Post by Zoilus on Dec 5, 2017 2:09:35 GMT
Appearance: Hippolyte, as he is now looks like a ragged wretch, but one with an undeniably powerful physique. He’s missing an eye, a few teeth, and is scarred all over, but still moves with a bizarre grace, especially after a sniff from one of the bottles he keeps in his jacket. Under his rags are also a few pieces of incredibly fine plate armor, kept hidden for just when they’ll benefit him the most.
Biography: Before he became a marauder of the seas, Hippolyte Moismont was a respected scholar of the natural sciences in the University of Avindril. He had come up from nothing, born a farmer’s last son, but the generosity of the Galathion testing system saw him all the way through…until he started publishing a series of bizarre theories. These ranged from ways to “enhance” the senses to creating controlled explosions, using just the right substances. After a year of this, he was labelled an alchemist and a fool, and removed from his position. Within the next three months, though, his rivals and superiors that had arranged it? Died one by one, in increasingly horrible circumstances: poisoned, suffocated, burned alive, and the final group was killed with an explosion. The culprit was clear, but he was long gone.
Hippolyte put everything into his revenge, and built a fraternity of criminal associates doing it. When they were finished, he offered them more: freedom and plunder on the high seas. Together, they hit a private shipyard, stealing a beauty of a boat called the Morningstar. The war between Galathion and Rjillund was heating up at the time, so they took it and played the vulture, hitting wounded merchant and naval ships, even capturing a few to put together a fleet. Eventually, he became infamous enough that he needed to flee the area.
Hippolyte found his new fortune in the vast waters of Ettin and Boterin, where riches, beyond mere gold, truly flowed. It was here he found more reagents for his experiments, captured and recruited experts willing to work with him, and truly did become an ‘alchemist.’ The body, the mind, the world: all could be altered with the right ingredients, and he could steal them all!
Personality: Before his exile from the University, he was just eccentric, but after years as a hardened criminal and regular use of mind-altering reagents? His madness is apparent in bouts of ranting, rage and cruelty, but his genius emerges often enough for heists and plundering that his crew tolerates it. He puts up an air of mysticism and mystery that make him seem almost supernatural, to friend and foe alike.
Skills: Hipplolyte is an expert natural scientist and “alchemist,” able to produce a variety of useful and valuable substances with the right reagents (and he has an encyclopedic knowledge of them). Additionally, he is an expert planner of crimes, from heists to assassinations, but is mostly concerned with furthering his experiments. He is not a natural sailor, though, and leaves most of the management of his boat up to his ever-loyal first mate.
Black-Iron's chosen banner, showing him and Death with a finished concoction.