Fade Rift App

[sclavus]

PLAYER

Name: Jay
Age: 29
Contact: wuzzafuzzle
Other Characters: Iorveth (The Witcher), Luca (side character)
Interests: This game needs more rude pirates okok, its important.

CHARACTER

Name: Charles Vane
Canon/OC: Black Sails
Journal: sclavus
Race: Human
Nationality: Tevinter-ish??
Occupation: Pirate
Division: Forces?
Mage or Not: Nah
Age: Somewhere around 30-35, he doesn't know what his birthday is.

History

Most history within normal Black Sails canon, translated into this AU, follows the same timeline and events, while replacing 'England' with 'Tevinter', 'Spain' with 'The Qun', and 'the Urca de Lima gold' with 'a huge ass stock of gaatlok'. Nassau is now Nascere, an island we made up off the northern peninsula of Tevinter territory, near Seheron.

What follows are bullet points on Vane's AU life before canon.

➣ Born to parents that had either given him up immediately or were separated for unknown reasons. He'd been immediately sold off, and given his infancy, Vane ended up in an orphanage somewhere in the borderlands of Tevinter and Seheron.

➣ Sold to a logging camp as a slave at 7.

➣ Worked there until 15, then stowed away in the cargo hold of a merchant ship. The ship was raided by Blackbeard/Edward Teach's pirate crew in transit. When Vane was found in the hold, Blackbeard took a liking to him and inducted him into the crew.

➣ Sailed under Blackbeard around 10 years as something of a second to Teach. He met Jack Rackham and Anne Bonney in the process.

➣ Eventually put his own crew together, captained the ship The Ranger, with Jack as his Quartermaster. Captain Charles Vane then grew in infamy, his name alone inspiring fear and respect all through the pirating and civilized port communities in Tevinter. Many in the mainland likely heard villainous tales of his raids as well.

➣ When Eleanor Guthrie took to making a monopoly of trade traffic in Nascere, Vane, who had fallen in love with her, was tasked with pushing his old mentor, Edward Teach, from the island. It was a deep betrayal that he nonetheless took to, making Nascere what it would be today.

➣ Eight years after that, the events of the show kick in, with some exceptions.

➣ Vane is not executed by Woodes Rogers, but barely escapes with his life, and spends the first few episodes of S4 events with Flint and crew. Their 'canon point' is after the pirate fleet has been scuttled in the bay, and Flint and company attempt to take Nascere Town (without the aid of Billy's rebellion, as we're pushing that whole shindig back to the current split to Kirkwall) as in 4x3. Some random rifts happen to open in the midst of the raid, and the Tevinter forces reveal themselves to be Venatori in response to it, taking back the town and scattering the pirate forces.

➣ As many as they were able to round up (including Vane, Flint, Max, Silver + an NPC crew) make it to Flint's old ship, the Walrus, before departing to Kirkwall to attempt to strike a deal with the Inquisition. The other pirates remain on the island to build a rebellion force, or end up captured by Venatori.

Personality

Vane is a character that's come without the former ties most of the cast of Black Sails enters the pirate life with. All the baggage Charles carries into this world is the sick taste of slavery on his tongue, his character embodied with an intense value for freedom, in all it's forms. Not only in the sense of slave labor, but in material trappings, government, status, law, society and ideals. The simple instinct towards submitting to a calmer life for the sake of comfort and ease is considered an enemy in his mind, something that is essentially the basis of civilized society. It can be self-sabotaging, Vane regularly choosing the more difficult route towards things.

He has a need to be indomitable. He values dominance and strength, conquers Albinus because the fear itself weakens him, scorns the thought of giving of his strength for another needlessly. Legacy and reputation do mean something to Vane, but more as a means to an end. He's a man that's constantly looking to spit in the eye of the world around him, to tell common decency, reality and universal truths that they don't apply to him.

Nascere exists within an atmosphere of hedonism and nihilism that Charles is draped in. It's an island built to thrive off murder, theft and crime. Vane has little interest in The Greater Good, or The Future, as he has no proof of it, he can't hold it in his hands. He takes very little interest in what other think of his morality or ethics, all in all, he's Not A Good Person. That said, Vane deeply values loyalty and despises the betrayal of that loyalty, holds some guilt over turning on Blackbeard (both times), holds stock in giving his word, values honor and integrity in sticking to your claims and beliefs, respects those that know who they are and what they care for in the same way.

The personal code of honor and ideals that he holds for himself is private, which he doesn't believe need to be explained to anyone, but he sticks to them, and caves to nothing - no matter what threat he faces, and would rather die than submit defeat in such a manner. It makes changing his mind on a subject nigh impossible, though a few manage it (Flint, Jack, Eleanor). It also happens to get him kill in OU canon.

Somehow, despite being an abrasive, rude, violent and half psychotic individual with next to no empathy, Charles Vane has become a great leader. He has a certain charisma that means his voice and name hold impressive weight even beyond Nascere. As Anne puts it, "plenty of men in this place have done plenty of stupid shit just to hear Charles Vane call him a proper pirate."

