his reputation for brutally efficient ship actions made his name feared throughout the region, and made him a rich man by the time he was 25.

And then, the work started to dry up. As the navies of England, France, and Spain began to divert forces from the latest European war to the New World, there was less need for privateers, even ones as skilled as Holly. When told his letter of marque was now worthless, he did what any self-respecting privateer with his reputation would do-he turned pirate, and as his first piratical deed, blasted the packet ship that had delivered the message out of the water. Clay Holly serves in no king's navy. Not now, not ever.

The Buccaneer's Code

Clay Holly was always a ruthless man, but his murderous impulses fully bloomed as a pirate, loyal to no one but his crew and the pirate creed. Holly's own articles were strict but fair-the crew shared equally in any prize, but no prisoners were to be taken, ever. A simpler man might have meant by this that he killed everyone on any ship he took, but Holly did not. Sailors who surrendered and swore loyalty to Holly on the spot were accepted into the crew, no questions asked, nor did Holly kill civilian passengers. True, he would set them adrift with a few days' supplies and no navigation tools, but he didn't kill them. Anyone else, however, was fair game to the dread leader of the Seadogs.

Bitter Enemy

One of Clay Holly's most notorious acts was on of his boldest - the time he captured the flaghsip of the dread pirate hunter Captain Phillip J. Tasca, known these days as Admiral Tasca of the British Navy. Early in Holly's pirating career, Captain Tasca led a successful raid against Captain Holly's hideout off the coast of Turpitude. The raid killed most of Holly's men and destroyed all but one of the pirate's not-insignificant fleet. Captain Holly took an immediate disliking to Tasca - who was prompty promoted to admiral for his deed -- and made it his life's work to return the favor.

It didn't take long. Only two months after the raid on his hideout, Captain Holly located now-Admiral Tasca, and then boarded and stole the admiral's flagship King's Mace of 60 guns. The pirate sails aboard the Mace to this day, though she's been modified by her new commander for speed - now sporting 50 guns, the ship is still more than potent enough to challenge most vessels.

Taking the Battle to Tasca

Tasca and Holly remain avowed enemies to this day; they share a hatred for each other that borders on obsession (and Holly has a lot of obsession to go around). Over time, each has hurt the other badly, though Holly has often gotten the better of his foe. The most recent incident, and one already making its rounds throughout the Burning Sea, involved Holly's boldest strike at "Old Task" yet.

Tasca's fleet was headed from Guyana to British-held Honduras when they encountered a terrible storm. Knowing that they wouldn't make it through, the admiral put into port at a British stronghold off the southeastern coast of Port Royale. As this was to be the new British base of pirate hunting operations, the area had been outfitted with several gun emplacements and a full ship yard.

At the time, Captain Holly was plundering off the coast of Santiago, not far from where the admiral and his fleet were moored. When word reached Clay's ears that his hated rival was within striking distance, he concocted a plan that only a crazy pirate with guts made of iron could think up. Disguising his ship, Captain Holly tricked the admiral, took him hostage, created a ruckus that even dead men would object to, and proceeded to sneak into the shipyard and steal himself eight new ships. By the time Old Task was freed, his superiors hated Holly almost as much as he did.

The Tellini Effect

If the capture of Tasca's flagship was one of Holly's most notorious deeds, his destruction of the small port town of Bella Ardenna is the most misunderstood. Holly had stormed the port when word reached him from a Spanish agent that gold had been discovered in the foothills overlooking the Tellini plantation-a plantation that was the economic engine of the town. Aiming to get to the gold first or not at all, Holly ordered all his ships (for he had built up a small fleet by then) to raze the town and take the gold. Hundreds died, but a young girl who said her name was Ariel Mendoza-a survivor of the bombardment-talked her way onto Holly's crew and sailed away with the pirate from the ruined town, having learned the gold story was a mere hoax.

