Last update 13th May 2001
Here is the details of this fine ship & crew:
Busty & curvaceous, Black Jade is the long haired brunette leader of the now famous 'Buccaneers'. She can be quite loud, boisterous, and very flamboyant and is a 'captain of the crew'. She knows most of the crew by name. She is personally quite lax in her detailed control of the ship and crew, trusting her officers to deal with day to day problems and discipline. She has discarded the traditional tricorne and trousers of the imperial navy, the only sign of her rank her red service jacket. She wears a heavily embroidered oriental long skirt with lace up leather boots. She wears her hair long, with a heavily ribboned central braid running down her back. She leads from the front, proficient in cutlass and pistol, she is usually found in the thick of the fight. She is a veteran of many years at sea and battle, and is prone to bouts of vengeance against stubborn or cowardly pirates or Spaniards. Black Jade is the first and only captain of the 'Virtue'. She knows her crew & ships capabilities quite well. As long as her main oficers survive, all their abilities are enhanced by her captaincy. If she is forced to command another ship, even with the same crew, there will be no benefits from her captaincy. Her commission is described above in the ships articles. For stubborn opponents she has been known to sink their vessel and sail away, leaving the crew to fend for themselves in the dark ocean. Black Jade has a small command radius for close combat purposes, but has a higher morale bonus for her troops in command radius. For non combat purposes, or ship to ship combat, her command radius is quite large.
Skill Ranks:
The captains trusted leiutenant, Annabella is the master of the ships deck. Her discipline is strict. She wears the naval uniform of red jacket, red trousers and shin boots with tricorne. She carries a cat of nine tails on her hip, and is very proficient with the pistol, being considered a master of dueling. Annabella is not the original ships bosun [who was replaced at Black Jade's insistence], but has been with the ship now for quite some time. In sea combat she commands 20 marines on the main deck. In town raids she commands all 40 marines while the captain commands the cutlass sailors. Either way she wears a sling over her shoulder with 2 additional pistols. Annabelle wears her honey blonde hair in a severe pony tail, which with her angular face and sea grey eyes makes her appear overly stern. Annabella is dutch.
Cassandra & Claudette. These french brunette twins joined the crew with the bosun when their previous ships crew dispersed. They choose to remain with Annabelle as she played some part in their rescue from a Spanish warship, and hence they too joined the 'Virtue' for service at sea. The girls were originally soldiers in the French army attached to escort duty with the French navy in the Caribbean, but were captured when the Spanish plundered St. Kitts. They have no great compulsion to rejoin the French army or navy in anyway. Both girls are treated as Corporals of the ships marines, each girl commanding 10 marines. Cassandra and her complement hold the fore castle. Claudette and her 10 marines hold the stern castle. Claudette is also the captain's body guard in ship to ship battles, and one of the ships musicians. She plays the french horn [surprise surprise] and in ship board combat, her horn playing is also used as an abbreviated communication system. Both girls still wear the white french army jacket with blue cuffs and undershirt.
Hailing from Plymouth, Yvette has had a long & chequered history with the sea, extending back through history to her families involvement in the fight against the Spanish Armada. Her early years were spent abourd fishing vessels plying the English channel, where she was trained as a helmsman and navigator.
Originally a cabin girl with a Venetian ship, Monique was captured by Barbary pirates who inducted her into their ranks. Her gunnery career started as a slave with the Barbary pirates who put her to work in their gun crews. She was liberated by an English Man'O'War and knowing no other life but the sea, she joined the English navy. She has been with the 'Virtue' as master gunner since it was commissioned. Due to the influences of her former pirate life, she wears a rather loose colourful silk shirt rather than the standard naval uniform. She also has a dispensation for her gunners to wear the same silk shirts, and as a group the gunners are a colourful mob. Her gunners love her dearly. She trains them constantly rather than let her gun powders expire naturally, so they are very well trained. In other ways they are less experienced, either with weapons or as sailors in general dealing with sea life. Her gunners have a very high morale when acting in their normal capacity as gunners. A masterful gunner, familiar with her captain and the ship, as long as Monique lives the gun crews target more accurately.
Trained at the Edinborough College for Aspiring Ladies, Juliet is an accomplished book worm. Her skills with numbers & letters is astounding and she has an excellent memory for them. She keeps two sets of ships books and also has them memorised. While it may seem unusual a lady of letters could be found on a pirate hunter in the Caribbean, Juliet would rather be onboard than return home to a pre arranged marriage she could not accept. Except for her diligent work wth numbers, Juliet is of little use to the combat status of the ship. She can barely wield a cutlass, and her aim with a pistol or musket barely makes the grade. However, you can be sure at each engagement there are weapons & ammunition in full supply. Juliet wears a simple white dress and a powder grey cloak with yellow trim.
Margarite is a young Portugese woman who originally came to the Caribbean on board a Spanish ship. She is a very muscular and lithe woman and is very fierce and domineering for one so young. She is skilled with the dagger
A native of Boston, now taken to sea, Charlotte is the ships surgeon. She is of French extraction and has lustrous black hair often delicately workled into curls and ringlets. She doesn't talk much about her past, and as far as the crew is concerned she is a mysterious woman. She appears to be at least of some social standing. Most of her crew interaction is with the captain, lookout and the purser. She is an artist and botanist and most of her time at sea and in town is taken up by sketching & studying nature. Her skills are more in medicine and general ailmants rather than the vital surgery needed for the wounds of war.
Victoria is the ships pilot, and comes from a long family line of women in the service of England. Her family name was prominent in service of Cromwell during the English Civil War. She is always found in the naval uniform of red jacket with red stockings. She wears her red hair in a neat plait. She has 2 apprentices who so far are not proving overly successful, but at least are basically competent. Given time she would prefer to replace them from naval ranks or more intuitive recruits.
High atop the ships main mast lairs the ships oddest crew member. Elizabeth is the eagle eyed lookout, who for most of her time at sea is quite content to sit lotus style in the crows nest and ponder the world. She is a woman from the slums of London who fled to sea to escape the horrors of the city. At sea she earned a reputation as an eagle eyed woman from whom no detail escaped attention. She is renowned as a lookout, and refuses to return to the colder climes of Europe, more than content to sit above the warm seas of the Caribbean. At sea she learned to write from a purser and now writes her thoughts down in detailed diaries and treatises on the ways of life. Her days are spent writing and thinking and studying the oceans horizons. At night she descends to the decks to argue the ways of life with the officers and crew of the ship. Most of the time her chestnut hair is tied up in a bun hidden underneath the large sun hat she wears almost continuously. Generally she is wrapped beneath a large colourful floral shroud which keeps the sun off her. She is quite skilled with a long barreled musket she owns, and also wields a mean cutlass or dagger when times call for it. She delights in pirate hunting.
Musicians
Cooper
Carpenter
Marines. The ship has a complement of 40 Marines. They have a high morale