Name: Captain ?Black Bear? Devane
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Culture: Neobedouin
Background: Life-long pirate and proud.
Ship: The Deterrent.
Appearance: Captain Devane is a handsome, dark-skinned man that looks younger than his thirty years. Bizarrely, constant action seems to fuel him and as such he looks more spry and energetic than members of his own crew, most of which are much younger than he is.
However, in spite of all this he is a very serious man. Oh, he enjoys his life but it is work, and he is rarely seen to be smiling.
Devane dresses surprisingly sharply for a pirate, and wouldn't look out of place in some Imperial society function or a party in one of the richer sky-cities. He works very carefully to keep a well-groomed appearance and even after a serious battle he makes sure his clothes are spotless.
Devane doesn't carry many personal items other than his Old-World service revolver and a small compass given to him by his father.
Personality: Devane lives for danger. Becoming a pirate was a life decision he has never regretted and he's thankful for it every day of his life. He will happily recklessly pursue objectives just for the challenge and actively welcomes all of life's little complications, as they tend to make things more interesting.
As a captain however, he is nothing but business. He keeps up a very firm façade of utter seriousness and expects his crew to act like professionals. He can be deeply critical of his crew's work, and will let them know the moment he has a problem with one of them, and expects it to be handled right away.
Not that he doesn't believe in cutting loose every now and then, he'll happily go out drinking with the crew, but such things must be handled in moderation as far as he's concerned.
As a person, Devane can come off as quite chilly if you haven't gotten to know him. If he tries to be charming he can be really charming, but mostly doesn't bother. He's happy conversing in quick, concise and accurate terms so he can get the conversation over with and get back to Piracy.
Biography: Black Bear remembers next to nothing about his nomadic past. His parents left the tribe when he was four and took to the skies with a contingent of Sky-Folk merchants working with Helium City. Devane grew up amongst the sky merchants and air-barons. He learned business savvy from his parents dealings and how to hide his emotions from spending time with the less legitimate wheelers and dealers of the skyways.
It's not too clear when exactly Devane decided that a life of piracy would suit him. Maybe it was from reading too many adventure rags. Maybe from the time he spent amongst them in High Tortuga. Maybe he just had an argument with his parents and wanted to rebel. The reasons are unimportant, it's the events that followed that matter.
Like most, Devane began life working as a deckhand aboard a ship. He could fight well enough with his old revolver and he was a sharp-thinker, and quickly rose to position of First Mate when the old one died. The captain was a rather simple man, happy to knock over fat merchant vessels and make a lazy trip back to port rather than anything more daring. Whilst this bothered Devane he was happy to play at first mate for the time being, with plans on moving to a higher rank, or acquiring his own vessel.
However, it turned out neither action was necessary.
During a routine raid, it turned out that the Merchant they'd raided was in actuality a disguised Imperial Vessel. The captain was killed, half the crew were captured and the ship was catastrophically damaged. For most, this would be a disaster. For Devane, it stank of opportunity. He organised the remaining crew, put them to work repairing the ship and planned a daring rescue of the other men. He had the ship re-painted and the flag changed. He knew how the Imps worked and knew they'd be using that trick more than once. What they didn't count on was the pirate that was attacking knowing the trick.
The ship raided, seemingly unaware of the ambush but when the Imperials started swarming in, they found nothing but a few captured automatons, disguised as pirates and loaded with explosives. Once the Imps were dealt with Devane set about scuppering the ship and rescuing what crew were left. With this new contingent, he set renamed his ship The Deterrent, and hasn't looked back since.
In recent years Devane has gained a reputation as an Imp hunter. He uses knowledge acquired through a series of means (including pumping ex-Imps on his crew for information) to lay various cruel and inventive traps for Imperial frigates, and dispatches them with swift and viscous efficiency.
He's not entirely sure where things are going to go now for his crew, but he excitedly looks to the future and the new challenges it will bring.