"Mendoza" proved to be one of Holly's most able seamen, and was rumored to be close - very close - to her captain. Though he rated her cook's mate when she came aboard, the young woman's natural abilities and a mysterious increase in onboard murders and fights soon saw her rise to the rank of first mate-Holly's right hand. But Ariel Mendoza was not what she seemed. Cornering the captain in his cabin after the successful capture of a French frigate, Mendoza revealed a pistol-which she pointed at Holly's heart-and the fact that her name was actually Arden Tellini. She demanded to know the identity of Holly's Spanish informant, and when Holly gave her the name Diego Ortiz (in all likelihood an alias, in any case) she repaid his favor all those years with a musket ball that severed the captain's hand.

Bloodlust

The loss of his hand and the traitorous desertion of most every woman on his crew (they joined Tellini and formed the core of her Iron Maidens) should have driven Holly to bloody revenge. But when Tellini also took the captured French frigate as her own and renamed her the Crimson Saber, Clay Holly walked to the very edge of madness. He is now determined not just to find and retake what he views as his rightful property, has also sworn to make Arden Tellini-who he cannot help but admire and hate at the same time-his first mate again. Though perhaps he will shoot her in the foot before he allows her back onboard. It is a testament to Holly's arrogance and belief in his own abilities that he even thinks this is possible.

Captain Holly and the crew of the King's Mace have not abandoned piracy by any means; the search for Tellini must be supported by ample loot and plundered booty. In fact, the only thing that could keep this old Seadog from the hunt would be the sight of the Crimson Saber herself on the horizon. As he says, "It would have been easier for the lass had she shot me through the heart and broken me hand, instead o' the other way around. " And if Arden Tellini has anything to say about it, that's not going to happen for some time.

10 Questions for Clay Holly

1. What is your favorite word?

"Rum. "

2. What is your least favorite word?

"Hook. " As in, "Captain Hook. " After I killed a ship's boy for callin' me that, the rest of 'em belayed any further jokes at the expense o' me deformity. Ye've got to train 'em like the dogs they are, this crew o' mine.

3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Rum and blood, not necessarily in that order.

4. What turns you off?

Blood in me rum. Yar, but that be nasty, matey. Take me word for it.

5. What is your favorite curse word?

"Blast!"

6. What sound or noise do you love?

Thar be nothin' as sweet as a sea shanty. "Yar be har somethin', and yar-de-har-har, hey, hey, blow the man down . . . " Aye, that be a good 'un.

7. What sound or noise do you hate?

Seagulls. Seagulls mean we be too close to land for me likin'. The only time I want to set foot upon soil is when me boys and me be lootin' and pillagin'.

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Silversmith. I'd be keen to whip up somethin' more functional than this bloody hook.

9. What profession would you not like to do?

Anything that'd require me to swear fealty to any blue-blooded nincompoop that thinks he knows better than Captain Clay Holly.

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

"Did ye make a wrong turn somewhere, matey?"

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Captain Jean Brun

• Age: 42
• National Affiliation: France
• Home Port: Tampa
• Ship: Sloop Deerfield of 10 guns

Old Soldiers Never Die

Captain Jean Brun is now a middle-aged privateer operating out of Tampa. But once he was Sergeant Brun, a soldier who lost a leg, an arm, and an eye in the French attack on Deerfield, Massachusetts (one of many such battles that took place in the conflict called Queen Anne's War in the Americas, and the War of Spanish Succession everywhere else). He has never forgiven the surgeon who amputated his limbs, certain that his wounds did not require such measures.

Now half the man he used to be, Brun took up sailing and headed south to get out of the cold and make his fortune in the new French colonies in and around the Gulf. He has done very little actual privateering since he arrived, though he owns a well-built French sloop that is frequently in arrears. Gambling and drink have joined forces to make him a permanent feature on the docks of Tampa.

An Expert of Sorts

Brun is a relative newcomer to the region, but has read every book he could find (or afford) on the subject of the Caribbean and France's colonies in the area. He's always looking for opportunities to pass on his extensive knowledge of the area and brilliant (but dangerous) opportunities on the high seas. He hates Spaniards and British with equal measure, and isn't very fond of pirates, either. He's especially disparaging of spoiled nobles like Mercedes Isidora, the so-called "Merchant Queen of Barilla," and has faced off against Captain Cornelius of the Penelope in a couple of indecisive engagements. Brun is certain the fights would have ended differently had he the opportunity to board and face the Penelope's captain in single combat; Brun is much more comfortable in a duel with swords than a duel with ships.