Opinions & Affiliations

THE CHANTRY/THE QUN: On religion in general, Vane states in canon that whatever relationship he does or does not have with God/the Maker is his own business, whatever remorse he may or may not have is his own, and needs no confessing or sharing. For the Chantry specifically, it's 'who knows who cares'. Until the Maker comes to see him in person, Vane won't hold real stock in it, and even if he did, he'd probably still be like just smite me yo idgaf. For the Qun that's a big Fuck Nah Son, because he likes freedom and that's not what that is.

THE MAGE/TEMPLAR WAR: If pressed to care about it, he'd say the Mages are right to murderate the Templars, because he'd probably do the same if someone tried to lock him in a tower. Magic seems weird to him, but he thinks the subjugation of it just amounts to cowards being cowardly.

RACE RELATIONS + SLAVERY: Charles was a slave right alongside elves and humans and everyone else, it made no difference who was who when they were all in chains, and it makes even less difference to him as a free man. That said, he'll gladly stab a racist ho in the face for picking on a nonhuman because racism is just fucking stupid.

TEVINTER: Vane lived in borderland towns and camps, never really entering proper Tevinter society, so it's all fairly alien to him, and feels more like a shadowy distant force he's happy to have no business with, much like the Qunari. He isn't influenced by the customs and cultures of it, and find the entire concept of it to be laughable.

PIRACY: The only acceptable way to live completely free.

Adaptation Notes

The other players apping in Black Sails characters and I did our best to keep this AU as close to the canon as possible, so far as to invite a replacement Nassau and all. Much of the environment of Black Sails pays so much to what shapes the characters, and we didn't want to alter that in the extreme. We chose Tevinter to replace England mostly due to the distant feel of it, the warring territory between them and the Qunari, and the fact slavery is a very real and prevalent thing in that culture, when we have characters like Charles and Max that are largely shaped by having been former slaves in their early lives. While Max is a child that was taken from Orlais, I chose to leave Vane as just some urchin from the border lands with no real solid link to who or where he was born, because that mirrors his origins in canon. There's nothing said of where he's from, who his parents were, and no indication from him that he'd like to know. His only identity from his young life was being a slave, and overcoming that identity, while making it his own, is a large part of his character. Like Vane in canon, the Vane of Thedas has no strong connection to Tevinter, as he'd never lived in the nation proper, existing only in the warring lands be between Tevinter and Seheron. The environment, atmosphere and society of it is a distant and alien thing to him, so it won't be a matter that shows up as much with him as it would with a character like Flint. His accent likely reflects some bastardization of that as well.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths:
➣ SAILOR/CAPTAIN: Vane was raised on a pirate ship, and knows it's workings inside and out. He'd been groomed to be a proper pirate, and a captain, by Blackbeard, arguably the best in the game. He's skilled with naval battle strategy, tactics and leading a combat force on risky and difficult terrain.
➣ COMBAT: 70% of growing up a pirate is combat skill, with swords, pistols crossbows, big ass boat guns and the ability to jump around between one ship and another while cannon fire is going off. He's an infamous name throughout the pirate community and beyond for very good reason. There's probably a Pirate spec that could be invented but honestly it's basically just balls to the walls duelist rogue + explosions and people with wearable fake shark teeth idk Black Sails is a fun ride.
➣ PHYSICAL STRENGTH: dude is ripped as fuq i'm jussayin
➣ INDOMITABLE: If Charles Vane decides it's happening, it's gonna fucking happen or someone better kill him.

Weaknesses:
➣ PRIDE/EGO: He will go to great lengths to avenge his pride and satisfy his ego, like do things that would get most people killed, or destroy Nascere's best defense aka the fort because Flint made him mad.
➣ STUBBORN: He doesn't ask for advice on things because he usually doesn't take it, aside from that of a small few, Jack Rackham being the main one. It took A Lot to bring him around to Flint's way of seeing things.
➣ RAGE: Charles sees little vague in tempering rage, impulse control or tone policing. If he's mad, he gonna be mad, and he'll probably get into a fight about it.
➣ DEATH WISH: He's kind of a crazy person in the amount of risk he takes. Definitely almost died several times. Voices that he'd rather be dead than be enslaved in any form or fashion again, and that's not at all hyperbole. He is Ride or Die.
➣ OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS: I mean, he's a pirate, so...

Inventory

➣ All this gear, so the clothes, the cutlass, the dagger, etc.
➣ Plus a tiny crossbow? Or something? Whatever the DA equivalent to a pirate pistol is.
➣ he's sailing in on the Walrus, but that's on Flint's inventory, and doesn't actually belong to Vane :( sadly.

Motivation

While Vane doesn't particularly like the idea of it, what remains of the pirate alliance in defense of Nascere, headed by Captain Flint, decided rightly that they had no hope of unseating the now clearly Venatori that hold the island, and plan to approach the Inquisition with a trade. They're hoping they can offer their naval strength, and their posession of the gaatlok stash, in a trade for Inquisition back up to retake the island from a common enemy.

Vane believes this will likely end with the Inquisition trying to set up some kind of goverance on what remains of Nascere after dealing with the Venatori, but has agreed to the 'we'll cross that bridge when we get to it', with a certain new trust in Flint's strategic mind to save them from that eventuality.

SAMPLES

Log with Flint + Tlvl and network thread with Nell. In case those are too short, there's another with Max.