Unfortunately, his knowledge of the area is not nearly as extensive as he makes out, since he couldn't afford the best guides to the region on his veteran's pension and several are in languages he does not understand. He has been known to get the details wrong.

An Able Hand

If you're in the mood to gamble a few doubloons on a game of chance, Jean Brun is your man. What he loses in value as a guide to the area he makes up for in guidance at dice, card, and other forms of gambling. And though he has lost the use of his right hand, he remains a master swordsman who can teach almost as much about personal combat as he can about gambling.

10 Questions for Jean Brun

1.What is your favorite word?

"Merde." 2.What is your least favorite word?

"Amputate." Such an ugly word, and an ugly act. I, for one, do not recommend it. Nor am I fond of "surgeon." In fact, I wish to go again. "Surgeon." Foulest word ever to slip from a tongue, no?

3.What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

To play at chance, and leave the table a winner—any victory won with finesse and the grace of the Lady Luck is far sweeter than victory won through brute force.

4.What turns you off?

Surgeons. Had it not been for incompetent surgeons, I would not be clinging to my honor like this. I hate this station as much as Canada, but it's where I'm to prove myself. So be it.

5.What is your favorite curse word?

"Merde."

6.What sound or noise do you love?

There are so many, I cannot choose but one: The opera. The broadside. The sound of a blade slipping from its sheath. The jangle of doubloons striking the table. The roll of dice. The pop of the cork on celebratory claret.

7.What sound or noise do you hate?

The infernal "clop-clop" of this damnable wooden leg of mine striking the quarterdeck. I console myself by pacing over the surgeon's quarters. How I do hate surgeons.

8.What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

I would leave this sailing life behind, should Lady Luck grant me winnings enough to purchase my own gambling hall—'lock, stock, and barrel,' as the Englishmen say.

9.What profession would you not like to do?

Were my own dear mother not long-dead, I would let her die in agony before I took up the tools of the surgeon. Devils and deceivers, they are.

10.If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

"Your deal."

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Captain Aurelia Trinidad

• Age: 26 (approximate)
• National Affiliation: Pirate (Brethren of the Coast)
• Home Port: Marsh Harbour
• Ship: Schooner Albatross of 10 guns

A Pirate's Life for Her

Aurelia Trinidad was born to piracy—as a six-year-old orphan, she stowed away on a pirate sloop. After she challenged the pirate captain to a duel clutching only a belaying pin, the captain agreed to take her on as a cabin boy. The crew adopted the brave girl and raised her as their own; eventually she outlived almost all the pirates and was elected captain at the age of 15. Her surname was originally a nickname from the crew—according to the sloop's master, "Trinidad" was the only word she spoke for her first three days onboard. Aurelia herself is unsure why.

The sea is in Aurelia's blood, and the docks are about as far as she goes into any given town, if she can help it (she hates being out of sight of her ship). Aurelia sees piracy as a belief system, a way of life, and something to fight for. She despises the cowardly, murderous rogues of the Bloody Arms, who in her opinion are living arguments for broad embrace of the pirate code. Though most pirates, including Captain Trinidad, aim to capture enemy vessels and their cargo, she has no qualms about burning and sinking any Bloody Arms ships she encounters.

Strange Shipmates

Aurelia took on a half-pay lieutenant named Henry Cornelius as master's mate during one of her infrequent stints as a privateer, and the two became friends. Together, they took the Spanish treasure ship Cinco Llagas in a battle that's still talked about in taverns all over the Caribbean—the crew of the tiny sloop boarding under cover of night, the bloodless capture of the gold-laden vessel, the way the master's mate saved his captain's life when a treacherous Spanish lieutenant seized a pistol and took one last shot at freedom—and Aurelia.

That was three years ago. Today, Cornelius commands a British sloop of war and has been charged with eradicating piracy in the area. Captain Trinidad is not eager to face her friend on the open seas, for she knows in her heart that the young commander would likely be the one to die in a flaming wreck. He was an excellent master's mate, but Captain Trinidad has far more experience in battle.

Woman of the People

Aurelia Trinidad spreads the "gospel" of piracy and liberty to any newcomers to Marsh Harbour, and is always happy to show journeyman pirates a few tricks of the trade. She has adopted the pirate town as her home, where she can do the most good for the Brethren of the Coast—the pirate nation is where her loyalty ultimately lies.

If Aurelia recommends a course of action, a smart pirate will follow it.

10 Questions for Aurelia Trinidad

The following questions are part of a questionnaire conceived by Captain Charles Johnson, author of A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates. It is possible Johnson borrowed liberally from a Frenchman named Pivot.

1.What is your favorite word?

"Booty." What?

2.What is your least favorite word?

"Duty." Duty is not the same as honor, in my book. It's an excuse for followin' orders. If you need some higher concept to guide your actions, how can ye be sure you're doin' right by yourself?

3.What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

The chase, from the spyin' o' sails on the horizon to the surrender o' my hapless foes. Nothin' I treasure more than a good chase, except perhaps treasure itself.

4.What turns you off?

The high and mighty Royal Navy, who've turned on the privateers that forged His Majesty's empire on the high seas. To hell with privateering, I say, and I'll be doin' it no more. The open sea is the place for freedom, not rigid laws o' conduct and taxation.

5.What is your favorite curse word?

"Damn your eyes!" That's three words, I suppose.

6.What sound or noise do you love?

The hornpipe! I do love me a good hornpipe, so I do.

7.What sound or noise do you hate?

The unexpected crunch of a ship's hull strikin' an uncharted reef. The most terrifyin' sound that ever did reach my ears, and not one I want to hear e'er again.

8.What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

There isn't one. I be a pirate, or I be dead.

9.What profession would you not like to do?

Sailin' one o' these merchantmen. That's suicide in these waters, if you ask me.

10.If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

"Sail, ho!"

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Captain Henry Cornelius

• Age: 24
• National Affiliation: Britain
• Home Port: Jenny Bay
• Ship: His Majesty's Sloop of War Penelope of 12 guns

Commander's Luck

A young naval lieutenant and sometime privateer, Henry Cornelius has just earned a commission as master and commander after years spent languishing in the fever-ridden West Indies on half-pay. Captain Cornelius (though technically he is still a lieutenant, he is a captain by courtesy) eagerly helps newcomers settle in, especially if those newcomers can help bring Cornelius's exploits and initiative to the attention of the magistrate. The relative unimportance of Jenny Bay in the emerging British Empire means he still doesn't have much to do, but it's not for lack of trying.

Self-Made Captain

Henry Cornelius must prove himself in the Royal Navy, for he has no family or political connections to help his chances for promotion. He has received command of the Penelope more by a twist of fate than by recognition—he was literally the only officer of proper rank available when fever took the previous commander and his lieutenants. Burdened with an "unlucky" vessel, Cornelius nevertheless forms a crew and sets out to make some new luck for himself hunting pirates and rooting out his nation's enemies.

Once a Privateer . . .

Cornelius knows Aurelia Trinidad well, and together they've had a few adventures worth telling over grog and ship's biscuit—when Trinidad was working for England as a privateer, Cornelius accepted a posting as master's mate and he was aboard the Albatross when the little sloop took the much larger Spanish treasure ship Cinco Llagas. He even saved his captain's life, and still has a nasty scar on one shoulder where the bullet was extracted. But now that he's commanding a King's ship, Captain Cornelius is bound to hunt his former captain down, if ever he can. It's not a duty he's eager to carry out, but loyalty to duty is in constant conflict with loyalty to a friend who gave him a chance when he seemed to have none. If such a conflict does arise, he is certain Aurelia Trinidad's swift pirate sloop could never withstand his modern, more heavily armed ship.

10 Questions for Henry Cornelius

1.What is your favorite word?

"Duty." Duty to King, duty to country.

2.What is your least favorite word?

"Leeway." I'm lucky to command a ship that makes little enough of it, but I've served aboard tubs that couldn't come within 40 miles of a lee shore for fear of foundering.

3.What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Seeing the black flag come down when a pirate surrenders—it means one less predator preying on honest folk. I also enjoy playing the fiddle.

4.What turns you off?

The cat. A happy ship has no need for flogging, and I, for one, believe it does more harm than good. Not that I'd mention that to my superiors, such a thing could well amount to a court-martial offense. This is off the record, yes?

5.What is your favorite curse word?

"Bloody." If you're pardon the expression.

6.What sound or noise do you love?

The drumbeat to quarters.

7.What sound or noise do you hate?

The snap of a breaking line—whether it's on a fiddle or in the rigging.

8.What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

I would give professional musicianship a try, if I were forced to live as a civilian.

9.What profession would you not like to do?

Piracy. I'd rather die than lose my self-respect and honor as a gentleman. Mind you, I did spend some time privateering, but that's quite different.

10.If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

"God save the King."

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Captain Mercedes Isidora

• Age: 30
• National Affiliation: Spain
• Home Port: Barilla
• Ship: West Indiaman Aldonza of 10 guns

The Heiress

The first daughter born to Manuela and Gonzalo Isidora, Mercedes Isidora was also the last child born to the couple—her mother died in childbirth; her father took to seclusion at his mountain estate, dying there when Mercedes Isidora was ten years old. The servants that raised her (her older brothers were involved in the War of Spanish Succession and probably would not have helped raise the girl if they could) did a poor job of keeping her away from the ships that sailed into the Spanish port of Cadiz on a regular basis. Mercedes learned seamanship and cursing from the crews of merchantmen and gold ships, she learned the basics of trade and economics from the merchant captains and the port operators. She learned even more about deception from both parties, each of which was fleecing the other whenever possible.

Tricks of Fate

Her family's name also meant marriage to a wealthy young merchant captain when she came of age, a man who was promptly lost at sea the next month. The marriage had left her in the New World, responsible for her dead husband's interests, while her brothers looked after the family businesses in Spain. When Mercedes's brothers were cut down in the war, Mercedes was surprised, but not truly sad, for she had barely known them.

The estate was sound and the Isidora family had the foresight to engage a cleric who oversaw the transfer of the family's holdings into accounts in Mercedes Isidora's name. The clever cleric, thinking a mere woman would not notice the difference, did so only after taking a healthy cut for the Church and the Inquisition, however. Mercedes intends to take that share of her fortune back from them, piece by gold piece. She may be looking for able captains to help her strike back at the greedy Inquisitors that grow fat off such tricks. Her small, private war against the Inquisition has made her a folk hero to some, and a dangerous threat to powerful inquisitors.

Captain of Industrious Means

Mercedes is a good source of history about the New World and the Americas, and is eager to hire captains to protect Spanish gold shipments and defend older colonies. A merchant captain in her own right, she is a superb sailor with a command style that foolish men have called "abrasive" and dead men have called "overbearing." Mercedes sails a well-armed West Indiaman, and has caught more than one pirate by surprise. She often commands her own convoys over the treacherous seas, but always returns to Barilla.

10 Questions for Mercedes Isidora

1.What is your favorite word?

"Gold."

2.What is your least favorite word?

"Inquisition."

3.What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Gold.

4.What turns you off?

Inquisitors.

5.What is your favorite curse word?

God-damned.

6.What sound or noise do you love?

The hum of the rigging when Aldonza is under full sail, with a full hold and a wind abaft the beam.

7.What sound or noise do you hate?

This ever-so fashionable 'pirate-talk.' Everywhere I go, some trumped-up deserter with an eye patch and a drunken parrot is 'ye matey' this and 'yar, ho, har,' that. Maddening, is it not?

8.What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Countess . . . duchess . . . something with an 'ess' at the end and a large estate. The estate would need its own harbor, of course, for my pleasure yachts.

9.What profession would you not like to do?

If you ever see me pouring drinks in one of these tiny ports, you may feel free to commit me to an asylum.

10.If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

"You won't find any Inquisition here."

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